Chapter 10

Isaac took several deep breaths as Alex let him go, falling to the floor with shock. He craned his neck and popped several of his joints, wondering what had just happened. Although there was intense pain moments before, Isaac actually felt quite refreshed right after. Standing back up and looking at Alex, he asked, "What did you just do to me?"

Alex began, "Look, for one of the few times in my life, I'm pretty sure I'm way in over my head. These voices... they're starting to take control of me. Have been for the last three years; it was slow at first, but now I've barely got the strength to fight it. If someone doesn't take me out before then, I could start up another plague of the virus, and this time, no one would be able to stop me... not even me."

"That still doesn't answer my question", Isaac stated. "What did you do to me?"

Alex sighed. "I... made you Evolved. Just like Hammond, Dr. Kyne, and everyone else on my side. Well, most people. Those who decided to go against my interests get a dozen bullets in their face from a gunship."

Isaac looked down at his body and tightened his fists. There was something quite different about him, something that felt both really good... and yet really bad. He then asked, "And you think making me some kind of superhuman is the best idea?", before adding, "I didn't exactly ask for this, y'know."

Alex simply shrugged. "I figured you wouldn't have agreed willingly, so I just decided to go ahead anyway. And don't feel too awful about it- I gave you a pretty mild strain of Blacklight. You won't be growing swords out of your arms anytime soon, but I think you'll find your punches to have a little more... 'punch' to them."

Isaac just stared at him and rolled his eyes. Alex pointed out, "And hey- I cured your hunch. You can't tell you hate me for fixing that, right?"

The engineer looked at his back and realized he indeed no longer had his hunched posture from working his occupation for 20 years. Isaac merely rolled his eyes again and said, "Let's just find Ellie and hope Stross hasn't hurt her."

He looked around the wreckage of the pod and the general area he and Alex were in, determined to find a way through. While looking back at the Ishimura, Isaac noticed a stray Detonator mine and an audio log floating around, which he promptly took both. The audio log was of the last words of someone who knew they were about to die, with her explaining that she managed to stop the Sprawl's reactor core from overheating. She knew it would be the last thing she could do before the Necromorphs got her, so she was grateful to have gotten that much done.

The woman also mentioned her RIG number- 438642- which made something click with Alex. He thought about it and muttered, "Is that... Karrie? Karrie Norton?"

Isaac asked, "You know this woman?"

Alex explained, "She was... well, the originator of the Necromorph outbreak. A Unitologist, but don't let those facts fool you- she was tricked into causing the outbreak. Fucking other Unitologists decided that their so-called 'salvation' was more important than fol... bah, forget it."

With nothing more to say, Isaac and Alex searched the area for supplies and found an open door to take. Going through a short walkway to another door, it lead into a very curiously crafted place- it split into three sharply slanted ramps with a couple of pillars between them. A few metal barrels rolled downwards as the door opened, just barely muffling the noise of certain Necromorphs. As soon as the familiar noise of a Stalker echoed throughout the area, Isaac pulled out his Detonator and held nothing back.

Just as the first creature poked its' head out he blew it off, signaling to the others that it was time to fight. Some other Stalkers ran into the shadows as Alex charged after them, making them scream shortly before they were Consumed. Meanwhile, Isaac went into an enclosed room to limit the ways they could get to him down to one, holding up one of the Necromorph's claws to impale with.

As it charged down to him and screamed all the way, Isaac nailed it right in the head and knocked the beast down, only to realize a new threat arrived to assist- a few Crawlers appeared as well. Isaac immediately blew them up before they could do the same to him, all while nervously waiting for the next Stalker to attack. He knew Alex was having a fun time: the living virus shouted at the top of his lungs, "I. FUCKING. HATE. KIDS!"

Eventually the hordes stopped attacking and Isaac used the reprieve to take a breath of relief. He looked around and found where Alex was, then went through the next door with him to the next room. Barring a few other doors, the place was mostly trashed, although one door in particular caught Isaac's eye. There was another control box he could hack to override the lock, giving the both of them a way past. He would have hacked it immediately before a familiar voice mocked him from above.

"I see you...", Stross called out. Isaac looked up and shouted, "Why did you do it, Stross!?"
Stross said, "I can't face it! I thought Ellie could. I had to make her see. Step 3!"

"The only thing you're gonna be seeing next is the blunt end of my Hammerfist, you sociopathic son of a bitch!", Alex snarled. Isaac ignored his ally's outcry to ask the madman, "What can't you face? What's the last step?"

