//------------------------------// // Big Daddy on the Move (Chapter 3) // Story: Subject Delta - Rapturous for Equestria // by TheMightyT //------------------------------// Subject Delta – Rapturous For Equestria *TheMightyT* Chapter 3: Big Daddy on the Move “We all make choices. But in the end, our choices make us.” -Andrew Ryan, founder of Rapture. *** 'I’m coming for you Eleanor!' Subject Delta rushed into the room. It was quite dark, anything could lurk in the shadows in the corners of this room. His slow, heavy steps came to a stop at some safety railings, preventing anyone falling down the balcony to the floor below. Subject Delta looked down and, his hart missing a beat, he saw his Daughter being threatened by three Splicers. She was standing in the middle of the room, bathing in the light that came pouring from some windows in the roof of the room. It seemed like the moon had found its way into Rapture, but it were just the light of the never sleeping city. Her skin, always unnatural white was even more white in this light, making her appear sickly and underfed. It was the appearance of a Little Sister, the twisted product of a city where ‘the scientist wasn’t bound to petty moralities’. But to Subject Delta his Daughter looked like the most beautiful thing in this world, something unable to describe by the mere words of mortals. He was her Big Daddy, she his Little Sister. He was going to kill them all, to put them out of Rapture’s misery. Directly beneath Subject Delta was a Splicer, a wrench in its hand. Subject Delta, using the railing as an extra boost, jumped down, ready to kill anything in his way to protect Eleanor. Eleanor was trying to run away, to escape from the Splicers. But one of them took her arm, trying to restrain her. He cooed to her, “Were not going to hurt you, little girl.” Another Splicer, the only woman in the group, chuckled and came closer to her partner. She came to eye-level and softly spoke to Eleanor, “Come with us, we’re only here to help.” Another Splicer stood directly beneath the balcony, probably on the look-out for any security to interrupt their little ‘conversation’. He had this feeling that he was being watched so he looked above him only to be greeted by the heavy boots of Subject Delta; crushing his skull. Subject Delta easily killed the Splicer beneath him, his boots crushing the skull with a satisfying crunch. His sudden appearance surprised the other two Splicers, giving Eleanor the chance to pull her arm out of the grip of the Splicer that was holding her. She ran away as quickly as she could, leaving Subject Delta alone with the two Splicers. His blood still boiling, but feeling slightly relieved his Daughter had managed to get away, Subject Delta advanced on the Splicers ready to kill them swiftly. But before he could even reach them he saw that the male Splicer was holding the syringe of his Daughter, still filled with some residue of ADAM. The male laughed and jabbed the needle in his arm. Subject Delta lashed out, trying to get to the Splicer before the ADAM could do its work, but he was too late. The veins on the arms of the male Splicer lit up with a blue glow, as the ADAM surged through his system; changing the DNA in every cell of his body. For a moment it looked like his hands were made out of electricity, before it shot out of his fingertips; hitting Subject Delta in the chest. Subject Delta fell to his knees, his movement and senses impaired by the surges of high voltage electricity going through his body. His vision was blurred, but his anger rose as he heard the muffled voice of the male Splicer: “Not so though anymore, big guy?!" The female Splicer laughed, as she saw the Big Daddy on his knees, unable to move. But she was taken by surprise when the monster got up in one swift movement, pulling its drill from its back and hitting her companion with it; hurling him through the room. She shifted the weight of the wrench in her hand, feeling stupid that she hadn’t brought a gun to this fight. Her wrench rose in the air, prepared to hit the Big Daddy by surprise. Subject Delta turned to her, his drill starting to spin, some smoke coming out of it. He hit her in the chest, shoving her to the ground. She rose quickly to her feet, her wrench still in her hand. She surely had broken some ribs, but some pain was not going to stop her from getting some ADAM. She charged, only to be met by the now completely spinning drill; impaling her in the chest. Subject Delta watched as his drill mangled her, it was not a pretty sight; but his anger stopped him from ending her misery. He brought his arm back and threw her off his drill, her impact with the wall accompanied by the sound of her breaking spine; ending her pain. But he hadn’t forgotten the other Splicer. He swung his right, drill-less hand; punching the Splicer to the ground. The Splicer thought he could sneak up on Subject Delta, but he found himself on the ground, the Big Daddy towering over him; a spinning drill ready to kill him. Subject Delta jabbed at him, but he only managed to get his drill stuck in the floor, as the Splicer rolled out of the way. Subject Delta pulled back, ready to end the Splicer now. But his heart skipped a beat, as the Splicer was holding