She had cleared out a hive building that was infested with large, carnivorous creatures called Hunters, and she realized that she could consume them to get stronger with her tentacled hair. What she didn't know was that her own DNA was changing to adapt to her surroundings. The longer she stayed in the presence of the deadly virus, the more her body adjusted to repel it. All of the infected humans were fleeing from her now. They couldn't tolerate being around her, and those that tried ended up being engulfed in fire.
She literally boiled them from the inside out just by being around them until they combusted into flames. She had an idea that it was because she was just created, and she knew that the effect was temporary from what she overheard from the scientist back at the lab. But, it helped her stay safe for now. She was able to reserve her ammunition for emergency uses this way, too. When she passed by a corpse, the dead flesh had no effect to her. Only living infected tissue would combust, and she paused in thought.
She knew the satellite uplink would need to be made soon, and she had to get to higher ground. She didn't know how she would be after the uplink was done, and she did recall that she was told that she would get queasy. She made a small camp on the top of a building in one of the highest floors. When midnight rolled around, she felt the satellite uplink into her head and a wave of nausea hit her. She didn't puke, though, and it was enough to show that she was still alive. Gasping from it, she settled back down and took a deep breath.
"Did it hurt?"
"What?!" she growled and rose quickly now to look around. Alex stepped out of the shadows to confront her. It was easy to find her. He just had to search around until his body tingled with a slight form of pain.
"Did it hurt when the satellite checked your memories and vital signs?" he asked with a gruff tone of voice.
"What would you know?!" she hissed. The hood hid most of his features, and she studied him warily. She was starting to feel nervous. He wasn't running from me like the others.
"You hurt me before when you stepped out of the cryo tube. You still hurt, but not as badly. I can tolerate you. To an extent," he grinned now. "I am Alex Mercer. You may know me as...Project Zeus."
"Project Zeus?!" she gaped.
"Yes. And I know that you are Agatha...or also known as...Project Hera...if your memories are correct?" he smirked. At her stunned silence, he knew he was right. "As for how I am evolving to be more...compatible with you, there was a little bit of residue that you left in the cryo tube back there. It was enough for me to consume, and I learned quite a bit about you. Especially that conversation you heard when you first woke up. That was quite...educational."
"What do you want? I have to kill you, you know. Besides, all of my memories of this will be uploaded to the next satellite in twenty-four hours from now."
"I know. I want to propose a deal with you," he said, as he pulled up a broken chair to sit on. "I know you don't want to go back to the fate dealt to you. So, I have another option. A mandatory one, regardless, but an option all the same. There was something that that Commander mentioned, and it...sparked an interest for me."
"Like what?" she asked. She kept her guard up.
"You and me team up," he grinned. "We...could create an army together."
"Hah! As if it was that easy!" she frowned. "The bomb in my head would explode, and everything around me goes with it!"
"I know. But, I also know a doctor who is exceptionally good with surgery. He may have an idea on what to do."
"But, if he fucks up, we all die."
"I know that, too. Still...you'll kill me anyways, you won't have to get raped by humans constantly, and your mission will be a success. But...you go with my option, and you'll have another chance at life. A real life. With me."
"I'll still get raped. By you. Fuck it. I'm not going for it," she growled.
"You don't have much of a choice. Like I said, the option I am giving you is a mandatory one," he snarled, as he stood up from the chair and took a step towards her. Her presence was starting to get to him, but he had to force it. I need my body to evolve to overcome her. I have to do this to use her to my advantage. She saw he was struggling, and now she ran at him to either attack or repel him.
He swore viciously and struck out with a clawed hand to retaliate. She shrieked, as he managed to cut her. Now that he had her blood on his body, he had to work fast to consume it before it seared him from the inside out. Once his body controlled the blood and evolved from it a touch further, he found her even easier to be around. He'd still need the doctor to work with her blood to make a more potent form of compatibility for her, though. At least her blood wasn't burning me now. It started to give him an advantage.
