function Advsr_VS($hlv3) {

"…just completely impractical," I shook my head. "Where would you get the volunteers? Nobody is going to sign up for this – you'll only get a few of the homeless before the word gets out. These people aren't stupid."

"I know," she agreed, leaning back in her chair with that damn smirk on her face.

"You know?" I scoffed. "And what?" I gave her an expectant look, but like always, she coolly brushed it off.

"The dregs of society are never the best choice for things of this nature," she interlocked her fingers on her desk. "They already know how to live with less than nothing – they're aware of the ways of the world like the more privileged aren't."

"Can't you just fucking spell it out for once?" I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"The average man," she explained. "Is saturated by the normal and mundane. And what would an average, mediocre American want more than to be special? To be extraordinary?"

"There's nothing to be gained by this," I shook my head. "They won't be special; they'll just be dead."

"Eventually," she amended. "But until that time, they'll be willing, smiling participants."

} /function ends…

-Chapter 16: E Pluribus Unum-

The seventeen of them were mismatched and haggard. Some still had a human-like appearance, while others weren't even bipedal. They were slow as they lumbered along, but they were not directionless. Though there wasn't a leader, the small group moved as one as they zombie-marched toward Forks.

"What do we do?" Alice whispered under her breath, sounding unsure. Edward shook his head and looked to me.

"You know more about them than anyone," Edward said to me. "Which ones are the strongest? Are there any down there that are especially dangerous?" I bit my lip and turned back to the shuffling group.

Of the mob, twelve of them were the zombie type of infected. They were little more than cannon-fodder in Phoenix – slow moving and almost as weak as they were as humans. There was no way any of them could hurt a vampire, even in great numbers.

There were four hunters in the group, their pink skin and bulging muscles were a dead giveaway. They moved on four legs more smoothly than the zombies did on two, and their claws dug into the moist ground with each step. These type of infected were difficult to kill – they were nearly as strong as I was, and while I was also faster, hunters weren't exactly ungraceful. They would definitely need to be the priority targets.

The remaining infected was…odd. The dark-headed girl was unassuming and frail – shorter than I was – and didn't have the bloated and decomposing appearance of a zombie-infected. Her skin was nearly as pale as one of the Cullens', but where a vampire had smooth, unmarred skin, hers was stretched across her bones and covered in imperfections and pores with deep, dark veins clearly visible along every inch of her body.

"The slower ones can't hurt you," I told Edward and Alice. "They're basically dead humans. But the four-legged ones with the pink skin are extremely dangerous. They're strong and fast, but they won't be able to keep up with you if you use your speed to your advantage." I hesitated as I looked upon the unknown infected. "I've never seen one like the last one, though." I nodded toward the girl.

"She's not one of the zombies?" Edward asked, keeping his eye on the herd. I shook my head.

"I don't think so," I whispered, taking in the girl's form again. "The virus – infection – whatever it is, it causes very visible mutations. If it weren't for her varicose vein problem or the fact the others aren't attacking her, I would never peg her as infected." Alice froze and looked at me.

"But…you're infected," she whispered. I flinched at the reminder of my 'species' as she continued. "And you don't have any boils or veins, Bella. What if she's like you?" I pursed my lips and watched the girl walking again – her gait so much smoother than the others.

"You might be right," I mumbled, turning back to the two vampires. "Leave her to me; if she's anything like I am, you won't stand a chance against her with only the two of you."

"Not to mention the four bodyguards," Edward added, drawing my attention to him. I followed his gaze to the hunters, and my eyes widened as I realized he was right.

"Holy shit…" I gripped the tree branch I was holding onto tighter, crushing into the bark like it was Styrofoam. "Bodyguards. That's exactly what they are."

"What are you talking about?" Edward hissed under his breath. The group was moving dangerously close to our position and we needed to make sure we didn't draw attention to ourselves. I leaned closer to the Cullens.

"Hunters often move together," I explained. "But hardly ever in groups of more than two at a time. The only exception to this is when they're protecting a hive. They're like bees in a way – with a hierarchal structure and a tendency to set up bases. I've never seen anything like that girl," I nodded toward the infected female who was conveniently in the center of the hoard. "But the others are acting almost as if she's a hive."

"You're right; even the zombies seem to be guarding her," Alice whispered, worry seeping into her tone. "So what is she, some sort of queen?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea."

We froze as the horde below emitted a uniform growl, the zombies moaning almost excitedly and the hunters letting out rasping snarls. All of them were looking up at us, even the frail girl. Her gaze was the most disturbing.

Her eyes were as black as a thirsty vampire, the pupil indistinguishable from the iris. The black circles that looked at me directly were also too large – bigger than they would be on a human – and reached almost to the corners of her eyes, leaving only a sliver of her bone-white sclera showing.

