Author's Note: Hi all, so here we are, another chapter as promised. Still trying to post these on a regular basis, especially without my proof reader forgetting the events of the previous chapter, which happens regularly. No pressure but I want it completed before Gears 4 is released, what have I set myself up for. At least you have to won't worry about a long hiatus. I'm in it to the end, although I have reached a rather crucial chapter and my brain refuses to think, I'll overcome it I'm sure.

Also wanted to thank whoever reads this, I know it's a gamble reading an OC only fic but as I've spent several years obsessing about these characters I feel like their story needs telling, to whoever will read it.

Well here it is read and enjoy.

Chapter Four - The Scientist

The prisoners screamed and yowled, throwing themselves wildly against the bars of their containment as the Imulsion fumes wafted enticingly around them. To call them human would have been a stretch of the imagination, but somewhere amidst the warped bodies there was a striking resemblance to the former citizens of Sera.

He watched as one particular subject knelt to the ground and clutched at her head pulling at her long locks of hair, chunks of skin and hair tumbled to her feet. She gazed blankly at the strands in her warped hands and mewled pitifully. Her body now starting to display that all too familiar glow as she cooked and twisted from within. He knew the moment she had started losing her hair she was past the point of no return. Another case number with a different approach and still the same outcome.

He stepped over the cracked chasms as he made his way back to the laboratory. The prisoners screeching at his exit, their noise a deafening howl. He shut the door to the cells, blocking out the distinct reminder of his inevitable future and drawing the bolt to keep it hidden away. He made his way to the corner of the room where a human sized cage housed a woman curled up on the floor. He prised the gas mask from his face and placed it on the counter beside him, picking up a container of water and pouring it into a wooden ramekin. He dropped to his knees beside the cage and offered the ramekin through the bars. The woman warily unfurled herself to take in his offering. Her dark soulless eyes staring back at his hands, he could see her attempt to fight the monsters inside her head before she decided to accept the water from him. Her elongated fingers had withered as her skin had started clinging to the delicate bone. She raised the ramekin to her shrivelled lips he watched as the liquid poured out of the corners of her mouth onto the newspaper bedding he had laid out for her. She looked down at the pool of water then back at him, opening her mouth and letting out a barely audible cry.

He reached in and tried to take her bony hands in his, she leapt backwards against the bars as if his touch was alien to her.

"It's okay my love," he soothed to her in her own language. He could see some sort of recognition flicker in her dark eyes.

He stood back up and retrieved a wooden bowl with four ripe peaches tenderly rolling and kissing against each other. He took in their pungent sweetness as he held the bowl closer to his nose to inhale deeply. The smell rekindled lost memories that swarmed like ghosts around him.

He knelt down opposite the cage again holding up the bowl of fruit, she sniffed the air as the scent of peach tingled a memory somewhere in her brain.

"Look my love," he spoke quietly to her, "the peaches are growing. Like you always said they would."

He picked a peach up between his fingers and examined the hairy toughened outer skin, taking it to his lips he bit into it. The flesh was soft and juicy between his teeth as the syrup slipped down his chin. She watched him hungrily from inside her cage, fingers now clasped around the bars. As he wiped the excess away he offered her a fruit from the bowl. She snatched it from him and held it up to her nose before retreating to the corner of her cage and curling up in ball.

Reluctantly he sat and watched her, their interactions had become fewer as of late and her recognition was down to emotion and senses alone. But he refused to give up trying. There had to be a cure somewhere mixed up in his notes and theories that would bring her back from the brink. In the meanwhile he would continue trying all possibilities.

He made his way out of his laboratory up steep twisting stone steps into a long thin corridor, locking the entrance with a bolt and padlock to keep his test subjects secure. The corridor led into a large glasshouse where several peach trees grew along the path, each one marked with a symbol from his native long since destroyed country. One of the few things still growing amidst the wilderness around him. He would do everything in his power to ensure that they kept growing.

He took long strides towards the Grand Hall where a group of mercenaries had taken residence.