Stross tried to explain, "Her. It's what they were afraid of, that I'd face her, destroy the Marker. But it's too much. You have to help. You need to see. Step 3."

Isaac and Alex heard footsteps which quickly grew quiet, making the former call out in vain, "Stross!", until he just went, "Dammit!"

Alex cracked his knuckles and commented, "I told you I should've just killed him and been done with it."

Isaac asserted, "There's still a chance that this can all work out..."

Alex just stared at him, making the engineer admit, "... But I'm not holding my breath."

He sagged his shoulders and went over to hack the control box. Once the door was open, both men saw just how damaged the facility they were in was. To their right alone was a completely destroyed floor that lead into a dark void, and tons of loose electrical wiring hung down from the ceiling.

As they walked past, another Stalker appeared and ran into a hallway on the other side of the chasm. Although Isaac did not believe he would ever find a way over there, he also believed he would not allow that to stop him from getting the loot tucked away over there. He saw a mounted crate on the wall and cracked it open with a metal box tossed with his Kinesis module. His persistence payed off- the crate revealed it had a power node inside, perfect for upgrading the last few circuits on his Javelin Gun.

Going ahead further, Alex noted the natural rocks lining the walls and realized that they were at the heart of what remained of Saturn's moon- Io. It somewhat saddened him that one of the Solar System's named pieces was gone, though he supposed progress had to come before preservation. He simply sighed and continued on with Isaac, taking out a few of the Cysts that latched onto parts of the ground.

Isaac found another power node and went through another door, treading carefully over the Corruption beneath his feet. Only he found something different about this type than the other variants- it felt a lot less springy than what he was used to, and there was some strange... squishy feeling in his feet. He looked at his feet and could not figure out what was going on, until he recalled what Alex did to him.

"Oh, that's disgusting", he said, picking one foot up to see the Corruption seeping into his feet and being added to his body. His Biomass, to be accurate. He looked up at Alex to ask, "Are you sure you really had to do this to me? I kind of liked being human."

Alex simply walked past him and said, "You'll get used to it... assuming we live through this nightmare, that is."

Taking a left, the duo saw a Store near them and sold off what they could, though before Alex finished his transactions, he mentioned to Isaac that he should switch to the special suit-variant he himself used. Isaac followed Alex's advice and took the schematic for it after Alex downloaded one from his Bank. Once the engineer equipped the suit and adjusted it to his body, he noted how it was still relatively armored, yet still lighter than his other suit. He decided to go with it for the time being until he had a reason not to.

Isaac and Alex went through the next door into a very big and open area. Judging by the amount of Corruption everywhere, they had to guess that they were nearing the initial starting point of the Necromorph outbreak. Immediately the duo was beset upon by a Lurker that jumped onto a railing right in front of them. Isaac was not expecting that and smacked the creature away... all the way to the other side of the room.

He looked down at his fist and realized he did not even put that much force behind it. Alex noticed Isaac's astonishment and smirked, asking, "Now do you think becoming Evolved was worth it?"

Isaac simply replied, "I still didn't ask for it voluntarily."

Alex retorted, "I don't wanna turn into a puppet of the Marker voluntarily, but we all can't have what we want."

They stopped speaking as the sounds of more monsters pierced the air. Both men wordlessly agreed they would continue to debate the ethics of forced biological changes later- at the moment, they needed to beat the bile out of Necromorphs. Isaac sprinted to his left and placed a mine down for an Enhanced Slasher to get blown up by, noting that his speed had been increased as well.

The Enhanced Slasher finally noticed him and ran towards him, having its head blown off by the mine. It slashed wildly forward until Isaac gave it a swift kick in the chest to check how well his leg strength was. Just like with his punch, the engineer had significantly more power behind it, sending the creature skidding across the rocky floor. Isaac brought his leg back down and laughed in increased astonishment, commenting, "OK... I think I'm getting over being forced into this whole 'Evolved' thing."

As the headless Slasher struggled to its feet, Isaac casually pointed his Pulse Rifle at it and finished the monster off. He sprinted across a catwalk and smashed a few crates with a light tap from his feet before jumping down, bringing as many explosive canisters and skewering rods as he could take with him. A Puker from above tried attacking him but got knocked over by Alex, crushing the creature's face with a protective Musclemass fist. Another one arrived by was felled just as quickly and efficiently, though Alex had to admit to himself that the feeling of hot bile running through his thickened fingers was still quite unpleasant.

