A/N: I've been spending a lot of time working on updates for my other stories. Some of them are making good progress while others are taking a bit longer than I intended. I had to step away for a while. And during said break I started reading and watching a few anime series' that looked interesting. Attack on Titan and The Rising of Shield Hero being the most dominant.
After watching the first season of Shield Hero, I became inspired. Even more so after seeing the various crossovers that have been written. Since I already had a partly started Prototype story started a few years back, I decided to dust it off and see if I can make something out of it since there weren't any crossovers for Prototype and Rising of Shield Hero.
Needless to say, canon for the anime is going to be changing in a big way. But the first couple of chapters are going to focus on my OC first to set the ground work.
So let's get this ball rolling and see where it goes.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
X
LOADING REPORT...
Name: Ashton Fenix
Age: 23
Affiliation: United States Marine Corps - Private First Class (170-61-3205)
Last Tour: Iraq 2014 - Interrupted
Medals Awarded: Purple Heart.
Family:
- Beverly A. Fenix: Age 44 (Mother) - Deceased
- Evalin J. Fenix: Age 12 (Sister) - Deceased
(Both believed to have been killed by civilians infected with Mercer Virus.)
Private 1st Class has requested posting to RED ZONE
LOADING PSYCHE REPORT...
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Zero regard for own safety
- Homicidal fixation on Alex Mercer
Recommendation: DENY POSTING - Place on Indefinite leave.
LOADING NEW YORK ZERO STATUS REPORT...
- 19% Increase in Infected Population
- 32% Increase in RED ZONE Casualties
- NYZ Operation: Deteriorating
REASSESSING TROOP ASSIGNMENTS...
- Ashton Fenix
- Status: REINSTATED. Assign to RED ZONE
X
"Ninja 3-3, this is Shogun, how copy?" Ash heard over the radio as he slowly loaded rounds into the AA-12 shotgun in his lap, a hard scowl adorning his face.
The young marine was a Caucasian Male, standing 6'1" with lightly tanned skin, piercing blue eyes, and brown hair that was shaved with a short mohawk and an athletic figure. As he finished loading his weapon, he kept thinking about that moment when he came home to the states, how his family had been killed when the infection had started spreading.
How all the authorities could find of his mother and sister was their blood. They couldn't even find the bodies.
"Ballista 1-1 is Oscar Mike. ETA 2 minutes. Maintain present course." The radio chatter continued. All he really cared for was revenge. That was why he was here. Alex Mercer killed his mom and baby sister, and all he had left was the burning desire to kill the bastard with extreme prejudice.
"Why are we even here? We're supposed to be the peacekeepers. Handling the civilians and shit. Leave this Red Zone bullshit to fucking Blackwatch." one of the other soldiers in the unit griped
"Shit. You wanna leave a patrol up to the fuckin' baby killers? They'd sooner blow the whole city to kingdom come." said another.
For Ash, it was irritating to have to sit there, listening to these idiots make small talk while in the Red Zone. The place was literally a no-man's land that had once been the island of Manhattan, ground zero for the infection and breeding ground for the infected.
"Yeah, I hear that, man." More annoyed than he already was, he set his shotgun aside just as he heard the tanks alarm blared before something hit the tank and sent it flying, tossing its passengers around as it violently rolled down the street.
By the time Ash came around after the crash, he could hear his heart pounding. He was bleeding from his left leg, had a deep laceration on his shoulder, and he was pretty sure he had several cracked ribs, but he was alive.
The rest of his team…not so much.
"Ninja 3-3, radio check." He heard as he walked to the receiver laying nearby. "Ninja 3-3, do you need cas-evac? Over."
Reaching the radio, Ash said "Shogun, this is Ninja 3-3. Copy."
"3-3, what's your squad status?"
"Verifying." He said, not that there was any point, since he was positive they were all dead. Still, he checked to see if anyone else was lucky.
He paused while checking the pulse of a nearby body when heard something approaching the area from the sky at high speed, a humanoid shape that landed on the ground causing a shockwave that knocked the young marine off his feet.
When he got up, he froze when he saw Alex Mercer standing among the debris scattered on the street.
"Holy shit...Alex Mercer!" He growled darkly. He could not believe his luck. Here was the man who had killed his family...and he wouldn't waste this opportunity.
