Author's Note:

1. I do not own Prototype or Familiar of Zero.

2. This is a re-written adopted 'Imperfect Summoning' fict from Eternal Payne. He earns the credit for the original storyline idea, while I only add new contents to the story. As noted in its original form, this fict shall take place after Prototype ends, and is totally ignoring the events of Prototype 2. The tentative chapter 2 and above shall be fully mine.

3. The original author had commented how strange that no matter what Louise summons, she always manages to bind it without difficulty, regardless of how dangerous or deranged the creature she summoned actually is. Thus, we shall now see how the story shall go if she did fail to bind a familiar to her will, especially one as dangerous as Alex Mercer the Blacklight Virus.


Alex Mercer, before his identity became the viral collective he is now, used to be more or less a well-verse microbiologist, an established researcher studying microorganism which few eyes had even seen. He also had seen strange astounding things beyond the knowledge of the masses, strange astounding things indeed. And yet now, he is simply staring at the silvery disc hanging in the air in front of him, in the middle of a busy street, at least by post-infection standards.

It had now been a few weeks since he had pulled himself together after been reduced to a chunky paste when he had flown the Nuke out of the city. Things had now calmed down significantly. Dana was now also awake and well, even if he was still putting off the conversation of 'who' and 'what' he actually was.

All the humans on the street were just moving round the disk as if it wasn't even there; it slid sideways as if pushed by an invisible force. Whatever it was, Alex had no desire to investigate further than that. His curiosity had simply put off by the unnaturalness of the almost-invisible glowing silver disk.

He turned and walked away from the disc, putting it out of his mind. It was hard enough holding his form when he was surrounded by so many sources of Biomass without worrying about whatever that thing was. He hoped it will simply stay there or maybe just fly off elsewhere bothering someone else.


An hour or so later, and Alex was getting annoyed, very annoyed. That silver disc had been following him around relentlessly, and was now simply hovering behind him on the roof of the building he was stood on. He had tried sprinted himself away from the thing, and even flew off from the tallest of buildings. Yet, the metallic disc still stayed the same distance behind him.

It was starting to get irritating. Yes, it didn't directly affect him or anything. And no, no one else had noticed it, but still... Guess now he finally knew first-hand what being stalked really felt like.

Landing atop a nearby building, he turned and glared at the metallic oval still hanging in the air. He then moved closer to it, before circling it. That oval turns around to face him with every step. He glanced around the rooftop for a moment; a few air condition units meeting his eyes but otherwise it was deserted.

Alex walked over to one of the air conditioning units, his arms bulking up as his muscle-mass form engaged. He lashed out with both hands, driving them deep into the metal unit, feeling it crumpling in his palms, then lent back and ripped the entire unit out of the ground. Lifting it over his head with a grunt, Alex turned back to the unmoving silver disc.

He took a step forward, shifting his weight, and hurled the unit towards the oval. Surprisingly, or not depending on how you looked at it, the unit flew straight through the disc like it wasn't even there, continuing on over the next building, and then, down onto the street below. Alex simply ignored the sudden screams and cries for help; he had more important things to think about.

He extended his hand, muscle-mass fading away in a burst of tendrils, and touched the strange oval. Alex was fairly sure that his hand should have the same effect as the air conditioning unit; i.e: going right through it without an effect. But that however wasn't the case.

Normally, he was aware of where each and every piece of his Blacklight infected Biomass was. But when he put his hand on, and then, through the disc, it just seemed to ... fade, like it had ceased to exist or something similar.

Alex glared at the silver disc, and then tried to pull his arm back. Nothing happened. This is a very bad omen; a great deal of comedy and tragedy often starts with a setup like this, and he really hate to be a punch line of a bad joke.

He grunted, and then pulled harder and harder to try and retrieve his unfortunate arm from wherever it had gone to, and if anything, found himself instead being pulled further into the disc rather than out of it.

Then, there was a sudden jerk. Alex found he being slowly but surely pulled into the metal disc. Alex started gritted his teeth and dug in his feet, still trying to pull his arm free but he lacked the needed leverage and traction. He simply didn't want to put his other hand on the disc to have it also get caught instead.

