Chapter 25 – Unique tactics

The feeling of playing cat and mouth was strong in this situation. The game originated from an English-language idiom dating to 1675 that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes.". The "cat" is unable to secure a definitive victory over the "mouse", who despite not being able to defeat the cat, is able to avoid capture. In extreme cases, the idiom may imply that the contest is never-ending. The term was derived from the hunting behaviour of domestic cats, which often appear to "play" with prey by releasing it after capture. This behaviour may arise from an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat.

That was what Adam could describe the situation right now.

He and Sophie couldn't see what their enemy was or where it was attacking them from, nor could they see what it was doing to attack them. All they could do was dodge them just at the last millisecond before they hit, and even then they took a few hits. Sophie's armour had been broken at the shoulders s few times, as well as the lower torso and thighs. Those strikes told the male a few things at least, that this Lair's guardian appeared to be aiming to sever their limbs from their bodies in those strikes. As for Adam himself, similar strikes had landed on the same areas that he'd monologued for Sophie, furthering his theory about its possible attack methods.

While he couldn't see what the weapons used were, Adam guessed it was some kind of claw or something upon inspection of one of his wounds while it regenerated. It must favour close quarters combat, but not in the same way as the rest of its brethren. If he were to make a comparison, it would be that while the others had the fighting attributes of a warrior, this one had the attributes of either a scout or an assassin, maybe both considering its methods so far. It was most likely using some sort of invisibility power to keep itself hidden, then strike at their limbs so that it can land the finishing blow without effort.

That would be all well and good, if it weren't for some things that Adam couldn't help but find odd. If it wanted to kill them that way, why could it not have done so while fighting the Oozes? They would have been plenty distracted, and they had no idea the Guardian was even here at the time. It likely wouldn't have had much trouble piercing them while they weren't paying attention, then consume them alive that way, no need to worry about all this trouble. Instead, it used the infected like disposable pawn pieces, mutating them with parasites into new forms to fight them, while hiding somewhere and waiting for a time to strike. He thought of 'a time' rather than 'the time' thanks to how it could have killed them, again, during their battles but didn't. That left the questions on its tactics, as well as its intentions.

It became clear to him that this Guardian wasn't like the other Infected creatures he had fought so far. This one had things that they didn't, not just a unique fighting style, but it also incorporated tactics, and it struck with a sense of purpose that left unknown intentions behind its attacks. These little titbits of information told him one very important fact about this creature, a fact that made it ever the more unique in comparison to its infected brethren.

That… was that it was in possession of a considerable intelligence.

Intelligence has been defined in many different ways including as one's capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, and problem solving. It can be more generally described as the ability to perceive or infer information, and to retain it as knowledge to be applied towards adaptive behaviours within an environment or context. Intelligence was most widely studied in humans but had also been observed in non-human animals and in plants.

Usually when Blacklight Infected were created, they lacked this intelligence due to their brains being eroded away during the transformation, which explains a lot about how some breeds of Infected worked. The Walker's way of almost mindlessly shambling about when there was nothing to infect, or the Brawler's way of attacking on instinct, without much reason or logic. In those cases, these two breeds operated mostly on instinct, which lead to these high-paced, action-oriented fight sequences that, according to Sophie's logic, were comparable to those 'hack'nslash games' she liked to brag about for hours on end.

Honestly, he'd like to give those games a try, the thought f being able to slash away at things without having to worry about Blackwatch breathing down his ass… sounded more than a little tempting.

However, there was ONE thing that worked in their favour, something that most people wouldn't likely have noticed in this kind of situation save for those who have lots of combat experience. Essentially, those people would be labelled veterans of war, though people of occupations like Hunters, Researchers or Scouts would also likely notice this detail. Apparently, the creature didn't constantly strike them down, as in it didn't launch one attack after another continuously until they were nothing more than pieces laying about on the ground. There was an interval between each of its attacks, attacks that came from various directions in a random pattern, making it difficult to use them to predict where it would strike from next.

