A/N: HELLO~! Been two years, but I'm back!

Back and ready to finish this!

Right then, for any who have been reading a Sage in the Clouts, no doubt you read its finale. That's right, the "Sage" Naruto of that story carries on in this one. If you recall, it ended with the two of them slugging it out over their differences. Trying to kill one another even. Rejecting the existence of the other to save their respective worlds. But how did it come to that? Who or what brought things to a head?

This chapter sheds some light on those events.

And it all starts with one man.

Delta and Sigma still have their roles to play and while the latter doesn't appear in this chapter-yet!-which brings me to a MAJOR shakeup. One that might shock some of you. Delta has regained his voice somehow. Wonder how that happened...?

To get an idea of what he sounds like, go look up "Macbeth V. Bioshock" on Youtube. Seriously. Do it. Right now. It won't even take ten minutes of your time. Someone pointed him out to me and he does an AMAZING Delta voice. How do I put this...think Team Four Star but in Bioshock. He only has two videos at the moment, both of which are voice-overs, and his slightly-done attitude with Delta had me in stitches throughout, so much so that I decided to make the first half of this chapter a tribute to him, of a sort.

All credit for that and the voice go to him and I own absolutely nothing, nothing at all!

Yes, this is a shameless plug for him and I regret nothing!

We're nearing the conclusion here folks, and have one or two chapters left, including the epilogue. Its been a wild ride, and I thank you all for joining me on this journey. I've genuinely enjoyed this story, and the sleepless nights used to write it was time well spent in my mind. I do hope you'll all stick around for the conclusion. Fontaine? Dead. Andrew Ryan? Captured. Which leaves us with one big bad-two if you count a certain prophet-before this story wraps up in one neat little bundle. That's right, I'm talking about Sofia Lamb.

The good doctor's going to get a fitting end, I assure you.

But it won't be here. No, no, no. Not here, not yet.

I'll even give you a little teaser quote of it.

Her punishment must be more...

...severe.

"Two wrongs do not make a right, Subject Delta."

"Hmm. Got me there, doc. But three lefts certainly do."

"What kind of inane logic is that?! It makes no sense at all!"

"I'm not into making sense, doc. I just kill bad people. Like you."

"Wait, stop! We can talk this out, you and I! We're all Eleanor has left! Us!"

...there'll be one less when I finish with you. Now hold still. Careful, this might pinch...

"Might...wait...what...what are you doing, Delta? Delta? No! DELTA?! STOP! Please, don't! I beg you!"

~Lamb and Delta.

Pass the Ammunition

Wake up, Father!

Subject Delta opened his eyes.

Groaning, the Big Daddy blinked in surprise.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Four times.

Distantly, he became aware of the steady sound of water running against his helmet, an incessant drip-drip-drip that threatened to drive him mad. Through a red tinged cloud and the distant squawk of a broken radio, he managed to make out the faint features of his right hand. Hmm. He still had all five fingers. With an effort he forced them to clench. That was good, he supposed. He needed those. Couldn't well hold a weapon if he didn't have a hand now, could he? Right, so his arms were still there. That was also good. Legs? Check. Chest? Check. Torso? Still there. Helmet?

A familiar porthole stared back at him from the glassy puddle below, stern and unflinching.

Behind him the faint light of a Vita Chamber cast the room in its benevolent glow.

With that the rest of his vision returned finally in fits and spurts.

This was...unexpected, to say the least.

At first, it came as something of a shock that he was alive at all; his last memory clearly involved a bullet to the brain. Eleanor's final scream. That had very clearly killed him, yet here was. A low moan trickled through his helmet, trailing off into a wet, hacking cough as pain flared in his chest. Said cough evolved into an annoyed snarl, followed by an outright laugh once his broken psyche finally processed what had happened. Somehow, in a method he didn't truly understand, he'd managed to cheat death. Well! This was a cause for celebration...

...or it would have been, if he didn't already feel like death warmed over.

Propping himself up on his dominant arm, the giant of Rapture forced his beleaguered body to rise. Like a rusted machine gone without oil, it obeyed, fighting him for every inch. Eventually he succeeded and stood with a supreme effort of will. Even then his weakened legs nearly betrayed him, collapsing like rotten driftwood under his weight. His hands flailed for a handhold and when none appeared, made one of their own. The wall gave a ponderous groan as an armored fist slammed through it and created a pseudo-hold to steady itself.

The same could not be said for Delta's swimming vision.

Clouds of crimson swam before his sight, churning like so much blood in the water. Images flickered across the Alpha's eyes in grisly red relief, vanishing when he reached for them. Raising his gaze, he caught a shadow of movement in the dark, a flicker of ebony in the blackness. A pair of glowing golden eyes peered at him from a shadowy alcove, retreating into the dark. Steadying himself, the Big Daddy slowly shook the fatigue aside and pushed himself off the wall to lumber after them, driven by an instinct he didn't fully understand. Alas, his recovering body proved woefully slow.

