Chapter 11 – Talking and Training

With the defeating of that Scorpios, both Prototypes felt something 'snap' within their senses. They couldn't explain it with words alone, but when they beat that monster, the Lair just felt like it had… died. Like it had been taken along with the monster's passing. Their instincts were telling them this, as did their senses.

Though, it helped that the walls, the ground and ceiling didn't have constantly pulsating Biomass running through their fleshy sinew anymore.

After escaping that Lair, shifting into Blackwatch soldiers in case there were remnants outside, Adam and Sophie were now walking in their original forms through the street. The male held his hands in his pockets, looking about occasionally while excluding a cautious, nigh paranoid, stance while the female held herself with carefree confidence, strutting along the pavement in her heels.

Even in a hellhole like this, such a confident woman seemed to garner… a fair amount of attention from members of the opposite sex. Even some of the same sex members gave her curious looks, something Adam occasionally noticed.

But that was nothing compared to the storm of emotions raging within his gut like a violent whirlpool at the moment.

'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, what do I do? Am I supposed to talk, am I supposed to stay silent? What do I do, I don't know how to deal with this?' His mind, it was filled to the brim with panic. It was all he could do to keep himself from running away and hiding till the Outbreak was over with. This was a totally new and unknown situation for him, one he had never thought to prepare for.

The chance… to actually talk to someone.

Now, it wasn't like he didn't know HOW to talk, he had shown that he could converse in short instances before he gutted his enemies like the pigs they were. Heck, he had even talked briefly with this woman while they were being held in that lab, plus convo points for him! So, it wasn't like he was completely incapable of speaking to someone.

Instead, the problem for him was something else, something much… deeper. Adam had never gotten a proper conversation with someone before. Mercer was more of a 'I talk, you listen' kind of conversation, if he could even call it that. There was little that he had contributed to that situation, which was alright by him since he wasn't used to talking with someone like this.

Now however, Adam was thrown way out of his comfort zone. Out of the frying pan, and into the fire as one might suspect.

Glancing down at him, Sophie saw past his composed demeanor, and her eyes shined with worry for him. "Hey, you alright, dude? You look like you're having a spasm attack." She questioned him. She tried to reach out and place a comforting hand on his shoulder, but the moment that she did so, his eyes widened and the boy almost jumped away from her. Almost.

"I-I'm fine, seriously, I am."

"Uhhhh… riiiiiiight…" Sophie drawled, not believing the kid for a second, causing Adam to shift in extreme discomfort. 'Geez, what's this kid's problem?' she wondered, now well and truly concerned for him. She seemed to have been right to worry for him, if this was how he responded to a simple hand gesture. He seemed so calm, collected and confident back at the Lair, so she had thought he was okay to talk to and get some information out of him. Turns out, that's not going to be as easy as she had thought.

Didn't help that the kid reminded her of someone, someone she knew…

Deciding that the kid probably didn't have much in the way of wanting to talk, she decided to take on the role instead. "So, kid, I bet you're wondering why the hell I tried to find you in the first place, huh?" she asked him.

Now THERE was something to anchor his mind on. If there was a God out there, then Adam would have thanked him 1000 times over for giving him this opportunity. Instead of the looming thought of socializing with someone being the dominant topic in his mind, Adam forced his mind to think only of the possibilities as to the reason why Sophie had been looking for him.

What could her goal have been? What could be her purpose? Was she here to kill and consume him? Not likely, she would have waited till he was weakened after battling that Scorpios. She would have then moved in for the kill before he would be aware of her presence.

Another possibility could be that she was an agent working for Alex Mercer, sent to watch over him for any suspicious activity. He had almost assumed this one to be the case, when he remembered some crucial details that Adam had forgotten thanks to all the carnage in the Lair. The details regarding Alex Mercer's abrupt change in personality. If he had changed that much, then he had to have some form of confidence, or confirmation, that Adam was not a threat to him anymore.

Though, there was also the possibility that she just might have been there by chance, by mere coincidence. Since she made that… weird entry, and proceeded to help him bash the Scorpios' head in. Literally, when she got those Shields. She did have a crazy bloodlust streak about her, he had noticed. Especially when she was laughing like a madwoman while bashing the creature's scorpion half to paste.

His mind, now that it had something more familiar to focus on, gradually calmed him to a reasonable level. His shoulders slumped, his breathing slowed to a normal pace, and his heart now gently beated within his chest. Of course, this was all just an imitation made by the Blacklight Virus, but he liked to think it was real even though he knew otherwise. His posture became increasingly lax, and he could think much clearer now.