"Ugh, this fucker's really starting to grind on my gears…" Sophie growled as, once again, she barely avoided an unseen attack by pivoting her foot to the side, swerving her body around too. Every attack lead to her getting more and more frustrated, the ugly emotion building up inside her gut. It was like when, in games, one failure to get past a certain boss one after another started to pile up on you, only for you to eventually crack under the pressure and rage quit. (Looking at games like Dark Souls, guys… though I haven't [played the games myself, all I know is from what other people think.)

While he could agree with her sentiment, Adam didn't really feel like expressing his anger would do them any good at the moment. It would be better focused on observing their enemy for any signs of weakness, weakness that they could possibly exploit to finally get an injury on the damned thing. Okay, so maybe he was just as angry as his comrade was, but hey, he was at least trying to do something about it. "Keep focused, this enemy seems to employ hit and run tactics to try and throw us off our game."

"Ugh, that makes this even more annoying"

Instincts quickly alerted the male, and he had to duck as something unseen nearly cut his head off. 'That was a killing strike!' he thought in surprise, eyes widening by a faint margin within his helmet. That strike, it wouldn't have killed him since his regeneration would have taken care of it. His body was literally made from pure, organic Biomass instead of a normal human body like what he looked like currently. Thus, it wouldn't really have affected him, but it would have a normal human. A killing blow… just what was this thing up to?

Since it hadn't done so before now, there must have been something it was trying to accomplish, something that it had been trying to do only to complete just now, therefore it would have no need for them to be alive any longer. That was what Adam thought as he stood tall once more, keeping his Tóxo and claw at the ready in case of attack. He kept his eyes open, his senses on high alert, in case that the creature tried to attack them again.

If only things could be simple right now…

'I wonder what Heller is doing right now.' I bet he's having an easier time than us…'

'Tch, if the kid thinks he's having an easier time than me, then he's got another thing coming.'

James Heller growled irritably to himself when he got the feeling that the kid was talking about him somewhere. Right after thinking that, the man ducked under the swing of a claw before he swung his own, bisecting the arm of an attacking Brawler. The Brawler howled as it stepped backward, clutching the stump that was once its limb. The man quickly jumped towards it, slicing through the creature's head and consuming the remains.

His mission, to retrieve the patrol schedules, had quickly spiralled downhill the moment that he found the Helicopter's crash site. For, the moment that he landed before the crash site, which was located on top an apartment complex with a burning Helicopter remains, corpses scattered throughout the building's roof and the smell of rotting, flesh, James had been beset by a bunch of infected.

And by a bunch, he meant an entire HORDE.

It happened so fast that it had been reminiscent of those ambushes in every war he had fought in during his time in the military. A grand total of 100 infected creatures, a mix of Brawlers with their spiked counterparts, Hydros, Alpha Hydros, and Walkers, all exploded out of the ground in a gory splendour. He'd even noticed the faint movement of Transporter Tendrils, something that stunned him temporarily as he soon found a claw near his face. It didn't take long for Blackwatch and US Marine Gunships, Tanks and soldiers soon came rolling by in response. Since then, he'd been fighting a battle for survival in a sort of 'turf war' between Blackwatch, his former comrades in Marines, and the Infected.

These events were remarkably similar to what happened in the First Outbreak, where areas between various zones, controlled by opposing forces, intersected which resulted in all out war between the two sides in that area. Sometimes, these little wars escalated to taking up portions of a city with the infected duking it out with the Military forces at the time. Back then, there had been sightings of Mercer present at those wars, as if he were drawn to them. Like, if the war was big enough with a significant mount of players on both sides, Mercer would appear, go on a mass consumption spree, then disappear when it looked like the battle was ending with either side being the victor. As one could probably guess, further into the outbreak's life, the more common these wars became, and there were countless casualties which was to be expected.

