Chapter 13

Isaac looked around the room- there was a control box he could use to open a nearby door, but a noise rumbling around him made the man hesitate to work. As he made his way over to it, one of the vents in the wall burst open, revealing the owner of those five glowing red eyes he saw massacre the officers from before. Long and lanky, Isaac instinctively knew this new Necromorph was different from the others, and it was not just the appearance that indicated this.

Something in the virus within Isaac stirred, making him even more uneasy around the monster. Taking a breath, Isaac began the process to severing the limbs to see what his options were. As the creature went down and flopped to the floor, the engineer soon realized what his problem with the beast was- it was a regenerator. It shuddered as new limbs grew in place of the old ones and the unstoppable abomination was back on its' feet.

The... the ultimate Necromorph- the Ubermorph lurched forward and tried to hit Isaac with a blade arm; he kicked it back with all of his superhuman might and sent the monster back tumbling down into the shaft tunnel. He ran over to the control box and worked fast, unlocking the next door and rushing through. Isaac desperately wished his only ally around was still around, but Alex refused to make an appearance.

Isaac managed to get into the back area before the Ubermorph got him and took a second to breathe, only to then hear the monster go back into the shaft and tried a new way to find him. Looking around, the engineer found another power node and a way forward, along with a new audio log. It was between Tiedemann and an unnamed officer, discussing the disregard for protocol when lives were in danger.

The ironic part was that Tiedemann was the one arguing for the evacuation of the civilian while the officer noted his dislike for it. Isaac supposed that meant the Director was not a complete bastard, just that his job involved killing the engineer and any other dangerous individuals. It did not make Isaac hate the man any less.

He walked down a corridor, wary of the Ubermorph or anything appearing and finally reached the next door. Long and winding, the only thing Isaac seemed to need his worry on was a Puker coming for him. One explosive barrel and a Javelin spear quickly made that no longer an issue.

He found another audio log explaining that the evac was completely against what Tiedemann was supposed to do. The man who recorded the log guessed Tiedemann felt responsible for what was happening aboard the station and tried saving everyone as his way of amending for that. Still, Isaac had little love for the man.

Seeing another RIG scanner ahead, Isaac picked up a nearby body and then saw the Ubermorph appear again. Thinking logically, he tossed the body right at the monster and knocked it over, sending the body all the way in range of the scanner. It unlocked to let Isaac pass, leaving the Ubermorph behind him as he sprinted through to the next area.

Dashing down on the ramp to his left, Isaac watched as the glass window cracked even further. When the ground began rumbling even more, he muttered, "Oh shit..."

Going through the next door into another corridor, Isaac quickly took care of a Puker and went through the next area. The following door was locked, and aside from some more loot around the space near it, Isaac backtracked slightly and went down a side tunnel to a workshop area. There were three Enhanced Slashers he fought through, using Stasis canisters and their own blade arms to take care of them.

A familiar gurgling behind him meant the Ubermorph was slowly but surely gaining on him, so Isaac picked up his pace and sprinted into the elevator as soon as it opened. The only thing he was grateful at that point was that the monster was unusually slow, almost composed in how calmly it walked. Isaac sincerely hoped it did meant the Necromorphs were evolving.

Once he entered the elevator and went downwards, it lead into another room with no obvious way to get out. Isaac noticed a Kinesis symbol on a plate and removed it to find a circuit there. He smashed it and overrode the lock on the nearby door, allowing him to move forward.

In some sort of board meeting room, two Infecters were attempting to create some Enhanced Slashers out of the nearby bodies. Isaac blew them up with his Javelin Gun to stop them, making sure things did not get ugly. Unfortunately the Ubermorph found a way in and began stomping towards Isaac with more determination than before, angry that it had not killed him already.

Still, the beast remained powerless against Stasis and the ability to run away like a coward. He cut off one of the Ubermorph's legs and left it crawling after him. Leading it into the other room from before, Isaac hit it in the face with a box to stun it and ran back through the door, leaving it trapped in there. He had no idea how long it would be stuck in there, but he could only hope that his actions bought a little time.

Going through one of the big circular doors, Isaac found himself in a small closed-off area with only a single button to press. Turning off gravity in the room, he flew up in the air and past some machines. The oxygen turned off as well, also forcing Isaac under a time limit as well; it turned out that power node spent on oxygen was useful after all.

His first obstacle were mashing plates that could have easily squished him into a blood-squeezed pancake if he was not careful. After flying through them at exactly the right times, Isaac's next challenges were beams of energy sporadically moving between ports. Just like with before, the engineer had to time his periods of movement carefully, otherwise this time he might get fried.

