Heller knew that whatever Mercer had figured, it was important enough that he abandoned scouting out the nest. He could guess what it was- he could hear more voices joining Blacklight's Hive, even if it was muted and distant.

He wondered when these guys up here were going to take notice.

"Doctor Eisenberg will receive you now." He glanced up at the smiling face of that secretary, and tried to look friendly himself while thanking her. Didn't really work, he just wasn't made for it, and her smile turned somewhat panicked. He didn't really wonder when she left just as she opened the CEO's office for him.

"Agent...Heller, wasn't it?" The doctor glanced up, locking eyes with the other man. Arnaud Eisenberg, son of one of the founders of Weyland-Yutani, and the type of slimy scientist that McMullen had been (at least, according to Dana, Cross, and the Hivemind. Mercer himself never spoke about him). Shoulder-long hair, slicked back. Dark suit. Dark gloves. Narrow face. Dark eyes watching him closely. Heller managed to catch the glimpse of something- defeat? Anger? Irritation?- before it disappeared.

His voice was remarkably steady when he spoke. "Sheriff Moore called beforehand, but he didn't tell me what exactly your reason for being here is."

"Well, I wanted to know about that offer you've submitted before", Heller pointed out. "It appears that you have been right, we ran into some sort of problem before, and I don't mean that the city morgue likely won't have the space and man power needed to process all the bodies." Truth to be told, even before several city coroners had been killed in that attack, they would have had problems working the sheer amount of corpses.

Another truth to be told, it hadn't been his idea to come here, either. He'd called Hetty, to ask for an update once he finished giving her a report (abridged, as it was), and she'd been silent for a very long time.

Then she altered his assignment parameters to 'Find the people responsible', with a heavy side dish of 'Stop whatever this Biological Weapon is, Jim, I know you have done things like that before'.
She even faxed an official document over so Eisenberg would have to play along. Which was how Heller found himself back at WY, at the top level this time, right in front of the CEO.
Down below, he knew Mercer was already working at thinning the crowd. He wondered briefly when exactly people were going to start noticing.

Then he forced himself to listen to what the Doctor was saying. "Isn't it a little...late to make a visit of this kind? We do have official consultation hours, you know."

"I am aware. However, the situation evolved rapidly, and I would like to know your opinion. I'm afraid it can't wait."

Because by tomorrow morning, there won't be much left of WY.

"Please don't blow up the building before the personnel is off-site."

I'm offended. You know damn well there won't be any personnel left if I start blowing shit up.

"...your papers are in order, and I do recognize the signature underneath it", Eisenberg muttered. He tried to suppress the sigh, but Heller still heard it. It was the kind of frustrated sigh that said that someone realized they had no chance but play along. "Very well, Agent Heller, what do you wish to see?"

The Evolved leaned back, fanning his hands. "I'd like to see the facilities for storing and processing the bodies first." Also to scout out the way there and back, and any possible back doors. "It should be enough for now. Everything else can be done tomorrow."

Eisenberg nodded and was about to lift himself from his seat, when his phone rang. He glanced at it, then Heller, and cleared his throat. "Agent Heller, I'd like to take this call. But it may contain...delicate information I am not allowed to disclose to outsiders. Please, do understand my position."

"I do", the Evolved got up. "I'll be waiting outside, Doctor. Thank you for your time."

"It was my pleasure." His face said it wasn't.

Heller went outside, closed the door, and leaned against the wall next to it. And listened.

"What is it?!" Eisenberg's voice was clearly audible to him. The answer was a bit harder to hear, but that wasn't anything he hadn't done before. If you can listen in to what soldiers are saying from across a lively Blackwatch compound, then a halfway-decent soundproof door wasn't much trouble.

"Sir, we got problems!"

"What kind of problems?"

"The Egg Pit...sir-"

"What?!"

"All specimens we collected have been destroyed."

Eisenberg inhaled sharply. "What do you mean?!"

"Just what I said. All of the eggs are dead. No chance recovering anything living."

"God damnit, what about the cameras?"

"Working on it, but it appears they have all glitched simultaneously."

"...Glitched?"

"System went down for no longer than thirty seconds. Once we had it rebooted the Pit was cleared out."

Eisenberg swore under his breath. Heller's eyebrows arched up at the unexpected tirade. "The Pit can not be entered without the code. Whose code was last entered?"

"We checked. Richter's."

"And where is Richter?"

"We are still looking. He hasn't left the compound, it will only be a matter of time until we find him."

"Good. Get to it." The doctor slammed the receiver down and grumbled under his breath. It took him several minutes to finish his angry monologue, before he got up by aggressively shoving his chair back.

When he stepped through the door, he had reassembled his I'm-better-than-everybody-else-expression. He glanced at the Evolved like he was a particularly unsightly cockroach. "Please, do excuse my lateness. But I had important things to discuss with my team. You understand."

