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

CAPTAINTOAST321: It'll probably be a while until you see this answer, but I think I agree with you. Looking back on it, having Siren as the only OC in the story may have been a better course of action. Oh well, I'll just have to learn from my mistakes for future stories.

MYTHFAN: Thank you.

THAQIF: It kinda does, yeah, but at the same time, it opens the possibilities of Siren being an imperfect clone or an illegitimate child of Alex Mercer. Basically, there were a few possible things he could have been, and making him look like a younger version of Alex would make it a little too obvious.

Chapter 53

Pariah

Alex quickly glanced around him as he observed the sight before him. The memories inherited from Ares told him that what he was currently looking at was the Yellow Zone.

Or what was left of it.

The zone was deserted, completely empty of human life. Viral outgrowths had sprung up on structures and from the road, and Infected roamed the streets. He remembered Blackwatch and Gentek setting up shop in the area, but now, they were gone, their presence reduced to nothing. In the back of his mind, he had always assumed that Blackwatch and Gentek would fail at containing the viruses and that the Infected would eventually overrun them.

It seemed as though he was right.

Alex looked off into the distance. His eyes narrowed when he saw it; the Red Zone. Out of the three zones, it was by far the most dangerous, and by far the most warped. He could see clouds of red vapor rising from the city. Smoke rose up from the buildings, mingling with the red mist as it reached for the sky, creating an eerie image of a ruined city. The buildings themselves were broken and bent, obviously straining to stand upright after the torture they had been put through.

Even from here, Alex could see just what sort of nightmare the city had been reduced to. Academy City may have been put to the test, but it was nothing compared to…compared to this. "And this is where Pariah is hiding," Alex muttered to himself. Within the confines of New York City sat the creature that was pulling the strings. Within that city sat Pariah itself.

It had been over a day since he had left Academy City. The plane Aleister had provided had come without any traps or strings attached, as far as he could tell. He had landed out in the middle of nowhere, far away from human civilization. He had destroyed the plane after he was done with it to ensure that no evidence was left behind before proceeding to hide the remains. It may have taken longer than he liked, but at least he had hidden the evidence.

And now here he was, back where his journey had begun. The ones that he had called friends as Siren were back in Academy City, dealing with the aftermath of the invasion, and from what he had heard, a certain white-haired esper had returned to deal with the remaining Infected.

Alex jumped into the air, sailing across a vast distance, aiming his feet at a rooftop as he descended. His feet slammed into the rooftop before he leapt off again, soaring through the air as he rapidly approached the bridge that would serve as his gateway to the Red Zone. Once he got there, all he'd have to do was find Pariah and deal with the creature. If he could consume it, he should be able to overpower the remaining Infected. Pariah would be able to call upon its Evolved during battle—a fact that Alex was particularly concerned about. Ares hadn't known the exact number of Evolved that had been created, but he knew there were a lot.

How many more Evolved had been produced during Ares' absence? How many had actually stayed in the city? Alex shook his head shortly before he slammed into another rooftop. He leapt off the structure and continued to his destination. Outwardly, Alex appeared calm, but on the inside, his mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.

How would he handle Pariah? What would he do about the Evolved that may or may not enter the fight? What could he do about them? If Pariah attacked, his attention would be focused on combating it, but that would leave him exposed to attacks from the Evolved…

This is insanity. Too many variables—one big picture made up of thousands of smaller ones.

Sitting back and formulating an intricate plan would give Pariah a chance to consume more biomass and accumulate more unique DNA. Alex wasn't sure if he had entirely closed the gap between himself and Pariah, but he had no intention of allowing the gap to grow. A swift attack had been in order, and now here he was.

Alex's foot crushed a wall as he jumped off it. The bridge was far closer now, almost within jumping distance. Once across, he'd be in the Red Zone, where Pariah awaited him. Once more, Alex landed on a rooftop before making a final leap that took him all the way to the bridge. He rolled as he landed, moving across the bridge with one smooth motion before he was on his feet once more, sprinting past the various overturned vehicles that still lined the structure.

He shoved Infected out of his path as he moved until he came to a gap in the bridge. Without stopped, his powerful legs bent and he jumped, leaping through the air as he crossed the gap with ease. He landed without fail and kept running. He could sense a change in the air—the scents were different and there was a foul smell filling his nostrils. The Red Zone was becoming less of a looming presence on the horizon and more of a place—one that he was currently entering.