The sounds of screams, snarls, gunfire, explosions and dying filled the air as the ground below soon became a war zone. Some areas had the humans pushing the infected back while other areas were more dominated by the infected instead. Soldiers made use of fallen corpses as makeshift cover as they opened fire upon enemies, only to sometimes get overrun by packs of Walkers and get chowed upon like a burger in burger king. Tanks with small escorts would deal with the bigger Infected from a distance, covering the Soldiers by securing defensive positions across the battleground. Though, they would sometimes get beset by infected using walls or higher areas as a vantage point, since none of them could aim right above themselves.

One can imagine what happened to the civilians caught in the crossfire, huh?

However, one big advantage that the humans had that the Infected didn't was air superiority. This didn't apply in the Red Zone which was practically Blacklight's home turf at this point, but here in the yellow, the opposite was true. Marine and Blackwatch Blackhawk Transport Helicopters, armed with Longbow Gunship escorts, scurried through the air either dropping off reinforcements, or performing called-in airstrikes against the enemy. Gunships struck from reasonable distances with long range Missiles, unless they were covering Blackhawk Transports in which they resorted to Machine Guns, which proved to be hazardous as they would be in range of projectiles the Infected could launch at them. All in all, it was chaos. And he had hoped for an easy mission…

As for him, James didn't want to get involved with all that, so he stuck to the roof the crash site was on and had been unable to gather the patrol schedules thanks to some Brawlers noticing him. How they did that boggled his mind since he'd been trying to keep himself as unnoticeable as possible, something that quickly went out the drain.

So yeah… he would likely NOT be having an easy time for this.

'Kid better have destroyed that lair when I get back, otherwise this'll be one of the shittiest days of my life.'

Several minutes passed, and they had dodged a total of 10 killing blows each, as well as 39 attempts at limb severing. It became painfully apparent that the creature was getting increasingly aggressive, whatever the hell it may be, and that it was out for blood. Those attempts previously mentioned? More than half of them had been a success, they had lost more limbs and regrown them than they'd care to mention. Their armour barely stopped some of them, showing that whatever was attacking them was able to bypass the Armour's protection, not something they enjoyed thinking about. Though they did manage to salvage what they lost by consuming their remaining limbs. On the downside though, that hadn't been the easiest thing to do since they barely had room to breathe let alone regain lost Biomass.

'This creature's got us on the ropes…' Adam thought as he ducked while getting onto al fours, barely avoiding an unseen attack that could have lopped his head off, before he jumped to the side to avoid something crashing down where he once stood. Once he landed, the male resumed his thoughts. 'Thing keeps us on our toes with its hit'n'run tactics, while all the while chipping away at our biomass reserves…. Mine are half gone already, but…'

His eyes behind the helmet of his Armour Form, glanced over to Sophie, whom looked more than a little paler than usual. Her breathing was much more laboured than his was, and if she were human, she would have been sweating too. Her movements had been getting increasingly sluggish as well thanks to Biomass loss, sorta like what happens when a human loses too much blood.

Not good for their situation in the slightest.

'Because of her aggressive nature, she's been targeted more by this enemy. Her aggression makes her do sloppy movements, which in turn allows the enemy to strike her easier. Its been focusing more on her than me thanks to that, any longer though and she'll likely not be able to hold out…' the next thought, Adam didn't know why but it felt much more daunting than it should, this strange twisting sensation forming in his gut as he barely processed the thought. 'She'll… be killed.'

Shock coursed through his system as the weight of that revelation settled down on his mind. His mind froze all other functions as he nearly lost control over his Armour Form, though even that was just a stretch with what his mind was doing right now. That thought, the thought of one of their kind actually experiencing death… It was a thought that Adam hadn't entertained before, ever even. It was almost alien to him, such was how strange it was. Being what they were, it didn't seem like there was much out there that could kill them unless it was another member of their kind. Human hands weren't able to kill them, none of what Blackwatch and Gentek had could come close to damaging their bodies. The Marines? Nope, just like the previous two. Though, to be fair Gentek one day could whip something up that could be problematic since they DID create the virus, after all. Navy and Airforce? Well, they may have the advantage in long ranged artillery, but it would only be a matter of time till their ammo ran out and there would be no more city left to save afterwards. Even then though, they'd still be alive and kicking. They'd only be hurting themselves in that situation.