"Oh, shit..." she whimpered, as she saw his body shiver with a form of new control. He was getting stronger around me. The scientists had no idea how fast he could evolve to adapt to new things. If I stuck around him even longer, then he would simply become immune to me. The hunter was quickly becoming the hunted. I have to run. Her body shifted into stealth mode, as she camouflaged to match her surroundings. Sticking to the shadows, she evaded him. For now. Once she was safe, she reflected on what just happened. I have under twenty-four hours before my next satellite upload. I am likely going to die, despite how I declined his offer. Less than a day and my mission was already a failure! While she hid, he went back to the doctor to have his own form of vaccine made with the blood he still had on him. He would come back to look for her later once it was done.
However, he did consume my blood, and he was evolving from it. She knew this now. She looked at the wound on her arm, and she was already regenerating. Soon, the wound would be gone without a scar. The only problem was that regenerating cost her valuable internal resources. She needed to eat something, and her pack was left at the small camp she made. She had run into an alleyway to evade him on ground level. She didn't know if she could chance going back to the camp. She stayed where she was for the better portion of two hours. She could have tried to move, but she didn't know where he was.
The vaccine was easy to make, and even easier for his body to work with. He was far more immune to her now, and it was now that he had to do as the humans said before at such opportunities. I have to strike while the iron was hot. Heading back to where he last lost her, he blinked and grinned slightly. He found out that he could see her now. Her scent gave me a visual of her location. That and the lack of infected humans in the area also compromised her location. Still grinning slightly, he soundlessly edged behind her and made his move.
"Hello, darlin'!" Alex grinned, as he reached out and grabbed her from behind. She tried to do several swift combo moves to escape him, but he countered her moves easily. It was time for an act of desperation, and she turned to instinct.
Her hair now moved to form a wall of spikes in front of her. Unlike Alex as to where he could shift his whole body, she could only use her hair. It caught him offguard, and she was able to escape him again, but he had the ability to track her down by her scent alone. He had her cornered again, and she became enraged at her constant failure to kill him.
"I can't join you!" she screamed at him. "I have only a month to kill you and get back before the bomb goes off in my head!"
"A month? That sucks! I must have missed that," he growled. "But...I know someone who excels at surgery. The doctor I said before. We may have a way to free you."
"And then what? You know of an untainted woman to inject hormones into me to turn me into a breeding machine? You think I want that?!" she snarled.
"I do...know someone," he mused, as he thought of his former sister. Then he disregarded it. He didn't want the feeling that he could be fucking his sister. Then again, wasn't the god Zeus and the goddess Hera brother and sister, anyways? And they still had kids? He could easily make it work to his advantage. Thinking back on using his former sister, the idea started to agree with him more and more. It would be a bitch to find another viable human female. He looked at her now and said, "As to what you want, I know it's not being raped by humans constantly. Wouldn't you rather be used for something that could give you a real purpose? Something that could help you get revenge on those fuckers that want to just kill you, anyways, and treat you like a piece of trash when you're done breeding out?! At least I would give you a fighting chance to survive, and we could leave our mark on the world!"
"I don't know," she frowned. "Besides, you'd have less than twenty-four hours before my memories are scanned and uploaded. They find out about us talking like this, then I die. That was made clear to me. I only had one chance, and I know it's gone. My life is no longer mine. I'm sure they have back-up cells of me, anyways. They could just clone another form of me and use that."
"Then I'll have to destroy the cells to make sure you can't be replicated, and I'll have to find a way to alter your memories to buy us more time," he thought. "The cryo tube you came in would take you straight back to that lab. Right?"
"It's an underwater lab. Always under surveillance. The cryo tube would only respond to my DNA code, anyways."
"And I have your DNA code now," he grinned, as his form shifted into a replica of herself. She gaped at his ability, and he grinned savagely with her form.
"How did you get that?!" she demanded to know. "How did you get my DNA?!"
"Your blood when I attacked you. The doctor I mentioned is a miracle worker with the Blacklight Virus. Which is me."
"But...how did you know of me before? Of my memories?"
"Your cryo tube had an odd bit of goo-like residue at the bottom of it. I told you before, but you likely didn't pay attention. You were, quite obviously, too focused on the fact that I found you out. I found it after you walked out of it. I was able to consume some of it to learn about you," he grinned. Goo? From the cryo tube? Then she blinked and remembered how she was pushed into the cryo tube before she got here. Glancing at her hair, she noticed how one strand looked shorter than the rest, and she pulled the tentacle close. The end was growing back. That was how the goo was formed when it dropped off me after the cryo tube door was opened. Leopold fucked himself big time, and she shivered. Now she thought of how Alex was able to change his forms, and she glared at him. Wouldn't he lose my form if he attacked another?
