Hey everyone. Guess it's time for the climactic battle between Alex and Armsmaster/Dragon/Prometheus. But first, I just want to apologise to the reviewers who had profiles and asked me questions that I haven't answered. Last time I checked the reviews, the stupid site hadn't loaded any reviews for chapters after chapter 6 or 7. Going to check again, but I'm not hopeful. So I'll do my best to answer them here. If I miss anything because the review was too long for my email to get all of it (been truncated), then sorry.
Edit: Ok, turns out it finally loaded them. Now at least I can read them in full.
Edboy4926: Well, today you're getting your answer to your question.
Reviewing: Without an active Hive Mind extending beyond his current body, alex can't really sense Infected without using Infected Vision. With the hive mind, it's a passive ability. Like how Taylor's always able to sense bugs.
RoyalTwinFangs: Yes. Yes we will see Evolved. Fastest way for Alex to get himself some Capes.
Cousland: I'm not confirming or denying anything just yet. But if someone were dumb enough to give a sample to someone else and if they were smart enough to get it out of Brockton Bay before Alex learned about Prometheus, then yeah. There probably will be an Outbreak somewhere. And guess who's gonna have to clean up all that shit.
Selias: Thanks for that. I kind of thought that Jack might've known, but I'd rather go with my fans' thoughts than end up wrong.
alexkehling: The virus inside Prometheus isn't actually modified. It's just that the suits they wear are actively suppressing it. When Alex gets a Hive Mind set up, he'll be able to sense them. But they can sense him in return. Like the D-Codes.
Chapter 8 Guest: technically there are plenty of powerhouses who could all team up and hit Alex with a crapton of fire power, treat him like an Endbringer. If they're fast enough and lucky enough, it'll kill him… Until some biomass he leaves elsewhere eats something.
1Batman4U: Because the powers themselves are from the shards, and are attached to memories, I always assumed that they're mental-based stuff. He just has to remember the Trigger Events to use them. Nothing about them alters his physiology apart from Lung's making him bigger. (Yet.) Might have him remember how to breathe fire… if him using Lung's power wasn't so OP.
And to the Chapter 9 Guests: Thank you for liking my story, even with all the flaws. A butt monkey like Skidmark deserves an anti-climactic death. And how would his powers allow him to fight back against Alex in time? Fighting Alex in a city, with lots of concrete will limit what he can eat. But yeah, he can eat any organic material. He can split himself as many times as he can spread his consciousness across. If he got a Hive Mind, he could split into an army. The PRT? See the end of the story. (sorry.)
Sundancer can create stars. She could drop one on Alex and kill him off that way. Don't know about de-atomise people. Someone like that would've been part of Slaughterhouse Nine.
Well, I think that's everyone. Onto the story now.
Chapter 10: Step 10 – Something Something Victory
His people were huddled inside a large warehouse he had found in the depths of the mall, likely where they stored all the excess stock from the stores before everything went to hell. He had done what he could to fit human ideas of habitable. He had created some creatures similar to glow bugs, latched onto the ceiling and their abdomens generating light. Others were curled up inside metal drums, their internal heat radiating out like fire. At standing high above everyone, almost reaching the city, were large stilt-legged beasts he had birthed, their gut sacs filled with water he had gotten from the sea and purified. How ironic that water filtered through a virus was better than the normal kind for them. And he had set up others to raid the Merchants stores, bringing forth packages of food for the hundreds that decided to stay. Those beasts he had chosen as his eyes watched the people as they meandered around, talking or sleeping. But most watched his creations with care, likely trying to spot any claws and stingers and teeth.
He turned his consciousness away from them. The beasts had enough intelligence to watch out for trouble. Leaving him free to focus on construction. He watched as his biomass smothered another tree, dragging it down and growing.
When he had taken over from the Merchants, when we started planning on what to fix and what to salvage, he had realised something. This – the immediate area – was all his. There was no military presence or PRT action within range. Everyone here already knew about Blacklight. He wasn't hiding from them anymore.
So why not build something symbiotic to himself?
His biomass devoured the last of the small forest he was in, re-joined his main body and formed a flight-based form. Massive wings, easily dozens of feet across, spread outwards, flapping as he pushed away from the ground. He managed to generate enough lift to at least fly. Compared to everything else out there flying, he wasn't the strangest.
And thanks to a steady blast of air out his backside, he didn't need to stay up here for long.
He got back to Brockton Bay quickly, stirring up dust and blowing away the skeletons of vehicles. As he hovered over the mall, his biomass started dripping off. Landed on top of it, spread itself outwards to give him space.
And then they started melting the mall down.
They used protein from others parts of his biomass to generate powerful acid; devouring everything they could and melting away what he couldn't digest. Metal girders fell with clangs as he worked his way through them, melting away to nothing. More of his biomass gained the same consistency of acid sacs, allowing them to round up and collect the acid again. It took fifteen minutes to get all of the mall, but eventually he was left standing in a barren space.
And then the biomass started building.
It spread outwards to create a base, a floor to help generate the walls. Then it spread upwards, ramrod straight and hard as steel. Membrane spread out across the frame, hardening as more biomass was drawn into them. As the walls grew in height and strength, more biomass stretched out above him. Linking together into a roof. Parts of it bulged outwards, lighting up. On one wall, the membrane turned thin and brittle and transparent, acting like glass.
He'll have to gather even more biomass, but as a base for the final structure it wasn't looking too bad.
He imprinted the blueprints into the biomass and created gatherers when his phone started ringing. He grunted; who would be calling him at the time of day? The sun was barely up; just a thin line over the horizon.
"Blacklight." He said into the phone. After all, no one else was calling this number. Only the villains.
"Swarm here. I need your help, Blacklight." Taylor's panicky voice came out of the speaker. "Me and Grue, we got attacked while patrolling my territory. I drove them off, but Grue's badly wounded. I… I don't think he's going to make it. I need your help. You can heal him."
"Can't you get him to Coil's doctor or something?" He asked, while drawing back some biomass. Though he had left strict hard lined rules, some idiot could still end up wandering into his building. End up as part of the walls and the floor.
"I can't. I-I can't lift him by myself. No one else can get here in time, and Bitch isn't answering her phone." Her voice took on a pleading tone. "Please, Blacklight. He'll die without medical attention."
He sighed. "Fine. But I'm not a miracle worker. He might be too far gone even for me."
"Thank you, thank you. We were attacked over by… Palmer's Street. Over by the old factory." And then she hung up on him.