But even that wasn't what made me shiver. Her gaze was cold and distant – not mindless, like the zombies, but without a trace of hate or fear or surprise. She smiled at me after two seconds, her cheek muscles pulling tightly in some kind of imitation of happiness.

"We have been looking for you," the girl spoke at a normal volume, obviously knowing I could hear. Her smile snapped back to the empty look she wore before greeting me. "How nice of you to wait here for us."

"She's not going anywhere with you!" Alice hissed. The zombies all shifted their gaze to Alice as all four hunters and the frail girl cocked their heads simultaneously.

"Hmm," the girl hummed.

Without warning or other visible sign from the girl, the hunters snarled and lunged toward us. They bounded agilely several meters before bunching their powerful muscles into coils and leaping up at our perch in the trees. I saw Alice and Edward react and push off from their branches, the feeble wood snapping under the force, flying backward and falling to the earth.

The shock of the kicks jarred me for only a moment, but it was enough time for the one of the snarling, bear-sized beasts to collide with my tree, embedding its claws deep in the bark. My grip slipped and I began to fall toward the hunters, who seemed to be focusing solely on me and disregarding the two vampires who had left me. I angled my body so I was face-first toward the forest floor and slammed my forearm into the body of the ascending infected, further shredding the tree and sending both of us toppling to the forest floor.

I pushed off of the ground, trying to recover quickly and make a run for it, but the other hunters were already on me. A sharp pain slashed across my back and I let out a short scream before rotating my body one hundred eighty degrees and driving my fist into the beast's maw, sending it careening into two zombies who had lumbered over to us. I braced myself for the second one's attack, but it was interrupted by a tiny body slamming into it.

Alice crouched over me while I recovered, wincing as I stood. The jagged wounds closed up quickly, but the pain was slow to fizzle out under my skin – it burned like a rash. I maneuvered to Alice's side and took stock of the situation. Edward dodged a swipe from another hunter and backhanded it, sending it hurtling away like the others had been.

I flexed my fingers and focused my biomass, pooling it in my hands and arms as it drained from the rest of my body. The threads of viral tissue writhed and wrapped around my flexing biceps, rolling downward as it compounded on itself and hardened, solidifying into what looked like dull-grey stone. I breathed in deeply as I cocked both of my arms back, enjoying the feeling of resistance in the muscle strands.

The hunters rushed again and I took my stance, crouching with my fists raised. As they leaped and stretched their claws out to swipe at me, I saw Alice and Edward shift their weight, preparing to fight them off. The two vampires flitted around the beasts and grappled one each, snarling and fighting their own battle as the last two infected closed the gap.

My strike was sure and true as my augmented fist impacted the pliant meat of the hunter. Its skull caved in and I felt its spine break, the shards fragmenting and cutting through the skin and tissue. As it sailed away from me at an impressive velocity, the last hunter tackled me to the ground.

There was screeching and scratching and I felt a sharp pain drag across my chest, disorienting me for a couple seconds before I responded with a counter-attack. I folded my legs around the beast's shoulder in some kind of jujitsu-like hold and wrapped my hands around one of its wrists – or where its wrist would be if it had wrists instead of the solid bar of flesh that made up its forearm.

With a grunt, I heaved and yanked, pulling the muscle fiber and ligaments in its arm apart with a wet sucking sound. I tripped backward and fell from the sudden jolt of movement, quickly recovering while the monster wailed in agony, the stump where its arm used to be oozing a syrup-like black slime. My fists crushed the severed arm in my grip and the limb was quickly absorbed into my body.

I gave a battle yell and darted toward the disabled hunter, punching my fist straight through its chest. I could feel my fingers poking through the lean muscle of its back as I crushed its throat with my other hand and pulled my arms apart, rending the monster into two separate pieces like it was made of rags as the tendrils burst forth from my torso and tugged the mass in.

The unmistakable sound of Alice's voice cried out and my body automatically turned in her direction, my mouth gaping for only a millisecond at her critical state. Alice's left hand was gone, cleaved into three pieces and scattered in a pile a meter from her as she struggled against the hunter she was fighting. The monster's jaws snapped at her as she held it back with her good arm and her stumped one.

"No!" I shouted as I ran, absolutely focused on the pixie vampire. I could hear the shuffling and grunting that was undoubtedly coming from Edward's own struggle, but I wasn't able to shift my attention one iota.

I crashed into the hunter full-force, snapping a few of its bones as it was forced away from Alice. My right arm-blade – which I hadn't even realized I had morphed – sliced crudely into its flesh, nearly cleaving it in half. Once we hit the ground, I braced my left hand against its throat and slid my blade out. Alice blurred over to where I had the creature detained and stomped on its head, smashing through the bone and brain and making a terrible mess.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward making quick work of the hunter he was fighting. He was using my advice instead of attacking head on – the infected beast couldn't even get a hit in before Edward had decapitated it. His clothes were ruffled and bloodstained, but he was physically alright. My eyes darted to Alice's stump of a hand at the reminder and my jaw clenched – would Carlisle be able to fix her?

