Chapter 39 – LONG SHADOW end

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!"

"Oh, fuck off, grasshopper!"

Whilst inaccurately quoting a British cop comedy show that was part of a trio, though he didn't actually know that himself, Adam yelled that last sentence out in annoyance due to the user having done so for the 30th time in the last 5 minutes. Even if his facial expression had been hidden by his Armour's visor, the irritation rolling off him in waves spoke volumes about his true feelings. The first time it hadn't been as annoying, more along the lines of ear-piercing thanks to his ears literally feeling like popping akin to air balloons yet the Blacklight Virus within him didn't let that happen. Thus, like what one might have expected from this, he had gotten sick and tired of hearing it and wanted to shut it up already. It didn't help that it got amplified five times over due to there being about 5 heads in total, something which he had been trying to do something about but so far had little luck in that department.

TWITCH, TWITCH, TWITCH, TWITCH, TWITCH, TWITCH, TWITCH, TWITCH, TWITCH, TWITCH!

5 Pairs of eyes twitched in response to the insult to its appearance, as the Hydra once again released a stream of crimson gas from 2 of its 5 heads towards him, intending on having Adam meet the same fate as the Blackwatch soldiers. However, the ginger haired, Armoured teen didn't let that happen as he instead hopped to the side, rolling across the ground a few times before getting up onto all fours, then put strength into his feet before breaking off into a mad sprint towards its right flank. Of course, the Hydra didn't intend on letting whatever Adam planned come to fruition, so it instead raised its right claw upwards, poising it to strike akin to a Lance before bringing the appendage down on his ass. On Adan's side, he simply responded by raising his right arm, shifting it into his Shield and allowed it to meet said appendage, having angled it to the side away from him to deflect the attack from his person. Sliding to a halt, the male then reared the Shield back and, with all his might, launched a MERCILESS thrusting strike into the creature's side, causing it to recoil as it got sent onto its side, a flurry of snapping heads filled with razor sharp fangs stopping him from proceeding further.

'Perhaps something explosive could do the trick, I saw how those now-dead Blackwatch troops had been equipped more with Rocket Launchers than with Assault Rifles before…' Adam thought after hopping back, switching his Shield out for his Tóxo, aiming and firing at the Heads. Only 2 of them got destroyed by his attack though, and they still regenerated to full right after, though this time Adam noticed how their regen time seemed slightly slower than when he had used his Hammerfists. Could there be a difference in terms of weapon types which determines how fast this beast could heal? That had been a question that Adam had been asking himself since this battle began about 5 minutes ago. He could hear the alarms blaring yet the monotone voice similar to Red Crown had spoken a couple minutes ago over them, saying that Strike Teams were on route to this Facility. 'Whelp, looks like I'll be fighting my way out… meh, I'll deal with them later…'

His thought paused when he bent himself backwards to avoid a claw swing, then chained it into a back flip to avoid 2 heads as they crashed down on where he had once stood from above, the remaining 3 spewing out gas streams towards him which forced Adam to hop into the air. Just barely managed to dodge those, but a portion of his right foot's boot got touched by the gas… and a good ¾ of it instantly turned into mush. 'Tch, figured that it could go through Armour like with Blackwatch's gear, but MINE? Sheesh, best not let it hit me…' the teen thought as he used his Shield to smack away one of the Tails which had came down at him from above in an overhead slam, only to be swatted away and into a wall by the second Tail. Luckily his Armour managed to protect him from the majority of these two attacks, but it started to crack in more than a few places due to the heavy force behind the blows.

Not like Adam took much time to notice, only mildly note it with small displeasure as he forced himself out the indentation he'd made on the wall and dropped down, avoiding a small blast of Gas aimed at him. The Gas hit the wall where the teen had once been, quickly reducing it into a melted puddle of mush that COULD have been Adam himself had he not been more wary of that ability, yet the Teen simply raised his Tóxo to aim and fire it towards the approaching Mutant Hydra. The small volley of arrows flew true, impaling the heads and a small portion of their necks only to leave 1 of them remaining… something which Adam mentally cursed at as his Armour repaired itself. 'Shit, couldn't get them all in that one… huh?'

