Hopping from rooftop to rooftop, Alex climbed to the highest point in the general vicinity and peered down at his target below. Several days had passed from when he and Dana got themselves situated in the safe house, and with his complete inability to sleep anymore, Alex devoted his time to patrolling the Red Zone and marking locations of Blackwatch bases on a map. During the nighttime he used a physical map to check off areas, while during the day- such as right now- Alex collaborated with Dana on her new Blackwatch computer to draw up a more comprehensive chart of everything and anything related to the organization.

Alex jumped from the rooftop and landed like a cat on a nearby sign, doing the same on multiple objects until he reached street level. Finding a break in Blackwatch's patrols, he changed into his high-ranking officer disguise and vaulted over the wall that kept the infected out, landing behind a row of armored vehicles. Walking into view like a normal member of the organization, Alex located the nearest set of computer terminals and used his… "acquired" credentials to access Blackwatch's scheduled patrol routes.

With the important information displayed before him, Alex used his comm-link to speak to Dana, quietly informing her that, "I've got what we need. Sending a link to you now."

"Got it", Dana responded a few moments later. She chuckled to herself and then commented, "Y'know, we're like a team of superheroes now- you going out and taking the fight to Blackwatch while I'm hunkered down in the safe house and giving technical support. Kinda like Iron Man and his AI butler, whatever the heck that thing's called."

Dana then thought for a moment and corrected herself, "Actually, we're more like anti-heroes; instead of fighting like heroes do, we're getting our goals accomplished in any way we can. That makes us, uh, Chaotic Good? Assuming SHIELD is Lawful Good and the Avengers are Neutral Good. I think so."

"Dana...", Alex stressed, exasperated by her rambling. "Not helping. Have you found anything particularly useful yet? Like what Blackwatch's plans are going forward, or maybe something to do with that vial of gray liquid?"
Dana typed in a few things and came up with, "Uh, nothing about their plans, but I did find a passing reference to something called 'Graylight'."

"And?", Alex persisted. Dana shrugged her shoulders. "That's it. Like I said, just a passing reference; all that's mentioned is their reserves of it, which totals well into the gallons. Isn't there anything in the memories of those soldiers you've… 'Consumed'?"

Alex shrugged his shoulders in return. "The closest connection that these people seem to have is this really odd feeling. Like there's a point in their lives when something terrible or unexpectedly life-threatening happens, and everything goes completely dark for some time. Then… something changes, and then they're right back on their feet, as if nothing ever happened. I- I can't fully explain it. But whatever the problem is, it's not something their memories can explain, which is unusually worrying."

"And you can't figure this out… why?", Dana questioned. "Ten bucks says this Graylight gunk is some kind of virus, just like Blacklight. How is it that you don't know a thing about this when your whole career is based in viruses?"

Alex surmised, "Oh, I don't know… maybe it's because this virologist needs a lab to do any virology in? I may have superpowers Dana, but being a living laboratory ain't one of them. Even if it was, I still wouldn't put that Graylight stuff anywhere inside me- I'm mutated enough as it is."

Dana rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright, I get the picture. Just- argh!"

Immediately going from sarcasm and snark to sincerity, Alex quickly asked, "What happened? Are you alright?"

Growling under her breath, Dana told Alex, "I'm fine, don't worry about it. Just got a shock from the connection socket on this computer. Zaps like that seem to be getting more frequent. When this chaos is over and if the contractor I had build this place is still alive, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind for making such a lousy hiding spot. Then again, this is what I get when I pay for a building completely anonymously."

"Your little revenge plan against your contractor will have to be put on hold almost indefinitely", Alex commented. "At the rate we're gathering intel- pretty much none at all- this war against Blackwatch is going to go on forever."

Blacklight stepped in to comment, That's because we've been cherry picking through minor outposts and not very important locations. If we want to get to the heart of this whole operation, we need to go straight to the source of everything that's related to Blackwatch- their HQ just on the outskirts of the city.

Of course doing something like that would be a terrible decision, Blacklight continued. Trying to escape the heavily guarded perimeter of the city, delving into the very heart of enemy territory, and trying to get back into the city as well would fall apart faster than a deck of cards caught in a hurricane. I mean, it's not like we can just waltz into their HQ and ask for the top secret information.

Alex stood still for a moment and contemplated the idea, to which Blacklight immediately responded with, I wasn't being ser… oh no...

