One Thousand Suns
Alex had been on thousand chopper rides. So many of the men he had consumed had memories of awkward or anxious flights, of bumpy or downright boring times. No memory he had- either stolen or his own- was as tense as the ride to the Reagan was now.
Alex was wedged between Jackson and Redstone- or as wedged as it was possible without either man actually touching him. Estoban and Fernandez sat on either side of them, filling the seat completely. All four of them were incredibly tense, jaws set and veins nearly popping out. Cross was directly opposite of Alex, face stone-like and blank; with Hoffman and Anders next to him. The latter two were watching warily, a little curiously maybe, but equally tense (though not as tense as the guys being in the immediate kill-zone). MacAlistair and Santos were to the front, guiding the Blackhawk (which Alistair had actually named; Maggie, after his grandmother) towards the looming shadow of the aircraft carrier in the middle of the bay.
"Everybody's up to date on how we proceed?" Cross's voice cut like a knife in the monotone roar of the engine above. It's an empty question, Alex knew. The man had briefed them all on how things were going to go. Still, Santos felt obliged to reply. "Basically it's shut the fuck up, don't say a word, and let ZEUS do its job." She scoffed. "And with 'job' you meant let it kill and fucking eat Randall, then make sure the city doesn't blow."
"That's what he demanded for a price", Cross mentioned. "And for preventing shit like this from happening ever again and saving a city from being glassed into oblivion, that's dirt cheap."
"We're approaching Citadel Command", MacAlistair mentioned, cutting all dialog short. Cross nodded and leaned back. "Alright. Let's get this show on the road."
Alex turned in his seat, glancing at Jackson. He then thrust both hands to the front, fists curled and wrists locked together. The man flinched back, hand flying to the handgun at his side. The Runner cocked his head.
"You can't march Taggart in without making sure he can't escape", he pointed out. Jackson blinked, quickly understanding, and fished a zip-tie from his pocket to lock Alex's wrists together. It was pretty tight, and humans would probably find it highly unpleasant, though to him it wasn't too problematic. He could rip tank turrets off if he needed to- a bit of plastic wasn't going to stop him. He tested the bonds with a nod, then got up and stepped a few steps into the cargo area, erupting into thousands of tendrils once he had some distance. The Wisemen flinched back, swearing, but as fast as they've come the tentacles disappeared again. He could hear the murmur amongst the men, and even Cross was looking slightly disturbed. "Let's get this show on the road", Alex grinned, expression and voice completely alien on Taggart's face.
The Blackhawk touched down on the deck, and Alistair shut the engine down. The Wisemen all moved towards the sliding door as the helicopter was lowered into the belly of the carrier, and Cross moved to grab Alex's collar. (He noticed he was the only one willingly going inside his personal bubble) "Wipe that grin off your face", he hissed lowly, "Dinner's not served yet."
Alex snorted, and pulled up a defeated expression, like a mask. Shoulders dropping and hanging his head. Just a little while longer...then everything would be done. And after that- he wasn't sure. Maybe he was just going to give everything up and have Blackwatch take him in, as long it would keep Dana safe. Dana- who was unconscious and defenseless on the island Randall wanted to destroy.
The Wisemen crowded around them, but still gave them enough room for whatever was going to happen. They were just side characters, nobody important- Alex and Cross were the current stars of the show.
Randall was moving towards them as the elevator sank into floor in front of him. The old grizzled man was looking even more sour than he usually did as he stopped in front of them. He glanced hatefully at Alex, then to Cross. "Report?"
Cross's back straightened slightly. "Taggart's order lead directly to the collapse of the central Blue Zone", he declared. Randall rolled his eyes, pulled out his gun- and just fired a single shot into Alex's right eye. His body went limp as he dropped back, fighting the urge to heal. Damnit, guy didn't fuck about. Large projectile, hollow-point too. Had torn a real hole through his head, blinding him partially. The remaining eye was working perfectly though, so he watched somewhat amused at the startled faces of the Wisemen. He could tell Cross's expression hadn't changed at all. He heard Randall's low scoff, before the man shifted and turned to the team. "Welcome home. Operation Red Light is over." He made a motion and walked off, the Wisemen drawing after him. Alex struggled to keep the chuckles from escaping his throat, waited another moment- and slowly sat up to trail after them, ripping the zip-tie in the process. He shifted the base of his feet to avoid making any noise, but didn't change back at the moment. He could feel the terror of the Wisemen as he carefully snuck behind them. They knew it was a massive mistake to keep their backs to him, but they couldn't do anything against it, lest they wanted to alert Randall to his presence there.
The group stopped in Bay One, in front of a cart that was loaded with a massive nuclear warhead. Alex's heart stopped- because the countdown was already running.
And it sent a surge of rage through him. Randall had never intended to not use it on Manhattan. These four hours he'd given Cross was a mere lip service. He could hear it on the sharp intake of breaths from the Wisemen- they were thinking the same.
"What about our men?" Cross asked with a hint of anger in his voice. "Those on the ground in Manhattan?"
The General glared at him. "You didn't think I was this naive, did you?" And there was something dark in his tone as he turned and pointed his gun at Cross's head. The Wisemen flinched, but their Captain just stared down the barrel of the weapon without a blink. "When you have a festering wound, you cauterize it." A sacrificial lamb, a necessary cruelty. "We'll be saving millions of American lives."
