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Of all the times Alex had woken up in the damn test tube, this time was different.

Not because anything had changed-it was still the same day it'd been for nearly a week. He was still in Gentek, Dr. Mercer and Dana were still stuck in this loop. What made today unique was that he wasn't in much of a rush to get out. He slumped against the glass walls, and if he could have, he would have sworn and broken something. He was alone. No allies, plenty of enemies. He hadn't been completely alone since those first hours out of the morgue. Dana didn't want to see him, Ragland was angry with him, even Dr. Mercer was fucking tired of him. The only remaining option was Cross, but who knew how well that'd go, if he was reset like everyone else.

Everyone else usually told him what to do. They gave him somewhere to start, someone to kill. He took things into his own hands from there, but this entire situation was unfamiliar. He smacked his tendrils against the glass, but not hard enough to crack it. Everything was unfamiliar, and he just wanted to figure things out. And like Ragland had proved, this wasn't a scenario he could kill his way out of.

The sound of footsteps and sudden movement of his container suggested someone was picking him up. Fine, whatever-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP! A loud, repetitive tone suddenly ripped through the air, making him nearly jump out of his nonexistent skin. What little biomass he had formed into jagged spikes, a fact that led to him being quickly set back on the rack. Someone fumbled with something-the beeping device-before the sound finally stopped, and Alex could relax.

"Jesus, what the hell are you doing, Marshall?!"

"I literally only picked up the sample," the person closest to him snapped. "My stupid PRD went off. I had it on me for one of the other labs. Either it's busted, or…"

The whole room went silent for a good, long moment.

"...It's probably just busted."

"You say that like Mercer wouldn't make his virus fucking radioactive. Is-Is this new? Does anyone know if this is new? Fuck, if that thing's radioactive and we've just been sitting here with it-"

Radioactive? He pressed his biomass against the side of the glass, doing what he could to listen better.

Marshall looked fearfully at the tube, PRD flashing mutely in his hand as it was intended to do. It wasn't broken, though he hoped it was. "Well- even if it is busted- that thing's climbing the glass. Why did Mercer have to take a sick day today- he knows all the weird shit this thing does… Do we call him?"

"And get blamed for fucking up his precious Blacklight? No way. Just… stay away from it. We could work outside the lab, let Mercer figure it out when he's back. Lord knows he'd know best."

The particularly loud man fell quiet, and Alex could feel the anxious gazes set on him as the scientists began backing away. Dammit! They needed to keep talking about the radioactive thing-his biomass had been reset again, so he had nothing available for him to figure it out himself. So distracted by the newest discovery, however, none of the scientists saw the way the glass keeping Alex trapped began to fracture.

Not until it shattered. It gave out under his force, sending out a spray of broken glass and slithering tendrils that gave everyone in the room a near heart attack. They were going to start running if he didn't act fast. The second he hit the ground, he started to reform, going from a vaguely human mass to Alex Mercer in a few seconds. A few steps forward, and he had the one called Marshall pinned against a table. The device from before began beeping as he got closer, only getting louder and faster as he closed the distance. He writhed, spikes jutting from his back and tendrils thrashing just beneath the "skin" at how loud it was, but he had to figure this out.

"What do you mean," he started, dead eyes as sharp as his blade, "radioactive?"

Marshall let out a mute scream, face going white from terror as he looked into the knife's edge pale gaze. He was unable to form words, but that didn't stop him from just shoving the miniature geiger counter at Alex and immediately passing out beneath the pinned gaze.

"Hey! Get off of him!" One of the other lab techs called out, face nearly as pale, "What the fuck's going on here!? Are you- Blacklight?"

Well, that wasn't supposed to happen. He stepped away from the now unconscious intern, PRD in hand and being as obnoxiously noisy as ever. He stuck it in his pocket despite its blaring alarms-whatever data it had would be important to sorting out the situation, particularly if being radioactive had anything to do with it (why? The nuke? He knew enough to understand what that entailed). But he couldn't hear himself think right now. Alex stepped away from Marshall, facing the lab tech who spoke with a stern frown.

"Yeah." Not like he could lie about that, anyway-and they'd all forget this happened by tomorrow. "The second this device said something was wrong with me, not just regular virus things, you all started freaking out. I just want to know why."

The one who spoke gaped for a moment, and the still conscious members of the team exchanged glances, trying to figure out what to do. Did they run? Hide? Call Blackwatch? Eventually Dan- the oldest of the lot and the one who'd spoken first- bit the bullet. "Okay so- first, like, please don't attack us. But what do you know about radiation?"

