A/N: Nope, no note... just read.

[26]

Night fell quickly and the cold set in. I landed the helicopter on top of a small hill close to the border between Brooklyn and Queens to watch.

The boom of thermobaric shells came first from the west, followed by the sound of rifle fire from the east. Dana was trying to keep the soldiers from helping each other.

"Ready, Nathan?"

"Sure. Tell me what to do, Alex."

I held out my hand. Nathan put his hand on mine and drove his tendrils into my back. He pulled slightly and turned into a lump of biomass on the back of my shoulder.

About good enough for you?

Yes. It's time to go headhunting.

Cross, Hunter, and PARIAH were still out there, likely forced to lead the unending stream of Hunters and Walkers pouring down the streets to break through our defenses. We just had to wait. Dana would eventually risk losing them in a wave of Hunters and all we had to do was hold out until that wave started.

The soldiers weren't using their normal weapons. They were using flamethrowers retooled to spray a stream of the cure. The Bloodtox blowers were simply too vulnerable to merit their use against Dana's attacks, and there was no other easy way to distribute the cure quickly.

Nathan and I had decided it was better to put my virus into the mix as well. There was a chance that some of the infected were never exposed to my virus and would die if Dana's virus was eradicated from their bodies. A good number of the soldiers agreed when I asked over the Hive Mind.

After almost four hours of non-stop attacks, I noticed a large bulk moving down the street in the distance. Dana.

That's her.

I'll trust your instincts on this one, Alex.

We're going.

I've been waiting here the entire time for you to say that. Give me something to kill.

She was just a few blocks away from where I landed the helicopter. The shape she decided to take was oddly similar to the shape Greene's decoy took just before I killed her in Times Square.

Nathan's biomass flowed into my hand and formed a long blade. A shield formed in my other hand when I flexed it slightly. I paused for a moment before I let my instincts take over.

Dana wasn't really much of a sister anymore. There was more Greene in her than there was Dana.

With that, my instincts took over and propelled me down the hill.

Something struck me as odd while I was making potholes in the street with every footstep. Wouldn't Dana have sent Cross and Hunter and PARIAH out before risking herself? Greene didn't risk herself at Times Square before sending Hunters and Leaders to try and take out the Bloodtox pumper beforehand. From Cross's memories, I knew that an entire generation of the infected revolved around the whims and wants of the Runner. Yet Dana was exposing herself now, before any apparent deployment of Cross, Hunter, or PARIAH.

I'm uncomfortable about this, too. But we need to focus on Dana. She's a bigger problem than the Captain right now.

I silently agreed. As usual, Nathan was thinking things through while I let my emotions and instincts run wild.

Damn right, Alex. I'm not worried about the Captain or the Hunter. They'll manage.

A minute or so after descending the hill, Dana's bulk was oozing forwards in front of me.

Either she hadn't spotted me or she didn't care anymore.

I need something long and very pointy right about now, Nathan.

Coming right up, Alex.

The blade form I had stowed on my back changed into a pike. I flipped it over my shoulder and examined it. Nine feet of rigid biomass with a square point formed on the end. Just long enough to penetrate Dana's shell and pierce the center.

I wasted no time getting onto Dana's back and driving the pike into the top. I felt a shudder ripple through her mass, but she kept moving forward.

Take some of her mass away, Nathan. That should get her angry.

I felt Nathan's form growing heavier, then slightly lighter as he shared his gained biomass with me.

Dana's shape shrank. She clearly had less control over the virus than Greene did. But she was angry. Her movements became violent and spastic as she tried to throw me off.

Nathan held firm and continued to filter biomass through to me. I shifted my grip on Nathan's shaft lower and drove his point further in.

I didn't like getting thrown around by a multi-ton blob of flesh. With Nathan and me both capable of increasing the density of our biomass, we didn't grow much in size while Dana's size shrank. Her movements were progressively less and less severe, as if she was getting tired.

After a few minutes of trying to throw us off, Dana finally gave up and ejected herself from the blob.

Nathan and I spent another thirty seconds draining its remaining mass. Afterwards I launched myself towards Dana.

She clearly wasn't in control of the virus. I delivered a hard kick to her back and used my tendrils to toss her away from the soldiers already busy with her minions.

This is too easy, Alex.

If you're suggesting this Dana is a decoy and I should be looking somewhere else, I'm aware of that possibility.

It's way too easy, Alex. It can't be the real one.

Then let's finish her off and move on.

Nathan was already changing his form into another weapon. A scythe.

I examined it and spun it around a few times before burying its edge into the fake Dana. No blood came out, only a bit of soft biomass. Dana simply fell over, apparently unconscious.

I stared at the injured body. Nathan returned to his human form and put his hand on my shoulder.

"What now, Alex?"

I brushed his hand off and tried to bring myself to take Dana's biomass. The virus refused to go to work.

It was the first time I had to wrestle with the virus about taking in more biomass. No matter how hard I pushed, it didn't want to create the tendrils that would greedily drain any other creature of living biomass.