Alex snarled, unheard deep in his throat as the Wisemen parted and let him through. Cross's eyes left Randall's face and lock with his (or his one eye and the hole in his head he could probably see Alistair through), and the General realized that something was off. He turned around, eyes widening when he noticed the man he shot standing just behind him. Alex grit his teeth and shifted back into his default form the very next second. His hand shot to the front, and he seized the old man's throat, effortlessly lifting him up.
"I won't let you erase New York like you erased Hope", Alex spat, eyes narrowing.
Randall struggled, trying to pry his hand off. "Let-" He hissed and picked up his voice. "Get this bastard!" He ordered.
Cross scoffed and stepped back, as did the Wisemen. Randall ceased his writhing and his eyes widened. "You-", he grit out, "You-"
"Working with ZEUS", Cross commented calmly. "Just business, Sir, but with all respect: I won't let you kill my men." Alex snorted hatefully and flung the man to the ground, watching him squirm and try to prop himself back up with his remaining arm. He stepped to the front, looming over the man. "You were at Hope, Idaho", he snarled, watching the General climb to his feet. "You took something from Elizabeth Greene." He paused, head tilting downwards so his eyes remained in the shade of his hood. "I know what Blackwatch had done." He circled the man, and the Wisemen stepped back, allowing him his space. "Because everyone I killed- they're in me. They are me."
The General's eyes narrowed in realization. "That's how you-" Alex's lips peeled away from his teeth as his feeding tendrils unfurled from his shoulders. No fooling around, no more time wasted- and he had to stop this countdown anyways. He lunged to the front and just grabbed the General, tentacles immediately ensnaring the body.
He simply pulled, ripped Randall apart with nothing more than a twitch of his shoulders and devoured whatever his tendrils managed to grab- the brain being the first thing he consumed in a spray of blood and gore. He did notice how the Wisemen cringed back with swears, but then the flood of memories washed over him.
With most victims he usually just pushed the information he gathered to the back of his mind without really looking at them, but to some he paid more attention to- and those were what made his head hurt like mad when they settled into whatever mass the memories went. I stopped this damn thing before. Stopped it dead.
Lies. All lies. Randall hadn't stopped the Infection in Hope. He had gone in, a young upstart, and went directly for the head of the snake. Originally, he had wanted to end it all, but then he and his team had went into the hospital where the Walkers were hiding- and he sacrificed one man after the other to clear the way. Inside the maternity ward, where Greene was. And more- Greene was giving birth. In that moment, Randall had realized that this was the way to get the power he wanted. His superiors wanted to know what made this Runner so special, and if he gave them more than just the Runner, then he was going to be a made man. There was only one man left of his team, and he stood behind the door, guarding the room while he went on to steal the newborn away from the Runner. He held the little squirming and crying thing, grinning. This was what his superiors wanted, this is what they were looking for. And he could give it to them.
"Sir! Orders were to liquidate the entire population!" The last man yelled. "Shoot it!"
"No", Randall replied, pulling his gun. "Because this is what we had been sent in for." He shot the man, but the baby wailed loudly in his ears, and Greene suddenly lurched to the front, teeth sinking deeply into his forearm, forcing him to let the baby go and drop it on the bed. Randall swore, slammed his gun over her head to knock her unconscious. Infected- he got infected- A meat cleaver to the side caught his eye and without hesitation, he grabbed it and brought it down on his own arm, hacking it off without even blinking.
No longer infected- he was clean. With a grunt, he ripped off his jacket and tied it around the heavily bleeding stump, then called for back-up.
The baby was wailing, flailing its arms and staining the bed sheets further with blood and liquids. Randall snorted, turning to eye another team exploding into the room. "Mother and child are now military assets", he declared, ignoring their fussing over his lost arm. And I just made General Officer.
Alex grunted when the pain and memories faded away, replaced for a bitter taste in his mouth. "You bastard", he growled. "You could have stopped all of this. You let it happen." Randall had been the one to pull the trigger. Randall had been the one to doom Manhattan- because he was greedy for power. He had known it, had realized it when he got up and walked out of Gentek- but he hadn't done anything to stop it back then. Millions would have been alive if he had destroyed Greene the very moment Alex had woken.
But he hadn't, because nobody was supposed to know. And in the end, he only tried to brush everything under the carpet and burn the rest.
"Shit, is it over?" Santos demanded to know. "Are we safe?"
"We aren't", Alex replied with a growl, voice hoarse. "I can disarm the bomb, but I don't have much time left before it gets irreversible." But as he turned, his back went ramrod straight when he heard a single loud voice. Inside the Hive Mind- that had been in chaos before.
"You won't."
He spun around, eyes widening and back bristling when a hand crushed his throat and he was bodily lifted off the ground. He had a moment to stare at the blank face of one of the Wisemen. The meek and otherwise hollow face of Martin Hoffman.
The man scoffed, and his voice roared inside Alex's head. "When the weapon detonates and they think the Infection is cleansed", he declared and the Wisemen froze in terror. "Nobody will be looking for me."
Impossible- Impossible!
Hoffman's arm swiped to the side, smashing the Wisemen and Cross closest to him aside like flies, even as he continued holding Alex up like he weighed nothing. "And when I consume you", the man continued, "I will be able to withstand even this."
"Fuck!" Jackson bellowed, just as Cross scrambled back to his feet. Hoffman reeled his arm back and threw Alex several yards backwards, where he slammed into the floor and came to a stop on top of another aircraft lift. He instantly struggled to his feet, as the Wisemen uttered startled yells and backed off, weapons ready.