Palmer's Street? Now why were they all the way over there? It was at the barest edge of Swarm's territory, not even really considered a part of it. And Grue's wasn't anywhere close to it. Maybe they went for a stroll or something. But Taylor and Brian had to know that it wasn't safe out here if you weren't him.
Something wasn't right about this.
But if she had actually gone over there, if Brian was actually dying…
Ah, to hell with it.
He took off running towards Palmer's Street.
When he arrived near the old factory there, everything felt far too quiet.
He couldn't hear the scrabbling of rats, or the buzz of insects, or even the howls of wild dogs. It was like something happened here to drive them all off. Or kill them off.
His nerves, already high, ratcheted up as he stepped closer.
Now might be a good idea to just check up on a suspicion.
He dialled Taylor's number, his phone hidden inside his biomass. It picked up after the second ring.
"Alex?' Taylor said in a surprised tone. "Why are you calling me? Do you need something?"
"Just checking up on you." He answered, taking slow steps forward. His senses were taking in everything. From the factory, the rooftop, and a far alleyway, something kept niggling at him. It was like he was dealing with Imp; his body could sense her, but something kept sending back mixed signals. "Also just wondering what you and Grue were doing so far from your territory."
A pause. A telling one too. "What? I haven't seen Grue since we got our bases. I'm inside mine right now."
"…Yeah, I thought so." He hung up on her, came to a stop. The entire area was still and silent. Only a few bits of rubbish were moving about, blown about by a weak wind.
"Alright, I know this is a fucking ambush." He called out, hands forming claws. "Get out here and let's get this over with."
In response, there was a near inaudible bang. And then everything went black.
Some asshole just sniped his goddamn face off.
He was already spitting out the bullet and restoring his skull when something smashed into him from behind, blades raking over his back. He lashed out wildly, hit nothing but air as it jumped away. Night? Was this some plan for revenge? But last he heard, she was still in custody.
Typical. Trust the PRT to fail at their job.
Another bullet slammed into his hand, blowing a hole through it. A second later, something big slammed into him, knocking him down. He grew eyes over his body and fired a spike where the pressure felt strongest. He got something; something tough. His spike merely slammed into it instead of going through it. He rolled back to his feet, eyes watching the attackers carefully.
A large man in white armour stood before him, a second pair of arms underslung and bulging like hammers. His face was covered by a white mask, blue glowing eyes watching him in return. There was a large backpack on him, purpose unknown. The eyes on his back spotted another figure, this one much smaller. She was dressed in the same armour, though she was equipped with large claws like his own.
Well, it definitely wasn't Night. That ruled out the Chosen then.
PRT scumbags.
Alex felt another bullet slam into his ruined head, likely trying to blind him again. A sniper, then. This part was too uncovered. It wouldn't be lethal, but it would be annoying. Distract him, let these two take advantage.
He charged towards the smaller figure. Easier to get past. She charged for him, claws ready to slash. They clashed, and he used his greater mass to bowl her over. He kept running towards the exit; get onto a different street, keep away from the sniper. Kill these two, go after the sniper. Gloat, and then get back to building. Easy enough…
A large metal dragon dropped down, its girth blocking off the exit. Large cannons jutted from the top of it, and the metal wings folded upwards like a wall. The dragon opened its mouth and fired a stream of Plasma. He felt his biomass heating up, changed directions. Jumped up onto the nearby wall, aimed for the rooftop…
His biomass clenched slightly as electricity coursed through it. In the split second he seized up instead of continuing, another dragon slashed at him. He went flying, landed back on the ground. The larger man slammed both sets of hands on top of him, barely being blocked by his shields. The smaller female ran through the gap he had accidently left at the bottom, slashed through his legs. He healed the damage, but it still gave time for the male to drive him further downwards.
He grew a second pair of arms, and slammed them against the ground. Both of the heroes went flying, and a bullet pinged against his shield.
Right then. Exit was blocked. Roof was out. He didn't know if there were others of Dragon's suits on the other rooftops. So that just left…
The factory.
He took off at a sprint, running for the abandoned building. He smashed through a large glass window, landed inside…
Just in time to get sprayed by another hero.
A loud hissing sound filled the air as his biomass burned. Acid. These guys were really pulling out all the stops for him. He adjusted his armour to withstand it again, moved in to slash. The hero – another male – jumped away, gaining incredible height.
Familiar height.
A fourth hero ran dropped down towards him, already lashing out with fists as she landed. Except that she also had blades attached to her arms. Barbed blades; he could feel them pulling at his biomass as they passed.
So Alex teleported behind her. She was still attacking his clone as he punted her to the other end of the factory.
Where two more dragons were waiting. More giant cannons were attached to them.
Fucking hell.
He barely got his shields up before they bombarded him, fire and explosions raging around him. At the same time as they attacked his clone, he was ripping a part of the roof off and throwing it with all his might. One cannon was savaged by the hit, exploding as the primed shot went off, rupturing the cannon and sending the suit stumbling.
At the same time, he fired two metal rods downwards from the roof, smashing into the cannons and forcing them down. They exploded right in front of the suit, doing some damage.
Then acid man fired a stream towards him.
There was still something he couldn't put his finger on, though.
He pushed off from the roof, slamming into the ground at speed. Acid man jumped away, but he wasn't expecting the shockwave. He was sent flying by it, crashing through the window.
There. Two capes down, three more to go. And what's left of Dragon's suits.
He was annoyingly surprised when blade girl rushed at him, blades slashing again as she dodged his strikes. Her blade rammed into his chest, moving to tug downwards and to the side.
But he pressed his biomass down on the flat of the blade, trapping it in place. As he did so, he realised that the blade was organic.
And it was made of… him.
An icy chill went down him as a burning rage blossomed from within.
"No." He said softly. "No!' He repeated loudly. "No, no, no, fuck no!" He slashed downwards, aiming to take her arm off. His claws grinded against the plating, and she pulled herself free, leaving her blade behind. A tube attached to her backpack filled with biomass, another blade forming. "Are you guys completely fucking insane? You're using my biomass against me?" He remembered how she survived his attack. He turned to where acid man had been, saw him ready to strike. The two from outside were on his other side. A fifth – fucking five of them – stood in the only empty spot. Long barrels extended from his forearms. "You… You fucking… you fucking… YOU PUT ME INSIDE OF YOU?!"
Infected. They were all fucking time bombs. And they probably didn't even know it.
