Miracles
Omega floated in a void of nothingness, he couldn't feel his body though he was aware of it's presence. A cold numbness was all he felt, he was conscious, yet not at the same time, existing somewhere in a world between, floating in a vast emptiness. Now and then he would feel things faintly, a sense of moving, a sense of being pulled somewhere before the void of blackness that surrounded him would still, and he would be floating again with only the smallest of conscious thought present. At one point his body had come back to him, dull pain and tingling numbness washing over his features as he tapped his numbed fingertips together. He felt as though he would vomit from the feeling, like his whole body was asleep and he had billions of insects writhing and biting every inch of his skin. He had felt himself being shaken then, had the feeling of his skin being peeled off of him inch by bloody inch, and then all feeling vanished again as he slipped back into nothingness.
The sense of being, of existing, would come in and out, appearing and vanishing just as quickly as it had come, flashes of consciousness and feeling that sped by in the blink of an eye. He felt cold, colder than he had ever felt in his entire life in some of those brief moments. He felt a pressure on his chest, strong and rhythmic, someone pushing on his chest, forcing his heart to beat life into his veins when it refused to. He tried to open his eyes but couldn't, he couldn't move, couldn't force his body to work the way he wanted it to. It resisted him, resisted his commands. He could feel his lungs breathing shakily, though that feeling too only offered the smallest of comforts. He felt an insect bite his arm, and a warming, soothing sensation travel through his veins, spreading like a spiderweb to the rest of his body. It was like being in a dream, a dark one where he felt the constant urge to do something, or be somewhere anytime a semblance of conscious thought came to him. It was a dream that often shifted his perspective. Sometimes he would feel physical sensations, and other times it was like he was watching his own body as it floated in the blackness of nothing, and then, the sensations would fade to nothingness. A slideshow of images both foreign and familiar plagued his mind as he wandered the darkness, feelings both physical and emotional came to him as his mind flew through an eternal void, faint voices echoing in his dreamlike state now and again.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he felt an eternity of time passing him by, feeling began to come back to him as he sped toward his body. His fingers and skin began tingling. Pain came back to him, more of a memory of pain than a sensation of it, as if his mind had fast forwarded through an intense pain and into sore, aching healing. He could feel himself breathing, yet, slowly, deeply. More and more feeling reached him, and he realized that he didn't like how slowly he was breathing, something inside of him telling him that he shouldn't be breathing so slowly, so peacefully, not when... When what? Not when he was supposed to be doing something, that he was sure of. A wave of urgency overcame him, he was supposed to do something, or be doing something, but his mind was blank, fighting for some kind of recognition of his being. His nerves made him aware that he had skin, that he had arms, legs, fingers, toes. They all slowly began returning to him as his mind clawed away the fogginess of the void. He became aware that he was lying on his back, not crucified on a wall with spikes, and not lying on concrete, but something soft. There was a warmth beside him, pressed into him, cradling him. A faint voice came to him through the darkness, a gentle, broken humming. The soft touch of fingers on his face as they traced his cheek, mouth, and jaw.
Now and then he would feel the warm presence leave him, the faint realization that a blanket was being laid over him. A soft patting on his chest before footsteps echoed away, and he drifted once more. Every time he felt some semblance of conscious thought return, the warmth was always there, always holding onto him, caressing him, pulling him to awareness and conscious thought, a single beacon of light, a focal point in the darkness. The next recognizable sound to reach his ears tore him from the blackness violently, painfully. A girl chuckled, serene and inhuman, as a dark tone mixed and echoed with a light one, her voice both light and dark existing as one. It was the unmistakable laughter of a Little Sister, and his mind latched onto the sound of her voice as he broke the surface of the void he existed in.
Omega's glowing eyes shot open as he inhaled sharply, coughing as they darted around the dimly lit room he occupied, his head splitting from the headache he felt, and his dry throat swallowing hard. He heard a sharp gasp, and his eyes shot to the source of the sound, blinking rapidly as he tried to clear his vision. His sight blurred in dark colors, focusing slowly on the thing that had snapped him back into his body with a gut wrenching jolt. Standing mere feet away from him clutching a battered teddy bear, was a Little Sister, her glowing eyes watching him closely, filled with curiosity and wonder as she smiled, her mouth slightly open in surprise. She giggled again in that perfect, inhuman voice, the sound sending shivers of joy and shock through him. Her yellow dress and white frills matched the same color bow in her blond ponytail. He felt his stomach sink in shock as he watched her, and she watched him.
"Big Brother was sleeping for so long. I thought he was going to be an angel!" She said to her ripped teddy bear as she held it under the arms out in front of her. Then she turned to skip away, humming a tune that filled his heart with both shock and awe as he swallowed hard, still blinking in disbelief, mouth agape and eyes darting wildly as his mind froze up and raced all at once. The scent she gave off was blissfully sweet. The scent of ADAM and pheromones that drew him to her in a need to keep her safe from any harm. He tried to sit up and follow her, and that's when he felt a gloved hand on his cheek, stopping him. He jumped as his eyes darted to the presence that had been invisible to him when he saw the little girl. His eyes went even wider as he stared up into the glowing eyes of an unfamiliar Big Sister, her own eyes full of concern, wonder, and unbelievable joy and sadness. She was crying as she stared down at him, and likely had cried long and often over him, warm tears leaking from her burning eyes to frame her caramel colored skin.
That's when she leaned down and wrapped her arms around his sore body, hugging him, squeezing him so tight he thought she would suffocate him. Her scent was similar to the Little Sister's but vastly different. It filled him with a need to protect her, it calmed him and riled him up all at once, making him want to fight alongside the sister, to cooperate with her as they hunted, and the need to make sure she was okay. Her scent caused his head to spin from the strength and intoxicating effect it had on him. He could smell sadness on her, hardship, pain, anger, relief, and overwhelming joy. He lifted a weak arm to do what he could to hug her back, the shock and disbelief still causing his mind to race as he tried to think out answers. Him holding onto her back brought him as much comfort and relief as it did her, and if not for the amount of shock he felt, he might have tried to jump with joy. Where had she come from? Where had she been this whole time? How did she have a Little Sister with her? Why couldn't he find her before? Why had she not found him? Was she the reason that old Crone had wanted him to howl as loud as possible? It had to be.
His mind raced as she held him, sobbing, stroking his dark hair, her fingers taking a gentle handful in her fist as she wept, pulling closer to him, almost crawling up him to lay her face in the side of his neck, as if he would disappear if she let go. His mind flipped between her, the Little Sister, Iota, Anna, and Lizzy. He had a hard time focusing on anything aside from the present, and the effect her scent had on him so close, the mystery Little Sister and accompanying Big Sister that was holding him were as big a shock as he could imagine. He felt his eyes roaming around the room, trying to find the little girl again, his Protector instincts pulling him to try and keep her safe even though he was immobile. He brought his other arm up weakly and wrapped it around her, pulling her closer, and she squeezed him tighter as she sniffled into his neck, nuzzling deeper into him, holding him as if she wanted to fuse with him. The sense of desperation and loneliness she gave off was almost enough to break him far faster than anything Simon had ever tried on him.
