Dorado, Mexico 23:00
Captain Swafford was at the site where the previous events had unfolded. He had come with the reinforcements sent out to assist, but whoever was responsible had only left minutes before, AND THEY WERE TOO LATE. bodies of both Talon and Los Muertos's men were lying in the streets, and civilians were hesitant to come out of their homes, some were even too afraid to look out their windows.
Dropships were swiftly flying in and picking up any survivors or Talon's wounded, leaving the wounded gang members to fend for themselves.
"Sir" an officer shouted.
Swafford looked over to the officer and walked towards him, he place his hand on his shoulder and brought his ear closer to the officer, as the dropships engines were roaring.
"So, what's his status?" Swafford asked.
The officer shook his head. "He's gone sir, whoever wanted him dead must of really hated this guy"
"Shit" Swafford mumbled.
Swafford turned around to take one last look, the last of the drophsips were landing, but to Swafford they were taking far too long. Swafford rushed over to the officer and nudged him slightly.
"Let's go" Swafford said, rushing the officer onto the dropship, which had everyone waiting onboard except Swafford and his officer.
The officer resisted slightly, hesitant to leave so early.
"Sir, what's the hurry? We still have wounded to pick up." The officer said.
Just as the officer finished his sentence, a bright sudden burst of light blinded their eyes, followed by one of the Talon dropships exploding and crashing into the ground.
"That's our fucking hurry, move it!" Swafford shouted, shoving the officer onto the dropship.
Another dropship began to ascend, Swafford could see it pop its flares as it took off, but it was too late. A missile collided with the side of the dropship, sending it colliding into the street below, followed by two fighter jets whizzing overhead.
"Pilot! Get a fucking move on!" Swafford yelled.
He looked back, and saw at least 10 military dropships approaching, with some already fast roping troops onto rooftops and streets. All of the Talon dropships had already taken off, and left the remaining gang members to fend for themselves.
The ramp to the dropships closed, and for a few seconds the sounds of heavy gunfire could be heard as they grew further and further away from the city.
Once Swafford knew he was in the clear, he sat down, relieved at the fact that his dropship wasn't hit. He sat back in the seat and took a deep breath.
"Does that…happen often?" the officer asked.
Swafford looked up at him for a few seconds, before shaking his head.
"No, they never used to prepare for us, all we would have to do his prepare for possible contact with Overwatch, never the military, especially not fighters."
"So what now?" the officer asked.
"Well we're on our way to an emergency rendezvous point, so sit back and pray we don't get blown up." Swafford replied.
15 minutes later.
Alex was leaning back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, tapping his foot out of boredom. Jessica was opposite Alex,cleaning her rifle.
Out of boredom Alex simply observed Jessica cleaning her rifle, but he mainly had his eyes on the rifle itself, he was curious how firearms now changed now as opposed to 30 years ago. After a few minutes of just staring, Jessica peeked her eyes up to Alex and noticed his staring, she chuckled.
"See something you like?" She joked.
"Where did you learn the things you know?" Alex asked abruptly.
"I told you, i gre-"
"Yeah yeah I got that, but WHO taught you?" Alex interrupted.
"Oh, my brother. He's 10 years older than me. I started training when I was five; our father would train both of us. When he turned 18, my dad was a little too old to train us daily. So the responsibility was carried over to my brother. From there, I don't think I really need to explain." Jessica said.
Alex didn't respond, instead je just narrowed his eyes slightly at Jessica. Jessica looked up at Alex, after not receiving any response, she saw him staring.
"Got something else on your mind?" Jessica asked.
"You know, you're a lousy liar." Alex said.
The expression in Jessica's face changed the moment he said that. It was clear that she was trying to hide it, but it wouldn't make it past Alex. She also didn't look up at him; instead she acted like she didn't hear anything, and continued to clean her rifle.
"What makes you think I'm lying?" Jessica asked.
"We all lie, every single one of us. Only difference is not everyone is good at it." Alex responded.
Jessica looked back at her rifle and continued to clean it. Alex leaned forward and narrowed his eyes even more. Jessica saw Alex through her peripheral vision, she wouldn't tell anybody this, but the look Alex was giving her was truly terrifying.