Just as he made to mentally berate himself however, the teen noticed something… odd. The heads that he damaged, well, they did heal themselves with time, but it took WAY longer than it had done so when he had only destroyed 1 or 2 of them. The moment that he saw this, Adam recalled the legend this creature had been a part of, and mentally face palmed. Was it really THAT easy? With such a powerful Infected like this, it should have had an easier to spot weakness than just 'destroy all the heads at once', right? Apparently not, from what he had just observed as the Heads all finished regenerating, each of them glaring at him with a heated gaze as if the creature had figured out that he'd realized its weakness. 'Well, to be fair this thing shares a similarity with the Scorpios in that its just recently been brought into the world, so it likely hasn't gotten a full grasp over itself just yet… one could call it a baby or a toddler at this point…' the teen thought to himself in an attempt to rationalize the bullshit which he had just experienced.

Still, as he dodged yet another 5-shot-set of Gas attacks from those heads whilst his Armour fully repaired itself, the said Prototype mentally pondered his next move. Since shooting his Tóxo had the potential to destroy up to 4 of the 5 heads at once, the last head would still be alive to heal the rest. Its regeneration must be controlled by the heads themselves, making them its weak spot. Kind of obvious now that he thought about it, but to be fair he'd been so caught up in thinking about its characteristics and how dangerous it looked.

So, what could he do to solve this situation…?

'Hmmm… oh! That could work!'

An idea shot into his mind as if a bullet had punctured it all of a sudden, prompting an excited smile to spread across Adam's features as he switched up his Loadout… his left arm remaining in its Armoured form whilst his right became his Massfist. He held the massive mass of Tendrils at the ready by having it curl its end into something akin to a fist, shortening and shrinking it to the length of just beyond that of a car whilst his opponent roared as it launched several more Gas balls at him. For a moment, he thought that it had been about to lunge at him, but Adam had guessed wrong, no it was more like the Mutant Hydra had seen his weapon, judged it to be much more dangerous than it initially appeared, and switched tactics accordingly. If that was so, then he really had to end this NOW, since in the words of a certain Chinese philosopher, 'a battle is decided before its even begun'. Thus, if this thing increased its intelligence, then it'd become much more dangerous to deal with.

As such, Adam quickly put his plan into motion once he'd dodged the last of the Gas balls… well, he thought he had but apparently one of the heads had another one already prepped and ready to go, proof being hoe it launched it right after he had dodged the seemingly 'last' one earlier. However, Adam didn't let this deter him and instead raised his left arm… shifting it into his Shield and took the Gas Bal head on. Sizzling sounds accompanied this as his arm rapidly proceeded to melt at a fast pace, the teen gritting his teeth and hissing painfully beneath his Armour's visor. However, Adam glanced through one opened eye towards the beast and saw it being surprised by his move if the looks on the five heads' faces were any indication, something which he would have smirked at under normal circumstances.

'Chance!'

Exploiting this small opening, Adam pumped Biomass into his legs and hopped into the air, slamming his Massfist into the ground to propel him higher. As his destroyed left arm began to regenerate (although it took much longer than normal due to the acidic properties of the Gas eating his body faster than he could regenerate, his Armour providing an unintended blessing by slowing the Gas down so things evened out), Adam then proceeded to rear his Massfist back, enlarging its size and disassembling the makeshift 'fist' so it had all its tips at the ready, then thrusted the limb downwards. The Massfist, similar to its namesake, almost SCREAMED like a banshee due to how fast it move, a significantly high-pitched whistling sound accompanying its motion as the Mutant Hydra failed to react in time.

SLAM!

"WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-!"

To that end, Adam watched with a successful, albeit still pained, smirk on his lips whilst his Massfist pinned the Mutant Hydra down to the ground below, its many limbs, Tails, necks and heads all impaled… save for one. Even then though, the Massfist proceeded to commence the consumption process, something which the Mutant Hydra did NOT appreciate due to how it howled and thrashed about wildly and erratically whilst the sole remaining unimpaled head howled painfully… although considering how it had literally melted off one of Adam's arms (which was about 50% repaired at this point, Blacklight adaptability for the win!), the teen didn't feel too much sympathy for his future meal.