"Although perhaps a disc was the wrong term" Alex thought absently as he was pulled into it completely. "A portal perhaps would have been the better term."

A late realization later, he noted that maybe he should have just cut off the f-ing arm.


In a land far far away, Louise de La Vallière was nervous. Actually, she was more than nervous. She was also terrified, desperate and a whole lot of other things as well, but regardless of what she felt, they were all caused by the one and same thing. The awaited event she had feared greatly:

The Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual.

Unlike all the others spells she had tried and failed, where each and every one of them resulted in an explosion; she couldn't even afford to fail here. The Ritual was the one sacred ritual undertaken by each and every mage, and failure meant that she would be expelled from the Tristain Academy. She had tried so hard to live up to her mother's legacy; she was the top academic student in all areas but it wasn't enough. Her bane was the practical aspect of study, which practically none had she passed adequately.

Beforehand, Louise had spent so long in the library; each book and scroll granting her a little more knowledge, a little better chance that the ritual would go right. She had boasted that she would summon a familiar greater than any other, but truthfully; she would take anything, even a measly worm if the worse come to pass. After all, even the great Headmaster's own familiar was only a mouse.

Louise shifted nervously, moving from foot to foot as the other students summoned their own familiars. Tabitha had summoned a Rhyme dragon, the most impressive summon so far; her classmates' cries of admiration and jealousy had delay her own attempt by a few minutes, the few minutes more to stew her in her own despair.

She had shrugged off Kirche's comments as much as possible, even when her own Salamander appeared, an impressive specimen aligned perfectly with Kirche's own element.

"-Vallière has yet to go," Kirche's sultry tones came, cutting through the words running round in Louise's mind as every eye was drawn to her.

There were more than a few giggles as she walked in front of her classmates, even as they backed away from the immanent explosion they believed was coming. Louise swallowed, trying to push it all out of her mind, raising her wand and concentrating only on the words she had spent so long coming up with.

"My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe," Louise began, ignoring the comments about her unusual chant. "My divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call, I wish from the very bottom of my heart. Add to my guidance and appear!"

There was an explosion as usual, but it seemed smaller than normal, even if it kicked up even more dust and debris. Louise coughed and waved her hand in front of her mouth, peering in vain to see her familiar through the thick smoke.

There was a sudden movement in the clouds, something shooting towards her and grabbing her, cutting off her air supply, pulling her into the smoke and then... As she struggles in vain, great pain took her senses and prompts her last thoughts, "Pain! Oh Brimir, there was pain, it hur-"


Alex was greeted by great clouds of smoke after he fell out of that blasted portal and crashed into the ground with a boom, thus kicking up even more dirt to accompany what was already in the air. He could feel all his Biomass again, even that which he had thought he'd lost to the silver portal; but he could also feel grass under his feet, and he was fairly sure he'd been quite a distance from the nearest park.

The air was different as well; once you got past the smoke, it was much cleaner, and lacking that distinct texture of the city. A burst of Biomass sent to his eyes changed them, letting Alex see better into both the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum, then another burst activated the thermal and infected vision.

The smoke and clouds apparently weren't very thick, but the other side of them were a few dozen thermal signatures, most of them humans, but plenty of smaller animal ones as well. He idly noted that none of them were infected which was good, but he still had no idea what had just happened or where he was.

Another burst of Biomass and his right arm writhed with tendrils. It bulked up, muscles moving round to create a great cable of flesh, tipped with barbs and capable of extending more than a score of meters, although it was safely coiled at the moment.

Alex threw his arm forwards, propelling the whip-fist forward towards the nearest thermal signature, a somewhat small one that had drawn attention to it by moving. He let the whip-fist coil around the human's throat to cut off any cries, and then pulled it back towards him, only for the flying body to meet his tendrils coming the other way.