"Who were you with before Overwatch, Jessica?" Alex asked, in a sarcastic tone.
Jessica looked up to face Alex's stare.
"Are you always this persistently annoying?" Jessica asked.
"Usually, yeah." Alex responded.
Jessica didn't answer, she just scoffed and went back to cleaning her gun.
Alex sat back, hoping to rest a bit longer before they reached their destination.
"Where headed anyway, same place?" Alex asked.
Jessica chuckled. "Nope, were headed back to the HQ, apparently your arrival caused some confusion, so they want to sort it out ASAP. Policing the world is hard work you know."
Alex grunted at her remark, but hardly even acknowledged it. Alex just sat back and stared at the ceiling. With a faint red light lighting up the ship just enough to see everything, and the ambient sound of the engines, a warm feeling overcame Alex, and he began to get lost in his own thoughts.
However, in the middle of losing himself in his own head, a sudden realization soon snapped into Alex's head. He hardly even knew these people at all, and he decided it would be a good idea to roll with them so quickly without question. Alex felt like a fool, Alex would have never made a decision like this, and he still wasn't sure if it would cost him.
Even if it did, why would he care? Everything he ever knew was taken from him, and now he's trapped in a world with no tools to start a new life, he felt like a living ghost. He wasn't too fond of his sudden new powers either, everything changed to quickly for him.
Alex sighed "what the fuck am I doing here?" he said to himself.
Suddenly, an alarm started blaring throughout the dropship.
Both Jessica and Alex looked at each other, and then the pilot; who was looking at her radar.
"I've got a goddamn radar warning!" the pilot shouted.
"Shit" Alex said to himself as he strapped into his seat, and looked out the window above the seat next to him. He saw a fighter jet emerge through the cloud layer, which immediately fired a missile. Fortunately, the pilot deployed is flares in time and made a hard turn to the right, resulting in a near miss.
"Command this is Falcon, come in!" the pilot said into his radio.
"Falcon this is HQ, go ahead"
"We've come under attack by an enemy fighter jet, I've deployed defensive procedures and it's clear we're unarmed but it won't let up. How copy over?"
"Roger, continue deploying defensive procedures until we can get Commander Morrison on"
"Damn it!" The pilot yelled.
"What?" Alex asked.
"Might as well put me on fucking hold!" The pilot replied.
"Can these guys find their head from their own ass? Why do we need to wait?!" Alex exclaimed.
"Because you're here, I guess you're special to those clowns!" The pilot replied.
"Can't you try to establish communication with the jet!?" Jessica yelled.
"Don't you think I've fucking tried that?!" The pilot yelled back
Overwatch HQ
Jack and Ana quickly made their way to the command room, where they had just received a call that the Blackwatch ship was in trouble. They walked up to the communications terminal both standing over the operators shoulders.
"Falcon this is Commander Morrison, what's the situation?"
"Sir, we've come under attack by an enemy fighter jet, presumably Mexican air force; we've deployed defensive procedures but it won't let up."
"Have you made radio contact?" Jack asked.
"Non Responsive sir"
"Well we could try to-
"Shit incoming thirty mills!"
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
The sound of the gun filled the entire room; staff turned their heads at the commotion. Supersonic cracks of bullets flying by the ship could be heard. Ana had widened her eyes, unsure if the jet had hit the ship.
"Were still breathing" The pilot said.
"We'll see what we can do, wait one" Jack said.
Blackwatch Dropship
"So, basically were here to fend this thing off on our own!" The pilot shouted.
"And how exactly are we expected to do that?" Jessica asked.
"That…. is a good question." The pilot replied, making another sharp turn.
The alarm blared throughout the ship once more. The pilot made a sharp turn while deploying flares, but the missile was quick, and it had hit a flare that had just popped out, resulting in a hit. The ship shook violently, throwing things around and causing everyone's ears to ring.
"Fuck! We're hit! We're hit!"
The impact caused the ramp lock to come loose, causing it to drop open about halfway. Light objects began to fly out of the ship; furious winds beat down on everyone inside. The fighter jet was now in plain view, tailing the ship and mirroring its every move.