"But, you lose my form if you consume another!" she argued. "Don't you?"
"I know I do. It's why I would have to consume the next one in charge carefully. Maybe I'll take an extra bit of your blood with me to get close to who I need to kill. That...Leopold guy...would need to be the first to take over. Right?"
"True," she frowned. "The Commander should live, though."
"Oh? Why him?"
"Recall the memories of breeding me out. If you and I did anything, you can't make a breeding set of males or females. We'd likely make sexless drones to do our dirty work. This is what those scientists stated. So, we would need a human stud. That Commander fits the bill for me."
"Hmm..." he thought, as he shifted back to himself and crossed his arms over his chest. "But, why him? Surely there are others, right?"
"He's...interested in my welfare. To an extent. Call it female intuition," she shrugged. "He's not happy with his military government, anyways. I can tell. And he's in his prime, for human standards. Anyways, time is being wasted. If you think this doctor can help, then...well...if I run from you, you'll just track me down and corner me again. I'm screwed no matter how I look at it. Whether I blow up, or if I get used for other purposes. Your option is obviously mandatory, if I want to keep my life."
"So...you'll join me?"
"If you can get this thermonuclear bomb out of me, I guess I owe you that much," she shrugged. "We'll all die, anyways, if we fuck up."
"True. Then let's go," he said.
"Wait. Knock my ass out."
"Huh? Why?" he asked.
"Do you want your doctor's location to be known if the satellite does manage to uplink?"
"Would it really matter if we're all gonna die?"
"You have a point," she agreed. Nodding to her, he moved to lead her to the doctor, but she moved to her small camp first to grab the few protein bars she needed to replenish her strength. He frowned at this and thought.
"You need to eat?" he asked.
"I have to. When I regenerate my body, I lose nutrients. Pure protein is the key for me," she shrugged. "Without it, I have nothing to work with. Those scientists could only test me so much before I had to come here, you know? The timer for the bomb in my head started the moment I was released from the test tube they made me in. I can consume those Hunters out there, but they don't have the real nutrients that my body needs to work with. I haven't tried to just eat them, though. Like these bars, but I wouldn't really know how to go about it unless I hack them into tiny pieces to chew up."
"Hmm. We'll need to work on that, too," he nodded. "All right, let's move. It's nearly two hours to dawn, and I'll need to see if I have to infiltrate that base."
"You could, anyways. It would be a nice hideout."
"Your idea intrigues me," he grinned. "I could consume whoever maintains the place and easily send out false signals that all is well. Consume anyone that tries to infiltrate..."
"Hah! A breeding ground?"
"We could do something here, as the doctor and my former sister go there. Make a distraction for the military, maybe. Then we join up with them," he mused. "The cryo tube could be the main means of transportation..."
"Already getting ideas, eh?"
"No thanks to you! You may have solved one of my biggest problems for finding the best safe house in existence. No one really knows about that base, right?"
"I was a top secret project. I may as well not even exist along with that base."
"I'm liking this more and more," he grinned slightly. "Stocked with food and water?"
"There is a self-generating garden with a bunch of breeding livestock. We may need to get more livestock, though, as an emergency backup. Salt water is transformed into drinking water from specialized filters. Maintenance is done every six months, as well as discreet food and supply drops. Consume the right people, and you could fix what breaks easily, as well as who to contact to get needed supplies."
"How do you know all this?"
"Let's just say," she said with a small, wicked smile. "that I was 'awake' long before they said I was. Whatever they spoke of around my tank, I overheard. My genetic make-up was mainly compromised from yours. My mind evolved faster than the rest of me."
