"I'm sorry, Daddy."

I don't respond, focusing on maintaining my grip on both the research camera and my shotgun as I edge my way into an abandoned building. The door's hanging off its hinges and the wall its frame is embedded in is half-collapsed, hence the need for caution- one wrong move and I'll bury us alive under the debris.

"I really didn't mean to. I'll be more careful next time, I promise- just please, give me another chance!"

I give a stern grumble in response, and stoop awkwardly in order to manoeuvre our way completely inside. As I do so, I hear a muffled sob, and feel like someone's just clamped my heart in a vice. My Protector instincts flare up like flames fed with gasoline, berating me for making her cry, my innocent charge who is the sole reason for my existence. Stop what you're doing, let her have what she wants, just stop hurting her!

But I know that if I give in, I'll just hurt her even more. I don't want her to feel useless, but her physical safety is more important than hurt feelings, and if we have another accident like the one we just had then I don't think I could forgive myself.

Ugh. This is all my fault. I was so selfish- in my desperation to save my daughter, I threw another little girl under the bus. Good grief, I'm just like her, aren't I? Like Lamb. I'll do whatever needs to be done to get what I want, regardless of how many people I hurt and how much damage I do along the way. Stupid, selfish, useless-

Enough. I thump my fist against the wall in the hopes that the pain will distract me from my thoughts, the Sister's flinch at the noise sending another pang of guilt coursing through me. I can't get caught up in these questions- too many people are depending on me for that. No one cares whether I'm a good person or not; the important thing is to make sure I do what needs to be done. Starting with this Sister. I got distracted before, forgot what I had brought her for, but I won't let it happen again. We've harvested two angels so far- now we just need to find the one she scented in this building, and she can finally go home. I'm just angry it took this much time and an injured child for me to realise that.

The shame and guilt still lingers, though, so when we do reach the corpse I almost trudge right past it. With an irate growl, I lower the Sister down onto the corpse, and with a final pleading look at the hack tool she gets to work. It's at this point I remember that it's a wise move to map out an area and prepare a strategy before starting harvesting, and I mutter a curse as I hastily sling the research camera into a corner and charge over to the entrance to string a tripwire across it. The incident really did a number on me, and it's interfering with the task at hand. I can't let that happen, darn it! I need to keep my focus, before more people get hurt.

The first splicer crashes through the ruined doorway, and runs straight into that hasty trap I set. I take a grim satisfaction in the sight of his corpse dangling across the wire like a stinking sack draped over a washing line, before another one starts climbing over the top of him and I have to dispatch it before it gets all the way through.

It goes on like this for a little while, splicers making their way through one at a time and me finishing them off as they do so, like the world's most violent drive-through service. Though I didn't scout out the battleground beforehand, the terrain is working in my favour: the windows are blocked by the piles of timber and other refuse someone's stacked up to prevent the place collapsing in on itself, so the only way anyone's getting in is through the door. Sure, the entire building might crush us at any second, but frankly, I've been in more danger. I'll survive.

Suddenly, there's a thunderous crash, and the doorway caves in in a dense cloud of dust and rubble. I have just enough time to see a gargantuan figure begin to emerge from the wreckage and think how ironic my last thought seems now, before a resounding thunk and a dull pain in my left forearm reminds me that I'm still fighting a female splicer. I turn back to her and slam the drill into her skull, sending her tumbling to the ground. Whether she's dead or unconscious is uncertain, but I'm fairly sure she's not getting up in a hurry.

There's an ominous groan from the doorway, and I spin round to see that huge creature I'd spotted pulling itself from what's left of the door frame. It's a splicer unlike any I've seen before: its shape's more like that of a gorilla than a human, squat but almost as bulky with muscle as a Protector. The creature's hardly the gleaming bronze bodybuilder of the plasmid advertisements, though. Its bubbling flesh and bulging proportions make it seem more like it's being devoured by some demonic fungus growing inside it, spreading and swelling beneath its skin until one day it'll burst in a gory mess.

Despite its turgid mass, however, it moves strangely quickly, and I have to hastily retreat as it lurches towards me with astonishing speed. Luckily, it seems as though its reactions aren't quite as fast as its movements, and it lollops right on past me and crashes into the wall.

Click.