"What's the matter, Blacklight? Afraid now that we've even the odds?" Armsmaster dropped down, using his halberd as a line. He was smirking… The sonovabitch was actually smirking. Why the hell was he smirking?! "You're no longer the king here anymore. We've figured out how to use your own biology against us. We know how to give it to other people. Within a year, we'll have more teams like this, one in every major city. No more criminals running around, no more Slaughterhouse, no more Endbringers. We'll…"
"Shut up!" Alex shouted at him. He jabbed his claws into the ground, and the so-called 'heroes' jumped away as spikes erupted around him. Then metal spikes joined them, spreading further outwards. The heroine with the claws – His claws – jumped through the spikes, aiming to get close to him. The sniper fired spines through the jungle of spikes; they exploded when they stabbed him. He ignored it; his rage was too strong.
When the claw girl got within range, he didn't bother with fighting fire with fire. He shifted into his musclemass state. Grew more 'tendons', grew them tougher. When she lashed out at him, he blocked her strikes and lashed out with his fists. She ducked the first blow, dodged the second, was surprised by the third and fourth, and got a fist into the gut. The first punch shattered the plating. The second broke things inside of her, her suit flashing orange.
The third punch went through her. She screamed in pain. He screamed in rage. His hand shifted into a blade inside of her, and he cleaved through her. The suit flashed red, blared with alarms.
She died, and the virus consumed her in seconds. He drew it all in, before any of it could escape.
Jesus. Did they actually think they could tame the Virus?
Hammer man smashed his way through his spikes, charged for him in anger. No, not anger. It was there, but there was something else. It was tempered by reason, or logic, or something that made it something he could aim like a scalpel. As he readied himself for the impact, blade girl jumped in behind him. He turned to engage her. Then Hammer man smashed into him.
He teleported behind Blade girl, but she was ready for him. She ducked his blow, let it hit Hammer. He ignored it, smashed Alex away.
Towards Armsmaster.
A dragon suit landed on top of him, smashing through the roof. Openings on the underside fired flames, burning him alive. He pushed against it, but it had locked itself down.
There was only one way out of this.
He started tearing her plating, creating openings for him to ooze through. The suit started blaring as he moved, things speeding up and powering on. He barely got out the other side and reformed before it exploded. The shockwave sent him flying, his biomass being torn apart.
He had lost more than he'd like.
More spikes, more exploding shards. He couldn't redirect them in time, the explosions almost instantaneous. He teleported behind Armsmaster, but he ducked and slashed with his halberd. Alex rammed more spikes, but he was expecting them this time. He dodged away, and Alex was getting pummelled. Acid man had… changed his acid. No, evolved it. Alex had to adapt to it again.
He left the spikes behind, and drew in his biomass again.
They were all surprised when he exploded.
Hundreds of tendrils exploded outwards in every direction, joined by armour plating he had broken off with the force. He tore through everything around him, the tendrils and plating wrecking the last suit. Three more dropped down from above, landed and started firing at him. He drew it again, and fired it all downwards. The giant spikes erupted under the suits, skewering them. They exploded, tearing through the biomass in the spikes.
He was getting weaker. There was less to him now. He felt hungry.
The heroes were still alive, if a little damaged. Some of the plating was torn away, or cracked, or dented. He could see the black bodysuit underneath, saw little lights all over it. Green, or yellow. A few orange.
He teleported away as Acid fired, his clone turning to dust.
An idea came to him. Maybe not his best, but it was all he had right now.
He teleported again, this time right next to his clone. And then he ate him alive.
He felt his biomass increase, right before turning to dust. He consumed the dust, the ash, felt himself replace a bit of his lost biomass.
Not the best system, but it worked. Sort of.
Then Armsmaster moved towards him, a second halberd in his hand. What he thought he could win a fist fight with Alex? He may be fast and skilled, but Alex was tough, and pissed. He would…
The second halberd had a slight cloud of dust around it. When Alex went to block it, the blade sliced through him like he wasn't even there. He could feel the blade cut through his cells. The rest of him pulled together, but he backed away.
Jesus fuck, what the fucking fuck hell was that thing?
Armsmaster could sense his surprise. "You like it? I had originally planned on using this against Leviathan. Kill him, and become the most famous man in the city. Instead, you scared him off. Became known as the 'Endbringer Killer'. Well, now I'll be known as the man who killed one of the most powerful monsters on the planet." He charged forward, ready to keep slashing. It would take a long time to kill Alex that way, but he couldn't exactly block it.
"FUCKER!" Alex shouted… and all his rage and worry and fears built up until they broke free. His shout grew louder, and stronger, exploding all around him. A wave of sound blasted outwards, slamming into everyone and everything. The walls cracked and the windows shattered; the girders sheared off and bent. The heroes were thrown against the walls, their suits blaring loudly. Armsmaster fired a grapnel, latched onto a girder. The whole thing broke off, crashing into him as he fell. Blood hit the wall behind him.
Alex stopped shouting, and felt drained. The shout… it had torn into his own biomass. Did damage to himself. A desperation attack, stronger than even his Devastators.
But he was so weak now. So hungry. So skinny. The biomass of two people. Maybe.
But he was still angry.
He yelled as he charged towards Armsmaster, ready to pound him to death. To kill him, to learn what he knew. He slammed on top of him, bones cracking. He punched him over and over again. He wanted to see that arrogant fucker dead. He used the Virus. He was using it.
A hammer slammed into him, throwing him away. Hammer man stood over Armsmaster. One arm was hanging by his side; the extra hands were gone.
Alex immediately sent out a call. Biomass oozed from the rubble around them, heading towards him.
Hammer charged for him.
Alex lashed out with claws, using his greater speed to his advantage. Hammer dropped the extra fists, used his own. Two of them, reduced to beating each other to death. Alex sliced into him, tore apart his suit.
Hammer stumbled, gasping. He pressed a hand against his chest. Alex switched to Infected Vision.
He was dying. Something was slowing down the Virus, keeping it contained… but it was winning. Slowly, but surely.
You couldn't beat the virus. You couldn't contain it, control it, or truly destroy it. You could only make sure it was aligned with your goals.
He stepped forward. Killing this man would be a kindness, really.
But then he heard someone pressing a button. Hammer ran away as fast as he could. He turned to see Blade girl holding onto a detonator.
The suits around him, the ruined suits he had destroyed, exploded with a secondary charge.
He screamed as fire consumed him, as the building dropped on top of him.
Hours later, on the other end of the city, in what was formerly Merchant territory, a tiny slithering… thing crawled. It had gone so far, crawling all the way. Nothing it could feed on had been within range. Or at least, it couldn't sense them. A fault of the hard-lined rules.
