DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE SERIES/COVER ART INVOLVED IN THIS STORY.

RESPONSE TO THE GUEST: Hey there, thanks for the review. Anyway, sorry that my last answer disappointed. Now then, on to your newest questions: For your first question; no, chapters don't indicate any set passing of time (if they do, you'll know). Two; I don't currently plan on having Touma get any viral powers, but that doesn't mean it's impossible (it's just really, really unlikely). Finally, no, I don't plan on including dragons.

Chapter 29

Follow the Leader

Kuroko slowly peered around the corner, eyes narrowing as she focused on Laren. Rika leaned outward a little further to look over Kuroko's shoulder as they watched Laren. The Evolved currently stood on the roof of a building that was across the street from them, while the Leader Hydra—which was still shredding the Infected—was down the street from them, a good distance away.

So far, Kuroko and Rika had been staying on the ground for the most part, hoping to make themselves harder to spot. The Leader Hydra had attracted the attention of most of the Infected in this area, so the streets were pretty clear. However, the minute they moved to a new area, the two girls knew they'd have to go to the rooftops; the streets would be swarming with Infected wherever they went until the Leader Hydra attracted them or cleared them out, but for now, they were in the clear.

"Do you remember how long it took the Leader Hydra to clear an area?" Rika asked.

Kuroko shook her head. "We might be in this spot for the next hour for all we know, or we could only be here for another few minutes."

Rika quietly groaned from behind Kuroko.

From his position on the rooftop, Laren was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, swaying side to side. Kuroko assumed the Evolved was probably as bored as they were, but unlike them, he couldn't just teleport away at the first sign of trouble.

It was several minutes before the Leader Hydra finally began moving again, and the moment it did, Laren took off after it like a madman. Kuroko grabbed Rika and the two teleported to the rooftop where Laren had been standing. Once they were sure he wasn't looking, the two teleported to the next rooftop.

They stopped and dropped down when Laren suddenly stopped and turned. The two had figured that on the rooftops, their best bet was to play dead and hope that Laren would assume they were corpses. Teleporting away would have obviously been safer, but the second it took for Kuroko to concentrate would probably be more than enough time for the Evolved to spot them, and if he did, there was a good chance he'd abandon whatever operation he was on. They'd still follow the Leader Hydra, with or without Laren, but with the Evolved and the Leader Hydra in one place, they might be able to learn more.

Kuroko slowly glanced up from her position on the rooftop, immediately locating Laren. He wasn't actually looking at them—rather, he was staring off to his right. His head snapped back to the Leader Hydra as the creature smacked aside a charging Hunter.

The two girls slowly rose to their feet and teleported to a different rooftop. Now they had a view of both Laren and the Leader Hydra while still remaining out of sight.

"I seriously wish Siren would stop being such a dick about this," Rika growled. "I've fought alongside you guys and it's obvious the Evolved hate me. There's no reason to force me to go everywhere with you."

Kuroko shrugged as the two crouched. "We're facing people who could eat your parents and take their place and you'd never know the difference. He's being careful, which is usually a good thing."

"There's a fine line between cautious and downright paranoid," Rika mumbled.

Kuroko snorted. "I'd say he's the latter."

The two watched as Laren observed the Leader Hydra's movements. They hadn't seen him speak to anyone yet, but they assumed he was keeping in contact with the others. Down on the streets below, the Leader Hydra was obliterating any Infected that it could find.

Kuroko frowned as she watched.

It's done nothing but attack the Infected and the Evolved. Why? Could there really be someone here who's trying to stop the Evolved? But if that was the case, why attack Siren and Rika if they're both fighting against the Evolved? And why use something like this Leader Hydra thing to fight off the Infected?

Few things made any sense about the Leader Hydra and its origins, so she had no way to draw any real conclusions. Suddenly, Rika's words echoed through her head.

"Don't you dare fucking tell me there's a third virus."

