Author's Note: Welcome to my second series posted on FF. This is in first person, like Fable.

Chapter 1: Breakout

I was in my room in our apartment, which was where we lived with our Dad. Our parents got divorced when I was 7 and Cáel was 5, and Dad took us in since he was the one with a high-paying job. Skyler Jaedyn was our father, and he worked as a well-known scientist at GENTEK. He was also one of the scientists who worked on Project BLACKLIGHT, which is the very reason that New York still looks like hell today. Dad told Cáel and I about BLACKLIGHT, everything about it, because if he couldn't get the truth out to the entire world, he would have to do with the only two people he would trust not to say anything about it: his children. If we were to tell anyone about it, Blackwatch would be on our asses and gun us down like dogs. Hmph, just like what happened to that Mercer guy just this morning, I pondered.

Remembering the sudden and tragic event, I turned to my computer and brought up the video from Penn Station. Earlier in the month, I had hacked into Blackwatch's classified videos, and today I found one, the video that had a recording of the entire event, straight from Penn Station cameras. How Blackwatch managed to get the videos, I had no idea.

I watched as the hooded man ran to the front of Penn Station, stopping in front of the entrance, the doors locked. The man was wearing what looked like a white collared dress shirt underneath his gray hoodie, with its hood up over his head. He also wore a black leather jacket over his hoodie. Guy must like wearing his layers...

He turned, realizing he had been cornered by multiple Blackwatch soldiers. I saw the vial in his right hand, filled with a red liquid. The virus...BLACKLIGHT...He looked down, his teeth gritted. He raised his right arm, the vial poised in the air. With an angry shout, Dr. Alex Mercer threw the vial to the ground, breaking the glass, and releasing the virus into New York. Not a moment later, Blackwatch pulled the triggers on their firearms, and fired several bullets into Mercer's chest. Blood spurted forth from his chest before his eyes widened, and he fell to the ground, landing on the vial of red liquid he had shattered. He didn't move one inch: Mercer was dead. I shivered, the sound of the gunfire echoing inside my mind, as well as the sound of the vial shattering to millions of pieces. This was how parts of New York became infected. All thanks to Mercer. I closed the video window and turned in my chair, to see a black haired boy standing at my door, watching me with narrowed eyes. My younger brother, Cáel. 13 years old.

"You do know that it's his fault that the virus broke out, right?" I sighed. Cáel had become very disappointed with the fact that I always watch that video. He also grew a sort of grudge for Dr. Mercer. I leaned back in my chair, holding up my hand in an I-don't-care manner.

"Yeah, but he's dead, isn't he? What's the point in hating a guy for what he's done when he already got killed for doing it? Remember what Dad said? Mercer ran away with the virus sample to save his own ass." Cáel scowled, his teeth showing.

"A selfish act...and a stupid one, too." I let my arm drop down to my side at Cáel's words, and I stared at my computer screen in a daze as I ran over the things Dad has told us. Apparently, he knew Alex, and they were good friends as well. I remembered what he said this morning after Alex died, today, the day BLACKLIGHT was released.

"It's hard to believe. Alex, one of my best friends, was killed when he was trying to save his life, breaking out BLACKLIGHT in the process." Dad sat down on the living room couch, not a hint of emotion on his features, but in his eyes, we saw sadness and fear. "He told me why..." His voice nearly cracked. "...right before he took the sample and ran...He told me he knew our lives were in danger. We both knew that a lot of GENTEK employees were 'disappearing,' and he knew why. They held critical knowledge to Project BLACKLIGHT, and Blackwatch couldn't trust them to keep their mouths shut." I watched as he leaned forward, arms laying on his legs, his hands folded in front of his face as he stared at them in thought. I sat down next to him.

"Then why did he take a sample of the virus?" Dad chuckled softly.

"Alex was a smart man. He took the sample to ensure that he wouldn't get killed. He called it his 'life insurance.' If he kept it with him, he knew that GENTEK wouldn't kill him, not with such an important weapon in his hands..."

"So he threatened to release the virus if they tried to kill him?" Cáel asked with acid in his voice. I glared at him before looking solemnly to Dad. He shook his head, a grim smile on his face.

"That wasn't the only reason he took the sample, Cáel. He took the sample so he could reveal it to the world, reveal what deadly weapon the government was working on...Everyone has a right to know..." Cáel narrowed his eyes.

