It was time to see his sister, he had been gone for awhile, she might be worried. After all of this, she must think of me like the rest do a monster. Why she helps me must be fear, after what I did, it was to help her… It was just to help her. A flashback shined in the back of his eyes, as if replaying a scene, a movie so easily to recall with photogenic memory. There must have been a dozen of them, right after he had destroyed the military base, escaped them, and the roaming Blackhawk helicopters, he crossed the city, skyscrapers in a dull blur, as he zoomed through the city streets, he felt a small sense of freedom, in running so fast his legs felt like muscles yet the same time weightless, just moving faster and faster, not noticing the concrete turning to his equivalent of sand, or hell might as well be air: mostly when he ran he never tested the limit, he kept a good sixty to seventy miles per hour, how he measured was simple. He'd dent a car, and scare the driver, then they would take off at top speed, and he'd trail behind, or eventually pass it, though on average all he needed was sixty. Arms swinging back and forth, he could feel himself growing faster, his legs weren't feeling any strain, he just kept going, the people and places, the buildings, and cars, everything before was dull, it was blurred but still recognizable, now he just ran and light was zooming by in walls of blue and grey, and yellow, if it were any other place it would have been beautiful but new York even like this, was somewhat boring in the daytime. He stopped, with an abrupt halt, it was hell for a moment, not having control, gravity being a bastard, with the stop he felt a gust launch forward and flip the car in front of him, his eyes kicked in, everything was so… slow, it was as if time were passing by at a snails pace, he saw the blank expressions of marines, turn to a mix of fear and surprise, he only saw the mask of black watch members standing out their guns inching upwards into place, and the military base, a tank at the ready already raising the main barrel, he couldn't help but enjoy this new sense of power, watching the world spin downwards as he rolled, the scenery was nearly the same, a tall twelve foot wall, with barbed wire ontop, automatic machine guns spinning to lock on, and a tank sitting in front of the entrance, while all the marines and black watch were standing outside now in full alert aiming at him.
The off brand cars were parked neatly as if they haven't been touched in days, very likely considering everybody walks anyway, yellow taxi cabs were there too, and one cab was flipped over thanks to him, he felt the shockwave of a tank shell being fired, subtle as if air passing through him, then watched the missile pass him by almost ten feet off, he had felt it coming he already rolled away, the explosion was heard nearly a mile away, but only by him, as he dashed up the side of the brick wall, he preferred getting to Dana rather than fighting for now. Sirens were blaring, the noisy rotor of a helicopter barely got through. "Ah man, not now." He groaned, kicking off the ledge as he only saw the sky, deep in its vast blue endlessness, then a hard drop to reality ten seconds later, he couldn't imagine how high he had gotten from a two story building, way past the helicopters he could just see into the next city far across the bridges, his eyes had returned to normal, maybe it was an upgrade, like thermal, or viral sensory, good while it lasted. He didn't try to stop himself, he fell faster and harder, and when he reached the ground, when he hit the ground, it was like a bomb going off, the concrete was torn up, ripped away from the blast of just him landing, a crater torn nearly twenty feet in diameter, a red wave of the viral mist, launched out right after a giant black and red shockwave, which was nearly tangible in its raw power.
He stood up, looking around to see people running for their lives, this place wasn't infected, it was clean, like the rest of the city, business men were roaming, pedestrians walking around, some with jersey shirts, the others with hoodies, women, children, they hadn't notice him, or his feat of strength, though the ones that did were only pools of blood around the crater, and a few inside. It was safe to walk now, a sixth sense told him he wasn't being watched, nor could the military see him, so he took off again, running a normal steady pace, down the city streets to pass up cars and people like the turtle and the hair, he found her apartment. "Soldiers…if they know who I am, then they probably know who she is…I need to get to a good view point and scope the area out." It had become night and the stillness was setting in, latched upon a perch with the moon at his back, the building was perfect, three stories and out of the way of they're view, he saw the dozens of black watch, well equipped to fight him so to speak: if anything less than an army of tanks and helicopters could be wiped out, a few dozen men with missiles, grenade launchers and the standard m60 wouldn't have a chance, still he had to be stealthy. Earlier, he had consumed one of them to find where she was, and so he took that form, his biomass his chemistry, he imitated it all, from the helmet, to the gasmask, to the sole of that combat boot, it was just an imitation of the real thing, and personally he felt the imitation was better. After all that's what he felt like, just a clone, no memory of who he was, just a name and a few mismatched memories of this women, his sister: Dana.
