Chapter 7

The van stopped short of their destination with Sean bailing out. They were at least a mile away from where they were suppose to meet the scouts that had been watching the Detroit Processing Plant, and Sean needed to be far enough away to call his armor and not draw attention. The van pulled away and when it was a safe enough distance, Sean called the armor. From the boost dimension the armor appeared in a blast sphere that surrounded him and destroyed the ground beneath his feet. The armor slapped onto Sean till he was completely covered head to toe in his armor. The yellow eyes glowed in the dark as the control medal pulsed once before dimming to nothing.

With the dark of night on his side, Sean lifted into the air and took off after the van. He wouldn't be easily spotted in the dark, and the clouds blocked any moon light. It reminded him of his vigilante days back in Los Angeles. It was a dark time in his life. He was still coping with the Guyver, not to mention his break up. Times were exhausting but he pushed on till he met Cori at the dig. Everything changed after that. Encountering the ship that was in the mountain gave Sean better insight on his armor and its origins. After that event the armor felt more comfortable to be in. It was a part of him now and there wasn't anything he could do to change that. So why fight it?

Sean watched the van pull off onto a worn road and followed it in staying just at the edge of the tree line. It wasn't long before he could see lights in the distance that belonged to Detroit. But another set of lights caught his attention. Spot lights that were set up to help illuminate the processing plant beamed down in the surrounding area. He could still see smoke from the fires but it was very little. The whole plant was probably near the final stages of being scrubbed by Chronos.

The van's breaks squealed as it slowed to a stop. Lights and the engine off. The only sounds now were from the crews at the plant. They were a safe enough distance to not be spotted, but close enough to observe. So long as Sean could get within range to scan the area. He'd have to circle the compound, but he could already see that would be difficult. Battle ready Zoanoids stood at certain areas of the outer wall and some of the flyer types were in the sky. He recognized some of them from previous battles and was confident enough he could out fly them if it came down to it.

His left head sensor shifted. There was movement a few feet ahead. Two armed men were moving from the shadows and approaching the van. The side door opened. Atkins and Heller were the first out, followed by the Blackwatch agents. The driver remained behind the wheel. Sean could detect him reading a magazine.

Sean remained in the air to act as surveillance in case any Chronos goons decided to explore the nearby woods. Atkins approached the two, giving a nod as they met. Heller remained by the van cradling his riffle as he stared off towards the lights. The Blackwatch agents spread out like usual to keep an eye out.

"Gentlemen," Atkins said, looking between the two differently dressed agents. "Name's Atkins."

One of the two approached with the other hanging back. Neither wore any identification or rank. "Corporal Tombs."

"So, Tombs. What can you tell us?"

Tombs relaxed a bit. "Where to begin…"

"How about when shit got real," Tombs' comrade spoke up. "We were doing as ordered, staking the place out when this group showed up." That got everyone's attention. Well at least Heller and Sean from up above. The other members of 'Team Atkins' just ignored them and continued with their watch. "Don't know who they were though. Didn't look military."

Tombs held a digital camera to Atkins. The CIA agent took the camera and flipped it on, scrolling through the photos stored inside while Tombs explained. "A number of vehicles pulled up just behind a hill to the east side of the compound." The first few images Atkins looked at showed him just that too. A few unmarked vans rolled up on the opposite side of a hill from the Chronos plant. Next few images proved Tombs' next statements. "Several armed men got out and held position for a while on either side of the compound. Not a lot but they were packing heavy weaponry to help even the odds between them and the Zoanoids."

"Even one had a Thermoberick Boomstick," the nameless agent spoke. "That is NOT something you can just pick up at your local pawn shop."

"Basically that's a Blackwatch weapon. Designed towards the end of the outbreak. Only few were made."

"That means you know where they're held?" Atkins asked. Hearing this info on the boomstick made him think they may have had a lead on to who these men were and where they came from.

"Past tense." Tombs said, shifting his weight slightly. "When Chronos hit us on X-Day, they knew where to hit. R&D facility up in Boston had the boomsticks in stock and they were the first to be taken. What Chronos did with them afterwards is beyond me."

Atkins cursed silently, but his face showed how disappointed he was in the information. Moving on, the next few images showed the unknown group waiting. Next image surprised him though. In the far background, a beam of light lanced out into the sky. Curious, he asked, "What's this?"

Tombs looked, and gave a nod. "Yea, that. Seems someone beat them to the punch."

Hearing that statement spiked Heller's attention and so approached upon hearing that. "Explain."

Tombs sized Heller up, not exactly liking the Marines tone, but he answered anyway. "You don't have to be a genius to see they were a bit surprised. When that beam came out of the plant, they all didn't see it coming. Like they weren't expecting it. Next thing you know, they're hauling ass over the hill and down into the fight."

"That's when we changed locations," the other spoke. "We probably would have placed a tracker on their rides, but they had a few men on guard. Didn't want to risk letting ourselves get known."