There was something wrong with me. Blacklight was a ravenous monster that clawed at my consciousness for nourishment. It wanted to grow and develop. Normally I let it run its course after defeating a Hunter or a Walker, but this time something was different.

Did Blacklight suddenly become sentient? Did it recognize that Dana was the biological sister of the host it resided in? Did it even care about anything other than growth and evolution?

Dunno, Alex. I'll take the biomass if your virus doesn't want to.

Over the Hive Mind, I felt Nathan trying to push his biomass into action. It, too, refused. Something was wrong. Blacklight never refused a meal. Even the most vile and revolting people were fair game.

There was no particular physiological reason for Blacklight to reject Dana. In fact, it would be advantageous for Blacklight to consume and adapt Greene's viral DNA into something useful.

What was it?

After a few minutes, Nathan and I were able to move Dana's body back to the helicopter while resisting Blacklight's impulses. I sent them off with orders to keep Dana subdued if she awoke, and to get her to a lab to see the extent of Greene's damage.

Nathan and I stayed behind to look around for Cross and Hunter and PARIAH. They were probably wandering around and looking for us.

It took a few hours for the fighting to die down. A few soldiers lay silently suffering the pain of their wounds as Nathan and I made our way along the Brooklyn-Queens border. Others were clearly healing, black-and-red tendrils wildly flailing around and reconnecting torn sinew and broken bone, while they were clearly unconscious from physical trauma from fighting a more powerful adversary.

A few soldiers had clearly done well. No scratches. A spotless uniform, a direct result of Blacklight's greedy appetite for blood. These few were caring for the injured, exactly as they should have been. I wanted things a certain way, but I had never pushed those thoughts to the Hive Mind. The soldiers were teaming up and using Blacklight's abilities to a level I had never taught them. Was Blacklight smarter than it seemed to be? Was there a way to know for sure?

Nathan and I decided to split up and search for Cross and Hunter and PARIAH. After an hour of heading northwest along the Brooklyn-Queens border, I came across a large Hunter that just roared at me.

Mercer, it's me. Give me the goddamned fix already.

I shook my head.

I need something for my trouble...

What the hell could I give you right now? A belly rub and a pat on the head? Last time I checked you're not a domestic animal.

Play dead, Cross.

On cue, Cross's body collapsed onto the ground.

So I guess I can make followers do things.

To hell with you, Mercer. Give me the cure. I know it's in your pocket.

I gestured to all of the pockets on the Blackwatch uniform I was wearing.

Which one?

Cross was getting annoyed from what I could tell.

Just give it to me.

I'm not carrying the cure in a needle, if that's what you're thinking.

I summoned tendrils and grappled Cross's body while they went to work. When they were attached, I drew a bit of biomass back from Cross, then pushed my own into Cross to eradicate Greene's virus.

After a period of apparently painful convulsions, Cross's Hunter-like form shrank, and a scowling Cross stood up, glaring at me.

"Remind me not to push you around, Mercer. You seem to like sarcasm quite a bit."

"It's one of my talents. I consider lying and thievery to be my other talents."

Cross gave me a hug. I tried to struggle against his embrace, but Blacklight forced my body to calm down.

"I still like you, Mercer. We need to have a rematch sometime."

"I think Blacklight's rebelling against me."

Cross let go of his stifling bear hug.

"It's not killing you."

"That isn't an improvement, Cross."

"Where's Nate?"

"Looking for the others. You know where they are?"

"No. We were split up after Dana started moving."

I motioned for Cross to follow me. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"Battery Park. Nathan can find the others by himself."

We started heading back to the helicopter. About halfway there, Cross suddenly collapsed. He seemed to be in pain, so I opened a link over the Hive Mind.

Cross's pain told me that he wasn't in good condition. I drove my tendrils into his body and overloaded his senses to knock him out.

I carried his limp body the rest of the way back to the bridge, where Nathan was already waiting for me with Hunter and PARIAH.

"Help me out here."

The three of them helped me get Cross onto the ground softly.

"Any idea what's going on, Alex?"

"No." I shook my head.

"ZEUS, I remember Dana was able to bear some sort of offspring, but she put it inside Cross and forced his body to become dependent on it."

"You mean I need to kill Cross and bring him back to life... again?"

PARIAH frowned. "Well, Doctor, if that is the sure way of doing it, we have no choice, do we?"

"No. I can't leave, though. I need to make sure any clues we might have to lead to Greene aren't lost."

"Then go and do it, Alex. We know enough about Blacklight to help Cross get back to normal."

Hunter put his hand on PARIAH's shoulder and reformed into armor. With Nathan's help, PARIAH managed to get Cross secured to his back, and they all set off across the bridge. I watched until they had disappeared out of sight before turning around and heading back towards Queens. There were quite a few Hydras left to clean up after.

[/26]

A/N: Eh. No note to speak of here.