That thought flashed through his mind as his left arm morphed into his Tóxo, although he had to pump more Biomass into it than normal so that he could form it due to the Gas. Fortunately, that also helped his regeneration along, so things worked out on that front. Aiming his Tóxo at the enemy, Adam proceeded to pepper it with a small arrow volley like a small shower of rain. The Arrows descended downwards like mighty strikes from god himself, something which Adam would have scoffed at if someone said it to him, but nonetheless they succeeded in smashing through the creature's four impaled heads whilst the Massfist kept on devouring the Creature on its end.

'Now, to FINISH HIM!'

Thus, the time for the final strike eventually came, something which Adam exploited as he shifted his Tóxo into his Hammerfist, then proceeded to let his Massfist pull him right down towards the beast like a slingshot finally being allowed to launch its payload. In that moment, Adam threw his Hammerfist forward similar to a red/blue caped superhero, his surroundings becoming nothing but an unrecognizable blur to him in that one brief instance.

Was this…?

Was this what it felt like to move faster than the speed of sound…?

For some reason, Adam couldn't help but wonder about that, but he eventually discarded it in favour of smashing the final head into pulp, creating this explosion of gas (made from the creature's brain matter and not the OTHER gas, that would have been bad) , blood, guts and gore. A LOT of it splattered onto his form, but thanks to his Armour Adam felt like he would be fine once he dismissed it. However, the male didn't focus too much on this one due to what had happened next, the whole reason why he had made this tactic in the first place. In that one moment, the whole Mutant Hydra's body slackened in its movements, a few slight spasms followed suit before the whole thing finally, FINALLY fell limp, its death officially confirmed.

"Haah… Haaaaahhhh…" Heavy breathing escaped his being as his shoulders fell downwards, even as his body unleashed a LOAD of Tendrils which aided his Massfist in consuming the Mutant Hydra's remains, the blood and all. Thus, his heavy breathing didn't last long when Adam felt a COLOSSAL rush of power flow into him like some kind of damn explosion occurring deep within his being, fresh Biomass and DNA being added to his genetic code whilst Blacklight worked its ass off to decipher it and provide new information to its host. All the while, Adam did the same thing since he was somewhat curious as to how this thing became what it eventually did…

Something which he didn't discover in the end, much to Adam's disappointment. 'Man… its genetic code is chock full of useful DNA that I can use for my powers, but other than that and some fresh Biomass, I got nothing on how it became like this… although I have a hunch anyways.' The male thought to himself as he assumed a detective thinking pose, a wave of Tendrils rippling over him to signify the Consumption process's completion… like a lack of a corpse or blood wouldn't be enough of a sign or something.

'I believe I may be of some assistance on that front, Progenitor…'

'Oh?' Just then however, a familiar female voice entered his mind and spoke, soothing his brain and wiping away his troubled thoughts like apparent gently soothing the scalps of their agitated young till they fell asleep. Ever would he get used to how such a voice had such a calming effect on him… Adam LOVED it. 'You found something, Próta?' he questioned after recovering from the effects that the voice had on him. If she did, then that would make more sense than him discovering it, since Próta seemed to have more experience ad knowledge about the deeper workings Blacklight had than Adam himself. One day, he hoped that he too would develop something like that so he could become more competent in her eyes.

'Affirmative, however if I may be so bold Progenitor, this conversation would best be settled back in your Lair. Why not return there first, you can hold off on the mutations until then as well since our talk will give them time to properly assimilate into your genetics.'

Yeah, Próta seemed to have a point there, Adam realized after a couple second's pondering. Just from how she spoke he had figured the answer to be a long, complex one however the male also had a feeling this would be the way things inevitably turn out due to his own theories. Guess he and Próta had been on the same wavelength in this case, something which he held a small amount of pride over.

However, that could be saved for another time.

