Chapter 38 – KRONOS' returns

Contrary to what they had assumed, it turned out that the trio didn't really need to wait very long before they got some information, and they'd got it from ROOKS of all people when the man initiated a call from James' phone. Said bald male Prototype figured that thanks to him owning one of his men's phones, he considered him to be a member of Blackwatch's ranks.

As such, knowing that this call would be a video one he made sure to hold the phone close to his face and keep it from showing his surroundings whilst shifting into a Blackwatch Soldier. The man had then patched the call through and had put some space between his companions, but with the guy's permission Adam managed to overhear things by letting his mind enter the man's body, sharing the space inside and resulting in both of them being able to hear the man's words. Simply put, it was simply an innovative use of the Hivemind, and it wasn't like he was being intrusive either since the man gave permission first.

In the end, turned out that thanks to those Scientists James had killed whilst the youngest of the trio's Scorporilla had its little rampage really ruffled Gentek's feathers in a BIG way, to the point where they're ramping up the weaponization program even more so, or rather they're speeding it up from what they had heard. Then, like an obedient little puppy Rooks gave them the co-ordinates to the Facility where this newest project of theirs, project LOST SHADOW, would be taking place in. Turned out it was a facility close to the large stadium close to the northern part of the Yellow Zone, a Stadium tightly packed with both Blackwatch goons as well as Marine defences. None of them had many doubts about what those guys were using it for, but to them it didn't matter for the moment, since right now they had a new lead…

As well as a target for the return of KRONOS.

Something which the said kid couldn't help but snicker in excitement for, his eyes gleaming with glee at the thought of finally being able to stretch his legs. Heck the male even proceeded to do a few stretches like leg kneeling on one leg and stretching the other, switching legs every now and then, before standing up straight and stretching his arms too. For some reason though, when he did his stretches the other two just got these weirdly complicated, nigh uncomfortable looks on their faces, and whilst he tried to hold in his childish curiosity Adam just couldn't do it for long. Therefore, with a curious expression on his face, the teen tilted his head at them, opening his mouth. "Hm? What is it, guys? You seem to be making some strange faces right now…"

"Try to not stretch like that in front of us again, please?"

"What she said, KRONOS."

Those words were sent back to him, although that just ended up making Adam more curious.

As if sensing this though, Sophie had been the one to answer him after giving a resigned sigh and placing her hand on her hip. "Didn't want to say it little bro, but when you stretch your making sounds similar to pipes cracking, its… kind of unsettling to be honest." She explained, catching Adam off guard as he looked himself over with a pensive expression soon forming on his face. She swore that he had muttered something along the lines of 'really? Might have to check on that later…' but she could have just imagined that… unlikely though, given their situation.

"Anyways!" Eventually, Adam snapped out of this moment of pension and chirped out that word, switching away from that topic to a more pressing matter. "Can you keep contact with me, Próta? Its been a while since I did this, so I think I might be a bit rusty…" he questioned whilst rolling his shoulder and proceeding to head out towards the Lair's exit. Mentally, he gave orders for the Lair collection that he had to listen to their respective Genikós so that the others wouldn't have problems making their Broods. Perhaps he was overthinking this, but considering that he had been a bit 'out of the game' as it were regarding direct confrontations with Blackwatch, he felt inclined to be so.

'By your will, Progenitor.'

Later, Adam arrived at the facility, standing atop the stadium's closest ledge to the path opposite the facility itself. Looked like they had amped up the security QUITE a bit since he had last gone out here, Adam realized as he saw all the security forces coming around as well as all the large tanks inside the tall walls. Each wall also had some Turrets built on top of them, like they were expecting some sort of infected assault or something. 'Well, they wouldn't be completely wrong, shame that its not an INFECTED that they would have to worry about.' The male thought as he eyed everything coming in.

Now that he was here, how should he go about this? The most 'fun' option felt like crashing right smack dab in the middle of the base then going in guns blazing, Tendrils swinging and utterly wipe out everyone. It sounded simple, and it wasn't like Blackwatch had much in the way of actual threats against him so it could have worked, however Adam shook his head and dismissed such a thought process from his mind. One thing that made him do so was the fact that he could sense… something lurking within that base, something which his previous experiences felt like an Infected monster, and also thanks to his prior experience fighting against other Guardian Infected, it was to always have a level of caution. 'Próta… can you sense what's inside there, too?' he then asked the voice whom helped him and his comrades out so far.