He looked around the group-the people who helped make him, their pale expressions and anxious glances as they tried to figure out what to do. He didn't have to like them, but he definitely didn't have to hurt them. He finally faced Dan, and his expression softened a fraction as he nodded.

"I don't want to hurt anyone." At the very least, he could be confident that was honest. He didn't need to attack people who hadn't tried to hurt him, and with October in the future, he had no reason to lash out at anyone here. "I know it's dangerous. It's…" A pause, as he tried to debate how to say it, "like nukes, they let off radiation when they explode. I don't know much more."

Blacklight knew about nukes and was a perfect- kinda pale- copy of their boss, but it didn't know why it was bad. What a strange knowledge set. "Nukes do let off radiation- lots of it. It's why they're so dangerous. High concentrations of Radiation causes rapid mutations, breaks things down and reshapes them- which is bad for pretty much all life. You uh- don't happen to know why or when you became radioactive?"

Rapid mutations, total breakdown and reshaping. He hadn't done any of that-at least, beyond what he was supposed to do. The thought of his viral strain mutating even further made him grimace, if only for a moment. At least he was the radioactive one, not Dana or someone else. He could take it. The when and why was obvious to him, memories of a bright flash of white and searing hot pain demanding to be known. He didn't even realize that he'd dazed until he bumped against the table, swaying on his feet a little. Why was that happening? He needed to focus.

"I... don't remember." He shrugged a little, hoping his contemplative expression would help his lie. "If I'm radioactive, what about people around me? I'm supposed to mutate and change, I'm not worried about that. Do radioactive things-when they're not supposed to be-put off radiation?" Or, as the unspoken question, have I been a danger to Dana this entire time and not realized it?

The initial fear the whole group shared when the virus took human shape slowly faded away, replaced with relief, bemusement, and alot of concern. This thing didn't want to hurt them, and it seemed tired and dizzy like a kid, not to mention the simple curiosity that drove its questions. For some of the older ones, the behaviours- though mapped onto the angry looking body of their boss- reminded them of their own kids.

"Yeah- that's what the PRD is picking up on. You're way above the safe level for longterm exposure, so that's why we're all-" Dan gestured broadly at the huddle of scientists in one corner. "Yeah. Don't get me wrong, this is cool as shit and all- we just don't like the idea of getting cancer very much, you get what I mean- right?"

Alex's confused look slowly faded, giving way to one that was unmistakably horrified. He looked rapidly between Dan and the rest of the scientists, before beginning to back away, navigating past the tables with whipping tendrils as he moved towards the opposite side of the room. Way above the safe level, and he'd been carrying Dana and Dr. Mercer both for the last few days, refusing to leave their side. The jagged spikes protruding from his back kept him from pressing himself into the corner on the opposite side of the room, but the thought was clearly there. Would looping time be considered a mutation?

"Shit." It was all he could manage, his voice reaching a new level of hoarse even for him. Was Dana already sick? Dr. Mercer? He'd been around both of them nonstop for the past five days, it was plenty possible. He looked at the window-back at the scientists.

"I need-" he started, swallowing hard, "I need to go."

"Go? Go where?" Dan raised an eyebrow. "You're a human shaped pile of deadly tendrils with a severe aversion to water and it's raining outside."

Did everyone except him know about the water aversion? Alex scowled. "Somewhere where people aren't. At least until I'm not radioactive. You said just being around me could give someone fucking cancer, I can brave a little rain to avoid that." Half the desire to keep away from everyone, half the need to get Dana and Mercer to a doctor. He had to know they were okay. Maybe he'd leave a message for Ragland, tell him to see Dana. As for Mercer, he didn't have any ideas, not yet. He'd figure it out.

"You could go in the quarantine room- it's just a repurposed X Ray lab we used to do experiments with you so it's radiation proof- ish." Dan shrugged helplessly, "People are pretty much everywhere mate, sorry." The others gave affirmative mumbles, but none other dared to speak to the clumsy virus child before them while it could still kill them easily.

For someone who was just willing to go out in the rain, he seemed visibly relieved that he didn't necessarily have to. The quarantine room seemed to be his best bet, at least until he could figure things out. After a moment, he nodded.

"...I guess that works. At least for now. Where is it?"

"Just down the hall." He jabbed a thumb in the direction. "You can't miss it- it's got a name plaque- you can read, right?- and looks like a small kitchen."