As the sister holding him wept, his eyes searched the room they were in, drinking up any information he could get. They were in some kind of apartment room by the looks of it, and he was laying on dozens of pillows and blankets of every color and design, old and dirty from years of use. The room had no windows, only a dirty beige wallpaper with brown floral designs on it, the walls completely covered in crayon marks and chalk with various childlike drawings and designs. He could see a door to the room, but it was blocked by steel beams that jutted through the roof and into the floor from a collapse sometime in the past, they too had chalk on them. The room had no other furniture inside, none made of wood anyway, aside from the corner of a cabinet he could see around a corner wall. He could hear the Little Sister humming around that corner as she played, and he figured the area she was in was likely the living room for the apartment, or had been in the past.
When the sister holding him finally calmed down, he heard her sniffling, still holding him tightly as her body shook. Once again he moved his hands weakly, his arms palms patting her on the back of her suit, and she finally pulled away from him, still staring down at him with desperate, unbelieving eyes. Her glowing eyes stared into his, searching, wondering, before her lip trembled again and she embraced him once more. No words could describe how he felt in that moment, even if he could speak them, no thought could clearly take hold in his mind. He felt a sense of overwhelming joy, concern, and relief, but the heaviest feeling he had was shock, pure, unfiltered shock.
He tried to push the sister off of him, pull her back, but he was still weak, his muscles sore and stiff, his wounds barely healed, and some were still healing. His regeneration had prioritized his eyes to heal first, being so essential to his survival, which he was thankful for, because he could see the sister that held him, and the Little Sister off in the other part of the room, but it meant the rest of his body would take longer to heal.
He tried to push her off of him again, but she only hugged him tighter. He sighed lightly before giving a low, alerting screech, and she jumped back to search his face as if he had been shot, her eyes darting over him with worry. When he stared at her again, she moved in once again to try and wrap her arms around him, but he held up his hand on her chest armor and she stopped, wincing at the obstacle as she grasped his hand with both of hers, torn between wanting to hold onto him and not wanting him to be displeased with her. She swallowed hard as she watched him point to his mouth and swallow dryly.
She took in a sharp gasp of air and turned, retrieving a bottle of water from behind her, turning toward him as she quickly unscrewed the cap with shaking hands, letting the lid fall into the makeshift bed of pillows and blankets as she held the bottle to his lips, letting him drink greedily, spilling it slightly as her hands shook. He had almost finished the blissful liquid when he coughed and she pulled the bottle back, tossing it away as she cupped his cheeks in her gloved hands, concern on her face as he steadied his breathing once again.
When he had finally caught his breath, he grasped at her hand weakly, and she happily let him pull it into his view, turning it over to look at the symbol of her name on the back, and his eyes went wide. The steel plate on the back of her glove held the indentation of a perfect circle with a short, horizontal line in the middle that almost touched both sides of the circle, but stopping short. The Greek symbol for 'Theta' made his heart pound in his chest, made sweat bead on his brow, and made his mouth hang open slightly as he shook his head weakly from side to side in disbelief.
He mouthed the word silently to himself.
Theta
He stared for a long moment before he turned his horrified gaze to the sister beside him, horrified because he remembered her, horrified because he knew her, and horrified because he remembered burying her lifeless body in Arcadia so long ago. His mind scrambled for answers again, questions blazing in his mind, but he grasped at air. Her concerned eyes were familiar now, and her scent brought back memories too painful to think on. The memory of him carrying her limp in his arms, laying her in a shallow grave beside others in the Arcadia hills, covering her with fertile soil, and staring at her grave for hours, just as he had done before with the rest of his sisters. She saw the horrified and shocked expression on his face, and gave him a smile filled with pain and sorrow, but also joy. She leaned forward again and wrapped her arms around him once more, holding onto him again as if he might disappear. This time he let her, making no attempt to hold her back or stop her, his mind reeling as he thought about her. He sat still, a blank stare into the distant past as he pulled her tight against him with all of his meager strength.
That's how they spent the next few hours, him laying there, grasping the back of her suit as tight as his weak hands could manage as his body slowly healed. Foggy memories of a time before he had his mental conditioning broken assailing him violently as he tried to think of every moment he had ever encountered the Big Sister clutching to him desperately. He remembered training with her, faintly, as he did with all of his other sisters, remembered moments of them sparring, moments of them hunting, protecting Little Sisters or retrieving them from Splicers. The memories only came in still images though, most were colorless. He remembered when they had first met so long ago, introduced when she and other Big Sisters had come over to investigate exactly what he was in a courtyard-like room, more akin to a playground for Little Sisters than an actual room. He had no memories of a time before that moment, his mental conditioning overriding any time of him being a Gatherer, and anything before his time as a Protector. His mind beat him with guilt when he remembered the moment he had found Theta's body in their Mother's office, right next to Mu's. They had died defending Mother's office from Delta, and he had watched the video play out on the security cameras when he finally broke out of the vault Eleanor had locked him in, the video had filled him with an unquenchable rage, and still did when he thought on it. She had been dead, he was absolutely positive, he had made sure, checking their pulses multiple times before he buried them, and one final time just before laying the dirt over their bodies. So how was she there? How was she alive? He considered the idea that it might not actually be Theta, but someone wearing her suit. He shook his head at the thought as he pulled her tighter to him, nuzzling his head into hers as she hugged him, his heart pounding in his chest like a drum. It was her. She had the same face he remembered, and the same scent, not things you can fake.
His mind became hopeful for a moment, hopeful that other sisters might have survived somehow, but remembering where he was, tightly embraced in her arms, he shook his head as he squinted his eyes shut. She had looked at him like she hadn't seen another sister for a very long time. He knew that feeling, that pain. He had looked at Iota the exact same way when she had found him in the Kashmir diner. He had watched over her as she slept, sealed off from the outside world, wounded because she had rushed in trying to save him. He had stared at her for a long time after that too, and still did, grateful that he wasn't alone anymore. He didn't have to imagine how Theta felt, he knew, he knew all too well, her loneliness was the same as his had been back then, and the relief she felt was even greater than he had felt when Iota had found him.
When they finally parted, he let his hand come up to touch her skin once more, his cold fingers on her hot, tear stricken cheek, and she smiled sadly as she held his hand firmly there on her skin, closing her bright eyes tightly, still in disbelief that she had found another of her kind. When she finally pulled his hand away she gently sat it down beside him, and reached out to touch his own cheek before leaning in to place her forehead against his, giving a disbelieving, broken chuckle of joy as she nuzzled her head against his. He knew it had been the first physical touch she had felt from another Protector in a very long time just from the amount of passion and feeling she put into it.
As she pulled away, she pointed to the fresh scar tissue on his arms, still yet to heal completely, then to his stomach, and finally to his lips, gently brushing her gloved fingers along them. She pulled her hand back, making the sign for 'hungry?' as she pulled an imaginary fork to her mouth, the question accompanying concern in her eyes. He hadn't had time to think about it before, but the week he had spent constantly regenerating wounds inflicted by Simon had taken their toll, even with the ADAM the man gave him to keep him alive. He was healing far slower than he wanted to, though the ADAM she had given him after his rescue had been a massive help. He needed food though, fuel for his plasmids and regeneration alike. He nodded weakly at her, and she smiled as she nodded in affirmation before rising and sprinting toward the kitchen area of the shabby apartment, looking over her shoulder once to make sure he was still there and not a figment of her imagination.
The brother watched her go, his heart still beating wildly in his chest at the excitement and shock of the situation. He began examining the crayon and chalk drawings along the walls of the apartment as clattering sounds came from somewhere out of sight. His mind instantly locked on to the sound of the Little Sister giggling, stating, "Big Sister is making a mess!" as she laughed. He had begun to reach out through his bond with Iota when Theta returned only seconds later carrying armfuls of sealed cans and bags of chips along with a number of sweet cakes. She got down onto her knees and frantically began opening a can of tuna, her hands still shaking as she practically ripped the lid off in desperation. She scooped out a bountiful serving of the shredded fish with her gloved fingers before leaning down and holding her hand up to his mouth.