'Indeed, I can Progenitor, I can sense it deep within the Base's interior, waiting… waiting for what I am uncertain. Nonetheless, I advise caution, Progenitor, for I sense there is some instability within this being's genetic makeup, instability which could go wild at any moment. This can only mean one thing…'

Whilst she trailed off at the end of her words there, Adam saw no need for her to finish them since he had figured that to be the case himself, as well. His instincts told him there was to be only ONE thing which could result from unstable DNA, and if that happened here he doubted the casualties numbers would be small. In that case, it would be best that he went inside and destroyed it, maybe even consume it, before that were to happen so he could prevent that tragedy from happening. Also it felt like a nice kick to Blackwatch's face, the knowledge that those asses won't learn more about the Virus than they already have. After all, just with the knowledge they currently possessed resulted in the creation of Elizabeth Greene and Alex Mercer, along with the multiple outbreaks that had happened thus far.

Now that he had this plan in mind, Adam hopped down to the street level below, switching into a Blackwatch disguise all the while. The days he spent inside the Lair hadn't dulled everything about his previous experiences, he still remembered the need to be cautious when sneaking into enemy territory, thus he had to take the form of those that he despised right now in order to blend in. 'This'll help me both get into the swing of things AND update us on Blackwatch's current proceedings.' He thought to himself as Adam strode up to the main gateway and placed his hand in the middle of the DNA Hand scanner. The moment he did so, the scanner blinked green, and the gates opened to allow him entry inside. Perhaps it helped that along the way here he had updated his 'Blackwatch Persona' with another victim, one more recent so that the Scanners didn't pick up a long-deceased member's blueprints. THAT didn't sound like it'd bode well for him.

Once he got inside the main yard, Adam made sure to locate the base's commander, consume him discreetly, then made his way inside.

Inside the Blackwatch facility, the teen found that this so-called 'Project LONG SHADOW' had already gone well underway since there were multiple Gentek scientists scribbling notes down on their clipboards behind some observation glass. In actuality this place reminded him a LOT of the one which he, James and his big sis had been an unwilling part of in terms of shape, but he didn't think too much about that one. In the form of the Base Commander, Adam strode over to the Observation Glass with nobody the wiser to his true identity, making him mentally note that sometimes, he really LOVED these powers of his. 'On a side note, wonder what someone with the mind of a prankster could pull off with this… actually, I don't need to know, I already do in the form of big sis…' the male noted to himself as he proceeded to peer through the glass.

Down below at the centre of the room, bound to the ground with metallic restraints, was what Adam could only describe as this long, worm-like creature with two tusks on its tip that likely served as its 'head'. The whole thing's body looked to be quite large, much larger than a car's average size and most likely it would be able to cover an entire Van with said size. Not to mention that, just like Próta had mentioned before, the moment that his eyes laid themselves upon it he quickly figured this thing to be the source of the unstable DNA he had sensed.

'Heh, cute…' Adam thought to himself as he stared down, then he remembered something which, if his face was uncovered right now, would have shown his slightly widened eyes along with the look of realization. 'Hang on a minute, wasn't there a creature similar to this in appearance recorded to appear in the first Outbreak a year ago? Yeah, there was come to think of it… oh yeah, its called a Hydra! Geez, Mercer, you must have LOVED these things to bring them back as part of your own army, either that or these things still managed to persist after the first Outbreak ended and evolved when Mercer infected them with his Blacklight Virus… wouldn't surprise me if that last one turned out to be the case…' the disguised teen thought, holding back the urge to scoff so that he could stay in character.

Come to think of it, he DID hear some kind of automated female speaker explaining what it was that they were trying to do, but Adam didn't care much to listen. He had more IMPORTANT things to worry about than that.

Before he went inside the room however, Adam made sure to do several things: first of all, he used his Parasitic Domination ability to spawn some Parasites, which came out the palms of his hands as if they were sweating, taking on the forms of these caterpillar like creatures which he then discreetly slid inside the walls via old unchecked cracks. The interesting thing about this ability was that, according to the purpose he intended, Adam could manipulate he genetics of his Parasites in order for them to achieve said purpose. For example, he could make something similar to the controlling ability that his big sis had minus the aftereffects… or he could make some erupt with electrical energy short circuiting power supplies and causing blackouts.

