Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Prototype universe. All characters are property of those who own Prototype. If anybody tries to gain money off of this franchise - be forewarned. Alex Mercer will find you, and you may find yourself sharing the fate of Karen Parker.


Title: Infectum.

Summary: Blacklight is back. Toby Knight and Alex Mercer team up to uncover the source of the viral flare - and ultimately end up revealing more secrets from Blackwatch. Armageddon is a lot closer than anyone thinks. . . M/M, slight AU. Continued from Sanctum.

Rating: M. Finally upgraded it!

Author's Notes: Part II has arrived! ZOMG, you guys. Have you seen the trailers for Prototype II? I passed by it in Walmart today, and I was like, "Man, I wish I had that game!" Ducky already watched how it ended (ffff-bad Ducky! Bad!), and she said it was horrible! But, I played all the way through Crisis Core and had to deal with Zack Fair - I think I can handle whatever's thrown Alex's way. . .

Anyway, back on track. Not much to say about this - except, if you squint enough, you can kind of see the foreshadowing. . . Maybe. Also, forgive me if any of this seems like a train wreck, thought-wise. It's 12AM in the morning, I just got back from a concert - Mastodon/Ghost/Opetha - and I'm beat!

Warnings: There is sex in this chapter, haha. I kind of figured that poor Alex had been going long enough without any, and it fit in well. Also it might have been for Ducky. . . Haha. Otherwise, there isn't much to warn about in this chapter, just some light sex at the beginning.


No more waiting for the end
Of every day that I will spend
Wishing that I only had a choice.
No more pushing you away,
'Coz I'll be busy watching things go my way
Never looking back on this anymore.

"So Far Away" - Crossfade


Toby felt better than he had in days.Lifting his arms up, Toby stretched, feeling the muscles in his body pull taut. Only a slight sting in his side bothered him - but even that was barely present. Only one more biomass transfusion, and then he'd be a free man. No more nausea, no more creepy nightmares (he hoped), and no. More. Bedrest. He'd been to see Ragland earlier in the day, and the doctor had cleared him from his torturous confinement, telling him he was free to do as he wished.

"Report back to me if you experience any symptoms - I'd like to study Keres a bit more, of course. . . I think I found out why you're able to tolerate her viral strain - but I need to make certain of something, first. Come in through the back way. . . Blackwatch has been visiting my morgue more and more, recently."

Ragland's words, courtesy of the doctor's visit that had transpired in the wee hours of the morning. He'd been overjoyed to hear them - he was tired of laying around, of not doing anything day in and day out.

So, today, he was dedicating everything he had to working out. He was going to push himself until he collapsed from exhaustion - if he didn't achieve this goal, he was going to renounce the title of "ex-Marine."

Currently, he was stationed on the rooftop of their apartment building, surrounded by a myriad of workout equipment. They had been appropriated by Alex from abandoned gyms in the infected zones - free weights and weight machines, all collected at Toby's request. Although Mercer had grumbled and bitched about it, he'd done it. Small favors.

Without anymore hesitation, Toby plunged into physical exercise, holding nothing back - and it felt good. It was like scratching an itch that had been present for days on end. And in truth, it acted like a soothing balm on his mind. When he worked out, he lost himself in the burn and pull and stretch of his body and muscles. He stretched first, getting his body prepped for the physical exertion, and when that was accomplished, he did every physical exercise he could think of. From push ups to squats - free weights and weight machines, he targeted every muscle in his sorely neglected body.

Hours passed uninterrupted, the rhythmic clacking of the weight machines acting as an impromptu metronome. After a time, he peeled off his sweat-soaked shirt, letting random gusts of wind cool him off. He was in the middle of doing pushups when the rooftop trembled under his calloused palms, and he glanced up to find Mercer standing above him. Toby was about to huff out a "what?" - before he noticed Mercer's eyes slowly roving over him, taking him in.

Had he any breath to spare, Toby was fairly certain he would have scoffed. Horny bastard. With Keres's appearance and his recent injury, the poor little viral man hadn't been getting any action. Man probably had balls as blue as the deepest parts of the ocean by now.

"Feeling better, are we?" He asked, sounding a hell of a lot less cold and caustic then when he was in the apartment.