He looked like them, spoke like them, acted just like them, so he dropped from the ledge, landing with a quite thud and walked out from around the corner, under a light shadow of a tree, he passed by the tank, walking down the long and narrow street, crawling with military, and cold chill in the air. Through the entrance, "I'm in." Up the elevator, and busting through the door he saw his sister, messy brown hair, cut short to shoulder length a bit spiked downward, like she had just gotten out of bed. "Get off, get off me!" She screamed head butting the black watch soldier behind him, enough time for Alex to leap forward and impale the man through the chest, with his fist. She stumbled away, holding her hand up looking at him, as if he were a monster, and by most standards he was. "I'm not going to hurt you" He said with as much concern as he could muster. She only froze, still backing away with her hands up, her head turned, the fluster in her cheeks rose to a bright red, she was shivering but they didn't have much time. He took her hand, trying to firmly lead her on, but still she was reluctant, he had to pick her up, put her over his shoulder and head for the back exit, down twelve flights of stairs, and at the back alley of Chelsea, they entered an abandoned piece of the subway, closed off at one point. He sat her down and she was in a ball, gasping for breath. "I need your help." He said rather emotionless. She took a long breath and in a shaky voice replied. "Jesus, I knew something fucked up was going on at GENTEK. What the hell happened to you Alex?" She shook her head with nearly each word, then looked up with a plea in her voice, and in her eyes, staring at him in a word he couldn't describe. He could only stand there and waver, his arms raised as he gave a small shrug, he couldn't even tell her, he didn't even know: What was he going to say, that he was monster, a killer, a mutated virus? No he just couldn't. "I've been researching that whole fucked up organization for weeks. I was poking around to get YOU information." Her hands were thrown up and down in wild way like saying, what the hells going on. The last bit she pointed at him then rested her hands to her knees. "Don't you remember you wanted to find out what was going on at the highest levels of GENTEK—Anything about the director of research.." He just stood there, looking in her confused face, searching for something. That's when it hit him, a face on a name card, an older man, with a light grey beard and hair, the name was Doctor McMullen, Director of Research. He looked down in a bit of pain, and heard her ask if he was alright. "Do you know what happened?" he questioned her, she couldn't possibly know what he meant, and he was right. "I…I haven't even seen you in five years. Not until you show up at my door last month." She spoke softly, seemingly calmed down, as she slid up against the wall and stood up firmly.
His head was thrown back, in display of disappointment, from the darkness he moved under the light, with a quick look back he spoke to her. "Is there somewhere we can go?" he said in the normal casual, emotionless tone. "Yeah I, um…I know a place." Right then he looked up, hearing the familiar sound of the apache helicopter, it was time to go. He arrived a bit after her, cleaned up anyone that saw him, to make sure the military didn't find him out, he let the helicopters away, transformed into another, then walked back to midtown West, of Manhattan. He opened the door and found a simple place, stone grey brick walls, a refrigerator to the left, a brown wooden table with a few stacks of books, a small shelf, only four levels, lined with the table, a lamp on top, and a rack with blurry pictures in the back. To the left of the rack was a larger space, size of maybe a large bathroom, dresser, and again a book shelf, just filled with books this time. "So come in…" He looked around and saw the computer, in section four of the safe house, the door area being section one, refrigerator two, bookshelf three and computer four. A desk, with two cabinet spaces, sat in the corner, a shelf built over it, full of boxes and books, all of unknown content. A poster, or the thing you stick stuff to, was filled with newspaper clippings, photographs, images of people, places the works. The entire wall next to said desk was also covered in propaganda, and clippings of GENTEK. "It's, uh, a friends place…Patagonia or something." Two rod lights were over the entrance of the door, and the posters, as Alex and Dana walked up to it, He took it all in. "Any idea what this all means?" he said staring blankly into the array of information.
She replied a bit positively. "No, but I'm going to find out. I mean this is the story of the century, so somebody's got to know what the fucks going on here." She turned and shook her head. "You know…they were waiting for me at my place, so they're most defiantly waiting at yours." His eyes loomed over to her, a bit blankly he asked. "Where do I live?" To a map, she had on the wall, Dana pointed. " There." A red marked spot, so she already knew. "You'll be here when I get back." He asked, as if it were something to hold on to, when there's nothing else, the little things are all you've got. "Its best if you stay put-They're combing the city for both of us." His first show of concern for her, as he turned and walked away, but she responded. "Yeah ill be here."