"Fuck this" Alex said.
Alex un buckled from his seat and sprung up, immediately looking for something to use as some sort of weapon.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Jessica shouted.
"Well I'm not just going to sit down like some dumbass while I'm being shot at!" Alex replied.
Right away, Alex saw a large crate in the corner of the ship and ran for it. The Fighter jet at the same time fired its guns, Alex watched as the glowing tracers made their way towards the ship and through the metal door, before his vision went black and an excruciating pain overwhelmed him. The impact caused Alex to fly and collide with the back of the pilot's seat, he clutching his face.
"Holy shit!" Jessica shouted, running over to Alex and kneeling next to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
It didn't take long for the pain to start dissipating, and for his face to start its repair, luckily for him he was bit by a piece shrapnel, not the bullet. Alex shouted as he quickly sprung up. He deployed his armor, and ran for the crate once more. He made it successfully, picking up the crate and positioning himself. Alex aimed, and when the right time came, he spun around and threw the crate out as hard as he could.
The Crate collided with the canopy of the fighter Jet, breaking the glass completely, but sparing the pilot. The pilot immediately ejected from the aircraft, leaving it to fall freely into the ocean below. Alex stood by the ramp berthing heavily, watching the jet until it hit the ocean.
He stood by the ramp for moments, feeling the wind rush over him as he admired the city lights on the horizon. He quickly shifted out of his armor and pulled a chain on the ramp, closing it completely. Before turning around and sitting back down.
Jessica had just saw the whole event transpire, but didn't say a word to Alex, simply stared at him. Alex looked at Jessica for a moment, but remained silent, before looking away to rest his eyes. Jessica knew not to say anything, she was just thankful for the help.
"HQ this is Falcon, scratch one" The pilot said, as she turned around to face Alex.
The pilot stared at Alex for a few moments, before he caught her stare. She gave him a slight nod. Alex nodded back, accepting the gesture of gratitude.
"Falcon this is HQ, did it break off or is it neutralized?"
"Neutralized" The pilot responded. "What is Jack getting coffee or some crap?" the pilot followed up.
"Can you confirm? Over."
The pilot rolled her eyes "Negative, all I know is that the pilot ejected"
"Solid copy, RTB, let us know when you're approaching"
"Solid copy HQ, Falcon out" the pilot said.
"That's Fio by the way" Jessica said, still shaken from the events that just transpired.
Alex looked up for a split second before replying with a "Mhm." He didn't really want to talk to anybody; he just got caught up in his own thoughts, that and the stinging pain residing in his face.
These thoughts went on for a few minutes, before Alex decided to get some rest; his head was still throbbing from that impact. He leaned back and used his arm to cover his eyes, letting people know not to bother him.
Talon FOB
Commander Swafford and several other officers were watching recovered cctv and helmet footage from the attack. And there was no question now; it was the same guy from the train, the same guy from Michigan.
"I doubt he's here by coincidence" one of the officers said.
"Don't think anyone thought that" Another replied.
"The guy went straight for Ricardo, ripped off the door to the safe room and killed him, Overwatch would be the only people with any interest in killing him" Swafford said.
An officer shook his head "Sir that's impossible, Overwatch is stretched out thin as it is and Blackwatch is suspended, not to mention how brutally he Ricardo was killed"
"Being suspended hasn't stopped Blackwatch in the past, and they don't have a problem with killing. Overwatch is losing, they can't police the world and fight us, and they'll use dirty tactics if they need too" Swafford replied.
"So what happens now?"
"What happens now, is that we lay low. We can't risk our FOB being compromised. I'll get in contact with the higher ups, see what we can do." Swafford said.
"And what do we do?" An officer asked.
"Tell your men what I just told you. I'll update you as soon as I can" Swafford ordered.
"Right away sir" one of the officers said, before all of them swiftly walked off.
Swafford quickly stood up "STOP!" Swafford yelled, making the officers stop in their tracks.
"When I address you, I expect ALL of you to address me back properly! Is that understood?!" Swafford exclaimed.