The viral outgrowths on the street began intensifying as he left the Yellow Zone behind him and approached the Red Zone. The amount of Infected had suddenly dropped after crossing the gap in the bridge, but now, it was steadily growing. Infected became a more common site, and before long the viral outgrowths were covering the entire street. He could see cars that had been completely absorbed by the viral matter, and on occasion, he could see bodies that were melded into the fleshy outgrowths.

This felt like an entirely different planet. The air was wrong, the sounds were foreign, and the sights were nothing like those he had seen in the rest of the world. No, this place didn't even feel like Earth. Such was the influence of the Infected.

Alex gritted his teeth as he moved, flawlessly weaving through obstacles that marked his path. His own experience, coupled with that of the Evolved and Ares, had taught him how to avoid running into objects even when moving at such high speeds. Suddenly, his head jerked up when he caught signs of movement on the rooftops. Eyes narrowing, Alex moved to his right and jumped onto a wall, running in a diagonal line as he moved forward and ascended at the same time.

Eventually, he found himself above most other rooftops in the area, and with a quick, practiced scan, he made sure that there were no Evolved on the rooftops. Of course, there was the occasional group of Infected, which made spotting an Evolved even harder, as they could just pretend to be a mindless Infected stumbling about.

The city seemed dangerously quiet. The Infected were making their usual noise, but Ares' memories painted this city as a much louder setting. He should be hearing Evolved running about all over the place, talking and fulfilling assignments handed out by Pariah. However, they all seemed…absent.

Something was amiss, and Alex was becoming more and more unsure of his next course of action. Finally, he came to the center of the Red Zone, and there, he saw it. Amongst the countless twisted and warped buildings in the Red Zone, there was one that stood lower than the rest. Red and black tentacles had grown all along the building until they rose from the back it, winding together to form a gargantuan viral structure. On the rooftop of this small building, standing at the base of the viral structure, was a figure, arms crossed and head held up as it stared at Alex.

This had to be it.

Alex wasted no time in diving to the building, holding his arms at his sides to gather more speed. He landed with a crash, sending bits of the rooftop flying into various directions. Slowly, he stood up, straightening and rising to his full height as he stared at the creature before him.

The most notable thing was the grey skin. The skin had lost its warmth and had a grey tinge to it, creating a very alien feel. The short hair was of a similar color, but a little darker. It was more prominent than the skin, taking on a fuller grey color.

The second most notable feature had to have been its eyes. Like Ares', they glowed an uncanny red, but unlike Ares, they lacked the burning fury, the sheer hate that the Prototype had possessed. No, these eyes were calm, and they revealed a far more collected nature than Ares. Besides the strange color of the hair, skin, and eyes, it looked fairly normal. The creature didn't look like a monster or hideous abomination; it looked like a man.

It was even dressed like one too. Black pants with a white dress shirt that was unbuttoned at the top were the items of clothing worn by the creature. On top of the shirt, it wore a large, plain black jacket. Alex could definitely see how one could confuse this creature for a man.

But he knew better.

"Pariah," he acknowledged in an emotionless tone. For the first time since he had seen it, the creature showed a reaction to his presence. A small smile appeared on its face as it looked at him, revealing a set of fairly normal teeth.

"ZEUS," it said. "We finally meet." The voice was exactly as Ares' memories painted it; it sounded similar to Elizabeth Greene's in the sense that it was layered with other voices. "I finally meet the one who killed my mother."

Alex stared at Pariah, keeping both eyes fixed upon the creature, but still keeping track of his surroundings. Pariah had its arms crossed, but now, it put them down, holding them behind its back as it looked Alex up and down. "You are…exactly as I expected you to be," said Pariah. "I've…researched you," it continued. "At least the reports of your appearance weren't lies. I would have been…disappointed had I found that my sources were faulty."

Alex glared at Pariah before crossing his arms. "You've been around since Hope, Idaho. Where…where have you been all this time?"

Pariah offered him another one of its cold smiles. "That's not for you to know," it all but whispered. Alex bent his knees slightly as Pariah took a step forward. "All that time I spent alone. Blackwatch and Gentek separated me from Mother, and before I could find her, you killed her." Pariah shook its head. "How disappointing. I had hoped to meet her one day."

` Pariah took another step forwards. "Tell me, ZEUS," it began. "You consumed Ares, did you not?"

Alex didn't reply. Pariah only chuckled with that twisted voice of its. "As I expected. You wouldn't have come here if you weren't powerful enough to survive the encounter, and to do that, you'd probably need Ares."

"You don't sound surprised or worried," Alex commented. "You sound almost as though you expected this. Why?"