When Hoffman started to shift.
Clothes vanished in a flurry of red tentacles, and muscles bulged under thick skin as the entire mass shifted and grew in size. The ground shook under a massive weight when mismatched feet stomped towards him. Alex's cold blue eyes locked with murky white ones when the Supreme Hunter stopped just on top of the elevator with a throaty snarl.
Pathetic. Fatherbrother was pathetic. So powerful, so much potential- all wasted. He hurt mother, killed her, killed all the siblings. Mother wanted him to be at her side, to be the one to bring unity and order to the world, because he wasn't as restricted as the other siblings were. Because he was still there and not taken like the oldest brother.
But he rejected her, killed her, killed the order and unity. Because he viewed the prey- the humans- as kin. Kin! Fatherbrother imitated their faces, their bodies, their behavior without needing to. He was so much more, could be so much more, and he still restricted himself to their shape.
It watched, watched how he allied himself with his former enemy, let him order him around like an obedient slave. And he didn't even notice how he wasn't the only one who snuck in.
When they had fought, it had respected fatherbrother. He was so much stronger, had so much more power. Had he consumed it, he would have grown stronger; while it would have become part of him, part of the most powerful being in existence. Instead, he had rejected it, had let the humans destroy most of its body- and ran off looking for that human whelp, the human mother claimed was fatherbrother's weak point. He hadn't even bothered looking back.
And its respect vanished, replaced for loathing and hatred at the arrogance, at the neglect and ignorance. It had healed, had consumed the flesh of the Hive to return once the humans thought they were done with them- but it had only been instinct. But then it found one human, standing with his back to it, so it consumed him like fatherbrother did.
And it learnt. In an instant, it realized that there were ways to destroy him- ways like the humans had done before. By betrayal, by stabbing him in the back. The Hive was going to heal once it had his powers. Mother didn't wanted to listen, and it started loathing her too. But she was its mother, mother to them all- and when fatherbrother killed her it was shocked too. But unlike the siblings, it only saw the potential. The possibilities- mother gone. Gone also her rigid Hive. It would be able to bring about a new Hive. Stronger too- and all it had to do was consume fatherbrother and take the throne he rejected.
So it imitated him, imitated how he took the humans' shape to walk amongst them. Because it knew that trying to attack them wasn't going to work. It had to be careful, watch them first, before it struck.
It had known about the pack that had brought down fatherbrother before. The pack leader it couldn't take, was always out of its reach. Too careful, too watchful. But it could take one of the pack members. And it chose the one that was always alone with the machines.
It had gotten lucky. That one had been sent by the leader to acquire some information, paper, and was still in possession of it. Figuring out what the pack leader wanted was easy- and it quickly shifted the focus of its work. The pack leader was already on his way to make fatherbrother stronger. Abilities it could need too. It was going much faster than it expected, actually- and it took fatherbrother's focus away from it.
For this, it just needed to avoid the soldiers, had avoided being detected easily- because unlike fatherbrother it knew restraint. It was patient, watched from the shadow while playing human. Weak creatures, without order, without power- and still endlessly dangerous. It was fascinated by it, was fascinated what it learnt about the first Hive mother created. Learnt how it was created- and the pack leader hadn't even realized he handed it the possibility to do so.
Destroying the humans would be easy though. Their machines, their weapons- without them there were easy prey. It would have been easy guiding the siblings to attack them when they were at their weakest- but fatherbrother wasn't supposed to know it was there. So it stopped talking to the Hive, was only listening.
Listened how mother died. Listened how the Hive was thrown into chaos. Listened to their mourning. It hadn't interfered, couldn't interfere. Siblings were weak too. Without mother, they couldn't survive, while it and fatherbrother were easily able to do so. They were the new generation- more powerful and less dependent on the Hive. The old Hive needed to die so it could create a new Hive. And fatherbrother continued slaughtering the siblings, killed them and drove them back without listening to their cries. Weak, all of them. They deserved to die.
But fatherbrother not only killed the weak siblings- he also fought the humans. Not for food, but to learn. Learning by taking their memories, learning about himself. Learning about his parents, the humans that created him from mother.
To kill them too.
This one-sided focus on parricide blinded him. Made him ignorant to what was around him. In the end he hadn't even realized that it was amongst the pack of humans that sought to take down the thief that took the oldest brother away.
And that was when it realized fatherbrother wasn't fit to rule, wasn't fit to bring the order. He was too selfish, too blind and deaf to the Hive's pleas. Too caught in the own ways of attempting to be human. He wasn't human- but he denied any relationship he had with them.
So it was going to kill and consume fatherbrother, was going to take his powers for itself. And its chance came quickly. The pack leader had started to panic, because the thief of the oldest brother threatened to destroy the entire city. It was survivable- with enough mass and hiding in the ground- or by taking the abilities of those that were stronger. But fatherbrother was panicking too- so he took the shape of another human and went together with the pack of them. Just another pathetic example of him refusing his powers and playing human.
The thief didn't realize he was being played- humans never realized- and fatherbrother subsequently killed and devoured the man. Then he told them about being able to disarm the weapon- but that was when it finally acted, shed off its disguise.
"You won't"
The Supreme Hunter?! Here? But he had killed it! He had seen it die!