Muffled laughter, the giggling of little girls, greeted him from the shadows as he plodded his way deeper into the resorts.

"Its another daddy!" someone whispered.

"I've never seen him before!"

"Is he new?"

They shrank back into the shadows as he approached, vanishing into vents and passageways too narrow for him to follow. The Big Daddy paid them no heed. They were of no threat to him. He knew not why he was here, only that he needed to move. Some unspoken instinct drove him forward, urging him on despite his reservations. Door after door parted for him, until at last, he found what he sought. A distant, metallic voice called out to him and he followed it through the maze of corridors, pausing only to dispatch an errant splicer who, for reasons unknown to him, shot another in the back.

Casting the ruined body off his drill, Delta entered the room beyond and found the source of the voice.

Every Big Daddy knew a Gatherer's Garden when they saw one.

The knowledge was coded into their very minds.

Delta was no different.

By some miracle a lone Plasmid awaited him there. An Electro-bolt.

Might be useful in restarting the generator he'd passed.

Father...

This time, the visage of a young girl flashed before his visage when he moved to claim it.

Alpha grunted in quiet confusion and slotted the syringe into his vein...

"Urk!"

...only to seize up as a fresh wave of debilitating pain raced through his chest. This pain went far beyond the last, for it was more than mere discomfort. It was agony. Fire pervading his every cell, glass in his veins. Blue sparks scrawled up and down his arms, altering his very cellular structure on a molecular level. The simple act of breathing nearly caused him to pass out. Narrowly catching himself on a bent knee, the guardian of Rapture bowed his head and grit his teeth beneath the helmet, stubbornly riding out the pain as the resort lurched around him like a drunken bull. In the end, he could only hold on and ride out the fit.

With time it passed, as all things do, and he found he could think again.

He raised his gaze and stiffened.

The serene, golden eyes of a Little Sister stared back at the Big Daddy. Tentatively, she approached him, dirty dress swishing around her bare ankles as she scooted forward, her frail arms clutching a ragged teddy bear in hand. Delta acknowledged her with a glance, but still she remained, waiting for him to recover from his ADAM-induced seizure. Did she want something from him?

For a tense moment, neither spoke.

She broke the silence first.

"Are you...okay?"

Delta grunted.

She must've taken that as a yes, for the little one came closer still.

A tiny, delicate hand reached up to clean the dirt and grime from his porthole.

"You were sleeping...for such a long time...and Eleanor has missed you...so Daddy helped you wake up."

Delta cocked his head.

Her Daddy?

A faint smile bloomed on the girl's pale visage.

"Find them and you'll be all better, okay?"

Scarce had she finished than a twisted creature of flesh and metal slammed into him. In one smooth movement the bipedal abomination snatched up the girl with a shriek and darted through the door he'd come. Even as Delta bounded to his feet in pursuit, the rusted arch slammed shut with a dead crackle and a shower of sparks. Once more Subject Delta rose up again, though not unfazed by the unexpected ordeal. He scarcely knew the Little Sister who'd spoken to him, yet he felt compelled to save her all the same. He needed to move, needed to run, to open that door and-

A fresh bout of pain ripped through his back, causing him to double over, groaning.

"Aw, hell." he rumbled. "Feels like I got hit by another me..."

The sound of his own voice brought him up short.

Wait.

Words?!

He could speak?!

"Ahem." he coughed out harshly. "Testing, testing!" a second attempt confirmed his suspicions, the deep baritone rumble echoing from within his hardened helm. "One, two, three? Is this thing on? Hmm. Yeah, definitely sounds like me." the bitter, sardonic notes of his somehow repaired vocal chords confirmed his brief suspicions. "Well whaddya' know. Who woulda thought?" Granted, his newfound voice stood a touch deeper than what he was accustomed to, but beggars couldn't be choosers after all.

Surprises abounded today, it seemed.

The man once known as Johnny Topside nearly laughed outright at the thought.

There was a decided spring in his heavy step as he advanced through the ruins of Adonis Luxury Resort. No one emerged to challenge him when he waded through the rubble and the murk; indeed, his presence went all but uncontested through the next few rooms once he restarted the appropriate generator. The only noteworthy impediment encountered from there proved to be a door jammed by a rivet gun, which he handily retrieved and armed himself with.

Yes, his day was looking up indeed.

Humming a jaunty tune to himself, the Big Daddy advanced.

"Praise the lord and pass the ammunition...

Not only had he been restored to life and sanity but someone-or something-had seen fit to lend him the power of speech once more. It was almost too good to be true. He nearly ripped his helmet off just to see if his face had somehow been repaired as well. A thorn of concern pricked his thoughts and held him back. No. Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or face. He was chuffed enough to have his voice back; he didn't want to ruin it all by staring into the face of death itself. His grasp on reality was already tenuous enough as things stood. No need to push it over the edge. No, for now he needed to focus on finding...

Finding...

Finding who?

Someone, but who was it?

The thought caused his steps to falter.

A wisp of memory danced through his mind.

That face he'd seen, the voice he had heard upon waking...