"I certainly don't have any problems with that."

"Very well. Shall we?"

The medical complex was quite the sight. The morgue was a huge room, with several dividers between the examination tables, and a large observation window overlooking everything. Countless stainless steel lockers made up most of the west wall. As much as he hated having to admit that people like Eisenberg were correct on something, Heller had to realize that yes, there was more than enough space here for those bodies.

"Weyland-Yutani possesses a large medical department", Eisenberg droned on, "And the Asheville branch works with the local medical schools for training."

Yeah, and they were likely poaching the best and/or most ruthless trainees for themselves. According to Dana, Gentek had been doing the same back when they still existed. A dick move, but technically legal.

Heller nodded along. "Personnel?"

"All highly trained professionals, I assure you."

"Mhm. And I guess, only your professionals are allowed on-site?"

Eisenberg's expression soured. "Of course not. Qualified personnel from outside facilities can also be deployed. In fact, we do welcome any chance of cooperation", he assured the other man. Neither his voice nor his face were playing along with what had been said, however.

Then he got a call. Heller didn't need to listen in to know that by now, Mercer grabbed enough attention. Eisenberg cursed under his breath, turned to Heller. "I'm afraid something came up that...requires my attention." He waved towards the group of Security Guards that had been tailing them for the past hour. "Please, agent, follow these Gentlemen. I will finalize our agreement once this situation has been cleared up."

He marched off, surrounded by several Bears that had appeared out of nowhere. Heller furrowed his brows, then turned his attention to his own guards. The obvious leader cleared his throat. "Sir, if you would leave the premises now?"

Well, he could. Or, he could do something more productive. Yeah, that would work. He wasn't one to sit still doing nothing, after all.

First step: Lose the tail. That one was easy if one knew what they were doing. Even the sheer amount of people was nothing that would prevent it. And Heller had paid attention when he walked in, and when he followed Eisenberg. There was one section of the research department made up of tall shelves full of equipment.

It was easy winding around those, forcing these guys to keep up with him, and even easier to casually jump to the ceiling and grab the support beams in the very second he was out of their line of sight. He grinned to himself when he watched them fan out, trying to find him- and nobody ever thought of looking up.

The question was- what was he going to do now? He knew he wanted to find information- any information- that would help him nail this bastard. The main problem was that he was pretty recognizable- not many guys with his frame around.

You know, you don't have to be.

Heller grit his teeth. "Fuck off" He hated that Mercer was right on something- He didn't need to walk around with his own face. He was a shapeshifter, after all- and it had never been limited to his arms alone.
As Evolved he had full control over his bones and flesh- he couldn't change his apparent mass and size, because he was incapable of compressing and shifting his cells in the same way Mercer could- but he could alter his facial features, skin tone, hair, eyes, teeth, and even his gender just as easily as he could alter his hands into claws.

He had already done it twice, once when he had been resurrected into a new body and needed to turn it back into himself, and once when he infiltrated a Blackwatch Base. Both times he'd sworn to never do it again. It was less because of the constant burning of his body when he forced it to turn- he could deal with pain, had so ever since he became a Marine- it was more that he was afraid to lose himself.

If he could change his appearance, if he could be whoever he wanted, then who was he, in the end?

Heller wasn't afraid of a lot of things, but losing his identity scared him to no ends.

Which was why he never even considered this particular option.

Which left him with only two options: One, plow his way through, and two, sneak.

And the second option had a lot more appeal than the first one- after all, it was pretty hard trying to ambush him. All Infected had improved senses, but as an Evolved Heller knew he could track a guy while there were ten stories and one block difference between them. If somebody came looking for him, he would know. Same went for devices like surveillance gear- he could almost taste the electricity inside of them (and boy had that been a fun thing to develop out of nowhere when hanging around a guy who was basically the personification of lightning).

Point was, Heller could sneak in and out like it's nobody's business, and he was going to fully employ that one.
He snorted and balanced across the support beams to where he spied an air vent covering. One of those 'fit a grown-ass-man-into-it' sized air vents, he still wondered about that, but hey, made things a lot easier. He slipped inside, already figuring he would go downstairs for a while. Up here, in the public part of the compound, people weren't going to keep secret files anyways.
He might also run into Mercer, though given the size of the area and the people he was going to consume, that was actually somewhat unlikely. But also welcome, because if these guys were desperate trying to find the one that kept eating their personnel, then they weren't going to look for him.

Still, he shouldn't provoke anything, he thought as he found the large elevator shaft and hopped down. This time, he didn't follow it all the way to the ground, but rather slammed his hands into the wall some levels higher to climb into the vent there. The dirt and grime hadn't been disturbed until now, which meant that it wasn't the way the black thing had picked. And that in turn meant that it wouldn't lead straight to that observation area they've seen the thing in before it freed the others.

