DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE SERIES/COVER ART INVOLVED IN THIS STORY.
I apologize for taking longer with this chapter, I mistakenly wrote myself into a corner during this chapter and had to rewrite it :/
Apologies if this chapter feels weird. To be honest; I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter myself, mainly because it was a pain to write due to a [big] mistake I made in it.
Chapter 25
Calm Before the Storm
"I…I'm sorry about your—"
"Don't pity me. Please."
Mikoro looked at him for a second before nodding slowly.
Siren sighed. He had just finished explaining almost everything to the others. He had told them about certain events triggering lost memories within him. He told them about his theory of being Alex Mercer's reincarnation. He even told then about his sister, Dana Mercer. He did leave out certain things, like the fact that he killed Ichijo Sakura. These people may have been his 'teammates', but he was still entitled to keep some things to himself. If they were allowed to keep secrets, he was allowed to as well.
At the moment, he walked alongside Mikoro with Touma and Index trailing behind them while Kuroko walked in front of the group. It had been a little over half an hour since the confrontation with Ares, and they were now dealing with a new problem.
The ski mask girl.
Siren frowned as she came to mind. She had looked so familiar, but he just couldn't figure out where he had seen her. He was sure he had met the person behind the mask, but he couldn't recall.
Said girl was in the hospital that had become their headquarters. She was currently waiting for them to come and talk to her about what to do next. It wasn't an interrogation or anything, but they wanted to see who she was and what her goals were.
The doctor had told them only a few minutes ago that Mikoto had awoken, but needed to rest. Siren didn't want to wait, seeing as the ski mask girl might make a break for it while they waited. So, with some convincing, he managed to get Kuroko to confront the girl with him. Mikoro, along with Touma and Index, had decided to tag along, but Kuroko was the only one who really needed to be in the room with the other girl.
Should the girl misbehave, Kuroko could teleport them both just outside the barrier that surrounded the hospital. It was clear that the girl did not want to be near the barrier, so Siren had voted to use that to their advantage.
"She should be in the room at the end of this hallway," Kuroko spoke up. Siren nodded, turning to Mikoro, Touma, and Index.
"Remember you three, stay—"
"Yes, yes, we know. Stay outside the room and listen to the phone. Just don't forget to turn your phone on and turn on the speaker; we want to listen to the conversation to."
Siren frowned. "Treat this with care; the girl might be an enemy."
"She fought the Evolved, didn't she?" Touma asked. "Doesn't that make her and ally? You know the old saying; 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'."
"We don't have an ally. The Evolved just have a new enemy; that's not the same thing."
Touma shrugged. "I think you might be overre—"
"We're here," Kuroko interrupted. Siren turned to look at the plain brown door that currently separated them from the girl. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a phone the doctor had provided him with—his old one had been destroyed through constant fights with the Infected.
Quickly calling Mikoro, he waited for her to accept the call, and then put his phone on speaker. Replacing it in his pocket, he nodded to Kuroko and the two walked into the room, shutting the door behind them.
They were greeted with the sight of the girl sitting in a chair, one leg over the other, with a book in her hands.
She hadn't removed her ski mask yet, so they couldn't see her face, but they both noticed when her green eyes snapped to them.
"About time," she muttered. Siren frowned.
"I'm going to be blunt here; we're going to ask you a few questions, figure out whose side you're on, then figure out whether or not you're a friend or an enemy," Kuroko announced.
The girl nodded.
"First on the list; take off the mask."
She frowned at Siren as soon as the words left his mouth. "I'll take it off if we agree to work together. If it turns out we're going to stay enemies, I'd rather you didn't know my identity."
Kuroko nodded before Siren could respond. "Fair enough. Alright then, I'll assume you won't give us your name until we decide if we're allies or enemies?"
The girl nodded.
Kuroko crossed her arms. "Then let's move on. What are you?"
The girl blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Are you an esper? An Evolved? A…Prototype?" Siren asked.
The girl frowned. "I'm assuming that, since you seem to be so familiar with the viruses and have the same powers as…him, you know about Blackwatch, correct?"
Siren nodded.
"I'm one of their projects. I am Blackwatch's first and only Phase Three Orion Super Soldier."