It was impossible it was here! Alex snarled and backed off, eyes never leaving the much larger beast. Asides from it should not be here, there was the other thing too- it had disguised itself as Hoffman- disguised like he could do. Plus, it could fire Devastators- something none of the other Infected could do. This bastard was way too much like him, and too little Redlight.
He had to kill it.
His Armor rose from his skin and encased his body as his muscles increased in size. Alex ducked and growled at the thing, body bristling.
The elevator stopped at deck with a loud clang, and the men present on deck whirled around, guns ripped up, while the workers immediately fled for safety. "All hands on deck! All hands on deck!" The loudspeakers yowled throughout the ship and Alex wondered for a brief moment whether it came from any of the Wisemen he'd come here with. "Intruder alert- ZEUS is in the barn! This is not a drill!"
The Hunter whirled around when the first bullets impacted into its flesh, eyes narrowing at the men. Alex instantly recognized the fine tremor and the tendrils that started to converge across its shape and leapt off the floor with a swear, heading further up on the deck.
The Hunter exploded behind him in a mass of tightly packed tendrils and steel-like spears. The Blackwatch soldiers that had been on deck were torn to pieces in an instant, and Alex was slightly startled by the pure reach of the Devastator. At the next moment, adrenaline rushed through his body and drove him forwards, drowning out the terror he felt. The Hunter was going to kill him if he didn't kill it first, so he dove for a grounded helicopter, ripped it up and chucked it with full force at the Hunter. The friction and the stress blew up the gas tank, along with the engine and the ammunition that was still on-board, creating a powerful ball of fire.
The Hunter's enraged howls weren't quite drowned out by it, and it was shooting out of the flames much too quickly. Alex bounced to the side easily enough, letting its wild swing miss by feet. The Hunter stopped, whipping around with a sort-of confused growl. Probably didn't expect him to move that fast in his shell. Thank God for the upgrades he had so recently worked in. Didn't mean he was going to stick around, though- this guy was far too much of a threat to screw around, so Alex instantly rocketed off the floor, air-dashed to the side to get out of the Hunter's reach before it got its bearings back together. He couldn't stay in its closer surrounding for too long- he had been impaled with a Devastator once already and was not keen on doing it again. Which limited his abilities drastically. Claws, Blade and the Hammerfists were right out of the question except for hit-and-run. The Whipfist wasn't suited for tough targets like this beast either, which reduced his possibilities to 'Run Circles and ditch stuff'.
Luckily, an aircraft carrier certainly did not lack in projectiles required. Alex dove at a stash of rockets previously placed here for loading the various fighter jets and helicopters before he and the Hunter interrupted them, and yanked it up, whirling to throw it at the much larger beast.
He misjudged how close it was, though, so when the rocket hit the Hunter, the resulting shockwave from the insides blowing up threw Alex backwards as well. He hissed and twisted in mid-air, giving off a burst of condensed air to catapult himself back to the front and shift his one arm into his Blade at the same time. He slammed into the Hunter at full speed, nearly tackling it off balance as his weapon burrowed deep into its chest. Instead of dying, however, the beast reeled only a little, before its massive paw seized Alex's torso and yanked him back, pulling him out of the wound in the process. Alex instantly twisted, tried to break free, when the Hunter jabbed its own bony blade to the front. Alex's armor groaned upon impact and gave in, but luckily the weapon did not go through. Instead, most of the front section of the shell cratered, crushed lungs and ribs beneath. Alex gasped when the shock raced through his system, and just kicked both legs out, hitting the thing's eyes. The Hunter roared and reeled back, flinging Alex across the flight deck. He hit the ground several yards down with a dry hiss and a loud thud, and the spikes along his shell dug into the floor and stopped him from slipping.
Ow
His chest hurt and he couldn't breathe- only gasping in short, shallow pants. His lungs were ruined, as were his ribs- and even though his Armor was cracking back into place already, he still couldn't breathe-
You are not human. You never have been human. You are the Blacklight Virus.
The though flashed through his brain with a sudden urge. He wasn't human. He was not human.
He did not need to breathe.
Pain, breathlessness, broken bones- all of it was purely psychosomatic. He was lacking the structures that could be damaged, so all injuries were just a conjuration of his mind- just a role he played so good it also affected his endurance.
He didn't need to breathe, didn't need to feel pain. He was a virus- and a virus did not feel.
With a snarl, he wrenched himself to his feet, just in time to avoid a lunge from the Supreme Hunter. The beast soared over his head, yowling in confusion as it missed him by several feet. His Whipfist was formed in an instant and latched onto the Hunter's leg just as Alex dug his feet into the ground for leverage, then whirled around to drag the much larger Hunter with him and fling it violently across the deck and into the superstructure with a resounding crash. With a growl, he leapt off the ground, towards another grounded chopper, and just ripped it out of its mooring to throw it with all strength into the still-grounded Supreme Hunter.
The beast easily freed itself, picking up the burning wreckage and chucking it back towards Alex, who leapt over it and out of reach. At the same time, the loudspeakers all over the ship started blaring, demanding for back-up and calling for the helicopters that were already in the air to return.
He rolled to the side and air-dashed away, boosting himself further away to avoid a chopper swoop down and spray the ground and the Supreme Hunter with missiles. The beast snarled and kicked off the ground, slamming into the aircraft hard enough to utterly destroy it. But it was distracted for a moment, so Alex grabbed a large cruise missile from a forgotten cart and chucked it at the Hunter, downing it when the thing went up. Well, at least it didn't have his air dash, and certainly couldn't glide to correct its position in mid-air like he could, so it crashed hard into the flight deck. Small mercies.