Making this particular vent as good of a place to start as any other. And besides, Heller was expected back in the morning. He still had time left to kill.

He was beginning to question whether the second option had really been the better choice over option one, because he was sticky, dusty, and grimy, and had nothing to show for it. He'd tracked down several labs, but none had contained any data.
...Well, that wasn't true. There had been loads of information, but those had been mostly new weapon designs, or vehicles, but nothing that he deemed important.

What he needed was data on these things, on the research they did, and something like...names. Names of victims. Would help a lot.

...Technically, he could tell Mercer to go and chow down on Eisenberg. He felt the distinct ping of interest when he finished forming that thought. He knew Mercer wasn't listening, couldn't listen the entire time, but he also knew that there were a few things that slipped through the mental barrier easily. Like the promise of minds to consume.

"I'll come back to you", he grumbled under his breath, not even letting the Runner form a reply before he forced his attention somewhere else. This entire hallway, and the next two on either side, were devoid of people, being right inside what he figured was a restricted area.

Or better, nearly devoid of life. There was one person nearby.

Curiosity won quickly, and he moved closer. Female, by the scent of them. Also...swearing under her breath? He heard the distinct sound of computer keys being hacked violently. What he didn't noticed was the scent of weapon oil. Not one of the Bears then, nor one of the security guards.

Good enough for him. He stopped easing up, so when he stepped down the next time, he was clearly audible in the empty hallway.
Not audible enough that whoever was over there noticed him, however. Neither did she when he stepped closer and closer until he stood in front of the closed door.

Then Heller didn't bother with neatness anymore. He yanked the door open, and cleared his throat loud enough that the girl whirled around in panic, looking for all the world like the child that just stole from the cookie jar. He cocked his head, leaning against the door frame like he had any right to.

"Stuff like that will get you killed, girl."

Well, to give her credit, she wasn't startled into inaction. She lunged at him with a taser in her hand. Heller appreciated her willpower, and easily sidestepped to grab her wrist to casually take her weapon away. She swore and tried kicking him in return, only hitting his shins and immediately wincing when she pulled something. He snorted. "You know, if I was one of the Bears, you'd be dead by now."

She blinked, squinting at him. "You're...not?"

"Nope. I'm not their friend", he pointed out. "Opposite, really, they shot me in the face."

She glared at him. "Can't be. You're still alive."

"Alive again." He let her go and stepped back into the doorway, pointedly ignoring her confused face and jabbing his chin into the direction of the computer- and the external drive attached to it. "Anyways, I'm guessing you are here for the same reason I am."

Her glare increased in intensity. "Yeah? What is that reason?"

"Corporate Espionage of the kind that will nail somebody's ass to a wall", the Evolved explained simply. He watched how she stiffened. "You're a Whistleblower."

Her eyes narrowed, though her posture just screamed fear. "So? You going to report me?"

Heller snorted amused. "Fuck no. Like I said, we both want the same." He pointed at the computer. "Me, I wouldn't have found dirt on Weyland in a reasonable time. You already did, or at least you know where to look."

She blinked, suspicion clearly on her features. "And?"

"You finish whatever you need to do, and you share with me, and I will make sure that Weyland won't be able to touch you. Plus I know enough people who will enjoy taking this data to gut these assholes. No strings attached, I want to watch them squirm."

She furrowed her brows. "And...I'm supposed to believe that, right? You think you can cozy up to me, get me to drop my guard."

Well, she was right on that one. Heller knew he didn't look trustworthy. So he took a step back, hands lifted. "Okay, you don't trust me. That's a wise decision. If I was in your position, I wouldn't trust myself, either." Technically, he wouldn't trust himself most of the time, not with the Zombie Virus in his body.

She blinked, eyes darting between him, the door, and the computer, brows drawing together when she realized that he hadn't moved or done anything to harm her. Her expression became thoughtful another minute later. "I don't think you're one of these guys here. I have never seen you."

"Like I said. These guys shot me. I'm going to nail their asses on a wall."

"That's not why you are here. It's more personal."

Hm. Sharp kid. Heller snorted. "Officially, that is my job. NCIS agent James Heller nice to meet you." She remained silent, but her eyes narrowed when he drew his ID and showed it to her. He cleared his throat then. "Unofficially, I'm here because I know Weyland-Yutani had some kind of very angry animal, and they lost it, and now there is a whole nest under Ash-" He cut himself off. "Kid? You alright?"

The girl had gone very pale. "An entire nest?! Are you sure?"

"Damn sure. Friend of mine found some kind of egg pit."

"Oh, shit. I knew- knew- that something was off. The eggs in the Egg Room here never accounted for the amount of adults downstairs. There were all those...reports, that had been heavily censored, and I never suspected anything-" She continued swearing under her breath for a bit, before she glanced back at Heller. "NCIS, huh? You think you can take these guys out?"

