The Third Prototype: Planet Earth Zero
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" - J. Robert Oppenheimer
Stage I - Of each other
What do we do now? Dana asked while looking at the horizon. Three people and a whole new dead zone around them, empty and silent. Heller hugged Amaya.
-I missed you so much, Maya... I even thought you were gone!
In response, tears started to drop from her eyes.
-I thought the same about you, dad!
-We'll never separate again - He looked little Amaya in her eyes and assured her - Not ever! I promise!
He then noticed a helicopter appear on the horizon. Heller prepared to attack it, but his viral sonar soon accused the presence of someone familiar inside it.
-Don't worry, I think it is not here to attack us...
-Are you sure?
-Not really, but don't worry either way; I ain't gonna let anything happen to you!
It landed near them and a Blackwatch soldier opened its side door. Dana and Amaya, confused, looked at James. Then someone stepped out of the helicopter. It was Rooks. He approached Heller and said:
-Because of you I'm seeing my family a lot sooner than I expected; you did the job for us so I'm returning the favor... Step in, we're really running out of time here.
They all then decided to take the ride.
-How did you manage to get here? ...for us?
-Well, I'm not supposed to be here... You know, Operation Firebreak is still a go, and there's no stopping it. This is actually the last window of time I had to come here, and its closing fast.
But not a minute after it took off a missile was spotted in the air; a late nuke on its very way to the Dead Zone.
-We're absolutely not supposed to be here! - Said Rooks nervously and sweating already. Heller stared at the missile with the frustrating anger of an impending new separation. His newborn peace ended where his newborn promise had to be broken.
-Dana, I need to go stop it. You take my daughter and take care of her.
James gave Amaya a forehead kiss and jumped off the helicopter as she once more witnessed his father flying away. She was sad again, not just because he was gone once more, but also because it had to be his father and only him... And James, well, he thought the same...
Stage II - From within
James flew past the missile and landed at the "X". He felt a memory from Alex Mercer:
#James Heller - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Supreme Hunter to Mercer: "When the weapon detonates and they think the infection is cleansed, they won't be looking for me. And when I consume you... I'll be able to withstand even this".
/...
**Note to the reader: Whenever you see this: #Person X - ((Person Y's memory)), it means: Person X is seeing a memory that belonged to person Y's brain.**
"I'll be able to withstand even this". These words clicked in James' mind. There wasn't much time to think of a way to a boom-less solution, but Heller found a new power: The enormous amount of mass he obtained when he absorbed Mercer and all the infected made it possible for him to transform into a giant big enough to kick a Goliath in the face. In this way he grabbed the nuke like a baseball and swallowed it. Within that heavily armoured body the explosion was dampened successfully and only the Dead Zone/Red Zone was glassed. Dana and Amaya land safely at the Green Zone, and James is nowhere to be found.
-What do we do now? - This time from the kid, again in tears.
It's needless to say this was followed by Amaya being adopted by Dana. Also, they moved out of the United States. The farther from Blackwatch, the better. A dozen years go by and the two are leading a normal life in Brazil. But not long after she graduated from high school and went to the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro the past started calling back... From within her mind weird events started wanting out - Memories that were not hers.
-Dana, remember when you told me my parents would live forever in my heart?
-And they do, Maya...
-Memories... ...
-If something is troubling you, you can tell me, my dear...
-Some memories have been coming up lately; memories that are not mine. They're from my dad, they're from everyone! And its not delusion, they really are memories!
The first "someone else's memory" to pop into Amaya's mind was that of when Alex Mercer turned her father into an Evolved Infected. After this one, other memories would emerge every now and then. At the first days Amaya tried to ignore them. She tried to let it go, but while stressing herself with the wish to be rid of it another memory appears, and it seems to be a response to Amaya's attempt:
#Amaya - ((James Heller's Memory))
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Mercer to Heller: "Let it happen. Let the truth come to you. Let it sink in..."
/...