'Now, how should I make my exit… hmmm…. Oh!' An idea sparked in his mind, one which made an evil and downright demonic smile form on his lips. 'Oh yeah, now THAT will be fun.

Later on, several things would become apparent:

One, by the time the Blackwatch Strike Teams arrived, they would open the entrance to the facility via blowing up with C4 Explosives, only to discover the entire place barren without any forms of life. No scientists, no soldiers, nothing. One could see the copious amounts of dried blood though, indicating that a fight HAD happened throughout the facility, though with the lack of bodies around it proved a more harrowing experience, even if some of these soldiers had experienced things like this before back in the Red Zone. Experiences none of them felt too keen on going through ever again.

They also wouldn't find an infected specimen either, no matter how hard they tried to look. It almost seemed like the whole place had become deserted over a short span of time.

However, what they DID find would be something which would cause Rooks no small amount of headaches to come:

A freaking supposed 'confession' in a heavily dramatized fashion that Rooks himself had signed on the walls detailing his own 'illicit' affairs with Riley and several Blackwatch high ranking officers… with one TROLOLOLOLO at the end and a winking smiley face. Plus a few drawings etched into the walls detailing some of their escapades together, done with some… disturbingly detailed levels of artwork. All of it had been done in blood too, as if some sort of artists had taken inspiration from something and had used the blood of the defilers to draw a scene for them to view.

…Let's just say that a few things followed after this:

Many photos were taken,

The images got leaked onto the internet,

Many laughs were had…

...and a certain Blackwatch Commander pretty much kept losing his shit.

"... You know, you're not a good influence on the kid, HERA."

James sweat dropped with a bead of nervousness rolling down the side of his head, all while both his fellow Prototypes had Cheshire cat grins on their faces after having a bit of a laughing fit, one which had lasted about 10 minutes, post Adam's little 'prank' on Blackwatch.

Currently he, Sophie and Adam were gathered back within the 'Main' Lair, having assembled here after hearing of the third person' return from his mission in order to check on how it had gone for him. Though, when alarm bells had rung within his mind once he saw how Adam had that big smile on his face, the kind of smile any small boy had when they had pulled off something mischievous, James had started to worry a little bit about his future… especially if he grew up under Sophie's care. It was one thing for Sophie to pull a prank then rope the kid into it, heck it was one thing for her to do so on her own and reap the rewards herself, but for the kid to actively CHOOSE to do one himself made the oldest of the Prototypes worry about him… for multiple reasons.

Was it just him, or was he the only one who took things seriously around here?

"Oh fuck off, Heller. I'm a FINE influence on the younger gen, like little bro here." Sophie countered hotly, wrapping her arms around the smaller male from behind, still having that grin on her lips which spoke VOLUMES about the pride she felt in the young KRONOS. Heck, if it weren;t for there being a witness, she would have begun spinning him around above her head like she was presenting a trophy up towards the heavens themselves. Finally, she'd managed to get someone else into the world of pranks, she had converted another mortal soul into the church of prankdom! She would make an entire cult filled with pranksters one day, mark her words! "Besides, we don't need to take jack shit seriously right now, so let loose a little! Otherwise you'll miss out on a lot in life."

Upon hearing that, James glared at the woman, pocketing his hands in his trouser pockets. "If it weren't for me, then you likely WOULDN'T take anything seriously, crazy bitch!" he retorted, earning a glare from her to which hr arched a brow and made an expression which pretty much stated 'come at me, I dare you to!' Though seconds later after a small silence where the two had one of their regular standoffs (he didn't know how to feel about the fact that he was getting used to the bitch before him, was he finally losing what little grip of sanity he had left?) before James decided to move the conversation along so that they could get things done.