"He threatened to reveal it if they tried to kill him...he took it so he could save himself. He did it so he could save his own life, and endangered thousands of lives in the process. He did all of that to save himself, and that's it." Cáel stated coldly. With that, he left the room. I sighed, and stayed at Dad's side that entire morning until he left for work.

"Anyways, Dad called." Cáel's voice brought me out of my thoughts and I raised a brow at him, noticing he didn't have that hateful look on his face anymore.

"Really? From work?" Cáel nodded. "Must be important, then." He sighed and looked me in the eye.

"Yeah, it is. Dad's gonna be staying at work over the night. There's too much mutant activity going on, and GENTEK insisted that he stayed. They can't afford to lose him." My eyebrows creased in worry and I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off by what sounded like a car crash outside the my bedroom window, screams followed. Cáel gasped and we both turned to the window, eyes wide with shock. I stood up and walked to the window before pulling on a nearby string, making the blinds rotate so I could peer through the slots between the thin panels. Our apartment was on the 6th floor, second from the very top.

It was dark out, and the street lights below illuminated the street with an orange glow. There was indeed a car crash down in the street, and there were frantic people running everywhere. I then realized that the cause of the crash was a group of infected people, mutants, lashing out at the people below and screaming distortedly. I winced as I saw people get mowed down by their claw-like hands, screaming in terror. Cáel walked up to look as well and he tensed at the sight, fear present in his eyes. I merely regarded the incident with a cool frown and l released the string, letting the blinds' panels close, preventing us from watching any more of the mess. The screams could still be heard. We stood in silence for a few minutes before I began to head for my door. I stopped before it and turned to look back at Cáel, a sheepish smile on my face.

"Want some dinner?" ...Despite the fact that it was almost 10:00 p.m.

Being the only woman in the household, I was the cook. If I had let Dad cook, there would be a mess and not very good food. If I ever had let Cáel cook, the apartment would catch on fire. I decided to make macaroni & cheese, enough for just Cáel and me, since Dad wasn't going to come back. My heart sank at the thought and I grew worried. If we lost Dad, where would we go? We have no idea where Mom is, or if she's even alive. I guessed it really was best that he stayed at work.

Cáel and I were eating at the kitchen table, watching the news the entire time. Pretty much all of it was information on infected areas and which areas weren't infected, which was definitely areas with military bases. We always scowled when anything Blackwatch came up, especially at the speeches and interviews for them. They always had a knack for lying. I scoffed and turned to my bowl and ate some more of my food, noticing that Cáel hadn't taken his gaze away from the TV, eating his food at the same time. Brain-dead little kid...The voice of the anchorwoman still went on.

"We now have a report from one of our on-sight newscasters, live at the New York City Morgue, where we get a report from a Blackwatch official about the incident today at Penn Station." Cáel and I looked at each other, curious and knowing looks on our faces. "Handing it over to you, Amanda." The scene switched to the outside of a large building, with Blackwatch soldiers patrolling its perimeters. A blonde woman stood with a mic in her right hand, facing the camera.

"Thanks, Lisa," Amanda replied. "As you can see, I'm standing right outside the morgue where Dr. Alex Mercer's body resides. Earlier today at Penn Station, Mercer attempted to get away with a significant virus sample from GENTEK, a company he was employed at. He was apparently shot by Blackwatch after he destroyed the sample, and died in front of Penn Station." She turned to a Blackwatch soldier. "Sir, would you kindly tell us about the incident today?" The soldier hesitated and I rolled my eyes to Cáel, who didn't look too pleased either as he glanced at me. The soldier began,

"The target was believed to have...mental problems." I gaped at the TV screen and leapt from my seat.

"That's total bullshit!" I shouted, shocked with disbelief. Sadly, the Blackwatch soldier continued,

"He was mad enough to actually threaten us with a sample of a virus GENTEK was working on. The reason he took the vial is simple: he was crazy, and the reason for his execution was because he was a threat to us and the people. We couldn't let him get away. He paid for what he did, and it's his fault the virus broke out. That's all I have to say." Cáel had wide eyes and I simply shook my head to get rid of the lies I've just witnessed. From what Dad told us about Alex, he was anything but crazy. He sounded like an average guy, a nice one at that. Cáel sneered.

"Those bastards...Thinking they can lie their asses off just to save face." I continued to watch the TV.