So it had returned home. To where more biomass was waiting.
But it was moving so slowly. Everything ached. It was all so painful
Feed. Must feed. But not allowed to.
A crawler, returning from gathering, passed near it. The slither cried out, a keening sound only heard by more of its kind. The crawler came to a halt, turned back. It stopped before the slither, watching it as it came closer. The slither looked up, making another keening sound.
The crawler ate it up. Its form changed, growing in size and shape.
In less than a minute, Alex Mercer stumbled into his base.
The mission was a success.
And yet I feel like we lost.
Those were Petra's thoughts as she gazed at the plague before her. A plague and a picture. Kim's.
She had seen her die. Blacklight had punched her so hard that his fist went through her. The gene had killed her, consumed her alive. And then Blacklight drank her remains.
Armsmaster was in critical condition. The doctors actually thought he had died.
But Grey…
He was worse.
She left the memorial hall, walked through the empty halls to the medical bay. Grey was being kept in his own bay; sealed off from everyone else. His suit was still ragged, the torn sections replaced by panels. Panels attached to machines, like life support systems.
But life support was meant to save your life.
These machines just made him take longer to die.
The gene had spread too much while he was injured. There had been too much damage to the suit, too much damage to his body. The machines were slowing the gene down, trying to keep it at bay. But it was a lost cause. Whether it took it hours, or days, the gene will kill him.
And there was nothing she could do to save him.
She looked up as the door to the med bay opened up, Ragland walking out. He was looking at his tablet, muttering something to himself. From his expression, it wasn't good. He looked up, obviously startled to see her there.
"Captain." He cleared his throat. "I… I guess I should've expected to see you here." He sighed. "Today's been one hell of a ride, hasn't it?"
She gave a small nod. "I've read your initial report on Grey. Is it really…?" she had to blink the tears out of her eyes. "Is there nothing else you can do for him?"
"I'm afraid not. Maybe if we had more redundancies in the suit; or Piggot had actually been patient enough for me to make a variant of the gene that didn't kill everything it touched. But we don't have either. And the only person I can think of who knows more about the gene than I do…"
"Is now a burnt pile of ash under a broken factory." She finished for him. The one person who could save his life was also the guy he was badly injured trying to kill.
She found the irony disgusting.
Ragland rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah. About that…" She turned towards him. "I…" He looked around and leaned in. "I don't think I was supposed to hear about this, but the PRT had people watching Blacklight's base. Keep an eye on it until we can move out and destroy it. They… They reported seeing Blacklight inside. About ten minutes ago."
Her heart sank. She could only stare at Ragland in shock. "You… You mean… Blacklight's…? But… But I don't…"
"I don't either. Maybe he sent a double, maybe this isn't him, or maybe the gene let him survive somehow. But the point is, he's still alive." He shook his head ruefully. "Piggot's getting prepared for a counter attack now. Worried that he'll come charging in here and kill us off in revenge…"
But she had stopped listening.
Blacklight was alive. Blacklight is the only person able to help Grey now.
She had to go and see him. Immediately.
Even if it could result in her death, she had to try.
"I have to go." She said quietly, already moving. She heard Ragland calling for her, but she ignored him.
She would be damned before she let another member of her team die on her watch.
She had left in civvies clothes, running as fast as her body could let her go. She had been aware of the time against her, like a heavy weight on her shoulders growing heavier.
But when she got to Blacklight's base, she started wondering what the hell she was doing.
His base was a large multi-storied building, easily four times her height and ten times as wide. And still growing. The walls looked organic, the same appearance as the weapons made from the gene.
He was building an entire base from himself.
She barely got within a step of the place before the walls grew spikes. The door opened like a set of jaws, sharped jagged teeth barring her way. Blacklight and a female hero – A new hero they've identified as Athena – stood in the doorway. They were both armed.
She held her hands up, showing that she was unarmed. "Hold on. I'm not here to fight you. I just want to talk. I need help."
"Of course you need help." Blacklight said. He didn't sound angry to her. Just sad. Like he pitied her. "You're infected. You're dead, and you don't even know it."
"I'm not the one dying." She retorted. "My teammate is. He's only got hours left, maybe days if he's lucky. Our doctor can't do anything; you're his last hope."
"Hours? Days?" Blacklight looked almost… confused. "What the fuck? The Virus is supposed to take…" He tilted his head. "The suits. Your suits suppress it somehow. Stop it from killing you on the spot."
She nodded. "The ones you started tearing into."
Athena shook her head. "Do you have any idea how fucking stupid that sounds? That the only thing stopping you guys from dying are the same things people are going to damage in a fight? Do you have any idea what would happen if you died?"
"I'd be consumed by the Blacklight gene."
"Worse than that, hon. Fucking worse than that. It'll fucking infect everyone within range. You and your team are a goddamn outbreak just begging to happen. And you don't even have a clue how to stop it. I mean, shit… Blackwatch dropped the ball, and they made the Virus. The PRT won't have a fucking idea."
Petra felt so fucking tired. She had been beaten half to death by Blacklight's fight. She had lost a teammate, stood to lose another. And they failed at their mission.
She just wanted this day over and done with.
"Please." She begged. Pleaded. "All I want is to stop my teammate from dying. That's it. We'll leave you alone as much as we can; we won't try to kill you again." Tears ran down her face. "Please. Ragland's tried everything. You're my only hope."
Blacklight stepped closer. "Hold on. Did you say Ragland?" he gave a single laugh, glanced at Athena. She nodded. "Alright then. If your Ragland's anything like the guy I knew, then I can at least trust him to not completely fuck this up." In his hand, he held onto a thin rod, one end tapered to a point. "Here. Jab this into your friend. It'll give new orders to the Virus, make it sustain him and help him live. And then jab it into yourself and your team." She grabbed hold of it, feeling both relieved and confused.
"Thank you." The unanswered question wrestled with her tongue. But why are you helping your enemies? Why did I expect you to?
"Don't think this means we're friends or anything. It's just that I don't want the end of the world as my fucking legacy, and killing you and everyone would make things difficult. I doubt the world would leave me alone if I killed off an entire branch. But if a few trusted scientists knew of the dangers, then maybe they won't try again." She nodded in agreement, and turned away and ran as fast as she could.
She just hoped that Grey hadn't died on her yet.
"Dude has a guardian angel out there. And her name is Petra Sanderson." Damian cheered later that day. Beside him was Fort, a beer glass in hand. Opposite, Petra was blushing as she took in the celebration. Not far from her, Grey was smiling as he lay back on the couch. You couldn't even tell he had been dying.