"Um, this is all well and good and all…" Adam began which got the others attention, the youngest Prototype having ceased his laughing stuff and instead had adopted a more serious posture. Seeing this, both Sophie and James became serious too, since whenever the kid became serious he always had something that needed to be treated as such in mind. Something which became all the more proven when he opened his mouth yet again. "Thinking back to our brief talk about our next move before, there was something that I need to mention…"

From there, Adam proceeded to tell them some things, things like how he had been in contact with Alex Mercer through brief moment's where he had hacked into Adam's own Hivemind, nearly giving Sophie a heart attack. Since Adam and James had that talk between the two, the boy had come to a decision in his mind, privately of course. One where he would tell them what he knew from Mercer about the general scope of things, as whilst he may not know much, not to mention he had still some personal barriers to cross, Adam wanted to show them that he indeed trusted the two adults, trusted them enough to not only watch his back but also to share information with them that could be seen as sensitive otherwise.

Speaking of their… craziest member, the two had to stop her from going on a fury-fuelled rampage, James and Adam did, by working together to pin her down to the ground (had to use multiple mutations to help them do so) before she could do something utterly reckless like try to take a Transporter Tendril to the Red Zone, something which Adam had once questioned Próta about earning her MAJOR disapproval of that notion. She'd reasoned that things in the Red Zone would be FAR too much for them to handle at their current levels.

Here's some of the dialogue exchanged (or one sidedly dished out) at this moment:

"THAT MOTHERFUCKER! THAT COCK-SUCKING, WHORE-LOVING, SHIT-TASTING, FATASS FUCKBOI, FREAKING ASSHOLE! HE WILL PAY, HE WILL PAY, HE WILL PAY, HE WILL PAY! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM I'LL TAKE HIS [CENSORED] AND SHOVE IT INTO HIS [CENSORED], I'LL [CENSORED], [CENSORED], HIS FUCKING [CENSORED], [CENSORED], IF HE'S STILL CONSCIOUS I'LL [CENSORED], [CENSORED], [CENSORED], [CENSORED], AND IF HE'S 'STILL' ALIVE AFTER ALL THAT, I'LL GODDAMN KILL HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!"

CRASH!

BOOM!

SMASH!

"CRAZY BITCH'S GOING PSYCHOTIC! TENDRILS ARE EVERYWHERE!"

"CALM DOWN BIG SIS, HE DIDN'T HURT ME THIS TIME-OUCH! FUCK, A LEG GOT CUT OFF!"

"WAIT, THIS TIME?!"

"GRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! THAT LITTLE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

SMASH!

BOOM!

CRASH!

"SEE THAT, LOOK WHAT YOU DID KID-ARGH, MY ARM- YOU SET HER OFF! OF COURSE SHE'D GO BALLISTIC HEARING THAT!"

"WAIT, SHE WOULD?! HOW THE HECK WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!"

"OH, I'M SURE SHE SHOWED SIGNS BEFORE, BRA-BITCH, STOP STABBING THROUGH MY CHEST!"

"WE NEED TO CALM HER DOWN BEFORE SHE DESTROYS EVERYTHING-ARGH MY SPINE-FUCK, MAYBE WE SHOULD USE DRUGS!"

"DRUGS ARE BAD, ADAM!"

"A RAMPAGING BIG SIS IS WORSE!"

"TRUE, THAT!"

… Yeah, note to every viewer: Never piss Sophie off, OR harm her 'little bro'.

By the time that they had managed to calm Sophie down, which had taken multiple dozens worth of regenerating limbs to do, Adam managed to finally explain to them what Alex had told him about the Outbreak. About how the virus was slowly winning the fight against Humanity with it becoming nearly immune to all of their weapons yet Blackwatch had concealed this information from the public. He'd even told them about the whole PROJECT: TITAN shit, which unfortunately Adam hadn't found any leads on even after all this time had passed, though James and Sophie definitely became concerned over the implications this had, especially the former which confirmed to the boy that James had been suspicious about his connection to the virus for a while now. He couldn't blame the guy, honestly as much as his childish mind wanted to.

But, to them, the biggest issue came in the form of what Adam told them that Mercer had said about Tendril colours, that no Prototype had the same ones. Apparently, it had been meant to reflect the nature of that person, but that had been a debatable reason, though it didn't take away the fact that each Prototype had their own individual Tendril Colours… something which ALARMED James and Sophie for multiple reasons. One of which had been that they couldn;t dispute this fact since, with the three of them as examples, none of them had the same colours.