On the screen, the Blackwatch soldier gave his goodbye and the reporter turned back to the camera.

"Well, that's it from here. I'm your nightly news reporter directly from the scenes and-" The woman was cut off by a large crash sound far off to the right and I managed to catch a glimpse of a black blur run right behind the reporter and raced past her and the Blackwatch, causing her to shriek in fear as dust began to rise. I jumped at the sudden movement and my eyes widened, as did Cáel's. We heard the Blackwatch soldiers giving orders and were immediately there to see the damage, or maybe after that blur thing I saw.

The reporter managed to recover, as did the cameraman, and they turned to see a taxi with a large dent in its roof. Words couldn't describe what was going on through my head now. Shouts and questions could be heard from the TV as I turned to Cáel, less shock written on my face than his. I glanced to my room, muttering,

"There's no doubt that Blackwatch has that video, right? I mean, they always get a copy of videos involving them..." Cáel's eyes widened before he narrowed them dangerously at me.

"Don't you dare. You've hacked them countless-" I didn't let him finish as I began to run to my room. He turned in his chair to shout, "They might catch you this time!" I sat before my computer and replied,

"Oh, please! The only thing they know how to do is kill people and be total d-bags! Their computer staff suck and they've never caught me in those countless times!" I brought up the Blackwatch website and I clicked on Videos. A note popped up,

Password?

I chuckled and flexed my fingers before placing them on the keyboard, a grin on my face. My fingers began to type rapidly, entering a hack code only I knew how to crack. I clicked ENTER and the screen went white, and after a few seconds I had full access to the Blackwatch video files. I only knew how to get to their videos, everything else I admitted, was too risky to break into. With that I found the most recent uploaded video, and it was, as I predicted, the news broadcast we just watched. Entering another hack code that was known for downloading videos without getting noticed, I leaned back in my chair and waited for the download to complete, which could take a while. I looked up to the ceiling in thought, pondering on what that blur could have been. The entire purpose to getting that video was so I could freeze the image and get a good look at it.

I stood up before I walked to my window, and pulled a different string from before. The blinds were pulled up, the panels stacking against each other as they locked at the top of the windowpane. The mutants seemed to be gone, and now a few people were walking around. Silence. I sighed. If only it would stay silent. I looked up to see a full moon, with a couple clouds shielding its glow. Why do I have a feeling that it's gonna get worse from here on out? I thought dreadfully.

Hearing a ping noise, I turned to my computer and realized the download was complete. I walked over to the desk and sat down, placing my right hand on the mouse. I clicked on the video and it opened, revealing the reporter Amanda and the morgue behind her. I fast forwarded past the interview with the Blackwatch soldier and stopped when he left, before playing the video. Amanda turned to the camera, reciting those words she had said earlier.

"Well, that's it from here. I'm your nightly news reporter directly from the scenes and-" I heard the crash and I poised my cursor above the pause button, with my anticipation rising. Wait for it...As the blur crossed the screen, I instantly hit pause. My face brightened with hope, only to be crushed as I realized I had paused it a second too late. I groaned. Very fast...Using Previous Slide, I clicked on the button multiple times and watched as the blur slowly moved back onto the screen, and I paused. What I saw was too impossible for my mind to comprehend. The hoodie, the leather jacket, the white collar shirt...There, poised in a running stance, just behind Amanda's left shoulder, was the man who had been killed this morning. My eyes widened.

I fell back out of my chair with a shocked yelp, landing on my rear in a heap. Cáel must have heard the loud thud I made when I made contact with floor, because he instantly ran to my doorway and was standing there with a cautious look in his eyes. He glanced around my room before locking eyes with me.

"What?" he asked, panting. "What'd you find?" I never took my eyes off the screen, and I pointed at it.

"Why don't you take a look?" Raising an eyebrow, Cáel took a step forward to my computer and squinted at the screen, before leaping back in shock. His eyes were wide and he turned to me, mouth open.

"Leila..." he began with a quavering voice. "...I-Is that...?" He trailed off, not daring to finish the question. I nodded, my shocked face turning into a face of amaze and disbelief.

"Yeah...there's no doubt about it..." I stood up and walked over to stand next to him, the both of us staring at the paused video feed. "Alex Mercer...is alive..." I muttered softly, trying not to believe the very words that came out of my mouth.

