Chaos: Cacophony
Prologue
"New York Zero is a lost cause," said Jack Regell, Commander of the task force known as Dogwatch. "We need to start focusing our efforts elsewhere. Blackwatch failed, and we have to pick up the pieces."
"Sir, what about London?" asked a Lieutenant.
"Let the British worry about London," Jack replied. "Something big is about to go down in the rest of Europe. The outbreak of Blacklight is spreading there as well, but the world governments are trying to keep it quiet."
"Not for much longer."
"We're being deployed to Paris," Regell went on. "The French are allowing us to take up our own operations in order to help them contain the situation."
"Is France a prime target, sir?" asked Yvette Marric, his second in command.
"It is. Prepare for deployment."
# # #
Jessica tried to think, but it was too difficult given everything that was happening and had happened. There had been new reports of viral outbreaks in Europe that no one had been able to contain.
The death of Harriet Lee had also shaken her. It hadn't been profound, but the Doctor's knowledge had revealed some shocking truths.
First of all, Lee had headed up the project that had made attempts at modifying the Blacklight virus in 1988, when she had just graduated from university. Alex Mercer had been her protégé in 2006 when she decided to test the virus on several animals. He had objected to using the virus on the creatures out of worry, apprehensiveness perhaps, but Harriet was impatient.
The experiments had paid off in the end anyhow.
Two years later, the outbreak of New York began when Alex Mercer stole a vial of the Blacklight virus and unleashed it.
That was the day the old world ended and the new one began. Secretly, Lee was proud of Mercer and even sanctioned his activities secretly. The only thing that she resented was that she was never made an evolved. For this reason, she'd wanted revenge.
Jessica woke up from her nap to find Lucy and Isaac standing over her.
"Jess?" said Lucy. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Jessica said, sitting up. She rubbed her forehead. "I'm just trying to comprehend what I learned from Lee's memories."
"What did you learn?" Isaac asked.
"That her primary motivations were greed and jealousy," replied Jessica. "She was only helping us to get back at Mercer and the other evolved. She never really cared about stopping the Blacklight…she wanted to be part of Mercer's army.
"Still she…I did learn a little more about her past. It helped me to understand why Mercer acted the way he did at first."
Lucy and Isaac exchanged glances, and then Lucy sat down next to Jessica while Isaac walked out of the room.
"Jess," said Lucy, "these things are beyond your control. The best we can do is fight with what knowledge we've been given. I think you're our best hope."
"We're the few against many," Jessica said. "How can we hope to make a difference?"
Lucy put her arm around Jessica's shoulders. "We'll find a way."
Jessica smiled. "Alright…I trust you, Lucy."
Suddenly Lucy contorted her face. Then she turned her head and sneezed. A loud bang echoed around the room immediately after as a small table next to the couch went flying into a wall.
Then the table exploded into a mass of tendrils and melted onto the carpet.
Lucy watched in horror. "Wow…did I do that?"
"What do you think?" Jessica asked with a raised eyebrow and a sarcastic tone.
"Shut up," said Lucy, punching Jessica lightly on the arm.