(A/N: For this first part, the song I'm using is "Gloom and Doom" from Parasite Eve.)

Chapter 3

*"Ugh, it stinks down here as much as I remember," Sebastian complained as the two reached the bottom.

"Funny, Feds don't usually go hunting down in sewers that often," Aya commented, turning on her flashlight.

"I used to be a cop like you," he replied. "DCPD, first of my class. That was before…" He then cut off there as he turned on his flashlight and looked down. "What the hell!?" The slime trail broke off into opposite directions deeper into the sewer. "Are there two of them now!?"

Even Aya was surprised. If this was an Ultimate Being, it couldn't just split itself into two and be able to control both halves simultaneously. Unless… "It's degenerating," she said.

"What? How so?" Sebastian asked.\

"The mitochondria in the victim's cells may not have been compatible with the mitochondria of our suspect," Aya explained. "It may be growing but…its life span will be limited. But it's still a threat regardless."

"I guess we split up here then," Sebastian said. He then took out a walky-talky and handed it to her. "Take this, just in case. I don't need to tell you to be careful do I?"

"Watch out for any rats," Aya warned him. "Anything down here could be affected."

"I know, I know, aim for the head," Sebastian said, already walking down the left path.

Aya took a deep breath and took out her side arm and took off the safety. Being a former cop and federal agent, the training never left you, and yet she felt herself shaking slightly. Was it nerves, or excitement? Or perhaps her body, her cells actually, were reacting to this thing, whatever it was.

She started walking, keeping her pistol to the side and her flashlight doing a one-eighty from side to side in front of her. All she could hear were her footsteps and water dripping in the background. She heard squeaking and looked down. There were rats here alright, but none of them suddenly started to grow in size. "Not yet anyway…" From her experiences, anything could suddenly become a threat.

The trail suddenly stopped and Aya looked around, but there was no sign of it continuing it anywhere. It may have become intelligent enough to cut off its trail and jump in the water but considering the quality of the water itself at the moment it was hard to tell. There was a corner that turned left and Aya followed it which then branched off into multiple directions.

She sighed, annoyed. "This is ridiculous…"

"Giving up already are we?"

Aya suddenly turned around and raised her gun. There was a man standing there, brown hair, brown jacket, sunglasses, maybe about six foot height. "Who the hell are you?" she asked.

"Now really, Aya, first day back on the job and you're already pointing guns at mere civilians," the man said. He shook his head. "Your superiors would be disappointed."

"You didn't answer my question," Aya said, making no move to lower her weapon.

The man sighed. "Edgy, aren't we? The name's Alexander Trevalyn, or at least that's the name of this host."

"Host?" Aya said, her grip suddenly tightening. "No…it couldn't be… you're not-"

"Oh please, you're not really going to associate me with my…I guess you could say sister," Trevalyn said. "No, I'm quite different actually… the name given to me was ADAM. Yes, yes, how original isn't it?"

"You're the one who killed the Russian president," Aya said. "What do you want? Is this all about world domination and replacing the human race with a race of superior beings?"

"Ugh, see that's what makes EVE and I different," ADAM said. "She was always so dramatic about what she wanted and she couldn't keep her mouth shut about it either. Sorry Aya, can't let that one just yet but it'll certainly make the Manhatten Incident pale in comparison."

"If what you're saying is true, how can I be sure you're not just some local nut job?" Aya said.

"Oh, I can tell your inner self thinks differently," ADAM said. "But fine, a demonstration then! Tell me, are you feeling slightly out of breath at the moment?"

THUMP

Aya suddenly felt her heart thump so hard she fell on her knees as she clasped her chest. "What are you…?"

"No, I didn't think your cells would like that," ADAM said. "You probably can't tell, but your cells are putting up a good fight I'll have to admit. Still think this is just a game?"

"Bastard…" Aya said, panting as she tried to regain her breath and slowly got to her feet.

"Well, it was a pleasure finally getting to meet you, but I'm afraid I'll have to cut this meeting short. Things to do, you know. But don't worry; I saved someone just for you to meet. He's been looking forward to seeing you too."

"Wait a minute!" Aya yelled at him but he had already turned the corner.

"Might want to save those bullets, just a word of advice."

(A/N: For this next part, the song I'm using is "Insanity of the Enraged" from The 3rd Birthday.)

*The ground started to shake around her. Something was coming, and it sounded big. She then got out her walky-talky. "Hey Sebastian…?"

"You alright? What the hell was that shaking?" Sebastian responded.

"I have company and I could probably use a hand…" Aya replied.

"Great…hold tight I'm on my way!"

"Yeah, could you hurry?" Aya said, pointing her gun towards where the sound was coming from. Suddenly, part of the foundation crumbled as a large mass appeared out of the tunnel, almost the size of an elephant. "Sorry big guy, today's just not your lucky day," Aya said, firing three shots into its head. The creature barely flinched and responded by slamming itself into the ground, causing a shockwave that sent Aya into the wall behind her.