Amaya became more and more worried about it. These memories were vision-like and resembled the process of obtaining memories by consuming people. But Amaya was not even infected, let alone consuming people. Dana promised her she'd find some explanation. At times, chains of memories would emerge:
#Amaya - ((James Heller's Memory))
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Colette: "I thought all that was over and done with, but now they're saying the virus thing's started cropping up again. Jimmy, I'm worried here."
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Heller: "Eh, I need you to try and relax, alright? I'm gonna be home in a couple of weeks..."
/...
#Amaya - ((James Lyon's Memory))
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Raymond McMullen: "Zeus' memory problem might be an advantage we can use. Familiar people, objects,places... These seem to restore memories to Zeus. This restoration is painful."
/...
The memories reveled Alex Mercer's amnesia problem, while her issue seemed to be the opposite of his'...
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Mercer: "Whatever had changed me... erased my past... must have started there."
/...
As these episodes became more and more frequent, the long dead preoccupation of the virus had resurrected in Amaya and Dana's minds. "What do we do now?" was said, yet once more, by the two. And still with no sign of infection, with nothing to do and kind of already knowing that which would follow next, Amaya turned into an evolved, as if a long latent infection had just burst from within her. How did this happen?
Stage III - Realise (Part I)
In the first weeks Amaya tries to keep herself busy with daily activities as the two decide what to do. But, suddenly, she hears a voice:
-Baby girl...
But nobody is around...
-Dad?
-Amaya!
-Dad, where are you?
It seemed like James himself talking to her, from inside her mind...
-I don't know, darling, but I'm here somehow... You're not going crazy, believe me...
Like on that day when they met again in the Red Zone, Amaya again felt that mix of joy and fear. She needed to believe. Like James once thought she was dead and later found her alive, for an irony of life Amaya thought her father died and now found him alive, if in the strangest way. There should be an explanation to what was happening, and Dana was there to do what she liked the most. Amidst her research, Dana ends up being caught by soldiers wearing Blackwatch outfits.
-LET ME GO! LET ME GO YOU FUCKERS!
They didn't answer. She expected them to celebrate the capture. They didn't say a word. And to her great surprise they released her not an hour later. They just gave her a paper with a phone number and let her go. As she walked away, she looked back; the soldiers were mute and standing still like statues. No chase. Nothing. Dana was really confused.
She called the number on the paper.
-Hello?
-Good evening, Dana, you can call me "Apollo".
They start to talk, and "Apollo" claims to know a few things...
-...me and my team believe the virus stole the regenerative properties from the Supreme Hunter and was somehow still sustaining consciousness... somewhere...
#Amaya - ((James Heller's Memory))
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Heller: "MERCER! DON'T YOU RUN FROM ME!"
/...
-As much as I would want otherwise, Blacklight is not dead, Dana. It is still there; and I mean it literally when I say out there. We're working hard to sort things out; we came up with a theory: When the bomb detonated inside James his cells were blown into the atmosphere and contaminated it. He died, but his cells may have managed to survive independently. We know nearly nothing about how the Hive Mind works, but its very likely that it has, say, expanded, or evolved into something more... embracing. In this way, the Hive Mind may have developed the capability to sustain consciousnesses in itself. What I'm saying is that it may have become isomorphic to at least one intelligent super-brain if not a network of them.
-My God...
-In all these years, Amaya inadvertently breathed these cells into her body and now she has access to all these memories. She has Heller's, Mercer's and who knows how many other minds within her own!...
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Mercer: "I have gone beyond life and death, Heller has too, he just doesn't realise it yet."
/...
-If our theory is correct, when Heller exploded a "Viral Fabric" was created around the planet, and this brought by an evolved version of the Hive Mind: this new Hive Mind has expanded beyond the infected. It should now encompass every single living being on Earth - The virus aims to create the Ultimate Biosphere that will welcome PARIAH - the Ultimate Living Form.
-My.. my god, how do you know all these things? Who are you?! And why are you telling it to us?!
-We're not Blackwatch nor Gentek. We're independent. And unlike those egomaniacs we recognise the Blacklight problem has escalated to a point where it cannot be solved without strong cooperation. It has gone off hands to any military power in this planet and we seem to be the first to actually understand that. We'll need any help we can find if we want to save the Earth.