"One. . . Might say." He replied, feeling the muscles in his arms quiver with every time he forced them to lift his weight, and slowly lower himself back down.

Mercer stalked closer, his boots edging in front of him - and quicker than he could blink, Toby was yanked up to his feet, and Mercer locked him into a searing kiss that had Toby thrusting his hands into Mercer's jacket, seeking skin - and he found it in a matter of seconds. Mercer had him staggering backwards, his hand coming down, stroking him - Toby bit off a curse at the unexpected contact. Mercer was relentless - and within thirty seconds, Toby felt like he was going to lose it.

Going a few weeks without definitely made everything a little sensitive.

Alex seemed to know this, and began to walk the both of them backward. Toby felt his knees hit, and he flopped down rather ungracefully. Alex flipped him over and pressed him down, stretching his arms out. Toby was vaguely aware that he was pinning his wrists with his own, his other hand yanking down his workout shorts and discarding them. And then Alex was there - and he let out a throaty moan, because - fuck, yes, yes, yes.

He didn't last long. It felt too good, had been so long - he writhed against Alex, trying to increase the pleasure, make it even hotter - Toby didn't quite remember what happened then, as it all became a heavy, blinding white heat. But he came back to himself, Mercer taking a moment to rest against him before standing up and extricating himself. Toby didn't move right away, needing to catch his breath, . . . that was the fastest we've ever done it.He thought absently, suppressing the chuckle that tried to bubble up.

Mercer's new personal speed record.

"C'mon, Knight," Mercer said, breaking his thoughts, "I couldn't have tired you out that badly."

"Fuck you, too." He muttered, shoving himself up from the weight bench. Mercer's eyes flashed, his lips tilting up in a smirk.

"Was that another invitation?"

"You really are a horny bastard, you know that?"

Alex let out a chuckle (a rare one, at that), pulled his jacket up and said, "I won't deny it if you won't."

Getting his shorts from the rooftop (now sporting a good rip on one leg - how the hell did he even do that?), Toby struggled to stand - all of the muscles in his body had turned to gelatin. Mercer beat him to the rooftop access, and Toby followed, stopping to pick up his shirt before heading inside, feeling quite like an inebriated drunk as he tried to navigate his way downstairs. And all the way down, Alex smirked. Ineffective as it was, Toby flipped him the bird.

Even if Mercer didn't see it, it made him feel better.


"Are you all ready, Toby?" Keres asked, kneeling before him. Her head was tilted back so she could look at him, gauzy white bandages standing out starkly against her messy blonde hair.

Toby nodded his head, not quite trusting his voice. Previous biomass infusions had been a bitch, had hurt like nothing he'd ever experienced before. . . It was nothing short of absolutely horrible. Keres seemed to understand this, because she laid those mottled arms on his side (don'tflinchdon'tflinchdon'tflinch), and paused for just a second.

"It'll only last a few seconds - at most." She said, and turned her attention to the tiny red tumor still clinging to his side.

Toby flinched (goddamnit) at the sensation of one last biomass transfusion - hardly the size of a bandaid. But this was the final one. After this, Ragland had given the okay for the transfusions to stop. His body would be able to take care of the small gash from there - no excessive bleeding or infections predicted. The only piece of evidence that remained from his tussle with the Hunter was a rather large, jagged-looking scar on his side where the Hunter had bitten down. Ragland had told him he didn't know if the red color would ever fade, that it might be a permanent side effect from the infection.

Toby didn't mind. . . Too much. It would be a wicked war wound to show off, anyway.

Keres had been right - the biomass infection had only lasted seven - ten seconds, tops. She dropped her hands from Toby's side, and he looked up to find her looking. . . Pale. Really pale. she didn't say anything as she came to a stand, which worried Toby, but he didn't say anything.

"You feeling okay there?"

As if being caught daydreaming, she looked at him and gave him a halfhearted smile, "Yeah, just feel a little tired is all. I'm going to go take a nap. . . How about you?"

Giving his side an experimental twist, and found that there wasn't even a twinge of pain. He almost let loose a moan of gratefulness. Not having his side bug him anymore would be a dream come true.

"Better. Excellent. Amazing. Take your pick."

"Mmm. . ."