"I have a set goal now. Let's move," he grinned again. He was going to turn the underwater base into his new safe house. It was perfect. Capture the Commander, and use him as a breeding stud to keep offspring that could be bred for our own purposes. I could then send out those offspring to make breeding grounds in other cities. Maybe even have the doctor inject the fetuses with a strain of viral mutations to make them stronger. I'll breed with her to keep a small army of drones. I'll be King, and she'll be my Queen. The military just made their own downfall. But...that's if the bomb could be removed from her safely. He would not proceed with what he wanted until that thing was out of her.
He led her to where the doctor was, and introductions were made.
"So, you are the antivirus?" Ragland asked. He studied how her hair moved with a mild form of fascination. When she concentrated slightly, the tendrils settled down to appear as near floor-length hair. It was one of the few things she could do properly.
"Yes. They call me Agatha, but I'm also known as Project Hera," she said.
"Project Hera and Project Zeus. Rather fitting," the doctor mused. "Anyways, I understand you have a bomb in your head, and it's attached to your heart?"
"And, at midnight, a satellite uplinks to my head to scan duplicated memories for anything that could be seen as unfit for military tactics, like my joining up with my enemy," she said with a grim smile. "It's attached to the bomb, though. You remove the bomb, you remove the scans. You make one mistake, we all die."
"I see," Ragland frowned. "Let's take a few x-rays. Shall we?"
"While he works on you, I'm going to find Dana," Alex said.
"Dana?" she frowned.
"My former sister. One of the few humans I give a shit about," he said. "Once that bomb is out of you, I'll give a shit about you, too."
"I should feel so lucky," she muttered. Ragland managed to chuckle and gestured for her to follow him. Alex watched her move to follow the dark-skinned doctor, and he waited. He wanted to see the results of the scans first to plan his next objective. I was lucky that Ragland was able to save my former sister. The coma she was in scared me to death. It was a temporary thing, but at least she was up and about again. He did like knowing that at least some part of his human past life still existed. Dana was someone he trusted and confided in.
A few minutes later, he saw Ragland walk out with Agatha to place the x-ray shots on the lighted wall screens. He had consumed a number of surgeons, anyways, and he wanted to see what was going on. He studied the lighted sheet and thought to himself. The bomb is seated just under her brain, and wires seemed to wrap around her spinal cord from her neck to her heart. Luckily, none of the wires were moved through her ribs, and the wires seemed to trail down her spine to where her heart was. The scientists wanted an easy removal and not a difficult one.
"This will be tricky," Ragland frowned.
"I see that. What do you have in mind?" Alex asked.
"I'll have to get access to a beating heart. If I work fast enough, I could move the wires to the other heart, and then remove the bomb from under her brain. Or, I could see about removing the bomb first and the wires after. That may actually work better, so I can move the wires around after that. I could unwrap the cords from her spine to give me more slack. If you can find me an infected woman, we could use her as the fake," Ragland said. "But, we would need to make sure that both hearts beat at the same time. I can do that easily with the right drugs, so that's not a problem. The problem is finding the right female."
"What a pain in the ass!" Alex scowled. "And, if one thing slips up, we're all blown the fuck up. Lovely."
"As long as it's done before midnight. Unless you infiltrate that base now and get the programs and stuff needed to alter my memories," Agatha shrugged. "Or you find another way to stop the scans. Whatever comes first."
"I'll find an infected female first. Then I'll find Dana. Then I'll go to the underwater lab. Ragland, knock her out now. No more memories for her at this time," Alex said. "I'll bring back what supplies I can. Once I make the underwater lab safe, you and Dana will both go there. There is food and water there, as well a whole new butt-load of toys."
"I'll look forward to it, then," Ragland said. "I could use some new toys."
"Can't we all?" she grinned with a shrug. "Just remember, Alex. The Commander needs to live. Trap him in a room, if you want."
"I know," Alex nodded. "I'm moving out now."
Ragland nodded and placed a chemical cloth over Agatha's face to knock her unconscious. Now it was time for him to prepare for surgery, and Alex needed to find an infected female. There was one thing he was worried about. Her presence would make the other females combust. I'll need to find one that would be strong enough to resist her, and that was going to take some time.
"Problem?" Ragland asked. He recognized Alex's brooding face easily.
"Big one. Her presence makes the infected humans here combust. I don't know if any of them will be strong enough to resist her," he admitted.