"Alex Mer-? Oh shit, Red Crown, we've got Alex Mercer in RZ Grid 3-4. Repeat, Alex Mercer is in the AO RZ grid 3-4. We are awaiting your command." The guy on the radio said as Mercer grabbed the overturned tank and threw it nearly a block away with one hand. He seemed to be inspecting the corpses of the fallen soldiers of Ash's unit.
"Ninja 3-3, this is Red Crown. We are sending reinforcements to your location. Do not pursue Mercer. Repeat, do not pursue Alex Mercer." Don't pursue Mercer? As in do not try to kill the bastard that had ruined his life, taking away the only family he had?
Not a chance in hell!
"Red Crown, be advised. Go fuck yourselves!" Ash growled before he shut off his radio and picked up his auto shotgun. Mercer didn't even notice when he snuck up behind him and fired his weapon point blank into the man's back.
But when Mercer didn't so much as flinch the young marine knew that something was definitely wrong. "What the-" was all he could say before Mercer snapped his arms backwards and sent him crashing into a car and crumpling to the ground.
Mercer looked at him for a second before going back to his inspection of the surrounding corpses. The young marine slowly picked himself up while looking at a picture that had fallen out of his tactical vest.
A picture his mom had sent him from home of herself and his sister smiling at the camera with a small banner in front of them that read; 'We Love You'.
Rage erupted from within him, finding his missing shotgun laying a couple feet away he scooped it up and fired at Mercer again. The pellets exploding along the man's body in bursts of red as Ash pulled the trigger again and again, spent shells launching out and scattering on the ground.
Mercer tried to throw a right haymaker at Ash, but the marine ducked under and fired point blank into the man's gut, punching a hole of torn flesh out his back. But the man kept moving, throwing a left hook only for Ash to duck under it again and slam the butt of his weapon against the base of his neck.
Ash then pivoted to his right and shot Mercer in the back of the knee, trying to disable him in some way. By that point, the other man had had enough and backhanded him away with superior strength, sending the marine flying and landing hard on the pavement several meters away.
Said marine immediately picked himself up while glaring at Mercer who was now on top of a damaged tour bus , arms crossed and leering down at him. "What else you got?" he taunted. Sounding amused by the younger man who seemed to hate him more than anyone he had ever come across.
'What the fuck is he up to?' Ash thought as he picked up his dropped shotgun while his target jumped over the other side of the bus.
Getting to his feet, he followed Mercer over the tour bus, stumbling back when a group of infected flyers shot into the air, startling him. Looking out into the next street, he saw him continue further into the Red Zone.
"Coward! Get back here and fight!" Ash shouted after Mercer, hopping down from the bus and following. Pausing long enough to sneak by an infected monster that resembled a massive dog without skin with a hulking muscle structure as it tore into an injured soldier, which he absently noted wasn't from his unit.
He remembered in the briefing before coming out here. The beast had been called a 'Brawler', and had been compared to creatures that had plagued the streets during the first outbreak, only far more brutal and vicious in comparison.
Making sure that the brawler was gone with its meal, Ash continued to follow Mercer. "MERCER!" he yelled after him, doing his best to close the distance between them, but his injuries were starting to take their toll on him.
Stopping for a second to catch his breath, a Blackwatch helicopter decided to show up. A spotlight shone down on him while the pilot said over the loudspeaker, "Private Fenix, you are trespassing on Blackwatch territory. You are to hold your position. A personnel carrier is inbound to-"
That was all the pilot could say before Mercer suddenly shot out from the building beside it and slammed into the tail with a kick, causing the helicopter to spiral out of control down towards Ash.
"Fuck!" He barely managed to roll out of the way just as the transport slammed into the street and exploded in a ball of fire and twisted metal.
Shaking off the near miss and looking up to see the target of his rage standing a few meters away. "You done running, asshole!?"
Mercer merely smirked and jumped away when Ash felt the ground beneath him shake. Turning and looking behind him to see a giant infected monster easily 50 feet tall that looked vaguely humanoid. It lacked skin on most of its body, displaying its bare musculature, its face also severely lacking in skin which gave it an almost skeletal look.
The most noticeable features despite its size were its four limbs, all of them in different proportions compared to the rest of it. Yet it moved surprisingly fast with oddly-angled back legs, a massive right arm that looked hard like stone and as wide as a building, and a small, thin, hook-like left arm that twitched occasionally.
In reality, such narrow limbs should not be able to support such an enormous torso and would normally rupture instantly once weight is applied. But if it was made by the same virus that made Mercer...