Father!

Eleanor.

He remembered.

She was his light. His life. His everything. His very reason for existence. Until she'd been taken from him. No. Not taken. Stolen. Kidnapped. Forced to watch helplessly as he perished before her very eyes. Pain flared in his skull at the memory, but even it paled in comparison to the face Delta recalled; the sneering visage lurking in the depth of his subconscious. Those horn rimmed glasses. That smug, satisfied smile as she droned on at him, commanding him to remove his helmet. To take the gun. Put it against his skull. To pull the trigger...

"LAMB!"

The revelation was so profound he almost failed to notice the ambush he'd inadvertently walked into. Perhaps, had he been more aware of his surroundings, he would've realized he'd accidentally left his back exposed to a threat, but in his stunned state he simply didn't realize his own peril. Oddly enough, this momentary lapse of concentration would prove to be for his benefit.

"Holy shit, where did he come from?!

"Who cares?! Get his ADAM!"

"Gut the bastard!"

Almost.

The jarring impact against the back of his helmet was very hard to miss.

"Ah, come on fellas, a monkey wrench? Seriously?"

A flick of his wrist rendered a frozen statue of the unlucky splicer who'd struck him mere moments ago, leaving its twisted face frozen in horror. He'd been human once, clad in the rotted coveralls of a mechanic. Now he was little more than a feral beast, and he died like one. Delta's right hand twitched and with a thunderous roar, the drill thundered to life in his grasp. Leveling the writhing weapon in his hand he drove its spiraling edge through the man's rigid remains and shattered them into a thousand pieces.

Ting!

An armed splicer opened fire and without a backhanded gesture Delta fried them where they stood, sending their suited body twitching to the ground. His drill howled back to life and gorged itself on another, flinging their tepid corpse away to join that of his fellows. The rivet gun barked twice and in turn two men who might've been doctors or perhaps surgeons flopped bonelessly into the shallow pool. The confrontation lasted no more than thirty seconds. It began and ended with Delta towering over them all.

Only one remained.

She shrank back, her madness momentarily tempered by the grisly deaths of her allies.

Once, she might have been called beautiful.

Hard to tell with her filthy dark hair and so few teeth in her mouth.

For a moment, it almost seemed as though she would see sense and flee.

Then twisted addiction reared its ugly head, and that glimmer of sanity vanished.

"You killed Bert and Larry! I'll gut you for-URK?!"

With a furious growl Delta rounded on the remaining splicer, seizing the filthy creature by the scruff of her neck through her ratty red dress. The woman shrieked and struggled, to no avail. Delta's grip was iron, and there could be no escape from it. Though she swore and snarled and slashed at him with her nails, the Big Daddy didn't flinch. Instead of silencing her however, that armored hand lifted her upright. Hauled her from her feet to dangle her twisted form before him. At first, he didn't say anything to her. He simply dangled her there, leaving her to kick fruitlessly against his chest.

A giant hand shook her, abruptly.

"Would. You. Kindly. Stop. Struggling."

When Delta finally spoke, he nearly gave her a heart attack.

Since when were these big bastards able to balk all of sudden, eh?!

It was only when he leveled the tip of his blood-soaked drill against her chest that she understood what he truly intended. She couldn't see his face. Of course she couldn't see his face because of that blasted helmet but somehow, not being able see made it all the worse. His words sounded almost pleasant, yet they carried with them a dark promise; the implicit threat of violence if she didn't comply. The demented tone put his previous display of brutality to shame. That he seemed so damnably calm about it all only made it all the worse for the poor splicer. In the end, her body betrayed her and she went.

"S-Sure, I'll stop."

"Hey, now." he growled.

Pulled her close, closer still.

"Be a pal and help me out, here."

That glowing porthole loomed over her.

"Where the hell did Lamb take my baby girl?"

A/N: DELTA IS UNLEASHED WITH A VENGEANCE!

Next chapter we get to see Naruto and co. again, no worries.

Gonna say it right now, Delta's a little unhinged thanks to his revival so he's not...

...well, let's just say he's not entirely sane after going through that kind of ordeal, eh?

Additionally, he's also been empowered with the frost plasmid as of his unexpected revival.

Yes, Delta did get his voice restored for a reason other than plot. As amusing as his one-liners are, they were restored deliberately by someone. That someone will be revealed next chapter. Really, I think the culprit is obvious. As to the matter of Delta's face however, I don't want to say anything. That way lay more spoilers than I care to reveal. As a result of being revived earlier than usual this time around, his body's still a bit weak, but he's quickly recovering. Suffice it to say Delta has an important role to play and Lamb is going to see HELL in the near future.

Only a few chapters left now! We're nearly there!

So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review Would you Kindly?

(Preview)

Omega raised a scarred hand.

"Easy there, big guy."

"Monster!"

"Takes one to know one, pal."

Clink.

The grenade tumbled to a halt at Delta's feet.

"Shit."

Sigma growled and leveled his weapon.

"Don't you dare-

The madness continues!

R&R~! =D