This change in the boy was easily detected by the older woman's eyes. 'Heh… looks like the kid's calmed down…' she thought, refusing the urge to sigh in relief. Don't get her wrong, she was glad the kid was alright now and all, but still, what happened just now worried her greatly. 'Kid's still like an unstable bomb waiting to go off. Jesus, where's his parents? Why would they let a kid like him fight in something like this? I guess bad parenting I universal…' that last thought nearly made her scowl and cause her Tendrils to react, but she suppressed it for the time being.

"Well… the thought had crossed my mind, yes." Adam answered timidly, something that disgusted him to no end. Yet, there was nothing that he could do about it, either, unless he somehow grew the ability to talk normally with someone like an apple on a tree, then things would be JUST dandy.

Get the sarcasm, there?

While he cursed his inability to talk normally in this situation, Sophie continued speaking as they paused walking at a zebra crossing. "Heh-heh, it's no surprise there. I was just curious on what you were up to, really." She admitted, chuckling sheepishly.

Now THAT caught Adam's attention as he whirled his head around to look up at the older woman. "You're kidding me, right?" he almost shouted, but due to his shyness, Adam's question came out more as a meek squeak. Much to his humiliation, and to Sophie's concern/amusement. "C'mon, you can't expect me to believe something like that, right?"

Maybe when the world wasn't as twisted and fucked up as it was right now, maybe a SMALL fraction of him would have believed her logic there. After all, back when he was… well, not like this, Adam still had some form of light in his mother and younger sister. They always found ways to bring out the light in him, his happiness, his joy, even with his pessimistic views on life.

But that light had been snuffed out when those two were cruelly taken from him, leaving Adam nothing but a shall of his former self.

Sophie kept her sheepish expression on her face, but internally she frowned at his words. She guessed that it wasn't much of a surprise, especially compared to his apparent lack of social ability, but still, she couldn't help but be concerned for the kid. "Well, it's the truth, don't really care if you don't believe me." Okay, maybe that was a white lie, she did care if he believed her since if he did then they could talk more about what happened to make them this way, then perhaps talk about working together.

Even though he was a kid in her eyes, Sophie was not stupid enough to think that Blackwatch would leave him alone. She'd read files on how they operated, much to her disgust, and thus knew EXACTLY how they would treat Adam if they ever caught him… again.

An awkward silence passed between them, while they walked across the road to the other side since there were no cars coming. People rarely used cars and other vehicles now aside from the Military in the Yellow Zone. Took up too much space while also wasting precious fuel. That was something hard to come by when you weren't with the militia.

While they walked, Sophie kept trying to nudge Adam into talking some more, to slowly ease him into a conversation while also seeing what his personality was like by pointing out things that he could like. So far though, all she knew was that he hated Blackwatch with a passion, as whenever they saw signs of their name being slandered like with decorations, graffiti etc, he would always have this dark grin on his face. As if to say 'hah, serves them right'.

That honestly worried her. This kid was going down a dark path, one most seasoned soldiers try to stay clear of venturing too deep otherwise they would never return. Hopefully the kid will realize that soon, otherwise…

Eventually, the two reached a city park, overlooked by a set of three tall buildings. In front of that was a small parking lot, and between this and the park itself were 2 trailers. There was only one entrance to it, and there was a sizable amount of people mingling about inside.

"Let's talk out here, that way we don't have to be wary of listeners." Sophie suggested with a slight smirk. She leaned against one of the walls next to the entrance, which was protected by a wire gate that moved on wheels. She looked the boy up and down, seeing that he was still a bit cautious of her motives making her roll her eyes. "Come on dude, I'm not going to kill you. If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't be making all this effort to talk to you."

Well, that was something in her favor at least. That was what Adam assumed in his mind, anyways. It was true that she hadn't shown any signs of wanting to attack him just yet, instead she had been trying to… #shiver# socialize with him. Even though Adam knew jack shit about such an occasion, she still tried to talk to him.

Well… maybe he could at least try to return the favor.

'But… what could I talk about? What could she…?' Adam wondered, slowly feeling the earlier panic and fear returning with a vengeance. It was slower than before however, almost agonizingly so, but in the end, that worked in his favor. This is because he managed to figure out something that might be of Sophie's interest… hopefully.