The monster smashed its club arm down, and shoved forward like a massive bulldozer, tearing up the street and forming a tidal wave of debris straight toward the marine.
"Oh, fuck me!" Ash shouted before he turned and ran in the opposite direction, jumping over cars and anything else blocking the way as the beast smashed through them. The beast quickly closing in on the marine and forcing him to jump through a ruined building to avoid being crushed.
Luckily for him, the Goliath wasn't able to smash through it as he took cover and waited for it to pass.
Ash dusted himself off and caught his breath, but was interrupted as a Brawler came up out of nowhere and sent them both through the building he had taken refuge in. The two of them landing in the alley outside with the viral beast trying to take a bite out of him.
The marine drew his combat knife and stabbed the Brawler in the shoulder, keeping it from biting his head off. He then sliced through its neck and face as he dodged several more times, before finally getting an opening and stabbed it up through its jaw and into the brain, killing it.
"Get the fuck off me!" He yelled as he pushed the hunk of flesh off to the side, infected blood covering him. The marine stood up again, panting and held his injured side when pain started flaring up. His injuries aggravated by all the movement he had been doing in the last few minutes.
A cold chill suddenly went up his back, feeling a pair of eyes staring at him and sure enough, there stood Mercer at the end of the alley. Hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and staring at the younger man from beneath the hood covering his head.
The pain Ash had been feeling bled away as his rage took over again, bloody knife in hand, he charged Mercer...but the man was done playing around as he transformed his right arm into some sort of bladed whip, grasping his neck and slamming him against a wall.
Ash tried to cut the arm off, driving his blade into the tendrils that made up the limb, but he couldn't cut through the hardened flesh and lost his grip on his knife as Mercer started to choke him.
The man observed him, like a scientist looking through a microscope. A blade-like smile spread across his face as he seemed to find something he was looking for before changing his other arm into a set of nightmarish claws and impaled Ash through the stomach.
The young marine gasped when the blades pierced through him, feeling something worming its way inside his body in the same spot.
"Consider this a gift." Mercer said before he released Ash. His body collapsed to the ground while his insides felt like they were getting torn apart and burned.
Through his quickly darkening vision, he saw Mercer smirking down at him before walking away, leaving the young marine whose last thoughts being of the treasured moments he had spent with his family before falling into oblivion...
However, it seemed fate had other plans for the young avenger.
X
Through various points of consciousness, Ash scarcely remembered being moved around, blinding lights and an old man in a lab coat cutting him up in various ways as he was bound and restrained before blacking out again.
During one of these semi-conscious moments, he vaguely made out a bald Blackwatch Commander talking to the old man who had cut him up;
"No man should have survived this. His system is flooded with the virus. Which is why you are going to run these experiments, Doctor."
"And if you don't like the results Colonel Rooks, then what?" Said the doctor bitterly. Ash absent-mindedly noted these two must not get along that well.
"Private Fenix is Gentek property now. If things go sour, burn the room." Colonel Rooks stated with finality.
"Burn the-? No, absolutely not! This specimen is one of a kind! Irreplaceable!"
"The Colonel said burn it. That's what you'll do." A younger Blackwatch Officer with a shaved head and facial scars said sharply.
"Fine then. Let us begin." The doctor said as they all exited the room. Minutes later, Ash's restraints were released and he fell to his knees, now fully conscious and saw that he was in some kind of amphitheater filled with medical equipment.
"We'll start with something simple first, a mere survival stimulus." The doctor said from a PA system from behind a reinforced glass window that surrounded the large, hexagon-shaped viewing room.
Ash was still trying to get his bearings together as he looked around. "What the? Where am I? What the hell is going on?" He asked in a low, weak voice.
He felt different, like his body wasn't his own, but also stronger. Before he could reflect any further, the large blast door in front of him opened to reveal 8 infected civilians that lumbered out into the open and began to converge on him. Their hungry growls filling the chamber.
A chubbier looking one was much quicker, reaching the marine faster than the others as he got up and swung a fist at it in defense...
He didn't expect the walker's neck to break from the surprising amount of force behind the blow that sent the infected slamming into the wall and splashing blood across it.
Stunned from what he had just done, Ash ducked away from the grabbing hands of another undead civilian before kicking it, sending the infected crashing into the others and sending them all flying. "Let me out of here, assholes!" he shouted at the Doctor and Blackwatch soldiers he saw through the glass above.