Kuroko's eyes widened and she turned to Rika. "Hey," she whispered, grabbing the other girl's attention. "Back at the hospital, you mentioned a third virus. Do you think that's possible?"

Rika narrowed her eyes. "That's just it; it is possible. All the horror caused by BLACKLIGHT and REDLIGHT, and now there's a chance of a third virus. I hope that's not the case; I don't know if we can handle an outbreak of an entirely new virus."

Kuroko felt a shiver run down her spine. She had seen movies and read books that told stories of unstoppable viruses and hordes of zombies that blocked out the sun itself, but to actually see such abominations running around on the streets were she once walked was an entirely different experience.

There was something haunting about seeing one's favorite clothing store in a rundown shape with broken windows and corpses—moving and unmoving—scattered around it.

"Hey," Rika whispered. "He's starting to look around again; he might look this way. Be ready to hit the deck."

Kuroko nodded as Laren began scanning the area once more as if searching for something. It had been this same pattern for a while now; the Leader Hydra would move, Laren would follow it, watch it, and continuously search the area from his position. He never moved from the spot he chose unless the Leader Hydra did too, but other than that, he'd stay put.

Kuroko let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding when Laren stopped looking around and refocused on the Leader Hydra. Once more, Laren had failed to notice them.

The only trick was to make sure it stayed that way.

*Page Break*

He was being watched.

If he learned anything from spending so much time with the Evolved, it was that one should always watch his back. He could name a handful of other Evolved in the lower ranks that wanted him dead, so he had become accustomed to keeping an eye over his shoulder.

His instincts screamed at him to leave, but his mind told him that he still had a job to do. He'd periodically stop and search, trying to find whoever it was that could be following him, but so far, he had been unsuccessful.

He lacked the Infected Vision that the Prototypes possessed, and unfortunately, he also lacked their Thermal Vision. Without those two powers, finding someone was more difficult, but he wasn't one to complain. After all, it wasn't his race that was about to be driven to extinction.

Looking down, he frowned as the Leader Hydra—as Luke called it—continued tearing apart the Infected. He knew that Luke both despised and admired the creature for what it was. The other Evolved hated this creature because it had killed many of the Infected that his virus had spawned, but at the same time, he admired it for being such a killing machine.

Laren had no doubt that once they found were this creature had come from, Luke would make every attempt to gain the memories of its creators and replicate the Leader Hydra.

He jerked as the Leader Hydra began slithering forward again, running over what was left of the Infected it had attacked. Letting out a sigh, Laren jumped to the next building, making sure to stay a good distance away from the Leader Hydra. He hadn't seen any eyes on it, but that didn't mean the creature couldn't detect him.

He was here to observe, not to fight, so staying out of sight had become a necessity.

And now, someone's following me.

When the Leader Hydra stopped, Laren took a position on a nearby rooftop, high above the creature's head. He began looking around again, searching for any signs of pursuers. Once again, he failed to notice anything out of the ordinary, but sometimes, he trusted his other senses more than his eyes.

Right now, his other senses told him he wasn't alone.

They were simple things; a strange sent in the air, a strange noise he didn't recognize, and other little things. He made every attempt to remain calm, hoping to fool his stalkers into becoming overconfident in their abilities to pass under his radar.

However, even if his mind told him to stay calm, his body was tense and prepared for combat—even if he didn't want to start anything right now. Fighting attracted attention, and he didn't need the Leader Hydra noticing him.

He kneeled on the edge of the rooftop, staring down at the Leader Hydra as it swatted the Infected aside like flies. The only things he had seen so far that could put up a decent fight were the Juggernaut Hunters—and even with their Hammerfists, they couldn't bring down the Leader Hydra before it could kill them.

Laren winced as a Hunter slammed into the building to his right, its bones—and the building wall—shattering upon impact from the force. The Leader Hydra took almost no notice in the creature it had just killed and continued attacking the other Infected.