a green colored, pulsating, glowing ball in his hand. He laughed as he threw it at the Big Daddy, who tried to reach him. “Obey, obey, …” A voice whispered in his head. His vision consisted only out of green, the same green of the ball he got hit with. He couldn’t do anything, his drill slipping out of his fingers on the floor. His brain gave commands to his body, but it didn’t obey. He had lost control and could only wait, his vision slowly getting back to him. Before him stood his Daughter, a worried and frightened look on her face. Why was she here, she should have run away! Footsteps came closer. A woman. He knew that woman… but from where. His Daughter looked at the woman, but she didn’t try to get away. “There we are,” the woman saying quietly but sternly, “He’s perfectly safe now.” Subject Delta wanted to kill the woman, show her how ‘safe’ he was; but his arms remained limp at the sides of his body. A dread feeling came over him, the only thing left was to think. But his thoughts got interrupted by the woman. “This is not your Daughter,” she said, pronouncing the word ‘Daughter’ like she hated it with her whole being, “do you understand? Her name is Eleanor. And she is mine.” His vision was now completely back and he recognized the woman from somewhere. But where? How did she knew Eleanor’s name? The woman looked at Subject Delta, a slight smile on her face. “Now,” she ordered him, “Kneel, please.” Subject Delta tried to resist, but his body only obeyed the woman. He went through his knees, his mind filled with questions. But the woman spoke again, his heart beating in his chest; he knew what was going to happen... “Remove your helmet.” No!, he thought. But his body didn’t listen to him anymore. With one uncontrolled swing his left arm pulled back, punching the back of his helmet, opening the locking seals and mechanisms. A sucking noise sounded as the helmet fell on his chest with a dull thud. He could hear his breathing, becoming ragged as he still was trying to regain control. It became harder to breath, he wasn’t used to breathe without his helmet on. The woman reached at her back, her hand returning with a golden plated luger. She handed it to Subject Delta, ordering him without any emotion in her voice. “Now take the pistol.” Subject Delta’s right hand came to life, reaching for the pistol. He tried to turn his head, to look at his Daughter. But he was unable to. He hoped she didn’t see what was about to happen. “Place it against your head.” His body complied immediately. 'Look away, Eleanor. I… I don’t want you to see this…' The next simple word the woman spoke brought his death. “Fire.” His gloved finger was on the trigger, his mind void of thoughts. Eleanor shook her head slightly, it seemed like she broke out of a trance. She reached out to him, trying to stop him. But it was too late… Her last words broke his heart, he didn’t want her to worry. Everything would be fine. His head jerked back as he fell dead on the floor, the smoking Luger next to him. “Daddy!” *** “He was her Big Daddy, she his Little Sister. Until Death do us part…” *** Darkness was surrounding her. Twilight Sparkle didn’t know where she was, the only thing that was grabbing her attention was the throbbing pain in her horn. It felt like it was trying to pull itself from her skull. It took her some time to push back the pain, allowing her to think. She was trying to remember what happened, where she was; but her memory was hiding from her. Feeling extremely tired and uncomfortable, the purple mare began to search her own mind for the answers she was seeking. But to no avail… Not getting any answers from her tired mind soon, she decided to find out where she was. She tried to go on touch first. She was laying on a cold, possibly, stone floor. She tried to move her legs, but her body only slightly obeyed her commands. She tried to get her eyelids to open, maybe revealing her where she was. But she immediately regretted that decision, as bright light shone in her eyes; now adding a feeling of nausea to the painful throb of her horn. She slowly breathed, trying to collect herself once again. What happened? Suddenly, she remembered, as the light that had blinded her just moments ago had beamed directly onto her brain; revealing its price. The teleportation spell… A dread feeling came over Twilight as thoughts began to fire through her mind, bringing even more questions; questions she couldn’t find an answer for. Did it work? If it did, why aren’t her friends here, helping her? Maybe she missed her target… but where was she now? Too many questions to answer for now… It was maybe for her best interest that she first found out where she possibly could be. She tried to open her eyes once again, now prepared for the light. She blinked a couple of times, trying to remove the blur in front of her eyes. She was feeling disoriented, but slowly she could begin to make out something. She was in a big room, laying on her back. The roof of the room seemed old, as there where many holes where light of the moon beamed through. There was such a hole just above her head, revealing to her the nightly sky, with the moon and stars that Princess Luna had placed there long ago. She carefully began to pull herself up her haunches. She looked to her left and saw the windows, once having beautiful stained glass in them. It slowly began to dawn to her, it becoming clear to her were she was. 