"Yes sir!" all of the officers shouted, this time with power behind their shout. Once again, swiftly walking off.
Swafford rolled his eyes "I'm getting too soft" he thought as he scrolled through his tablet, attempting to get into contact with his superiors.
A few minutes passed as Swafford unsuccessfully attempted to make contact. Establishing the communication wasn't an issue, Commander Swafford was just being dismissed, his superiors were part of the inner council, so they usually thought whatever they were doing was more important. Usually it was money related.
Finally, after what seemed to be about 10 minutes of attempting to reach his superior who assigned him this entire operation. Before a word was said, Swafford gestured at how ridiculous how long he had to wait.
"I know, I know." The member said.
"This crap can't keep happening." Swafford replied.
"I was busy, I'm sorry. But I'm here now, what do you need?"
"Ricardo's dead, and about half of my men are gone, as well as all of the los Meurtos lowlifes you made me work with." Swafford said.
"Whoa whoa whoa slow down, what happened exactly?"
"The guy they were hunting down in Michigan and the guy who foiled the train operation, he came here and killed our contact" Swafford replied.
The council member sat in silence, not muttering a word.
"I was just as surprised as you were, I'll send you all the footage we collected, and I want you to bring this to the entire council. My suggestion would be to pull out, I lost half of my company and the military knows we're here now, we need to formulate a new plan" Swafford said.
"I agree, but I'll bring this to the council ASAP, hopefully you'll have an answer within 24 hours, for now just do your best to lay low" The member said.
"Will do" Swafford replied, before cutting the feed.
Swafford then leaned back before letting out a big sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Shit"
Blackwatch dropship, 05:00
Alex woke up to the dropship vibrating, his eyes seemingly glued shut. "Shit" Alex muttered.
Alex sat up and began to stretch and get his eyes adjusted. He looked out the window and saw their destination approaching. Right away ne noticed it was much larger than where they previously brought him; the landing area alone was massive.
"Where are we?" Alex asked, still adjusting his eyes.
"Overwatch Headquarters, Switzerland" Jessica replied, getting up from her seat.
"Ugh" Alex muttered, pulling himself off the seat.
Jessica furrowed her brow "What?"
"Everyone in Switzerland speaks German for French….I can't German or French" Alex replied.
Jessica chuckled. "Don't worry, neither can three quarters of the agents here, you'll fit right in."
"Doubt it" Alex mumbled.
By now, the dropship had already begun to make its decent onto the tarmac below. The ship jerked as the landing gear made contact with the ground. The ramp dropped, and both Alex and Jessica walked off. Right away Alex took in a breath of fresh air, before taking a look around.
The base was much bigger than it looked form inside the ship, the hanger itself was nearly the size of a football field, and there was more than one. On top of that it was far from vacant, there were dozens of staff walking about all doing different things.
"Jessica, Alex!" A voice called over.
Alex explored his surroundings for a few moments longer before drawing his attention to whoever called him. Jesse was walking over to the pair, cigar in hand, though you could tell he just woke up.
"How'd it go?" Jesse asked.
"Can't complain, I hardly did anything but hey, Ricardo's dead." Jessica joked.
Jesse chuckled. "Don't care who killed the feller, just as long as he's dead."
Alex decided to keep his mouth shut, as he was still having some doubts and suspicions about this whole thing. He didn't care how suspicious or odd it looked, he decided until proven otherwise, these people couldn't be trusted.
"Anyway, Jessica you're free to go do whatever for now. But Alex needs to come with me; Gabriel's got something for ya."
"Fine by me" Jessica said, slinging her rifle on her shoulder. "I'm about to pass out anyway, wake me if you need me"
"Will do" Jesse replied, before he began to lead Alex out of the hanger.
"And hold onto that pistol I gave ya! I didn't want to have to scrap it!" Jessica shouted, walking the opposite direction.
Alex pulled out the pistol Jessica gave him and began to inspect it. By his standards, it was a beautiful weapon, one worth collecting. But by this worlds modern standards it would be an old out of date pistol, to him that was no big deal.
Jesse chuckled as he admired the weapon. "That's the gun she gave you?"