-... How much power do you estimate to be enough for this fight?
-I don't know. The entirety of Earth's armed forces put together would be a good start.
Stage IV - Realise (Part II)
#Amaya - ((Mark Simon's Memory))
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Dr. Fento: "...I will not see my life's work ruined!"
/...
Amaya is comforted by talking with her father. The real-like feeling of his presence makes her delve deeper and deeper into this little world inside her mind and worries Dana. Amaya calls Apollo and asks if there could be a way to bring his father back.
-Maybe. I postulate that it should be possible to perform a consumption in reverse, perhaps. But it could be dangerous! I've never heard of anything like it. Besides, what if this open a free path for Mercer to come back too? Its way too risky to even think of trying. I know it hurts, I do know, but please remember that it is life as we know that is at stake here. This choice is placed in your hands. But I urge you to be at peace with how things turned, little kid. Take care.
For the next days, Amaya feels as if her heart was being compressed. She talks to herself in her mind instead of anyone else, for a change. She meditates... The Merciful and the Hellish... The inseparable duality... Can they come back to life? And if so.. would it be possible to get rid of Mercer?... Or should I follow Apollo's advice? To think that the fate of the World lies in my hands...
Time is running critically low. Apollo just shows up at Dana and Amaya's door. Knock knock knock.
-Hi, can I help you? - Dana asked through the door. She didn't open it.
-You know me as Apollo, but my real name is Wymond; Wymond McMullen. I'm Raymond's brother.
Dana opened the door amidst a surge of anxiety.
-Good morning, Dana. Sorry to show up like this, out of nothing, but I have some bad news to tell. To be honest, I don't know why I decided to tell you this, because the truth is it won't change a thing. But I had to try at least. I'm not like my brother; I... I only wish I could undo it all... - said Wymond, frustrated.
-Um.. please come in...
#Amaya - ((Peter Randall's Memory))
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Randall to Cross: "Mercer isn't a he, it's an IT. I will debrief you when you complete your mission."
/...
-What I have to say concerns you, Amaya...
Wymond tells them that an infected person will always seek to fulfill the virus' goals even when they are not aware of it; even when they're consciously believing to be against it. He says that because of this, Heller created the Viral Fabric not by accident, but on purpose, just like the bad things Mercer did while thinking to be on mankind's side.
-You're wrong! My dad saved us!
-I'm sorry, Amaya, but you too are inevitably bound to do evil and its just a matter of time...
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Mercer: "The people I've killed, they're in me. I can hear them - see the things they've done. I can understand it all. I'm supposed to do these things. But its right. I can feel it."
/...
Wymond then invites Dana to abandon Amaya and to go to safety with him; to the safest military complex there is, where he is currently living. Dana refuses. He then says, before leaving:
-Time will tell I'm right Amaya. I'm sorry, but you've been bitten by the serpent. You became a forming part of the virus' collective consciousness... And there's no way back; there never is.
Amaya answers, with wet eyes:
-This is not it... I'm.. I.. My father.. We're not it!...
Past the door, Wymond stares at Amaya with a "fear-sympathy" expression while Dana slowly closes it.
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Mercer to himself: "To blend myself into society I'd need to fix or at least largely reduce all the differences I have from the regular Joe. But in my case I didn't have a difference; I AM the difference. I don't have a virus, I AM the virus. Alex Mercer's and his memories died when I was born. I took the shape of a human being but I saw and see the world through the virus' eyes. Always. Even when I'm not aware - especially when I'm not aware. Its now clear to me I'll never join human society, even if I wanted."
/...
Stage V - Burden of duty
#Amaya - ((James Heller's Memory))
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[James planned to release a small sample of Whitelight on a few Blackwatch soldiers to see what Mercer did to it. Guerra supported the idea, but told him]: "I've seen that look in your eyes before, in the eyes of people who were falling away from the world. Please, mi amigo, in the middle of all this, don't lose sight of yourself."'
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Heller: "I know what I'm doing, Father."
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Guerra: No, mi hijito, I don't think you do"
/...