Laren sighed in annoyance as he watched the Leader Hydra. While interesting at first, this creature's actions had quickly become repetitive and predictable. It would find a location, kill all the Infected, there, move one, and repeat. That was literally all there was to what it was doing. And unfortunately for him, he was the one who had to watch it.

Come on you overgrown worm; just slither back to your master so we can end him—or her—and finish up in Academy City. We meet the Supreme Regurgitator's superior after capturing Mercer and I'd like that to happen sooner rather than later.

Sadly, the Leader Hydra didn't move. At least, it didn't relocate. It was doing plenty of movement while it attacked the Infected, but other than that, there was nothing of importance.

Laren tensed when a familiar feeling crept over him. The feeling of being watched.

Slowly rising, he began craning his neck, trying to find whoever it was that was watching him without actually letting them know he was on to them. If he could find them, he might be able to lead them into a position in which he could attack them with the element of surprise at his back. However, he knew that suddenly walking into a building would make his pursuers suspicious, so he'd have to settle on leading them to a rooftop where he could attack quickly and from behind cover.

Movement caught his eye, and Laren turned down to the Leader Hydra as it began slithering off to a new position. However, the creature hadn't gone straight like it usually did. Instead of moving forward, the Leader Hydra turned to its right and set off in that direction.

Laren frowned.

This seems new. It usually goes straight; what could have changed?

Laren jumped from the rooftop, making his way across building as he kept up with the Leader Hydra. Once more, the massive creature stopped in a new area and began attacking Infected.

A loud slap echoed throughout the area as Laren's palm met his face.

Great. Now I can watch this all over again. How lovely.

*Page Break*

Siren leaned back in his chair, sighing in boredom. One minute, he's escaping from some underground lair, and the next, he's on guard duty. Such an extreme change can lead to boredom quite quickly, especially since he didn't need much time to recover from what most would consider a physically exhausting situation.

Despite his mood, he kept his eyes on the cameras and his hands on the keyboard and mouse. No matter how uneventful things got, Kuroko and Rika would need to be warned if someone was approaching, and with Mikoro resting, the task fell to him.

"See anything?"

And Mikoto.

"No Mikoto, I haven't seen anything. If I did, I would have called Kuroko," Siren replied.

"Oh."

Switching to another camera, Siren quickly scanned the scene presented to him. Once satisfied that nothing was out of the ordinary, he switched to the next camera, repeating the process. It had been like this ever since Kuroko and Rika had left to follow Laren.

In the back of his mind, he knew that forcing Rika to accompany Kuroko wasn't kind, but it was necessary. If Rika were to turn on them, the safest way to subdue her without causing collateral damage was to get her just outside the barrier that guarded the hospital. The only person who could do that before any damage was done was Kuroko.

He understood why the others were less than happy with his choice, but as he had told them, he had the memories of people who had spent many weeks getting to know their victims before killing them. He had to remind himself on more than one occasion that the others were essentially children. He, on the other hand, possessed enough memories to be considered an old man. A very, very old man.

He could only imagine how many years worth of memory he'd have once consuming the Evolved and Ares. The thought excited him.

Mikoto jumped slightly as the door opened and Touma walked in with Index trailing behind him. "Hey guys," he called out in a depressed tone. "Where's Kuroko? And that Rika girl?"

"Following Laren," Siren answered without hesitation.

"Oh, I—wait what?!" Touma shouted.

"The Leader Hydra and Laren got out of range of the cameras. Rika and Kuroko went to follow him while Siren and I are keeping an eye on the cameras," Mikoto told him.

"Uh, ok, but, where's Mikoro?" asked the boy.

"Resting—she needed it," Siren explained. "So, why the depressed tone of voice?"

Touma sighed from behind him. Siren could see the boy's face, but he assumed it wasn't a happy one. "Index has been asking for more and more food, but Anti-Skill is having everyone wait. There most recent attempt to get food wasn't successful. One of the squads they sent out mysteriously vanished without a trace."