Some hours later…

Iron Man paced the floor of the Blackwatch tent and anxiously waited for his AI assistant to give him an update on the scans he took over the city. Eventually he simply outright asked, "JARVIS, are you done yet?"

"Nearly finished, sir", JARVIS replied inside Iron Man's helmet. Bringing up a 3D display of the city, the AI explained, "I've scoured every corner of New York that's been labeled as the 'Red Zone'; there is absolutely no sign of unusual biological activity that matches Alex Mercer's unique signature. Just like the last scan, and the one before it."

Iron Man threw up his hands and commanded, "Then scan again! Filter out every trace of Blacklight and any other bio signs if you have to! Just… find him already!"

He growled, "Urgh, this is just like hunting for the Skrulls all over again, only this time I don't have Dr. Doom showing up with a computer chip that makes searching even viable."

Looking over at Black Panther, Iron Man grilled him for information. "Did you find anything with that fancy Wakandan tech of yours?"

"Nothing as of yet", Black Panther admitted. "I still cannot help but be marveled by the adaptive nature of Blacklight; Mercer is constantly evolving to his environment and other outside stimuli, growing superior in every aspect conceivable. I dare say he may eventually become more powerful than any of us."

"All the more reason we need to find him now before that happens", Iron Man asserted. Turning to Nick Fury, he continued, "And what about you, Fury? Isn't SHIELD connected to every phone and computer on the planet? I'm surprised you haven't found a trace of Alex yet if he's using one."

Fury crossed his arms. "SHIELD is certainly… 'connected to the grid', but if he's using any electronic devices, then he's smart enough to know how to keep out all of our infiltration software and Trojan Horses. Hmm. A living virus that adapts to digital viruses as well. Ironic."

Iron Man did not find any humor in the situation though- in desperation for a possible avenue, he turned to the very last person he thought would be able to help: Thor. Tony pleaded with him, "Please, please tell me you have some kind of magical tracking tool that can find this guy? I know you and I usually have our differences with science and magic, but I'm honestly running out of options here."

Thor simply replied, "I am sorry, friend Stark, but there is nothing I can offer to help in our search for Mercer; the most I can suggest is to just going into the city and physically look for the man. After all, it's not as though he himself has shapeshifting abilities like the Skrull do."

"With the capabilities he has already shown us", Black Panther commented, "I believe that power may not be out of the question- in truth, no possible power can be discounted with his adaptability. Even magic may not be effective against him, given enough continuous exposure."

"Which is why we need to find him now!", Iron Man blurted, throwing up his hands again in anger. "I'm tired of just waiting around for the guy to show up- there's got to be something we can do to find him. Has Randall or Parker come up with anything yet?"

No one had an answer, so Iron Man impatiently waited until General Randall arrived. Well aware of Iron Man's aggravation, Randall told him as soon as he walked in, "Yes, I have something for you, Iron Man, but it also comes with some bad news and even worse news. That being said, you'll want the good news first."

"And what good news is that?", Iron Man asked dryly. Randall explained, "With the help of your scientists, Gentek was able to quickly start up the two most important projects aimed at taking down Mercer and the other infected in the Red Zone: special viral detectors and an antiviral agent referred to as 'Bloodtox'. The sensors will be able to detect Alex's unique viral strain, and strategically placed throughout our bases inside the Red Zone, Mercer won't be able to sneak his way in anymore."

"Anymore?", Black Panther questioned. Randall stated, "That's part of the bad and worse news; I'll get to that in a minute. As for the Bloodtox, it's a special chemical compound that's highly lethal to anything infected with any form of Blacklight. Therefore, if we deployed it throughout the Red Zone, it'll wipe out the infected there and make it easier to retake the city, as well as severely weaken Mercer… if not outright kill him."

Wasp stepped up to question, "You're going to annihilate all of those people in the Red Zone? Isn't there anything else that can be done for them?"

Randall reiterated, "They're infected- nothing can save them from what's been done to them. Mercer's incomplete formula has completely damaged their DNA well beyond repair. All we can do now is euthanize them with the Bloodtox formula."

"Won't Mercer eventually gain resistance to this toxin as he has to everything else?", Black Panther questioned. Randall continued, "If we play our cards right, that won't happen. Bloodtox's chemical composition is specifically designed to attack the Blacklight virus, especially concentrated doses like what Alex exposed himself to. It's going to overwhelm him before he can overcome it."