So, it had never even occurred to him that one of his own kind could actually die. It just seemed so… wrong, to him. One could say that it scared him, more than what happened to him in the past. No, that wasn't quite right. It wasn't death that scared him, not one bit. It was something else.

Adam's breathing became uneven as he watched the unseen attacker focus its efforts on crushing Sophie, the woman doing everything she could to dodge them. Though, considering the last few observations he'd made, it became apparent that she wouldn't be lasting much longer. The thought of Sophie dying…

Sophie dying…

He wouldn't allow it.

No way, he WOULDN'T!

Memories came back to him, memories that played in his mind with perfect clarity. Unlike what had happened in the past, where their presence brought him nothing but pain and misery, these memories… these memories filled his heart with this strange warm sensation. He remembered when she first met him, proclaiming him to be her 'younger brother' for some strange reason. He realised he hadn't asked her why yet, maybe he could ask her in the future once they survived this. These memories played in his mind, from that moment and over every time he spent with her.

When he first saw her after the lab.

His first time being scared from her 'eccentric' mannerisms.

Their first fight together against the Scorpios.

The first time they trained together.

Their meeting with James Heller.

Blackwatch's humiliating video.

Every memory he had with her, they brought out from within, a bright and hot sensation inside him. Adam absentmindedly gripped his chest, where the sensation originated as if to try and cool it down. However, instead it only inflamed, becoming stronger the more he saw what was happening. His wide eyes began to tremble, iris shaking gradually, becoming more and more violent as time passed. His teeth clenched so tight within his jaw that if they weren't boosted by Blacklight, then they would have shattered under the pressure.

Then, in his mind's eye, an image of Sophie hugging him came to mind, and for him everything seemed to freeze. He remembered that moment, how sudden and inexplicable it was. The raw warmth of another person that he had never known before, flooding his system before he could do anything to stop it. It gave him no chance to counter, it was a blade that stuck him faster than he could deflect it. That woman… the same woman who'd given him the first ever gesture of affection he'd had. The first woman who'd given a damn about him since his family's passing. The woman who'd introduced him to so many things in the last few days. The woman who became a large feature in his life, so much so all under his nose.

That woman was going to die at this rate…

She was going to die…

No…

No…

NO!

The hot sensation he was feeling? It lost its previous warmth and became one of vengeful wrath. Adam growled under his throat, a surge of possessiveness overwhelming his sense of reason. Human beings were beings of emotion and desire, logic mostly gets thrown out of the window when things threaten their loved ones. The way he was acting right now, about to lose it and do something positively reckless, that was what his humanity was doing. Perhaps he had still some form of humanity left in him after all, or maybe he was just that selfish. Then again, humans were also inherently selfish creatures, wanting to make themselves better than their brethren. There was proof of that in every city, in every person that exists in this world. Selfishness was a part of every person.

Nevertheless, only one thought occupied his brain at that moment, and that thought: was to help his big sister.

Big sister…

Huh. Now that he was saying it in his mind, he found he kind of liked it.

Now, to save said big sister from death.

With that in mind, Adam raced towards his big sister, shifting his arms into dual Tóxos. His mind ran faster than it ever had since he first became what he was, almost as if his own strain of Blacklight was on the same wavelength as he was. It was said that hasty action had consequences, and those usually tended to be dire. Usually, those would be like someone dying or something equally as bad as that, leaving the person worse off than what they were before. However, in Adam's case… something got triggered in his mind, a brief image and calculation appeared through the haze of emotion clouding it right now. Adam didn't pay attention to what it was, just enacted it without thinking.

In the end, the teen reached Sophie and turned around… just in time to get one of his arms lopped off.

"WHOA, KID!" Sophie shrieked, utterly baffled, shocked and horrified. Just what the heck?! Here she was getting her ass whooped and just when she sensed another attack coming the kid just jumps in and takes it?! What the hell was he thinking?! Granted, it gave her a chance to catch her bearings and realise just how much Biomass she had left, but still! 'That reckless idiot!' she shouted in her mind, more worry coursing through her than she had felt in a long time.