The blow to her head made her slightly dizzy but she knew her side arm wasn't going to cut it, but she had to hold out until Sebastian arrived. It had been so long since she had used her powers but she hardly had to worry about being rusty, it was always there when she needed it.

She raised her hand up and felt the electricity flowing as it shot out of her fingertips into the water which the creature was standing in.

The creature roared in agony, as would anything dealing with about 500 volts of electricity. It swung out with one of its arms but Aya rolled out of the way before the wall behind her got flattened. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a revolver going off. Sebastian was quickly at her side and helped her up. "You alright Brea?"

"I've been better…" Aya said as they got to cover. "Bullets aren't going to work on this thing by the way."

"I noticed," Sebastian said. "Any ideas?"

"There's one…but I need you to play distraction for a bit, cause this will take time," Aya said. "And you might want to find cover too."

"Considering you supposedly took one of these out in New York, I won't question you," Sebastian said. "No trouble playing the hero for once."

He then went out and fired a round into the creature's head. "Hey you big ugly pile of flesh! Why don't you come after me huh!?" The creature, suddenly distracted, turned to him and started to approach him.

Liberate was a whole different story cause it took a lot out of her but right now she had no choice. She closed her eyes, letting her cells take over. Her form dissolved into energy, forming wings on her back and becoming a whole different being.

The flash directed the creature's attention back to her and Sebastian, not really sure what was going on, got behind some of the fallen infrastructure. Aya then went on the attack, pounding at the creature with bursts of energy. Maybe it was the degeneration process, but the creature was falling apart even more, its flesh falling apart and mere bone showing through.

Aya then put all her energy into her next attack, creating a shockwave of energy that pierced through the creature and caused it to explode in a mess of flesh and bone everywhere. Eventually, Aya returned to her original form, the familiar headache now pounding in her head.

Sebastian peeked out from cover. "What, did you throw a grenade down its throat or something?"

"…Not exactly," Aya said. She wasn't sure if he saw her, but really what difference did it make? "This thing was degenerating from the moment it was born. If it had been a perfect being, we'd probably be dead right now." Or at least, Sebastian would be.

"…I heard about the thing that destroyed almost an entire Naval fleet without blinking an eye," Sebastian said. "So… it really is all true."

"That's what MIST was created for," Aya said. "But I would've thought you would know that."

"Not all of us are believers in ghosts and aliens Brea," Sebastian said, wiping what looked like flesh off his shoes. "I'm definitely taking a long shower tonight…"

"Come on, we have to report back in," Aya said. "You know this place better than I do so I'll let you do the talking."

She started heading back and Sebastian just shook his head. This was the famous Aya Brea. "She and I have more in common than I thought…"

The crime scene had been taped off by the time they got back up to the surface. Sebastian offered to drive them both to the FBI building. "There's one other thing," Aya then said. "There was a man down there, his name's Alexander Trevalyn."

"Name doesn't ring a bell," Sebastian replied. "What the hell was he doing down there?"

"Waiting for me most likely…" "I think he killed that woman…" she said.

"I think it was more the thing that blew up out of her that did that," Sebastian said with a snort.

"His name may have been Trevalyn, but what's controlling him now is ADAM."

"ADAM? Wait a minute, are you suggesting…?"

"That we're looking at a repeat of New York? It sure looks like it," Aya replied. "For all we know, he could've raped that woman."

"Impregnated her and…dear God." Sebastian shook his head. "You do realize how crazy this sounds right?"

"Why do you think I'm here?" Aya said.

"Well, even if it were true we'd have to look at the autopsy to get a better idea. The boss is going to love this…"

They then pulled up to the building. With some of the other agents wearing the traditional blue jackets, Aya felt slightly out of place but it didn't bother her. At one time or another as a cop, she wore the uniform and as a fed, the jacket.

Inside the area was bustling with activity, probably from all the news that was coming in. There was a man, slightly younger than Aya with short black hair and round black glasses that was on a laptop and looked up, noticing Sebastian and coming over to them. "Sebastian, I hope you're not thinking about replacing me as your partner."

"Hardly," Sebastian said. "Special Agent Brea, this is Special Agent Joseph Grant."

"It's an honor to meet you Agent Brea," Joseph said, shaking her hand. "But Joseph is fine."

"Aya is fine as well," Aya said. "This guy is your partner. My sympathies."

Joseph chuckled. "Wow, she really does have a sense of humor after all huh Sebastian?"

"Yeah, yeah shut it," Sebastian snapped. "Is the director in her office?"

"She is but what's going on?" Joseph asked. "And why do you look and smell as if you were crawling in the sewer?"

"I'll explain later," Sebastian said. "If you'll follow me Aya."