"So, uh… what should we talk about?"

Ugh, that line sounded so pathetic to his ears. He hoped nobody else would catch wind of this, otherwise the humiliation would be horrendous. He might just try and commit suicide from the embarrassment that would cause him. Oh wait… he can't die. SHIT!

"Well…" Sophie began, humming. For a moment, she had said nothing, just simply thought. She then found herself asking something she had wanted to ask since her search first began. "Could we talk about what happened when we got separated?"

Huh… well, that was something he could explain. Though, he doubted that meeting Alex Mercer and him asking for Adam's help would sit well with the woman. He remembered that she had been wearing remnants of a military uniform, one he had recognized was that of the Marines. They had seen the most action in the Green and Yellow Zones, handling civilians and being peacekeepers.

They would also have been given not too flattering information regarding Alex Mercer, so he figured that he shouldn't mention that.

"Alright…" the male began, wetting his lips with his tongue. In a way, he was glad that, even after his infection, however it had happened, that he had still retained lots of human characteristics. "Well, after that creature escaped…" now that he thought about it, how the heck did it get there? And, why did it feel so familiar to him? Shaking those thoughts off, Adam continued to speak. "Well, I managed to blast my way out of the facility, fled into the night. I drifted for a while, disguised as a civilian that happened to try and mug me, till I heard that Blackwatch was conducting an operation of sorts nearby, went there, kicked ass and then you came along."

Well, that was the best way he could summarize it. At least without giving away that he had met Alex Mercer and lived to tell about it. Though, it wasn't the first time they'd met, that honor belonged to the time when he had first escaped his house after his mom and sister… well, he didn't know.

Eyes, eyes that had been closed for who knows how long, slowly began to sir. Adam's eyes tightened as his lips formed a grimace. The land of the unconscious was losing its hold over him as his consciousness returned to the land of the living.

His eyes then blinked as they slowly opened. The boy winced and grimaced in annoyance, when he felt light shining over his eyes for what felt like the first time in… forever. But wait, how was that a thing? Wasn't he…?

For a moment, his mind was blank, a blank slate. Darkness clouded his memory as he struggled to get to his feet, having fallen to the ground on his stomach somehow. He only managed to get into the Japanese sitting position before he cried out, clutching the sides of his head as an intense migraine assaulted his senses.

In that moment, everything came back to him. The night's beginning, him going downstairs to see what the noise was, finding his mother and sister…

And then…

'Oh gods…' Adam's eyes shrunk to the size of dots as he hunched over, one hand on the ground for support while the other went straight to his mouth. The images of his mother and sister in those… states… filled his mind, giving him the urge to vomit as an early birthday present. Not what he wanted, thank you very much! 'I… I'm a freaking Murderer!'

Murder: the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought. That was the basic definition for the term 'Murder' on the Wiki, but its dove deeper into when one is studying to become a member of the legal system.

Most societies consider murder to be an extremely serious crime, and thus believe that the person charged should receive harsh punishments for the purposes of retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, or incapacitation. In most countries, a person convicted of murder generally faces a long-term prison sentence, possibly a life sentence; and in a few, the death penalty may be imposed.

But for him, he bet the circumstances would be… oh sure as hell complicated.

He didn't even know the full story himself!

The last thing he could remember was seeing his mother and his sister advancing towards him, their words echoing through the vicinity and through his mind like a poisonous cancer. He didn't know what to do at the time, he'd felt sick, his mind felt like it was being crushed by a bulldozer which wasn't something a human could survive. They'd be flattened like a pancake.

But deep down, beneath all that pain, agony and suffering, there had been… something. Something else that had lurked within the shadows of his mind, waiting for him to break and allow it to be set free. He could barely remember what had happened when he blacked out, but what he DID recall, was the sounds of flesh being torn, something wriggling across him, and the two pained screams of his mother and sister… before the migraine he had been under intensified tenfold, knocking him out at last.

He hadn't been aware of a headache that severe before.

Shaking his head, Adam felt his strength return to him, the headache fading out of existence the more he remained immobile. Though, as the headache faded, there was replaced a mounting curiosity and confusion as the teen looked down at his hands. An expression of 'what the fuck' was plastered on his face as he gazed down at them.

Why did he feel so weird? He thought he'd be weaker than an old man who hadn't eaten properly, but instead he felt… stronger, like he could take on the whole wide world and every one of its armies? On that thought, why did the sudden urge to go do that suddenly become so enticing?