He tossed the carcass aside and jumped down to where Isaac was. Knowing that the majority of Necromorphs appeared to be coming from the area that the duo initially came from, Isaac quickly walked up the ramp leading back there and placed down a few more mines. His theory had been proven no sooner than when he had turned around- a mine went off and killed some Necromorph, though neither Isaac nor Alex had time to check when another Puker appeared from behind them.

A single bone spike from Alex's Spearshot rendered the issue fixed, but he did not fire until the Exploder that followed it arrived. Once the bone bolt pierced the explosive sac, both Necromorphs were nothing but meaty chunks. Isaac happened to notice Alex's intentional hesitation and, upon recalling on of the living virus's sensory ability, asked, "Where the Hell was your crazy vision power when that Brute attacked us on the USG Ishimura? That would've been nice to know!"

Alex shrugged. "I... I don't know. I might've been under the influence at that time. Of the Marker, I mean. I can't get drunk or anything... but with the day I've been having, I wish I could."

Isaac merely rolled his eyes again and continued battling the rest of the monsters. A Lurker from above tried crawling over to them but was just tall enough for the mine to detect it, blasting the creature to pieces. Despite this, several more of the little monsters soon arrived to replace their fallen ranks. Isaac and Alex decided to hurry and found a box containing a battery inside, and both believed they needed it. Alex tucked it under his arm and continued making his way through the facility with his friend, hoping they would find the way out soon.

Isaac peered into the distance and saw a socket with a broken battery further up ahead, telling Alex to get the spare battery over there. Alex complied and swapped one for the other, activating the door on the highest level. He and Isaac quickly made their way back up to the top level, battling several more Necromorphs on the way until it was time to go. They walked into some place called the Thermal Scanning Room, entering a small cavern with support beams keeping the area from falling on their head.

A computerized voice told them, or rather anyone who was a worker in the room, "Attention Shift Workers: Be mindful of the nearest survival chamber. There are your only hope of survival should a cave-in occur."

Isaac and Alex turned right and were about to make their way to the door when Stross appeared. Separated by a metal grid-like wall, the duo quickly noticed with shock that Stross held a screwdriver in his hand... along with something disturbingly round and squishy pierced by it. They could only guess it belonged to Ellie.

"There you are, Isaac", the madman stated, ignoring Alex completely. "We've been waiting for you! Now it's your turn!"

Isaac felt out of breath as he said, "Oh God, Ellie!"

Speaking of the Devil, there she was, right behind Stross with a metal pipe in her hand. As Stross was about to say something about Step 3 again, she roared and smacked the madman in the back of his head with all of her might. He fell to the floor while Ellie immediately looked up at Isaac. Just as both men feared, Ellie's eye had bee ripped out of its' socket; there were a few drips of blood coming out of the closed hole. And despite having literally lost an eye, she was more pissed off than hurt.

Isaac whispered, "Ellie...", right before she pointed at him and stated, "You owe me an eye, you bastard!"

Just then Stross got back up and lunged at Ellie, though she was the superior combatant and smacked Stross into the wall. Before Isaac or Alex could watch anymore of the fight, a reinforced metal wall came up and closed them off. Alex tried to knock the wall down but found it was too strong for him, and before he could try his Hammerfists, Isaac decided finding the others the normal way was better. The living virus who could crush tanks with his teeth wanted to argue that but Isaac was already gone, forcing the former to follow along as well.

Isaac ran first into the next corridor, briefly finding it was blocked by fire before a bigger problem arose. Not even a second after he walked into the tunnel did a Tentacle appear and grabbed hold of him, pulling him through a cave and eventually into the void of space. He spun around a few times before his boosters kicked in and stabilized him to stop.

Alex immediately called him through his RIGlink to ask, "Holy shit- Isaac, are you alive?"

Isaac, dazed and disoriented, incoherently blathered, "Hot wings...", before he shook his head and stated, "Uh, other than my head... I think I'm fine. Oh yeah, and now I'm in space again. Lovely."

Just then Stross tuned in to say, "Ellie lied! She won't help. But you will Isaac, you'll see her after Step 3!"

Ellie then spoke, explaining, "Isaac, he's run off, deeper into the mines!"

Isaac replied, "I've got problems on this end too; find Alex and get somewhere safe. And get your eyeball back if you can- he might be able to reattach it."