Siren's eyes widened. "You work for Blackwatch?!"
The girl shook her head in disgust. "I would never work for those freaks! They turned me into what I am against my will! They may have been the ones who gave me my powers, but they're not my masters."
"The fact that you tried to kill me isn't helping to prove your point," Siren shot back.
The girl narrowed her eyes. "You think I attacked you on Blackwatch's orders, don't you?"
"Of course I do."
"It is a logical assumption," Kuroko added.
The girl sighed. "I didn't attack you on Blackwatch's orders. I did it because I thought you were Alex Mercer."
Kuroko stiffened. She knew that Siren's connection to Alex was more than it seemed, but it didn't mean that this other girl had to know.
Just keep quite Kuroko; act like it's nothing.
Unfortunately, the other girl noticed Kuroko's reaction. "You've heard of him, haven't you? That...that thing from New York. The monster that started the outbreak in the first place."
"Do you want to explain to use why you hate him so much? Details would be nice," Kuroko replied smoothly.
This might get a little awkward.
The ski mask girl sighed. "My family wasn't exactly 'rich'. In order to provide for us, Dad had to join with a military group called Blackwatch."
Oh yeah, this is going to get really awkward.
"My father was a good—no, a great—man. He only joined Blackwatch so that he could provide for us. Those lunatics belong in a mental hospital, not in the streets with guns in their hands, but Dad was different! He never supported Blackwatch's actions! He—"
"Your point?" Kuroko cut in.
The other girl stopped and took a breath. "Dad was sent out on a mission one day. He was an infantry unit; no vehicle to protect him. Day after day, he and other Blackwatch troops would patrol the streets, shooting down the Infected. Dad would try and stop the other soldiers from shooting civilians or innocents—and sometimes he succeeded, but most of the time, he failed."
The girl took a shaky breath. "Then, the worst happened. One night, Dad and the rest of his squad were clearing out a street when…he showed up."
Her fists clenched.
"Alex Mercer," she spat out. "That deranged, twisted, fucking animal cut my cut my father in half without even a second of hesitation. He shredded the rest of the squad, consuming their leader and then…then he just left. Two people survived that attack. Both of them told the same story."
For a few seconds, Siren and Kuroko stood there, waiting for the girl to continue. When she didn't, Siren spoke up.
"Would I be correct in saying you oppose both Blackwatch and the Evolved?"
The girl looked up at him. "First, a question for you," she said, standing up.
Siren blinked as the girl got up, leaning uncomfortably close to him. "Why do you look so much like him? When I fought you, you had his clothes, you have his powers, you even sound like him! What's your connection to Alex Mercer?" she demanded.
Siren frowned. "I'll keep that to myself until we know if you're with us or against us. Now then, I asked you a question. I'd like an answer."
The girl narrowed her eyes before sitting back down. "I hate Blackwatch because they're monsters. What they do—abducting people and performing tests on them, creating the viruses, burning anything or anyone who threatens to expose them—is wrong. They're fucking evil and they need to be stopped. Besides, if they hadn't sent my father out when they knew people rarely returned, he might still be alive. The Evolved are the same; evil, twisted creatures that need to be put down. Not only that, but that Clara bitch killed my mom and sister. So yes, I oppose both the Evolved and Blackwatch," she growled.
Siren slowly nodded. The girl did have valid reasons for fighting against the Evolved and Blackwatch, but that didn't mean she could be an ally.
At least she answered his question.
"We have common enemies," Kuroko began. "Would you be against the idea of working together to stop them?"
"Stop them? I'm going to kill them!"
"Get in line," Siren replied dryly.
"What Siren means is that he's—we're—trying to do the same. Now, would you be willing to work with us to stop the Evolved?"
"Perhaps…"
"Before decide on anything, I think we should talk with the others and come to an agreement together. Then we can ask her if she wants to join," Siren said to Kuroko.
The ski mask girl frowned at him. "Why didn't you do that earlier?"
"One of the others was down, and she only recently woke up. On top of that, I'd hate to waste time discussing whether or not we should work with you unless you're willing to cooperate. We'd just waste energy if we discussed whether or not you should join only to find out that you're unwilling" Siren explained.
"Just wait here," Kuroko added. "We'll be back soon."