However, it was also a whole lot tougher than anything he'd ever fought before, and its massive frame was deceptively fast. The very moment it had slammed into the floor it was already moving again, lunging to the front and towards Alex. Its massive paw whistled at his head, and he instinctively brought up his Shield to swallow the blow. It was still powerful enough to rattle his frame, and he found himself way too close to the bigger Infected.
The Hunter seemed to smirk as its position changed slightly and its normal-looking foot shot out to crash hard into Alex's chest. The shell there had grown back into position and had reinforced itself, but the blow was still strong enough to crack it again and send Alex hurling backwards. He corrected his position with an air-dash and got away from the Infected easily, heading towards the substructure. He needed some height and distance, and with the Supreme Hunter lacking most of his aerial maneuvers, he had the advantage of speed. The beast was snarling and set after him. Alex kicked off the island and catapulted himself behind his foe, slamming his Whipfist into its ankles to throw it off balance long enough to jab his hand into the floor and plant a cluster of Groundspikes just below the creature. The story-tall spears impaled the Hunter, ripped parts of its lower extremities apart and stopped it dead in its tracks.
"Forget ZEUS! Shoot the big guy!" Somebody bellowed besides him, and a swarm of incendiary grenades and Javelin missiles impacted into the Supreme Hunter, which ducked behind its massive claw to shield its face from the hailstorm. Alex still craned his head around, eyes widening behind his faceplate when Cross and the remaining seven Wisemen joined in on the fray.
"Keep this bastard pinned", the Captain barked at him, then aimed his grenade launcher at the giant beast to fire off his own rounds. "And you others- shoot that big one! It killed General Randall!"
"Sir?!" Someone yelled over the roar of gunfire, "How did it and ZEUS get on board?!"
"Your security sucks", Alex threw in, eyes narrowing on the Supreme Hunter. It ducked low, tendrils crawling across its flesh. Ah, shit.
Alex instantly yanked his Groundspikes free and whirled around, Whipfist lashing out to swipe all the men nearby from their feet. Cross shouted something, maybe a swearword, as he went down. Alex couldn't really care when he dropped himself as well, just in time to avoid a full barrage of tendrils soaring over his head and spearing everything in their path.
"Stay down!" He hissed at the Specialist, "I'll distract it. You shoot it once it's after me."
"The fuck is this thing?!"
"This", Alex climbed to his feet carefully, ducking under the retreating tendrils, "Is the parasite you tried to kill me with."
He kicked off the floor the very moment the Devastator had pulled back completely. There was a short time where the Hunter was going to be vulnerable before it got its bearings back together. He slammed into the beast and drove it back, Musclemass giving him an edge over the brute strength of the Hunter. The thing swayed back from his onslaught, then threw its massive paw out, forcing Alex to air-dash to the side to avoid it. He still slashed his Blade at its face though for good measure and to draw its attention, before he hastily retreated, Hunter hot on his heels. He rushed back across the flight deck, heading back towards the missiles and grounded helicopters to throw them, when the Hunter suddenly leapt off the ground and barreled into his back, sending him flying. Alex twisted around to face it, dropping his body to the floor to land in a crouch. The Hunter was upon him way too fast, claws blazing. Alex rolled to the side, parrying a blow from the bladed limb of his foe with his own. He instantly bounced backwards and out of its reach as the thing swung at him again, then flipped over its head and shifting to the Hammerfists.
It had worked before to take it by surprise, this time, however, the Hunter swung around and slammed its massive paw right into his stomach, caving in his armor and killing his momentum.
He fell back, easily flipping so his feet were under his body- and he catapulted himself off the ground the moment he made contact. Alex just tucked in his head and slammed with full force into the Supreme Hunter's chest, snapping the bones there and throwing it off balance. The massive beast crashed into the ground, flailing, and Alex instantly jabbed his Blade down and through its sternum, while also planting another cluster of Groundspikes straight through its chest and abdomen.
The beast thrashed and howled out in pain, but managed to lurch upwards and out of the spikes to crush its skull into Alex's. He stumbled back, swearing. The Hunter kicked him off and lunged at him, massive paw slamming against his chest to smash him hard into the floor with enough strength to crack the deck and parts of his Armor. It snarled at him, eyes narrow as it continued to increase the pressure it was putting on his torso, breaking whatever chitinous material it found beneath.
It left itself wide open, and Alex just realized that the shooting had stopped temporarily. Moments before a familiar, blue-sparking baton was jabbed roughly into the Hunter's chest. The static crackle was deafening, as was the pained screech of the thing as it collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.
"Move your ass!" Cross bit out, slightly breathless, twisting the stun baton deeper into the Hunter's chest- but the charge was already weakening. He made a sign and immediately dove away, seconds before several Javelins impacted into the Supreme Hunter's body and ripped through its already ruined flesh. Alex rolled to the side and quickly found his feet, getting some distance between himself and the inferno, heading over to the Wisemen that were forming a circle around their Captain. The men were positively livid, and were joining in on the fray with grenade launchers.
"Thanks"
"That bastard killed and took over my engineer", Cross growled, "And I didn't realize it. It could have killed my entire team and I wouldn't have noticed anything amiss." He snorted. "I don't like this. I don't like this entire mess." He glared at Alex. "Any ideas?"