When he opened his mouth she grinned gratefully and sniffled hard as she tried to contain her joy, as if she had seen another miracle take place, and she gently eased her hand forward, placing the fish into his mouth, scooping up pieces that had almost fallen down his chin. He chewed quickly, greedily swallowing down the first meal he had been given in who knew how long. He had thought the feeling of fresh, cold water in his mouth had been blissful, but the taste of the cold, preserved fish was enough to send chills down his skin as his stomach growled, eagerly awaiting more.
As he finished the third can of fish, he tried to reach up and take the tin from her so he could feed himself, but she gently took his wrist and laid it down at his side again, letting him know she wanted him to rest. He had tried two more times after that and was met with the same answer each time as she continued to place food into his mouth. At full strength no sister would dare try to stop him from doing what he wanted, but whenever he was wounded or weak he had no choice but to concede. The sisters were strange like that. They were fiery, impulsive, and strong willed creatures, stubborn and proud. They were capable of ripping a man's head off with ease just for looking at them the wrong way, but they had always instinctively follow his directions or orders. When he was weak however, they had always treated him with the utmost care, and it always got on his nerves to a small degree. He didn't like being cared for, didn't like needing to be cared for, and it was always worse when he was wounded and immobile. He didn't get wounded to such an extent often, but whenever he had, the sisters had always loved taking care of him, maybe because it was uncommon. He had always taken care of them, and they relished the occasions they could do the same.
By the time he had finished, he had eaten four cans of tuna, three cans of sardines, two cans of potted meat, and another full bottle of water. Theta had tried to feed him more, but he refused weakly, his shrunken stomach full almost to bursting after going so long without so much as a scrap. The last thing he remembered eating was part of a Splicer's throat, and part of another's hand, bones and all when he was first taken captive by Simon. Not exactly a tasty meal, but it served his purpose, it gave him a boost of energy for his regeneration early on in his captivity, and every little bit had helped then.
After she had fed him, she gently pulled the blanket that covered him down to his feet, and checked between his legs, making sure he hadn't used the bathroom while he was unconscious. He watched her curiously, and by the way she acted, she had likely had to change out the pillows and blankets under him before. When she smiled and pulled the blanket back up to his stomach, he found himself breathing a small sigh of relief. He was grateful for her care, but he also hated needing to be taken care of in the first place. He preferred to be the one giving care by far. Nevertheless he showed his gratitude by wrapping his hand around the back of her head, and pulling her down so their foreheads touched again, and held her there as they both closed their eyes for a long while.
Soon she settled down beside him once more, holding onto him for dear life as they sat in silence, his stomach pleasantly filled, and feeling his regeneration kicking in again at full strength. For a long time all he could do was think to himself about her, the Little Sister, Iota, Anna, Lizzy, and the humans, but any time he tried to think deeper about everything, the sounds the Little Sister would make playing would snap him back to the moment, his Protector instincts driving him single mindedly to her presence. He felt the same instinct when he was around Lizzy, but to a lesser effect. He would need to get used to feeling the presence of an actual Little Sister again. Her just being nearby made it hard to focus on anything but her. Theta had no issue letting the girl play at her own will, and that was likely because she had him to focus on, and she had nothing but the Little Sister to focus on previously.
She came back into view then, dancing around the room with her teddy bear, giggling and laughing at some silent joke he had told her, before she stopped suddenly and turned to face them. Her eyes lit up like she had never seen him before and she ran over to jump onto him with enough force to make him jolt when her tiny elbow landed on his stomach. Theta had reacted quicker than he thought she would and gave a sharp screech as she pulled the girl off of him and over to his side, a chastising tone in her broken voice.
"Big Brother's awake!" The Little Sister said as she rolled over onto her back laughing to the teddy bear she held above her face. "I think Big Sister is happy too!" She told the bear. Omega looked over to Theta and pointed to the girl, his hand coming up to give the Protector's simplified hand sign for 'name?'. It took her a moment to understand what he was asking before her eyes went a little wider, and she poked the girl's blond head gently as she stood. The Little Sister looked up at her questioningly as the sister pointed to him and gave a small but elegant curtsy, pulling her non existent skirts away from her sides. The girl immediately giggled before standing up and running over to stand next to Theta, and together, they both curtsied again.
"My name is Mia, but you already knew that Big Brother!" The girl said, grinning as she looked to her teddy. "Big Brother is funny, huh Mister G?" She said, laughing as she ran back over to sit down on the floor, tossing her bear down beside her as she began drawing on the wood with chalk. Theta laid back down beside him, staring at the girl with a sad smile, regret showing in her glowing eyes. Omega didn't know who the girl was, he couldn't remember any Little Sisters clearly, and that's just the way it was. In a sense they were all the same person to him, or had been before his mental conditioning was broken, just as every Big Daddy and Big Sister was the same to the little girls. Every Big Daddy was simply 'Daddy', Mister Bubbles, or Mister B, regardless of if they were a Bouncer, Rosie, Rumbler, or Alpha. Every Big Sister was simply 'Big Sister' regardless of their designated symbols or names. The mental conditioning they underwent lacked individuality, at least until their mental conditioning started to break when they entered puberty, along with their minds.
Their Mother had been careful handling them and their insanity as they underwent their Protector conditioning, intentionally carving away only parts of their minds as individuals so they could operate effectively with one another as they hunted together as Protectors. Little Sisters had no such individuality, they were all one singular Little Sister, one mind, and one purpose, to gather ADAM and keep the wheels of genetic industry turning.
Omega watched Mia play as she giggled to herself, Theta still softly stroking her hand through his hair. The sister had obviously kept the girl here in the apartment for a long time judging by the amount of drawings on the floors and walls, some of them large patches of chalk that overlapped so much he couldn't even see the wallpaper beneath anymore. It made sense when he thought about it. With the Little Sisters no longer able to return to the Pediatric Wing of the Persephone prison district, and no one left to man it under the Family's control, it was a miracle that Mia was even alive, let alone with a Big Sister who had obviously been taking care of her for so long. He looked over to Theta with grateful eyes, and a massive amount of respect as well as pride. Even being alone for as long as she had been, even having no contact with another living person, or orders, she had continued her duty. He had done the same, and it had led him to Iota, then to Anna and Lizzy. He had deviated from his orders when his mental conditioning had been broken, however, and now he sought new goals. He wondered what Theta would think about that, whenever she met her other sisters, and realized they had been working with humans in order to escape the city. Would she simply accept that situation? Would she be okay with letting Mia near humans? He didn't know, but he needed to find out, needed to find some way to get her to accept that as a part of life, especially with how engrossed she was with him at the moment.
. . .
Anna breathed heavily as she sprinted after her sister and Tenenbaum, amazed at how fast her sister could move even while carrying a struggling woman. She had been slowed down by the groups of dead Splicers she had found, but so had Anna. She had been attacked twice now as she tracked her sister, and the Kraken soldiers that were trailing her. She had also needed to gather as much ADAM as she could from the corpses. She hoped she wouldn't have to fight Iota, and dreaded the likelihood of that situation, especially with Iota in a feral state. If it came to that though, she would need all the help and ADAM she could get. She hoped the soldiers at the outpost just before the dark zone would slow her down as Scorn had ordered, but she didn't put too much faith in that notion. The Splicers were fanatical, and she doubted they would so much as lift a finger against one of their precious 'Queens' without Anna being the one to specifically give the order, and even then she wasn't sure. To those Psychopaths attempting to stop a Queen was blasphemy, to force a Queen to stop something she wanted to do was heresy.