Adam didn't know anything anymore, but there was one thing that did stick to his mind. He had to GTFO (get the fuck out).

If the police, the military or worse still, those men in black uniforms he'd seen patrolling the streets on their way to Guerra's apartment, then he didn't know what they'd do to him. Odds were, they wouldn't believe what he would tell them and try to arrest him. Or worse, those men in black uniforms would try and take him… he didn't like the way they looked at certain people, as if evaluating them or something.

With those thoughts driving him, Adam stood up on his own two feet. At first, he was a bit wobblily, almost falling backwards had he not been near a wall at the time. However, once a few seconds passed and he managed to get feeling back into his legs, Adam slowly but surely made his way outside the apartment.

Outside, Adam stumbled from the entrance to the apartment building, falling onto his hands and knees as he began breathing heavily. Sweat lined along his brows while he struggled to recover his breath. Perhaps he hadn't recovered as much as he thought, maybe it was mostly adrenaline that had driven him at the time. No matter, for right now head been more exhausted and weak than he'd ever felt in his life.

He wasn't PHYSICALLY weak; no, that strange power boost was still in effect. He could feel it coursing through him, revitalizing him and stopping him from sweating as much. Hell, his breathing was also restored to a moderately normal state. What he was tired from was MENTALY, EMOTIONALLY. The past events had left him emotionally drained, to the point where it had affected him physically.

Well, who wouldn't be that way after grieving for you family's death, then having to kill them afterwards?

There was no doubt in his mind that he had killed them. Adam never saw their bodies, but he just knew, just KNEW that they were gone, and it was his fault. He remembered what they were telling him, the moment before he blacked out. Even after the whole thing, those words stung like a thousand bees.

He doubted they would ever cease doing that.

Before his pondering could continue, his thoughts halted like car tires suddenly screeching to a halt, when his tired mind registered something. A presence. A presence was nearby that was coming towards him. He didn't know why, but the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood straight, like a cat's when they were hissing in a startled manner.

'W-What…?'

Adam gulped as he shot to his feet faster than a bullet being fired at him. His eyes wide and filled with panicked, scanned the surroundings that he was in. The streets were deserted, almost bare of any life whatsoever. Where was once people, now felt more like a desolate wasteland. A low breeze blew through the area, ruffling his hair. But it was not a gentle wind, oh no, Adam could only get this ominous anxiety from the wind. Especially when he noticed that his nose was picking up this strange smell. The smell…

Of blood.

Something was coming, and according to his nose, it didn't seem too friendly.

His legs turned and carried him away from the scene. Adam didn't know how or why, but they were moving on their own, without his brain controlling them, as fast as possible from whatever the presence was. It was like they instinctively knew that the presence was a threat to them, and that it was best to get the fuck outta dodge as soon as he could.

Something in his gut told him to follow his legs' lead and Adam followed it.

Adam ran through the streets, running faster than he had ever thought possible for him. Parts of him wondered why the hell he was so fast, as he had been subject to a rather… isolated, childhood. That childhood didn't afford to give him much to exercise, or to go on runs, and yet he was running at speeds that would make Olympic athletes foam at the mouth in jealousy.

Idly, he noticed that there were these strange dark green trails trailing behind him.

As he ran, Adam noticed that ahead of him were a series of destroyed vehicles, cars, trucks, whatever. They looked oddly like they were placed there intentionally, like an obstacle course, but he couldn't ponder that thought for long. Why? Because he was headed straight for them.

Just as he made to stop himself, Adam suddenly got overcome by his instincts, instincts that just roared as they took his motor controls away from him. Just as he had been slowing down, Adam sped up, with one such vehicle lying on its side and providing an obstacle for him. when he tried to move out of the way…

He hopped onto the side facing upwards and bounced high into the air.

"WHOAAAAAAAAA-WHOA-WHOA-WHOA!" Adam shriek, utter panic filling his mind as he flailed his arms and legs helplessly during his little 'flight' session. The wind rushed past him, making his cheeks go all flabby as the cold embrace the wind carried graced his features.

Soon enough, gravity once again pulled on him, and Adam began to descend back to the ground below. Looking down, he saw that he would be landing atop a car's roof with no way to avoid it. Before he could panic once again though, his senses and instincts took over once again.