To complicate matters even further, a Nest somewhere up ahead began firing its' organic missiles at him. Isaac took shelter behind one of the machines creating the killer beams and retaliated as quickly as he could. Once the monster was dead, Isaac flew off to the other side and reached another small platform on the other side. He turned on the gravity and oxygen again, then went through the door behind him.

Once he ran into the next room, yet another different kind of hallucination took hold- Marker symbols flashed before his eyes as Nicole told him, "You're fighting it, Isaac. You can't fight it. You have to let me go."
Isaac sputtered, "But I'll never see you again."

Nicole insisted, "Isaac stop it. There is no other way. You have to do this."

Isaac sighed and decided to cross that bridge when he came to it. In the meantime, he smashed a few boxes for their contents and headed through the next door. Coming to a semi-split path, Isaac went to his right first and opened up a power-locked door for all of the supplies inside. For the first time in his life, it was an utter disappointment. The only thing he got out of wasting one power node was to get one more power node- just the one.

He shook his head and took the left path leading forward. Leading into Radiation Containment, the short passageway then lead him onto the path to Direct Marker Access. Walking into the room, there was a Store on his left and a Workbench on his right, as if the architecture itself told him this was the final stretch of his journey.

Isaac sold what he could to the Store and double-checked everything through the Workbench. Once the last of the preparations had been made, the engineer walked up the steps to the door and was stopped briefly by another message from Nicole. She told him, "This is it, Isaac. Convergence is almost here. Meet me at the Marker."

Isaac looked at the orange door with a strange sense of foreboding. Eventually he overcame the feeling and pushed onwards, determined to finish everything once and for all.

Showtime.

Inside the heart of the Marker site...

Alex struggled to get up, still reeling from the constant feeling that the Marker afflicted. Being that his mind was at the brink of breaking, it was understandably hard to put the pain into thought, and then thought into words. But he tried anyway...

It was akin to his mind being torn apart, over and over again, only to be somehow stitched back together instantly and then immediately torn again. The feeling kept going on and on, a million times a second and yet each one seemingly lasting an eternity. Alex thought it was so bad, he would have happily given up everyone that originally lived on Titan Station to go back to his holding cell back in the 21st century. All of that monotony and lack of time-sense was one thing, but this... it defied logic. Even spat in logic's eye for good measure.

Yet even with such inescapable and indescribable agony, Alex did not pass out. It was as if something in the back of his mind forced him to remain awake to feel the pain and suffering of every neuron in his body, every single strand of DNA crying out in utter torment as they were personally tortured by this unseen presence.

Eventually the cause of his catatonic fetal position revealed itself within his Web of Intrigue, the metaphysical and mental realm within Alex's mind, carrying all of the information his Consumed victims held. He shivered and found himself in the place- every aforementioned neuron strand pulsed with energy in correlation to the virus's thoughts.

Suddenly feeling an invading presence nearby, Alex turned and growled, "You..."

Standing far away was one of his puppeteer's, those secretly pulling his strings when he did not want them to- which was usually all of the time- and was so frequent that Alex had no idea what actions were genuinely his anymore. Before him stood... Dana.

Or rather, the creator of the Markers that took on the appearance of Dana for Alex to have a sense of familiarity, though it only served to piss him off more. She walked up to him and said, "You've been a disappointment to us, though thankfully you still have your uses."

Alex sneered. "Oh please- you would've turned me into one of your little minions anyway, so why should I have tried to be a willing pawn?"

Dana smirked in return. "Because it would've been easier on you. But no- you decided against it. And now you'll pay for it... by playing right into our hands... and playing your friend as well."
Alex looked at her with brief confusion before understanding settled in. He sighed and said, "I know what's going to happen next... the last step for Convergence. I don't suppose this is the part where I get to be one of you?"
Suddenly Dr. Ragland appeared- once again not being the real man, but one of the creators in a frustratingly familiar form. He explained, "Assuming all goes as planned... yes. But don't expect to have your freedom. You will be a special case- a minion of ours to carry out our will in a more... direct way."

Finally an apparition of James Heller arrived; just the bastard Alex did not want to see most. He crossed his arms and sneered at Alex as he did in return. The "man" made a gesture with his hand and gave the Blacklight virus the mother of all headaches, formed from both what he experienced in the real world and the last time the "man" tormented him in his own Web of Intrigue.

James Heller simply laughed. "Dance... puppet. And find your dance partner..."