That was all he needed. Keeping as much of a distance as he could from the scientists, he headed out the door and into the hallway. The quarantine room was easy to find with the combination of Dan's directions and the plaque, and Alex rushed inside, slamming the door shut with enough force to make the whole wall shudder. He didn't like it already, the closed walls and minimal space to move, but that didn't stop him from starting to pace it. If he was as dangerous as the scientists implied, he was going to be stuck in here for a while. As long as everyone else was safe.

What now, though? He would probably break something if he just stayed in here until time looped again. He reached into his pocket, where the PRD was still beeping, swiftly crushing it in his hand to stop all the damn noise. He tossed the remains aside, before trying his pocket again, this time finding his phone-he must have buried it in his biomass when he shoved the PRD in there. He could call Ragland, but he didn't know his number-hell, did he know anyone's number? He opened the contacts, trying to find a name he recognized other than Dana's. This was too much to dump on her right now.

One of the first names he saw was plenty familiar-Alex Mercer. Wasn't this Dr. Mercer's phone? Why would his own number be in there? It didn't matter. He was someone Alex could talk to, and though he'd made it perfectly clear he wasn't interested in conversation, this was different. This was important. So Alex hit the call button, held the phone up to his ear, and waited, all while shifting his free arm between his arm and his claws just to do something with it.

"Alex Mercer speaking, who is this." A curt introduction, tinged with aggression and paranoia.

"It's Alex." A wave of relief washed over him at the sound of the irritable, but familiar voice, though it was brief. "I'm in Gentek, and they said I'm radioactive."

For a moment, the line was silent, then Dr Mercer continued speaking. "Careful what you say, they're listening. Now, have you done anything recently that involved radiation?"

Who was? He glanced back toward the entrance, uneasy. Blackwatch, if he had to guess. He could take them if it came to it, but that wasn't what mattered now.

"Yeah. There was a nuke-before all of this started. I was caught in the blast." His pacing picked up speed, the floor starting to dent under his force. "Do you feel sick? Have you heard from Dana?"

The doctor's voice was tired, but no more than usual. "She hasn't called me. I took the sick day so I could get some damn rest, but I might just come visit. You sound… Stressed." A pause, the sound of fabric rustling. "Our whole bodies reset, pretty sure- I came back from the dead after all. Radiation poisoning won't affect us till time's normal, at any rate." There was a sound like metal against wood as Dr Mercer fiddled with his key, "Have you done anything like you did yesterday?"

Did he sound stressed? Well, he sure as hell was, and thinking about the nuke didn't help. The resetting bodies made sense for him as well, if consuming said anything about it. He thought on it for a moment, frowning to himself.

"The scientists you work with know about me, but I said I wouldn't hurt them. I'm in the quarantine room." He didn't necessarily want Dr. Mercer to come and get him, but from the sound of it, he didn't have much of a choice. "Radiation wouldn't make time fuck up, though. That's what doesn't make sense. They just said mutations and things like that."

"Normally mixing up genetic traits to make carnivorous goop wouldn't create sentience but here we are. It might be some strange property of yours, I wouldn't rule it out. I'm on my way." Abruptly, the doctor hung up.

...He had a point. Alex exhaled slowly through his teeth, tucking the phone in his pocket and prying his feet out of the holes he'd embedded into the quarantine room's floor with his frantic pacing. He leaned against the wall, watching tendrils ripple down his arm. They didn't seem any different than normal. If being radioactive was changing something, he would feel it, wouldn't he? Then again, he hadn't exactly realized he wasn't human for a pretty long time. The only thing left to do was wait for Dr. Mercer. He crouched down,tracing the floor with a freshly formed claw as he waited.

It didn't take long for the doctor to arrive, and despite the confused murmurs from the security guards out front he had no issue getting inside, stalking through the halls to his destination, only to see a small crowd of his crew looking in through the one way mirrors at Alex, no doubt curious.

He cleared his throat, and they jumped up like frogs from a sauna, startled. "Yes, he's quite fascinating, but he's not a circus animal. If you want to ogle him, talk to him first." Perhaps, a short week ago, he would've been one of the oglers, but Alex had changed him, as loathe as he was to admit it. He didn't give them a chance to respond, going into the small room with his significantly more ripple cover doppelganger, in the process of ripping the floorboards open with one giant clawed hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, but you do look like you could handle electrocution so maybe I'm speaking too soon." Although his words were sharp, the slight upturn of his lips and the merely neutral eyebrow position gave away the doctor's true feelings.