Black Panther suggested, "Unless he acquires a cache of this Bloodtox and takes small doses to gradually grow immune to it."
"Which won't happen because the compound won't be released until after the Viral Detectors are deployed, and we're putting them in our HQ now as a precaution", Randall insisted. "But enough about that- I have other news everyone needs to hear, especially for Mr. Stark and Mr. Fury."

Iron Man and Fury gave the general their full attention to hear Randall had to say, and from there the man explained, "In a surprisingly unusual coincidence, our efforts to restrict Mercer's actions led us to the capture of a hacker you two know all too well- the rogue agent 'Malware'."

"That's great and all- he's been kind of a pain in my wallet- but what does he have to do with all this?", Iron Man wondered. Randall corrected him, "You mean her- this person is actually a woman, and one who's now involved with this whole incident."

Pulling out the file folder that previously held Alex Mercer's personal information, Randall opened it to reveal it now contained important data on the other Mercer- Dana Mercer. Iron Man looked down and scanned the top of the page, staring at the face of his most recent adversary in silence. After a few more moments, Iron Man officially declared, "I'm really starting to hate this family."

"Where is this 'Dana' now?", Fury asked, to which Randall elaborated, "We captured her a few days ago, but unfortunately Alex managed to break her out of the warehouse we kept her in and escaped. They vanished without a trace, and we believe it's due to them hiding away in an undisclosed safe house; our men haven't been able to locate them since."

Hawkeye snarked, "How did Alex make everyone look stupid this time?"

"He snuck into our base, stole a tank, blasted through the warehouse and left with not only Dana, but as well as a laptop containing certain sensitive data regarding Blackwatch… and the tank", Randall rattled off. "And through some disturbing actions, Alex managed to do all of that under the guise of being our own men."

Losing his snarky attitude, Hawkeye stared at Randall for several moments until he asked, "H... how? How the heck could Mercer actually pull that off? Is Blackwatch that incompetent, or does this guy have more tricks up his sleeves? Or… in his DNA, I guess."

Randall summarized, "From what the people in Gentek have gathered, Alex is capable of doing much more than just healing himself with the people he absorbs. It seems as though his unique relation with the virus enables him to 'copy' and 'store' certain cell configurations, as well as being able to recall and use them at any time."

"And in English that means…?", Hawkeye wondered. Black Panther guessed, "It must mean that Mercer is capable of accessing anyone's memories and mimicking their appearance, much like a Skrull infiltrator. How accurate are these new powers of his?"

Randall admitted, "Mercer was able to sneak into a Blackwatch base as one of us, kill and impersonate one of our higher ranking officers, steal and operate a tank by absorbing its driver, and mimic their voices so well it was impossible for our own men to realize they were being fooled. We only knew of Mercer's treachery when the tank went missing, as well as the two soldiers."

"So then this is just like the Skrull event!", Tony declared. Randall raised an eyebrow and replied, "I suppose so… other than myself not knowing what a 'Skrull' is."

Wasp questioned, "Wait, really? You don't know what a Skrull is? Y'know, those shape-shifting aliens that nearly conquered the world. Where have you been, Randall? Under a rock?"

Randall elaborated, "No, I just don't watch the news. Never anything good on."

At that point, one of the higher ranking officers walked into the tent to approach Randall, to which the general handed him a briefcase and allowed him to leave. With just a salute, the officer left and left everyone wondering what to make of that silent exchange. Cap asked as much, "What was in that briefcase?"

"Important documents related to our current objectives and goals", Randall stated. "That officer will take the crucial documents to a dead drop and allow another, randomly selected officer to retrieve it. That way its whereabouts are hidden from Alex."

After another moment of silence he added, "Look, I understand none of you are happy about Blackwatch's intentions with the Bloodtox, but with how unpredictable and dangerous the Blacklight virus is, euthanizing the infected is our only viable solution. A cure is simply impossible at this stage, or at any other."

The various members of the Avengers looked at each other, and eventually Wasp spoke for them all when she said, "If there's really no other way… it just hurts because normally we can save everyone. Something like this- just standing around, doing nothing but waiting while people are suffering… it's not a good feeling at all."

Soon all eyes went to Nick Fury, everyone wondering what he would say. He simply glowered at Randall, clearly not putting any sort of faith into Randall's words. After a few seconds he intended to say something, but then pressed the comm-link in his ear and heard something, suddenly sprinting out of the tent and calling out to the others back inside, "Everyone, follow me, and quickly!"

