This by far has been the oddest chapter I have written, purely because I couldn't really decide when the chapter was going to end, however I have both good news AND bad news. But first, know that this chapter has future references to possible prototype stories I may do. Just because Alison's story may come to an end at some point, doesn't mean I can't create other characters involved with this world, although Alex and Dana probably wouldn't be involved- mostly just brief mentions at the least. Anyway!
The bad news is that chapters won't be published EVERY day right now, but only because I am in the middle of tight deadlines for my artwork and graphics, and to achieve my future I need to meet these deadlines. So I am extremely sorry about this :(
however the good news is that everyone's favourite general- Cross, will make an appearance in the next chapter :D yaaaaay! And of course, there will be ensuring chaos :) wouldn't be a decent without trouble following Cross and Blackwatch! Also, shout out to my latest follower, Hellka777! Nice to have you on board!
Enjoy!
Dana and I had practically raced to the apartment, half to get away from the streets, half to call dibs on the rooms first. When we finally found where it was, I was quite happy that we had an ocean view towards the east, I certainly wasn't expecting something like this. The 'apartment' was absolutely huge, mostly already furbished, and probably double the size of the last place and it was very modern, with large windows being a common feature throughout the place. Dana was grinning like an idiot when she saw the office area, it already had various computers inside, although most needed setting up.
Dana had called the smallest room, stating that "smaller is easier to keep clean." I just shook my head and looked at the other two. The first room was just before the end of the hallway, and by the looks of it, it was the master bedroom. The room was quite large, in length and width, a double bed pushed up towards the window on the right which gave the place it's only light. There was a small door inside which I guess was the wardrobe, and there was a table at the end of the bed but besides that, nothing interesting in here.
I looked at the room and the very end of the hallway which lead off the living room, and I immediately wanted this room. The place was completely blank, no curtains, no wall colours, just white everywhere pretty much. Even the floor had somehow been coloured white, which was... Really strange, to say the least. However, what really caught my attention was the large window at the very back of the room, which once again was the only source of light. The window was facing outwards towards the ocean, and since the window was facing the east, it meant I would be able to see the sunset rise every morning. I silently called dibs on this room and started planning what I would turn it into until Dana came to check up on me.
"Woah... Geez, a bit bright isn't it?" She commented, shielding her eyes from the brightness of the white in the room. "It's nice, I want this room!" I grinned, receiving a less than supportive reaction. "Really? It doesn't even have a bed so you can't exactly call it a bedroom..." "But it has potential! I can turn it into anything I want this way," I replied without missing a beat. "I can paint the walls with landscapes, and find furniture to match. If I can't, I guess I'll just make it myself I suppose..." Dana laughed at my enthusiasm and gave me a half smile, half smirk. "What, are you an interior designer as well as an artist?" "Well I did take graphics at G.C.S.E level..." I smirked back, watching her shake her head. "You are crazy..." She said as she walked out but I followed her, "all the best people are!"
"Right... Anyway I was wondering, could you go to the nearest shopping place and pick up some food supplies? I'm absolutely starving... Oh! And if they happen to be selling a laptop of any kind in the techy little part of the shopping department, can you get me one too?, it's pretty much all I'm missing from my little set up." "Only if I'm allowed to get some paint and brushes while I'm there." She fixed me with a 'fine, whatever' stare, then handed me a ridiculous amount of money. $3000 to be exact.
"And you people call me crazy?" I muttered but stuffed the money in my jean pocket anyway. "Yeah, but hey, having access to as much money as we want comes in useful doesn't it?" She grinned. I silently added rich and power abusive onto 'dysfunctional, and scary family' in my mind, before heading to the door.
"If Alex comes back, tell him I'm off being your personal slave for today!"
"Will do!"
fast forward about an hour or so, and I had so valiantly returned with Dana's requested items which were so annoying to carry up the stairs, let me tell you. I had to carry like 6-7 different bags with just two hands up 37 sets of stairs... "Danaaaaa, let me innnnn..." I whined at the door I had been locked out from, since I had forgotten to ask for the key before I left. And Dana, in all her sarcastic glory just treasured the opportunity. "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!" She laughed on the other side of the door, clearly not planning on letting me in anytime soon. I decided to resort to dirty tactics. "...Then I guess this ice cream will melt and then there will be-" the door flew open within 5 seconds flat and I smirked, victorious. "And you call me mean..."