They called themselves The Nightmares and were a mixture of men young enough to be easily influenced by his cause yet old enough to make a difference. They loyally followed a leader who rarely revealed his identity to those around him. Identifiable by a cannibalised Locust skull mask worn over his face except when he addressed personal company. The group themselves wore their own unique version of their alter egos with rudimentary dismantling of COG and Locust armours. Their weapons were also a mismatched selection of horrifying apparatus. It was their brutality that had drawn them to the Professor's attention. A group of men with questionable methods who were willing to do whatever was asked of them without query was perfect for him. Their residence in his hall in return for protecting his little projects seemed so menial in comparison.

The men turned at his arrival, fifteen in total all dressed like a Locust Human cross-breed. The acknowledgement of his command was the only giveaway that they had previously been soldiers. Their leader nodded at him before approaching, lifting his skull mask to rest on top of his head to reveal his face. He was a young man with what once could have been described as attractive features. Now, however, one side of his face had become a melted mess. Where once cheeks had been now revealed the remains of a jaw line with teeth and bone. The Professor had never wanted to draw any further attention to it so instead wondered about its occurrence in silence.

"We need more subjects," he announced as he walked through the hall to the table at the end. He sat on a large wooden high backed chair, grabbed a peach from the bowl on the table and leant back to enjoy his precious fruit with his feet resting on the surface.

The leader approached him and sat on a chair nearby suspiciously eying up the peaches in the bowl, his tongue clicked between his teeth as he watched his employer.

"You have a preference on what you want in particular?" he asked, "Last time it was boys and we happily donated some of our younger members for your cause."

"I need girls, in particular young women of breeding age,"

"That's rather specific Professor,"

"I have rather specific needs," he watched the mercenary take in his group from a far, "besides the women are responding a lot slower to the Imulsion than the men."

"So you have found a cure?"

"Don't get me wrong they're still turning Lambent, but at a much slower rate,"

Their conversation drew to a gradual halt as a woman entered the Hall, her heels clicking loudly on the slate floor. She slunk expertly across the room, so that all eyes would fix upon her. Hips swaying in elegant motion as she made her way towards the men at the head of the table. Hair a golden waterfall to her hips, eyes like deep emerald jewels as they transfixed themselves on her goal. They called her the Commander, jointly controlling the Nightmares through the mouthpiece of the Leader. He may have been the brawn but she was the brains and the reason that the Nightmares followed with an unrelenting loyalty.

She pulled out a chair and rested her long slender legs against the table for all to see.

"Gentlemen," her voice a throaty purr, she hooked her arms behind her head and leaned back in the chair, "care to update me."

"The Professor requires us to fetch him a new batch of subjects," the Leader responded, "females."

"Is that so?" she flicked a sly smile in the direction of their host.

"They seem to be responding to the treatment more,"

"Particularly those of breeding age," the Leader added.

She thoughtfully nodded her head, casting her eyes to her next in charge who had been eying her carefully.

"I know where we can find what you're looking for," she cleared her throat slightly after a pause, "there's a fishing village a few days walk from here, filled with plenty of what you're looking for."

"It's greatly appreciated Commander, I believe it'll help me get that one step closer to the cure."

A sound of cautious laughter sounded from the group as a young man made his way through the hall towards them. He was clad differently to the others in the room, although he had been one of them he shed his armour the moment he had discovered the Professor's cause. His dark skin pock marked with burns and bites, his hair shaved down to a stubble. Behind him attached to a leash skittered a human male who displayed all the obvious signs of turning Lambent. His face muzzled, his body withered and bony. His eyes cast its way around the room as he took in the humans around him. The men retreated slightly at his appearance.

"Mr Woods," The Professor acknowledged offering the man a peach from his bowl, "please, take a seat."

"Lem what did I tell you about bringing it in here?" The mercenary berated him only to receive a hand placed on his arm by his Commander in warning.