"Do you have all you need, Doctor Koenig?" Rooks asked.
"Please, Colonel Rooks, we must learn all we can about the subject." The old doctor said.
"Hey! Don't fucking ignore me!" Ash shouted, but was ignored as two more doors opened and 20 more infected civilians came at him from all sides.
"Shit." the young marine cursed, preparing himself for another fight with his face hardened into a cold scowl. He kicked the kneecaps out of one walker before curb-stomping through its head. He then kicked another into the wall, causing its brains to go everywhere. Backhanding another, breaking its neck before he blocked a punch from another and tore its arm out of its socket then took its head off with a roundhouse kick.
"Amazing, the raw data we are collecting here, it's like nothing I have ever seen before." Koenig said over the intercom while Ash tore his way through the infected. Steadily getting used to his new strength.
He was calmer right now than when he fought Mercer. But he still felt rage at what these bastards were now putting him through. "I'll kill you when get out here, you bald fuck! You hear me!?" He yelled as grabbed another infected civilian and vertically tore it in half.
He continued to decimate the infected until there were only three left. "Enough, he's too dangerous! Incinerate him!" Rooks yelled over the intercom as Ash tore the head off another walker.
"Rooks! You can't do this! He's too valuable to kill!" Doctor Koenig said as the marine tore out a rib from the last infected he'd killed, and stabbed another through the head with it and pulled it out.
"You're out of order, Koenig! Lt. Riley, hit the switch!" Rooks shouted. Ash tore the upper half of the last walkers' skull off.
"Yes Sir. Burn Order given per Colonel Rooks at 0223 hours." Ash turned just in time to see the gas that started spilling into the room be lit up. A blast of heat and flames filled the room engulfing his body completely in seconds.
When the smoke cleared, the young marine was laid on the floor, the right half of his body burned and unresponsive.
"Get clean up and recovery in there. Make sure he's dead." Rooks ordered.
"Damn it, Colonel! This isn't the time for your brand of barbarism." Koenig argued.
"Don't get sanctimonious with me, you fucking ghoul! I've read your experiment reports." Rooks countered while two Blackwatch soldiers entered the area.
One of them kicked Ash and said, "No signs of life sir."
"Make sure. I don't need another Mercer running around." said the Colonel.
"Yes sir!" The soldier replied as he shot Ash in the chest three times.
When the third shot was fired, Ash shot up with a burst of strength and knocked the gun out of the soldier's hands, slammed him into the ground, and punched him so hard his skull was crushed beneath the impact.
At the same time, black and red tendrils extended from the marine's body and latched onto the Blackwatch trooper, breaking down the now dead man's biological mass and assimilating it into his own form.
When it was done, Ash's burns were instantly healed and he felt rejuvenated.
"Oh fuck!" The other soldier opened fire on him. Ash felt the bullets pierce his body, but he felt little to no pain as he closed the gap between them in the blink of an eye. Grabbing the trooper by the throat and breaking his neck before consuming his body as well.
"Damn it! Release all specimens! Do it now!" Rooks yelled.
"What the fuck did Mercer do to me?!" Ash bellowed, in shock and horror at what he had done. His thoughts being quickly pushed aside as more infected converged on him, tearing through them and using his new consumption ability to absorb their bio-mass every time he killed one, steadily getting stronger with each one he 'ate'.
"Damn it. Riley, keep burning him!" Rooks shouted.
"Fenix! Eat them! Eat them to survive!" Koenig yelled over the intercom.
"Shut the fuck up doc! All non-essential Military Personnel evacuate the premises. I need a perimeter defense around this building." Rooks ordered.
"Roger Colonel. Rattler 1-1 is Oscar Mike." Said a unit over the radio.
'That's my cue to leave.' Ash thought as he threw a couple severed heads to plug the vents were the gas came out.
"Survive this you freak!" Riley cruelly laughed. The room blew like before, the only differences being that this time any burns Ash received healed a second later and the gas ignition unit was blown to pieces.
"Shit! The burn controls are gone!" Riley shouted in alarm.
"You guard that control room, Lieutenant!" Rooks said.
"Don't worry, sir. He's not getting up here." replied the Lieutenant.
Ash growled as he grabbed the operating table that had bound him, tore it from the floor and threw it with all his might, breaking right through the reinforced glass like it was nothing.