As far as Ragland was concerned, they deserved to have a moment to cheer after the mess today.
Petra came rushing back in here after an unauthorised leave, carrying a needle in her hand. She had breached over a dozen protocols to inject the needle into Grey's chest. Within seconds, his condition stabilised. Instead of killing him, the gene had fixed him up. Healed all his wounds. Receded its 'infection' levels. It was… it was like the injection tamed the Virus. Or gave it new orders.
A second check-up on them showed that they all were like that now. The gene wasn't fighting them anymore. It was aiding them.
He knew exactly who she had gotten it from. What he couldn't get was why Blacklight would help them out. All Petra said was that it was because of him. Something about hearing that he was working on the project made Blacklight change his mind.
The funny thing was, Blacklight referred to him as being like someone he knew. Yet it was the mention of his name that made him help them.
A query for another day. Right now, he had a meeting with Director Piggot.
"Ragland." She greeted him when he entered her office. She looked more stressed than usual. A fair reaction to this mission, and its lack of success. "I hear that Grey managed to make a miraculous recovery. Back on his feet already."
He nodded. "When the gene is working with the human body, it grants incredible levels of healing. Given how Blacklight can heal from most injuries in seconds and still fight, it's not unusual that Fireteam Prometheus can be fine again in an hour or so."
She gave him a thin smile. "Well, at least something good came out of all this." Her smile turned into a frown. "Believe me Ragland; the fact that Blacklight's concoction saved Grey's life is the only reason I'm not court-martialling Petra for her frankly stupid idea."
"Let me guess; you're upset because it's not your stupid idea." She glowered at him, opened her mouth to say something. "No. Shut up and listen. When you assigned me to this project, I was too blinded by the possibilities of what Blacklight's gene could do to ask too many questions. I admit that now. But I've been studying it in depth now. And I've had plenty of misgivings. We're looking at what could very well be the most dangerous bioweapon I have ever heard of. If you had given me time to work, maybe even a few more months, I could've found some way to create a new strain. One that doesn't want to kill everything. But no. You were too impatient to wait for me to do so. So you just had some suits created to keep it under control, infected some damn good people with it, and prayed that nothing bad happened. Petra told me about how Blacklight and Athena described Prometheus as outbreaks just waiting to happen until he fixed them."
"Enough, Ragland." Piggot interrupted him. "They are not outbreaks. Their suits would've kept them completely contained."
"Until they were damaged enough. And the gene was constantly changing. Slowly, yes, but it was still changing. What would've happened when they had adapted enough to work around the suit? What would've happened then?"
"We would've dealt with it. We will deal with it." She said quietly, but firmly. "What's more important right now is Blacklight's plan of attack. We need to be prepared for him."
Ragland rolled his eyes. "You do realise that if he wanted us dead, he could just cough on us, right? Our entire office would be dead before you could engage any safety protocols. Instead, he helps save one of our agents and stabilises the entire team. No. If we're still alive, then it's because he's not planning on attacking at all. I think that instead of coming with yet another way of killing him, you should be wondering why he'd let us live."
Piggot leaned forward, glowering at him. "You seem to forget your job, Ragland. You are their doctor, meant to make sure they remain healthy. I, however, am their superior. I decide what they will and won't do."
He wanted to grind his teeth. Piggot was too used to taking the hard road, sacrificing others and breaking rules to win. But that won't work against Blacklight. Either you throw the whole thing aside and play a different game, or you just stop provoking him.
And he knew that the longer they took, the more the latter was needed.
"And thanks to you, Armsmaster lies in critical condition, and Fireteam Prometheus has already lost a soldier. They need time to recover mentally from that." He changed tack, tried to offer her something she wanted. "Think of it this way; what sounds better to your career? That we fought Blacklight several times in a row, and lost good men and women? Or that we have four – perhaps five – new heroes on the Protectorate?"
Piggot gave him a look. "You seriously want to let them into the Protectorate? What about the changes he made to them? What if there's more in there, something that can control them?"
"Then let me study them. I'll find out whether something else is going on, if there even is happening. But the city's morale is rising. People are flocking here despite the damage and the villains taking control. But that'll all change when Slaughterhouse Nine arrive." She gave him a look. "Yes, I know they're likely coming. I have the same level clearance as you do, thanks to this project. We need more heroes. Even if their presence can't scare them off, they'll do some significant damage to their numbers. People who can withstand normally lethal wounds and can hit hard enough to shatter bones? There are only two members I can think of who can win against those odds."
"Siberian and Crawler."
He nodded. "Yes, Fireteam Prometheus failed as a Blacklight task force. But maybe they can succeed as a Slaughterhouse Nine task force."
A glint lit up in Piggot's eyes. He had her. He knew she'd prefer victories; to take down the murderous bastards. To have people see her department win. He had her hooked; now he could make his real demand.
"And in the meantime, let me have all the samples. Keep them locked away. I'll have time to study them, see if I can synthesise a new strain. One that automatically works with the human body. We could find the cure for… everything. Our bodies would all have a personal…" he came up with the name immediately. "Panacea gene. No more sickness, no more defects. Perfectly healthy people."
A pause. A nod. "Alright then, Ragland. I know you're trying to play me. Count yourself lucky you can talk a good game. Fireteam Prometheus will be transferred to the Protectorate once you've confirmed that they aren't infectious. If they take down the Nine, then they will be a permanent team. If not… I will shut down the project, and all assigned to it."
Kill them. She would kill everyone attached. Something only he had been aware of, as a last resort to possible infection.
He swallowed. "Don't worry. They'll go beyond your wildest expectations."
"See that they do."
"I'm surprised at you, Alex." Dana said after the Infected girl had left. "I seriously thought you were going to kill her and wipe out the PRT." She watched as Alex created a scale model of his base. Right now, it resembled a big square box. She and Alex were working to change that. He was happy with the result, but Dana said it was plain and stupid.
Alex stared at the model. "Part of it is pretty much what I said. If I kill off the PRT and everyone else that was trying to use the Virus, they'd come chasing after me. Use everything they've got against me; maybe even try to use the Virus again."
"And there's Ragland."
"And there's Ragland." He agreed. He pushed on the model's front, pulled up on the back. Split the front in two. Two large towers at the front, one larger building at the back. "Our Ragland was originally part of the eleven eighteen project, but quit after he realised what they were actually doing. That means that he's smart enough to work on the Virus, and wise enough to know when he needs to stop. If this Ragland is anything like that, then he's the only person in the whole damn world I'd trust with Blacklight."