I spin around to face the source of that quiet sound and find myself staring at the Little Sister, who's filming the dazed splicer with the research camera. Why she's ignoring the job she's been trained to do for all her conscious life in favour of searching out my discarded equipment and using it to her heart's content, despite the fairly harsh lesson she learned about not doing that just a few minutes ago, I don't quite know. Nevertheless, there she is, sticking out her tongue in concentration as she attempts to follow the creature's thrashings and flailings with the lens. She almost drops the thing when she hears my involuntary growl of irritation at the sight though, and gives me a guilty smile. I don't bother giving her a vocal response- I just shake my head and jerk my thumb back to the corpse. The girl gives me a sullen nod and starts to scurry off in that direction, but she keeps filming, edging awkwardly sideways as she struggles to keep the camera trained on the monster's struggling form. Gritting my teeth in irritation, I give an impatient snarl; or at least, I start to, but I'm cut off by a sudden roar of triumph and the sensation of someone's brawny fists clenching around my arm. Before I have time to think that I really should have been paying more attention to the person I was grappling with just a moment before, I'm swung round and slammed into the adjacent wall. The drug-addled inhabitants of Rapture are all surprisingly strong, but good grief, it seems I was well-justified in comparing this one to a Protector- my vision's blurring and doubling, my head's swimming, and as I slump to the floor, bricks and building material crash down onto my frame where the wall has caved on impact. With a groan of pain, I attempt to struggle upright, but all my scrabbling does is cause several pounds of dust and rubble to rain down on my face plate. From somewhere above me, I hear a deep rasping noise- it takes me a moment to realise it's my opponent laughing at my predicament. I feel a surge of frustration and anger in my stomach, which intensifies exponentially as I hear a shriek of panic from the Sister.

"No! No strangers, stay away!"

The brute's decided to stop beating about the bush and to grab the kid while I'm trapped. Her screams and my snarls of protest are as relevant to him as the mewling of the cat I can hear from somewhere outside this crumbling shack- he's thinking of nothing but the tantalising scent of ADAM that's coming from the girl's stomach. I frantically redouble my efforts to fight my way free of the wreckage, shoving splintered wood and crumbling masonry aside as fast as possible, but I'm still dazed, and this stuff's heavy; I'm not shifting it fast enough. It's only a matter of time before he manages to grab her, and then it's all over.

"Let go! Put me down, no strangers, no!"

He's picked her up. He's picked her up, I'm too late, no no no, please no, not again, I can't not again please-

Suddenly, the crying stops, and I push away the last piece of debris just in time to see the Sister plant her little foot very firmly in the splicer's stomach. With a cry of anguish, the monster drops her, and the girl runs to me and clamps my legs in a tight hug.

"Daddy!"

Relieved but aware that our attacker is still very much a threat, I give her a quick pat on the head, then motion towards the corpse. The girl gives an "Oh!" of realisation and hurries off to finish up harvesting, while I ready my drill and turn back towards the brutish splicer, who's straightened up and is looking not a little ticked off. Roaring with fury, he charges towards the Sister, fists swinging, and I only just manage to intercept his reckless lunge and shove him to one side with a blow from the drill. Once I've managed to knock him off-course, momentum does all the work for me: I only have to watch in amusement as he tries desperately to halt before crashing into the opposite wall. As he does so, the house gives an ominous groan, and with a sinking feeling I realise that this shack, never too stable to begin with, has not been taking kindly to our violent brawl. It already seemed as if the roof might collapse on us at any moment- now, I'm pretty sure that unless we get out soon, we're never going to see the light of ancient flickering electric bulbs again. The problem's going to be finding a way out, given that our brawny friend's dramatic entrance collapsed the doorway along with an entire side of the building. However, as my eyes settle on the huge dent in the wall where I was flung against it, an idea begins to form in my mind. It's not a perfect plan- if it's going to work, I'm going to have to keep the splicer alive until the Sister's finished harvesting, and make sure he doesn't do any more damage to the place in the meantime. However, it's the best plan I've got at the moment, so it's going to have to do.

I turn back to where the splicer's staggering to his feet, swaying slightly. His disorientation doesn't make him seem any less threatening- on the contrary, the fact that he's still upright after a blow like that merely emphasises his terrifying strength and stamina. How much Sports Boost did you take, sir?
I can't rely on strength to win this battle for me, given that the guy's bulky enough to make us about evenly-matched, or even on agility- we might have the same build, but I'm slower and stiffer due to my cumbersome suit. Still, at least I can think for myself: that has to count for something in this hellhole. I also have the ability to fire bolts of lightning and tongues of flame towards the enemy, but given that we need him for our great escape I may need to be cautious in their application.

The brute attacks first, lurching towards me as fast as he can with an evil sneer twisting his bloated features. I've only got just enough time to fling myself out of his path before the collision, ending up on my hands and knees on the filthy floor. I turn back towards him as he struggles to slow down, bellowing in rage and dismay, but seems rather ungrateful when I lunge towards him and bring him to a stop by grabbing ahold of his leg. He collapses with a weighty thud and a yell of anger, but wastes no time in attempting to lash out at me with wildly thrashing limbs. I have to acknowledge his determination, even as I dodge his unwieldy swings and struggle upright. As he gives up on his attacks and begins to clamber to his feet, his thick lips mouthing with curses as he tries to arrange himself into a position where his bulk isn't hindering progress, I glance towards the Sister. She's almost done, but she still needs to swallow the ADAM. It's no good trying to move her before she's done that: Gatherers are trained to consume the ADAM from the last "angel" before they move on to the next or set off back to the vents, to maximise ADAM production*. I grit my teeth and activate my Electrobolt: if I can keep the Brute jittering on the spot, I won't need to do as much wrestling.