'Is that the statue that once held the Elements of Harmony,' she thought, 'Am I at the castle of The Elder Sisters?' Twilight began to slightly panic now. She was in the middle of the Everfree Forest, it was almost midnight and she was wounded. Not physically, but something had gone wrong with the spell. She probably wouldn’t be using magic anytime soon, not that she wanted to try with her horn feeling like it was trying to teleport away from her skull. “No need to panic, Twilight,” she said to herself, “I just need to stay here, my friends will be looking for me.” She rubbed her hoofs together, trying to control her breathing. She couldn’t lose it now, she just had to wait; her friend would surely be here soon. For the time being she could just try to get herself someplace nice to sit down and maybe try to sleep. She didn’t see anything noteworthy in the room, except the statue of the Elements of Harmony and some piles of rubble. The castle was in a worse state than she remembered. Now vines grew through the windows and two big pieces of the roof where missing. The pieces fell on each other, now forming some kind of natural tent; with the back-end closed as more rubble had fell onto the pieces. She could probably fit herself into the small room between them if she had to. Not that she was planning to try doing that anytime soon. She looked around trying to find something useful, maybe some sticks and grass. She didn’t really knew how to make a fire without any magic, but she remembered reading about it in a book about survival. She began gathering some things, trying to make it in a small pile. She stopped suddenly, holding her breath looking around frantically. Did she just hear anything? No … no, just her imagination. But it was better to be safe than sorry, so she decided to look out of one of the windows; trying the look for the thing she had heard… scratching? She moved between the vines and looked outside. She just saw the old bridge she and her friends had crossed a long time ago, and of course, the Everfree Forest. Nothing to worry about Twilight, she thought, trying to get herself feeling less on edge. She began moving backwards, not really paying any attention the her surroundings; as she was trying to remember what that survival book had said about making fires. All of a sudden she felt something poking her in her back, and before she could stop herself, she screamed from the top of her lungs. She ran away, but stopped when she saw that the one that poked her was just a vine; now slowly wiggling in the air. Great move, Twilight! Now everything in the vicinity knows that I’m here… I hope my friends find me quickly. Her suspicions quickly became reality as she heard howling in the distance. Yellow eyes came closer in the dark, trying to find a way into the castle. As she ran to the two slabs of stone, the only natural place around where she could try to hide in; hoping with her whole heart that her friends were close… *** “In the House of Upside-Down: cellar’s top floor, attic’s ground. In the House of Upside-Down: laughing cries, and smile’s frown. In the House of Upside-Down: found is lost, and lost is found. In the House of Upside-Down: killing saves, and saving kills… ” *** Subject Delta had made it across the bridge and began making his way to the castle. His footsteps were muffled by the forest floor, his mind and body ready to fight. He heard that howling again, now closer, and a voice screaming for help. The voice wasn’t his Daughter, that he could tell now. But however or whatever it was, his hand were itching to get to use his drill on something. He began running up some eroded stairs to, what seemed like, the entrance of the castle. He came in a room, clearly taken back by nature; like Rapture… He finally saw the wolves, trying to get to something between two slabs of stone. With a loud growl, something that only could be accompanied by something large and powerful, he brought their attention to him. The wolves quickly turned around, beginning to advance to him in some kind of formation. This was going to be interesting … There were four wolves, one larger than the others; probably the alpha male. The wolves looked like they were made from wood… he would call them ‘Timberwolves’ for the time being. They all had yellow glowing eyes, just as Eleanor when she was his Little Sister; but they didn’t shine like hers did. These were creatures that were hunting, with only one goal in their minds: food. They made them thing of Splicers, only making him more angry. He carefully watched them approach, as they split up to walk around a stature of some kind in the middle of the room. Reaching for his drill, he stepped closer, trying to intimidate them. Their reaction was to jump back, only to come closer themselves; trying to surround him. He looked at the drill in his right hand, it didn’t had any fuel left. A pity, but it didn’t worry him at all… Subject Delta kept his eyes on the wolves, who had split up in two groups. He tried to keep them in front of him, lashing out to them as they