Her behavior was strange, but he shrugged it off. She'd been cleaning and running around and giving him biomass treatments. As far as Toby knew, she hadn't slept at all since she'd come there.

"Why don't you sack out on the couch?" He offered, getting off of the bed, "I'm going to work out today. I'll be in later." She nodded, and silent as a ghost, trailed out of his room. Weird. . . Shaking it off, Toby changed and grabbed a towel before he headed back up to the roof. He passed the living room on the way there - and lo and behold, there Keres was, curled up on the couch and sleeping.

Toby stayed true to his word, and got up to the rooftop to start working out. He didn't push himself to the brink of passing out, like he had yesterday, but it still felt good to get lost in his workouts. Halfway through his workout, though, Toby felt something. . . off. Frowning, he paused with his weights, trying to sort out why his gut was clenching up in a way that normally denoted, fuck, you've got an emergency- he turned to the stairwell leading into the apartment, and paused. Listening. . .

Nothing. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Setting his weights down, Toby got up and headed back inside, taking the stairs slowly, keeping his ears open for any threat. His instincts weren't screaming, 'danger! Enemy soldier nearby!' but he couldn't put his finger on what was wrong. . . Edging back into the apartment, Toby found it looked normal. The front door and windows were intact, indicating that there was no forced entry. Coming into the living room, Toby found Keres was gone.

"Keres?" Toby called out, taking a chance and praying no Blackwatch troopers were in the building.

He received a low, pain-filled moan in response. Keres. It was coming from the hallway leading to the rooms. Quickly creeping back to the hallway (just to make sure it wasn't a trap laid by Blackwatch), peeked into the hallway, and found Keres there, shivering on the floor. She was hugging herself, and trying to curl into a fetal position. Trusting his gut - which was telling him there was no Blackwatch threat - he came forward to kneel down next to her.

"Keres. Keres, can you hear me?" Shaking her shoulder gently, he tried to get a response, but her eyes were closed and she seemed to be unconscious now. Her face was still pale, but it held a sickly tint to it now. What the hell is wrong with her? Is she sick? Is it possible for her to even get sick?

Well, shit. Shit, shit, shit. Gathering her up in her arms, Toby hardly paid mind to the fact that she was light - he carried her back inside of his bedroom and laid her down on his bed, trying to stop his hands from shaking.

It was like a scene from some bad soap opera. New-found friend suddenly collapses, and in their last moments, confesses that they have an incurable disease, and gosh, it was such a pleasure spending their last days with such a nice friend. . . Not on my watch. Digging out his cellphone, Toby had Alex's phone ringing in a matter of moments, impatiently pacing from one side of the room to the other, his hand nervously fisting at his side. It felt like a goddamn eternity, listening to a dull ring, when was Mercer going to pick up the motherfucking-

"What?" Came the calm-as-ever voice.

"Alex, Keres collapsed. I don't know what's wrong - she won't wake up. What the hell do I do?"

"Don't do anything. I'm coming."

Click.

Toby breathed in and out deeply, trying to calm himself down as he shut his phone and turned his attention back to Keres. She laid there, looking tiny and sick and pale. Her face looked thinner. . . Had she lost weight? Approaching her, Toby grabbed one of her arms and pushed back the sleeve of her oversized hoodie (fabric feels thinner, too), and found that he could see her bones poking out from her skin. The mottled coloring of her arms appeared pastel-like in color, too, like somebody had painted her skin with watercolor.

"Keres?" Toby tried again, "Keres, wake up. Come on, you have to tell me what's wrong - wake up!" He shook her shoulders gently, trying to rouse her, but it didn't work. As a last-ditch effort to try and wake her, Toby even gave a sternum rub a try - doubting that it would actually cause her any real pain - and, much to his surprise, it worked.

She moved, and Toby looked at her face to find a bloody red eye staring at him, hazy and unfocused. The white gauze was gone, it had somehow fallen off. Toby grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, trying to offer up reassurance.

"Alex is coming. He'll fix whatever is wrong with you, okay?"

"Toby. . ." She rasped, her voice sounding like sandpaper, ". . . I can't. . ."