It all depended on how he made them, making this ability one of his most BROKEN ones yet.

Furthermore, according to the Base Commander's memories, an update on the security protocols had been made to this facility and were intended to be the same for the rest too. This update installed some blast doors on the observation glass in the event of an emergency, making it so that no subject of experimentation would be able to get out or harm the facility staff. Its likely something done by Rooks in order to make sure that what had happened with him and his fellow Prototypes wouldn't happen again, though as much as he hated the man, Adam had to give him credit for trying, at least.

Second, he made sure to heed the warnings Próta gave him and suppressed his power to the best of his ability, making sure the virus activity within was at its lowest possible output. With this thing in such an unstable state, there was no telling how it would react if it sensed a stronger member of its own kind nearby. Once the male found himself prepared, Adam proceeded to head out through a side entrance in order to get a closer look.

Going through the entrance and stepping down the metallic staircase, Adam eyed the Hydra more closely, frowning behind the gas mask of his Base Commander's disguise. The way that the Scientists probed and prodded it with their electrified sticks just to test and gauge its reactions really irritated the male, especially when SOME of those pokes hit areas which could have made things a WHOLE lot more dangerous by sparking a chain reaction within its genetic makeup. Blacklight was ALWAYS quick to adapt after all, no matter what kind of infection it created. 'Now that I get a closer look at it this Hydra seems like it will spontaneously explode at any moment.' Adam thought whilst proceeding to move so that he was beneath the Staircase and hidden away from view, making use of a few crates which were located beneath it to stop the Blackwatch and Gentek personal from noticing him. 'Getting too close to it doesn't seem like a good idea even if I've suppressed my power to this degree…'

With these thoughts in mind, Adam proceeded to discreetly grab an Assault Rifle which he had grabbed during his hiding spot assembly, peering through a slight gap in the crates and positioning the Assault Rifle's barrel through it whilst leaving just enough space for him to aim. Adam may not be as good with a gun as the bald Prototype James Heller, but he could at least fire one off decently enough, thanks to the many memories of the Blackwatch personal that he had consumed. Hopefully with this, he'll be able to take the Scientists out after the whole blackout happens and then he could focus on striking in one fell swoop, shredding the Hydra's head so that he could consume the remains.

Then, just as he made to give the command…

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

All of a sudden, the Hydra started thrashing about wildly and erratically within its metallic shackles, fury and almost mindless abandon in its movements as it screeched out towards the heavens. Not only did it catch the Gentek Scientists off guard, but Adam as well as he quickly pulled his Rifle away from the hole to see what the heck was happening. Worse still, according to what his senses were telling him, Adam could sense the DNA inside of the Hydra to be proceeding to ignite into a pseudo inferno of chaotic, nigh-uncontrollable mess, something which honestly unnerved if not downright scared him at the same time. 'What the… Próta, do you know what's going on here?!'

"Wasn't the Subject Sedated?!" One of the Scientists yelled out, catching Adam's attention before Próta could give him an answer, his yell having been aimed at his colleague. He quickly squealed like a pig when he ducked down to avoid one of the Hydra's swings, its head having managed to break free of the shackles whilst the rest were quickly coming undone. "It should have been sedated this morning! What's possibly agitating it this much?!"

"Too late! We gotta get out of here, sound the alarm!"

Not too long after saying that did the metallic shackles finally come undone, or rather it would have been more accurate to say that they were shattered by the berserker rampage going on by their charge, as the Hydra tore itself out of them, smacking itself around (and butchering the Scientists as it did so) whilst Alarms blared to life around it. The lights which had illuminated the room before now, turned themselves off as red ones took their places, filling the room with flashes of red and sirens whilst secret compartments opened, around the room's walls, revealing detachments of Blackwatch soldiers which came in and stormed the experiment room as the observation glass got blocked off by those blast doors that Adam had seen in the Base Commanders memories. Judging by how each soldier moved as if they had anticipated this, it looked like this Facility had multiple experiences with their projects running wild, although he could also hear their heartbeats and some of them had slightly irregular ones. That implied that something like this still unnerved them, but only Blackwatch discipline kept them composed.