Fury asked through his comm-link, "Talk to me Hill- are you certain it's him?"

Hill hurriedly affirmed, "It is- Alex was that high ranking officer who took the briefcase. You have to stop him before he gets away with it!"

Fury looked back to Randall behind him- both still running- and commented, "Hidden from Alex, right?"

"I wasn't expecting him to be so bold!", Randall exclaimed. Iron Man retorted, "And we weren't expecting him to have the powers of a Skrull! But we could've known that sooner if someone told us he was already spying on the guy we've been racking our brains trying to find- especially mine!"
He directed his renewed aggravation to Fury, since the man held out on everyone else with the whereabouts of their mutual targets. Fury did not immediately bother trying to defend his actions, instead blurting, "Forget about blaming others- just find Alex and get back that briefcase! Fan out and look for anyone with a briefcase on them."

Meanwhile…

Shit, shit, shit, Alex thought to himself. Blacklight asked him, I could've told you this would have backfired on us eventually… oh wait- I did! Several times in fact.

Alex growled and shot back, It was working fine until now- and we have all of the information on those Viral Detectors and Bloodtox in this folder… and who knows what else. I say it was worth the risk.

You won't be saying that if we get captured, Blacklight reminded him. Alex simply rolled his eyes and kept speed walking; instead of running like a madman and ensuring everyone would be suspicious of him, he just walked with a purpose, as if he clearly meant to be there. Every so often he moved between tents, just to avoid any soldiers who might see him and further avoid suspicion by not being at all.

Unfortunately the Avengers, Fury and his SHIELD agents, as well as a growing number of Blackwatch soldiers began fanning out and looking for anyone at all with a briefcase with them. And at that particular moment, only Alex fit that description, which forced him to move along even faster. His power walking increased somewhat, hoping he would be able to outpace the thorough searching everyone did.

Sadly that did not help enough- Hawkeye saw him move behind a tent, and even with the briefcase held in front of him, the archer still called out to everyone else, "I think I got him!"

With his cover on the cusp of being blown, Alex broke into a full superhuman sprint and zoomed past almost everyone, zigzagging between tents to further confuse the people coming after him. Blacklight urged him, Do something else- they're nearly on top of us!

Alex once again thought to himself, Shit, shit, shit!

Going as fast as he could, his mind raced almost as quickly as his feet did, and eventually an idea came to him. Looking around for the nearest Blackwatch soldier, he switched from a hurried and rushed demeanor to a calm and natural one, then walked up to the soldier to ask, "Could you hold onto this for me? I need to go do something."

The soldier simply shrugged. "Uh… I guess."

He took the briefcase and Alex walked off, going behind a tent before breaking into another superhuman sprint. For a few minutes the soldier stared at the briefcase in his hands, somewhat confused why the other soldier gave him it and dashed away. But in a few more minutes, he quickly understood why as Hawkeye, Iron Man and everyone else surrounded the man.

They all pointed their weapons at him while Iron Man declared, "Alright Mercer- game over! Give us the briefcase and come quietly. Anymore tricks and you're gonna get blasted."

The soldier looked down at the briefcase in silence for a few seconds before blurting, "Wait… what?"

Hawkeye told him, "Don't play dumb with us- we know it's you, Mercer. Who else would have the briefcase on him?"

"Uh, I just got handed this thing by some other guy", the soldier explained. "He ran off somewhere after that."
Iron Man scanned the contents which dropped his Repulsor Rays and realize, "Wait… there's no documents in that thing- it's empty!"

"Empty!?", Randall exclaimed. He walked up to the soldier and took the briefcase from him, intending to open it up before coming to a realization himself. Randall stated, "The lock's been busted open", then opened the briefcase up without the key to reveal… absolutely nothing inside.

Iron Man threw up his hands for the upteenth time and shouted, "How does Alex keep doing this!?"

At that time, Alex went back to power walking, briefly looking back to see no one following him as they were clearly distracted by the quick ruse he came up with. He felt the urge to laugh as he thought to himself, I can't believe that actually worked- ditch the evidence with the other guy and leave with the goodies inside in the process.

Looking down at his chest, it partially opened like a zipper to reveal the papers and other important documents inside. Organic pockets… I gotta remember this trick for later.