Siren blinked. "And you know this…how?"

"I overheard them while searching for food," Index chirped. "Those guys don't like it when you sneak behind their backs."

"Really?" Mikoto asked sarcastically. "What a surprise."

"You're not worried about this?" Touma asked, clearly surprised. "I thought you'd totally lose your head like you usually do."

"What?! I don't lose my head all the time!" Mikoto shouted. "Besides, nobody said I wasn't worried about the missing soldiers. The thing is, I can guess what happened to them."

"Probably mauled by Infected," Siren finished.

"Yeah," said Mikoto, her tone now as depressed as Touma's was a moment ago. "Unfortunately, that kind of thing has become a little bit too…regular."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Touma. "Still, it's pretty weird; Index said the soldiers were saying that they lost contact with the entire squad in less than a minute."

"These soldiers need to learn to keep their information to themselves; you never know who's listening," Siren muttered.

"Eh, Index has a way of getting into places where you'd least expect her," Touma said with a shrug. "So, anything interesting show up on the cameras?"

Siren shook his head. "Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it—everything's been calm so far." He switched to a different camera as he finished the sentence, quickly repeating the familiar process of scanning the area and moving on.

"That's good," said Touma.

An awkward silence settled in as Touma finished his statement. Siren kept his eyes glued to the screen, but he guessed that Touma and Mikoto were glancing at each other in an attempt to try and continue the conversation.

It was then that he noticed a truck casually driving down the street. Eyes widening, Siren leaned forward. "What the heck?"

Immediately, Mikoto, Index, and Touma were behind him, looking over his shoulders at the screen.

"A…truck?" Mikoto asked.

Siren pointed at the screen. "Look, the Infected are moving out of its way." Sure enough, as the truck moved along the street, the Infected that were still in the area—those that either hadn't attacked the Leader Hydra earlier or had only recently showed up—were moving aside, allowing the truck to pass through unharmed.

"Yeah, but why?" Touma asked.

"There must be an Evolved in the truck," Mikoto breathed. "But why would one of the Evolved need a truck? They can jump across buildings and fly!"

"Glide," Siren corrected. "The Evolved and I are capable of gliding, not flying."

"Whatever! You know what I'm getting at!"

Siren nodded. "I do, and I'm just as confused. What would the Evolved—or Ares—need with a truck?" Nobody in the room seemed to have an answer to that question as they watched the truck drive down the road. It wasn't rushing, but neither was it going slowly.

"I'm going to alert Kuroko," Siren told the others. Quickly grabbing his phone, he began calling Kuroko. As soon as the call was one its way, he turned back to the screen, watching the truck along with the others.

"Yes?" Kuroko hissed.

"Kuroko, there's some kind of a box truck driving around by the cameras. We're pretty sure it's an Evolved that's behind the wheel, but they're not coming your way."

He could practically hear Kuroko's confused expression. "A…truck?"

"Yes, a truck. This is your call; you can stay or you can get out of there. If you want to stay, I'll notify you if the truck comes your way."

Kuroko hesitated. "I…let me ask Rika." For a few seconds, everything was silent—at least, Siren couldn't hear anything from Kuroko. Then, he heard a muffled sound and her voice came through once more. "We'll stay. Just tell us if the truck heads our way so we can get out of here."

"Got it," Siren said while nodding. "Keep your eyes peeled." With that, he hung up and returned all his attention to the truck. For a few seconds, he and the others watched in silence. However, Siren soon realized that they were doing something wrong.

He frantically began switching between the cameras, scanning over everything he saw until he had checked every camera in the area closest to Kuroko's location.

"What are you doing?" asked Mikoto as he switched to a camera with a view of the truck.

"If we focus entirely on the truck, we won't be able to spot other incoming threats. We need to keep an eye on more than one camera. For all we know, the truck could be a distraction."

Mikoto's eyes widened. "Wait, what if it really is?"