tried to get around him. They too lashed out, only to interrupt their attacks before Subject Delta could hit them. They were trying to find a weak spot in his defense. One of the wolves at his right snarled at him and he turned to meet the charging wolf, only to find it retreating quickly. He realized he had given the wolves at his left a change to attack, but he was too late to stop them. He felt teeth sinking in his arm, but they didn’t manage to break through his suit. He kicked at the wolf, pushing it back. The other tried biting in his left leg, but Subject Delta was quick to hit the wolf with his drill. The wolf laid on the ground, out cold. He pulled his leg up and smashed the heel of his boot on the head of the wolf. The sound of breaking timber filled the room, making it three to one. Two other wolves tried to attack him, he punched the first one with his left hand, breaking its nose; instantly killing it. The second one, however, managed to bite in his drill; trying to pull it out of his grip. His instinct reacted fast, trying to make the drill spin. To his surprise it did, destroying the yaw of the wolf. He quickly ended its misery, jabbing his drill at the wolf's chest; penetrating it. He slowly pulled back, but he couldn’t help to feel like he was forgetting something. Subject Delta was taken by surprise when the last wolf, the alpha male, attacked him in the back. He struggled, losing his drill in the process, to get the wolf of his back. He managed to get a hold of the wolf and he threw it against the stature in the middle of the room. Subject Delta searched for his drill, laying on the floor; but the wolf wasn’t done yet. It got back up and leaped at Subject Delta. Doing the first thing he could think of, he pushed his hand out to the wolf. A spurt of fire hit the wolf mid-flight, taking it out of the air. It screeched out of pain, trying to roll on the floor to put itself out; a stomp of Subject Delta quickly ended its suffering. The room was clear now, all the wolves laying death around him. He picked up his drill, attaching it to his back. He was surprised he could still use his Plasmids, as he was all out of EVE. He didn’t worry too much, there’s was more time to think about it later. It could be magic for all he know, like in the stories is Daughter had talked about a long time ago; but the fact that his drill worked without fuel and that his Plasmids were still available made him feel more at ease. Now he could handle anything this place could throw at him, having his faithful one-two combo at his disposal. He made his way to the two slabs at the end of the room, forming some kind of shelter. The wolves were trying to reach something in there, it couldn’t hurt to look, could it? He knelt down, looking inside and what he saw… he didn’t expect it at all. It looked like a horse, no smaller, a pony? Yes, a purple pony, purple like the aura Eleanor always seemed to be surrounded by. It also had a horn on its head... it didn’t react to his intently gaze. It seemed to be unconscious, maybe it was wounded; but he couldn’t tell. He fiddled around his helmet trying to find his flashlight, he didn’t use it that much before. He finally got it on, giving him the light needed to inspect the purple, horned pony. He didn’t see blood or any wounds … so it was probably just out cold. His thoughts were confirmed as he now saw the slight movement of her sides beneath her purple coat, indicating that she was indeed still breathing. He had come this way, hoping to find his Daughter; but instead he found something else he didn’t expect. It wasn’t his Daughter, but he had saved it nonetheless. He needed to think about what he should do now... >---< Subject Delta has found Twilight Sparkle, her life now rest in his hands… What should he do? A.) Kill it! It isn’t Eleanor and it only made Subject Delta fight for no reason. Why should he care! What are the odds that this creature would be missed by anyone? What is another death amidst all of this suffering… B.) Leave it! It isn’t his Daughter, so why should he care? It isn’t wounded, so it probably can make its way out of the forest alone. Subject Delta has more important things to do, he needs to find Eleanor. Even if it means that he needs to wander around forever in this forsaken forest in search of her… C.) Save it! It isn’t Eleanor, but it makes him think about her. It is small and helpless like his Daughter once was … . Maybe he should try to help it getting out of the forest, there surely is some sort of civilization somewhere out there. Who knows, maybe it could help him find Eleanor in the long run… >---< *** “Our choices are what define us…” *** Author’s Note: Here you go, dear readers, some moral choices for Subject Delta to make. What should he do? Let me know in the comments… Just know that the wrong choice could bring the story to a sudden end… Some random trivia about this chapter: *During writing the official soundtrack for BioShock 2 was used. To be more specific: Sounds from the Lighthouse; names of the songs used: ‘Eleanor’s Darkness’ & ‘Big Sister on the move’. *Before the rewrite, it counted around 1500 words. *The right to ask for a spoiler for Chapter 4 is revoked. Spoilers will be given when I feel like it.