A Winner Is Two: Alex Mercer
My name is Alex Mercer. I'm the reason for all of this. They call me a killer, a monster, a terrorist. I'm all of these things…
Someone released a lethal virus in Penn Station; I woke up in a morgue. Now I hunt, I kill, I consume, I become. I'm gonna find out who did this to me, and I'm gonna make them pay…
New York City
A lone Blackwatch commander stood atop a low building in Times Square, surveying the rampaging infected, the fleeing civilians and the brave marines who were attempting to push the mindless beasts back. The building was covered in bullet holes and dents. The glass in the windows was shattered and numerous pieces of debris littered the streets and roads. Smashed or abandoned cars, knocked-down street lights, and dead bodies. The man's three-piece visor glowed yellow in the light misty red fog that surrounded the infected areas. Putting a hand to his ear he heard a female voice deliver a report from HQ over the radio.
"Codename ZEUS has vanished from visual range, last sighted in the proximity of Times Square, all units be advised to stay on high alert."
Putting a foot on the edge of the building the commander leaned forward, peering ahead and tensing.
"Judging from the gear you're wearing you must be a Blackwatch commander, correct?" a voice said from behind him.
Turning around he saw a large man wearing a suit with short cropped hair. "Correct," the commander said in a voice that sounded much like a voice heard through a walkie-talkie. "I would advise all civilians to vacate the area immediately." He continued as a low flying helicopter passed overhead, followed by a floating doughnut shaped machine that was emitting a beeping noise and flashing a yellow light.
The commander moved away from the passing machine quickly and turned, starting towards the man in the suit who was saying "I need to know the last known location of Codename ZEUS and I believe a man of your position can give me that information."
The commander continued walking up to the suited man but instead of passing by he roughly picked him up in his left hand, displaying strength far superior of that of a normal human, and carried him behind a nearby billboard, away from prying eyes. "Sir, that's classified information." He said as he walked with the struggling man in tow.
Once they were safely tucked away the commander shimmered as red and black tendrils moved across his body revealing a young man dressed in a hooded jacket with blue eyes. "Here I am." Alex Mercer said with a sinister smile.
The man in the suit struggled harder against the hand holding his throat as Mercer's right hand morphed into a six-foot blade. "Wait! I have a proposition for you!" he said quickly, holding up another hand as if reaching out to Mercer.
Alex looked at the man, not motioning in any way if he should continue or not. "I represent an organisation know as BORED. We attempted to contact you recently but the martial law enforced on Manhattan prevented us from doing so. It was difficult enough just to get me here."
"BORED?" Alex said eyes narrowed "A division of Blackwatch?"
"No, we're completely unrelated. We can get you off the island, we're holding a tournament, and you could win all the money you would ever need."
Alex gave a bark of laughter. "Money? What good would that be to me?" he said pulling the bladed arm back to strike.
"And information about what happened to you!" the man in the suit blurted quickly, just barely comprehensible, eyes wide in panic and sweat running down his face.
Staying the blade Alex frowned. The chance to find out more about the infection and his own affliction was not something he was willing to dismiss. "What's the tournament then?" he said, giving no indication of letting the man down.
"It's simple," the man said with some small degree of relief "Last man standing wins, a straight up fight to the end on a private island. Who knows, the people you fight might also know something about all this!"
Opening his grip Alex let the man fall back onto the rooftop and changed the bladed arm back into a normal hand. "If it helps me piece together how I became like this and leads me to the one who did this to me then I'm in."
---
Alex was surprised the transport had even made it onto the island, never mind back off it again. They had bypassed Blackwatch with ease.
They now hovered over the island, Grand Cross Isle, at high altitude. Mercer signalled for the back boarding ramp to be opened, he was wasting no more time waiting for the craft to land. He was going to begin his hunt now.
Jumping out of the aircraft he spread his arms and legs, going into a glide and circling around. He'd start at one of the beaches and make his way inwards if need be.
Quickly losing momentum from his glide he started to plummet quickly. Pulling his arms and legs against his body he launched into a bullet dive, picking up speed and momentum and reaching the ground below in no time. Crashing onto the beach with a sound like thunder the impact created a crater in the ground, sending sand flying in all directions around him.
"Let's get started."
Author's Note: The characters featured in this work are not owned by me and belong to their respective creators.