Siren shrugged. "We have no way of knowing. The best thing to do would have been to get Kuroko and Rika out of there, but they want to stay. The second best thing to do—that I can think of—is to monitor as many cameras as we can."

As soon as he said that, he began switching between the cameras again, searching for any signs of—

"What the—?!"

"Oh crap!"

"I don't get it."

"Food?"

"Shit," Siren swore, reaching for his phone. The Leader Hydra; it was coming back. If that was the case, Laren was following it, and that meant Kuroko and Rika were following him. Unfortunately…

"Kuroko," Siren hissed as soon as she picked up. "The Leader Hydra is back in our view; you guys are headed straight for the truck!"

"We are?" she asked.

"Yes! Either get out or take cover before there's a fight!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down! What fight? You're not making any sense!"

"If the Leader Hydra keeps moving, it'll block the truck. If there's an Evolved driving that thing, it'll result in a fight, and you two might be spotted. Like I said before, either get our or take cover."

Kuroko hesitated before speaking. "If a fight takes place, will you guys see it through the cameras?"

"If all goes as I suspect, we should have a decent view. Not the best view, but a decent one."

Once more, Kuroko hesitated. "Alright, we'll leave. Make sure nobody is standing by the door. We'll teleport there in a few seconds."

"Right."

As Siren hung up, he checked to make sure nobody was by the door. Luckily, there wasn't.

"Oh! I think I got it! The Leader Hydra was going to run into the truck!" Touma exclaimed, finally catching on.

Siren found himself sighing and shaking his head.

*Page Break*

Luke hummed a low, eerie song as he drove. Behind him, he could hear the sound of his…cargo, moving around. Honestly, he hated the fact that they were so fragile at the moment. Because of their frailty, it was impossible to transport them through the use of the Hunters, hence, why he was resorting to using a truck.

It disgusted him, how weak these creatures were. The sooner he gave them a push in the right direction, the sooner they'd have Mercer and be back home. All he needed was time. He knew he could do it; he knew he could give them new life, make them more.

Mercer may have destroyed some of the Hunters he was working on, but a few dead specimens never stopped him. No, he would not be discouraged by the loss of a few new Hunters. With new subjects to work on, he'd finish what he started and—

"Luke!"

Luke blinked as he realized Laren was communicating with him through their ear pieces. Reaching up with his hand, he pressed a button on the device. "Yes?"

"The Leader Hydra is coming! I can see the truck you're in from here! You've only got a few seconds before the Leader Hydra—"

He was cut off by the deafening roar of the beast. Startled, Luke's head snapped to his left as he stared out the window. There, not too far from him, was the rampaging Leader Hydra, making its way toward him.

Three thoughts crossed Luke's mind. The first was that he'd have a chance to get a closer look at the Hydra and study it. The second was that he needed to protect his cargo. The third was…

Oh shit.

He wasn't sure if the creature had seen him yet, but the distance between them was still great enough for Luke to react.

Thinking quickly, he jumped out of the truck as fast as he could, grabbing the vehicle. The moment he spotted an ideal spot to drop off the truck, he jumped toward it.

Landing by another building, Luke sprinted up the wall, the truck still in his hands. As soon as he reached the rooftop—which wasn't very high off the ground at all—he dropped the truck and turned around. Quickly spotting the Leader Hydra, he noticed Laren trailing a distance behind it, hopping across rooftops. Bringing his hand to his ear, Luke contacted his fellow Evolved.

"There are two of us right now; we should try to capture it."

"I was told to follow it, not capture it. We won't know who sent it if we kill it."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Fine, but let's try to subdue it for a time so I can study it a bit, maybe get a DNA sample."

"You want to subdue it? How on Earth are we supposed to do that without killing it?"

"Anything can be beaten into submission. Injure any living thing beyond its limits and it'll roll over and submit," said Luke, a smirk forming on his face. "All we have to do is find the most efficient way to damage it."

He heard Luke sigh. "Sometimes, you're as bad as Clara."