Alex shrugged his shoulders "Meh, and guns a gun, cowboy like you should know it's the shooter, not the gun."
"That doesn't apply to someone who wipes is ass with anyone who points a gun at him" Jesse joked, getting a chuckle out of Alex.
"On another note, I'm sure Jessica's gonna be real fond of your help, she could use it" Jesse said.
Alex furrowed his brow "Was she not getting any before?"
"Hell no, we're suspended because of Gabe's bullshit, we brought her in because we can't go anywhere 'officially'…I mean c'mon were Blackwatch y'think were just gonna stop?" Jesse replied.
"And what was this bullshit?" Alex asked.
"That's a story for when we got beers in our hand" Jesse said.
After that, the two walked in silence. Jesse led Alex through the HQ, of course wherever Alex went he turned heads, he expected it, it was just annoying.
After a few more minutes of walking, Jesse led Alex to a seemingly vacant office, only housing two chairs and a computer. Alex looked around for a few moments before taking a seat on the chair opposite the desk.
"So Gabriel looks to have stepped out, he shouldn't be too long so I wouldn't get too cozy now" Jesse said.
Alex leaned back in the chair with his arms crossed, patiently waiting for Gabriel. Jesse was leaning against the wall and humming a song to himself, again you could tell he was trying his best to stay awake.
A few minutes passed, and Alex was still waiting in the now vacant room, bored out of his mind he turned to face Jesse, only to be surprised to find nobody in the room with him. He could have sworn Jesse's humming and mumbling the entire time. Not even a few seconds pass before the door opens again, and Gabriel walks into the office, rubbing his eyes and holding up a clipboard with paper.
Alex watched with a furrowed brow as Gabriel moped over to the desk, before slapping the clipboard down on the desk. Gabriel slowly looked up to look at Alex, who was meeting his stare with what almost seemed to be a look of confusion; it looked like Gabriel hadn't slept in days.
"That's your contract" Gabriel said abruptly, pointing at the clipboard.
Alex and Gabriel stared at each other for a few more moments, before he sat up and grabbed the clipboard and pen.
"You're a very interesting man" Alex said, as he began to look over the contract.
"Oh don't you get started too" Gabriel annoyingly replied.
Alex chuckled lightly "Not saying it's a bad thing...and you could at least buy me dinner first" Alex joked, waving the contract around.
"Ha-ha" Gabriel explained sarcastically. "Just read the damn thing"
Alex obliged, and began to look over the contract. It was a contract for him to be officially signed onto to Overwatch as well as Blackwatch. It covered his living situation, his job, his pay, but most importantly, nothing in this contract said anything about owing his entire life to these people, though he knew they wouldn't really have a say in that if it came down to it.
Alex hesitated for a moment, but he swiftly picked up the pen and signed the piece of paper, then dropped the clipboard back onto the desk. Gabriel furrowed his brow, and looked at Alex's signature, before looking up at Alex.
"That's it? No arguments, no remarks, no refusal?" Gabriel questioned.
"I read the fine print, I don't see any issues. You want me to re-read?" Alex joked.
"No I'm not complaining, just wouldn't expect a man in your…predicament to be so accepting" Gabriel replied.
Alex chuckled "Well I don't exactly have a lot of options, might as well join the people not trying to kill me."
"Fair enough, I'm gonna go find Jack, he wants to lock this up." Gabriel said, waving the clipboard and headed towards the door.
Just before Gabriel reached the door, it slid open, revealing Jesse with two coffees's in his hand. Gabriel extinctive reached for one, but Jesse slipped past him and held one out to Alex.
"Seriously?" Gabriel griped.
"Did you just come back from Mexico?" Jesse joked, taking a large generous sip.
"Does it look like I can drink that?" Alex sarcastically asked.
Jesse zoned out for a moment, before motioning for Gabriel to take the cup "Good point"
Gabriel took the coffee and muttered under his breath as he walked out of the room.
Jesse chuckled "C'mon, I was told you bring you to the infirmary, no idea what for"
"Lead the way." Alex replied.
Alex followed Jesse out the door, and they began to walk to the infirmary, with Alex looking around the bustling hallways.