She didn't know if she found comfort or anxiety in the fact that the Krakens were following her sister either. They would protect her and follow her without question, even if she led them straight into the NeoSplicer hive, which she very well might do. She still couldn't trust them though, she almost laughed at the idea, but she needed any amount of extra help she could get to keep her sister from involuntarily marching to Minerva's Den on a suicide mission. Scorn had managed to get in touch with the Krakens that followed Iota, and ordered them to protect her and Tenenbaum at all costs until Anna caught up to them. He had even told them that Iota was being controlled somehow just to make it easier for them to understand what was going on, but their orders stayed the same. Sergeant Stacker had acknowledged the command from Scorn, grimly.
Anna rounded another street corner and found more bodies now, but the sound of battle in the distance let her easily ignore the corpses. It was faint and distant, but She knew it had to be her sister and the Krakens that were with her. She took in a deep breath and screamed at the top of her powerful lungs.
"Sister! Stop!"
Her voice boomed and echoed through the quiet streets around her, and she fought against desperation as she focused on her mission, and Lizzy's face back at the Faithful's fortress. The thought of leaving Lizzy alone in a place like that was the only thing keeping her sane, the only thing keeping her from joining Iota in her madness as she headed for Minerva's Den, and the man who held Omega captive. Her eyes flashed crimson as the images of his tortured form shot into her mind, and she stopped running, holding her helmet with both hands as she growled.
"No! Don't think about it! Can't think about it! Think about Lizz! You left her alone back there with Splicers!" She growled out painfully, and had to focus on the girl's face when the threats to her almost overwhelmed her, almost driving her to madness the same as if she thought of Omega. She continued running, holding one hand on her helmet where her right eye was as she pushed images of either Lizzy, or Omega out of her mind.
"Keep moving, Anna! You have to stop her, you're the only one that can!" She barked to herself as she sprinted in her heavy armor, steel armored boots booming on the concrete. She was the only one who could stop her sister, and she doubted even that much. With Iota's mind shattered, she would fight without restraint, she would show no mercy, even to her. Anna knew that from when her own mind had broken, and she had almost slaughtered their human allies in a fit of madness. She bit her lip and drew blood, this was way different from before. Iota had lost the will to fight the last time she slipped into madness, but this was different, this time she wouldn't let anything get in her way, and she couldn't even help it. She had no control over her actions, no will of her own, trapped in her mind as she was. She was moving on instinct alone, feral and all consuming rage gripping her. Even Lizzy hadn't been enough to keep her sane, likely due to her bond with Omega. She had even sealed the poor girl in a bedroom for fear of hurting her otherwise. Anna shook her head, cursing Sofia Lamb for making them like this, for not finding a better way to heal their minds as they matured into Big Sisters. She hated the woman for what she had done, and the drawbacks that still plagued her sister and brother despite the blessings being a Protector awarded them. If she had only cared about the Big Sisters like a real mother, maybe they could have found a better way to create or raise Protectors. She scoffed at the notion of that woman ever caring about anything but power. She hated the woman, she had hated the woman for a long time, but anytime she saw her brother and sister in pain the hate swelled inside of her like an inferno. Not for the first time she vowed she would flay the woman alive if she ever found her, if she was even alive that is.
As the sound of battle both grew closer and quieter, Anna shouted again, begging her sister to stop, and knowing she couldn't hear her. Finally her sister came into view, standing inside a barricade surrounded by a dozen fallen Splicers dressed in black and red, panting and growling madly as she gripped Tenenbaum's throat, the woman still kicking and struggling to get free. Six crimson armored Krakens stood around her, their weapons held low as they looked over the bodies, and it became clear that they had killed the Faithful in the outpost as much as Iota had. They must have attacked her, or maybe one went mad and sparked a battle between the two groups. Anna didn't know which, she didn't care, but her eyes went wide as Iota began walking to the heavy doors of the closed off dark zone, looking for a way to open it, dragging Tenenbaum kicking and struggling for air behind her by the throat. The Krakens noticed her first, hearing the thudding of her footsteps approaching from the distance, and turned almost raising their weapons at her until they noticed who it was.
"Don't let her open that door! That's an order!" She screamed to the soldiers, and they stared back and forth between her and Iota.
"Restrain her! Now!" She screamed as she closed the distance, now half way to her sister as she held Tenenbaum in one hand and searched for the bulkhead controls. The Kraken guards with her turned, placing their weapons on their backs or in holsters and jumped at the sister, each one grabbing an arm or trying to wrap her up in bodies to restrict her movement. Anna felt a flash of rage flood through her when the armored figures grabbed her sister, and she fought the overwhelming urge to slaughter them for doing so. It was a struggle, and for a moment as she sprinted toward the struggling group, she didn't know who her target was. Images of Lizzy flashed in her mind, and images of Omega, she couldn't let her sister be taken, or destroy half of the city as she rampaged through Minerva's Den. Iota let out an ear splitting screech as they rushed her, and for a moment, Anna hoped they would be able to hold her. All but two of them placed their hands on their heads where their ears were beneath their spike and blade covered helmets, groaning at the pain her screech caused. The two that held on were easily shaken off when she kneed one in the stomach and stabbed the other that was gripping at her left arm, killing him as her harvester pierced his helmet's visor.
Anna reached her then, shouldering one of the dazed Krakens out of the way as she swung a heavy fist at her sister's helmet. Her eyes widened when Iota leaned back, and felt her sister's shin guard slam into her stomach. The distance was too close to hit her with full strength, but it winded her, and a follow-up swing from her harvester sent Anna dodging back away from the weapon, her heart booming in her chest as she gasped. It was one thing to train with her sister, and another thing entirely to try and beat her in an actual fight, and her sister was out for blood now. A cold chill settled over her as she realized any mercy her sister would have shown her in training was long gone, stolen by the madness that captured her mind. The younger sister was glad she hadn't undergone her full Protector conditioning, otherwise she would be as mad as her sister in that moment, and both of them would be cutting a wide path to Minerva's Den. It had saved her before too when the Athena's Glory hotel collapsed, and she had fought to help the humans escape, and then fought to reach her sister again in the darkness once they had fled.
The five remaining Krakens recovered as Anna put distance between her and her sister, surrounding Iota with raised fists, apprehensive to attack the dangerous woman in front of them even though they had been ordered by a Queen to do so. Anna had to fight her own instincts to kill the men for their aggressive posture toward Iota. Her sister dared not drop Tenenbaum from her grip, she wouldn't risk letting the woman get away, but it made Anna's task far harder. She wouldn't be able to use plasmids on her sister unless they were well placed, no Incinerate or Electro bolt. She clenched her jaw as she shot forward and the Krakens followed her lead, all grabbing at the feral woman in their sights. The light crimson light that shone from Iota's helmet caused Anna's blood to run cold when it turned on her, and she dodged an incoming stab from the woman's harvester just as a Kraken solder reached her and wrapped his arms around her back. The man was large for a Splicer, but she had turned, pulling him into the path of another soldier that was trying to reach for her. She thrashed and spun as the men held onto her, making it difficult for Anna to get close, her sister maneuvering the man in between them as she spun.