"Just one", the younger replied, "Keep shooting until it doesn't move anymore- then shoot some more."
The Hunter roared and dove at them, flesh already healing back together as it moved. Alex snarled and went between it and the Wisemen, stopping it dead in its tracks in a cacophony of breaking Armor and snapping bones. He shouldn't put any more stress on his shell until it had healed- but he didn't have a choice in that matter. The beast's paw took a hold of Alex's back, and its bladed arm slid under his right shoulder- and he was bodily lifted off the floor. He had a split second to realize his situation before the Hunter pile-drove him back into the flight deck head first with enough strength to snap his spine and shatter most of his upper body to stun him.
Pain flashed like a series of alert signals through his body, wrenching a snarl from his ruined chest. So be it.
Biomass thrashed across his surface before pulling beneath the shattered Armor to tighten its structure. The Hunter roared and slammed its paw down, trying to break his body- when it suddenly stopped with an abortive yowl. It must have noticed the tremors, and was able to identify them- much like Alex could- but it was too slow.
Alex wrenched a Tendril Barrage from his body, ruining much of his Biomass in the process. Faintly, he heard the Wisemen's startled shouts, but couldn't sense any soft flesh he hit- only dense skin and muscles from the Supreme Hunter, as well as steel from the ship itself. Still, he got the bastard- lances and tentacles ripped into its body and pinned it there, allowing the troops on the ground and the aerial units to land several hits on the creature. But he couldn't keep the Barrage up- his body was in agony, hunger was gnawing at his insides.
With a strangled gasp, he pulled back the spears (or what was left of them after the Hellfire Missiles were done with them) and rose to his feet, dismissing his Armor to heal faster. The Hunger subsided slightly, but he knew he couldn't waste any more Biomass- not when the only viable targets around were all under Cross's order and currently his allies; and the Supreme Hunter wasn't something he gave ever a thought about consuming, not after it had started out as a parasite eating him from the inside-out. He wasn't going to invite trouble by putting it back into his body.
Which left him with the only possibility to take this thing down hard and fast. He sprinted to the side, much faster now that his shell wasn't restricting him- and grabbed another helicopter off the deck. The Supreme Hunter had already whirled around and was chasing after him, so Alex immediately chucked the aircraft at the beast and forced it back, lunging at it as long it was still off-balance and slamming his freshly-formed Blade into its shoulder to stop it from using its paw. The Hunter roared and swung its own sword-like limb at Alex, but he already pulled free and jumped out of its reach before it even managed to turn around.
However, the wound was already healing shut again, and not for the first time Alex wondered just how long this thing could keep up healing- and how much time he had left.
Because just below them, in the belly of this ship- was a live nuclear weapon. And the countdown was running.
Fuck this
Alex threw a glance back at his foe and dashed down the flight deck, slow enough so it could keep up- before he sped up, yanked a whole cart full of ammunition up and threw it at the beast with enough force to blow up the volatile contents. By the time the Hunter and the projectiles went up in a massive ball of fire, he was already halfway back to Cross and the Wisemen. The other Blackwatch soldiers were at a comfortable distance, and they certainly had no intention to get any closer to ZEUS or the guys who had the balls (or madness) to stare it down.
"That doesn't work", he growled once he was in earshot with the team. "This bastard's just healing over and over again." He glanced back, but found it leaping up and destroying an Apache that had flown too close. "The only thing that's working is fire."
"Aim for the face", Cross commented, more to his team than him, panting slightly through grit teeth. Alex could imagine that the injuries he had caused during their battle at Sinai were acting up again. "Keep it blind", the Captain added, "And keep out of the range of those tendrils. It's a close ranged fighter. Stay away and wear it down from afar." He glared at Alex, before he dismounted the grenade launcher from his own arm and shoved it over. Alex took it and the grenade belt, perplexed, nearly not hearing what the Captain told him next. "Your job is it to prevent Junior over there from getting close, got it?"
His head snapped up sharply. "What?"
"You heard me. You're the only one who can take a hit from that bastard and keep going. And I am not going to sacrifice any more of my men."
Any reply Alex could have given was cut short by the Hunter's roar. So he just dropped the topic and charged the Infected, Armor and Shield coming back at a mere thought. He impacted into the beast with the power of a runaway truck and managed to stagger it long enough to get out of its reach before it could retaliate.
It was incredibly delicate work- he could wear it down probably, shave off bit by bit until it was too damaged to continue; but the clock was ticking. Alex didn't like being on a time limit, though he had to admit he was working best when under pressure.
The Hunter swung at him, Alex dodged to the side and aimed Cross's grenade launcher at the beast, firing off a single grenade directly at its face. Part of him marveled how easy the weapon handled, especially given the fact that nobody he consumed before ever had any experience with this kind of gear, and another part watched with sadistic glee how the explosive tore out parts of the Hunter's face and singed its eyes, blinding it. The beast swayed, howling, claw pressed firmly into its face to protect it. Alex tackled back into it with an air-dash. He couldn't use the Blade in such a short distance, the Hammerfists neither, since he usually used both and he couldn't do that with the grenade launcher attached to his wrist- plus he didn't have the leverage needed to cause damage. Which left the Musclemass- or the Claws.