Blacklight commented, Yes yes… the plot armor is strong with you. Let's just hope it lasts long enough for us to leave without incident.

No worry- we just need to find a quick way out of here and we'll be outta here, scot free, Alex replied. He went to the gate leading into the bridge that connected to New York, but with the heavy security and slow processing, getting through all of that before the Avengers caught him to him would be impossible. Going down to the docks where the boats were, Alex saw some of the SHIELD agents patrolling in that area and checking everyone who came near, so that would not work either.

How did we get here so easily again?, Alex nervously questioned Blacklight. It told him, We hid underneath one of the helicopters as it flew from the city and into HQ. Going back the way we came won't be as easy- another scheduled flight isn't due for another… ten minutes.

Alex asked, Think we can wait it out until then?

We'll have to if we want to get out of here, Blacklight surmised. Alex looked around and found an empty tent to hide away in until the next helicopter would nearly leave. Since they were no longer in a hurry and Alex wanted to pass the time rather than wait an agonizing amount of time for their ride to arrive, Alex decided to pose a simple question to Blacklight.

What's your opinion of the Avengers?

Why does that matter?, Blacklight questioned. Alex shrugged his shoulders. I don't know- I thought I'd just ask you. Gotta pass the time somehow, I guess.

Blacklight contemplated the oddball coalition of heroes for a moment before answering, With the wide variety of powers and abilities they wield, I suppose that it makes sense how they've saved New York and the world many times over. The only reason they're having such a problem now is because it's not a single entity or group they can fight, but a literal plague that no amount of punching, blasting or even outsmarting will do.

Alex agreed as much. Sucks to be them; not to mention SHIELD is having the same problem. Hey, wait… how did Fury figure out what we were doing? We didn't get far before he and the others ran after us. He must have the safe house bugged, damn it!

Hmm… Blacklight wondered. Any thoughts as to how we should we go about dealing with that?

Alex stated, Well, we can't just remove it outright- then they'd just come after us, especially if the impulsive Avengers learn about it afterwards. I think our best bet is to feed whatever spy tool they have in our safe house false information while we do our real planning somewhere else in the building. That's only a short-term solution though… I'll have to think about the long-term later.

He then commented, Huh. This is the first time someone's gotten the drop on us; usually we're one step ahead of the others. I'm surprised we've even gone this far and won against the Avengers. Any idea why that is?

If I had to guess, Blacklight began, I would have to think that it's due to the high "winning streak" the Avengers have against most opposition that they've encountered. The villain breakout, the Gamma World event, even the worldwide Skrull Invasion and battle against Galactus were odds the team still overcome.

But now…?, Alex wondered. Blacklight finished, But now they've gone without a battle of any kind for well over a year now. Coupled with the new powers we're developing every other day, and the Avengers just don't know what to do against us. But it's clear they're getting back into the "groove" of heroics, albeit slowly.

Alex opened up the organic pocket containing the papers he stole from the briefcase and smirked. I'd say that "slowly" is an understatement.

At that point he waited in silence- mental silence in this case- until boredom lead him to ask, How long have we been waiting? It feels like it should've been ten minutes already.

It's actually only been about 4 minutes and 45 seconds, Blacklight estimated. With that in mind, Alex wondered, Anything else you feel like talking about?

Blacklight admitted, I've been somewhat curious if the Avengers truly trust Blackwatch or not.

Well, Alex began, they're a secretive organization that's been around for several years and yet no one's heard of them until now. They're heavily associated and involved with Gentek- a different organization that quite clearly has ulterior motives and ruthless methods of dealing with those they deem a threat to their security. If all that wasn't even enough, they've also gone along with the bended truths Gentek's fabricated about me and have used extreme force that would've conveniently silenced me so I couldn't even make a case against them, with my only saving grace being how goddamn unkillable you've made me. Thanks for that, by the way.

It all certainly makes for a compelling argument to not trust them at their word, Blacklight surmised. Although their efforts make them somewhat resemble S.H.I.E.L.D. and their clandestine methods, only far more crude and heartless.

It added, And there's the fact that with the measures we've taken to further our own goals, we don't exactly shine as bright beacons of righteousness. I mean the existence of Consumption alone paints us as irredeemable monsters. Blowing out a warehouse of soldiers with a stolen tank certainly didn't help.