Ellie sighed. "I'll try."

With the conversation over, Isaac wondered aloud, "Now where the Hell do I...?"

He looked around and gathered a few supplies, including a schematic for force energy, not that it was particularly useful this late in the proverbial game- this was as real as life gets, of course. Isaac was already loaded up on four guns and did not feel he needed anything else to complicate that. The only thing he really wanted and/or needed was an oxygen tank to keep himself stocked up on the life-sustaining gas. He found one after flying around a bit and then wondered how he would get back inside the mines.

Isaac noticed a rather obvious tunnel he could fly through but was also aware of the laser lines covering it up. Knowing that bright lasers usually meant death, he looked around for any kind of portable thruster to move them out of the way. Between smashing a few floating crates, picking up more random supplies by themselves out in space, and killing a Nest, Isaac eventually found what he was looking for. He even discovered there was already a thruster on one of them, making his job a little easier.

Once everything was out of the way and he could go back inside, Isaac made a beeline for the tunnel and killed a few Cysts blocking his path before he topped up on his oxygen reserves and went back inside. Taking out a few more Cysts, the engineer went through the next door and took a big breath of relief when the room filled with real oxygen again. He went through one more door to reenter the mine proper and contacted his friend again.

"Ellie, I'm back inside", Isaac stated. "Where are you? Did you meet up with Alex? Where's Stross?"

Ellie sighed again. "I'm safe with Alex for now, but Stross has lost it. I think he's coming for you."

She added, "I've found something you're gonna wanna see. Here's our location. Hurry and get here, I'm not in any shape to be fighting."

Isaac stated, "I'll get there as soon as I can. Stay safe."

Alex asked her, "Are you sure you don't want the Blacklight strain? It'd do you some good like it's doing for Isaac."

Ellie politely declined. "I've had enough crazy shit happen to me for one day."

Everyone ended the conversation and Isaac looked around the room he was in. Other than some pulse rounds on the floor, there was not much else to see besides an open elevator that took him upwards. He entered another large room and discovered the Necromorphs appeared to have been waiting for him, for just as soon as he walked a few steps, they came out of the vents and metaphorical woodwork to greet him. Isaac simply cracked his knuckles and decided to find out just how superhuman his strain of the virus made him.

He hopped down into the center of the room and grabbed an explosive canister with just his hand instead of his Kinesis module, aiming and tossing it when two Lurkers got close enough to each other. With nothing more than brute strength, Isaac launched it right at them and made it explode, happily noting his physical prowess was something to behold, and he was not even one of the particularly strong Evolved. During this little test of his, Isaac switched gears and grabbed a spear in one hand, deciding that the Enhanced Slasher coming towards him would be another good test.

He ran up to the beast and let it try and swing at him, blocking the bone blade arm with nothing more than his own armored forearm. Isaac stabbed the Necromorph right through its' chest, then heaved it up into the air and sent it into the wall. He laughed as the creature died instantly, leaving just a Puker to fight for the time being. Isaac quickly sprinted right over to the monster and swept it underfoot, sending another spear through the chest and impaling it on the floor.

Though the Puker was far from dead, it could do nothing but flail about in a feeble attempt to break free. Isaac walked away with a great deal of satisfaction as another one of the Enhanced Slasher appeared to fight. He ran up to this one and grabbed both blade arms, putting one foot up to its' chest and tugging with all of his might. Both arms came off and killed the Slasher instantly. Isaac chuckled and tossed both blades up into the air, catching them on the other ends when they came down and wielding them as weapons.

Another Slasher arrived and was immediately killed by being skewered with both blades, and then another one with the remaining blades of the last one. Isaac laughed and tossed the corpse aside, nearly missing a power node as he raced to find his next victim. A Puker dropped from the ceiling and was immediately knocked off the catwalk it had just landed on, gurgling into the abyss below. Isaac laughed hysterically and ran over to see where it had fallen, only to regret his decision when another Enhanced Slasher fell on top of him.

Isaac gasped and rolled out of the way before he could get impaled and kicked the Slasher away. It clung to the catwalk and stubbornly refused to go down like the Puker before it, getting back up and charging at its target again. Isaac hopped to another part of the platform and pulled out his Plasma Cutter, killing the creature the normal way. Upon killing the beast and taking a few deep breaths, he used the moment to clear his head and mutter to himself, "OK... way too much adrenaline. Gotta play it smart. And not like a lunatic."