I walked (well, more like waddled with all of the bags) inside, and swiftly dumped all except for two on the kitchen floor. "There. Your food, don't even get me started on how hard it was to carry this up here without jumping..." "Love you Alison!" "Sure you do Dana..." For the next couple of minutes we ran around the kitchen putting away various things in various places, such as sugar, coffee, eggs and milk for the fridge since Dana liked both things, and a whole tonne of junk food for snacks and ingredients for meals as well as ready made dishes. "Wow, you got everything... That's impressive considering Alex usually forgets practically everything minus junk food." I laughed, an amusing thought of Alex doing the shopping running through my head. "Yeah well, my parents always took me food shopping with them every Saturday back in England... It was a pain in the ass but in a weird way it was quite fun."
I dwelled on the thought for awhile before gesturing to one of the bags. "They also were selling laptops in the 'techy' department, as you called it. I wasn't sure what to get, so I just got some laptop called the 'Razor-pro' or something like tha-" Dana's head snapped up immediately, kind of scaring me a little. "A what? Lemme see..." She half asked, half demanded as she dragged me onto the couch. I pulled out the box it came in and her face lit up like a damn christmas tree- I hoped it was a good thing. Apparently it was, as she started a full on positive rant, "oh my gosh Alison! These things are so freaking rare! Do have any idea how hard it is to obtain them online? Let alone in an ordinary general technology department! And-" "-I'm not that interested with how rare it is," I stuck out my tongue as a joke. "What I am interested in though, is how well it works. Soooo, can we set it up already?"
I don't believe that Dana has ever acted so child like before, but she certainly was now as she practically ripped into the box like a kid on Christmas Day and pulled out the laptop that has caused so much fuss. "Oh wow..." She breathed, clearly amazed by the machine before her. I tried not to smile as see examined it as every angle, I think this is how parents felt when they watched their children open presents... "I'm guessing you like it then?" "Alison if I wasn't so set on plugging this laptop in and getting it set up, I would kiss you right now!" "Good thing your 'set' on it then, personally I think Alex wouldn't be to happy walking in and discovering his sister swings that way," I laughed and I received one in return, a genuine smile covering Dana's face.
Eventually I managed to pry some of the wires from the box, and we had dragged the table from Alex's room to the living room, and had began setting it up there. We tinkered with various things for about 20 minutes, making extra sure things were set up according to how the instructions manual stated it was meant to be, before we finally turned it on. Personally I would of just put it on charge and turned it on immediately, but now Dana was treating it as carefully as you would a baby. Next she would be giving it nicknames...
The loading screen finally popped up after a minute, then came setting up accounts for different people. I went to get a bowl of crisps for Dana while she started setting up various accounts, obviously forgetting the entire reason as to why she had sent me on a shopping trip was to find something to stop her from being hungry. Well, while I was out shopping I had gotten myself things I wanted as well. I had bought myself a blue iPod nano that came with free headphones, a $50 voucher to purchase as much music as I wanted, and some paint for my room with a variety of different sized brushes. The iPod nano was in my pocket, but Dana had been to busy to notice the second bag full of my things I had bought, which I suppose was useful since I didn't feel like explaining what all of the paint was for again.
Emptying the packet of crisps into the bowl, a vibration went off in my pocket. Apparently, I was receiving a call- and pulling out my phone, it was from Alex. I answered as soon as I put the empty crisp packet down.
"Hello?" I answered, unsure of how to start the call. Alex's reply seemed slightly on edge and tense, although I didn't let on that I noticed.
"Did you manage to get an apartment?"
"Of course, we got one just fine. Dana had me go shopping for food though, what pain in the ass that was." There was a slight snicker across the connection.
"That saves me trouble later on then. Tell her I'll be home late for me. Where is the apartment anyway?" Saves him trouble?
"Towards the east, an equal distance away from Blackwatch and any hives." A shout from in the living room registered through the phone.
"What was that?"
"Dana is setting up a laptop she also had me get her. She got all excited over the laptop, a 'razor-pro' or something. Beats me, I just grabbed the one that looked the coolest."