They went upstairs, going past a conference room full of IT people to a large office where a woman with long blonde hair was currently talking to two other agents. Upon seeing Sebastian, she got up and left her office. "Montoya, you look like you've just been through hell, not that that's anything new. Smell like it too."

"Very funny ma'am," Sebastian said. "Aya Brea, this is Deputy Director Carlisle. Ma'am, this is Special Agent Aya Brea."

"A pleasure," Carlisle said, shaking Aya's hand. "Not to sound rude, but where the hell were you two?"

"Investigating that murder downtown," Sebastian replied. "Did they give you any details?"

"I heard it was pretty vicious, and it even has the local cops spooked," Carlisle replied. "Don't tell me its worse…"

"It's worse on a whole different level," Aya said.

"We'll talk in my office," Carlisle said. After escorting the other agents out of the room, she locked the door behind them. "As a rule, MIST only answers to the director of the Bureau himself but Rupert and I know each other somewhat and he sends me tidbits here and there. If you're here Agent Brea I know I'm not going to like this."

"If I may ma'am, do we have anything on an Alexander Trevalyn?" Aya asked.

"Not at the moment but I'm guessing he's a resident here," Carlisle said. "You think he's a suspect?"

"Let's put it this way," Sebastian said. "He didn't directly kill that woman but he certainly had his way with her. What actually killed her literally blew out of her stomach."

"As subtle as always Sebastian," Carlisle muttered. "I'm guessing you followed this thing into the sewer?"

"Agent Brea somehow killed it, thankfully," Sebastian replied. "But yeah, this Trevalyn guy was in the sewers apparently as well."

"We'll look into it," Carlisle said, sitting down at her desk. "Most of us are aware of what happened in New York and Nevada and to be honest I was hoping we were finally past all of this. If this were to get out, the whole nation, hell, even the entire world would be in a panic."

"I haven't seen any yet, but its best if everyone is on guard in case of any NMCs," Aya said.

Carlisle nodded. "We got everyone from the Bureau to the National Guard on standby in case such an incident happens. The president's decided to take some much needed vacation time so at least we know he'll be safe for now."

"Any orders for us?" Sebastian asked.

Carlisle smirked. "Other than you both should get a shower, no that'll be all."

"You're the boss," Sebastian said. "I'll drive you back to your car Brea. Hope you decided to stay at a good hotel."

After getting back to her hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, Aya immediately undressed and got into the shower, standing there, letting her mind take in all that happened within the last few hours. EVE had been created in a lab in Japan over ten years ago and just by guessing, ADAM was somehow synthesized from those same mitochondria. She shook her head. The science didn't matter, he was as much a threat as EVE was before and if it was up to her to put him down, so be it.

After drying off, she put on a white tank top and jeans and sat in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She then looked over on her nightstand and reached for her cell phone. She went through her contacts and dialed.

The line rang for a few seconds before she answered. "Hello?"

Aya smiled. "Hi Eve. I wouldn't be insulted if you hung up right now."

"What? No, don't be silly," Eve replied. "Kyle explained everything. It was one of those things you just had to do wasn't it?"

"Yeah…that doesn't happen very often though."

Eve giggled. "No, I suppose not. He didn't tell me everything but it sounded serious. Is everything going to be okay?"

Aya paused for a moment. What could she tell her? That there was yet another being that wanted to rid the world of humans and to free the mitochondria, the parasites from their host? "Honestly, I don't know all the details yet but… I promise everything will be alright."

"Okay then," Eve said. "I got my biology test score back today. I aced it without question."

Aya chuckled. "I'm not surprised. Going for the distinguished honor roll again?"

"Oh, it's not that big of a deal," Eve said. "I'm still not sure what my major will be yet, but I still have time to decide."

"Just go with whatever speaks to you is all I can say," Aya said. "By the way, just because I'm gone doesn't mean Kyle gets to try anything stupid. You know how he can be."

"I'll make sure to remind him," Eve said with a laugh. "Well, I got more homework to work on so I'll talk to you tomorrow maybe?"

"As long as things don't get too crazy, sure thing," Aya said. "I'll talk to you later."

"Love you Aya."

"Love you too Eve." Aya hung up and laid back on her pillow, letting out a sigh. "As long as things don't get too crazy…" She had a bad feeling things were only going to get worse from here.

(A/N: So I've decided, I know I've been kind of focusing on Star Fox but I think it may be better to focus on some of these other stories. I know it may seem slow but I think its fair for other people who are reading other stories on my page so I will try to do better on updating quickly. This doesn't necessarily I'll be doing a different story each week or so, but rather what I feel like writing cause that makes everything go smoother and makes better chapters in general kind of like this. Anyway, for those who have been keeping up with this story I apologize for the delay (for probably the umpteenth time) and I'll try to do better with updating.)

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