"Then try this," Ragland said, as he took an empty syringe and filled it with her blood. "Whatever lives after a drop of injected blood will work."
"Good call. Oh...I never did thank you properly for saving Dana."
"You letting me live is thanks enough. I'll start prepping Agatha for surgery. Get me the body I need without killing it. A female one will work best, as I said before."
"Right. I'll be back in a bit," Alex nodded and sped out of the hospital. Once out in the city, he worked his way to where he knew a small pocket of surviving humans were able to live. He switched on his viral scanning senses and targeted an infected female. Running up to her, he pinned her against a wall and gave her a small dose of the injection. She died as flames consumed her body. Swearing to himself, he knew this was going to take time. He didn't have much blood to work with. Taking out the syringe to hold in his hand, he noticed that many of the infected humans cringed and ran from it. This could save me some time.
For the better part of an hour, he moved through the city with the syringe in his hand. Practically all of the infected humans fled from him, and he was starting to get pissed off. Then he paused, as he noticed one of the females wasn't budging. Moving over to her now, he saw she was only mildly infected. She was in the first stage of it and was able to resist the power of the syringe. Perfect. He injected the syringe into her neck, and it halted the process of infection completely. It even started to work the virus into a form of recession.
"Agatha's blood is a...cure?" he blinked and grinned. He just found a way to fully protect the good doctor and his former sister from the spreading virus. Knocking the sobbing woman unconscious, he moved swiftly back to the hospital with her. He thought of possibly using the woman's hormones for Agatha, but it didn't fit right with him. I'd rather have someone I can trust. That someone was Dana. On reaching the doctor, he told him what he found out about Agatha's blood.
"Her blood is a cure?! I'll prepare a shot for your sister and one for myself right now. I'll keep a few others handy in case we need them," Ragland said.
"Fine," Alex nodded. "Here is your living body for the heart bomb transplant."
"Good. I'll get to work immediately," the doctor nodded.
"Oh, can I get a DNA sample of yours and Dana's? I may need to plug them into the base when I get there to mark you both safe."
"Oh! Yes, of course. Here," Ragland said, as he moved swiftly into the lab to pull out the DNA samples he needed. Another syringe filled with Agatha's blood was given to Alex, and he sped out of the hospital to find his former sister. Dana always saw him as her brother, and he knew she would trust him with everything he told her. Finding her new safe house, he entered through the roof and found her sitting at a computer.
"Fuck! Alex, you could have told me it was you!" she said. Her short, black hair and large, brown eyes stared at him with a touch of annoyance.
"Sorry. I found a cure for you. To keep you from getting infected. But, once you take it, I'm going to need your help," he said.
"Oh? Fill me in," Dana said. He sat down and told her about Agatha and her memories. Dana was in shock with everything and thought to herself.
"So, we can use their bio weapon against me to work against them. She agreed to it, since her life is pretty much shot to Hell, anyways," he said.
"She's a ticking time bomb right now!" Dana freaked.
"Still, it's a chance we have to take. Right now, Ragland is removing the wires around her heart to attach to the other woman I found. Here, inject this into you, and you'll be safe from infection," he said, as he gave her the syringe. "I need to get to that lab to make it safe for us."
"When does she need those hormones? To have kids with?" she asked.
"Ah. Likely before you leave for the lab. If you don't help...well...I'll have to find someone else, and that will be a pain in the ass."
"But, it would be like you're fucking me!" she said with disgust.
"Would you rather I fuck you than someone else?" he countered. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Couldn't they have female hormones there? For when she got back?"
"That...is possible..." he mused. "I'll have to look."
"If they don't...fine. You can use me. I'd rather not, though," she admitted.
"I'll see what I can find. If you go to Ragland now, don't disturb him!" he warned. "We'll all be blown up if he makes one mistake."
"Right. Fine, I'll see if he needs my help. I know how to get there safely with the maps you gave me," she nodded. He nodded back to her and made his way to the cryo tube. So far, there was no nuclear explosion. He hoped the place wouldn't be a smoking pit when he got back. Shifting his form into Agatha's body, the scanner recognized the DNA pattern and let him slip in. Once he was frozen, the cryo tube launched and landed in the water to dive to the waiting base below the water.