With that, the two turned around and headed for the door.
*Page Break*
"I think this can work," Mikoto said from her position by the wall. She had recovered a little while ago, so Siren and Kuroko though it'd be a good idea to include her in the discussion.
They had spent a dozen minutes or so discussing the pros and cons of working with the girl, and finally, people were beginning to come to decisions.
"Personally, I think having some extra muscle would help us fight the Evolved," said Touma.
"Why do you know what her muscles look like? You'd have to have seen her without her jacket and shirt for that," Index said with a frown on her face.
"Pervert!" Mikoto yelled.
Touma's eyes widened as he looked between the two girls. "What?! No! I didn't mean it like—"
"Ugh, boys," Kuroko groaned. "Always thinking about stuff like that."
"I wasn't—!"
"Can we focus?!" Siren and Mikoro asked at once.
The others fell silent and Touma slid from his chair. "Such misfortune," he muttered.
"Look, I'm not against the idea of her joining us; she did save Touma, Index, and myself from that other Evolved, but there are some things we need to do until we completely trust her," said Mikoro as she turned to face Kuroko.
Apparently, Mikoro had already learned the girl's name when she first met her. The girl's name was Kazari Rika. Siren had instantly recognized her name; she was the girl who fought alongside him at the store not too long ago.
Unfortunately, Mikoro wasn't able to tell them about Rika until after they had asked her some questions because she hadn't actually known it was Rika who was in the hospital. She never got a good look at her over the cameras—the ones Siren, Kuroko, and Mikoro put up didn't cover the area where they fought the Evolved—but she had pulled Siren and Kuroko aside after they questioned Rika and quickly explained that she knew the girl, but not on a personal level.
"First off, Kuroko will have to stay by that girl's side. If Rika is in fact an enemy, Kuroko can teleport the two of them just outside the barrier around the hospital. The barrier should stop the girl, and we can retrieve her and find out who she's working for."
The group nodded. "Next, we need her and Siren to get past their issues so that they're not at each other's throats," Mikoro continued, shooting a glance at Siren.
"A bit difficult to forget that she tried to kill me," Siren mumbled.
Mikoro rolled her eyes. "And Alex Mercer killed her father, and you're somehow connected to Alex."
"I'm sorry, but can we take a moment to remember the fact that her father was in Blackwatch?! I don't think it would have been easy to distinguish the 'nice' soldiers from the 'I really don't care who lives and who dies' soldiers," Siren growled. "More importantly, please keep that information to yourself."
Mikoro rolled her eyes. "You get what I'm saying though. Anyway, we'll have to work with her for some time before we can decide if we truly trust her."
"So," Kuroko began. "Do we have an agreement? Are we letting her stay?"
"I can deal with it as long as someone—someone who can actually hurt her—keeps an eye on her at all times," Siren commented.
"I'm ok with it," Touma said, Index nodding next to him.
Mikoto gave a thumbs up, and Mikoro nodded.
"Alright then," Kuroko began. "Let's go get acquainted with our newest 'teammate'."
*Page Break*
"Take it off, Rika," Siren said as he and Kuroko walked into the room. Rika promptly choked on her own saliva, coughing for a second before whirling to face Siren.
"What did you just say?"
"Take off the mask."
"How do you know my name?! I never told you my name!"
"One of the people we've been working with was a girl you saved a little while ago. I believe you know her; Mikoro. She knew your name."
Rika blinked. "Then…why all the questions about who I was?"
Siren shrugged. "Mikoro didn't know you were the one here until after we talked. When she heard your voice, she recognized you."
"Wait, 'heard my voice'? How'd she hear—" Rika stopped as Siren held up his phone. He smirked slightly at the confused look on her face before it morphed into one of annoyance.
Rika sighed loudly before pulling off her mask, the frown still present on her face. "Not to be rude, but from what I've seen of Mikoro, she's not a fighter. What good does she do in this situation?"
"If you end up joining us, maybe you'll find out." He crossed his arms. "Now then, I want to know something before we move on. You and I were relatively even when we fought. So why didn't you just kill the thugs at that store?"
He was genuinely curious as to why she bothered holding back. He knew his own reasons, but knowing hers might give them some more information about her.