He appeared next, in broad daylight atop a ten story building, an air conditioner to his left, and a water tower behind him, the horizon was filled with multi layers of different shaped buildings, the north was mostly the tall skyscrapers, almost like a wall in front of him, the west was different sizes, showing the descent into the suburban areas, not a bad neighborhood though, Water towers, and air conditioners abundant on either brick, metal, or concrete apartments, hell just buildings. He walked over to the ledge, finding a few same level story buildings, down the four way crossroads. "They think they're in control, but they have no idea what I'm capable of…" He took a small leap, clearing the gap of his building and the next, over and over he jumped over buildings or ran up them, the scenery wasn't special, people on the ground going about they're business, cars cluttering up the streets, and military here and there. Either by jumping or running he cleared nearly six miles in under a minute, such an easy way to get across things, at the loss of some sight seeing but that didn't matter right now.
At last after crossing hundreds of military units, and a large forest of mostly Autumn leaves, then passing through a crowd of infected drones, he was there, a twenty story building, reflective blue glass from the doors straight up to the concrete roof, he was was home, as much as home as an apartment could be. "Home, I'm home." The hooded figure watched the people pass by, no military, a good sight, through the doors he went, the lobby was virtually empty, and clean enough to eat off of. Couch's with plants next to them, glass tables with imitation gold lining, and carpet, in the waiting area at least. He didn't see hide nor hair of employees, as if everyone had just vanished, no bother ringing the bell. Alex walked on by, into the metallic embrace of an elevator and clung to the center, as he hit the sixteen button, and felt the ride begin to move. His feet were planted, and an absent look, searching the surface of smudged silver. He looked into it, deep into the surface as he caught the reflection of himself, into his own eyes he had to wonder what he really was, he couldn't be like the rest: He had control, no memories… but control.
"Hey, I knew this guy. He was Blacklight." He heard a man speaking, and then the other respond. "Yeah, well now he's ex-blacklight" He was slipping in an out of consciences, yet he couldn't move, nore speak, or see, but in an almost ethereal sense, he felt himself floating, his back to something cold, but light as a feather. Men were talking, two of them, and the pain of rebirth had just took its effect: His eyes shot open as he saw men in dark blue, their faces shielded by a rectangular visor, and as he awoke, a sharp pain hit him, while gasping for breath, he was nearly in shock, but forced himself up, "Get the fuck out!" they screamed as if they saw a ghost, and so they backed up, even behind the suits, he could smell they're fear, or maybe that was his own. "Get the kill team in here NOW!" Alex flipped over, stumbling to the floor as he tried to get up, knocking down some machine, while holding himself on the autopsy table. When he looked back, the door was left swinging open, so he ran to it, and through the building that was once familiar, now just a vacant blur, the world spun around him, his own movement was blurred, he felt horrible, his stomach turned, and his head wanted to pop, but he staggered onward, in heavy breaths, he ducked behind a van, the lights still on, he peered around its bulk and saw a helicopter landing, it wasn't a commercial heli either, it was military: maybe even special forces. The drumming of the rotor was the worst kind of music, but still he looked, and saw men heavily armed, black suits, and tri-lens goggles. They were fighting with the scientist, but when black watch trooper got angry, he shot him in the head, a single round, a tiny pop and the man lay dead. Then his partner, shot in the chest three times before being left for dead. "ahh shit!" He dashed for an exit, as the black watch turned to aim, the commander bellowed. "All targets, priority target, fire now!" He had his back against the wall, his hands up, waving quickly. "Wa-wa-wait! Wait!" Even then as he pleaded a wall of gunfire pierced through him, dozens of rounds were placed in his body as he screamed in pain and fell to his knees, just not for long, he stood up, holding his sides. "Ahhhh what's happening to me!" He looked up in an emotionless face and ran, taking what felt like a single step and leaped onto a garbage can, the large rectangle boxes, then jumped the wall, wit relative ease, even as they pumped bullets into him. He landed on a knee then turned to look at the wall. "That was… easy." And bolted to the door.
His thoughts of escape were interrupted by a ding, small, short, annoying. The reflection split down the middle, the doors came apart and he stepped outside, walking along the small row of doors, until he found his."2B…" The shrouded figure spoke and walked in, finding an array of memories, and pictures, of him: and this women. He looked over and saw books, many, many books, a desk with papers scattered everywhere, and two monitors for the computer. It must have been a suit, everything looked nice. Then he looked at the picture, of him and a blonde girl, jus touching the picture, brought back a memory: She was in front of him, they were at the GENTEK building and she was asking him not to do something, pleading, begging, but before the rest could come out she faded, the memory faded into caution; an eerie silence, then a clicking sound and light flowed over him, heat and fire exploded throughout the room, and he was sent flying through the window, but as he fell, Mercer flipped and landed on his feet, a small cloud of dust concealed him, and as it disappeared he stood up straight; Anger flowing through his cold eyes.