All the while however, a transformation process started itself up, with the Hydra being the one undergoing it. First, the viral mass which the creature seemed attached to got sucked inside as its main body gradually lost its worm-like shape, fleshy sounds resonating as it reshaped itself into a form not unlike some kid of reptile. Several streaks of flesh and bone burst out the sides, numbering at 4 as they reshaped themselves and smacked into the ground around it, becoming a set of four Arms with still forming claws. From the base of its main body, protruded a couple Tails, each of them like that of a lizard in shape but made out of pure bone instead of flesh, all the while the 'neck' and 'Head' portions split themselves into multiple ones similar to how Adam himself formed his Replicas, only much quicker. Their 'Heads' also reshaped themselves, becoming more canine in nature akin to that of a Brawler's head in shape with the added bonus of horns made from Bone protruding out their snouts. Finally, at this point its claws and feet had fully formed, and they were reminiscent of a reptile as well.

Bone armour formed over its torso and the rest of its body, save for the joints to allow easy movement, and finally with the process completed, the Hydra (now looking more like how mythologies described it) let out a collective beastly roar which shook the entire room. It also caused the Soldiers to drop their weapons and cover their ears thanks to the volume having overwhelmed their discipline training, allowing its Tails to swing themselves about and smack a few of them into a wall. This prompted the rest of them to act by grabbing their weapons, however this action only gave it another opportunity to attack and this it did… by aiming its 5 heads and spewing a cloud of gas upon them.

Adam only watched as, to his surprise, each of the Blackwatch Soldiers howled and thrashed on the ground in agony after falling onto their knees, looking like butter in human form as it melted in a ho oven. The sounds of something sizzling filled the air thanks to this, their cries of torment rapidly degenerating into unintelligent noises filled with despair as their lives ended without them able to even pay back their tormentor. By the time that the soldiers became nothing but a big pile of melted mush on the ground, the Hydra's heads each made suction sounds as they sucked in air… forming currents which pulled the puddle into five streaks which flowed into their mouths respectively. It didn't take it long to finish 'cleaning up its mess' either…

All the while, Adam himself eyed everything that happened and analysed it thoroughly within his mind.

'Hmmm… seems to me like this Hydra has indeed mutated into something more resembling of how the legends describe it… multiple heads, a horrifically bad scent, acidic breath although in this case it must have been cranked up a few levels to be able to melt those soldiers so quickly, including their comms and weapons. Although I'm not so sure about the regeneration factor here, I'd have to make a few test strikes on those heads to figure that part out, although it would be wise to assume that it does. Likely those up top have no idea of this creature's newfound threat level, however if those guys aren't fools then they will already have sent out a few Strike Teams to this Facility in case this thing gets out. Luckily, it doesn't seem capable of flight, otherwise THAT could end up really screwing the entire Yellow Zone over.' Adam thought… all of this taking about 0.5 seconds to process through his brain. Hey, he's not going to wait around like all those Shonen protagonists who take over half an episode to ponder whilst staying idol like a bunch of idiots. In Adam's case, he still remained hidden with his power suppressed, so its likely that the Hydra hasn't noticed him yet. Maybe he should call it the Mutant Hydra instead, it'd help explain to him rationally what he had just witnessed.

Peering out his hiding spot, Adam saw that the creature had begun striding towards one of the tallest doors in the room, likely intending to get to the other side as if it could sense something there worth devouring. 'Tch, guess I don't have much time then, I'll have to confirm my hunches right now otherwise things might get troublesome if this fucker gets outside…' Adam thought, pushing aside the questions forming in his mind about how this had all happened in favour of formulating a plan of attack in the next 0.2 seconds.

Afterwards, a plan formed within him as Adam rolled out of his hiding place, ceasing his suppression of his power to form his Hammerfists as well as forming his Armour. This allowed the Mutant Hydra to sense his presence which prompted the creature to stop moving, slowly turning one of its five heads towards his direction in order to clarify this new presence… only, that same head soon got itself reduced to mush when Adam smacked into it through the use of his Slingshot Toss.

BOOM!

SPLATTER!