Isaac shuddered at how much earnest amusement he got out of fighting the undead monsters with his enhanced abilities- it was not even sociopath or sadistic humor, those things he could understand given his ludicrous situation. No, it was honest happiness at the idea of tearing apart monsters with his inhuman strength. The engineer shuddered a bit more and wondered if that was what Alex went through all the time; the man seem to have a better grip on reality than Isaac did, and the man expressed himself as losing the ability to fight his inner demons.

Shaking off the terror and negative thoughts, Isaac proceeded a little further until one more Enhanced Slasher appeared. Taking in the lesson he learned about himself, the engineer brought up both fists and took controlled punches in order to kill the beast, then headed through the Mining Hall "B" Access tunnel. As the computerized voice activated again to state, "Attention Shift Workers: You work practices are being monitored at all times. Please show pride in you work", Isaac saw two doors he could go through.

The one on his left was booby-trapped with several mines. As for the right, it had a power-locked door with several corpses in front of it. Knowing the latter had to hold something or several somethings useful in it, Isaac went through that one first.

Among other things, including a valuable semiconductor, there was a schematic for an advanced suit- not that Isaac needed it. As far as he could tell, the specialized suit Alex gave him the schematic for was advanced as one could get without the reinforced plating, and he really did not need a costume swap so soon anyway. Therefore he simply took the other schematic for no particular reason other than to have it and cleared the mine-trapped door.

This lead into a medium-length corridor with a locked door, and if Isaac peered into the dusty depths long enough, he could make out the glowing outline of a control box. He sprinted over and pulled off the panel, fitting with the wires until-

Stross immediately opened the door on the other side and lunged at Isaac with the same screwdriver he used to gouge Ellie's eye out with. He hissed, "There you are!", and pulled Isaac away from the control box. Isaac asked him, "Woah Stross! What are you doing!?"

Stross shouted, "You have to face her for me!", and then stabbed through Isaac's helmet with the screwdriver. It caused several sparks and forced the helmet to retract, exposing the engineer's frail flesh to the menacing metal and the madman who wielded it. He shouted this time, "Tell her I didn't mean to do it!"

Trying to force the metal bit into Isaac's eyeball, Stross tried his best to overpower the man... only to find it was not working. And his legs were no longer touching the steel floor. He looked down to realize Isaac was now strong enough to not only resist his own psychotic strength, but more than strong enough to lift the man up. This only infuriated him to the point where he kept shouting, "You have to face her for me! You have to face her!", over and over again until Isaac shouted back, "Will you get a grip over yourself!?"

Stross responded by kicking Isaac in the gut and catching him off-guard. He then jumped at Isaac again and stabbed the screwdriver right into his brain, causing a great deal of pain, excruciating even. The madman wedged it further into Isaac's brain until the engineer snapped. He grabbed Stross by the shoulders and smacked him into the wall, punching him over and over again until all sanity left him, leaving him as some kind of primal beast. Blood splattered from Stross' face until with one final punch, Isaac tore in him half and began Consuming the body, the last vestiges of Stross screaming all the way into his murderer's mind.

In an instant, Isaac saw everything- Stross's birth, life up until he met his wife, had a kid with her, made contact with the Marker, went insane and killed his family, and then eventually met his demise at the man who read all of his jumbled thoughts up until that point. Isaac also thought he saw something related to Alex, but his mind simply could not take seeing the entire life of another man displayed before his eyes like the world's longest video log. It numbed him to the point where he simply collapsed on the ground, seeing nothing left but a red smear on the wall where Stross was once pinned.

Slumping to the floor, Isaac took very deep breaths as he collected his thoughts- just his thought and no one else's- and tried to keep himself together. He could not keep his eyes open forever and eventually passed out. When he came to, Isaac found Alex and Ellie standing over him, not looking too pleased at him, it seemed.

Ellie snarled at him, "Get up, you bastard!", and angrily pulled him up to his feet. Isaac sputtered, "What- what the Hell- the Hell are you-!?", but Alex simply summoned his Claws and demanded, "Tell us where Isaac is, you son of a bitch!"

Isaac managed to get out, "I-am-Isaac! How the Hell can I not be!?"

Ellie just stared at him. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me... if you haven't looked in the mirror lately, Stross, you're fucking Stross!"