"So, a navy SEAL. That must have been interesting." Jesse said.
"Yeah, I've been told going through 2 years of hell just to be frozen is exhilarating." Alex retorted.
"Oh c'mon, aside from training, being a seal can't be all that boring."
"You'd be surprised" Alex said. "Though still a little more fun than playing dressup" He said, mocking Jesse's choice of outfit.
"Ouch" Jesse replied.
Alex could see a medical sign toward the end of the long corridor, as well as the entrance. Jesse began to talk again, but he was being muffled by Alex, who was focusing his gaze at the mammoth of a man walking out of the infirmary. It was Reinhardt, he was in a sling, limping and had a giant bruise on the side of his face.
Alex and Reinhardt locked eyes as they walked towards each other. It wasn't in a hostile manner however. No threats, no angry looks, just neutral expressions, almost as they were sizing each other up once more, though nothing would come of it. They both maintained eye contact until they walked passed one another.
Alex stood outside the infirmary watching him as he limped down the hallway.
"Alex, you comin?" Jesse asked.
Alex narrowed his eyes, still looking at Reinhardt. "I nearly killed him"
"I'm aware, he's lucky he's walking right now" Jesse said.
"Hmph, then I shoulda kicked a bit harder" Alex mumbled, just loud enough for Jesse to hear. Jesse's eyes widened slightly and he let out a huge sigh, and followed Alex into the infirmary.
Upon walking into the infirmary, Alex saw Angela working near a hospital bed with her back towards the two, with two other two doctors working alongside her, who also saw Alex come in, but understandably nervous in his presence, as the two were just darting their eyes between themselves and Alex, not wanting to be the first to speak to him.
"Is it something in my teeth" Alex sarcastically asked.
Upon hearing that, Angela spun around to face Alex and the two doctors turned to face Angela. Angela shot her two staff a slitty eyed gaze, and told them to get back to what they were doing. Angela then turned to face Jesse and Alex, greeting the two with a warm smile.
"Gentleman" Angela greeted.
"Angela" Jesse responded.
Alex only gave a slight nod.
Angela let out a sigh of relief. "Alex, if you could follow me please"
Alex gazed at Jesse before obliging, and followed Angela over to a work desk.
"So I seemed to find a way to temporarily sooth the irritation in your respiratory system" Angela said, turning around to reveal a mask, along with a small white container.
Alex furrowed his brow as he looked at the mask; with his gaze starting between the mask and Angela.
"Your solution to my mask was another mask?" Alex asked.
Angela smirked "No, our solution to your mask was a better mask" she said, holding it out.
Alex took the mask and began inspecting it. It looked similar to his current mask, only it had a sleeker look with smaller cartridges.
"What's so special about it?" Alex asked.
"Well, it does what you mask already does, but designed to pump narcotics into your reparatory system, these will sooth your respiratory system for a little while; hopefully allowing you take the mask off for a period of time." Angela replied.
"How long?" Alex asked.
"Hard to say, but minimum should be twelve hours, we should know more after you get a chance to use it. Put it on before you go to sleep and you should be able to go a day without needing it." She replied.
"Hmph…thanks….is that it?" Alex asked.
"For now" Angela replied, still wearing a warm smile.
Alex slitted his eyes for a brief moment, he just thought her constant smiling was a little unsettling, and quite frankly found her a little too….cheerful. Not anything threatening, but annoying to Alex to say the least.
Alex nodded before turning around and walking back over to Jesse, who was leaning against the door with his arms crossed.
"That was quick" Jesse remarked.
"Yep, got myself a welcoming gift" Alex said as he waved the mask out in front of him.
"Neat" Jesse said sarcastically.
Alex sighed "So what happens now?"
"I think that's it, and by the look of those funny eyes of yours, you could use some sleep, follow me" Jesse said, as he began to walk away from Alex.
"Hey, I happen to like my eyes" Alex joked, catching up to Jesse.
"Oh yeah, think they make you look dreamy?" Jesse retorted.
"No, they just scare the shit out of people." Alex said while he chuckled.