By the time Riley recovered, the marine was already outside the room. Breaking down the heavy steel door in his way and fled the base where he was being held captive.
X
After weaving through 5 city blocks of alleyways, avoiding Blackwatch patrols as they scoured the area looking for him, Ash came to a stop, checking his surroundings to see if the coast was clear before a Blackwatch soldier fell on top of him.
"What the hell is this?" He asked out loud after throwing the still living body off of him, only for Mercer to drop down from above as well.
"It's what you were meant for. It's why I chose you." Mercer said in a very cryptic way.
"What the FUCK did you do to me?!" Ash demanded.
"I gave you the 'Mercer Virus'," he said with implied quotes, "That's what they're calling it now, right? Same virus two years in a row. And the same Blackwatch here to save New York." Alex knelt down to Ash's eye level. "Wake up, Fenix. This is no viral outbreak. This is a bioweapons test. Designed by Gentek, controlled by Blackwatch, and just like last time...blamed on me."
He stood and grabbed the trooper by the back of the neck, "And this peon here is going to prove it. Ashton Fenix, meet Blackwatch Lieutenant Mark Simon."
The soldier tried to get free but failed due to Mercer's strength. Ash raised arm instinctively as Alex aided him, "Yes. Let it happen. Let it come to you. Let the truth SINK IN!" He said as Ash's bio-mass consumed the soldier. His mind bombarded with memories that were not his own;
"Alex Mercer's interference with the New York detonation was bad enough. He cannot be allowed to remain at large." A doctor said,
"Why? Afraid he'll fuck things up even more?" The soldier asked.
"I was on the Gentek team that developed the original version of the Blacklight Virus, Simon. In 1964! I will not see my life's work ruined!" The doc said back.
Ash collapsed as he resumed his original appearance after absorbing the man. "What the hell? Did I just see that guy's memories?" He asked.
"Yes. Every bit of bio-mass you consume makes you stronger. You gain the shapes, abilities, and even the knowledge and memories of everything you consume." Mercer said.
The marine glared up at him, "I've heard and seen your fucked up virus. But I still haven't seen enough to believe you any more than I should believe Blackwatch." he said bitterly.
"They cut you, Ash. They put you in a box with 50 starving infected, and then tried to light you up like the Fourth of July, twice." Mercer replied knowingly.
Deciding to try a more sympathetic approach, Alex placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder, "I'm not the one who released the virus the first time or this time. Yes, the first time it happened, I had been working for Gentek. But I figured out that my team had been unknowingly weaponizing Blacklight, creating the DX-1118, the strain you and I have. And when my team was being killed off, I tried to run with the strain I had created to destroy it, but they killed me, which ended up releasing the virus in Penn Station and led to the first outbreak. I saved New York by crippling Blackwatch and making sure it wasn't nuked. I'm not the one who released it this time. I'm not the one that killed your mother and sister."
Ash looked at Mercer, the heat in his glare cooled considerably "What exactly do you want from me then?"
"I want you to help me destroy Blackwatch, Gentek, and Blacklight for good! But there's something you need to do first though. Gentek's been experimenting with the virus here in the yellow zone, making all kinds of infected monsters. You need that DNA to grow stronger. When you're ready, I'll find you." Alex said, walking away before stopping suddenly. "Oh, and for god's sake, put some damn clothes on."
Glancing down Ash saw that, save for the torn combat fatigues and the bloodied bandages on his chest, he wasn't wearing anything.
Focusing his thoughts, the young marine willed the virus within his body to take shape. Tendrils seeped out of his skin and slithered along his frame from the base of his neck down, settling into place and taking the shape of a new outfit.
He was now in a leather bomber jacket with a dark-red hoodie underneath, a pair of digital urban camo pants and steel toed combat boots. A pair of fingerless gloves with metal plates on the knuckles completed the look as Ash took in his new appearance before glancing down at his hands.
He could feel the virus pulsing through him, making him stronger than he ever thought possible. Blackwatch had taken everything from him. Tortured him. Then tried to kill him.
His fists clenched tightly as his eyes flashed red for a brief moment. He was going to enjoy killing every last one of them.
X
A/N: Although I'm pretty much taking over James Heller's prologue in Prototype 2, I figured the induction of my own OC would fit better when the two stories I'm mixing together. Though I may add him in a bit later because he was simply badass, as a human and an evolved.
I already have the next two chapters ready to go, let me know if you're all interested in seeing where this goes. Till next time folks.