"I was keeping a low profile," Rika replied after a few seconds of studying him.
"Hiding from someone?" Siren asked. If this girl had secret enemies, he wanted to know about them; the last thing they needed was the Evolved joining forces with another enemy.
"Blackwatch. I was trying to stay under Blackwatch's radar. I don't need those freaks out here looking for me or harming my family."
"Aren't they dead?" Siren asked bluntly.
He immediately felt someone punch his shoulder. Turning, he saw Mikoro staring at him with an angry expression. "Siren," she hissed. "Don't speak to her like tha—"
"My family extends beyond my parents and sister," Rika growled.
Siren shrugged. "Just making sure you weren't changing your story or anything."
Rika smirked. "I figured you wouldn't trust me; you seem far too clever to throw your trust around unless someone's earned it."
"Thank you for stating the obvious, Rika."
Mikoto stepped forward. "Look, we've decided that it's in our best interest to make some allies; so we're hoping you'll work with us. At this point in time, we're for the idea of working with you to stop the Evolved; the question is whether or not you're willing to work with us."
Rika raised an eyebrow. "When you say, 'working with us', what are you implying, exactly? Is this a partnership of sorts, or am I going to be taking order from you guys—because if that's the case, you can count me out."
"It's more like a partnership; nobody here 'gives orders'. We work together to bring down the Evolved. You want them dead for hurting your family, I want their memories so I can stop whoever is behind all this," he gestured to the others present. "And these guys want the Evolved out of their city and away from their families and friends. As far as I can tell, we all want something that involves the death of the Evolved in one way or another; the smart thing to do would be to work together to minimize our losses and maximize theirs."
Rika frowned, seemingly thinking the offer over. "So we work together, everyone's opinions and ideas are heard, and nobody has the right to boss anyone else around?"
"More or less," Mikoto answered. "But until you've completely proven yourself, Kuroko will keep an eye on you, and if things go bad, she'll teleport you right outside the barrier surrounding this hospital."
"Still can't believe someone managed to create an anti-Infected barrier," Rika mumbled. Suddenly, Rika's head snapped up. "Wait, what happens if I want to leave this little alliance?" she asked suspiciously.
Mikoto frowned. "You can leave whenever you want, but if you end up being an enemy—"
"Then you're dead," Siren finished with a scowl.
Rika nodded. "Seems fair…"
The girl crossed her arms, giving the offer one last thought before slowly looking up. "Ok then, count me in," she began with a small smile. "Can't wait to finish Clara off."
*Page Break*
Clara shuffled backwards as Ares approached her. He gave no outward indication of anger, but she knew he wasn't happy.
"I understand you enjoy fighting and that you were looking forward to testing Mercer, but I thought we had established that once someone locates Mercer, they are to call in and report. Why is it that you failed to follow such simple instructions?"
Clara rubbed the back of her head, mumbling something.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
Clara frowned. "I said I gave in to the temptation to test him without interference," she growled.
Ares sighed. "You see, this right here is the reason you were given less power than the others; you can't control yourself. You've proven your loyalty on several occasions, but failed to show the ability to control yourself."
Clara clenched her fists. "Apologies," she mumbled.
Ares stepped past her, stopping once his back was to her. "See that this doesn't happen again," he growled.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, without warning, Clara felt something stab her through the chest. Grunting, she looked down, noticing Ares' Claws sticking out of her chest.
"Consider this a very minor warning," Ares told her before ripping his Claws out.
Clara flinched as Ares launched himself off the rooftop, flying off into the air and gliding away.
"Would certainly like to meet this 'great leader' of ours," she mumbled.
*Page Break*
"As it stands, I doubt any of us are any real match against Ares at the moment. He threw me around, and from what I saw of his Devastator, if that even was a Devastator, he probably has the ability to face down multiple opponents."
That and there's an undeniable connection between him and Alex Mercer…just like how it is with me.
"So how are we going to stop him?" asked Touma.
"That is the major question then, isn't it?" Rika added.
Mikoto nodded. "If he's a Prototype like Siren, it's going to take a lot to bring him down before his healing powers can restore him." She turned to Siren. "Do you know of a way to neutralize your own healing factor? It might work on Ares as well."