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Each of the four remaining heads howled and shrieked in anger and surprise at the loss of one of their brethren, all the while Adam himself switched his right Hammerfist out for his Tóxo, aiming it away from the Hydra and to a spot behind it instead. In the following second when a head lunged forwards to bite into him, Adam fired several rounds at once, using their recoil to launch him backwards and away from the head's reach… and as an added bonus he switched out his left Hammerfist for a Massfist and smacked it into one of its brothers, falling through the air and backflipping before he could land on the ground, sliding to a halt in the meantime.

Once his motion was gone, Adam looked up towards the Hydra through his Armour's Visor, eyeing the head which he had destroyed whilst his arms returned to their Armoured forms… soon getting confirmation about the regeneration factor he had theorized previously when the head restored itself, albeit a bit slower than what he had originally expected but still quite quick. 'I see… so it has that factor with it, but it doesn't seem to follow the whole 'cut off one head and two more take its place' thing the legends say it could. However, according to that legend fire was used to burn the heads so it couldn't heal them before it could die, but in my case it seems that blunt attacks are just as effective since it seems like that attack type is harder to heal for this creature… maybe with experience this could change, you never know with Blacklight, but for now this is my advantage…' Well, Adam may say advantage, but upon remembering his arsenal being primarily slash and stabbing weapons (claws, Tendrils and Massfists) with his Hammerfists and Shields being his main blunt ones whilst his Armour was his sole defensive weapon, there wasn't much of an advantage to be held here, even if he used his Tóxo as his ranged attack. His arsenal needed to get bigger or at least he needed to improve on it some more.

'Well, I guess I can use this guy as a means of doing this…' Adam thought as he faced off against the approaching Mutant Hydra.

Meanwhile, back at the main Lair…

"Still a bit too slow on the whole reflex front, crazy bitch…"

Taking a break from the sparring session the two had been doing as a means of witching up their routine of designing blueprints for their future Brood members, James and Sophie began a conversation over their growing skills. Or rather, James did as he commented on how he had managed to slice off one of her blades during their last exchange without her being able to do the same in return, even as the limb grew Tendrils which reattached to the severed socket and pulled the limb back into place. They hadn't yet begun deciding on what kind of 'theme' their Broods should follow as of yet, instead having decided to take a break from everything by having a light sparring session, something which actually reminded them of their days back as a part of the Marines.

As of right now, despite the 'crazy' nature which Sophie would occasionally demonstrate in battle, James proved to be the victor of the two due to quick thinking and developing advanced tactics by analysing his weapons strengths and weaknesses. It helped that he had been her Senior back in the Marines too, meaning he had more experience on the battlefield under his belt… he was also her senior at life too, due to being older than her but back to the main subject…

"Oh, shut up. I'll get around your defences eventually…" Sophie responded, huffing whilst turning her head away like a spoiled brat, which caused James to twitch a brow in annoyance with the urge to bring out a ladle and use it to smack a bitch across the ass. Though, in the end all that would get him was a rampaging female Prototype and THAT wasn't something which he wanted to deal with. He'd seen how she would 'dispose' of their Blackwatch and Gentek enemies. Meanwhile, Sophie herself decided to cut back in order to bring the man out of his musings. "Anyways, since we're alone, how about filling me in?"

"What the fuck you honking about, woman?"

"Um, DUH, your BROOD? You know, the thing we can fucking call on for assistance whenever we damn well wish it? Kinds obvious if you ask me, cause we took a break from all that damned brainstorming to spar right?"

Hearing her response, James looked to the side as his eyes darkened, a whole manner of complex feelings surging through his chest. He remembered that part, he remembered very well in fact. "Nothing much on my end, there…" he stated gruffly, his usual grumpy attitude coming back into play. To be honest, now that he had only one step in order to make such a thing reality, part of him couldn't help but hesitate. He may have been on Adam's side when they'd discussed him making an army for himself, but James still felt some lingering doubts towards becoming a leader of those critters himself. Perhaps it was just all the killing the infected that he had been doing since the outbreak began, but he still held doubts about this because of it.

However, if he thought that Sophie wouldn't realize this, he would have been wrong since she, after seeing his physical responses, huffed knowingly. "Lemme guess, your getting cold feet NOW of all times?" she remarked, and although she didn't say it, she could guess why. The guy may think it due to recent events, but if she were honest then Sophie would say that her former superior's hesitation stemmed way back when he came back from his military tour.