Now it was Isaac's turn to look at Ellie in confusion, briefly noting her removed eye was covered up by a white patch. He asked, "What... are you talking about? And- and what's wrong with my voice?"

Alex hesitated and pointed to the nearest reflective surface. Isaac turned to face it and blinked several times, unable to comprehend what he looked at... and what looked back at him. There before him stood Stross, the man he had just killed. Isaac trembled and backed away in fear, reeling at the idea he was now someone else, especially with the idea that it was someone he did not like that much to begin with.

Ellie continued to glare at "Stross" while Alex grew increasingly hesitant and unsure of the situation. He had no idea why someone, even as insane as Stross, would believe himself to be Isaac unless-

Alex slapped himself on the forehead and started laughing hysterically. "Oh my God... I'm a moron!"

He continued laughing and patted "Stross" on the shoulder, telling him, "Holy shit, I completely forgot Isaac could develop powers on his own with the Blacklight strain I gave him... or rather, the strain I gave you."

Ellie stared at Alex blankly and asked, "What... what are you talking about? How the Hell is this not Stross?"

Alex explained, "Because Isaac is involuntarily using one of my more subtle powers... yes, I can be subtle at times. This is called the 'Disguise' power- the very last person an Evolved or myself Consumes, or even further back if we concentrate enough- it becomes a sort of 'second skin' for us."

He demonstrated the power himself by closing his eyes and eventually changed into a Titan Station security officer, making Ellie gasp in surprise. She asked, "So then, this is Isaac?"

The "security officer" nodded, commenting, "Yep. He's gaining powers all on his own. Should've figured that in the first place. Oh well. Lesson learned."

He then continued, "Isaac killed Stross and Consumed him, then changed into Stross for the first time."

"Stross" asked, "But what about seeing all of his memories at once? Am I going to have to deal with that shit every time?"

The "security officer" changed back into Alex and replied, "Nah, you'll learn to ignore it quickly. Now then... as for changing back into Isaac..."

He lead "Stross" back over to the reflective wall and said, "Close you eyes and concentrate on your own image. Think of yourself, not as Stross. If you feel like you're about to piss yourself, that's normal. It's what I felt when I first transformed."

Alex added a half of a second later, "Don't actually piss your pants though."

Isaac closed his eyes and imagined himself standing in a void of nothingness. The only thing next to him was Stross, and upon mentally moving from his face to his own, Isaac felt a strange rippling sensation throughout his whole body. He heard Ellie gasp again and opened his eyes, finding that, once more, he was Isaac Clarke. Even his suit was normal again.

"Camouflage weave synced into the suit", Alex explained. "I'm glossing over a lot of its functionality. Maybe when this nightmare is over I can show you the rest of how it works."

Isaac nodded and smiled at his original body again- it was good to be back. He walked out with Ellie and Alex, making their way to an open elevator leading down into the main section of the mine, in fact being the very same section Isaac and Alex battled through before. Isaac was lead through a newly-opened door that lead into another main elevator which in turn lead to the way out. They were making fine progress until Isaac heard a shriek in his head and everything turned a tint of orange.

Ellie and Alex vanished, leaving only the dreadful voice of Nicole for company. She commented, "It was a shame what happened to Stross. That's what happens when you fight it."

Isaac grumbled, "Shut up! Just shut... up! The Marker... it was you... you made him do it! You made me kill him, didn't you?"

Nicole expressed her astonishment by incredulously answering Isaac's questions with more questions. "How is it that you stillhaven't come to terms with who I am? Who am I, Isaac? I will only ask you one more time before the end. Be ready..."

Isaac felt the insanity leave him again, only slower and more painfully this time. He stumbled towards the only open door and struggled to press the button before all of the madness went away. Falling to his knees, Isaac looked up to see Ellie and Alex look back at him with great concern.

The two stooped down to pick Isaac up, with Ellie asking him, "Isaac, what just happened to you? You were mumbling under your breath until you ran forward and fell to the ground."

Isaac took several short breaths before he explained the situation. Once he was done, Ellie looked back to Alex to ask, "Is there anything we can do for him?"

Alex somberly shrugged. "If there was anything I could have done for Isaac already... really, the only thing he could possibly do is break the Marker's grip on him, but I don't know if even he's capable of it."

Isaac assured them, "I'll figure out something. I'm an engineer, remember?"