"Tch! Clara's addicted to pain, disobeys orders, and sometimes allows her emotions to be the driving force behind her actions. I, on the other hand, simply wish to learn as much as I can about, well, everything. 'Everything' includes this Leader Hydra."

"I'll ask the Supreme Regurgitator for permission."

Luke sighed. Sometimes, he found Laren's loyalty and commitment to the Prototype to be a bit annoying. What was slightly more annoying was that he couldn't argue. Not unless he wanted to be killed. He—and everyone he knew—were well aware that Ares was the superior fighter.

Most of the time, the Prototype's commands made perfect sense to him, but when they didn't, he'd react like any other person would.

He'd be annoyed that he was doing something that made no sense to him.

The roar of the Leader Hydra pulled Luke out of his thoughts. Snapping back to reality, he threw a final glance over his shoulder, just to make sure the truck was safe and secure. Satisfied that he could move on, he turned to face the Leader Hydra. It was still a good distance from him, so he had time to call in some backup to watch over his cargo.

Grunting from the effort, Luke doubled over, a red mist rising from his body. Abruptly, he jerked up, roaring to the sky as the red mist exploded around him. Satisfied, he leaned against the truck, waiting for his—there they were.

Hopping over building rooftops, some of his favorite creations were moving as fast as they could to reach their creator. From here, one could mistake them for Evolved or Prototypes, and while that was a good thing—intimidation was a powerful thing—these creatures simply weren't as advanced as the Evolved or the Prototypes.

The only reason they were able to get here so fast was because Laren had ordered them to follow him from a distance, just to make sure nobody else decided to follow him.

It took several seconds, but eventually, the first of them landed on the rooftop. Standing before him was a humanoid Infected that was probably as close to 'sapient' as one could get. Its body had decayed, but not nearly as much as some of the lesser Infected. Hollow, white eyes stared at him from a bony face with skin that was so thin it was almost transparent.

The easiest way to describe these creatures would be to say that they were lesser Infected with the powers of an Evolved; the ability to shape shift.

They couldn't do anything advanced like taking the form of something they've consumed, but they could change their bodies into basic weapons, much like the Evolved could. However, the first thing one would notice about these Infected—their powers could only be seen when they displayed them—was the shape they were in. While lesser Infected looked like their bodies had melted in some areas and swollen in others, these Infected looked almost human. Of course, they were a little decayed in some areas—the occasional missing finger, a protruding piece of bone—but for the most part, they were intact. That is, if one could ignore the fact that they were incredibly skinny and looked as though they had been starving for weeks.

Within a few seconds, a total of seven of his favorite Infected had landed on his rooftop. Pointing a finger at the truck, Luke issues a mental command that told the Infected everything they needed to know.

Protect.

And with that, he launched himself into the air, gliding towards the Leader Hydra as it slaughtered the Infected down below. Laren wasn't far behind it, and since he hadn't called Luke to inform him to back off, Luke could only guess that—

"We're good to go. Just don't kill it," Laren's voice echoed in his ear.

Luke grinned.

Just as I thought.

With his Claws already forming on his arms, Luke dashed forward, jumping over cars and anything else that got in his way. Luckily, the Infected were moving out of his way, making it easier to reach the Leader Hydra.

As he neared an overturned car, he flipped over it, digging his Claws into it as he passed over. When he landed on his feet again, the car was in his hands and he held it over his head. He did all this in one, fluid motion, evidence of both practice and talent.

Or perhaps all Evolved inherited the mobility of their creator, whoever that may be.

The sooner we get Mercer, the sooner we find out.

Running for momentum, Luke threw the car as hard as he could, watching as it connected with the Leader Hydra's side. In terms of damage, it did next to none, doing little more than annoying the creature. However, it had done what he had intended; it got the Leader Hydra's attention.