Time seemed to slow down for every occupant inside the Lair, as Adam's arm spun out of control. Yet, the boy didn't shout or scream in pain. Though, that was probably due to how Blacklight dulled the pain for him, but even so, Adam didn't respond. His hair concealed his eyes in darkness, the time-slow effect showcasing how his stump exploded in a shower of blood and gore, originating from the strike. His lips, pulled backwards into a snarl, withheld the grunt that he uttered as te limb was removed from his body…

Before his lips twisted into a victorious grin.

"Heh… sucker."

That was all he said, before…

BOOM!

The entire arm, still spinning through the air, shone a bright green colour before detonating. It was like watching a Grenade the size of a house go off, the shockwave ripping through the Lair and sending it into a trembling mess. Both Prototypes heard an inhuman yelp as the shockwave pushed the owner down into the ground, and the grin on Adam's face only widened. That yelp was all that he needed to know, to know that the instinctually thought-up plan had worked.

Thanks to the explosion, the whole room had been encased in a smokescreen shrouding everything in dust and debris. There wouldn't be any way for them to peer into the smoke to see their surroundings, even for Blacklight enhanced vision like theirs. Probably due to the explosion also coming from a Blacklight-made product. However, to the two Prototypes whom had been constantly watching their backs, this felt like a welcome reprieve.

A reprieve that Sophie planned on using to the fullest, thank you.

"G-Geez…" the woman mused, almost covering her mouth to cough… when she remembered that she didn't have lungs anymore so she stopped the reflexive action. "That was a bit overkill… though I'm not gonna argue with results. Even so…" her eyes narrowed as she stood up, hobbled over to Adam… and bonked him on the head. "You idiot, what the hell?!"

"…ow."

Adam's only response was that. Perhaps it would have hurt a lot more if she had more power backed up behind the punch, but with the difference between their Biomass reserves being what it was, her hit felt more like a prickle if anything. In fact, it felt kind of ticklish. Also, instead of indignation at being hit on the head, the male could only feel something else… he thought it was called 'sheepishness'? Yeah, that, run through his system.

"Unbelievably reckless, that's pretty much all I can say in regards to what you did!" Sophie scolded him, hands on her hips as she took on the role of the disapproving big sister. "I get that in the heat of battle on can do crazy things, heck I'm living proof of that. But you don't have to copy, you know! Leave the crazy stunts to your big sis! You're lucky I'm low on power right now, otherwise I'd pound you into the ground for that one!"

Hearing someone ranting at him was another first for the male… and to be honest, he wasn't sure what to feel about it. He also couldn't disagree with her, now that his mind wasn't clouded with the fear of Sophie dying on him, he looked back on what happened and had to admit he'd done something particularly stupid. He should have handled that better, but in the end, all he'd been able to think of was saving her. Everything else didn't exactly matter back then, that had been the sole goal he had in mind.

In the end, Adam could only glance to the side awkwardly, shifting on his feet as he scratched the side of his jaw. Sheepishness… at least that was better than feeling guilt, of which he felt none at all for his conduct. For while reckless, it allowed him to save someone who had snuck their way into his heart without him realising until JUST before he would have lost her. "Yeah, I guess I was a little reckless, huh…?" he remarked with a low volume, refusing to look at her in the eyes.

Seeing that her argument got through, though not in the ways that she'd expected, Sophie gave a frustrated groan as she placed one hand over her forehead, massaging her temples while the other remained on her hip. She may not get migraines anymore thanks to her lack of a human body but by the gods it felt so much like one right now. "Well, at least you know…" she got the feeling that the kid didn't really feel any regret or guilt for his actions, and honestly she didn't blame him, She may not be the kind of girl that took other people's shit, but that didn't mean she completely lacked empathy. With what she knew from careful observation, something like this would have happened sooner or later. In any case, there were other things to focus their attention on.

Like just what the heck did the kid do just now?