"He's still a human," Lem responded as he looped the leash around the chair leg and dropping a peach to the man's feet. He kicked it between his toes before picking it up, stroking the soft hairy skin and rubbing it against his muzzled cheek.

"You have news?" the Professor asked watching the semi Lambent man sit dog obedient beside Lem's seat. So far he was the only male subject that had not been swallowed completely by the Imulsion. He had surmised it had been down to his connection to the man fighting for a cure beside him. That in itself was a breakthrough.

"Not really Professor just more losses,"

Lem Woods had always known he was different from everyone else. Not content to become another Gear in the COG machine he had fled his home with the sole purpose of protecting the one human that still mattered to him. He had studied hard and learnt quick and was able to use his knowledge in the field, something that the Professor found got results. The Professor had picked up on it the moment they had met, that and the relationship Lem had with a young man suffering from severely advanced Rustlung. The same man who currently sat rubbing his face against a peach.

"How's he doing?" he indicated to the man on the floor.

"In the time that Angelo took his nap, I lost two subjects to Lambency," Lem explained, "still no further degradation than the last time we checked him over though."

"Interesting,"

"We should take it out and shoot it," the mercenary growled.

Lem gave him a look, "he's still the same person somewhere. I know I can bring him back to us."

"Lem how many times has it bitten you now? How long before it'll rip you apart whilst you sleep? We need to put it down before it has a chance to run amok and take us all down,"

"This is Angelo we're talking about," Lem snapped standing up from his seat in defence, "he's still the same kid you once helped all those years ago."

"No Lem, he was that kid. He's Lambent now, there's no going back from there."

"When did you lose your humanity?"

The mercenary's eyes darkened as he took in the young man standing opposite him. He and Lem had a history that neither spoke much about. It was clear like everyone else on Sera they had gone through a lot in previous years. Despite that they had always supported one another because only they knew what they had been through. Even when Lem defected from the Nightmares to help assist in his scientific study they had reluctantly allowed him to follow the path. But now Lem's actions were threatening to put their own followers in danger, something they couldn't allow him to do.

"I lost it a long time ago Lem, you're only realising now,"

The Commander dropped to the floor and offered an open palm to Angelo, who sniffed her momentarily before heftily throwing himself into her arms. She smiled warmly, closing her eyes at this small taster of an emotional contact.

"He doesn't seem to be that much of a threat,"

"Well that's easy," Lem responded, cautiously watching the interaction between the pair, "he likes you."

"Look we could always cage Angelo at night if you prefer," the Professor interrupted, whatever personal angst they were going through it would have to wait, "he's too valuable to be destroyed just yet. He's the only male who's still holding back going completely Lambent. It's worth an investigation."

The leader scowled, pulling the Locust skull down over his face and retreated from the table to the men. Picking up a large Locust Cleaver and sliding it into the sheath on his back. He reloaded a double barrel Sawed-Off Shotgun and mockingly aimed it at Angelo's head who gazed pathetically back at him as he pretended to pull the trigger.

"We'll go get you some girls then shall we?" he snorted as he strode through the Hall snapping to gain the mercenaries attention.

The Commander let out a sigh as she ran a final hand through Angelo's hair, "he's going to fix you. Don't you forget that."

She rose to her feet and sent a partial smile to Lem before picking up a Torque Bow from the table and holstering it over her shoulder.

"Keep fighting for him kid," she said as she danced down the steps towards her men accepting a quiver full of bows for her weapon of choice.

The Professor watched as the mercenaries rallied themselves loudly together and followed their leaders out into the wilderness. It would take a while for them to return with his requested subjects but he knew they would return successful.

Lem let out a sigh at their exit, "Sometimes I wonder whether I chose the right side."

"You'd rather be out there with them?"

"No," Lem sadly glanced down at Angelo who curiously gazed back at him, "Angelo's condition was the only reason I made the choices I did. If it wasn't for him I would be on Vectes."

"At least we're trying to make a difference here,"

"At what cost though Professor? How many humans are we going to infect before we can make a difference?"