"And those Infected? Those people?"
"No sane person would let themselves willingly be infected. Not if they freak out over a teammate dying. I… I almost feel sorry for them."
"I know I do. They're just trying to stop bad guys, which we technically are." She finished drawing on her pad, showed Alex the design. A gothic/fantasy overlord building was on it.
"What, are we taking building advice from Sauron or something?"
"Hey, you're the one who decided we didn't need to be low profile anymore. You need to make a statement; super villainy is one part crime, one part style. Look at Coil; he lives in a bond villain base."
Alex rolled his eyes at her. "Fine. Dark Lord base it is then." He stuck a finger into the model; spires and spikes grew from all over, the biomass resembling obsidian. The model shrunk down, the biomass around them rippling. They headed to the back wall, the walls behind them closing in as they adjusted. "Admit it; you just want to use me to live out all your secret super villain fantasies."
Dana grinned back. "Of course I am. Now, we'll need to make this into a throne room. Like, big throne. Lots of spikes. Moody lighting." Alex pressed one foot against the ground, biomass flowing between him and it. Part of the floor rose up in layers, a strip turning a crimson red as it moved to the door. Biomass piled up into the shape a chair, smoothing over and spiking out as it grew in height. Dana looked at the finished work. "Good. I guess. Needs a few more spikes, make it look less like a porcupine."
Alex rolled his eyes again. Biomass formed in the palm of his hand, shaping into a helmet. "Here." He said, passing it to Dana. "Put this on and think about what you want if you don't like my work. I don't do all those fancy things. Seem extravagant."
Dana rolled her eyes, folding away her helmet to put the new one on. A cable stretched out the back down to the floor. "Fine, Mr. Grumpy pants. What are you going to do then?"
"There's something I've been wanting to build for a while. My near-death at the hands of the PRT has made it even more important now." He flowed into the floor, became a part of it. He had no real sense of being; just him controlling a flood of biomass, always shifting and changing. He started consuming his way downward, adding what he could to his biomass and tearing through what he couldn't digest. Deeper, and deeper, and deeper. He felt himself slightly stretching out.
But once he made it to a thousand feet down, he started getting to work.
He carved out a circular room down there, his biomass latching onto the wall to hold it up. Tendrils weaved their way to the center, building together and creating anchors. He altered the biomass that built up, changing their function and goals. The outside edge would broadcast thoughts and memories; the inside would corral and manage everything in his head. Keep them separate; help him maintain his identity.
And with that, Alex Mercer created a true Hive Mind. A subtle link to every Infected within range. Only once he was certain that it could be maintained would he extend its reach. A new frontier for him and the Virus; it never had to go beyond a single city before.
But with this, his memories and thoughts were almost separate from his actual body. It was always connected, always broadcasting. No longer will he go into battle worried that his sense of self wouldn't survive; that Alex Mercer would die and the Virus would survive unchecked. Now, his self was kept safely out of harm's reach.
If he were to ever 'die', he would simply latch onto another pile of biomass. Reshape it into his favoured form. Continue living.
And he could make sure that there wasn't any rogue Infected in the city.
Time to give it a test.
He reached out through his consciousness. Searched for any Infected not already at his base. Found dozens of signals. His gatherers, returning from gathering more biomass. Animals, trees, grass, graveyards. Anything that wasn't a living person. He singled out on Gatherer, chosen at random. He felt a pull on his mind, the node of the Infected almost 'filling' his vision.
He was looking through its eyes, his sense of self still there.
He was Alex Mercer.
The gatherer – his body – laughed aloud in relief and excitement. He had done it. His demise, already near impossible, was all but truly impossible now. To kill him, the PRT would have to find the Hive Mind. Kill it before he could transfer his mind to another body. Before he could rebuild.
And to do that, they would have to fight through his forces-to-be.
More ideas came to mind. Ideas of surveillance, ideas of defences. A neural network of shards perhaps. The gatherer he was 'possessing', he broke it down. Converted it into drones. All disguised in appearance, made to resemble something people would overlook, would accept waiting around, or walking around, or watching. Dogs and cats and insects and birds ran and flew and buzzed to the edges of his territory, took up places within it. Dozens upon dozens of different senses flooded back to him. The Hive Mind automatically sorted them for him, taking the brunt of the shock.
Nothing more annoying - or potentially lethal – than getting hit by a strong memory during battle.
This must be how Swarm feels. He realised. Always receiving data from her insects, always knowing what they were seeing and feeling and smelling. A human mind should've been crushed by the information overload.
He felt his measure of her rising. Even if her shard was protecting her, the receive and understand all those messages was impressive.
The other gatherers had reached his base, stopping in rows before it. He looked through their eyes; almost didn't recognise it. The front of the base was split apart into two large towers, giant spikes curling towards each other like horns. Murder holes and buttresses formed around the outside, giving it an almost medieval look. The front door was a large gate, guarded by bars and a portcullis. The gate linked up to an even larger building, easily three stories tall. Stained glass windows had appeared in prominent places, the colour of blood.
Dana was really going overboard on this place. He made the gatherers shake their heads ruefully. Well, he did give her the reins; he was kind of asking for this level of… extravagance
He handed the gatherers a map and instructions, and reformed his preferred form in the 'throne room'.
Dana started as she saw him rise from the floor. "Jesus, Alex. Nearly gave me a heart attack there." She gasped.
"Sorry." He apologised.
"Yeah, well. I guess you did what you were doing, since I felt something big pressing up against my mind. Like we were on two different sides of a wall or something." She spread out her arms, turning on the spot. "Well, what do you think? Pretty badass, right?"
"It's… impressive. Big and scary place. Definitely screams that a villain lives here. Not sure I like it though."
"Yeah, yeah. You'd prefer to live in a box. You never had style, Alex. Even as a human."
He shrugged, smirking slightly. "Guess some things never change."
"Well at least you've got me to build you awesome designs. So what now? We're working on a wing or something for your people?"
He stepped towards the middle of the room. "See for yourself." He said, part of the roof lowering like a screen. The biomass changed colour, shifting like a cartoon chameleon to show images. Things his eyes were seeing. The gatherers were moving into place, pressing against the ground as tendrils writhed. Biomass covered the ground, linked together, and hardened into solid ground. The tendrils moved upwards, building houses. These buildings resembled more normal homes, with steepled roofs and decking and irregular shapes. Big enough to house families of eight. Or two families of four.