Iota screeched again, and the Krakens were forced to either release her or suffer from the deafening roar. Anna managed to slip in then, throwing a combo of punches to her sister's body and head, quickly cutting off the assault on the soldier's senses.
"Lizzy needs us, Sister! She's alone! We have to-" Anna tried to reason with her before the harvester on Iota's right arm cut her off as it went for her throat. She dodged back only to realize that was the sister's plan. Instead of hitting her younger sibling in the throat her harvester continued arching horizontally, catching one of the Krakens in his throat instead. The man grabbed at his throat and blood began seeping through his fingers and down his crimson armor as he fell to his knees, gurgling as he tried to breathe. Anna rushed her sister as she spun, her back to her now, and Iota's leg shot up into a kick, elegantly done despite her feral rage. She felt the impact on her face and staggered as Iota shot her hand out, lightning banging into her younger sibling like a bomb, and Anna's muscles contracted and spasmed involuntarily as she shook, her teeth gritting hard as her jaw clenched shut, eyes rolling.
It gave Iota enough time to kill another of the soldiers, first by kicking him in the knee, breaking it backwards as he screamed. When he fell onto his back, her boot immediately came down on his helmet, denting it beneath her as she growled with feral rage, stomping down heavily until the helmet was nearly flat. She rushed Anna then as she stood there, stunned, lightning arching off of her armor with wide eyes, but before her sister's deadly weapon reached her she was knocked to the ground, the Kraken that had tackled her out of the way bounced off of her as they landed, lying next to her with arcs of lightning sparking off of his armor now as well, shaking and growling beside her as his fingers curled into claws without him willing them to do so. Her rampaging sister was held from attacking them further by the other Kraken who had grabbed her wrist and harvester, managing to unlatch it before she batted him away, dragging Tenenbaum with her as she moved. The Kraken staggered backwards before her hand came up to grab his armored collar, pulling him toward her as she lunged her helmet into his face guard. Anna realized then that it was the man called Stacker, Sergeant Stacker that had unbuckled her sister's weapon from her arm. She watched the front of his helmet cave in slightly as her sister headbutted him with an animalistic screech of rage. He fell onto his back limply as Anna rose and jumped at her sister, tackling her and knocking her down. The impact caused her to let go of Tenenbaum's throat and the woman back peddled as she coughed and massaged her throat, pure terror on her features. The last Kraken joined her as she wrestled Iota on the ground, trying to use her weight to keep her sister pinned. It helped that the sharp blades and spikes of her armor made it far more difficult to grab her.
As the last Kraken pinned her right arm to the floor, she roared again, causing Anna's grip to loosen just enough for Iota to slam her helmet into her own, stars appearing in her vision as she lurched off of her sister, rolling to her side. Iota wasted no time, overpowering the soldier that held her and flipping over onto his back as she pushed him into the concrete, all but laying on top of him as she crawled up his back to grip both hands on either side of his helmet. By the time Anna had recovered and cleared her vision, her sister was roaring as she slammed the mans head into the cracking floor with both hands, each hit collapsing his helmet further and sending wet thuds echoing down the dimly lit street. Anna felt her hope and confidence fading as the sister turned toward her, time stood still as her crimson gaze washed over her.
Iota scrambled to her sister on all fours like a beast, and Anna backed peddled away, trying to escape, her boot met her sister with a kick to the helmet so hard it moved her backwards on the pavement. She kept coming, clawing, hitting, and screeching wildly at her younger sister. Anna's eyes went wide at the sight, it was the closest thing she had felt to fear in a long time. Iota reached her, clawing her way up to her to pin her on her back, she began hitting her with both fists before ripping the helmet from her bruised sister's head, bashing her fists into her as Anna tried to fight her off uselessly. The younger sister was only saved when Sergeant Stacker appeared behind Iota, pulling her away as he wrapped his spear over her head and using the haft to rip the raging woman off of her by the throat. He was helmetless now and blood poured from his broken nose and gapped teeth, both eyes swollen under sagging flesh as he wrestled with her, the look of fear matched his scent as he pulled her away. Anna stood and pulled one of the short spears from her back, swinging it with all of her might into the side of her sister's helmet, breaking the spear and causing Iota to flip sideways as Sergeant Stacker staggered backwards. Iota's body rolled on the concrete until she stopped moving, lying on her stomach some feet away. She saw the older sister begin to rise as she growled, panting as her shaking arms lifted her off of her stomach, but before she could get any higher, Anna was already standing above her with another metal short spear. She swung it down on the sister's helmet, forcing her back to the ground. She hit her again and again until she saw the porthole of her helmet dim and go dark.
Anna panted and spat blood and teeth from her mouth as she stared at her sister's unconscious form, as if she might start moving again and lunge for her, her dark porthole spared from the light crimson of insanity. She swallowed as she breathed heavily and glanced at the Sergeant. He was every bit as bloody and beaten as she was, and though he filled her with disgust, he had likely saved her life. She knew that, she knew that she wouldn't have been able to get Iota off of her if he hadn't ripped her off. Her sister would have killed her in her maddened state without him.
"Thank you..." She said hoarsely, reluctantly, and he put his fist to his chest plate with a small bow, panting even heavier than she was. By the time they finally found chains to bind Iota with, Tenenbaum had already recovered enough to speak, her voice raspy from the grip Iota had held on her throat for so long.
"Thank you... Anna..." The older woman rasped out, and Anna glared at her, her eyes flickering again with the bright crimson that had plagued Iota's helmet. Tenenbaum took a step back when she saw it, but made no comment on the sight.
"Don't thank me, I didn't come for you. I came so I wouldn't lose both of my siblings." She stated as she picked her discarded helmet up and placed it back on her head. Tenenbaum whispered another thank you as Anna knelt, picking her bound sister up in her arms.
"Sergeant Stacker." The sister said firmly, only a hint of disgust in her tone as the man stood at attention, awaiting her orders.
"Get on your radio and tell General Scorn and Archer that we have my sister restrained, and we're on our way back... Tell them to prepare a room in the Olympus strong enough to hold her." She ordered, and grimaced beneath her bloody helmet at having to speak those words.
"Right away, my Queen." He responded before pulling a radio from his belt and relaying what she had said.
They remained silent on the return trip, Anna quietly muttering to herself as she fought against her own mind, her head twitching to the side now and then. It was easier now that she could focus on keeping Iota safe, and knowing Lizzy was back at the command tower with Archer and Scorn. She would be there soon too, and then Lizzy would be truly safe. Luckily the walk back was faster now that any enemy Splicers had been dealt with thanks to their previous passing. Iota and the Krakens had killed a number of the vermin, and so had Anna when the stragglers attacked her out of sheer madness. She gazed down at her older sister as she carried her, the scent of her sister filling her nose, the scent of pure rage and sorrow almost overpowering even to her. She felt hot tears stream down her face, not just of sadness for her sister, but tears of a frustrated relief that she had survived such a terrifying brawl with her. It had taken Anna all of her strength, and the lives of five heavily armored and trained Krakens to stop her sister, and she couldn't help but imagine what the outcome would have been without them there, even if they were Splicers. She swallowed hard, the copper taste of her own blood sliding down her throat as she did, picturing her sister ripping her apart like she had others as she tore through the Olympus. She had to reel her mind back in when she pictured Iota walking into the darkness of the district she had stopped her at, and the horrors she would carve a path through or die trying to. Anna fought her own mind every step she took, worry for her sister, regret for having to fight her, shame for having to do what she did, even though it was necessary for her, Iota, and Tenenbaum to all survive, none of it helped her justify her actions in her mind, and guilt weighed down on her with the force of a mountain. Her stomach had lurched almost to the point of throwing up when she had broken the spear over her sister's helmet, and when she rolled to a stop, unmoving, Anna had wanted to wail in grief. She shook physically now as she looked down at her unconscious sister, as much from that sense of grief as adrenaline. It had been necessary in order to protect her, and to save Anna's own life, but it didn't make it easier.