She didn't know the details, but something had happened to him and it turned him into someone who had some REAL issues with trust, with working alongside fellow soldiers. There had been numerous reports of fights breaking out thanks to him, and when there was a psyche profile check done on the guy, he had been dishonourably discharged from the force. Something she herself should have had happen to her thousands of times over by now from what military regulations say.

However, thanks to the Outbreak being as severe as it was, it hadn't been put into complete effect which allowed James to be reinstated into the Marines and then reassigned to the Red Zone along with herself.

The rest from there, was history.

"Shut it, damned bitch." James snapped back at her, similar to a grumpy canine which caused her lips to curve into a scowl. He didn't like the way she looked at him, but he refrained from bringing it up as memories flowed through his mind, memories of times where… where things had been much better. He guessed what progress he had made since this whole outbreak began wasn't as much as he had thought it was, if he still had this much baggage still. "Anyways, I could ask you the same damned question. What kind of mutts do you want licking YOUR boots?"

As rude as the man had been to her just then, Sophie just rolled with it for now, since she didn't have a care in the world for someone's anger issues when they don't have the guts to share with them. In any case, since he asked her that question, she decided to answer since it seemed that out of the two of them, she was the one who'd been making the most progress. "Yeah, been thinking about making one based off Roman myths, either that or Greek ones since my codename IS HERA after all. Maybe if I took the roman route people would start calling me VENUS since that's HERA's roman counterpart. If you want my advice, I'd say you should go for a more Norse build, since you know how they were like. All wars, warrior code, and all that shit, though you don't have to follow that."

"Hmph."

'It appears you two are having a spot of bother.'

Before the conversation could go on any further, as forced-feeling as it felt since neither of them truly desired to talk to one another, Próta suddenly chimed in, shattering the ice around them and causing the two to slightly jump. 'WHOA/FUCK!' Both of them exclaimed in their minds, in a unified manner as well actually which showed just how much they were used to mental conversations rather than verbal ones.

'… It seems that I was a bit too abrupt there?'

'I'll say!' James declared heatedly as he got his composure back whilst looking like he was slowly recovering from having a panic attack. 'You should REALLY learn the damn thing called 'timing; when fucking barging into conversations!'

'If I did that, Heller, then it would be too much of a, and I quote you: 'a wild fucking goose chase'… just my two cents.'

'Heh. She's got you right there, Heller.' Sophie thought back with a slight snicker, much to the man's irritation as he levelled a Claw at her face. Putting her hands up in a means of surrender, Sophie watched as the man grumbled irritably and returned his claw to a normal arm, before she looked back up to the Lair's ceiling. 'Anyways, what's up Próta? Thought you were watching over my little bro?' she questioned, arching a brow. As amusing as it was hearing her surprise entrance, Sophie couldn't help but wonder on why it was that Próta had decided to do so when the leader of this little Hivemind had asked her to watch over him. It also sparked a sense of worry within her big sister side, all sorts of questions ready to flood her consciousness should any sign of him being in danger be shown to her.

'I merely sensed some discord between the two of you, and wished to see if it was going to affect your future relations with the Progenitor. There have been some minor feuds in the past which I overlooked, but this one carried a bit more weight to it, so as any normal mother its only natural that I be concerned. Remember what I said before, the Progenitor is more important to me than the world, anything threatens him and I will not stop until that threat is removed.'

Close to the end of her words, both James AND Sophie become aware of the increasing sharp edge that her voice took, the tone being accompanied by a sense of… danger, a sense which caused both the Prototypes to feel like the reaper of death loomed above them even though there was nobody else in the Lair at the moment. Shivers of dread and fear ran down their spines, not like they'd admit it due to their pride as if they were human then their hairs would have stood up on end. Though, their breaths did indeed get caught in their throats if their slight hisses were any indication as one fact became clear to the two of them:

It was always alright to have disagreements, but as long as they remained at that level then things wouldn't get out of hand. If it did so even the SLIGHTEST, then Próta would not sit idly by…

In essence, this behaviour really did remind them of what Próta saw herself as in this relationship: the mother.