Pariah cocked its head slightly. "You ask many questions. Questions that you don't need the answers to."

"Where are the other Evolved?" Alex asked, ignoring the previous statements. "Pariah rolled its eyes ever so slightly.

"Watching. Waiting. Learning," Pariah replied. "They see us, and they learn from us. They study our actions and try to further themselves by watching." Alex resisted the urge to begin looking around for the Evolved that may or may not have actually been there; taking his eyes off Pariah might have been the biggest mistake of his life. "But," Pariah continued. "They won't interfere."

Alex frowned, to which Pariah responded by holding its head slightly higher. "Many of the Evolved know who you are and they know of your reputation among Blackwatch and Gentek. You're something of a legend to them." Pariah shook his head in disapproval. "I can't have that. We grow stronger every day, and the stronger the Evolved grow, the stronger I must grow to keep them in line."

Alex's lips pulled back in a snarl as he attempted to understand it all. How much of Pariah's words to Ares were lies? How much were completely true? At this point, Alex wasn't entirely sure he even understood Pariah's plan and ultimate goal.

"Answer me this," he growled. "Just what do you plan on doing? Memories say that you plan on using my DNA to help the Evolved become Prototypes, but if you do that, they'd be that much stronger. What's your plan here?"

Pariah just shook its head. "Again, you seek answers that you have no business seeking."

Alex's fists clenched.

Of course Pariah won't tell me. The only way I'm going to figure out what's going on inside that mind of its is to rip those memories out myself.

On one hand, Alex speculated that Pariah indeed planned on creating Prototypes, but not until it had used him to make itself inconceivably stronger than the Evolved. As powerful as they were, the Evolved couldn't hope to take on all of humanity as they were. No, they needed to be stronger, and the strongest they could get while remaining within manageable parameters was to become Prototypes while Pariah ascended to something more.

On the other hand, it was possible that Pariah was doing the same thing with the Evolved as it was with Ares; fattening them. It could just be feeding them exactly what they needed to grow strong before it devours them by itself. That way, Pariah would gain power beyond that of any other individual on Earth.

His eyes narrowed as he glared at the grey-skinned being before him. Pariah, meanwhile, studied him in return, eyeing him up and down as it attempted to analyze him to the best of its abilities. Finally, their eyes met once more. So many questions flew through his head; what had Pariah been doing all this time? What exactly happened at Hope, Idaho so long ago? What were the details? What was Pariah? Had it always been a Prototype? Had it found a way to become one?

"ZEUS," Pariah calmly addressed him. "Here's a question for you; why do you refuse to join us? We are of your own flesh and blood, practically family, and yet you side with an inferior species. Why?"

This time, Alex held his head up higher. "You seek answers that you have no business seeking," he parroted. "My reasons are my own."

Pariah studied him for a few more seconds before it gave a small shrug in response. "I suppose you are right. However, there is one thing I hope you would answer." Pariah leaned forward, allowing a shadow to fall over its eyes as it stared at him. "What exactly was Ares trying to accomplish? He didn't consume the Evolved I sent with him—I know because I never received a transmission from them—and it seems as though you did it instead. What exactly was he trying to do?"

Alex frowned at Pariah. This information didn't seem all that valuable…"He…wanted me to consume them first," Alex began. "Ares was afraid that if he attempted to consume any of the Evolved, at least one of them would radio back in and inform you that Ares was a traitor. He wanted me to consume them so that he could consume me and receive all the unique DNA at once. That way, his traitorous actions wouldn't have been uncovered until after he was powerful enough to stand up to you."

Pariah frowned. "I…see. And I assume you plan to keep any other details to yourself?"

Alex nodded. Pariah only shook its head. "Well then, I'll just have to take those memories myself, won't I?"

There it was. Alex now knew that Pariah had the intention of killing him and consuming him. He now knew for sure that losing to Pariah here would lead to a future filled with unfavorable results. Unless humanity could stand up to an empowered Pariah and its Prototype army, they would perish, reduced to a food source along with every other biological entity on Earth.

The Infected would always be hungry, and one by one, the species of Earth would be devoured to the point of extinction. Self destruction may become imminent unless the Evolved found a way to create a food source from what they already had. If they found an efficient way to clone, they'd have an infinite food source, for example.

Alex's hands transformed into Claws as he prepared for battle. "This ends here, Pariah," he rasped.

Pariah responded by mirroring his movements, creating a set of Claws of its own. "Indeed…it will."

Both fighters charged.

Explanations/Clarifications

Nothin' to see here.