When the Faithful's military fortress came into view the gates opened as they approached, General Scorn strode across the courtyard to greet them, and when he removed his helmet, Tenenbaum gasped. Short red hair, piercing emerald eyes, and freckled cheeks met her amazed stare.
"Craig?..." She gasped out as her hands came up to cover her mouth. The young man gave her a sad smile as he brushed his gloved hand through his sweaty red hair. "Welcome back, Doc." He said as she ran to wrap her arms around his armored body in a hug before quickly collecting herself and stepping back to massage her bruised throat.
"I thought... We all thought..." She stammered out as she pulled away from him, making sure it really was him she was seeing and not a hallucination. "How did you?..." She asked breathlessly and he grinned. "It's a long story. Let's get Iota taken care of first." He nodded to Anna and her unconscious sister. He led them to the Olympus where he told them he had some of his men make a containment room for Iota when Sergeant Stacker had radioed ahead. It wasn't much but they had cleared a hotel room on the ninth floor for that purpose. Luckily the Faithful were no strangers at having to restrain insane individuals, and they had easily found chains, iron cuffs, and a collar that should be able to hold her. Anna Growled at the young man when he had stated it so bluntly, and the young man took a step back as his eyes widened at the deep growl, but she had no other choice. She had to lock her sister away for her own safety, to keep her from attempting the same rampage again. She couldn't afford to lose both of her siblings to Reed Wahl or his men. Images of Omega being tortured plagued her mind again as she lost focus and thought about it, her eyes flickering crimson almost to the point of breaking as she shook her head violently. Archer and Lizzy had joined them as they passed the command tower, and it made focusing a little better, the older soldier was carrying the girl on his hip as he spoke softly to her under Anna's watchful eye, and the girl's presence made it far easier for her to concentrate, keeping her from slipping into madness with her being close by.
The room General Scorn led them to was bare except for the chains that had been bolted into the back wall of the bedroom with thick iron studs drilled into the concrete. Anna laid Iota down in the bed gently, just under the studs as she hooked her up, Anna breathed a massive sigh of relief, but winced every time an iron cuff snapped into place around her sister's wrists and ankles. She hated having to hold her sister here like this, but it was better than her running off to try and fight Reed Wahl's private army in the attempt to get her Mate back. She felt tears sliding down her cheeks as she locked the thick iron collar into place around her sister's throat, and she wept silently as her hands stayed around the collar, trying with all of her might to keep from unlatching it and freeing her sister, fighting her own instincts. She pulled Iota's helmet from her head and sat it nearby as she cupped her hands on her sister's bloody face as she slept, biting her lip as she looked down at her.
Tenenbaum was eager to get to the clinic when she heard that Sigma, and Tokerev had woken up, but she wanted to check on Mark and Joe herself since they hadn't yet. Selene was there too, and the poor girl could use all the support she could get from what Archer had told her. General Scorn had ordered sedatives delivered to the room as well, and the Doctor injected Iota with the medication just before leaving to check on her friends. Anna grimaced at the sight of her sister on the bed, heavily sedated. It reminded her too much of when her siblings had found her in that same situation. She hated herself for having to put Iota through that, and had to hug herself when Tenenbaum injected her with the sedatives, her instincts telling her she should kill the Doctor, even though her mind knew it was necessary in order to save her sister.
"Why are we locking Big Sister up?" Lizzy asked, fear and concern on her face as she spoke in a low tone. Anna had to take a deep, shaking breath as she explained why Lizzy wouldn't be able to get too close to her for a while, until they could make her better again, and her heart nearly broke at the pain on the girl's face when she had told her that. She tried to explain that it would only be for a little while, but she didn't know how long a 'little while' would be in truth. Anna couldn't, absolutely couldn't risk Lizzy getting hurt by Iota in her maddened state. She wasn't a Little Sister anymore, which meant Iota could potentially harm her if she awoke in a rage, and Anna wouldn't even allow the possibility of that, as much for Iota's sake as either her or Lizzy's. If Iota unknowingly harmed Lizzy, even something like batting her away as she tried to break free, it could be life threatening for the small girl, and if Iota came to her senses and realized she had hurt or killed Lizz, they might relive that mad rampage all over again. Anna had to pick Lizzy up again and hold her tightly as she felt her mind starting to slip again. She felt lost now, pain both physical and mental gripping her from all sides. Both Omega and Iota were gone, Iota only in the mental sense, but she might as well be as far away as their brother in that moment. They would have to keep her sedated in order to keep her from breaking free, the thick chains that held her would only slow her down, and Anna knew that all too well. She felt her chest tighten as she stared at the bed that held Iota, her heart breaking at the sight. She wanted to weep, she wanted to scream, and she wanted to go as insane as her sister had for all the rage and guilt she felt, but Lizzy was still there, she needed her. They needed each other. They had to rely on each other now more than ever, but sorrow and regret were heavy weights that bore down on them both.
Anna had decided to stay with her sisters for some time, until the districts night time lights shone a cool blue outside the shades of the hotel room's windows, covering their section of the city in a cool white light rather than the brighter warm tone it normally did for the daytime hours. They imitated both sunlight and moonlight, though Anna had never seen the sun or moon and didn't understand the reasoning behind the lights. Tenenbaum had stopped by the containment room to check on the siblings, and to sedate Iota again as she slept peacefully on the only piece of furniture in the room. She explained to Anna how much of a dose to give the woman if she began to stir, even marking several syringes with a pen at the lines for the doses, knowing the girl couldn't read and only had a loose grasp of numbers. Measurements were completely off the table, especially when Anna couldn't even pronounce the name drug. Tenenbaum had seen the pained look on the younger sister's face when she explained, and assured her that she would return whenever time to inject her again, but she wanted Anna to know just in case something happened and Iota managed to metabolize the drug faster than she predicted, which was entirely possible with a Big Sister's physiology. Neither Anna nor Lizzy took any comfort in the idea of having to drug their eldest sibling, especially while so many Splicers were around in the district.
After making sure the sisters had everything they needed, aside from a massive dose of therapy, Tenenbaum made her way to the command tower. She had already checked on Joe, Mark, Tokerev, Sigma, and Selene in the clinic. They had all suffered broken bones and concussions from Iota's rampage, all except Selene anyway, but they had survived, though only barely in Mark and Joe's cases. Mark had suffered a massive concussion and brain hemorrhage that she personally had to see to, and both Mark and Joe's hearts had stopped shortly after reaching the clinic, one due to his broken sternum as well as a few broken ribs, and the other due to the brain hemorrhage. The Faithful Doctors that attended the wounded in the clinic had fought tooth and nail to keep their Heralds alive, but all they had really been able to do was stabilize them, even letting two other Faithful patients suffer as they attended their holy prophets. The thought had made the older woman want to sigh when she had heard that detail from Selene, but if she had to pick, she would have done the same. She might feel compassion for the Splicers, might want to save them from ADAM sickness and the insanity and mutations that came with it, but not at the cost of those dear to her, which is why she was on her way to the command tower now.