"Mhmm... Well, as long as you two aren't causing trouble... Anyway, I'll be back soon enough. See you soon."
"You too Alex..."
He hung up, and I was left wondering what would cause him to be so late home. Perhaps Blackwatch had been up to something after all. Grabbing the bowl of crisps, I walked back into the living room where Dana had shouted from during the phone call. "I got it set up!" Dana cheered, clearly very happy with herself, and I couldn't help but smirk. "Finally, you would think that thing is made out of diamond the way you treat it..." "Can't help it if I know how to treat things right," "uh huh, like how you treated your last laptop?... Anyway, fire up YouTube or something, I'm boooooored..."
Without a moments hesitation, she fired up Tor (a less than legal Internet browser for hackers), and immediately typed in YouTube. "Anything you wanna watch?" Dana grinned, clearly made up with the laptop's speed. "Hmm... Ooh look for stuff related to me or Alex! Maybe someone videoed us when we were jumping around or something?" By the look of it, she had searched stuff on Alex before as almost immediately she pulled up a video of some hooded figure jumping off the walls and flipping in mid-air, which looked an awful lot like...
"Hey! That's me! That was just after I went outside to let you and Alex talk... And it's gotten like 1.5 million views," I laughed, not quite believing how someone had gotten this footage. We both laughed as the past me on the screen did a few flips before running off. "Let's check the comments," Dana quipped, scrolling down to see what people had said. 'Faaaaake' was quite common, along with 'its totally photoshopped', 'is this for an upcoming movie or something?', 'Totally awesome!', and 'this person is so badass!' There were other more negative ones, but nothing interesting. "I wonder how they got that..."
"Hey look, apparently you guys have a fan base!" "Seriously?" "Yeah, look," Dana pointed to the outgoing link, which read 'Prototype fan group'. Dana clicked it, and we were redirected to a site called DeviantART on which a group of artists had created various pieces of artwork resembling US. "I guess this is their way of showing their appreciation to us... By supporting us on the Internet." Dana said quietly, looking at all of the artwork that had been posted in the group. "I wonder if anyone actually has an accurate picture of me or Alex... Oh wait! Look at that one!" I pointed at a particularly well drawn one of two hooded figures looking down from a rooftop during the night, their eyes glowing from under the hood. One was clearly female, while the other was male.
I looked at it curiously. "My eyes do not glow like that do they?" I asked, looking to Dana for confirmation. "Yes they do, during the night your eyes are freaking scary," she laughed at my expense. "...Can't say I don't mind though, it looks really cool how they've done it..." The description of the drawing was quite interesting too, it said: 'Well guys, this drawing has quite the story behind it. It was during the night, and I was looking out of my window at the city again, when I saw these two shadowy figures jump onto a building nearby, and their eyes glowed so much I could see them from where I was sitting! We all know it was probably some infected, but what if it was Alex Mercer? That guy is awesome! If it was, he had a girl with him- I kinda wonder who she is... Anyway, I drew this before I went to sleep that night, and I just finished it...' I stopped reading and looked at Dana.
"People know Alex?" She nodded, not looking overjoyed at all. "He is the face of the news at the minute pretty much, and Blackwatch are painting him to look like a damn terrorist. Everyone knows about him, but few can ever claim they have met or seen him, and fewer still actually vouch for him against Blackwatch and the media. There is a small group of people in the city actually resisting the Blackwatch, called the Redlight-resistance. They do petty crimes, like theft, smuggling people around, and of course graffiti. They are pretty much renown for their 'Who watches the Blackwatch?' Propaganda which is posted throughout the city, and to be honest I kind of respect them. They are just trying to help out whenever Blackwatch are being abusive assholes." I nodded, making a mental note to keep an eye out for such propaganda.
We spent a further 10 minutes browsing artwork in various folders before Dana decided it would be fun to join in on the group's cause and make myself a deviantART account, but I wasn't even sure what to do there. "It looks simple enough, you draw, you get a pretty picture, and you upload it to the correct categories. What's their to be confused about? Plus it would be a good way to continue your art and strike back at Blackwatch at the same time!"