"You sound like Luicie, she would be the one giving me those kinds of speeches,"

Lem untied Angelo from the chair and tugged on the leash, "Is she the one in the cage downstairs?"

"For my sins,"

The Professor rose to his feet and followed Lem into the gardens where the afternoon sun shone brightly on them. Angelo grunted at them and lay down to take in the sun, Lem tied his leash to a railing so his friend could relax.

"Who is she?" Lem asked innocently as he leaned over a wall to gaze at the expanse of wilderness below them, "she must mean something to you if you are willing to sacrifice all these people to find a cure."

"Aren't you doing the same thing for your friend?"

"Angelo means so much there isn't anything I wouldn't do for him,"

The Professor watched Lem carefully, trying to work out Lem's motives. He was clearly a very emotional man with a loyalty to rival no other. He had seen Angelo bite and scram Lem during his darker days and Lem would just sit down and let his rage subside. There was a history between the two that surpassed friendship. Even now as Angelo's brain was being twisted and melted from within he still trusted everything Lem did for him.

"She's my daughter," he eventually confessed, "I lost my wife back when the Hammer Strikes destroyed Ostri. Our daughter was the only thing we cared enough about to save. We lived rough for so many years, hiding out in abandoned Imulsion Mines moving from place to place. We commandeered this building for many years and my beautiful Luicie set to fixing Sera by making it alive again. She grew those peach trees from seed. Kept telling me that it was proof that Sera could mend itself after all the destruction it had been through. Then the peaches started glowing and the trees started twisting into these horrific monstrosities. And then Luicie got sick. I chopped those monsters down and left them to rot, but somehow they are still living, whilst my little girl is wasting away. I would rip Sera to shreds to find a cure for her, even if it meant sacrificing a thousand people to find it."

"So we are on the same page," there was a harshness in Lem's voice that not even the Professor had heard before.

Lem turned to look at Angelo who sat in the sun, legs spread eagle arms open wide and face angled upwards to the sun. His Lambent glow making his limbs look charcoal black. They could see the Imulsion churning through his veins.

"He is turning Former Mr Woods, you have to accept that, even though he has been slower to change, Lambency will take over in time,"

"Which is why we need to find the cure," Lem responded quietly, "I'm ready to fight for it, if he is."

"And what happens the day that he looks back at you and sees you only as a food source,"

"Maybe you should ask the same yourself Professor. I've seen Luicie glow just as much as Angelo,"

"I keep Luicie caged for our safety just as much as hers, maybe you should consider the same with him,"

Lem stared silently at Angelo, so many decisions played out in his head. Why did he end up where he was today? His friend had been a major deciding factor as to where he needed to be, but a part of him thought about his separated family from so many years ago. He hoped they were still out there.

A low rumble in the ground somewhere nearby made the pair glance at each other.

Angelo suddenly jolted himself alert, twitching slightly before he charged full pelt at them. He started yowling and screeching as he tugged on the end of his leash. Lem ran up to him to untie the knot.

"It's ok," he soothed.

Angelo blanked him out and continued lunging against his binding until he was free. With one sudden pull the leash snapped from Lem's hands and Angelo sprinted towards the wall.

"Angelo!" he cried out.

The ground was shaking now and the Professor had stepped back in case the freed semi human turned on them. Angelo had now scaled the wall and stood on the top, howling like a wild animal through his muzzle. Lem managed to grab hold of his leash again in time for him to see a huge stalk break through the ground miles below them and rise ominously into the sky.

"Shit!" he turned to gesture for the Professor to follow, "Professor you need to see this!"

The Professor hesitantly edged towards the wall and gazed down at the Stalk in all its glory. They watched from their vantage point as another one broke through the landscape, its vines twisting in the air as if it was scenting out prey.

"What the hell is it?" Lem asked over Angelo's howls who had now been pulled down off the wall and had propped his hands against the top to peer over it.

They could hear the screams and wails from the Formers down in the Professor's locked dungeons.

"Whatever it is, I'm guessing it's Lambent and it's coming to find us."