General Scorn, or rather, Craig, had somehow managed to survive when the lights went out and the Athena's Glory had collapsed, despite being pulled down an one of the laundry shoots that led to the basement. He had been a hothead the last time they had spoken, always brash and quick tempered as young men often were, but he had changed since then. A coldness had settled over him, a seriousness and determination to match the Protectors could be seen whenever she was in his presence, now that she knew it was him. She didn't know how he had survived yet, but she wanted to find out.
When she finally knocked on his office door, she heard his deep voice echo from within, beckoning her to enter. The two armored soldiers standing guard just outside opened the doors for her and she strode in to see him standing over his desk, his palms face down as he looked at a map of the city, several maps actually. There were three others in the room with him, also looking at his desk, and Archer was one of them, the others were Captains she had learned, though she was still unsure how exactly their military was structured. She eyed the armored figures as they turned toward her. All three of the Faithful officers wore their helmets, Scorn's plumed helm looked up and nodded at her before turning to answer a question from Captain Doss, a broad shouldered Splicer to Scorn's right that fingered the hilt of the sword on his belt as if he were expecting a fight. He wore a helmet with sharp spikes dotting the top that matched the rest of his crimson armor. He pointed at the map, tapping his finger on it before shaking his head and murmuring something Tenenbaum couldn't hear. The man to Doss' right standing with his arms crossed was Captain Geller, and his heavy metal armor matched the other Captain's, though he obviously preferred blades rather than spikes.
As she made her way to the desk she decided to wait patiently for the men to finish speaking, but listened in anyway, she was a Herald after all, and rather than hearing about whatever information they learned from Archer later, she could simply join their meetings whenever she liked, as she did now.
"That district is completely dark, sir." Doss stated, and General Scorn, Craig She had to remind herself, took a deep breath through his helmet's mask, his shoulders going stiff as he slammed his ornately armored fist on the desk in frustration. He gave a low growling sigh before Archer spoke. "We'll need to either activate the lights in that district, or the one on the opposite side, either way, we're isolated until we do, and that makes reaching Minerva's Den all but impossible for anyone but a Protector." Archer explained, and Tenenbaum's eyebrows lowered.
"What is happening?" The woman said, causing all four men to look to her, the two Captains saluting her as she stepped closer to look at the map on Scorn's desk. She saw Archer's face bare a tight lipped frown as he pointed to the map. "About four hours ago we had to seal the district to the east." He stated grimly, and her eyes narrowed, she didn't need an explanation as to why, she already knew. The only reason they would seal a district was if the lights went out, and NeoSplicers infested it.
"The district to our west is also sealed, the one Iota was trying to take you through, and also the shortest route to Minerva's Den." He explained as he ran his hand through his hair as he studied the map. "Which means we're now completely isolated from the rest of the city." General Scorn said with another heavy sigh. "What does this mean for us?" Tenenbaum asked even looking to the two Captains who shifted uneasily.
"It means we're running out of time. We barely have enough food to support the amount of Faithful we have here, though I suppose Queen Iota's rampage and the Krakens executing Splicers that tried to mob Anna after her speech will buy us a little more." Scorn stated grimly. Tenenbaum noticed red arrows on the map and pointed a finger to one. "What are these arrows?" She asked, and Archer nodded with his head. "Those are places NeoSplicers have made incursions into the neighboring district, it's part of the reason the General had an outpost there, to keep watch and radio back if they crawled their way out of the tunnels again. They're getting bolder, even though the light burns them they're starting to move into the light." Archer explained, earning a nod of agreement from the General.
"Those things have been coming out into the light a lot more lately, we saw it when they broke through the tunnel you all came through. We always manage to push them back and seal the tunnels, but I think they're getting ready to try something new. Based on what Archer's told us, that giant NeoSplicer the Trinity fought in your last district was in the form of a Protector, or some kind of nightmare version of one anyway. They may be getting ready to mutate again, this time I think they'll try to develop a resistance to light. Some we've fought have already done that, mainly the big ones you call Berserkers. They're tough, but manageable with our current stockpiles of weapons, men, and ammo. If the little ones, the Drones, are able to flood out of those tunnels though... We won't have enough ammo or men to hold them back for long, it'd be like spitting into a tunnel breach expecting to stop a flood." Scorn explained before standing up straight his ornately armored arms crossing at his chest plate as he gazed down at the maps on his desk.
"What can we do?" Tenenbaum asked, her face growing grim when she thought about the prospect of being swarmed again by NeoSplicers, but this time with no safety to be found in the light. The thought horrified her, and rightly so.
"As it stands we have two options. We can either try to get the lights back on in the district to the west, or the district to the east, not both. Without the help of the Queens we'll suffer heavy losses, and I understand the King has been taken." General Scorn stated, a slight growl in his voice at the new revelation, earning a nod from both Archer and Tenenbaum, but the two Captains with them both held up their hands in the sign of the Trinity above their helmeted heads in reverence before lowering them.
"King Omega is our top priority right now." Scorn said bluntly, causing both Heralds to glance to one another worriedly. "In order to smash that bastard, Reed Wahl in Minerva's Den and free him, we'll need to open a path first, which means clearing one of the two districts that both stand in our way, as well as protect us from Wahl, and Wahl from us." The General explained.
"We'll need to choose fast, if we don't turn on the lights in one of the districts, we'll run out of food, this district has been stripped of everything but crumbs." Captain Doss stated as he nodded to the maps, his broad gesture encompassing the entire district with his statement.
"We'll need more munitions if we're going anywhere without lights. We have some Chemical Throwers in our last base back in the district we came from, four or five at least, napalm too. It's flooded now thanks to Reed Wahl and that massive NeoSplicer Protector, but it shouldn't be a problem for Sigma to walk outside the city and make his way back. A few trips there and back and we'd have at least more than we have now." Archer added with approving nods from both Captains as well as Scorn.
"If we can get those Chem Throwers, I can start putting together fireteams, a squad of men protecting one Chem Thrower should help us keep the NeoSplicer Drones at bay while ranged weapons thinned out the numbers." Captain Geller said as he folded his arms back across his chest plate. It was a solid plan, but would need time to work.
"This is going to take a few days I presume. Are we sure the power station for this district is under our control?" Tenenbaum asked, remembering what it had been like when Reed Wahl's men had turned the lights off on them. By the looks of the body language from the soldiers, they remembered when the Protectors had done the same to them too, they all went stiff suddenly, and Captain Doss' head twitched as she said it, whispering something to himself as if he was arguing with someone. Scorn's deep voice chimed in then, as if seeing the man twitch from madness.
"We are. The power sub-station for this district is at street level thankfully, and under heavy guard. I ordered the doors sealed, no way anyone has a chance to turn the power off here." Scorn nodded. Tenenbaum spoke after him stating, "Sigma will be ready to leave the clinic in a day or two, and after that we can ask him to retrieve supplies from our flooded district." she said, and everyone nodded. They went over a few more minor matters, like food availability, and who got priority with distribution. Obviously the soldiers got more than the workers in the Trainyard, and those who were too insane to be recruited into the actual fighting force Scorn had built, which was the majority, even the soldiers suffered from ADAM sickness, but they showed a remarkable resistance to the madness, likely due to their faith and training. Once they had discussed various strategies for retaking a dark district, and what they might find when they opened it up, they had decided to go with the west district. It was the shortest route to Minerva's Den by far, and would save them a lot of time to simply cut through it rather than try the eastern dark zone and have to make a considerable trek to their target. Iota had keen instinct, and she knew the city better than anyone there, even in her maddened state. They still had soldiers at an outpost at the eastern district, and they would remain there for the time being to stand guard, but Scorn had ordered more men back to the western outpost to replace the ones that Iota and the Krakens had killed.