"So after finding a better spot, we continued our watch. I'll admit, whoever planned the attack did good. All radio and satellite feeds were cut. The surprise attack WOULD have given them a better advantage but whoever started the party first got Chronos on guard. But they managed to pull a win."

"And how long did this last?" Atkins asked, turning to look off at the lights in the distance.

"A few hours. You'd think Chronos back up would have showed up after loosing contact with one of their plants, but they must have been so full of themselves they didn't bother to think someone would be dumb enough to attack. And after a while, things got quiet. A few more shots here and their but the group won. Some returned to the hill and waited while the majority went inside. For what could be any reason."

"Plant like that would probably have some valuable information," Heller said, taking the camera and looking at the images for himself. The men who returned to the vehicles looked to be celebrating, so it was a win.

Atkins looked back to Tombs. "What happened next?"

"That's the kicker. Things were quiet for a while. So quiet we could almost hear the guys by the van talking. They'd mention someone called 'Boss'. Guess he's the guy in charge if the name means anything. Then we felt a small tremor and heard what sounded like a struggle from within the building. Even more gunfire. Got their attention too, cause they all stopped talking. Another minute or two goes by, and there's this massive blast of blue light that tears out of the plant. Never seen anything like it."

Sean looked down from his position. The description was vague but he had a good guess as to what the agent was talking about. His sensors was able to scan part of the facility and he was able to make out what looked to be a huge trench that started from the building and exited out the side and onward, almost hitting Detroit. Sean was very familiar with that kind of blast and hearing the description verified it: it was a blast from a Mega Smasher like his.

"When the blast ended the would-be soldiers seemed to be going into a panic till something flew out of the building." Tombs pointed at the camera. "Got some pictures of it too. Two figures, one human, the other not so much. Thought it may have been a Zoanoid."

Atkins nearly snatched the camera from Heller and began flipping through the images files till he found the ones Tombs spoke of. Heller was looking over his shoulder and held the same look of shock as Atkins. In the image was none other then a dark colored Guyver carrying a man in its flight from the building and over to the men waiting by their vans. Atkins had a guess that the Guyver may have been this 'Boss' that Tombs overheard them talk about.

Atkins looked up to the sky. "Sean, you may want to get down here."

Before Tombs could question why Atkins was talking to the sky, Sean plummeted down to the ground. He hit it hard in a kneeling stance before standing and moving to Atkins. Tombs nearly fell over in surprise and was quickly drawing his riffle, his partner as well. Neither fired though seeing as Atkins was holding his hand out to them to lower their weapons. "What the FUCK is that!?" Tombs barked, keeping his crosshairs on Sean.

"Shit, looks like the black one!" his partner said, doing the same as Tombs and not letting Sean out of his site.

"Easy, he's on our side," Atkins said. "His name is Sean. He's known as the Guyver."

"Looks like a skinny ass Zoanoid to me."

Atkins ignored Tombs and handed the camera to Sean. "Friend of yours?"

Sean took the camera and looked at the image. Sure enough, there was a Guyver there, if slightly more intimidating then Sean's form. The shot was good. Sean was able to determine that the Guyver was wounded, but healing. But that was the least of Sean's concerns. There was another Guyver out there and he was out there somewhere fighting Chronos.

"Told you it was another Guyver hitting those facilities," Heller said, looking a little smug.

Sean glanced at the sergeant. "And I'm telling you it wasn't a Guyver that hit those places. This one is leading a group of armed men. They attacked using those weapons they are carrying." He handed the camera back to Atkins. "Those other facilities were hit with something with claws. And Guyvers don't have claws."

Tombs' riffle was lowered slightly when listening to the Guyver called 'Sean' and Heller speak of other attacks. "What attacks?"

Sean looked back to Tombs, who tensed slightly. "We've been investigating attacks made to Chronos facilities leading from the borders of Canada to here. They all had the same pattern till now. Something hitting them hard and leaving nothing left alive to tell the story."

"That's news to us," Tombs' still unnamed partner spoke. "We were assigned to spy on Chronos after we heard of an attack that took place down in Florida. We assumed it was the same guys who hit this place."

"Two different groups then?" Atkins suggested. "The one we've been chasing from Canada to here, and this one with this other Guyver?" Atkins glanced back at the camera, flipping to the next few images. Some were shots of license plates and other were face shots, most likely for ID purposes. One was on the man that the Guyver had carried with him to the vans. He looked tired, but other then that uninjured. The next image was of the same man, but his head was turned… and looking directly at him. The same with the next, till the following was of him getting in the van. "Creepy."

"What?" Sean asked.

Atkins glanced at Sean then handed the camera back to Tombs. "You guys may have been spotted."

Tombs almost felt insulted. "Bull shit. We were too far into the bush for them to see us from their position." He looked through the photos, scrolling through till he landed on what Atkins may have been talking about. "Shit."