'w-we're fine, don't worry! Nothing's going to happen here, nor will it affect the little bro!' Sophie stated with a slight stutter, one which she tried to hold back in her thoughts but failed epically. She got it herself since she'd had a similar conversation with the disembodied voice, but even so the level of tension in the air still made her act this way. She almost felt like there was a blade poised to impale her throat, even if her viral regeneration would have taken care of that wound if it were real in a physical sense. This also reminded her of whenever her mother caught her doing something bad or whenever her mother caught her… her old man doing something he shouldn't, the sense of fear which only an angry mother could install within those who endangered her family.

Even though he didn't show NEARLY as much of his emotional reaction to her words, Sophie sensed that James felt a similar sense of feelings to herself as well, proving that Próta's point really had gotten across.

'… Very well, keep this warning in mind should things get out of hand again. If it does, I would suggest that instead of arguing with your pride like stubborn fools, you two resolve your differences with each other like proper adults and talk it out. Really, what baffles me the most about former humans and even humans themselves is their apparent lack of wanting to communicate their true feelings to one another. This is something which the Progenitor desires as well, although in his case he isn't aware of this desire on a conscious level yet, the desire to connect. Keep this in mind for future reference.'

To that end, with her piece said Próta's presence faded away from their minds, letting the two fighters breathe easier now that the tension in the air had vanished, letting them act normally once more. Instead however, there was a level of awkwardness in the atmosphere between the two of them, since really, why wouldn't there be? Here they were, two fully grown adults, and yet they had been lectured down to by another being who likely hadn't NEARLY the same amount of experience as the rest of them. Heck, if it were any other person then they likely would have lashed out… both in a verbal sense AND a violent one too. However, not only could they NOT do the violent aspect towards Próta, but the verbal sense just got shut down just by her voice ALONE…

That's when one KNOWS that someone is absolutely done with them.

'Shit… didn't expect her to go all momma bear on our asses...' Sophie thought as she looked downwards, trying not to meet anyone's gazes even though it was only her and James in the room. Utter embarrassment and nigh humiliation filled her being at what had just happened, and judging from what she could sense it seemed that James faired little better, in fact he probably felt worse knowing his stubborn nature and men's natural sense of pride. This made her note to NEVER again try to do anything that would piss Próta off, yet in her mind she knew for a FACT that given her character as well as her former superior's, that may as well be wishful thinking.

Though, if she were honest, Sophie would admit to being curious about one thing which Próta had stated: what did she mean by what she said about her little bro and the 'desire to connect'?

She got the feeling that answer would be a whole new can of worms, should she find out…

After Cutting the link between those two pseudo Genikós, one Próta couldn't help but sigh to herself knowing the futility of her words.

As a 'mother' she knew this feeling well…

One could naturally pick this up if they learned the things she did after all.

She may be too far away from them to actually do anything to help her Progenitor, but there were still things that she COULD do that they couldn't, one such thing being studying the virus which had spawned her in greater detail than any normal pathetic primate human ever could. To do that though, she had to do one thing, and that was go to the virus's source, where it was most dominant and study its actions there, something which she had done so gladly. Anything for the Progenitor…

Back to the whole studying thing, with her senses Próta had studied the DNA makeup of the beast known as the ''Hydra' that the Progenitor was currently doing battle with, something which she believed without a d doubt that would result in the Progenitor's victory, for the difference between them could be classed as similar to the difference in space between the sun and the moon. Perhaps more, and she was NOT basing this off of bias.

One of the memories that her Progenitor had from a victim of his had once read a philosophy article about Bias. It basically summarized its message that implicit bias meant that people tend to be biased about something even without intending to do so, based off their own surroundings. However, Próta made sure not to fall into this particular trap hole by analysing human behaviour and the circumstances around various situations, hence why she hadn't said anything about Neller and Heller's behaviour before this point. She had merely been gathering 'ammunition' as humans could refer to it as, so she could solve the problem in one fell swoop. However, shortly after shutting the link she had realized that her actions may in fact have made things worse, so she had to mentally resolve herself to watch as things unfolded and take responsibility for what happens next.

In the words of Mel Brooks: Hope for the Best. Expect the worst. Life is a play. We're unrehearsed.

Really, there truly were some shining swans in a herd of ugly ducks, weren't there?

In the meantime, she should return to her daily task of studying the virus within its habitat, building up a portfolio for when her Progenitor inevitably reached this place for the final confrontation between him and this 'thing'… though if what she's seen so far is any indication, things will only get from nightmarish to chaotic at that time.