Yeah, Alex agreed. I'm… I'm not getting out of this mess unscathed, am I? No matter what happens, I more than believe I'm going to end up in one of those special prisons for supervillains, or worse. Even if I prove my innocence, I have blood on my hands. I just hope Dana doesn't suffer for being connected with me.

Remember that she's nearly on par with cyber-terrorists considering what she's done before aiding in our little quest, Blacklight reminded him. She stole quite a substantial sum of cash from Mr. Stark recently, has disrupted SHIELD's global networks on one occasion, and let's not forget that not-so little incident with the Latverian private database. Why Von Doom has not done something against her attempted invasion of his privacy like that simply boggles the mind.

A moment later they heard the sound of a helicopter rotor, informing them that their escape had arrived. Sneaking out of the tent and doing his best to be unnoticed while he approached the landing pad, Alex walked up to quickly ask the pilot manning the helicopter, "I've got important documents that need to reach our base down in the lower half of Manhattan as soon as possible. Can you take me there?"

"Just as soon as the helicopter gets refueled", the pilot answered. "Just wait here and a few workers will get it gassed up and ready to fly again."

Alex took his seat in the passenger side of the helicopter and discreetly took out the documents, stuffing them between the seat cushions for safe keeping. As he waited for the vehicle to be deemed airworthy after the refueling, he wondered how he ought to get back to his base without drawing any attention to himself, then ultimately came to an unfortunate but not unexpected conclusion- he would have to Consume the pilot. With a resigned sigh, Alex slumped back in his seat and waited for the inevitable to arrive.

To his dismay, however, some of the Avengers came around and forced the pilot to delay the takeoff; they wanted to inspect everything just in case Alex planned to leave via helicopter. As such, the disguised Alex remained calm and collected to avoid being detected, acting casual when Iron Man came around the corner to scan the pilot and his passenger. Iron Man saw nothing unusual about them- unaware that Alex's enhanced disguises could mimic the natural human body flawlessly- and failed to account for the simple idea that Alex could have taken the papers out of his body to specifically avoid being spotted.

When the Avengers gave the "all-clear" signal, the helicopter took off with a very relieved Alex in tow. He commented to Blacklight, I can't believe we pulled that off. I was certain we would get spotted.

Perhaps next time you will be more discreet when attempting to pull off a daring stunt like that?, Blacklight commented in return. We may have unfathomable powers, but we certainly aren't invincible, especially compared to the likes of the Avengers.

Leaning into a more relaxed position, Alex looked down at his disguise and flexed his fingers, wondering, Do you think we'll get some better powers aside from shapeshifting and resistance to damage? Because I really want something I can fight with.

Barring the sudden appearance of hordes of Blacklight monsters fit for Consumption... Blacklight surmised, I don't think so.

Alex proceeded to wait in silence for most of the trip, procrastinating for as long as he could to avoid Consuming the pilot, though he knew he inevitably would. To fill the void of noise and to relax somewhat, Alex decided to prod the pilot for some answers, to which he began, "So… what do you think of Randall?"

"If you're gonna ask about what ways you would murder him for fun, then I'm not answering", the pilot responded, almost as if he had answered an incredibly specific and highly disturbing question multiple times already, and had gotten quite sick of it. Thrown off-guard by the pilot's response, Alex did not know how to reply and remained silent for several seconds, until he eventually explained, "Um… I meant I wanted your opinion of him. Not… how to murder him."

Though that information may prove useful at a later date, Blacklight admitted. Alex admonished him, I'm not gonna kill that guy! At least not if I don't have to. Despite what the public at large thinks of me, I'm not a sadistic monster.

Waiting to for the pilot's answer, Alex heard him state, "What am I supposed to say? He's our boss- not the boss of the whole organization, of course, but he's still the highest person on the totem pole most of us have ever met."

"Randall isn't the leader?", Alex questioned. "Then who is?"

The pilot sighed and shook his head, muttering aloud, "When the Hell was your Injection Date? Yesterday? Everyone in Blackwatch knows we're not supposed to blab about the big boss. Why are you even asking so many questions anyway?"

Alex felt increasingly uncertain of his position, believing he had just stumbled onto a topic everyone at Blackwatch- and only the people at Blackwatch- were privy to, but no one else knew about. He did his best to bluff through the conversation by simply stating, "Uh, yeah, you could say I'm… pretty new. I didn't get any briefings before I was deployed to deal with this whole 'Manhattan mess'. I know about Mercer, Blacklight and all that junk, but could you fill in the more obscure details for me?"