He could feel them burrowing into the body's flesh, ignoring the thrashing of the source of Bio-mass and information, and quickly tore apart and consumed it. He could feel the Biomass augmenting his reserves, even as a new emptiness was added to the insatiable void of his hunger at the core of his existence. Alex quickly submerged himself in the memories, those of a young female, and gathered what information he could...

What.

This was...

These memories made no sense, Alex thought as he frantically delved through them. This child thought she was a mage! He went though more and more, watching as her classmates performed acts of magic she could not; it must surely be special effects he believed. How could this girl have been so mislead, but as more and more memories floated in, an entire society based on magi-

Two moons.

She thought there were two moons.

Alex paused.

This was too elaborate for some kind of lie and he didn't want to give himself away too early, not until he could work out some mental reference points. Flicking through the female memories quickly, Louise Françoise Le Blanc De La Vallière, what a mouthful of a name that was; he tried to find a way to fit in. She'd been about to summon her familiar...

Oops.

Well, that was out, as he'd apparently consumed the mage that had summoned him to this world, although her memories showed she hadn't meant to. Submerging himself in Louise's memories, he let her persona rise to the surface, even as tendrils writhed over his entire form and compressed it into a smaller package, one hand reaching down to pick up her discarded wand.

Probably best that he didn't try and summon a familiar though; no need to bring Redlight or anything else over to this new world.


Professor Jean Colbert watched worriedly as the third daughter of his former commander, Karin of the Heavy Wind, attempted her summoning ritual. Just moments earlier, she had kicked up great gusts of smoke and dirt, before seemingly run into the clouds to find her familiar.

He waved his staff, incantating a quick spell under his breath to blow away the smoke and dirt, revealing Louise stood there completely unharmed while petting a small owl that was perched on her arm. Jean sighed in relief before examining the bird closer; the odd patterns in its feathers probably indicating where the familiar runes would be.

At least Louise was safe. Karin would kill him if he let her daughter get hurt on his watch.

He ignored the comments from Louise's classmates about her might and powerful familiar, even as she retorted to Kirche how her wise Owl was better compared to Kirche's Salamander which only showed how the fiery Germanian was in heat all of the time. Louise's pride would never accept it if he had steeped in to help her, Rule of Steel and all that.


Louise was fairly happy that the ruse was executed without a hitch, hopefully so. That quick jab to her rival/neighbor and referencing her supposed promiscuity was hopefully within range of how Louise would usually act. Anyhow, it should assure the class that nothing is off.

When the class was dismissed for the day, she simply acts as Louise would, and walked back to her room slowly. This provided ample opportunities for Alex to acquaint and accustoming himself with his new surroundings. As an established researcher and recent war veteran, he know well how and why knowing is half the battle done.

Upon secured within the room, Louise transformed back into Alex as he scanned the room. He then sat on a chair and started meditating; a newly formed habit began in the relative peace of the Blacklight outbreak aftermath. Although he personally need not sleep or rest, he prefer sitting down or on a chair to relax the mass of his entire biomass from premature undulated strain and stress. His meditation is mostly done to properly assemble his chaotic gestalt of memories and personality programming.

He once had thought meditating is just a mumbo-jumbo new age fad, until he tried it himself in the time he spent masquerading around town after the Nuke incident. He had learned a lot after then. Although he had lost quite the amount of bio-mass in the previous conflict, there were traces of memories left from all he consumed. Even the mindless Infected was filled to the brim with their own human memories and personality programming.

The discovery had him pondered if the human soul, he once probably had, was but just an agglomeration of these countless memories and personality programming. A hive-mind in place, he once also pondered if Greene had ever felt of her infected as either just masses of mindless, expendable, worthless minions; or fragile children of hers, ones which she had spend her entire tireless, nigh-immortal and indestructible body and soul to protect, nurture and raise.

Regardless the past, a clearer and more accurate information access had now been achieved by the meditation session. All the data interpretation and correlation had lead to several conclusions, preliminary at best but good enough to start him well here in this new world. Based on his experiences, being adaptable is the key to survival even in situations where logic and common sense yields little or nothing.

