Summary: The nuke didn't kill Alex but no one had to know that. A lighthearted one-shot where Cross is still alive and Prototype 2 is completely ignored.

Disclaimer: I wrote this a while ago purely for my own amusement and originally, with no intention of ever showing it to anybody. Therefore, it may not be particularly well written, possibly contain plot holes and is slightly AU. That said, I really liked the idea so I hope someone gets at least some enjoyment from it. Also, I don't own Prototype.

A New Life

Alex Mercer walked through the fair, enjoying the sunlight and the feeling of doing something normal as he peered at the stalls through the crowds. He came upon a small cake stall, currently crowd-free and being manned by a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length blonde hair. The cakes looked delicious so he moved closer. The woman smiled at him as he approached and offered him a free sample of the millionaire shortbread. Suddenly, an alarm went off somewhere across the fair. "I'm sorry," the woman said, consulting a tablet. "This alert says you shouldn't be here." Alex was trying to break off a piece of the shortbread but the toffee was proving stickier than he'd anticipated. "It says you're... hostile?" she added with a gasp. Meanwhile, Alex had finally separated a piece of shortbread from the rest and had popped it into his mouth. He savoured the sweetness briefly before swallowing and giving the woman a genuine smile. "I really just want cake," he said and disappeared into the crowd, licking his fingers as he went.

Captain Robert Cross couldn't believe it. It had been a year since the nuke intended for Manhattan had gone off over the sea thanks to Alex Mercer (codename: Zeus) whom everyone believed had perished in the blast. Zeus had taken missiles to the face without so much as bruising but this was a nuke. Surely even he couldn't have survived that. Yet here he was, on Cross's monitor, strolling through a county fair, bold as you like. Ok, he was currently wearing a disguise (some poor soul he had consumed, no doubt) but Zeus's unique heat signature was unmistakeable. It was him. A year ago, Cross had briefly teamed up with the sentient virus in order to save Manhattan. Zeus had defeated the worst of the infection before guiding the nuke out to sea and that was the last anyone had seen or heard of him. After that, it was a simple matter for Blackwatch and the Marines to destroy the remaining infection and slowly, life was beginning to return to normal. Cross sighed. Clearly, he'd spoken too soon.

And so, the once happy and light-hearted atmosphere of the fair took a downward turn as heavily armed Blackwatch soldiers filled the area.

Alex heard them coming long before he saw them, of course; could have slaughtered them all... but no, not anymore. He briefly thought of running away but then they'd just keep looking for him. This time, Alex Mercer stayed put. He didn't move nor change his form as the soldiers spotted him and came as close as they dared, laser-sights trained on his back though they all knew their weapons were useless against him. There was a sort of awkward pause as if none of them knew quite what to do. Then, Captain Cross pushed his way to the front of the soldiers so he was standing mere feet away from Alex who still hadn't turned around.

"Alex Mercer," Cross said in his most authoritative voice. "We need you to come with us."

"Jack," came the strangely quiet reply, almost before Cross had finished. Cross blinked, taken aback. That was not the reply he was expecting. Heck, he wasn't even expecting a verbal reply at all. He took a tentative step forward, not liking how his men seemed to be backing away as he did so. "What?"

"I go by Jack now," Alex replied calmly.

To say Cross was unnerved by this would be a huge understatement. Normally by this point, his men would be lying around him in pieces and Alex would be in some hideous form about to eat him. The only reason he had survived his previous encounter with the virus creature was because of a fluke in which he had caused a flashback in Alex's mind and escaped in the ensuing confusion. This time, Alex had all of his memories. There was nothing new Cross could tell him. If Alex chose to fight, there was literally no way they could stop him. Surely Alex knew that and yet he still maintained the disguise in which they found him, still hadn't turned to face them and, more importantly, still hadn't killed them. Cross took a moment to compose himself. Some part of him must have had hope following the fact that Alex had willingly worked with him before, otherwise why had he even bothered tracking him down? To anyone else, it would have been a suicide mission.

"OK, Jack it is." He took a breath and prayed this strangely peaceful Alex wasn't just some kind of sick game he was playing with them. "We thought you'd died when the nuke went off. Care to fill in the blanks for us?"

Alex sighed and slowly, ever so slowly, turned around. Even so, the soldiers shrank back as though he had spun round with teeth, claws and whatever else bared. Cross took a breath but stood his ground as Alex looked at him.

"Short version: I survived."

Figures, thought Cross. Alex was never the talkative type.

"That was a whole year ago. Where have you been all this time?"

"Travelling," Alex stated simply. Cross raised an eyebrow and surprisingly, Alex elaborated.