"oh cmon their not tha-"
Alex cut Jesse off by staring off at something behind him; he turned his head only to see an armed guard, intentionally trying his best to not look at Alex. Alex finished by looking back at Jesse with a furrowed brow.
"Okay, fair enough"
Else ware
Gabriel and Moira were in one of the HQ's laboratories, with Moira looking through a microscope and Gabriel standing over her shoulder.
"Again, it's nothing like anything I've seen, this materials foreign to me, stop asking" Moira barked.
"Well what can you tell me about it? Since you've been trying to find out what it is for the last hour. " Gabriel asked.
"Fine" Moira said, walking over to a nearby screen.
"The material is strong and flexible, its shares properties with Tungsten Carbide, on top of his extreme durability, the armor will press inward when hit, causing smaller rounds to ricochet or stop in their tracks, larger calibers have a possibility to penetrate, but the best option would be plasma rounds. Also, the density of his armor is 1/7 of Tungsten Carbide, which allows him to keep is mobility." Moira replied.
"So he's a walking tank?" Gabriel asked.
"With his armor, yes, without his armor though I'm not sure, he would have to consent to testing himself. But by the looks of the videos he can regenerate any lost limbs or tissue extremely quickly, though I'm not sure what happens to left over fragmentation. It's truly a lethal grand design."
"I miss when parasites just lived inside you and ate." Gabriel joked.
"Don't we all….I can't even fathom how a parasite can alter biology like this." Moira replied.
"So we're done here?" Gabriel asked.
"You are, I'm going to stick around, ever since you got us suspended I haven't had much to do" Moira said.
Gabriel rolled his eyes and walked out, leaving Moira to run her tests in the lab.
5 minutes later
Jesse led Alex to a rather discreet area of the base, completely vacant of people, and the lighting was darker in this area. At the end of the empty corridor, was a locked door with a keypad on the side, which Jesse led Alex too.
Jesse punched some numbers into the keypad, opening the door. On the other side of the door, there were eleven doors, five on each side and one at the end of the hall; which looked less rundown than the area Alex just came from.
Jesse led Alex to the end of the hall, and pointed to the last door on the right side.
"All yours" Jesse said, as he pushed the door open.
Before Alex could even get a chance to look inside, Jesse was already walking away.
"Uhhh, shouldn't I get the code for the door?" Alex asked.
"You won't need it, you'll find out why" Jesse said, before disappearing into one of the rooms.
Alex sighed, he didn't like how chaotic and all over the place they were, two days ago he was their prisoner. That thought kept running through his head, something about this whole ordeal seemed off, they trusted him a little too much.
Alex snapped out of his train of thought and turned to face the door in front of him, before pushing it open. The pitch black room was lit up automatically, shining up the entire room. To Alex's surprise the small room was more like a dorm. Complete with a bed, small desk and even a small bathroom. Alex thought it was going to be a cell-style room, but in comparison this was luxury. The room was quiet, with only the sounds of the ventilation to be heard, Alex liked it, a place to call his own.
Alex cracked a small smile before taking a look around the small room, combing the area for anything they could use to watch him, though he knew even if there were, he wouldn't find anything. After a few short moments Alex turned his attention to a duffel bag sitting at the foot of his bed.
Alex hesitantly walked over the duffel bag and began to slowly unzip it.
"I swear if this thing blows up in my face I'm killing everyone" Alex said to himself.
Once open, Alex dumped the contents of the bag onto his bed, before tossing the bag behind him. The first thing that caught his eye was a letter, which was basically his job description and contract, along with his responsibilities, which admittedly Alex was looking forward too.
Along with the letter dropped a watch, along with an earpiece, which would serve as his pager and form of communication. The rest of the bag was full of miscellaneous items, like a uniform which he didn't plan on wearing. Alex gathered all the unneeded items and neatly placed them back in the duffle bag, before setting it aside.
Next thing to deal with was his mask, he hated it, and he didn't want to go another hour with it on. So Alex pulled out the mask Angela had given him, he ripped open the small white box to find to small cartridges, which he put into the corresponding slots on his mask.