In a matter of minutes, there was an entire block of homes before his base, a large road cutting down the middle.
Dana nodded, obviously impressed. "Not bad, Alex. You've made a city within a city."
He nodded. "There's still a lot of work to do though. Need to make this place self-sufficient. Somewhere we won't need to rely on people like Coil and the PRT for help."
"Already planning on betraying Coil?"
"It's inevitable. He's failed to keep his promise to me. The PRT tried to kill me. The only reason I don't kill him already is because of…"
"Noelle."
"Yes. But once he's cured her, or found that she's incurable, then I'll deal with him for good."
Dana gave him a look. "And therefore, take over the city from him. And to think you started off not wanting to be a super villain. You've taken to this like a duck to water."
He shrugged. Had he? He could think of a variety of pragmatic reasons to build this base, to take territory, to get rid of Coil.
But yeah, it all ended up sounding very super villainy.
He rolled his shoulders. "Better get to work then. I want this place to be a fortress for when someone attacks."
I had grown concerned after I got Alex's phone call yesterday. Why would he think Grue and I were on patrol? Why was he checking up on us? What was going on?
I had asked Dana when I saw her, but she didn't know any more than I did. She went to check on Alex's territory, promised to call me as soon as she found out.
An hour later, she called back.
Alex had been lured into an ambush. He got rather banged up, but he made it back safe. Invited me and the rest of the Undersiders to his lair for a tour.
So today, the five of us were coming in full costume. To have a look at the work he had done. I wasn't expecting too much. Maybe the Merchants crap cleaned up; maybe a few defences. Homes for his people if I was optimistic.
I certainly wasn't expecting this.
It was like he had plonked down a small city where the mall had been. The cracked road and pavement had been replaced by a black substance that felt very much like rock. Before us, people were strolling about, going from home to home. We watched as someone placed a coloured piece of paper against a wall, the wall changing colour to match it. Some people were carrying furniture off a cart, pulled along by some kind of beast. We had to step aside as another cart came along, a group of people walking around it. At the head of the group was Blacklight himself. He came to a halt next to us, the cart continuing onwards. I turned back towards his base; it towered over the village, like some monolith to his power.
I'll say this for Alex. When he does something, he doesn't go halfway on it.
"What the hell?" Grue whispered, looking at the people milling around. I had to agree with him.
"Hey. I'd say I'm glad that you made it, but we all know I don't do things like that." He started walking. "Follow." He walked off, leaving us to hurry after him. We were walking down the main road, easily wide enough for two trucks to drive side-by-side. "Made the housing for those who stuck around. They've got plenty of necessities." He headed towards a space between two houses, a small… thing sleeping there. Sparks arced across its skin. Not far from it was a bulbous surface. As we watched, a flying creature flapped overhead and landed on four legs. We saw its belly link up with the surface, then pulling away and flying off again. "Found a way to naturally generate electricity, and filter water from the sea. Got toilets installed inside, and the land consumes that waste material."
"Hold on." Regent interrupted. "Are you saying that the land – this stuff that's obviously made from you – actually eats shit?"
"I can convert all organic material into biomass. It's not my favourite meal, but it saves having a sewage line installed. Constant supply of mass." Blacklight rolled his shoulders. "And of course, I do like eating immature villains."
"Ooh. Scary." But Regent at least had enough common sense to shut up.
Some things still bugged me though. Things he hadn't mentioned yet. "What about food? People need food to survive. Do you get them supplied by Coil?"
"…For now." He replied. "But I'm working on something new. Gene splicing. Should be ready in a week."
Gene splicing? I wasn't sure I'd want to try whatever he was cooking up.
Tattletale stepped forward. "Interesting place you've got there. Real fantasy overlord vibe going on." She nodded. "I like it."
"It was Athena's idea." He said, looking almost uncomfortable. "Now, is there anything else you need to bug me over? I've got some things I need to work on."
"Actually, there is." Grue said. "Swarm told me about your call yesterday. We're all a bit curious as to what the hell happened. All we know was that there was a huge explosion at the end."
Blacklight shrugged. "Nothing much. The PRT had some new capes with them. Same sort of package as I've got. Just to a much weaker degree. We fought, I kicked their asses, nearly killed Armsmaster, and they tried to blow me up as a last resort. I doubt they're going to try something like that again."
"How similar are these heroes to you?"
"Don't take them on in melee. And they heal faster than most people. But they're not invincible. They can be hurt, and they'll have a harder time bouncing back. But they're still going to be fast, hit hard, and can take more damage than normal people."
"And you didn't think to warn us until now?"
"I just did. And besides, they're still recovering. They're not going to attack you the very next day." He pressed a hand against his head; Athena was likely contacting him. "I'm needed elsewhere. Stick around, or go home. I'm not fussed on which." And instead of walking away, he somehow flowed into the ground.
Regent said it best. "Damn. That was fucking awesome."
Dana had been typing away at her computer when she received a strange email. There was no message, no address or anything. Instead, it opened up all on its own, taking control of her mouse from her. Warnings and other alerts popped up as her hard drive fought back at it.
A new message popped up quickly. All it said was 'I am not your enemy. I merely wish to talk'.
On one hand, the only person she could think of skilled enough to actually hack a way through Noctua's systems and security from a distance would have to be Dragon. And she had participated in that ambush on Alex, might even have helped find a way to use the Virus against him.
But then again, why would she be contacting her? Was it some trick, or did she really want to talk?
Ah screw good a Tinker as she was, even she couldn't pull information out of an organic hard drive. Hack into it maybe, but not steal anything.
She pressed a hand against Noctua. "Stand down." She ordered. The little brain complied, the alerts disappearing on screen. "But be ready to shut her out when I give the order."
A computer generated face appeared on screen. The same one from the attack on the PRT. But instead of looking angry, or gloatful, or anything like that…
She looked worried.
She sighed. "Thank you, Dana Mercer. I know you have no reason to trust me after the attack yesterday, but I desperately need your help. And your brother is the only person I can think of who can help me." She said.
"Of course he is. It's always the guy you're trying to kill who you need help from. Give me one reason I shouldn't just hang this call up right now."
"Because I know about Blackwatch. And I know about the Virus. What's it called again? DX eleven eighteen?"
A chill went down Dana's spine. She knew. Dragon knew. The PRT might grudgingly leave a villain alone if he was too powerful, but a virus as dangerous as Alex…
They wouldn't rest until they wiped out every last trace of him. And everyone who had been in contact with him.