"Shh. Just try to stay awake, okay? Alex can't help you if you pass out again-"

"N-No. . ." She was whispering now, voice hardly audible. Leaning in, Toby tried to catch what she was saying, trying to understand what the hell was wrong-

A tendril of biomass snaked over his arm, searing hot and it scared the shit out of him. Jerking up, Toby tried to wrench his arm away, but she stayed firm, tugging him closer, where other pieces of biomass were beginning to form, reaching out to him-

"Keres!" Toby heard himself shout, ("You'll be safe, here. Inside me.") and her eyes snapped open, a hand coming up to shove his chest. She overestimated, and he flew clear across the room.

Toby's back made a hard impact with the wall, the back of his skull smacking against the plaster. His instincts saved him from falling on his ass, so he crouched there, trying to rid the world of black cobwebs for a few moments. The hairs on the back of his neck pickled, telling him danger was present, that he needed to look up and access the threat. He did, and found Keres kneeling on the bed, hands curled so tightly around the frame that it was starting to twist in her grip. Like some shadowy monster, the pieces of biomass swirled angrily in the air.

A hand grabbed him, yanking him up to a standing position, and Toby blinked, finding Mercer standing there, hood down, his eyes unusually serious.

"Get out, Toby," He said, voice filled with calm authority, "I'll handle this."

Glancing back to Keres, Toby found a glowing red eye staring at him from under that mess of hair, and his brain agreed with Mercer in that moment. She looked like she was a moment away from launching herself at him. So Toby went without a fight, keeping Keres in front of him at all times, refusing to show her his back. He was in the hallway, and he caught Mercer's eye, managing to say, just before the door closed in his face:

"Don't consume her."

The door shut, and silence reigned. Toby wasn't sure what the hell had happened, but it hadn't been Keres. She'd been acting strange all day, had collapsed onto the floor, even. If Alex's solution to the problem was consuming her, if he was going to put her down. . . No. I have to. . . Trust him. Alex will find out what's going on.Dropping his hand from where it had been attempting to open the door, Toby took a step back and headed to the living room to stand by the window.

He was too jittery to sit down, a few pulses of adrenaline pumping through his blood. With Alex in the room now, it gave him time to think, to try to sort through what had happened. Had Keres just tried to. . . Consume him? Toby had seen Alex do the deed once, and those same black tendrils had wrapped around his victims. In a chorus of sickening pops and crunching noises, the target had disappeared from sight.

Toby never asked Alex how often he consumed people, or who he consumed. The man had a conscience - or so Toby liked to think - and he knew Mercer didn't just run around and eat random women, men, and children for the hell of it. He liked to stick to the military, to people who knew intel. But Keres. . .

She hadn't done any of that in the weeks she'd been there. No, Toby thought, she's been cleaning, and giving me biomass transfusions.A theory began to form in his mind, tiny and uncertain, but there all the same.

What if. . . She's starving? She's been expending biomass - Alex sliced her open that one time, and she's been giving me transfusions for over two weeks. Does that mean she has to consume people to survive?The look in her eyes hadn't appeared to be Keres at all. And if that was the case, then her body had attacked him, hoping to consume him for emergency sustenance, and she'd shoved him away, trying to protect him. . . It was logical to assume, but he couldn't guess anything without Alex confirming his theory.

The door to the room opened, and Alex emerged, whole and unscathed. Toby turned to the man, finding some of the seriousness had faded from his expression.

"What the hell just happened?" Toby asked, to which Alex glanced at the door, which he'd shut behind him.

"She was going to consume you," He said, ". . . Reigned herself in before she could do anything. She didn't hurt you, did she?"

Toby glanced down at his arm, and he rubbed at the skin there. He might have a bruise the next morning, and a headache, but other than that, he was fine. Looking back at Alex, Toby shook his head.

"No. Shoved me into the wall, though."

"I'm not worried about your head. You could take a cinder block to that and it wouldn't do anything." He said, a smirk playing with his lips.

Of course. Trust the bastard to throw a quip in there.

"You truly are an asshole in these kinds of situations." Toby commented dryly, to which Alex smirked even more widely, and Toby rolled his eyes.

"I have to go out and get a target. You can leave the apartment, if you want." It may have been a suggestion, but from Alex's tone, Toby could easily tell that Alex wanted him to do that - to ensure his own safety. Glancing at the closed door, Toby was fairly certain that it would be the best thing, too. He may have fought with Alex on a wide variety of things, but when it came to viruses and their instincts, he had to trust that Mercer was the leading authority.