OOO

Alex bounced slightly as the van hit a pothole in the road. Didn't really bother him but it did snap him out of digging through 'Larry's' memories. He learned that the man's motivation for fighting Chronos was that his brother died on X-Day. Wasn't a soldier or anything. Was just one of those casualties of war. Alex was familiar with them. He'd killed a few by accident when facing against infected or Blackwatch back during the outbreak.

He glanced at the others in the van he road with. With more then half of their group taken out, not many of the survivors were very chatty. Even the 'Boss' didn't say very much. The Guyver armor was gone when the majority of the damaged caused from their fight had healed but Alex could see he was still in some pain. He'd clutch his chest once in a while where Alex had landed his punch and would flinch when he let out a cough. The armor was impressive but Alex wasn't too impressed. Had he truly gone all out in their little dance he'd have cut the Japanese boy in half and consumed the armor. Would be interesting to see what powers he could evolve from that consumption.

But first he had to keep up the show of being Larry and play subordinate to the boy leader.

Just from listening to him and looking into Larry's memories of Agito, Alex didn't like him. Alex had dealt with people who had silver tongues and Agito had one too.

Agito would play nice and apologize to his men for getting the others killed, but they would say it wasn't his fault. He would go on to say they all did well and they pulled another victory over Chronos… same'ol pep talk one would give his underlings after a win or loss. But Alex had consumed enough men to see that there was more to the Guyver then what he was letting on. Not to mention the files he had read when he first came across the Guyver during his search for Dana. Agito's history was laid out before him when he was going through Chronos' files and he read enough to see why Agito would want to fight them, though Alex could see something else in the boy. He was planning something.

But this thing he was searching for intrigued Alex. Agito was vague on the subject but simply said it was a comrade or a friend. Through Larry's memories Alex seemed to think Agito was genuine in this thing being a friend. Perhaps it was tied to the missing Guyver I? Alex shook his head. Nothing that really concerned him… at least for now. Dana was a bigger concern. If Agito's men had a better lead then what he was able to dig up in Chronos he'd play nice.

His hand found his hair, running his fingers through the imitated strands. Just thinking of Dana made Alex grind his teeth. He had to be patient in his search. But all he could do was think of what was happening to her while he was playing this dumb game. Why should he care about any of them? The urge to tear his way through EVERYTHING was almost too overwhelming. To consume everyone in the van; to rip Agito's limbs off before consuming him and that damn armor of his and then going to every Chronos facility and kill everyone till he found her…

…but Dana would be in danger if he did. The world thinks Alex Mercer is dead, Chronos included. To reveal himself would place Dana's life in greater danger then it currently is. Or to even use her against him. Alex was sure that Dr. Barcas guy would love to get his hands on a living specimen of the BLACKLIGHT virus.

Barcas… Anything Zoa related always seemed to go back to him. Seemed he was the one behind any big and important projects. From what Alex could gather the man was perhaps 'number two' in the list of big powers he'd have to deal with. And if he has done anything to Dana, Alex was sure to make him pay. And depending on what Dr. Barcas can give Alex through consumption, is whether or not he will be consumed or just ripped in half with his beating heart impaled on Alex's bladed arm…

…Alex had a dark smile on his face from that little mental image.

That aside, Alex once again focused on his task. No going crazy and consuming everyone. And no facing Zoalords till he managed to begin consuming Zoanoids. His only possible means of bypassing what ever Chronos did to a Zoanoids genetic coding lies in Japan.

Thinking on the subject of the Land of the Rising Sun, it bad been some time since he was last there but Alex was familiar with the country. Took a short tour through it during his little 'walk-about'.

The image of his target came to the forefront of his mind: well built with a strong jaw. Narrow eyes of a predator. The man had slicked hair and a distinguishable scar on his face. Chronos said he was something called a 'Lost Number'. Something to do with him being nothing more then a test subject to Barcas' experiments. Didn't matter. Alex had a face and name and that's all he needed to track down this Aptom person. And once he consumed him, Alex would be back on top of the food chain.

To Be Continued…

Thought I was dead didn't you?

Trust me, I've been working on this and have been working on chapter 8 too. 8 will be taking some pages from the official manga so I'm having to look at scripts and cannon work so to try and tie the fan fiction with the official work and not botch too much up.

This chapter was going to be longer but I've been seeing more and more people actually faving this and putting it up on their watch lists so I cut it a little shorter so to post this and to let everyone know I haven't given up on this.

And now you know who is Alex's target. Though I do believe Alex may get one or two enhancements before a confrontation with Aptom. But there will be one. Just didn't want it to be too soon in this fic. Can't have Alex going all super powerful or anything at the beginning of this fic more so then he already is. And that's if he consumes Aptom. But again I promise there will be a meeting. And there will be a fight.

And Reacher will make a return soon. He plays a part as well, especially later on.

I will also remind everyone I'm doing this for fun. I'm not trying to win some reward or anything. So there will be some, if not many, spelling errors or grammar mistakes. But if you feel you must point them out, go right ahead. I can take it.

R&R please.