Lowering her hand, Sophie looked into the smoke around them. Even after their little talk it was still way too dense to make anything out. She didn't know if their mystery foe had recovered yet, but her instincts told her that the kid's little stunt had gotten it GOOD. Though, that still didn't mean that she wasn't dam curious as to what the heck he'd done. It just made her want to know MORE. "So anywho, onto the next topic on todays forecast: The new move one kid recklessly used on the enemy!... What did you do?"

Sophie had asked him that while shifting her Biomass, changing herself from her Armour form into a news reporter one would see on TV, coupled with a formal suit, skirt and heels. Then, she'd changed back into her Armour Form before looking back at him. If her helmet didn't cover her face, he'd probably see her deadpanned expression.

"Well…"

After that little… spout of Sophie-randomness that the male enjoyed more than a little (Though he'd never admit it under pain of death) Adam made to answer her question, opening his mouth and everything. But the answer wouldn't leave his lips, for one simple reason. He didn't know himself. All he could recall from then was a simple rush of emotion that he had never felt before, a flurry of memories and feelings that overran his sense of reason and logic. He probably would remember that for a goddamn long-ass time.

Fortunately for him, he got salvation before he could suffer another lecture.

'I believe I can answer that question.'

'Próta!' Both Prototypes exclaimed through their thoughts in surprise. Once again, they'd almost forgotten about the voice that helped Adam out through his Blacklight related problems. It was just so easy to forget about a voice in their heads when they have never seen the voice's true form that many times. The only time the two COULD recall it was that time in the lab… oh gods, has it been that long already?

'From what I saw from the Progenitor's mind, it seems that he still had residue DNA from the volatile liquids within the Chunk Oozes that he had consumed. The Tóxo hadn't collected all of the DNA during its creation, leaving the rest eft over for further mutations. This is the result of that decision. He'd used that as a genetic template to create a liquid filled with chemicals that, according to the periodic table, react rather violently when exposed to oxygen. He replaced everything in his right arm with this liquid, so when he lost the limb it allowed oxygen to enter it and caused… well, you've seen the result.'

… Huh. Well, wasn't that trippy? Sophie frowned in worry at the discovery that the voice had revealed to them. The words 'liquid' and 'flammable' triggered something in her mind, something that had happened before regarding her Armour. When she switched out of it, during those few seconds she spent as that news reporter of a broadcast she'd seen long ago, it felt like she was being put into an oven and cooked at the highest temperature. After she put her Armour Form back on, she'd noticed a large portion of her remaining reserves having been burned away. Thus, she wanted to know what was up, her curiosity demanded it. Though, part of her didn't want to know in case it blew her mind. "Um, can you tell me what that Liquid is? And if he can make more?"

'It is a liquid made with various Nitrogen chemicals, as well as chemicals that make it twice as explosive as Azidoazide Azide. For the second one, yes, yes he can. How he can use it is largely undetermined as of today, however that will change.'

Information flowed into her mind as Sophie slowly paled more than she already was. Azidoazide azide was the most explosive chemical compound ever created. It was part of a class of chemicals known as high-nitrogen energetic materials, and it got its "bang" from the 14 nitrogen atoms that composed it in a loosely bound state. This material was both highly reactive and highly explosive. It was so sensitive, that it exploded in virtually any scenario—even when left completely alone. It was one of the most dangerous chemicals ever discovered, up there with a chemical that even the Nazis in WW2 felt was too much.

Let's restate that, shall we? This was something that a guy who committed mass genocide, an army of scumbags that killed dozens of innocent civilians, found TOO MUCH to handle on the battlefield.

…

…

…

…

…

…

Well then, that was a thing.

"Huh, well that's one more thing to add to my nightmares. At least now I know why I almost got burned there." She remarked, thoughtfully. When she saw the confused/horrified look that the kid sent her, Sophie slightly panicked, not liking that look on her little brother's face, before she began explaining frantically. "Don't worry kid, its nothing bad, really. I just have a stronger resistance towards flammable materials since taking a few too many grenade explosions back when I was in the Marines."