Turning toward him, the Leader Hydra stood still for a moment before it began slithering forward. Luke smirked as he waited for the creature to near him. "Laren," he began, bringing his hand up and pushing a button on his earpiece. "I want to lead this thing into something explosive. Can you—"

"You know, we could just ask the Supreme Regurgitator to capture it,"

Luke blinked. "Wait, isn't he busy?"

"Doing what? Grevin and Clara are still looking for Mercer, you've been doing that little project of yours, I've been following the Leader Hydra; the only thing he could be doing that's of importance is looking for Mercer, and we all know how well that's going."

Huh.

"Well, can you ask him? He seems to like you the best, so I assume he'll listen to you more than me," said Luke.

"Give me a minute."

Luke began sprinting toward the Leader Hydra, intent on distracting it until Ares arrived—if he came at all, that is. As he neared the beast, he launched himself to the side, planted his feet on a building, and kicked off into the air. Through this, he was able to jump over the Leader Hydra, well out of reach of its arms.

Unfortunately, that didn't mean that it didn't try to spear him with its tendrils. As Luke passed over it, dozens of tendrils shot from the creature's arms, heading straight for him. Spinning around, Luke fanned out his Claws and slapped aside the tendrils as they neared him.

With the attack deflected, he landed behind the Leader Hydra. The tendrils immediately redirected themselves, shooting towards him with the intent to kill. Jumping back, Luke watched as the tendrils slammed into the ground, burrowing deep into it. The Leader Hydra turned its body towards him, yanking its tendrils out of the ground.

Satisfied that he had its attention, Luke bent his knees, waiting to dodge whatever attack may be thrown at him. As he expected, the Leader Hydra fired more tendrils at him, which he dodged with little effort.

Not the brightest of creatures. This thing's tough to kill, but easy to dodge. This might take some time.

Luke dove into a building as barrage of tendrils slammed into the ground where he was standing moments ago. Once inside, he quickly began making his way up, slamming through floors as he jumped up, level by level.

As he moved up, he became aware of the tendrils that came shooting through the windows to his right—the Leader Hydra couldn't see him, so it was attacking as much of the building as it could.

Before long, he tore through the roof, jumping out the top of the building. By now, the building had become unstable, and was leaning forward. In fact, it seemed as though it were about to collapse.

Craning his neck, Luke jumped from the building, twisting in the air as he plummeted to the ground. With red mist gathering around him and his body picking up speed, Luke felt the wind rushing past him as he came closer and closer to the Leader Hydra.

As soon as he neared it, he flipped forward, pointing his feet at the Leader Hydra. The moment he slammed into it, he felt the bones in his feet, legs, and midsection breaking from the immense force of the fall. Grunting in annoyance, he forcefully pumped biomass into his lower body, slightly speeding up his already insanely quick healing.

It took less than four seconds for his bones to return to their proper condition, and when they did, Luke flipped off the Leader Hydra, watching as the creature's bones began snapping back into place.

"Luke," Laren's voice echoed from his earpiece. "The Supreme Regurgitator is on his way."

"Finally," Luke mumbled. "What took so long?"

"I had to explain to him why he would care if we subdue the Leader Hydra or not. I basically explained your plan of extracting DNA to him."

"Got it. How long 'till he's here?"

"Should be a couple minutes."

Luke grinned. Finally, he was going to get a chance to pick the Leader Hydra's DNA apart. Finally, he would know what made it tick, and perhaps replicate it.

Wouldn't that be nice? A small army of Leader Hydras to take over any city. I'm sure that would provide some entertainment.

The only thing left was to actually subdue the Leader Hydra and get some DNA samples. However, subduing it wasn't his job, not anymore.

Alright Hydra, it's time to see how you stack up against the second most powerful Infected to walk the Earth.

Explanations/Clarifications

Nothing much to explain as far as I can see. If you see anything in this chapter that you think needs explaining, tell me so I can add something here to clarify for future readers.

Next time, on A Certain Sapient Virus, Ares vs. the Leader Hydra (yay)!