Chapter Three: Complications

Alex looked at all of the teenagers distanfully. It was like looking at a bunch of horror movie cliches ready for the chopping block. It was almost insulting that he'd have to babysit them until his latest pawn showed up to take over. There were about two delinquents, a stern looking student council president, a sporty girl in a track suit, some dumb redhead bitch in booty shorts, and a bregrudgingly cute brunette in a cowboy hat. And that was just all he bothered to take note of.

Though they couldn't see his expression due to the armor, they could sense from the air around him that he didn't like any of them one bit.

"Is this everyone?" Alex asked in a curt and measured tone.

The girl in the cowboy hat blinked owlishly. "W-What?"

Alex sighed. "I'm looking for survivors of the plane crash. Is this everyone?"

"I…" She looked unsure. "I don't think so…"

"Probably dead or dying then," Alex said dismissively, "It's an honest to god miracle that even this many people survived the crash in the first place."

"So then most of our classmates are…" The girl in the tracksuit trailed off.

"If they didn't die from the crash or injuries then…" Alex's head turned to one of the butterfly carcases. "Something like that made lunch out of them."

Alex leaned back on a tree. He didn't want to talk to these brats any longer than he had to. He had much better things to be doing right now, plans to be finalized. New types of infected he could be creating in preparation for Blackwatch's and Heller's arrival. The sooner he could shove this mess onto Sora, the better.

"A friend of yours is making their way over. So, for now, we're staying right where we are." Alex declared. "Understood?"

The shock finally subsided for most of the students, and before the cowboy hat girl could or the tracksuit girl could respond, one of the delinquents, one with his head shaved, walked up to him.

"Stay here!?" the little shit yelled. "Are you crazy!? We'll be killed if we stick around for too long."

Alex said nothing, he just stared at the delinquent. If he couldn't understand such a simple thing, he wasted his words on him any more than he already had.

"Hey!" He shouted. "I'm talking to you! Who the hell are you supposed to be anyway!?"

Silently, Alex shifted his right arm into his Claw configuration and began tapping his arm with one of his sharpened, elongated fingers. He tilted his head slightly, daring the little shit to actually do something about his silence.

The color drained from the young man's face almost immediately, and he backed off, all bark, no bite. Typical. He retreated back into the main group of students. Alex could hear them all mumbling about him, the one fat kid was wondering out loud if they were in some kind of horror science fiction manga. How ridiculous.

The cowboy hat girl walked up to him. "Excuse me. If it isn't too much trouble, you wouldn't have happened to see a boy around our age, black hair, amber eyes, gray jacket, black turtleneck?"

"Sora is who we're waiting for." Alex explained, much to her shock.

"You know Sora?" She questioned before her eyes lit up and she let out a gasp. "Sora's alive!? Is he alright!? Is he injured!? Where-" The student council looking girl put a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention. "Chitose…?"

'Chitose's her name, eh?' Alex noted idly.

Chitose shook her head, and gave Alex a wary look as she slowly pulled the cowboy hat girl back.

Suddenly there was a sound in the air. A rapid 'Whoom Whoom Whoom'.

"Guys do you hear that?" Called out the redhead.

'That sounds like…'

"That sounds like a helicopter!" The skinny kid with hair twists shouted. "Help has arrived!"

If Alex wasn't in his armored transformation, he would've frowned. 'Blackwatch couldn't have gotten here this fast, could they?'

The brats started celebrating right away.

"Where is it!?"

"Where is it coming from!?"

"Yay!"

"We're saved!"

"Let's move to a place that stands out as soon as possible!"

Something caught his eye, one of the students wasn't cheering like the rest of them. The girl in the cowboy hat. She was listening closely to the sound approaching them.

She made a face as if she recognized the sound. "This is…"

Faster than even Alex thought possible, something descended upon them. A giant black wasp swooped down and made a dash towards the hat girl. But just before it could get her, Chitose pushed her out of the way and was picked up by the creature instead.

Alex sprung, shifting his arm into his Whipfist and hurled it at the creature. It dodged and flew into the open air.

The hat girl made a mad dash towards her friend. "Chitose!"

"Noooooooooooo!" Chitose let out a blood curdling scream. "Mutsumi! Mutsumi, help!"

Alex pulled back his arm, readying himself again. This time, he wouldn't miss.

…Though he didn't even get the chance as a black blur sped past them all, ran up the tree closest to the wasp and jumped. The blur reached a good sixty meters in the air before it drop kicked the wasp on the side of its head, knocking Chitose from its grip before grabbing the girl.

"Hold on!" They yelled before they landed on their feet a few seconds later, the impact causing the group to crack under the force.

'Must've gotten more biomass from the spiders than I thought.' Alex mused as his latest pet-project, Sora, put down a rather shaken up Chitose.

"You alright?" He rubbed Chitose's back.

She let out a shuddering breath. "I… I think I'm fine. I'm so glad you're alright, Sora."

"Come on, you know it's going to take more than a plane crash to keep me down."

"Took you long enough, dammit!" Alex exclaimed. Sure it was like three minutes of waiting, but that was three minutes too many with these idiots.