They nodded and walked a little further into the next room, briefly activating the main elevator until an Enhanced Slasher appeared from the depths of the darkness below them. Alex did not feel like fighting and just kicked the creature away. The big cargo lift descended and allowed the trio to board, though Isaac kept them waiting by taking some supplies on the side, including yet another audio log from the woman Alex knew, Karrie Norton.

Though she was vague in her explanation, it was clear that her secret mission to unintentionally begin the Necromorph outbreak did indeed start down in the mines. Alex simply sighed and wished her death was swift, then pressed the button on the elevator to go up. As they did so, the computerized voice stated, "Attention Shift Workers: All persons are subject to search upon exiting the mines. Mineral resources, precious or otherwise, will be confiscated."

Alex happened to look up at the darkness above them and wondered, "Do you the Necromorphs will...?", but was cut off when a Slasher answered his own question. The trio immediately pulled out their weapons and attacked the monster, killing it in a mere instant. Another one came down and was killed just as quickly. Two more appeared and made the fight just a little more difficult, but still manageable.

With a brief reprieve, Isaac activated his Kinesis module and ripped one of the blades from the creatures, ready to get a free hit into the next one that arrived. One, two, then a total of three Slashers came down, each one taken one by a member of the enemy trio. Ellie blasted hers to pieces, Isaac impaled his and severed a few more limbs while Alex summoned his Blade and sliced his target in half.

More and more Slashers came down, most of them the regular kind while a few Enhanced appeared as well. Each person in the opposing trio picked a corner and took out any of the monsters that came near them, occasionally helping out by shooting a different Slasher when they could. Blades flew everywhere as they were ripped from those Necromorphs already dead and launched into their living counterparts, providing even more blades to shoot.

Eventually the elevator reached the top and everyone was alright. They took what valuables the bodies had and walked to the unlocked door, ready for whatever horrific monsters might come for them next. Except for Isaac... he was unprepared for Nicole pulling him up by his collar and shouted, "Moment of truth, Isaac! Who am I?"

Crashing him into the right wall, she started, "Am I your friend? Your lover? The one shred; one light; one bright shining star you clung to in this Universe?"

She then crashed him into the left wall and continued with, "Or am I your guilt? Crushing the life out of you because you can't get over the fact that I'm dead? That youfeel responsible?"

Bringing Isaac back into the center of the tunnel, she screamed at him, "Who... Am... I!? Why do you keep fighting me? Why can't you let go?"

Isaac struggled to resist for perhaps the most painful ten seconds of his life, doing everything it took to fight the madness in his mind... until it that perfect moment, he had the most stunning realization. It was not madness he experienced... it was misery... and guilt. He looked down at the monstrous, malformed Nicole and calmly replied, "Cause you were my everything. And if I let you go, I got nothing left."

Suddenly there was a flash of light and Isaac was back on his feet- Nicole was no longer chocking him with one arm. There was no more Nicole- just Nicole. His beloved Nicole. She looked at him and smiled, that same smile she always had for him. Her first human words were, "Step 4: Acceptance."

Isaac dropped to his knees and coughed, nearly crying because the nightmare in his mind was finally over. For three years he had been battling it, from the hidden horror in the Ishimura, to the three years in-and-out of sanity within the asylum, all culminating into the climatic clash within the heart of the Necromorph outbreak. He sighed, still just coming to terms that his internal battle was finally over.

As he fully came to terms with the truth, Nicole walked away and added, "Now you're ready to finish this."

Isaac looked up and saw Nicole was gone, once again replaced by Ellie and Alex. They looked down at him with significantly increasing worry. But instead of needing to help their friend out again, Isaac pulled himself up and said, "I finally did it. Nicole and I aren't fighting anymore."

Alex snickered, though the relief in his voice was genuine. "And you didn't even need to get the divorce papers. Hell, you two weren't even married to begin with!"

Isaac chuckled a little bit himself and nodded. He walked forward to the Store in front of him and said, "Now if you'll excuse me for a moment- I just dropped a lot of mental baggage from my mind. Now I need to do the same for my inventory."

He sold off everything he got from the lengthy journey the last time he went to a Store, finding himself at a comfortable 14 power nodes. Even better, a little further down the path was a Workbench he could and would use to finish off improving the remaining parts of his Javelin Gun. With 8 power nodes left, Isaac shrugged and decided to put the rest of them into his Stasis module just for the heck of it. He blew off every last node he had and walked away, satisfied with how things were working out again.

And this time, he would keep it that way.