Once he got his mask set up, he got ready to take off his current mask, and experience he didn't wish to relive. Alex put one hand on his mask ready to pull it off, and had the other mask lined up. Just as he was about to put it on he hesitated, thinking he heard mumbling again, the same mumbling he heard when alone in the office.
Alex dismissed it, thinking it was just the sounds of the ventilation being funny. He lined up the masks once more.
"Alex" A voice from behind said.
Alex eyes widened as he spun around with his pistol drawn, pointing it where he heard the voice come from. But to Alex's surprise he found no one, once again he was alone in the room. Alex's adrenaline was slowly creeping up as he stood there, waiting for another voice to say something.
Alex stood there for minutes, waiting for even the slightest chirp, but none would come, all he could hear was the silence of the room. So, Alex gave up, he expected to hear it again but didn't want to stand around waiting for it.
"Better not be going nuts" He said to himself, walking over to his mask and picking it up.
Alex quickly re-aligned the mask to get ready to put it on, he made sure to take a big breath in.
"3….2….1"
Alex quickly tore off his mask but felt his heart drop as a fire erupted in his lungs and found he was unable to move. Alex fell to the ground, managing to a get a loud, painful cough out, but he couldn't breathe back in, he tried to yell but couldn't. In his head, the voices were no longer whispering, but replaced with blood curdling screaming. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he felt like something was attempting to communicate with him.
On top of everything else, it felt like lava was coursing through Alex's veins, he kept rolling over in a desperate attempt to extinguish the flame that wasn't there, but nothing he could do would work.
His abdomen felt like he was being gutted with a how knife over and over again, he clutched his abdomen while he looked around for the mask.
After a few short but extremely painful moments, Alex managed to slap the mask onto his face. Right away the voices began to fade along with the pain, as he fell onto his back panting and covered in sweat.
He laid down on the cold hard floor for minutes, taking deep and painless breathes, as the adrenaline coursing through him began to dissipate. While he was lying down, he stared at the ceiling with a blank expression, reflecting on the past few weeks.
"If there is some sort of higher entity watching me….. fuck you" He said, before chuckling at his little remark.
After taking a few moments to catch himself and calm down, he pushed himself off the floor and groggily walked over to his tiny bathroom and stood by the sink, where he looked at himself in the mirror, and what he saw was shocking. The veins under his skin were almost black, and clearly visible. His gray skin was a tiny bit darker and his eyes were more luminescent.
"Oh Jesus Christ" He said, looking at his new monstrous appearance.
Alex stood by the sink for a few minutes, reflecting on what could have caused a reaction that extreme, as every time he's taken off the mask he was only met with breathing pain, the voices and change in appearance were concerning, even for Alex. Suddenly, a startled look appeared on Alex's face, as he had realized that just only the day before he had drank whatever was in that vile, knowing full well what i was meant to do.
Alex started kicking himself; he made a stupid decision that could have cost him his life. He was reluctant to tell Angela or anybody about the vile, as he didn't know what shit storm he could cause by telling them he stole. Instead he decided to let them assume the change in appearance is due to the parasite, even though he expected to be bombarded with questions.
After a few moments Alex decided to get some sleep, as he hasn't slept in days. He walked over to his provided bed and fell back onto it. He sank down into the bed as he let out a large sigh of relief, the bed was surprisingly comfortable it's been a long time since he slept in an even remotely this comfy, even before all this when he lived on base, personal comfort wasn't really in the budget.
Alex laid in the bed for a few minutes staring at the ceiling, thinking ahead this time. What he would do if this didn't work out, or what he would even be doing. He wasn't looking forward to working with anybody however, especially the ones he tried to kill. Because of that he knew they didn't trust him, and in return he didn't trust them, but he would worry about it when the time came. For now, he wanted to catch up on some much needed sleep, which is exactly what he did…
Hi! First of all I want to apologize for the extremely long wait for this chapter, I'm sure of of you forgot about the story all together. Between work life and school I haven't had much time to sit down a write, and when I did i couldn't get much done. Anyway, i cant say for sure when the next chapter will be, but you wont be waiting a ridiculous amount of time again, that I promise. Enjoy!