It looked like Dana was set upon this, and once Dana was set upon something, it was almost impossible to get her to back down. "There is two flaws with your logic though. One would be I have nothing to draw on right now... And the other would be that I don't even have an email address..." I sighed, knowing that she would now end up making me an email account too, and she did exactly that.
"Name for email?" "Uh... I don't know... PrototypeBlacklight02? I'm no good at naming things Dana..." She just laughed and typed it in, and after a few minutes we were then attempting to get a DeviantART account for myself too. "Name for-" "BlacklightArtist02" I sighed, knowing that I had no choice in the matter. "Ok, all done! You are now registered with DeviantART once you click the link in the email!" She exclaimed, clearly very happy with herself, until her stomach rumbled so very loudly. "You didn't eat did you?" I smirked, watching her pull faces due to her hunger. "Nope... And I may want to remedy that now. Be right back!"
She practically ran to the kitchen- right past myself whom had a full bowl of crisps for her the entire time. I facepalmed, knowing she would be awhile. "Well... While I'm here I may as well set up my iPod nano..." Plugging the iPod into the computer, I installed iTunes in under a minute (damn, Dana wasn't kidding when she said these things were fast), and was already redeeming my iTunes voucher and buying my favourite music (Evanescence, 30 seconds to mars, standing in silence, etc) by the time Dana had called to me from the kitchen.
"Alisoooooooon? Can you come here for a minute?" Dana yelled, clearly up to no good. I sighed, closing iTunes and hiding it in a place Dana would never bother looking (help folder), and paced over to where she had called from. "Whyyyyy?" I mimicked her tone. She gestured to the potatoes and various vegetables upon the countertops, and then to the empty knife drawer. I didn't like where this was going one bit... "Well, I kind of need a knife, but by now most stores will be closed. So... I may need to use your arm..." "My arm? how exactly do you mean- Oh." Dana looked at me sheepishly.
"Dana I don't think this is a very good idea..." I said regretfully as 2 minutes later she had somehow convinced me to let her use my blade arm as a kitchen knife. "It'll be fine, Alex did this before, with claws of course but still. Nothing went wrong then, why should it now?" I said nothing as I tried making the blade form as small as I could, then let Dana cut them against the edge of the 'knife'. The tomatoes cut just fine, a little slippery but nothing too bad. Then we tried cutting potatoes and cucumber, and I had to stop Dana from attempting to cut those, the sudden jolts as they cut almost got the cut, which could of been disastrous... "Let me do those, I don't want you to accidentally lose a finger or something..."
Finally happy that Dana wasn't being dangerous, she instead decided to record my chopping her vegetables. I tried keeping a straight face as the potato simply got wedged upon the blade in large chunks, and they refused to come off, but Dana's insane cackling and the thought of Alex going through this also had me cracking up. It only got worse with the cucumber too, the slices just stuck to the side of my improvised 'knife', every time I chopped the offending green stick it added a new 'decoration' to my arm. "Say hi to YouTube!" She grinned, and using my spare arm I just stuck up my middle finger. "Did you want that vegetable soup or is my arm for dinner now too?" "You are so mean."
Eventually we did get the soup cooking, but that didn't stop Dana's fun with the vegetables. She had decided to stick a whole potato on each part of the shoulder spikes which came with my blade arm, making up some weird kind of potato totem pole. "Dana did your family ever teach you not to play with food? Especially when there is a bioweapon of mass destruction involved?" "Nope." "It's a good job Alex isn't here then." "Why is it?"
We both jumped at the sound of the male voice and looked towards the door to which Alex was leaning against, a huge smirk plastered all over his face. ...Well shit, there goes any dignity I had left...
"...I'm guessing Dana had no kitchen knives again?"
"...Don't even start, asshole."
I hope you all didn't mind the shenanigans that occurred in this chapter ;) but just so you know, the email and deviantART account mentioned in this chapter ARE real, and if you contact them, you will get a response from Alison! Just something I thought would help flesh out the story, although don't send hate mail to her, she is just telling her story against Blackwatch!
Here is the link to her deviantART account:
and if you want to send an email to her: PrototypeBlacklight02 .uk
(please note, all replies are in character, and will answer depending on how far the story has progressed here :) have fun!)