"I've been electrocuted before." He mumbled it without glancing up, but the familiar scent and voice snapped him back to the present. He stood immediately, something lighting up in his eyes as he let out an odd, happy rumble (of which he seemed to ignore). His claws became arms again, though he didn't move away from the wall. It was nice to see a familiar face, particularly when said person wasn't telling him to fuck off yet.

He paused for a moment, though, something occurring to him. He unraveled one of his arms, just enough to pull a white cloth from it-the fabric of a lab coat.

"Even when we reset, I still keep some stuff. This is from your lab coat."

"Oh?" He plucked it carefully from Alex's grip deciding not to comment on the purr, running his hands over it while humming curiously, unbothered by the proximity. "It seems to be perfectly intact- apart from the shredding. I'd guess your method of storing items within biomass bypasses the reset, since it seems like they disappear within you. You keep my form from October after all." Although he talked easily, naturally soft voice showing through his excitement, he did not truly settle, looking at the 'mirror' with a harsh gaze every so often.

If that was the case, what about the people he consumed? It seemed like a mess not worth diving into, so he didn't ask, just let Dr. Mercer examine the lab coat. He made a mental note to try and carry more things with him when given the chance. That wasn't the main point, however. He crossed his arms, furrowing his brow somewhat and talking in a quieter, more cautious tone.

"What do we do about it? If me being radioactive is the source of all of this, then there's gotta be some way to stop it."

"Radioactivity will likely go away with time, we could check your levels tomorrow and compare them. Do you have a geiger counter we could use today?"

Alex cast a quick glance to the pieces of the PRD, currently laying on the ground. "No. One of the employees might, though. Marshall had one the first time."

Dr Mercer tutted and threw open the door, ignoring the shout of pain from Emma who was standing right in front of the door, and glowered at the lot of them. "If you're going to stand out here like fearful rats, one of you can make yourself useful and fetch me a geiger counter from Radiology. Don't you have paperwork to do?"

Alex watched the scene unfold from behind Dr. Mercer, catching the quietest defiant mumbles that soon died off in defeat. As one left to retrieve a geiger counter, the others lingered, casting Dr. Mercer a few uneasy glances before ultimately going their separate ways. As curious or concerned as some of them may have been, some battles just weren't worth fighting, particularly against your boss. Alex stepped back into the room once the people had left, moving instead to continue his pacing. At least it wasn't angry pacing this time-just a way to pass the time while he waited on the geiger counter.

Dr Mercer didn't stop the virus from pacing around, merely leaning on the door waiting for the counter to arrive. When it finally got delivered to him, he snatched it from his Intern's hands and after shooing him off, shut the door and turned it on, grimacing at the ear piercing shriek it gave off. The number display shot up rapidly, past 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 rems- then it broke, refusing to go higher and ceasing the screams. He looked up at Alex, carefully. "I'm fairly certain you did something to the nuke- I should be melting into a mutated flesh pile any moment now, but it seems harmless. Perhaps your body converted the blast into biomass reserves, or somehow created the source of the time loop. Very interesting…" He devolved into unintelligible mutterings, lost in his thoughts.

The shrieking geiger counter ruined any calming down Alex had done, spikes of biomass accompanied by thrashing tendrils as he grinded his teeth. Once the awful noise finally stopped (could they make one of those that wasn't so painful?), he could catch a glimpse of the counter. 4000 rems. Not that he had any idea what that meant, but it was probably bad. The fact he was apparently harmless was a relief, though, even if he was weirdly radioactive.

"I can't consume nukes." He should know, he tried to consume a gun once. Nukes weren't that different. Before he could think on it much more, though, Dr. Mercer was mumbling-and while Alex could hear him just fine, save for the ringing in his ears from that stupid counter, he wasn't making any actual words. Okay. He'd just leave him to that. In the meantime…

Dana! Dr. Mercer said the radiation was harmless, which meant that he could go talk to Dana, without the fear of hurting her. Even if she told him to leave her alone sometime longer, he could at least make sure she was okay. Plus, he'd been cooped up since he came to-the lack of movement and the worst possible noises had him wanting to bash his head against a wall. He looked to Dr. Mercer, still mumbling-and scooped him up the same way he'd done the past couple of days, heading out of the quarantine room and towards the door. It wasn't raining, he could tell from the sound. No rain, and they were a step closer to figuring out what was going on, and he was on talking terms with Dr. Mercer and potentially Dana again. Alex would consider this a pretty damn good day.