That conversation with Wymond won't leave Amaya's head. "Am I choiceless? Is it really like this, all a meaningless run with the ending already set?" - She wonders. And to bother herself more, Amaya's curiosity makes her seek choiceful situations just to test her own free will; to prove herself a point. But the only thing she knows is that she can't know until all is done.
And in the meantime of all this, Amaya was to face her most dreaded choice: The choice of trying to bring Heller back under the risk of Mercer also coming back versus the choice of playing it safe and just tell herself Heller is dead and move on with her life.
Dana advises Amaya, saying that since James and Alex are living inside her mind she should seek to make it a favorable place for Heller to develop, which will at the same time become a bad place for Mercer, who should die out by this effort.
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Mercer, with an evil smile: "They're all dead. All dead. Except me.".
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Mercer: "Greene was the leader of the infected. She guided them like a goddess. And when I killed Greene, I became the leader."
/...
Mercer was once the leader of the infected. But when Heller defeated him, Mercer recognized Heller's power as being greater than his own. "Welcome to the top of the food chain". With these words Alex Mercer was acknowledging James Heller as the next stage of the virus. Mercer's viral mind knew that what was happening had more value than his own life. To the virus, its evolution is sacred; it matters more than the viral individuals themselves, who are but expendable pawns. The perpetuation of the virus became like a religion to the infected minds. It was the very means by which it would live forever. "Welcome to the top of the food chain. I die today, but the greater cause will be carried by you.". The virus was doing nothing but its evolutionary duty... "It will be carried by you, Heller; and then by someone better and then... it goes on forever".
Stage VI - Remove the Tattoos
#Amaya - ((Supreme Hunter's Memory))
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Mysterious Contact (Supreme Hunter disguised as Cross): "How did it feel to be infected with something you couldn't control?"
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Mercer: "Like my own body wanted me dead."
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Mysterious Contact (Supreme Hunter disguised as Cross): "Did you ever consider how the parasite felt? An intelligent cancer ripped from its host?"
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Mercer: "Yeah I did. Once, right before I killed it."
/...
At church, silently, Amaya begins to recap her whole life. She remembers the old days of peace when James, Colette and she would go to the church; those were good times. Despite being a soldier, her father was such a peaceful person... He wouldn't harm a fly if not truly needed. James Heller was a man of character and never changed, while Alex Mercer became a monster before he even released the virus. So, for the memories of good times, Amaya decides to purify her heart from any harmful and viral thoughts that may be hidden in there. This takes time, because her brain is overloaded with memories from thousands of people; it takes time to find and access them making Amaya have to journey through a gigantic labryinth within her unconscious mind. Amaya thinks of Father Guerra: "This is what he wanted to tell us, but couldn't; we didn't have time after everything happened".
Amaya took her time, but, unfortunately, her purification effort was not sufficient to erase Alex Mercer from her being, for when she stumbled upon one of Alex's most bitter memories, the one where Autumn betrays and shoots him, Amaya was stricken by a surge of intense nausea which was followed by Alex expelling himself from her body and taking his former form again. Amaya had killed the evil within her, but only within her...
Looking back at Amaya, Alex says:
-Reverse consumption... You've chosen not to do it, but guess what... I could make choices too, hahaha!
And just before running away, he screamed:
-We're supposed to better ourselves! We're meant to support that which will never die. You should know that; don't fight against It.
#Amaya - ((Robert Cross' Memory))
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Cross to Mercer: "In a way... I feel sorry for you."
/...
Stage VII - Father
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Mercer to Heller: "Humanity is stagnant. Dying. I would give it one body. One mind. Think about it - no more conflict. No more disease. No more suffering. Don't you see? I'm giving it a second chance. You see, young Amaya shares your brand of annoyingly resilient DNA. And when she is ready, your daughter will become the mother of the new world."
/...
Mercer then resumes his plans to make Amaya the "Mother of the New World". But Amaya is stronger than him, and she's not alone. She has her father by her side; within her. All Mercer's attempts to brainwash her through the Hive Mind fail. His attempts to take control of Amaya, cell by cell, are frustrated in a microscopic battle with James, who became like a sentient and special immune system. James is in there, constantly, guiding his daughter.