His form flipped forwards into a kneeling position, just as he hit the car's roof. The metal forcefully bent under the combined weight and impact behind the blow. But, Adam didn't remain idle for long, as he used the car as a springboard to jump back into the air.

While Adam couldn't help but be amazed at what he was doing, the presence behind him quickly made him snap back into focus and use his newfound speed to get the fuck outta there.

In the end, Adam managed to lose the presence, or at least he thought so, when he landed in the middle of what was once a crossroads. Like before, there had been no signs of any civilians or militia personal, which struck the teen as beyond creepy by this point. Where had everybody gone to, there was no way they could just disappear…

Right?

Still though, with the lack of a presence to fuel his frantic fleeing frenzy, Adam gave a loud exhale as he fell to one knee, placing a hand on the ground to support himself as he got himself back into order. He idly glanced around, looking at the ruined buildings around the crossroads. In the distance to the left, he could see the Yellow Zone's left coast, meaning that he was quite far from Guerra's apartment as well as his church. That revelation stung more than he cared to admit, truthfully.

Now that he was looking at his surroundings, these buildings looked like they had been left just after a battle had been fought here. His nose could smell trace amounts of blood in the air, supporting this theory.

But then, HE arrived.

"Now that's far enough kid…"

That was the first encounter he had with Alex Mercer, and it went pretty much the same for the next 2 months. He hid, Mercer found him, and they fought, with Adam escaping only by a hair each time. One good thing that came out of that though, was that Adam quickly learned of his powers and what he could do, which allowed him to remain inconspicuous from Blackwatch for those 2 months.

Though, he never got over the feeling like Mercer had been testing him…

In any case, back to the topic at hand. The only thing he wasn't sure of was that beast that practically paved the way for his escape back at the lab. Then, it helped him back at the Lair by providing a distraction for him to sneak in, and when he and Sophie were leaving there was no sign of it… or Blackwatch for that matter. He didn't think it meant any harm to him though, at least, he didn't get that impression.

Usually, when an infected was near him, he had this feeling of needing to kill. And the infected was always the source of that need. It was like two apex predators meeting up and having a territory fight, but only intensified by Blacklight instincts. Those battles usually resulted in him consuming the poor sods and gaining Biomass from it.

He never got that feeling from that creature.

"… Well, that's pretty much it, really." He finished, lamely. If Sophie thought his story was lame, she didn't show it. Wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but hey, at least it was something.

Sophie hummed in thought at what he was telling her. She had her hand on her chin for a moment in silent contemplation. "Huh. Well, that's a relief…" she remarked, before noticing the look that Adam gave her. "I mean, its better than being under Blackwatch's thumb, at least. Those guys don't know how to not be assholes." The woman spat that last piece with a scowl on her features.

A notion that Nico could readily agree with. Blackwatch were assholes, and practically everyone knew it. It was only now they had a fist-hand experience with that asshole behavior of theirs.

Then, Adam got a question in his mind, but was it okay to ask it? What words should he use to ask? How should he ask it? Momentarily, he cursed his own indecisiveness on this matter, socializing was not something he found himself enjoying. Not at all. Why was it so goddamn fucking difficult?!

Sophie raised a brow when she noticed that the kid before her was sporting a complicated expression, like he was in conflict with himself. Conflict over what, she didn't know, but she intended to find out. "You know you can ask me anything, right? I'm not one to judge you…" she told him with an easygoing grin. "… Unless its something insulting, THEN you and I are going to have problems."

Adam momentarily tensed when he heard the dark undertones that she used for that last line. He got the feeling that she meant it, too. She didn't seem like someone who would make idle threats, and then there was her bout of craziness before in the Lair. A shudder of fear and nervousness overcame him, one he could not repress even if he tried.

Mentally, Adam forced himself to calm down, so that he could talk without sounding like a complete retard. Once he found himself at a reasonable level of calm, the teen opened his mouth to speak his mind. "Well, um… I was just wondering… what happened to you two…? You know, when we separated."

Well, not a bad start at least. His sentence was slow, awkward, and a bit of that a dork would say, but at least he was able to get a sentence out in this situation. Good thing he wasn't a stuttering mess when he was speaking just now, that humiliation repeating itself was NOT something Adam looked forward to.

The dangerous edge that Sophie showed all but vanished when she heard his question, replaced by the calm serenity that she possessed earlier. A bright grin formed on her features as she gave a reminiscing sigh. "Oh, is that all you wanted to know? Well, why didn't you say so? It's pretty much the same as you, really, save that we met a real jackass who told us he wanted our help. Not sure what we're doing on that front, but hey, I know I'm fucking up Blackwatch either way."