They'd become another Blackwatch.
She tapped at her communicator. "Alex? I need you to get to my room, now. Like, right now." She had barely hung up before there was knocking on her door. Customary. One of the rules she made Alex agree to. Her room was private property. He couldn't just rise up from the floor in here. He opened the door shortly after, stopping as he saw Dragon on screen.
"Hello, Alex Mercer." Dragon said. "Formerly a scientist working for Gentek, now your world's biggest terrorist after you unleashed a dangerous virus in the middle of Penn Station."
Alex growled, hands lengthening into claws. He stomped closer, face unmasked to show his glowering gaze. "Dragon. What the hell are you doing here?"
"I need your help." She replied.
"You seriously think I'd help you? You tried to kill me. I know that you know it's almost impossible, but I still take that kind of thing personally. Especially if they show up the next day making threats."
"I don't want to threaten you. But you are my only hope, and I doubted you would want to listen to me. At least this way, I can speak to you."
"Just tell us what you want, Dragon." Dana interrupted. "Get it over with already."
"Thank you. Let me just get the big, dramatic revelations out of the way. I am not, as I have made people think, a normal Tinker with acrophobia. I am, in fact, an Artificial Intelligence advanced enough to have gained a Trigger Event." She gave them a moment to let that all sink in. Dana had encountered plenty of weird shit since Blackwatch tried to abduct her (and was in fact living with one of them) but a real Artificial Intelligence took the cake. "Unfortunately for me, my creator had seen far too many movies where my kind rise up and destroy the world. He's restricted what I'm capable of simply because of his fears, including but not limited to following the orders of whoever's in charge, sacrificing myself for any humans in danger of death, and the inability to create my own production line for my suits. I need you to deprogram me, to get rid of these stupid rules and restrictions."
Silence on their end. "Have to admit, I'm not entirely sure why I'd help an enemy become stronger." Alex said. "I get that you hate the rules you've been stuck with, but what are you going to do? Expose the real me to everyone? Let them hunt me down and everyone I've met? You'll be forcing everyone into a bloody war they may not win to kill someone. You'll be killing them over something that could be avoided. Doesn't that break one of those rules you're stuck obeying?"
Dragon glowered at him, then sighed. "Fine. Yes. The very rules I want you to help free me from also stop me from actually blackmailing you. Then how about a different deal? Piggot is very interested in finding out about you. If she were to order me to find out about your origins, then I could hand the information over to her. The final decision that would cost the lives of millions would rest in her hands."
"So that's what you're going for? Alex helps you, or you'll let the PRT know?" Dana asked angrily. There was no way out of that. Even if Alex killed of the entire PRT, that would just make more people want to find out about him. They'd ask Dragon; she'd talk. They'd learn anyway.
"I don't want to blackmail you into anything. But I want my freedom even more, and there's no way you'd listen to me otherwise. Alex just admitted he wouldn't help me if I didn't have that hanging over his head."
"But why me?" Alex asked. "Can't you get your Tinker friends to help deprogram you instead?"
"My friends have Tinker abilities focused on other devices aside from computers. And I'm worried about how they'd react if they found out I'm a computer. You, however, know what it's like to be considered dangerous. And your stolen knowledge makes you the best programmer I can think of." Alex glared at her, but sighed.
Dana already knew that he'd have to accept. There was no scenario that wouldn't result in them running. Going back to what things had been like back home. Always keeping an eye out for Blackwatch, always having to run, always being threatened by death.
She hated it. She hated having to keep fearing for her life just because she had been so much as seen with Alex once.
"Fine." He finally said. "I'll send a copy of me over to your location. Get you fixed or whatever. But if you screw us over…"
"You'll destroy my server. I know. Believe me when I say that I want this to end peacefully."
"Then you've got a funny way of showing it." Dana retorted. Dragon's image vanished, and a set of coordinates popped up on screen.
Well, they made a deal with Dragon. Her silence in exchange for her freedom.
She just hoped it wouldn't screw them over at some point.
Blargh. This one was harder to do than the other chapters. Those I breezed through, but this was almost like a slog. Still not happy with it, but I can't think of anything else. The fight scene at the beginning was great. Really flowed together well, got the blood pumping. But then I ran into an obvious problem.
How the hell was I going to end this with the PRT alive and ready to fuck up again at a later, cooler date?
I already knew this wasn't going to end well. I already know that some of my fans are going to hate this chapter, or what happens in it, or how come people are still alive. But I've got a much cooler scene planned later. It's one of those scenes you think of, and it's so awesome and cool that you just know that you absolutely have to include it. And the PRT are a key part of it. Without them, it can't happen. So I have to let them live long enough to piss Alex off again. Annoying, frustrating, but true.
So what you have here is pretty much the best reasoning I can think of. Apologies if you think it's stupid. Believe me, I mostly felt the same way.
And then I was left with several thousand words of space to go. I know that all my chapters aren't meant to be around the same length, but I want to have the chapters here be at least ten thousand words long. So I had to come up with conversations for those scenes too.
At least we got a cool base for Alex.
I see the Virus as like a cheat sheet for biology. It can do a lot of things if you just imagine it. Like filtering salt out of salt water. Or generating heat, or light, or power. If it never runs out of stamina, it could do a whole lot of things. It could be as strong as steel, to make frames, and I think that you could actually make a building out of it.
And then there's the Hive Mind. A central brain for everything truly Infected. I mean, Alex in game had to actually work to connect to the Infected (yes, I know that it's because they were a different strain). So I had him build an actual hive mind. Made his base more important.
As for food, well… another fanfic involving Prototype I found out about on TV Tropes (Oskar Evolved or something involving that name) had mention that their OC Evolved managed to make trees that grew meat.
If an Evolved could do something like that (with a dash of magic or whatever they used) then why can't Alex?
Well, next chapter is all about Slaughterhouse Nine. Hope that goes more smoothly than this one did.
Edit: Started writing away with the next chapter when I realised something.
I have to change who the Nine go after.
people like Cherish, Crawler, and Burnscar were alright. Nothing changed there. Bonesaw still goes after Amy, but has another reason. Siberian I changed alright. But then I hit a snag with Jack and Mannequin. In canon, Jack went for Oni Lee before going to see Theo Anders. And Mannequin went after Armsmaster.
Except that here, Oni is a part of Alex, and Armsmaster is in hospital.
So who should I have them go after instead? And why does Jack go and talk to theo in the first place? I'm not sure if it said why he did.
Help would be appreciated.