After seeing that Alex would not give up, Amaya understands that turning the other cheek is no longer an option and the macroscopic battle begins; the battle for Prototype Zero - Amaya. Out there, Alex is starting a worldwide outbreak.
Stage VIII - Friends
Amaya and Dana start travelling around the world, fighting the infection. Blackwatch sees itself forced to side with them to fight Mercer's army of endless aberrations. And to make it worse, Alex manages to create hybrid beasts that are part monster, part armoured vehicle. Gentek begins to be closed down. And to Blackwatch's great surprise, Rooks says it is time to hire Dana into it. Outraged by Rooks' decision, Wymond deserts Blackwatch.
It is clear that Blackwatch has suffered a transformation; this is no longer a war for institutions but for Humanity as one thing. Dana accepts the offer, and sees an irony:
-My brother, my real brother would have wanted this; the end of Gentek. And to have Blackwatch fighting the virus...
Wymond had evaded Blackwatch when it took this turn to the good side. For him, this was an ironic turn - he believed Amaya's presence in there would doom mankind. He felt betrayed. But Wymond wasn't as artful as Dana in hiding, and Blackwatch soon found him and brought him in.
-We need to know.
-I can't say anything, you have an infected.. thing by your side. You are insane, you're not helping mankind at all!
Rooks then takes the say:
-Well, there goes your last chance to tell us your secret. Amaya! do what you have to. Consume him!
Silence follows, while Amaya and Wymond stare at each other and Blackwatch, encircling them, apprehensive.
-I, I can't. I won't. This is not who I am, and this is how I'll prove it.
-Do it, Amaya!
-I won't!
-You have to, it's the only way, damn it!
-I WILL NOT!
Silence continues. Rooks feels his blood start to boil, but doesn't do anything. As much as he wanted Wymond's secret, Rooks understood Amaya's point. Ultimately, they released Wymond; they just let him go through the front door like nothing happened. This surprised Dana and Amaya, knowing that secret services usually stop at nothing...
#Amaya - ((James Heller's Memory))
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Guerra: "The thanks goes to you, James. You've reminded me of what humanity can do."
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Heller: "Yeah. All the things we can do."
/...
Thus, ironically, another McMullen had escaped with the truth.
...
Massive batches of Bloodtox are produced, but it alone won't be enough due to Mercer's ever increasing immunity and resilience. In a hurry, Gentek looks through all their options over and over. In between ticks of the clock, a new and promising Whitelight cure is created. But it's still not good enough. It's too rushed. And while the clock still ticks, they try everything; they just keep trying.
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Mercer: "...A weaponized cancer was eating me from the inside out. I needed a doctor. A special kind of doctor. I needed Ragland."
/...
After the predicament of regaining Dr. Ragland's trust, he is rehired by Gentek and helps them. But instead of augmenting the span of strategies, he diminishes it by asserting that a new parasite should absolutely not be created due to the possibility of new Supreme Hunters or even worse creatures coming into existence.
-We can't outsource our fight to some parasite, or anything else. This is our fight. If we want to win, we must do the work ourselves...
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Ragland to Mercer: "They know you carry the infection. They might be using you to produce an antivirus."
/...
#Amaya - ((Dr. Gutierrez's Memory))
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[Mercer discovered it is possible to taint the Whitelight with his blood culture]
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Dr. Gutierrez: "Rest assured. As soon as he makes the connection, Mercer will control every last drop of whitelight in existence, right down to the molecular level"
/...
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Jenkins: "Dr. Archer, is it true? The culture that you're injecting into the Whitelight... it was taken from Alex Mercer himself?"
/...
If Alex was able to gain control of the Whitelight, then Amaya might be able to do it as well. Dr. Ragland and his new Gentek team then take a sample of Amaya's blood and use it to taint the Whitelight cure finally making it powerful enough to be used against Mercer's forces. Amaya now has the ability to use the Whitelight in the same fashion Alex once could. With it, they can finally fight their Fight.
#Amaya - ((James Whitney's Memory))
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James Whitney: "The process is this: we remove a small amount of blood from the subject. Her [Greene's] blood is always teeming with new variant of the virus. These samples are the key to our research. They could cure every ailment known to man."