Furthermore, when Adam recounted his encounter with Mercer after escaping that facility with them, Adam had noticed something about the man's Tendrils which he hadn' given much thought to till just now: the man's prominent Tendril colour had been black, NOT orangish, something which made him come to a… not so nice revelation. One which the other two also came to if the slightly pale faces they had were any indication, cause if what Mercer had said to the kid had been true, and their own powers were decent evidence to this being so...

"Well, morbid thoughts aside, that stunt'll really rattle Rooks' gears for a bit, i'd say."

'It will also serve to drive him into tightening security around the remaining bases. It doesn't seem like you have any messages waiting from that human Father Guerra either, so some preparation for the next strike against Blackwatch is advised. The hoards are amassing themselves in your respective Lairs, so perhaps during this time you can do what Mrs Neller suggested previously, and focus on developing new strains for new creatures using your new powers as a template?'

Sophie had one thing to say to that after a moment of silence. "...Well, that sounds reasonable."

"You two got ideas for your broods? I got mine." James queried as he proceeded to head out towards an opening hole that would put him inside a Transporter Tendril for his Lair. He had a few ideas he wanted to try out, some of them reflected from things he had dreamed about back in his childhood… man, how time flew. He was only in his mid thirties, yet he still felt like he'd become an old man, though James dreaded to wonder what he would have been like as an ACTUAL old man. Though, part of him felt that he no longer had to worry about that now, since he was infected with the virus and all.

Sophie nodded her head as she began to do the same thing as her fellow Prototype. "Yup, managed to get a few concrete ideas drawn up whilst little bro had been out having the time of his life. Been waiting to return so I can put 'em in action." she replied, and just before she stepped into a hole for a Transporter Tendril to one of her Lairs, Sophie turned to James and gave a challenging smirk. "Wanna race to see who can create their first true beastie faster?"

At this, James narrowed his eyes at her, his eyes blazing with a slightly competitive fire. "You're on, bitch."

Watching them go, Adam waited till the holes had closed up behind them and he began to sense the individual presences of the Transporter Tendrils leaving his Lair, before he turned backwards and walked towards the Blacklight Building's centre. From there, he proceeded to sit down in the lotus position, his hands resting on his thighs whilst a heavy sigh escaped his lips as he thought about his current kin. "Those two are really going to become rivals, one of these days… well, that's better than the two being hated enemies if you ask me…" the male muttered under his breath, although part of him wondered if it was a human thing or not to call one's friends things like 'bitch' and 'asshole'. Since well, he usually reserved those taunts and insults for Blackwatch troops… and there was ZERO chance he'd call them friends or anything of the sort.

'Maybe that's just how those two are… ugh, adults are so confusing!' The boy mentally raged, annoyance surging through him as he pouted, huffing as well. He could never understand adults, they were just so complicated and aneurysm-inducing to deal with at times.

It nearly drove him up the wall a few times despite how much he valued them, especially Sophie whom he really got along with, plus in those times Adam would wonder why they just openly expressed themselves like he did… wait, that wasn't right.

When was the last time that Adam ever freely expressed himself of his own free will, aside from him telling them the info he had from Mercer? The answer came to him, but Adam didn't like how rare it was that he expressed himself in an understandable way.

'You will reach that 'stage' eventually too, Progenitor.'

Momentarily pausing his scratching of his scalp via his two human hands at Próta's words entering his mind, Adam tilted his head in confusion whilst looking up at the Lair's. 'Huh?' The boy blinked a couple times, before he shook his head from side to side, his ginger bangs swaying too and fro from the motions. 'No I won't, I'm a child. I'll always be one.' he replied, denying any and all possibility of such a development.

'Actually… wait, perhaps… ahhhh, I see... Let's agree to disagree on that for now, the more important priority at this time is developing your Brood, Progenitor. Do you have any ideas as to your Brood's theme?'