Not a moment later, the splicer finally regains his footing and begins to charge towards me, roaring at the top of his lungs. I fling a bolt of lightning his way, and watch in satisfaction as he collapses once again, his limbs jerking erratically. My smug smile is abruptly wiped from my lips as one of his flailing arms smashes against one of the walls. If he was just your average joe, he would've broken his wrist; as it is, he nearly manages to topple the entire structure as easily as you might destroy a jenga tower by knocking out the bottom brick. I freeze up as the wall precariously tries to locate its new centre of mass, leaning dangerously far inwards like an overly-friendly drunk. After what seems like an eternity, I let out the breath I've been holding- the room seems to have decided to stick with its current dimensions for the time being. I'm just glad that the Brute hasn't managed to dislodge any more bricks; or at least, I'm glad until I see that the reason he hasn't is that the Electrobolt has run out and he's now clambering ponderously to his feet, an evil look in his beady eyes.

Just as I'm raising my drill to defend myself, I'm distracted by a delighted cry: "All done, Daddy! Can I take some more pictures now?". I fight the urge to voice my exasperation at her persistent attempts to help me out, but force my gaze back to the Brute- there'll be no more getting flung across the room because I was scolding my charge in the middle of a brawl. Besides, I tell myself sternly, she's not stupid, even if she is incredibly stubborn. She's not going to go running into the fray, not after what happened last time. There's a niggling doubt at the back of my mind, but I push it down and focus on the figure of my foe, who's galloping-

-right towards the Sister.

Oh shoot, oh shoot, shoot shoot shoot. I tear across the room and slam into the splicer's side, sending us both crashing to the floor.

"Daddy? Daddy!"

I crane my neck up and frantically wave at her to be quiet: she's not going to be attracting his attention again, not if I can help it. I can't believe I assumed that once the creature regained his senses, he would automatically head towards the hulking, heavily-armoured monster rather than the vulnerable child reeking of ADAM. Apparently having a mind of my own doesn't mean I'm cleverer than, say, a damp sponge.

My self-flagellation is swiftly brought to an end as the Brute recovers from his daze and gives a roar of frustration, his beefy limbs thrashing as he attempts to struggle to his feet. I grab onto his wrists and try to use my bulk to keep him down, but his own unnatural strength means I'm not going to be able to hold him for long. I'm tempted to put my escape plan into action now, but its success rather depends on me getting a head start, and that's not going to happen given his terrifying pace. Unless… Well, it's a risky idea, but it's going to have to do. I scan the area around us, and find a half-brick that'll do perfectly. I flex my left hand and summon Telekinesis, then roll off my opponent and up into a crouch. He straightens up without the need for such acrobatics, his face twisted into a leering nightmare, and is promptly hit round the back of the head with the aforementioned building material. Part of me wants to stay and gloat**, but I clamber to my feet and dash over to the corner where the kid's hiding instead, scooping them up and holding them close to my chest.

I don't bother to turn around to face my foe as he bellows with rage, instead curling around the Sister to shield her. As an afterthought, I pull out a fragment of the wall with my Telekinesis- I can only move one object at a time, so my efforts don't cause the structure to crumble, but it weakens it a fair bit. It's just as well, too, because it's at this point that the Brute slams into me and all three of us are sent careening towards the brickwork. There's a cry from the girl, a grunt of surprise from the Brute, and then-

-impact.

Footnotes:

* Otherwise, the Sisters being small children and their guardians being little more than battering rams with legs, they'd completely forget to swallow any of the stuff and the ADAM wouldn't actually be processed by the slugs in their stomachs. Quite a few people ended up out of a job once that little flaw in the programming process was discovered- or at least, I think they did. I remember an awful lot of shouting going on, but then again, when wasn't there with Suchong around?

** Probably the same part of me that decided leaving my ward unprotected when a Brute was sizing us both up as opponents was a good idea. Seriously, I'm pretty glad Eleanor can't see me now, or she'd be pretty disappointed in the Father she respects so much.

Author's note:

So... It's been a while. I'm really, really sorry. I know I say that every time, but I really do mean it. My workload has been pretty nightmarish since the last update- things escalated pretty rapidly and soon enough I was buried under stuff I had to do and such like. I've still been writing this, but progress has been horribly slow, and I'm so sorry that's been the case. Again, my profuse apologies. However, I can say once again that I'm not going to abandon this. There might be some pretty long gaps between updates, but this will get finished. This has been the most I've ever written of one story, and I'm not going to give up on it now. So if there is another gap like this, please remember that I will update at some point- I won't leave it unfinished.
On a slightly cheerier note, thank you so much for all the feedback, favourites and follows I've had since the last chapter. You've all been so great and supportive, and every one of your comments and subscriptions has helped me keep writing, even when I've been buried with work. So- thanks. I really mean it.
Please, feel free to give me feedback! As above, I really do appreciate all the comments, follows and favourites I get. Constructive criticism is always welcome!