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Unknown speaker: "Or incite them."
/...
Stage IX - Remember
#Amaya - ((Blackwatch officer's Memory))
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"When we hunt, we kill!
No one is safe!
Nothing is sacred!
We are Blackwatch!
We are the last line of defense!
We will burn our own to hold the red line; it is the last line to ever hold!"
/...
The scale of the war begins to tilt in favor of mankind. Fearing defeat, Alex Mercer consumes all his infected and becomes a giant; a "Colossus". His head rises above the clouds. The final battle has begun; Amaya and her allies fight the Colossus. Every time they succeed on a Whitelight strike the Colossus becomes smaller. Earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunamis are birthed by this giant creature's movement. It's momentum literally shifts Earth's orbit around the Sun by a few meters. This clash needs to end as soon as possible.
The Whitelight does a crucial harm to the Colossus that the virus wouldn't want: It started to unblock all the memories of the real Mercer. The Colossus starts to fall, shocked, and thinks:
"Her cure is making me remember... its bringing the real 'me' back... how is this possible? So, in the end, am I really not myself? How can I not be myself?!"
It starts to panic. Amaya had struck his metaphorical Achilles' heel. When the Colossus is about the size of a car, Amaya breaks a tank of Bloodtox upon its head and it finally collapses. She slowly approaches its body to check if its dead. She was also weakened by the Bloodtox. When Amaya gets close, the Colossus quickly stands up one last time and pierces a spike through Amaya's chest. He says:
-Look what you've done to us...
As Amaya struggles to push the spike out she concentrates her mind on the Whitelight that had entered the Colossus' bloodstream. She then succeeds to control the Whitelight and uses it to trigger a flashback in the Colossus' mind:
#Colossus - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Mercer to Dana: "I need to know why. They made me this way and I need to understand. Dana to Mercer: Its alright, Alex. Its fine. Look, no matter what, you're still my brother"
/...
The Colossus screams and vapour bursts off of it.
Another flashback is sparked:
#Colossus - ((Colonel Shawcross'/James Heller's Memory))
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[While in a test, Heller refused to kill a soldier and was not recruited into Blackwatch]. "Just 'cause you can kill something don't mean you should."
/...
The Colossus screams and vapour bursts off of it.
Even another flashback is triggered:
#Colossus - ((Robert Cross' Memory))
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[Cross's goodness of character, his turn to the good side and the empathy he had towards the civilians]
/...
The Colossus screams and vapour bursts off of it.
And one last flashback:
#Colossus - ((James Heller's Memory))
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[Rooks risked his own life to save Amaya, Dana and Heller by helicopter at the Red Zone]
/...
Like James' memories of Amaya once prevented him from dying when Alex punched through his chest (Mercer had to back away because his hand started to burn and cast vapour), the flashbacks had by the Colossus caused it to burn and cast vapour too. And after burning entirely, it collapsed again now finally to its death, shortly after vomiting a person: Alex Mercer. Blackwatch soldiers immediately point their guns at him. But instead of resisting, Mercer raises his hands.
#Amaya - ((Alex Mercer's Memory))
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Mercer: "I wanted to find out what happened to me. The Reason. Someone to blame. Someone I could punish."
/...
Dana then notices that that Alex is the real Alex, her brother. She runs towards him and hugs him.
However, without time to make a proper decision Blackwatch opens fire, killing both.
Epilogue - Ascension
Amaya sits by their bodies, crying. She is coughing blood due to the spike wound, which didn't heal. A helicopter glides above her and drops a rain of Whitelight upon the bodies, and her. She looks upwards while her tears and blood drops fall alongside Whitelight drops. But, mysteriously, they evaporate before touching the ground. Following this, Amaya falls dead, but her body evaporates too before even fully touching the ground. The bodies of Dana and Alex start to evaporate into the sky too, as some kind of bright steam. Heller's face can be seen in the vapour, also. The dead creature shrinks and starts to resemble more and more to the body of kid Elizabeth Greene and then starts to evaporate too, but into a black fume. Both fumes then spiral up towards the sky, beyond life and death, while the soldiers stare, motionless.