Sora didn't respond. He stared up into the sky, looking at the spot where he kicked the wasp, seeing the creature fly back into the sky and take off in another direction. He spotted some cracks in the carapace.

'That's some durable natural armor, and that speed was nothing to scoff at either. What could it do with a bit of Blacklight?' He mused.

"Sorry, I just got held up by some eight-legged freaks." Sora said sheepishly. "So, you kept them safe for me while I made my way over?"

"Yeah," Alex said curtly, "You can take things over from here?"

Sora grinned. "Thanks a lot, man. And of course I can, now go on with your bad self. We'll be fine."

If Alex had his eyes right now, he'd have rolled them. But he was thankful for the arrival, the sooner he could get things back on track the better, and now he'd secured his pawn's loyalty.

"Good," He nodded before bending his legs and jumping with enough force to shatter the ground, sending him up much higher than Sora leaped and began gliding. Alex began heading towards the more mountainous areas of the island, he'd have more time there to create new mutations.

[-]

I watched intently as Alex disappeared into the distance.

I narrowed my eyes and frowned. 'He's up to something stupid again, isn't he? He wouldn't have taken the time out of his virtually endless life to protect my classmates if it didn't benefit him in some capacity.'

"Sora…" A soft, fragile voice called out. "S-Sora, is that really you?"

Adorable light brown eyes, brown hair that went down to her lower back, and the cowboy hat I got her on our first date.

"Come on, Oribe, you didn't think you'd be getting rid of me that easily, did you?" I snarked, trying to lighten the mood.

But that apparently failed spectacularly as my girlfriend wrapped her arms around me, and held on for dear life, crying into my chest. Being the good boyfriend that I try to be, I hugged her back and whispered soft reassurances in her ear while I worked out something resembling a game plan. Blackwatch and Heller were no doubt on their way, and things were going to get to astronomic levels of fucked when they do.

"Geez, Sora, should've known I wouldn't have to worry about you. You're about as stubborn as a cockroach." The skinny young man with hair twists said and he walked up to me. Kai Kazuhiko, one of my best friends. "But, uh, I don't mean to pry, but how in the hell did you do… that?"

That caught everyone's attention. I had all of his classmates staring right at him.

I turned to the direction where Alex went. "He found me injured on the beach, and decided to turn me into what he is."

"So, he turned you into a freak of nature too?" Kamijo Atsushi, the guy with the shaved head and fur-trimmed coat, scoffed.

"Watch your mouth, Atsushi, he just saved my life!" Chitose shouted in my defense.

As usual I took anything Kamijo said to me in stride. "Nah, 'freak of nature' still implies it's natural. I'm an affront to God."

Kai laughed nervously. "You're kidding, right?"

"Bro, shit's fucked."

I did a short headcount.

Oribe Mutsumi, Naruse Chitose, Kai Kazuhiko, and Kamijo Atsushi were the ones I had already addressed.

Matsuoka Ayumi, the girl with short brown hair, blue eyes, and dressed in a tracksuit looked at us relieved. She was captain of the softball team.

Tsuge Hiroshi, a blonde delinquent with his hair styled into a pompadour. He was friends with Kamijo.

Shirakawa Miki, a modest looking girl with gray hair in a bob-cut and gray eyes.

Inou Ai, a cute girl with light brown hair tied into a ponytail and brown eyes. She was part of Class 2 and was a member of the track team.

Oda Satoshi, a heavy-set guy with short black hair and dark eyes, wore a blue sweater with 'YAS NO' printed onto it. He was from Class 3, a pretty big otaku from what little I cared to remember.

Miura Mami, a pretty girl with pink hair styled in twintails and pink eyes. She was from Class 2 and was an honest to god idol, a really popular one too.

And finally, Jinno Misuzu, the sexy redhead in the booty shorts who was my ex-girlfriend. Fucking. Fantastic.

Head Count: Eleven people. Twelve counting myself.

A lot more than I thought I'd have to work with but this'll be fine. I hope.

"Listen, we can't stay here. Walk and talk, we're moving now." I ordered. "We need a roof over our heads pronto so we can wait out this nonsense till help arrives." I turned to the direction I saw the wasp fly off to. "Let's head that way."

Help wasn't coming. I knew it wasn't. Blackwatch and death was coming our way. But they needed direction and to preferably not panic in the middle of the man-eating bug-infested woods.

They could start panicking in a safe and secure location.

"Eh, who made you leader!?" Kamijo Atsushi got in my face. "Sorry to say, but you're not exactly leader material, Sora."

Tsuge backed him up. "Yeah, he's right! Sora ain't nothing but the class idiot and everyone knows it!"

There was a chorus of agreements from most of the students. Oribe, Naruse, Kai, Matsuoka, and surprisingly, Jinno, turned to look at me.

I let out a long sigh. It's like these idiots decided to collectively forget that I just ran up a tree and dropped kicked the giant superbug.