Once again the pilot sighed before grumbling to himself, "Fucking chatterbox…", and finally replied, "Alright, what do you need to know? And I mean need to know, not want to know."

Alex went, "Ok, um… when did you get hired?"

A moment of extremely uncomfortable silence followed until the pilot slowly repeated, "H… hired? We don't get… 'hired'. Are you defective or something? What lousy batch were you injected with?"

"Injected with what?", Alex demanded. "What are you even talking about? Is it Greylight?"

At the mention of that highly sensitive word, the pilot realized he had no ordinary soldier as his passenger and subtly reacted accordingly. Casually reaching down at his side- hopeful Alex would not notice- he wrapped his fingers around a weapon, ready to shoot him as soon as he had an opportunity. To his dismay, Alex did in fact notice and darkly remarked, "Do you honestly think a bullet's gonna stop me?"

The pilot replied, "Who said anything about a bullet?"

Alex dropped his disguise and lunged at the pilot, only to receive two prongs stuck in his chest which greatly confused him. A half-second later the pilot pressed a button on the side, activating the weapon's true function- electrocution. Alex endured several thousand volts coursing through his body, well above the voltage necessary to stun or even kill a regular human.

Doubling over in pain, Alex struggled to get back on his feet while the pilot went to his radio so he could call for backup. Desperate to maintain his cover, Alex yet again took a dramatic lunge, only this time he went for the radio; he tore out the cord in one swift motion and left the pilot with only one remaining option. The man unbuckled from his seat and forced the side door open, scrambling to jump out of the helicopter and into the waters below.

Just as he thought he would escape and be home free, Alex vaulted over to the other side and grabbed the man before he went down into the water. Pulling him back up, Alex held him up with both hands and slam his head into the metal floor repeatedly, eventually knocking him out cold. With that done, Alex sighed and did the dirty deed, Consuming the man and absorbing all of his knowledge and memories.

He immediately went to work maintaining the helicopter's altitude and redirected it towards his sister's base. Alex had a brief thought about somehow contacting her with the radio, but with the cord severed, it would be of no help until it got repaired at a later date. So Alex simply took hold of the controls and slowly flew back to base, though an odd thought came to mind not long after he took the helm, which he voiced to Blacklight a moment later.

Can I fit this helicopter in Dana's garage?

Ten minutes later…

"How the fuck did Alex fit this helicopter in my garage?", Dana wondered aloud. She stared at the vehicle situated right next to the equally absurd tank Alex stole from his last crazy mission, incredulous at the fact that her brother managed to get both into her garage… and that her contracter made her garage capable of housing two military vehicles in the first place. That had not been discussed in the base's blueprints, she felt sure of that.

Totally and completely engrossed in the sheer ridiculousness of having a tank and a military helicopter in her garage, Dana paid no attention to the figure walking up right behind her. When the person stated, "Dana", she yelped and turned around, held up a gun and fired several rounds right into the person's chest. When she got a hold of herself a moment later, she realized she just slammed a half-dozen rounds into Alex's chest.

An awkward silence followed as Alex simply stood there, arms folded across his chest and the holes in it quickly patching itself up. Dana also stood there, frozen with fear and unsure if she severely hurt her brother or not. When he eventually just asked her, "When did you get a gun?", she knew she had not caused any lasting damage.

Dana sighed and admitted, "Holy crap- I thought one of those freaks had gotten past the fencing- or a Blackwatch soldier. You can never be too careful."

Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, did you just say that last sentence? You being careful?"

"I… whatever", Dana replied, exasperated. Looking down at her gun, she then answered his previous question with, "I got it from a gun store. Not like anyone's gonna miss it or anything. And yeah, I took some other stuff too, but I think this handgun will be enough for me."

Turning around, Dana began to walk back to the base but got stopped by Alex. He told her, "We have another problem- our little 'Fortress of Solitude' here… isn't so solitary. S.H.I.E.L.D. being the nosy bastards they are, have the base already wired up; they've known about our plans since the beginning. We've only gotten by through sheer luck."

Dana groaned. "You gotta be kidding me. When did they do that? And what the Hell are we supposed to do now?"