Siren shrugged. "The only thing that comes to mind is the substance Ares injected into me not too long ago. However, I don't know if it'll work on Ares; he's probably been exposed to it and has built resistance. Actually, I probably did too."
Kuroko frowned. "Great, I forgot how quickly you're able to mutate; I'm guessing he can do the same?"
"Probably," Siren replied with a nod. In the seat to his left, Rika was frowning. "Would it be possible to kill him if he continuously takes damage at a rate faster than he can heal?"
"Again, probably. The problem is that Ares can undoubtedly sustain a lot of damage. Don't underestimate him; he's still a Prototype."
"Do you think we can turn the Evolved against him?" Rika asked.
The others groaned as Siren threw up his hands. "Thank you! See?! I told you guys that it's one of the best approaches!"
"Let's save such a cowardly method for when we're completely out of options. Besides, I was under the impression that Siren was going to try to consume the other Evolved in order to get strong enough to defeat Ares," said Mikoro.
"That's still want I'm going to do, but if Ares steps in before I'm strong enough or if I still won't be able to beat him after consuming the Evolved; what then? That's what we need to figure out now."
"Couldn't Kuroko teleport him in front of the barrier around the hospital? That's what you guys plan on doing to me if I do anything stupid, so why not do it to Ares?" Rika asked.
"I considered that," Kuroko began. "But that might burn him to death before Siren can consume him. If that happens—"
"I won't be able to take down whoever is behind all this. I need Ares' memories, and his power, to find the person who's been pulling all the strings."
"Wait, so if I messed up, you'd teleport me right outside the barrier only to let me burn?!" Rika asked.
Kuroko shook her head. "Not right outside it, but still close. It would be enough to subdue you, but not kill you."
"Then why not do the same to Ares?"
"If I did, we'd have to either bring Ares to Siren, or Siren to Ares. If we brought Siren to Ares, he'd only fall under the barrier's power and become too weak to actually consume Ares. If we brought Ares to Siren, the effects would wear off and Ares would be able to resist Siren's attempt at consuming him."
Rika frowned. "And you thought of all this…when?"
"Siren voiced his concerns to us after his fight with Ares."
I also told you about my lost memories and connection to Alex Mercer, but hey, she doesn't need to know that, now does she?
"The way I see it," Siren began, returning to the conversation, "is that we have to start at the bottom of their chain and work our way up. With your guys' help, I can consume Evolved after Evolved until I'm strong enough to take on Ares. With Mikoro on the cameras, finding the Evolved shouldn't be too much of a problem. On top of that, with Kuroko, Mikoto, and Rika helping me in a fight, we should be able to work through the Evolved rather quickly."
"I still call dibs on Clara," Rika growled. "That bitch is mine."
In all honestly, Siren could relate. The biggest reason behind him wanting Ares' memories was not because Ares knew of the location of the Evolved's headquarters, but because he was sure Ares knew what happened to Dana. Similarly, Rika wanted to kill Clara because the woman had murdered Rika's family members. However…
"Rika, Clara has DNA that I need. I can't let you kill her because the DNA she possesses will get me closer to Ares' level. Like it or not, Clara is a key component to taking down the Evolved."
"Yes, but I have a personal issue with her," Rika growled. "There are plenty of other Evolved out there for you to consume."
"And most of those Evolved are in their headquarters, which could be in the middle of a desert on the other side of the world for all we know. Ask yourself this, what's better, the death of one Evolved, or the extinction of their species?"
The others' heads snapped to him in surprise, but he continued, knowing that using Rika's hatred of the Evolved would help him in this situation.
"You hate the Evolved, yes, so why stop at killing one when you could help bring down their entire race? The Evolved need to be stopped; all of them. In order to do this, we have to kill all of them. However, we can't do that until we've killed the other Prototypes, and if Ares is only the second strongest, we need the Evolveds' DNA to kill the both of those Prototypes. Without me consuming all the Evolved in Academy City before taking on Ares, we may end up throwing away our only chance at survival. That and we throw away humanity's chance of survival by letting the Evolved become Prototypes."