For some reason, Adam began to feel something he had NEVER expected to feel for Blackwatch when she said that. Pity. Memories of what she had done to the Scorpios back in the Lair returned to the forefront of his mind, forcing him to repress the urge to grimace. Those poor sods have no idea of the can of crazy that they'd opened by treating this woman wrong.

At the same time, a hidden sadist in him couldn't help but salivate in glee at the borderline orgasmic bliss it would be for those assholes to finally get some freaking Karma.

"Speaking of which, I gotta ask." Sophie's words brought him out of his musings, getting Adam to look over to her. "Wanna team up? I mean, with us being you know, what we are… and with Blackwatch likely gunning for us while slandering us in the eyes of the other militaries in the air, we kinda do need to stick together, here." She questioned him, and although Adam didn't see it, Sophie was hoping that he'd say yes. She wasn't sure if she'd even remain alright in the head… at least, less so than she already was, with having to kill a child. Especially one that had the same powers as her.

Now THAT was a question Adam knew the answer to.

No.

No, he couldn't.

He couldn't work with her, for several reasons. One of them was that he still didn't trust that she wouldn't try to consume him when he wasn't looking. Blacklight instincts were probably to blame for that one, but even so it was still a real concern for him. Then there was the fact that she was with that Heller character. He didn't know much about the guy, but something about him just screamed 'one false move and I'll tear out your intestines'. While he wasn't the most… socially-knowledgeable in the world, Adam found it pretty disturbing, the thought of working with a guy like that.

Then again, Mercer was just as bad, in all honesty.

Speaking of Mercer, Adam didn't know what he would react like to working with others like them. The guy may be a jerk considering how he had tried to kill him for the past 2 months, even with his recent change in personality, but he did go out of his way to help him gain control over his powers. Powers that he had been struggling to control ever since the Outbreak first began. He couldn't just put that gesture on the backburner just because he found some potentially better company.

Before he could do anything like answer her, something changed. It was so abrupt, so sudden, that Adam almost lost himself to it. Everything instantly began looking more like static, the people slowing down to barely any movement at all. It was like everything had been frozen in place, like when a movie was paused.

There were citizens frozen mid stride, their mouths indicating that they had been talking. Sophie herself seemed to be no exception to his either, as her form was frozen leaning against the wall, looking at him critically. What's more, was that every shred of color as far as the eye could see, every color had seemingly bled itself out of existence, leaving nothing but a grey, immovable landscape.

"What…? What the fuck?" Adam whispered, stepping back as he examined his surroundings. This brief, panic-fueled moment, made Ada feel like a bird trapped in a cage, before he took several deep breaths to calm his chaotic mind. When he had become reasonably calm again, Adam took note of two things:

One: He still had color on his form.

Two: Apparently, he could still move, talk, and think clearly.

Both of these suggested that somehow, he was immune to whatever this… thing was. But, what exactly WAS this? And, just how the hell could he reverse this?

'Kid, its me.'

"Whoa!" Adam almost had a heart attack when a deep, brutish yet sort of heavy voice echoed through the area. Well, he felt it both on the outside from his surroundings, but also in his head at the same time. What the fuck was going on?! He was starting to get real tired of thinking that question, right now. Nevertheless, he could still recognize that voice. He knew it all too well, from the last 2 months. "Mercer?!"

'I'm sure I just established that fact, but since this is the first I've done this, consider yourself pardoned. Anyways, I want you to work with these two.' Mercer told him, much to his shock. 'I'm communicating to you in the same way that beast talks to you, apparently during your escape from Blackwatch you developed a pseudo connection system within your mind, a link between the minds of you and that monster. Congratulations kid, welcome to the Hivemind. Anyways, something about them intrigues me. I want you to work with them, see what they know. Perhaps they can get answers to a few questions, too…'

Mercer trailed off at that last bit, but Adam didn't press for answers. Judging by his recent personality shift, the male assumed that prodding too much would most certainly backfire. Mercer reminded him of a short fuse, a bomb about to go off, so until he was strong enough to go face him should he try to attack them, it would be better to do what he says. '… Alright, I'll do it.'

The instant that he answered, the scene shifted, and everything was back to normal. Adam didn't pause to wonder about it as he faced the woman he had been talking to and gave the same answer.