"I'm guessing they found out about your little hidey-hole sometime after you had it commissioned. For now, we'll find a different part of the building to talk in", Alex told his sister. "And we'll feed S.H.I.E.L.D. false information in the meantime. I don't know what we'll be able to do about their spying for the long-term, but that's the best I got at the moment. I don't suppose you have one of those movie-cliche 'red rooms' for us to use, do you?"

"As a matter of fact…", Dana admitted. "I do. Follow me."

The duo went into their base, careful to avoid the wire-tap hidden in their usual meeting room, and spread out the papers across a spare table and typical conspiracy theorist cork board, complete with some red string in a pile, just in case Dana happened to "connect the dots". Alex thought his sister went a little overboard with that but did not bother questioning it, and instead pulled out the documents from the Blackwatch base. As he laid them out for Dana to see, he glared from staring at the red lighting and then asked her, "Are rooms like these even necessary anymore? This all really does feel pretty cliche."

"I like the aesthetic", Dana retorted. "Sue me."

Ignoring her and focusing his attention to the papers, several things caught his eye- or Blacklight seeing through his eyes- as both seemed drawn to the most important details almost instinctively: a date, a town, an event… and the name of a person, which Alex spoke aloud with an unexplainable resolve.

"Elizabeth Greene…"

(Author's Note)

I would like to apologize on the lack of updates in the past few weeks as life got in the way with collage and finales and all that stuff. Regardless, Here is chapter 3 that I owe you. I will try my best to keep a consistent schedule, which is the standard of a post on a Friday every month if I can help it. Again, sorry for the long wait. If I miss one expect the next one. If nothing gets posted for a while then feel free to PM on the lateness and I will give a update chapter as soon as available as to why it is late.

I hope you enjoy. Now onto the reviews.

(SomeGuyOnlineXD: Great chapter

I love prototype storys (sadly there aren't much of them)

Can't wait until the next chapter)

(Response: Actually there are plenty, but there are very few high quality ones. If were to recommend some I would check out A Dead World by Laluzi or Biomass Effect by Beastrider9. Still thanks for the appreciation.)

(Greer123: Thank you for the reply to my review and I am glad to hear you are doing well. I am also glad to see that Fury and S.H.I.L.D are not being taken for a fool by Blackwatch in this story.)

(Response: Appreciated, yea me and my co-writer Blitz King are making sure S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't as… ineffective as they were in the show. On that note, don't think blackwatch will be JUST physco cannon fodder like they were in the game, as shown in the chapter you just read, they aren't complete morons.)

(Guest13: Rather interesting story. Keep it up)

(Response: Will do.)

(edboy4926: Awesome story

Looking forward to more)

(Response: Can't wait to provide.)

(icedshadows: This is amazing. I really like this! hope you keep having fun with this fic and keep writting amazing Story!

& ICESOME STORY FROM AN AMAZING WRITTER! !)

(Response: Thanks is very much appreciated.)

(Ultrahammer: This is pretty underwhelming.

Alex Mercer gets easily defeated by the Avengers.

And Alex starts begging for his life and crying I'm innocent like a little bitch. It feels like Alex's character has been completely butchered in this fanfic.

Canon Alex doesn't really trust anyone besides a select few and he would never resort to begging for his life or crying like a child. The only two people he has been shown to trust is Karen and Dana.

Two people who were connected to his former life. He could simply use Shapeshifting at any time to escape. It makes no sense why he waited till later.

How would the avengers even find him so fast with next to no information about him. That makes no sense.)

(Response: I am sorry that you feel that way, but there is reason for this. You see this story takes place after season 3 of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Hero's in which the last episode showed the avengers and all their friends take down Galactus the world eater. The avengers aren't exactly push overs. Not to mention this is the very beginning of the story as at this stage in both this story and the game Alex had not even acquired his claws yet and in this version, he has eaten a very little amount of people so he is not even up to full health. To reiterate a previously answered question, this a is a different version of Alex. In this version as seen, Alex was just alive enough to be brought back if not completely, along with blacklight together. This might not be the same version from the game, but I am trying my best to make sure this version is well written and emotionally compelling, I humbly ask you stick around and see where this leads if you are still interested. If not I am sorry, I couldn't make the story to your specific tastes, but the story is not finished so the most I ask is to at least stick around or at the very least to check it out when we have more chapters to post. I thank you for your review and I hope this cleared somethings up.

(Author Note: Next chapter will be posted next Friday, guaranteed. Hope you all have good day.)