Rika glared at him for several moments. Siren understood her position, but he hoped she would listen to reason. Ares had already proven that he was no pushover, and Siren wanted as much DNA he could get in order to kill Ares. Leaving only one Evolved for Rika may not have seemed like much, but none of them knew how many Evolved were in Academy City. For all they knew, it could have been only Laren and Clara.
"We can go for Clara last, you know," Mikoto said quietly. Everyone turned to her in confusion. "Before attacking Clara, Siren could try to…consume every other Evolved in Academy City. If we're lucky, he'll be strong enough to consume Ares without having to get Clara's DNA. If that's the case, Rika can take her down. If not, then I'm sorry Rika, but you have to let Siren consume Clara."
Rika frowned.
"Unless you have a better plan," Siren added.
After several seconds of silence, Rika looked up at him. "Clara dies last, and it'll only be by your hand if absolutely necessary. Otherwise," Rika's expression darkened. "I take her life like she took the lives of my mom and sister."
Siren nodded before looking around the room. "Before we get back to work, the lot of you should rest and eat to make sure you're good to go."
He smirked at them.
"Thinking up our next move will be harder if you're doing it on empty stomachs."
Slowly, Index turned to Touma. "So…food?"
*Page Break*
Mikoro slowly sat down on the floor next to Rika. Within the hospital's more public areas, chairs and tables were given to the injured, the elderly, those with children, and so on. Thus, people who were in good health and shape were to sit on the floor for their activities and conversations.
Rika scooted over as Mikoro sat down, allowing her to get comfortable. "Hey," she said before going back to eating the sandwich in her hand.
"Hi," Mikoro replied. Since the girl had arrived, Mikoro had wanted to befriend and learn more about her. "I, uh, I'm sorry about what happened to your family. It's…it's never easy having someone cut down your loved ones…"
Images of dead clones popped into her mind, but she quickly pushed them away.
Rika sighed and nodded. "Never gets any less painful."
"If it's any consolation, I think you're a strong person to be able to stand up against the Evolved in open combat."
"Your friends do the same thing, you know," Rika said dryly.
Mikoro smiled at her. "Oh I know. They're all really powerful, and they've got determination like no other. I'm just telling you this so you know that you're worth a lot to the human race right now; we need all the help we can get against the Evolved and the other Prototypes."
Rika shrugged. "Sad, but true. The funny thing is that humans were the ones to create the viruses that would give birth to the Evolved."
Mikoro nodded. "Yeah, some monsters out there decided they wanted to make a bioweapon capable of bringing the world to its knees. And what happened? A series of viral outbreaks, some offshoots of the viruses gained sapience, and now there's an entire race of Evolved poised to take over the world." She sighed. "How quickly things spiral out of control."
Rika raised an eyebrow. "The REDLIGHT and BLACKLIGHT viruses have been around since before you were born, you know that, right?"
Mikoro smirked. "Yes, but if you think about how long it took humans to become what we are today, the Evolveds' rise to power seems almost instantaneous."
Rika opened her mouth but quickly closed it. Mikoro did have a point there.
"I was wondering about something; Siren doesn't need to eat food like this, and I understand that you and he are very different, but why do you eat this food? Do you even need to?"
"Just because I'm a Super Soldier doesn't mean I don't have a stomach. I don't consume people like the Evolved do, and I'm not like Siren—in the sense that I have organs while he doesn't—so yes, I still need food."
Mikoro nodded. "Why?" Rika asked when Mikoro took a bite out of her own sandwich.
The other girl blinked. "What?" she asked, crumble spilling from her mouth.
Rika rolled her eyes. "First, don't talk with your mouth full. Second, why did you want to know whether or not I eat food?"
"Oh that," Mikoro began while wiping her face. "I was just curious. Those that were created by the viruses, or are a virus, are very interesting to speak to and learn about. I've talked with Siren a couple times about his anatomy in comparison to a human's, but I wanted to hear your story too; you are a different being after all."
"Tch, same, twisted creators, different outcomes," Rika growled. "Blackwatch never seems to learn; the monsters they make have a habit of murdering their makers."
Explanations/Clarifications
Oddly enough, I don't see much that needs to be explained in this chapter, but that's probably because I'm the author and know what's going on. Anyway, if you see anything that you'd really like clarified in this chapter, please tell me so that I can post it here for future readers.