All Good Things Not of This Earth...

[Tearen Wover]

Some time later, Nealaphh rose back to its feet, however slowly. Rebecca clapped and cheered in a matter befitting her puerile bearing, even as the shadow pitched over and leaned heavily against the wall. It was still far from fully operational, but the god-mind needed to ensure progress towards its goals was maintained. It had lingered for too long in the halls of Rapture, and very little good had come of it. Still, it made for an agreeable safe haven from the reach of the empire, and Nealaphh could not itself venture into Coruscant before finding a place to send its resources to.

Furthermore, Nealaphh needed to know that Demetri and Cat were still performing their respective duties. Perhaps it should check in soon to see that the various bits of Institute business were being addressed. It had no doubt that Drake and the two Aspects were performing their duties; it had programmed them for flawless, unquestioning obedience. It occurred to Nealaphh that it could, perhaps, create yet another secondary to infiltrate Coruscant on its behalf, but the god-mind did not have anyone it knew of that would not attract substantial attention. Ideally, Oneir would have made an ideal candidate for such a role, but he was already dedicated to the Ashen plains. The god-mind cursed its own shortsightedness; this kind of thing didn't happen when it had access to the entire time stream.

There was nothing for it; Nealaphh would have to infiltrate Coruscant on its own. The god-mind immediately began to run various scenarios, trying to figure out how best to sneak into the lower tiers. Disguising itself as a stormtrooper had worked better than expected before, but in this instance, Nealaphh would be trying to get past Empire detection, not simply evade it. Perhaps...

Nealaphh looked back to where the hulk of the Big Daddy lay in the deep darkness. Earlier it had managed to phase itself out of local space time for a limited period. Perhaps it could also phase itself into a mental form, to 'hitch a ride' on other living denizens. Interesting. The god-mind then turned to look at Rebecca. It couldn't simply leave the girl to her fate...but...perhaps she could be a tactical asset after all.

Rebecca. You trust me, yes?

"Of course Daddy! You're the very most special person to me!" Rebecca said, hopping up and down some more. Nealaphh nodded in the darkness.

Do you want to help me with something?

"Sure!"

I need you to relax your mind. Think happy thoughts. Think of daddy. Nealaphh said, slowly shifting to an incorporeal form. Rebecca nodded and smiled eagerly, scrunching her eyes tightly shut. With that, Nealaphh began to bond his essence to Rebecca's body. The ADAM infused frame easily accepted the raw power of the god-mind, and Rebecca breathed deeply of the inky vapor that was Nealaphh. When it was done, the little sister's eyes blinked and took on a vibrant green hue, as opposed to their usual, ghastly yellow. Nealaphh was not in control of the body, fully, but it could think in tandem with Rebecca. Separate, yet one. With that, Rebecca strode confidently towards the door to Steinman's office and wrenched the latch open with a telekinetic yank, causing the heavy steel frame to slam upwards into its slot.

Cold ocean water spilled out into the clean tile hallway, and Rebecca's presence was immediately marked by several passing Rapture citizens. Her wary green eyes watched them as they slunk away in suspicion, utterly convinced that the little sister had a Big Daddy protector nearby. After walking towards the Bathysphere center, Rebecca heard a low chuckled to her left. In the shadows lurked a...pitiable creature. His face was contorted and twisted from an overabundance of ADAM in his system. Slimy, sore ridden arms hefted a heavy lead pipe.

"Oi there luv...got's lost from ye daddy have ye?" he said in a voice dripping with both bile and malice. Rebecca turned towards the man calmly and offered him a sweet, simple smile. The splicer raised his pipe, prepared to strike the helpless, poor little girl down. Rebecca glanced off to the right, and then the left. Honestly, splicers were the boogeymen of Rapture, and their existence was usually covered up quite heavily. The fact that one apparently had the gall to lurk around in the shadows of such a high traffic area was a bad sign. That was neither here not there, though. It was time for Rebecca to see what the surface world looked like, and no mere addict would stand in her way.

There was a sudden, sharp squawking scream as the lead pipe was wrenched from the splicer's hands and sent careening into his mutated features with a wet thud. He stumbled around in agony for a moment, blood oozing from his unfortunate face. Rebecca was disgusted. Normally, Nealaphh would have left the pitiable wretch to flounder around and moved on, but now Rebecca's own emotions dictated the ensuing carnage. Over...and over...and over...the lead pipe bludgeoned and beat the man senseless, cracking bones and slicing open half-fetid flesh. Blood went everywhere, especially on to Rebecca's beaming face, which held a gleeful grin long after the carnage had ceased.

Daddy was so proud...