"What about her?"

"Restrained."

"Alright. . . Who. . . Are you going to get?"

"Somebody from Blackwatch, probably."

"Is it. . . For Keres?"

Alex nodded, "She hasn't consumed anybody in weeks, I'd guess. She's had to heal herself and you. . . For lack of better terminology, she's starving."

Ah-ha. So us Marines aren't just a bunch of trigger happy assholes.

Toby nodded, before moving to collect a jacket and throwing it on. He was growing to like Keres, but if she was a virus starving for a food source, and he just happened to resemble her primary food group, it probably wouldn't be the best idea to be walking around her. Alex escorted him out of the door, but within seconds he was gone, a speck of a man running up a building and launching himself tens of feet into the air before dropping out of sight completely.

Toby went down to the street, and tried to move, to go somewhere else - but there wasn't anywhere to go. He made it a block away from the apartment building before he sat down on the curb, oddly. . . Melancholy.

He couldn't quite put a finger on his moods or his thoughts, so he sat there, plagued by notions of Keres dying. Of Keres, killing him. He didn't quite understand it, so he just stayed there, lost in an emotion he couldn't process - until his phone rang. Snapping out of his thoughts, Toby fished it out to discover that nearly an hour had passed - didn't even notice - and found Alex had sent him a text message telling him it was alright to come back.

Getting up, he made it to the apartment within a few minutes, and opened the door with only a small bit of hesitation. Primarily because he didn't know how to regard Keres - he didn't know if she'd be alright, or still locked in that I'm-going-to-eat-you-viral-mode-activate. But no. She stood there, in the living room, Alex close by, relaxed and at ease. Toby and Keres locked eyes, and he found they were puffy and red. She looked as though she were struggling with some kind of inner demon.

"I'm sorry - about earlier. I didn't mean to try to consume you."

"It's okay," Toby said smoothly. It hadn't been the first argument he'd been involved in with biomass wrapping around various parts of his body, "Probably won't be the last time biomass is involved. You stopped in time, didn't you? I'm still here, right?"

She nodded, but stared at the ground, her gaze so wracked with guilt that it almost made Toby wince. Surprisingly, it was Alex who spoke up next.

"You need to consume people. You can fight against it all you want, but it's part of who you are. If it makes you feel better, you can consume Blackwatch personnel."

"I don't. . . I don't want them in my head. I don't want to see their memories, or see what they've done! Some of them. . . Some of them-"

"Would you rather kill Toby, then?"

Her head jerked up at that, as though she'd just been slapped. She stared at Alex, eyes wide, and Toby could literally see the horror dawning in her eyes. A repeat of today, only she'd managed to succeed. A grudging anger came to life in her eyes, and - to his surprise - Toby found tears welled in her eyes.

"No. No, it won't. But I'm not like you. I won't let this happen again - but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

And, in a very uncharacteristic manner befitting Keres, she stomped down the hallway and into the room they'd set aside for her. The door slammed shut with enough force to shake the frame, and Toby stood there, feeling totally at a loss. He turned to Alex, who was shaking his head and regarding her act of defiance as though she were an idiot.

"She'll come around. . . You might have to bully her into it, though." Alex said, to which Toby shook his head in disbelief.

"Me? How the hell can I do that? I don't have freaky viral powers of mind control."

"She listens to you, that's why. And if she doesn't consume people, she'll starve, and we'll see repeats of what happened today. That's why. . . It doesn't have to be daily. Maybe monthly - maybe less. She doesn't use as much energy as I do."

This conversation was beyond surreal. Primarily because they were calmly discussing the deaths of innocent. . . Okay, no, wait. That wasn't true. 99.999% of people in Blackwatch were bloodthirsty assholes who cared nothing except the mission. Toby held no love for them - especially when they'd arranged deaths for Marines who had become infected, or suspected of being infected.

So, yes, maybe he could bully Keres into doing it. But not for revenge, he hoped. Purely for her survival.

"Strictly Blackwatch. At least they deserve to die."

But saying those words chilled Toby, down to his very core.

If. . . If he could calmly pass the death sentence on those humans whom he believed should die. . . Would he become one of them?