I wouldn't deny it, I didn't have the best reputation. I was known for being Jinno's ex, and being the jackass in class that didn't really take anything seriously. Hell, the teachers mostly had a low opinion of me because I decided to take the blame for an incident with Kai. It was dumb, some assholes tricked Kai into being lookout while they went for smokes in the school bathroom and when evidence was found they threw Kai under the bus. I willingly took the blame, 'cause seeing decent people getting fucked over grinded my gears something fierce. The whole thing earned me a loyal friend for life, so I'm fine with the outcome… even if Chitose tore into me for a week straight.

In any case, the expectation was for me to just drop it and let Kamijo be the leader. In all my years, I didn't exactly give anyone the impression that I liked to stir up conflict. I was usually the first one to back down unless it involved someone I cared about, and right now three people I cared about were going to be lead into a fucking meat grinder with this asshat.

I gave him a false smile, something he was too dumb to notice. "So, what you're saying is that we need a strong, decisive leader that won't fold to anything?"

Kamijo grinned arrogantly. "Exactly! Now - Hrrrk!"

I rammed my fist into his stomach, making him double over onto his knees in pain, gasping for breath.

I shrugged. "Looks like you folded."

Tsuge rushed me, his fist raised. "You piece of - Gaaah!"

I gave him the same treatment I did Kamijo, the blonde delinquent joining his friend on the ground, groaning in pain.

I looked at them with dull eyes, my arms crossed. "If you're quite finished, we're burning daylight, and I don't want to be out in the open when the nocturnal predators are out." I shook my head. "Lord knows what else has been mutated."

Confusion and fear was written across most of their faces. If not for the bugs, for me. I don't know what kind of brutal shit Alex showed them, but considering pretty much his entire moveset, it wasn't pretty. Probably a bit traumatizing.

Oh well!

I reached down and picked up both Tsuge and Kamijo by the back of their collars with ease, it was strength unbefitting of my thin frame. "So, are we done here?"

"Fuck you!" Kamijo spat, still clutching his stomach in pain.

I dropped them both like a sack of potatoes. "Already in a relationship, Atsushi-san, and besides, I ain't desperate."

I took off walking without another word. I needed new mutations, and I needed them as fast as possible if I was going to deal with Mercer. I just had to play along with his little game and then strike when the time was right with everything I had… and pray to God that it worked.

The others must've made their choice quickly seeing that I was leaving them behind. Oribe, Chitose, and Kai were following behind seconds after I started walking, the rest were probably mulling it over for nearly a minute before they were scrambling to catch up.

There was still a thick tension between us all. But I wasn't surprised when Oribe broke the silence.

"You said that he… turned you into what he is," Oribe spoke, getting everyone's attention. "What is he anyway?"

I gave a low whistle. "That is a long and complicated story." One just long and complicated enough for them to not realize where we were going before it was too late. "But we've got time. I saw some buildings in the distance on my way to you guys."

Matsuoka gave me a questioning look. "What, you just jumped on a tree like you did before?"

"Yeah," I nodded, lying through my teeth. I had no clue if there was anything man-made over where the wasp hive was. "So, to start with the very complicated story, it all began on June 11th, 1964, Hope, Idaho, USA."

[-]

Douglas Rooks, Col. Rooks to his men, had seen some shit back in his day. NYZ made sure of that. Alex Mercer, James Heller, Blacklight and all of the fucking horseshit it brought with it… he'd seen it all. He narrowed his eyes at the thick forest surrounding the port they had just set up base at. Blackwatch was called in to handle the situation. What was the situation? Fuck if he knew, but the Yaeyama Islands in Japan went dark for a few weeks and no aircraft could fly over the immediate airspace without mysteriously crashing.

No one knew what the actual fuck was going on. But Gentek called them in, and that meant some biological bullshit that was their fucking fault was afoot. This better not be Blacklight again. God he fucking hoped it wasn't. Heller had eaten Mercer and kept his word about not causing any more trouble. Things had been nice and quiet for years… and now Gentek had fucked that all up like they usually did. But shit must've been completely FUBAR if they were called in to control the situation and extract any still surviving Gentek scientist.

Rooks took in a deep breath, loving the fresh coastal air. The islands were beautiful, and this time of year led to perfect beach weather. Once everything was said and done, he'd love to take his family here.

But above all of that at the very least he could be assured that whatever kind of nonsense went on here, it wasn't Blacklight.

The moment the thought went through his head, screaming echoed throughout the base. Rooks looked up, and saw a small group of giant praying mantis, each around fourteen feet tall begin to raid the base. Gunfire went off as his men did their best to eliminate the new threats, bullets barely making a dent in their tough armored carapace. Their… mutated, blackened, carapaces with red fleshy (some glowing) growths… and their giant claws which suspiciously looked like the same organic metal blades Blacklight could produce.

Rooks didn't panic. He didn't even reach for his gun while his men ran around like headless chickens. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone. Without looking, he dialed a number he knew by heart at this point, and put the phone to his ear.

"H-Hello?" A familiar female voice he'd gotten to know over the past few years answered. "Rooks? Isn't it a bit early for you to - is that gunfire and screaming in the background!?"

Rooks let out a deep sigh. "Dana, I need to talk to Heller."

Chapter End