Prologue:

One Horror Ends, Another Begins

I face Heller down, claws ready to tear him to pieces. It's bad enough that he took the gift I had given him and used it to continue the outbreak I started so long ago, but he had to use his influence as a military sergeant to make it seem as though it were my fault all over again. Yes, I had the initial idea to start creating a more perfect, highly evolved race based on myself, even created the Goliath as an experiment to test my theory, but it was James who unleashed this new strain onto the world. He even kidnapped his own daughter alongside my sister all in an attempt to make it seem like I was the mastermind behind this infection. Now, it's time to put an end to this, once and for all!

"Give it up, Mercer," Heller calls out to me, raising his bladed arm, ready to attack. "You're too weak to stop me, now. Even if you could, Blackwatch is all over the city, waiting to tag your ass. You can't win, Alex."

"At least I'll take you down with me, you son of a bitch!"

With that I charge at him at full speed, claws dragging along the ground. Heller charges at me just as fast, his blade out to the side. As we collide, I raise one set of claws to block his blow, while I swing the other to try and decapitate him, only for my blow to be blocked by his left arm, which he has changed into a shield.

I dash back, just in time to dodge what would've been a swift kick to my gut. I quickly shift my right arm into my Whipfist, lashing it at Heller just as my feet hit the ground. I lash at him, trying to anticipate him, but he still dodges every blow. As he comes to his feet again, he slams the ground with Hammerfists, causing a quake that steals my feet from under me.

I instinctively armor myself as I fall, As I hit the ground, Heller lands above me, slashing across my chest. Due to the armor, I am safe from the blow, which gives me time to remove the armor, change my arms to muscle mass, and hit Heller with an uppercut to the jaw, sending flying across the room.

As he hits the ground, I jump into the air, launching myself at him. As I start to descend, I change my arms to Hammerfists, bringing them down on Heller's chest. He kicks me off as I prepare for another blow. He's fast to follow through by stepping in and delivering a muscle massed punch to my stomach, then my face.

As I hurtle through the air, I bring forth my own blade. I hit the ground and break through the floor, into the room below. I finally land with a thud, the floor beneath me audibly cracking. Heller jumps through the hole in pursuit. As he falls toward me, I thrust my blade forward, skewering him through the chest.

As my blade sinks deep into his chest, his claws pierce just as deep into my own chest. The pain is immediate and intense, but I grit against it and kick up into Heller's gut, launching him into the air. I bolt up, chest healing instantly, and lash out my Whipfist, catching Heller in the leg, allowing me to pull him in my direction. As he nears me, I return my arm to its blade form and lashing it at Heller.

The blow catches him, leaving a deep, nearly fatal gouge from his right hip, to his left shoulder, though it heals as quickly as my wounds did. We turn and clash blades at the same time. We exchange blows, engaging in a viral form of swordplay for a few moments, neither of us giving an inch. We continue to fight in this manner, dodging and flipping over blows, until Heller makes a mistake: he starts to shift his arms into the claw form mid-blow.

I take the opportunity to change my left arm into a shield, block his supposedly surprise claw from the side and slash forward with my blade, cutting through his arm and slicing him in two. Seeing as how his lower half doesn't reform, he's finally one blow from death!

I march forward and grab Heller's throat, hoisting him to wear his eyes are locked with mine.

"Any last words, Heller," I growl at him.

The words he says next send a chill down my spine. "Welcome to the top of the food chain, Mercer."

Not caring what he meant by that, I toss him up and slice him up the middle, absorbing him as I do, using whipfist to absorb the lower half. As his memories, knowledge, life, and powers flow into me, I realize that he was right about this being a no-win situation for me. Not with Blackwatch having another nuclear bomb ready to dispose of me!

I quickly free Dana and Heller's daughter, alerting them of the situation, and immediately take off in the opposite direction I send them, attempting to put enough distance between me and them, giving them time to get to the shelter before the bomb drops.

After running for five minutes, I find myself in a now abandoned military base fifty miles from my battle from Heller when I see the jets flying towards the city, devastatingly powerful nukes ready to drop on the city. I run as fast as I can, making it to a pier, where I jump boats until I land on one that is ready and running. I drive the boat into the middle of the ocean, lower the anchor, and watch the jets approach. As they draw near, I ready myself for what's to come, but it never, does. In fact, they begin to fly right past me without so much as firing their guns at me.

In confusion, I use whipfist to latch onto one of the three jets, zipping up to it in moments. Once on the wing, I attempt to remove the pilot, hoping to learn what's going on, when he suddenly ejects. Within seconds of his departure, the craft explodes, launching me forward towards land, sending me crashing back into the military base so hard that I actually break through the ground and into a hidden bunker.

The explosives must've contained something that reacted negatively to the virus, as I find myself too weak to even stand. All I can do is helplessly watch as the sky above me is filled with a brilliant light before fading to black.