"I can"

"WY isn't just one factory. It's a whole network- and one of them can already make you disappear, but challenging the whole pack just asks for misery."

Heller grinned. "They won't be able to touch me."

"Sure? Because the NCIS is just another tiny cog in their whole machinery, and if they think you'll be a problem, they'll turn the heat up on you."

The grin widened. "Now who's cozying up to whom here?" He was rewarded with a startled expression, but he held up a hand before she could lock up, or anything. "Don't worry about me. I'm not just an employee there. Somebody tries to turn up the heat on me, and they'd have to go through my boss, and my actual boss, and trust me, that guy laughs about anything short of a nuclear blast."

She frowned at him. "Do you know what you're getting yourself into? And I don't mean Weyland here."

"The Black Things?" She shivered, and nodded. Heller scoffed. "Yeah. Biological Weapons that look like somebody took nightmares, stuck them in armor and gave them acid blood, and then added parasite wasps to their development. I'd say I got every right to be anxious about those."

"...You already encountered them."

"Twice. Once in the sewers, and once over at the woods."

"The body drop-off site." She scowled briefly. "They used a trigger scent, didn't they?"

Heller's eyebrows arched up. "Something of the sorts, yeah. You know more?"

"I read whatever I could get my hands on without getting discovered in the process", she replied. "When this mess started down below" Mess, right. By now, Mercer probably managed to consume about half of the staff directly involved in this and threw the others into what must have been a frenzy. "I thought it was a good time to reach in my resignation and take whatever I managed to nick as a last fuck-you."

Heller nodded. "Good thinking. Shit like this can't be left festering. No telling how much damage they've already done."

Her expression twitched briefly, before she set it into a scowl. "I don't have all the numbers, but I know they exploded ever since they found the nest."

Which roughly translated to 'more drop-off-sites'. Heller growled in his throat at that particular realization.

Incoming

His head snapped around, eyes narrow. Footsteps approaching. Fast.

He grit his teeth. "Girl, get whatever you have found. We're about to get company." She swore, and the tapping increased its pace for the next half minute before it was cut off by the sound of the external drive disconnecting. The kid had the drive pressed against her chest, now realizing that the man next to her was still a complete stranger, and agent or not, he could still be on WY's payroll.

But then someone slammed the door shut at the other end of the hallway, and she made her decision to blindly trust the Evolved. They cleared out of the lab and headed down the hallway, opposite of where the steps were coming from. Heller knew this corridor made a bend, so they were still unnoticed. But they needed to get away if things were supposed to stay that way.

Little problem on that front: The doors were all locked tight. Now, Heller could easily break them open, but that would just serve as a trail.
Sadly, this hallway also didn't have those hatches that opened to the small catwalk above them, so he'd have to rip them open too- which was, again, a dead give-away.

He huffed out and glanced at the Whistleblower. "Well, guess we're fucked."

She hissed, eyes darting from him to the bend of the hallway from where now agitated voices and angry steps were heard.

When Eisenberg and four Bears stepped around, she didn't argue any when Heller casually stepped in front of her, fists slightly curled and eyes locked with the Doctor's.

"I believe I told you to leave the premises, Agent", the doctor sneered. "But now it seems you're making things more complicated." He folded his arms behind his back as two Bears stepped to the front to rise their rifles at the pair. "Now I need to cover up your death too. Oh, and-", his gaze slid to the Whistleblower. "Your little game is over as well. Believe me, I am not as dense as you believed, I know who you are and why you came here. Well, too bad, it seems that your parents are going to have to bury two children now."

Heller's eyebrow arched slightly. So, there was a personal motivation on this? He'd have to talk to her about that.

Later, once they got out of here.

Eisenberg's mouth twitched. "Shoot them. Take care you do it right this time."

The Bears' fingers tightened-

Shots split the tense silence, deafening loud in the narrow hallway.

The two Bears at the front slumped over, blood pooling beneath them. Eisenberg instantly whirled around, eyes wide at the sight of the third Bear lowering the smoking barrel of his weapon, grinning at him with all too white and all too sharp teeth. Then he whirled around and slammed the butt of his rifle into the fourth Bear, hard enough to completely shatter the weapon and the man's skull. As the body dropped, tendrils started skittering across his killer's body, twisting his shape into that of a thin figure wearing a leather jacket and a hoodie.

"Well, little problem there, doc", Mercer declared with a razor-sharp arrogant smirk, "But I'm afraid your men won't be doing anything in the near future."

I apologize for abandoning you all for two weeks. This isn't my work ethics, I swear. But now I have vacation (first week of three already done), so I can get more done.

Did you ever realize that Alex's ability of Stealth Consume and gathering knowledge is his singular most terrifying ability? Because, quite frankly, stuff like that scares the Hell out of me.