Mentally grumbling at the way that Próta had phrased that last bit, Adam decided to ignore it and forget it had even happened, focusing back on the subject at hand which was his Brood, just like what Próta had stated. The previous indignant light in his eyes then abruptly vanished like it hadn't been there in the first place, replaced by one of childish excitement as a matching smile formed on his features. 'Oh yeah, I've been doing some research about that for a while now, looking through the memories of my victims for any inspiration, and from what I can see it seems as though there are quite the few mythologies aside from Greek out there, each with their own respective mythical monsters to them.'

'A byproduct of there being countless human civilisations throughout the centuries, they have spawned a number of different religions and superstitious theories of their own origins. Human ego never ceases to impress me with it's disgusting arrogance, they simply cannot comprehend that they simply formed from a natural evolutionary process, but that is not important. What does this have to do with your Brood theme, Progenitor?'

Now THAT he found himself quite able to answer, as his smile broadened considerably with the childish light in his eyes growing ever brighter. 'Simple, if I choose a theme which suits my interests and base my Brood around it, then I can base my future creations off of it. It doesn't have to be just Greek Mythology, since Blackwatch is so into that for some reason… though I guess it makes sense, since they seem to act like the eldest of Gods in that mythos by fucking everything up.' Adam mused mentally, humming in thought at the similarities that specific military group had with the Olympian gods.

Both had a thing about fucking things over, after all.

But, if he were to go with a mythos as a theme, what kind of theme could he reasonably go for?

'Hmmm… this feels like a toughie, since most of the memories I have are of Blackwatch greek fanatics…' The boy couldnt help but think whilst frowning in annoyance, his left hand pinching the bridge of his nose whilst his eyes had closed shut, his mind running through the memories of his victims like a video feed. Blackwatch REALLY needed to broaden their horizons, one part of him couldn't help but comment, although it got crushed immediately afterwards by the unappealing idea of Blackwatch actually doing that. It could get REAL bad if they did decide to wise up and adopt new tactics. 'Hmmm… Wait a minute… Wasn't there something… Aha! Yes! That's right, there was a religion that got born from the Greek one after something called the Trojan War wasn't there? Ah yes, the Romans! They have a religion too, as well as their own mythos! One which spawned from Greek religion, which fits my situation since, if it weren't for Blackwatch, I likely wouldn't have ended up like this! If I can make monsters based on roman mythology, then me fighting Blackwatch makes sense in a whole new way!'

Finally, he came to a proper conclusion, and with that in mind, Adam opened his eyes with a determined gaze, his brain already drawing up plans and blueprints whilst comparing, discarding and improving them a hundred miles an hour. With what little knowledge of the roman mythos that he could gather, since Blackwatch seemed to be fanatically supportive of the Greek one, Adam came up with only a few additional monster ideas, however with Blacklight's ingenuity, his own outside-the-box-thinking and the resources provided to him by the Lair, he figured he could make it work.

Thus, commenced Adam's first genuine attempt at creating a new Infected monster (he REALLY needed to consider thinking up an alternative name for them since infection really didn't feel as fitting anymore) aside from the Scorporilla. Plus the infected he'd made for defending in Civil War… or should he have Viral War instead? Meh, anyways Adam remembered a time where Próta had explained to him the concept behind his creation of the infected when he had once asked her. Simply put, a combination of Mitosis, MPD and his oBiomass Manipulation, plus with the amount that he had accumulated, he could spawn a small army right now. Lairs apparently rejuvenated their Biomass reserves quite quickly, it seemed.

As such, what felt like hours of research and genetic blueprint development passed in a blink of an eye… resulting in Adam finally standing before the beginning of his own Brood's foundation.

… And what a sight it was, currently.

Looming over Adam since it was bigger than him, stood a creature shaped like a horse, about the size of a van. For context, that was about 2.5 meters tall, with a length of 3 meters, whilst the beast weighed about twice as much, about 8874 pounds. It's head though, had been shaped like something called a 'Stag' without its seemingly signature Antlers according to a Blackwatch Soldier who had been a hunter in his free time, whilst also sporting a hairy mane like that of a horse's but made from Blacklight Tendrils. It's feet, using that same soldier's hunter knowledge, resembled an Elephant's but with more bone-like talons protruding out from around the ankles like some makeshift anklets, sharp enough to pierce through skin. As for the tail, whilst the original monster this was based off of, had a boar's Tail, this one instead had a Massfist shaped like a Tail that was about the length of an average human. For skin, it looked similar to a Brawler's but only dark green instead of orangish red, not to mention it's Tail and hair colour had been black. Finally, it has a long twisted-looking black horn protruding out of its head, one which looked like it could pierce through a full-grown man with ease.