Once they had settled everything and concluded their meeting, the two Captains made their way out of the office with salutes to their Heralds and General as they went about their duties. Finally alone in the office with the two humans, Craig finally removed his plumed helmet and gave a tired grin of white teeth, and Tenenbaum found herself smiling unconsciously. The red headed young man placed his helmet on his desk and gestured for the two of them to have a seat on a dark green couch at the adjacent wall. They did and he brought a chair over to sit down in front of them.
"I gotta say, I didn't expect to see a human face under tha-" Archer started to say before being cut off. Tenenbaum abruptly blurting out, "How are you alive, Craig?" in a worried and shocked tone, as if she had saved the outburst until now. It still had yet to sink in that he had survived. Mark and Joe were going to faint when they found out. Craig laughed lightly as his eyes went to the floor, then to both of them. Archer didn't realize that Tenenbaum knew the young man, but was now just as shocked as she was at the revelation, or at the knowledge at least.
"Like I said, it's a long story, and one filled to the brim with the Devil's own luck." He chuckled dryly. He explained how he had been pulled down the laundry shoot by the NeoSplicers and into the basement. He had been dragged into some kind of tunnel system beneath the district, and the next thing he knew the thing had jumped on him when it had gotten him alone in the dark. He had managed to find his knife as it drug him by his ankle, and stabbed the monster in the head quite a few times with his boot knife, trying desperately to hit it's brain as he stabbed at it's head, all while trying not to stab himself in the process. When the creature finally stopped moving he sat back panting, and managed to pull his flashlight from his pocket. His eyes went distant when he recounted the terror he felt in the tunnels, his weak light only penetrating a few feet into the tunnels as he heard distant, blood chilling sounds. The NeoSplicer that had dragged him had made so many twists and turns he had no idea where he was or even what direction the Athena's Glory hotel had been in, so he simply wandered the tunnels, turning his flashlight off now and then to keep hidden when he heard noises too close for comfort, his heartbeat in his ears as noises passed him in the darkness. He told them how he thought most of the creatures were likely attacking the hotel and flooding the streets above, otherwise he wouldn't have made it even half as far as he had, and Tenenbaum nodded, telling him he didn't know just how true that thought was. He told them how he had eventually wandered until he saw light shining through holes to the street above, and when he managed to climb out of one, that's when he met up with a group of Splicers who had thankfully encountered the creatures too as they fled the district. They took one look at him covered in blood, dirt, and grime, and didn't even question him when he started ordering them to look for survivors, and only one of the men had tried to kill him as he ranted from insanity and shock. That's when he began forming the foundation for the Faithful's military. He had planned to try and go back into the district to find them, using the Splicers as meat shields and his eyes went dark with shame when he admitted that no matter how hard he wanted to or tried, neither he nor the small group of Splicers he had found could bring themselves to go back into the darkness.
Craig had continued gathering people that had encountered the NeoSplicers, and even those who hadn't, remembering what Tenenbaum had said about the monsters, he had managed to put together a rag tag group of barely sane fighters that either wanted revenge, ADAM, or just the safety that came with numbers. He explained that he never wanted any kind of leadership role, but he had remembered the promise he had made the night they all had dinner together before the hotel was attacked. How he had promised to be a better person, and not such a shithead brat. He chuckled when he thought about the promise he made, and how badly he had acted back then, he had killed men for less since then. He had never wanted to be any kind of leader, but no matter how much he tried to force it onto others, the Splicers always ended up coming to him with problems that needed solving regardless of what he said, they flocked to him for some reason. He had told everyone his name was Scorn because it had sounded cool to him, and because he was scared anyone that knew his real name might know he was apart of the Doctor's group, and either kill him outright or take him to Reed Wahl, neither of which he wanted.
He had come across Edward and a large group of fanatics some time later and heard that two Big Sisters they referred to as the 'Crimson Queens', as well as 'The Crimson King' had done the same thing to them, turning off the lights and showing them unspeakable horrors beforehand. He admitted he had trouble holding back a dark laugh at their misery when he heard that. He knew it had to be Iota, Anna, and Omega after they recounted the horrible things they saw when they got trapped in the district. What really sent a chill up his spine though was the descriptions they gave of the different NeoSplicers they had fought in the dark. Edward had told him how they had fought huge raging monsters that were as hard as a Big Daddy to kill, and it made Craig want to redouble his efforts in recruiting people to stop the monsters.
He decided to join forces with the Faithful after that, and admitted that even he wanted safety in numbers after hearing their stories. He didn't trust Edward or his fanatical followers, and in truth he still didn't, but he had to admit that the man was good at focusing the insane Splicers into a common goal, one that would end up helping his search for the Protectors, as well as Tenenbaum and the rest of his friends. He hoped it would anyway, and he grinned deeply in relief when he relayed just how glad he was to see them again.
When he had finished his story Tenenbaum filled him in on what had happened to the group in his absence, and his face grew regretful when he learned of Danny, James, and Vicki passing. He had offered his sincere apologies, but Tenenbaum assured him there was nothing he could've done, though it didn't make him feel better hearing it. Archer also filled his side of the story in for him and Tokerev and how they had met Tenenbaum's group of survivors, even cracking a joke at how miserable they had looked when they found them, and how the Protectors had saved them from a Berserker NeoSplicer, and how terrified they had been to see the fight between the four of them. He also recounted their fight with the NeoSplicer Protector, and that made Craig clench his jaw.
"These things are mutating in different ways, I suspected as much based on what I've seen and heard, but, that thing truly scares me. If it was able to hold it's own against four Protectors, and three of them second generation Protectors at that... Who knows what we might see next..." He said grimly as he shook his head, his hard green eyes searching some distant place as he remembered his own time in the darkness.
"Part of why I've been gathering Splicers under one banner, and making an effective fighting force was because I knew that there would be no hope of stopping those monsters if it were just us. I don't know what you all plan to do, but I plan on wiping them out, even if that means destroying the city to do it. We can't let them reach the surface, if they do millions will die, or worse." Craig said with a tight jaw. Both Tenenbaum and Archer agreed with him, though they wanted to avoid destroying the city if they could help it. Tenenbaum still wanted to cure the Splicers, and Archer had expressed a want to try and rebuild the city sometime in the far future, or at least preserve it in all of it's technological wonder. Tenenbaum was worried about that ambition since ADAM was so addictive and dangerous, though he assured her he wanted to make sure ADAM wasn't in the equation if they were even able to rebuild the city in some distant future. He hoped she would be able to work out the flaws in the miracle drug by that time since she was still planning on researching it along with ADAM sickness. She believed what the Protectors had become was the next step in human evolution, a symbiotic bond with the ADAM Slugs that would benefit both species and elevate humanity to boundless heights, but it would need to be handled with care if it ever came to that point.
Hopes and ambitions for the future were all well and good, but first they needed to ensure there was a future first, and that started with getting Omega back, curing Iota of her madness, taking Minerva's Den from Reed Wahl and his army of ADAM addicted Splicers, and exterminating the NeoSplicers. All of which were tall orders, but they were close, they just needed to clear the district to their west, and turn the lights back on. That was their first step, after that Scorn was planning on smashing Reed Wahl's army to pieces with a tidal wave of crimson armor and faith, and the NeoSplicers after that.