Dr Mercer didn't have as many qualms with being carried like a ragdoll as he expected, and found himself relaxing into the rough travel method, curiosity overtaking any dizziness or lack of breath easily. It was fascinating to travel so fast with no shielding from the elements. Then Alex jumped through a window and dropped him on the couch- and he realised the location Alex had chosen within an instant. Dana's house. Of course. He sat stiffly on the sofa, hunched down to hide his frame from view of where he could hear Alex moving- presumably to Dana, Great, time for another tongue lashing.

As if on cue, a door opened, and Dana stepped into view. Alex looked seconds from pacing a nervous trench into her floor, and her brother (though she could barely see the top of his head, he was the only one Alex would have brought along) trying to become one with her couch. But she offered no insult or argument. Instead, she crossed her arms, her tone serious. The only remnants of when Alex had last seen her were the dark rings under her eyes, but moping hadn't been at all in her plans when she woke that morning.

"I was wondering when one of you was going to show up. I've been digging around, and I got a shitton of stuff on Blackwatch." Alex glanced up at the familiar name, ceasing his pacing so he could listen to what she had to say. She glanced over to the couch, raising a brow despite knowing he wasn't looking her way. "You coming with us? Or should Alex just repeat everything later?"

"Ah- right…" He got up, stiffness of posture betraying his discomfort, and made his way over to Dana but keeping some distance. "I'm interested what you found."

Her gaze softened, but she only nodded, motioning both of them into the room where her laptop was set up. On the wall next to her desk, the same as the safehouse, a bulletin board was in position-covered in photos, notes, newspaper articles and maps. She pulled out her desk chair and sat, promptly opening her laptop and logging in. Alex cast Dr. Mercer a brief, confused glance, before moving to stand behind Dana and watch her screen.

"It took a lot of piecing together, but that's one of the good things about being from the future-you get shit you wouldn't otherwise know about. I think I've got the bastards down to a T." She pulled open a photo-at a glance, there didn't seem to be anything impressive about it. A group of children in an unknown location, all smiling for the camera. She turned her chair to face them both, something dark crossing her expression.

"The earliest back I've been able to get is this-the first Blackwatch soldier projects…" She gestured at the screen, and over the course of several long hours she explained the harrowing history of the group that hunted down both her brothers to them, right up to what happened through October to the best of her recollection.

Dr Mercer, though he seemed stoic on the outside, felt almost sickened by the flat details his sister had unearthed. He knew something had its claws sunk into the Blacklight project, he just didn't know what- until she put the scattered dots together. Perhaps there was something useful from journalism skills after all, when held by Dana. He sipped the glass of water he'd grabbed carefully, pondering the implications. "Do we try and get that Cross person Alex knew into the loop? Considering these developments…"

"He's a good ally." It was Alex who spoke, leaning against Dana's chair and looking between the two of them. "He might've started as Blackwatch, but after Dana was knocked out, he gave me intel. He told me what I was. He died. I don't know when." The virus moved away, starting to pace the unoccupied half of the room. "But he's an ally."

"So we find Cross, and we find him enough times that he remembers what happened. The more the merrier." Not that she had many reasons to trust Alex's judgment, but if it came down to it, the "Cross" guy would just end up forgetting them all when everything reset. Dana nodded to herself, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her eyes. "If he's as much of a big-league bitch as he sounds, though, we'll have to infiltrate or draw him in. Alex?"

"Infiltration is my thing. I can raise hell if that doesn't work."

"Good." A pause. "...Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm fucking beat. Doc, you can take the spare room. Alex, don't burn the house down." With that, she closed her laptop and stood, motioning to the door. Alex and Dr. Mercer left without much else, both going their separate ways. Alex went right out the door, taking the opportunity to climb the roof and stand guard.

By now, it was notably late-time was going to reset soon. He'd wake up in a test tube, break out, and get into Blackwatch. As fucked up as the situation was, Alex couldn't help but consider it an improvement, almost. The constant threat of death didn't hang over his head, the simple act of not knowing what would happen tomorrow erased. No spreading infection, no threat of Hunters breaking through the wall and taking his sister away, no bombing of Manhattan. It was... nice.

The thought took even him off guard, and he moved his hand to his mouth, surprised to find he was smiling. It was like sitting with Dana between missions, but this time, they wouldn't come to an end-not for a while.

A sound. He only caught it for half a second-something akin to a crunching noise, like teeth sinking into flesh and bone. He stood, only for his body to give out on him almost immediately, and darkness filled his vision.