And the Claws were definitely preferably in this case. Faster than the Musclemass and dealt a whole lot of damage. Alex didn't know much of the Supreme Hunter's physiology, but if it was anywhere like normal Hunters, then blood loss and cerebral trauma should shut it down. He was going to try it. He hacked away at the exposed skull, tearing bloody groves into the thick skin and massive muscles as fast as he could with only one arm. The Supreme Hunter growled and suddenly its massive paw grabbed Alex and yanked him off, throwing him across the ship with little more than a thought. It was ridiculous how easily that guy managed to fling someone who was weighing about the same as it did across half the ship like it was flicking away a flea.
Alex corrected his position and air-dashed over to the superstructure, feet making contact with the surface before he rushed upwards, arm flattening into his Blade. He rocketed off the construction and screwed himself as high as possible, before he came back down like a living Guillotine. The Hunter, having anticipated his move, managed to get away and out of reach, but the shockwave that raced through the ship, along with the sheer force Alex put into his move, caved in a section of the flight deck with enough power to actually make the larger beast stumble. He shot to the front and slammed his Blade into the Hunter's legs, ripping through tendons and muscles with ease and stopping it dead in its tracks. As it doubled over to howl in pain, he fired another grenade into its face to send it flailing back. He slammed into it again, using his shoulder and his Shield like a battering ram, to finally bring it down. At the same moment, he jabbed his Blade into its throat, digging deep to tear a hole.
The Hunter yowled, and its legs kicked out, forcing Alex off it and away from it while it was squirming. A helicopter swooped down, firing whatever it had on the grounded beast- but it was moving entirely too fast and was out of the devastating reach, even blinded. Whether sheer luck or something more- Alex couldn't tell. But he had to go after it, especially when it lunged right at the soldiers still crowded around at the other end of the flight deck.
And if it was anywhere like him, it was going to consume the people to get its strength back.
He couldn't allow it, so he tackled into it again, threw it off course and drew its attention. The Hunter roared and swiped at him, wounds healing shut again- but slower than before. It was weakening- and growing desperate.
Just a little while longer.
Alex slammed into it again when they broke away, sent it careening into a parked F22. He lifted his arm and fired another grenade at the beast, blowing it and the jet up. It wouldn't keep the thing down, though, and the people were getting in the way. If the Hunter would get them and consume them, then they would have to begin all over again. And he couldn't risk it.
So Alex rushed back to Cross. "Clear the ship" He bellowed, "You're the one in charge here, make sure nobody's going to get in the way!"
To give him credit, Cross didn't ask why. As Alex whirled around and lunged back at the Supreme Hunter that had just freed itself from the burning wreckage, the Captain went for his radio.
"This is Captain Cross speaking. Attention to all personnel- evacuate the Reagan immediately! This is not a drill- I repeat, evacuate the Reagan immediately! We have a Code Black!"
The soldiers on deck froze, suspicion clear on their faces. But when the Supreme Hunter ripped a helicopter out of its moorings to try and beat Alex into the deck with it (emphasis on try), the men closest to the fighting Infected were the first to pull back, heading towards the starting ramp, where Blackhawks swooped in and collected them nearly immediately. Alex grunted and dodged the Hunter's attempt at his life, then lashed out with his Whipfist to tear a grove across its shoulders before pulling back and getting out of range again. He had to keep it on its toes, had to make it understand that as long he was there, it wouldn't be able to escape and consume.
And the Hunter understood it only all too clearly. With an howl, it threw itself at Alex, claw lifted high over its head. He rolled to the side, avoiding the rather clumsy blow- and was instantly pinned on the floor with the club foot. He hadn't expected the thing to figure out where he was going, but now he had that bastard at his back.
Alex snarled and several foot long spikes broke through his Armor and speared into the Hunter's leg, forcing it to step off him. In that moment, he slammed his fists into the floor, pushed himself up and brought the Supreme Hunter off-balance, sending it stumbling.
Not enough
Alex pounced off the floor and crashed into the beast, finally throwing it off its feet. Instantly, its paw came up, trying to bludgeon Alex, but he managed to deflect it using his Shield. The Hunter's bladed arm slammed into his other side, and he ducked behind his other arm. Cross's grenade launcher offered nearly no resistance to the blow, but the Hunter's weapon was lodged firmly into the twisted metal, trapped for a moment.
Just the moment Alex needed. He wasn't big or strong enough to keep the beast pinned, and if he didn't act fast, the thing would change their positions and make life a lot harder for him.
Spikes rose from his Armor at a mere thought, sharp and long like machetes to prevent the large Infected from grabbing him, as Alex flung his now free left arm down, claws formed the moment before he hit the thing's chest with all strength. His talons broke the tough skin and parted muscles, sinking in a few inches before the denser flesh stopped him.
Not this time.
Alex snarled and forced his own Biomass to surge forward, ripping from his arm and sinking deep into the Supreme Hunter, whose roars quickly shifted to an agonized howl. Hardened Blacklight Biomass tore through the Infected's body, not consuming but shredding, shaping into massive spears that erupted from the Hunter's flesh in clusters. Blood and tissue sprayed across the flight deck, splattered against Alex's chest and wrenched another surge of hunger from his insides. The Hunter yowled in pain, started thrashing beneath him, even as he yanked himself free and left holes where its vital organs should have been. He jumped off it, avoiding its flailing limbs for a moment- then crashed right back into as soon there was an opening.
The wounds were already growing shut again in a flurry of red tendrils, but slowly.
Ah, screw this.
Alex yanked the grenade belt off his torso and slammed it roughly into the largest hole in the Hunter's chest, followed by the last of the grenades from the ruined grenade launcher.