-So much for global warming... - said Rooks. And as they breathed some of this vapour, it was now time for them to have a vision:
#Everyone - ((Global Hive Epiphany))
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Raymond McMullen to Chapman: "There is no record of a pregnancy on her [Greene] charts. Who would have the power to conceal that?"
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It can be thought that, figuratively speaking, the Redlight/Blacklight virus hated mankind, for it was first engineered to be like this; a weapon. The Virus found a most favorable shelter within Greene's body, as when it infected her all it found in Greene's mind was hatred for mankind; a hatred that started when she realised she had been a victim of the most gruesome military experiment. She then gave birth to PARIAH, who had even more hatred in his mind. Randall was insane enough to keep them alive... No, he wasn't... He had been infected. Cutting his own arm didn't quite save him from an infection; the cauterization almost worked, but he still became partially infected and developed an unconscious drive to protect the virus. Because of this he saved Greene and PARIAH from certain death. The virus used Randall's racist mindset and tweaked it to create such drive. This is not surprising, considering that the virus was first created with the purpose of affecting certain races and ethnicities while being innocuous to some. And for all those years that unconscious drive pushed him up to the top of Blackwatch. In Randall's mind there was the prospect of an ultimate weapon. In the virus' "mind" there was the prospect of an ultimate life form, which Randall fiercely concealed and kept away even from Raymond and Gentek... And at Gentek, Mercer was ordered to develop the Blacklight Virus (after a blood sample from Greene), and he did it without questioning; this is on him. But later he saw his error and tried to leave Gentek. He saw Greene and became obsessed with her. He took photos. He tried to investigate. He looked her in the eye for too long - And she took control of him. She opened his eyes to his research... and then closed them. She gave him sight of Moral. And then took it. Through a Hive Mind like power, Greene struck Alex's mind with a promise: that of a New Era. And through controlling Mercer, Greene made him take that vial to Penn station where it would be... destroyed - ironically saving the Blacklight virus. Now, whether he was convinced by or planted with this idea... Too hard to tell with a mere memory...
/
Blackwatch Scientist I: "What do you think goes on in her head?"
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Blackwatch Scientist II: "Nothing, her brain was fried by the virus."
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Blackwatch Scientist I: "It seems like she's... waiting for something."
/
Raymond McMullen to Mercer: "...you always were a lateral thinker: plans within plans..."
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Calum Kirkland: "What i'm saying is that the subject entered the station with the intent on releasing the weapon."
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Unknown speaker: "Are you certain?"
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Calum Kirkland: "Yes, sir. I have no doubt."
/
The Blacklight virus infected Mercer's dead body at Penn station, resurrected his body and stole his brain functions to create a new Mercer; a conscious embodiment of the Virus with the purpose of infecting the entire mankind. The Virus-Mercer had taken Mercer's hatred for the virus and turned it against Humanity instead. Moreover, due to the fact that the Virus infected Mercer after he died, most of Mercer's memories were lost due to brain damage.
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Virus-Mercer: "Part of me was relieved. Part of me died ... Just another disguise, right? So ingrained, so real even I believe it."
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Viruses are like that, they steal and twist the victim's resources to fulfill its own purposes. And in this case it stole something different from any other: It stole hatred.
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Mercer: "Revenge was the only clear thought in my head. The only one I could call mine" - This was the last thought the real Mercer had before dying. And the Virus-Mercer adopted this thought.
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And this Virus-Mercer was, in a sense, PARIAH's brother for him and PARIAH both came from Elizabeth Greene. Greene had to create another child because her first one, PARIAH, had hatred just towards everything and was thus unreliable for any practical purpose. And this is why PARIAH and his brother, the Virus-Mercer must not ever meet each other - If such thing happen their fight will be so extreme it will doom the planet to complete obliteration.
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Mercer: "To tell you the truth I never thought I'd find her... I wished the hell I never had."
/...
Rooks says: Its settled for now. But for what may come next we'll need to become better than we ever were before. This war is not over..