"After that nuke tore me apart, I put myself back together again and I was tired. Tired and sick of all this crap so I decided to die or rather, Alex died. I was never really him after all."

"So, you faked your death and travelled the world?" Cross said, incredulously.

"Nothing fake about it, Cross. When I said the nuke tore me apart, I meant literally. And just so you know, being ripped into a million pieces hurts like hell. I figured if I could survive that, I wasn't going anywhere even if I wanted to." Alex paused and took a breath, seemingly to calm himself. Most of the soldiers did the same. Cross could see that although reliving the past year's events was riling him up, Alex seemed to be on a roll. He hoped that would be enough of a distraction to stop him from killing everyone. Alex continued in a calmer tone.

"From the day I was born, almost everyone I've ever met has wanted to kill me. My head is filled with memories that aren't even mine. Practically everything I did before that nuke was born of a desire for revenge that came from someone else. I wanted to be my own person, make my own memories and figure out what I want. I saw an opportunity so I took it. Are you saying you wouldn't have done the same?"

Cross could sort of see where he was coming from but wasn't convinced. The creature in front of him had killed thousands, after all.

"So you've turned over a new leaf. And we're supposed to just take your word for it and let you go?"

"Sure, why not?"

Cross gaped at the man blinking calmly in front of him.

"Why not?! You you've got a body count larger than the current population of this town! New leaf or not, you're a monster and no military on earth would ever be ok with you being free."

Alex's eyes narrowed slightly. "I told you, it's Jack now and yes, you're going to go back to your base and if you ever see me again, I'll be just another face in the crowd."

"Oh really?" Cross spat. "And why's that?"

Alex moved closer so that his face was only inches from Cross's. To Cross's credit, he didn't take a single step back.

"Alex died when the nuke went off, Alex with the body count. Since then, I've been Jack and Jack hasn't taken a single life. Not. One. Now I know you don't want to resurrect Alex. Because if you do, if any of your soldiers or anyone in Blackwatch decide to do something stupid today, every life, every drop of blood, will be on your hands, Cross."

Cross stared at him and a vein pulsed in his temple. Alex- Jack even, was right. If he didn't want to go with them, there was nothing they could do. Their guns were basically just for show at this point and if they forced him into a combat situation, it wouldn't just be soldiers in the firing line, but everyone at the fair as well. Heck, if they caused him to snap after he'd kept his hands clean for this long, who could say he wouldn't just keep going and level the whole town? The man survived a nuke, for crying out loud! What could they possibly do to stop him after that?

"All right, Jack," he said, defeated.

Jack smiled.

Cross gave him a long, appraising look before beginning to turn away. Before he could complete the action, however, Jack called him back.

"Since I've answered all your questions, how about you answer one of mine?" he said.

Cross turned back, confused as to what Al- Jack would want to know. He seemed to remember him having a pretty good way of gathering information himself.

"What is it?"

"How'd you find me?" Jack asked with an air of casual curiosity rather than concern.

Cross almost laughed at the simplicity of it.

"Thermals," he replied. "You have a unique heat signature so you stand out like a sore thumb, regardless of what face you're wearing." Cross fought to keep the smugness out of his voice. He was very proud of that little discovery.

"Oh." Jack looked almost disappointed. "Is that all?"

Cross bristled at the indirect attack on his pride.

"It worked, didn't it?"

"True," Jack conceded, though the corner of his mouth was turned up in a smirk. "Commander," he called, interrupting Cross's departure for the second time. "Let's not meet again."

"Don't give me a reason to, Jack."

Back at their portable base, Cross massaged his temples. This was the first meeting he'd had with Zeus where he'd not lost a single man and yet somehow, he had even more of a headache than he usually did. He looked at the monitors as if they could provide some kind of comfort or relief. Currently, they showed the live CCTV footage of the fair. Now that the soldiers had disappeared from view, civilians had begun crowding in once more. Cross glared at them.

"Switch to thermals," he barked at the guy manning the console. "And keep track of him."

There was the frantic sound of keys being pressed and Cross went back to massaging his temples before an uneasy "uhhh, Sir?" forced him to look up again.

"What is it now?" he growled but the answer was painfully obvious when he looked once again at the screens. They had indeed switched to thermals but Zeus's heat signature was nowhere to be seen.

"I swear he was right there, Sir," the console guy said. He switched back to normal view just in time to see the form of Jack disappear into a large, tight crowd. Switching back to thermals showed nothing out of the ordinary.

"Did he-?" said the console guy, frowning at the screen.

Cross's eyes widened as he realised what had happened.

"That son of a-"