We stood there in silence, both attempting to understand what we've just seen. Alex Mercer, the man who released the virus in New York, survived several bullets to his chest and was now running loose in New York. I groaned and walked over to my twin sized bed before sitting down with my right hand on my forehead.

"This can't be good...How the hell did he survive those bullets?" Cáel shook his head, obviously clueless.

"I don't know...but did you see what he did? He was running faster than a cheetah, and he made a huge dent in that taxi's roof!" My eyes narrowed.

"No doubt that Blackwatch is gonna go after him..." I looked at the video again, and focused more on Alex. Narrowing my eyes, I noticed that hazy waves of red and black were circling his legs as he ran. It looked like they were protruding from his legs. Putting careful thoughts to my solution, I fell back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling with my arms out wide. "Maybe that's how..." I muttered. Cáel raised an eyebrow and asked,

"What's how?" I stood up and walked over to the window, gazing out at the moon. I crossed my arms and slowly began,

"Remember that, once Mercer broke the vial, the virus broke out?" I didn't need to look to know Cáel nodded, so I continued. "It infected everyone there, so..." Dazed, I held up my hand, the back of it looking toward me as my palm faced the ceiling. I stared thoughtfully at my hand. "What if the virus infected him as well?" Cáel shifted and replied,

"It's possible. Do you think it made him capable of what he did just now?"

"You mean give him powers?" Silence met my question and I added, "It obviously mutated him, turned him into something...something far more great than the weapon they were aiming for." I lowered my hand looked at Cáel. He narrowed his eyes.

"I think that's the result GENTEK was looking for, a human weapon..." I hummed.

"No, they wanted a weapon that would only target certain races." I looked at Cáel in the eyes and he nodded.

"We should call Dad." I nodded in response and stood up.

"I'll do it. Can you clean up the kitchen?" Cáel nodded.

"Yeah, sure." He exited my room and I grabbed the phone on my nightstand, which stood next to the head of my bed. Dialing several numbers, I held the phone up to my right ear and waited as it began to ring. I was calling Dad's cell, and for a good reason. If I called his office number, Blackwatch would listen to it. Can't have them do that, especially since we knew about Alex Mercer. After a few rings, Dad picked up.

"Hello? It must be really important if you called on my cell..." I smiled at Dad's voice; he was okay.

"Yeah, it's Leila. Listen, there's something I've got to tell you, Dad."

"Hold on." I heard footsteps. He probably moved somewhere private. After the noise faded, he said, "Alright. What is it you have to tell me, Leila?" I took a deep breath and slowly replied,

"It's about Mercer, Dad. He's alive." Dead silence met my ear and I knew that he was shocked. After a few minutes, his response surprised me.

"You haven't told anyone?" I shook my head.

"Who do I have to tell? Only Cáel and I know about it." He sighed.

"Good." I bit my lip before adding,

"Dad, I think the virus infected Alex..." I sensed him nodding.

"Yeah, that's what I think, too. BLACKLIGHT must have revived him when he was in the morgue." His voice seemed soft, as if he was trying to coax me or something. Or was he just trying not to get caught?

"He's completely changed, Dad."

"I can imagine. Why, what happened? How did you find out?" I took a breath as I glanced at my computer.

"Cáel and I were watching the news and that's when he broke out. It was at the morgue, when a reporter was interviewing Blackwatch. I have the video up right now on my computer. I'll show you it once-" He sighed, cutting me off.

"Leila, you hacked into Blackwatch's videos..." I winced at the disappointment in Dad's voice. He never liked it when I hacked their videos, especially when I could get caught.

"Sorry, but I had to. After seeing what happened outside the morgue, I had to know what I saw." There was silence, and I heard a voice in the distance.

"Mr. Jaedyn?" I guessed it was one of the other scientists. Dad replied,

"I'll be right there. Please give me a minute." There was a few footsteps and Dad whispered into the phone,

"Alright. Leila, listen. We'll discuss this when I get back tomorrow. I'll see you then, okay?" I nodded and closed my eyes.

"Okay. Be careful, Dad. Love you."

"Love you too, Leila. Bye." I responded softly,

"Yeah, bye." I hung up and placed the phone back in its receiver.

I stood there for a few minutes and my eyes automatically focused on the frozen image of Alex Mercer. My eyes narrowed dangerously. Alex Mercer...just what are you going to do now, after turning New York into complete hell?

Another note: So there we have it! Chapter one ending with a pissed off main character! What'd you guys think?