'Ahhhh… he's done, at last…' Adam thought to himself, smiling as he wiped the imaginary sweat off his brow. All the while, the creature stood proudly before him, like a soldier eager to do it's duty as a slight neigh-like sound escaped it's lips which had elected a light chuckle out of the boy. It even went and licked him with it's long, dark green tongue, electing a playful laugh out of him.

This infected… whilst he had yet to think up a proper name for this bad boy, Adam believed that he had created a fairly decent specimen in terms of combat ability. He had decided to go with this thing as a replacement for the 'Brawlers' in that, whilst they didn't have their shape and powers, what this creature did have was range, versatility and speed. See, this thing had been built for speed, range and agility instead of strength and speed, what with the Massfist Tail able to work like the one which Adam possessed. As such, it's shapeshifting abilities matched that of it's intelligence and considering how there were apparently horses which can outsmart their riders, that intelligence stat had to be made considerably high.

The Massfist Tail functioned as it's primary weapon however, and although it's skin colour reflected that of a Brawler's but with dark green fibres, that was all the defence Adam could give it without damaging its primary purpose/functions. Furthermore, it's horn acted like a secondary attack weapon, since it had been made so that it could pierce through tank hides quite easily due to its structure, making it quite a nice thrusting weapon if the creature broke into a decent charge. In the future Adam intended to create an improved Variant which would focus more on Tanking hits and dishing out greater damage dosages, but that wouldn't be for a short while yet.

'I'll call him my... Monoceros, in honor of it's origins in Roman Mythology….'

With that thought in mind, Adam allowed himself a small bit of satisfaction… Although to him, this 'small' feeling was actually the amount that could rival a small city population's worth, at the success that he had achieved. Though, despite this pride surging through him, Adam didn't allow himself to neglect the overall facts of the situation. This wouldn't be the first one from that mythos he'd make, cause like he'd mentioned Adam felt that him fighting the monsters that made him felt so similar to the Greeks and Romans fighting one another. As such, making monsters from Roman mythology felt all too ironic, although his choices would be admittingly a bit limited since, whilst similar, Roman myths took on a lot of inspiration from Greek ones since that religion got created 1000 years after the Greek one.

In order to solve this problem, Adam figured he'd just have to use what he could, something which he had a LOT of experience in doing. After all, he'd done this quite often during the early days of the Outbreak.

'May I make a suggestion, Progenitor?'

'Hm? Go ahead…'

'Whilst you indeed can go prepare your Brood this way, I would also suggest setting Biomass aside for fortifications and defences. Remember how the Red Zone has organic-looking cannons that function as Artillery? They have been able to keep the Military quite a distance from them, as well as prevent a large-scale assault, therefore you should do the same. Furthermore, it would be wise to watch out, just in case Kentró Alex Mercer might try to launch attacks on you, you DID take some of his Lairs away therefore he might launch an invasion force to destroy instead of capture. From what you have declared about him to the others, it would seem that he is the type of person who plans quite complexly, thus he will likely try to get rid of a threat before it can become one.'

'True… I'll try to think of something up whilst putting Biomass to the side for that purpose. I'll also inform big sis and Heller about that too, since they should know this as well, Próta. Speaking of the Red Zone, you mentioned once that you were there… how is it over there?'

'Survival of the fittest, and it is only going to get worse, Progenitor. I may have formed a hideout for myself, however my movements remain limited unless you can clear a path to reach me, here. That will be a far off goal however, Progenitor, thus you should focus on the immediate problems for now.'

'Will do.' With that said, Adam cut the connection between him and Próta, before he decided to hurry with his next project, having his newest creation by his side all the while.