With the utility of magic and consistency of science, researching and developing a method to return back to Earth should be a possibility no matter how hard and long the journey shall be. Despite the limited mobility of Louise the student, he as a shape-shifting being via assuming a modified form, could easily obtain all the necessary bio-mass from the nearby forest and any additional information from the academy's library and classes available. This type of civilization should also have various 'side-missions' which he could earn some additional funds for miscellaneous purposes.

Among the first thing on the list is finding an actual owl or any suitable life-form to be modified as the alleged familiar of Louise. Next is finding a proper location for research; spacious, isolated and ease of access (or escape) are priorities. An assistant would be nice to have since keeping-up appearances is quite necessary until suitable opportunities arise to discard the current identity.

His wait until night fall was filled with accustoming to Louise's room, rearranging her furniture and wardrobe, before reading up on most of her books and scrolls. In the dark of night and assuming form of one of his male victim with era-friendly attire, he jumped out the room's window and glided towards the gate walls and into the forest to find a suitable 'familiar'. After a little tour in the forest and nearby hamlet, he managed to turn a suitable owl into their alleged familiar, to which Louise's persona noted it to be more how the familiar it should be. To her, a familiar should able to help its master through its senses or follows given orders or protect its master, not consuming her.

With such comments, Alex began to smile slightly. Ever since he started using meditation, he started hearing various commentaries from most of his consumed. They had formed a society within him as best as he could explain it; this collective was the closest he had to a hive of his own. Each consumed had their own memories which form their own personality programming which then translates their shared thoughts into various perspectives; thus this made Alex's mind more akin to a parliamentary convene. Despite the great amount of mental noise they generated, he still reserves the final decisions while enjoying the chaos they brought into their collective convene.


Siesta the young maid from Tarbes was worried as she worked through the night. The slight light of the twin moons wasn't much of an assurance. What if there are some malicious entity lurking in the shadows, stalking her every move, awaiting the time to snatch her away covertly before doing untold horror upon her body. She knew she shouldn't have read that terrifying novella about a killer monster or that other steamy novel about… "No! No! That not right, or appropriate for a young maiden to daydream about!" she semi-shouted as she shook her head fighting off a blush across her face.

Clack! Clashhh! Tishhh!

Something large and metallic falls behind her suddenly. She literally leaps high as the sudden sound shocked her back to her earlier fear of a probable killer monster. She knew she should have run away as fast as her feet could take her, but panic had reign supreme now, causing her to do the discouraged mistake of looking back. Her distressed mind had now caught sight of such a demonic creature; two aligned blobs for a head, a pair of deformed arms/wings/tentacles (?), glowing eyes and a hellish screech. Her body, mind and spirit could take no more; she fainted there and then with a foaming mouth.


Louise sighed as she informed another maid of that fainted maid in the hallway. She knew it was a slight miscalculation on the flight capability of the turned bird that caused it to bump into a plate armor set, and thus crashing it behind the maid. She just wasn't expecting it scaring her enough to elicit a high jump, a stuttering look back, a loud shrill scream and said maid to drop to the ground with foaming mouth. That last symptom is a cause for concern as she had only seen such symptom in some head trauma and epileptics cases.

Upon determining her vitals and conditions to be fine, Louise started searching for another academic staff to deal with the situation. After a guide to the scene and an apology for the mess, Louise simply headed back to her room. The day's events were tiring enough even for a viral creature. They, as a collective, hoped that the days ahead wouldn't be too stressful or dramatic. Fate however had somehow taken that hope as a challenge instead and thus puts forth her plans, great plans she had for them beginning with their transport to Halkeginia.


A.N:

1. Eternal Payne had explained that the Owl is created because it's a nocturnal bird, thus enabling Mercer/Louise to have plenty of excuses as to why it's not always around. I however thought Mercer was a paranoid enough man to prepare a back-up familiar just in case.

2. Since this story involves gender-bending situation, I hope fellow readers are fine that Mercer shall be noted as a male only when he assumes his male persona. Otherwise, he is disguising as Louise and be considered a she. I'll try my best to keep the perspectives accurate at all time.