"Grow that back!"
The Supreme Hunter yowled in panic, clawing at its chest in an attempt to get the explosives out when Alex retreated to a safe distance. The grenades went off in a violent chain reaction, incendiary and shrapnel reducing the massive Infected to bloody bits and a spray of gore.
Blood and tissues rained across the deck of the Reagan like during a cheap slasher movie. The roar of the Blackhawks across seemed to turn mute for a second there, as if the current evacuation had stopped when the big bastard blew up like fireworks on the fourth of July. He was pretty sure that nothing would survive that.
"Sir?" Santos asked, "Is it over?"
"It is", he replied gruffly, glancing over to the other guy.
Mercer was just nearby, down on one knee and talons dug into the ruined flight deck. It was dark out there, and that made seeing details a little difficult, but it did look like even the mighty ZEUS was running ragged.
What now?
One Infected dead. The other weakened. And especially, the bastard that screwed everything over dead and the other bastard he had been brought into Manhattan for still alive. More even, Mercer had killed countless good men, murdered one third of his Wisemen and slaughtered Randall himself. He was a threat, not only to Blackwatch, but to every living thing on the damn planet.
"God's sake", he ground out, draping his hand over his face. What was he supposed to do now? Do the right thing and wrestle Mercer into a containment device? Or do the right thing and let him off with a warning?
Neither option appealed to him- if Blackwatch got their hands on him then nobody could know what was going to happen then. The chance they would continue their work on bioweapons was too great, and Mercer's strain too lethal.
If he let him go, then there was nothing that would keep an eye on him. If he decided to screw over the world, then Blackwatch might be too late if they had to find him first. And trusting that he could behave himself? Complete bullshit. Mercer was a killing machine, one that would never stop.
If he let him go, then he would just continue murdering people, but then Blackwatch wouldn't be being able to fuck this up again. If he captured him (and that was a big 'if', even weakened he was still powerful), then it would be stabbing a man's back who trusted him. And Cross hated having to betray people who trusted him.
"Sir? What now?" Anders questioned.
"I don't know", the Captain admitted with a bone-weary sigh. "I just don't know-" He cut himself off, eyes widening.
"The warhead", he ground out. "It's still on countdown!"
There was the sound of metal shrieking, seconds before a part of the deck was hurled into the bay. Mercer just dove into the belly of the ship through a hole that hadn't been there before. Cross growled and swung around, sprinting towards the various entrances to the hangar deck. The Wisemen followed after him, always loyal. Even though they were currently heading towards a live nuke.
Halfway down, the Captain felt his insides setting themselves on fire. The doc told me not to overexert myself, he thought darkly as he automatically started breathing more shallow. Broken ribs and sprinting didn't really go together, and even the adrenaline coursing through his body couldn't help him anymore.
He still forced it down and continued as if nothing was wrong. They had to deactivate that blasted warhead!
Bay one- the cart was gone. He felt his stomach lurch a little. Where the-?!
"Over there!" Redstone called out, pointing to the side. Cross found Mercer kneeling in front of the cart with the missile, doing something to Alistair's Blackhawk. The Wisemen rushed over.
"The Hell?!" Jackson bellowed. Mercer glanced at him briefly, before he pulled a chain into view.
"I can't disarm it", he growled, but there was a sort of helplessness in it. "Randall- Randall made sure that it is irreversible after a certain amount of time."
"Fuck!" Estoban bit out while Fernandez turned pale. "We gotta get out of here!" He gasped. "We really gotta-"
"No", Mercer cut in, voice hard. "Even if you get out of the blast radius, we're still too close to the island." His eyes flashed and he stopped what he was doing for a moment. "And I told you- I won't let Randall erase New York like he erased Hope." He threw Redstone one end of the chain. "Hook it in!" He snapped, then turned to Alistair. "You fire up your chopper. Santos- get us up on deck!"
His tone left no room for arguments, and Cross could have sworn he heard a distinct bit of Randall through as his team scrambled to do exactly what he told them to do. Jackson, Anders and Estoban started to attach the chains to either corner of the cart, while Fernandez tied the nuke down to prevent it from falling off.
"You're going to run with it", The Captain realized, more to himself really. "You are going to bring it out there."
Mercer stilled, then exhaled slowly. "I will", he replied, and his tone was dead. "I told you. I am not going to let Manhattan be destroyed. I won't let them. Because then it would mean that Blackwatch had won. Manhattan has to remain to show everybody what they had done." His fingers curled. "The outbreak- it was my fault. I will end it. I will make sure Manhattan will still be there."
He got up, locking eyes with Cross as the lift stopped at the deck. The rotor of the Blackhawk was roaring over the tense silence, but it didn't drown out what he said. "You are responsible for Dana", Mercer bit out. "Make sure Blackwatch will never find her."
He spun around and headed for the helicopter, grabbed MacAlistair and just threw him out of the cockpit to take control himself.
"Ah, fuck", Cross groaned. "You're a crazy bastard."
The Wisemen stepped back when the helicopter took off and headed out to sea. Nobody said anything until the clatter of its rotor had faded into a distant thrumming.
"He just stole Maggie", MacAlistair broke the tense silence. "He just stole Maggie and is going to bloody nuke himself."
"Crazy Bastard", Cross repeated again, before they fell quiet again.
With only them watching, the counter finally set to zero and a second sun rose far to the south.
Author: Alex 2 - Supreme Hunter 0