Explaining that, the male deflated slightly in relief. If his attempt had really hurt her like that, then… whoa, he didn't know what he'd do. Learning just how much he gave a damn about this woman just showed him how much she meant to him in such a short amount of time. Maybe he retained the need for companionship all humans desired deep down. Compared to what Sophie just learned, he knew a bit more about it. Apparently, in his aptly named article, Things I Won't Work With: Azidoazide Azides, More Or Less, chemist Derek Lowe had explained a research group's attempt to study the stuff, illustrating just how explosive people were talking about it: "The compound exploded in solution, it exploded on any attempts to touch or move the solid, and (most interestingly) it exploded when they were trying to get an infrared spectrum of it." Suffice it to say, this chemical would explode if one so much as look at it funny. Blacklight must have found a way to contain it somehow. He didn't know that, but just attributed it to how broken the virus was.

Though, he did want to think about how he could use this liquid in the future ASIDE from blowing up body parts.

All that said and done… for now, there was still one other matter to take care of, their little mystery guardian. Something both of them became aware of instantly at the same time. Clearing her throat, Sophie looked back into the smoke, her eyes narrowing behind her helmet. "So, uh, what about that baddie?" she questioned, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she tried to peer into the smoke. "You think that strike did it in?"

"Hardly." Adam answered, shaking his head as he did the same thing as his big sister. Man, he would take some time to get used to saying that… in his head, at least. It'd take WAY longer for him to say it out loud. It had been way too long since he'd last had someone who gave a damn about him around this often, he'd need to readjust to things. Slow and steady, slow and steady wins the race. That was what he thought anyways. Though, at least he was making progress towards the end goal, that had to at least count for something. "Even with that liquid, I bet you it still has the capacity to regenerate. Blacklight beings, whether they were the common infected or people like us, always share the fast healing genomes. It'd be strange for any of our kind to NOT have it." he explained, scowling while Tendrils coursed over his form.

"Great… #sigh# well, at least we can look forward to giving it some well-earned payback for this shit."

Oh, THAT would be for certain, Adam mused to himself. He wanted to rip this thing apart just as much, if not more, than Sophie did right now. He could feel the virus strain within roaring with glee at the chance for more DMA, more mutation possibilities. It took a lot of his willpower to keep himself from jumping up and down like a schoolgirl finding some exciting gossip… or so Sophie would probably have said.

Nevertheless, this smoke was annoying, so he didn't want it around anymore. That, and it was impeding their vision too much for his liking. Thus, the male raised his right arm as if prepping for a reverse backhand. This garnered a raised brow from his female companion as she tilted her head in his direction. "Uh, what you doin, ki-?" Sophie made to ask what the hell he was doing, only to snap her gob shut when, with a single swing, Adam generated a powerful air blast all around him that blew all the smoke away in one go. "…Oh, that's what."

"You seem surprised by something. What is it?"

"Oh, its nothing."

Something told him that it wasn't nothing, but then he shrugged his shoulders while lowering his arm. He figured it wouldn't be worth bringing up compared to the current issue of their mystery attacker. Although he did overhear her mutter something about 'damn anime-esque moves' under her breath. In any case, Adam shifted his focus and tried to locate where their enemy was.

Turned out to be quite easy, considering that there was a shimmering mirage lying sprawled on the ground just 10 metres away from them. The mirage looked significantly unstable, and about to fall apart at any second, but even so the duo noticed the faint swirling of Tendrils over the mirage's body, like it was busy trying to heal from something.

'Looks like my little bomb managed to injure it more than I thought…' Adam mused in his mind with a slight sense of satisfaction in his eyes, hidden behind his helmet of course. Because of the Mirage, the male couldn't see the full extent of the damage, but he could definitely tell that it had stung like a bitch. His nose detected the faint smell of charred flesh, painting a rather… vivid, nasty looking picture of what the wound must have looked like. Even for him, it looked terrible, thus he winced. Definitely needed to tweak that later.

The mirage managed to heal itself from Adam's little bomb, but as a consequence, they finally saw its true form for the first time.