The sound of laughing drew our attention to the frail girl, who stood with the remaining horde and a disfigured hunter that was clearly slowly recovering from my punch. My biomass rippled on my body, shifting freely as I glared at the girl who was laughing at us. I took a step forward to attack, but Edward's hand motioned me back. I gave him a stare of contempt, but halted nonetheless.

"Who are you?" Edward asked, clearly trying the diplomatic approach.

"It doesn't matter who we are," the girl's eyes flickered to each of us, her expression full of malice. There wasn't an ounce of fear, though, even with only one more hunter left to protect her. "What matters is our plan."

"What plan?" I bit out, stepping around Edward's arm and taking point. The girl looked at me again and though her expression remained blank, her eyes gave off a feeling of amusement. "What do you want with me?" Alice hissed beside me as she held the pieces of her hand to her wrist, the parts fusing back together slowly.

"I can see we came ill-equipped," she ignored my questions and glanced at Alice and Edward. "But we will be back for you, Isabella." I smirked and shifted my arm into the dagger whip.

"You're not going anywhere," I challenged, the low growls from Alice and Edward echoing my remark. "If you don't want to talk, I'll just beat the answers out of you." I took a step forward and drew back my whip arm, preparing to spear the girl with it.

"You can do that," the girl nodded, looking absolutely unafraid even as the hunter beside her bared its teeth at me. "Or you can go back to save your home. I came here with six of my special children, after all." My eyes widened and I froze in place.

"No!" I gasped, realizing the damage a couple hunters could do to Forks by themselves. It could easily become another Phoenix if they were allowed free reign. I watched the girl turn and walk off with the horde following her, but I was unable to move. A sick, sinking feeling flitted through my abdomen at what the girl's revelation meant. "Charlie!"

My body began to move of its own accord again, brushing past the two vampires as I turned my back on the infected group and started to run. Alice was shouting at me as she ran beside me, but I didn't turn my head to acknowledge her. I needed to get back to Forks. I had to keep Charlie safe.

Maybe it was the frantic emotions or maybe it was my need to run faster, but my body shape shifted into the mutated wolf form I acquired from Paul and I took off like a rocket. My enhanced hearing allowed me to catch the footfalls of the vampires fading into the distance as I outpaced them.

My body writhed as I shifted back into my regular form and I ran at a human pace toward the police station. I was able to follow the scent trail of the hunters as it wove its way to the town. They had taken the long way around, giving the shallow lakes and creeks a wide berth, but they had still arrived before we had.

"What the hell was that?" Alice hissed as she appeared beside me, matching my stride. I looked behind me, wondering how Alice had beaten Edward to me. She saw my gaze and explained. "He went back to make sure Angela was OK," she told me. "Now do you mind explaining how you turn into a…wolf thing?"

"I'm not exactly sure," I said distractedly as I pushed open the door to the station and walked inside, freezing in confusion. There wasn't anyone here – not even a secretary. I took a step inside when the familiar sound of gunfire reached my ears. I spun on a dime and ran out of the building at a marathon runner's pace, grinding my teeth at the speed I was restricted to while an innocent bystander could see me.

"We can't be seen, Bella," Alice reminded me as my speed slowly crept into the superhuman range. I slowed my stride and we ducked into an alley where we were able to bolt up to the top of the diner Charlie liked to eat at. She led us across the rooftops, catapulting across the wide streets when we ran out of running space.

When we came upon the battle scene, the fight was already halfway over. Ambrose Blvd wasn't exactly main street in Forks, so the damage wasn't as bad as I knew it could be, but the hunters had still laid siege to the small town. A couple half-dismembered human bodies were smeared on the pavement and the small bait shop near the carnage was mostly obliterated, a car hanging out of the debris.

Surprisingly, one of the hunters was dead, lying on the road with spatters of black blood surrounding the corpse, which was absolutely riddled with bullet holes of various calibers. I knew all too well how resilient those things were, so the fact that the Forks police was able to take one of them down was impressive. My eyes swept down to the remaining hunter, which was circling a police car, and my breath hitched in my throat.

Charlie was sitting in the driver's seat frantically loading shells into his shotgun. I could see his hands shaking as he popped another round in, ignoring the smashed-in passenger side door with chunks of meat and human tissue smeared in red sticking to the car's jagged exit wound.

Screw secrecy.

I was falling toward the ground in less than a heartbeat, but I wasn't going to be fast enough. The hunter was moving toward the vehicle with a sure stride; it reached the car and grabbed the driver's side in its claws, smashing the outside like a tin can. With a screech, the beast hurled my father and the car he hid in across the street where it hit the ground with a crunching sound and rolled once, twice, and finally rocked to a stop upside down.

I landed near the hunter and kicked my foot out, knocking the infected monster back fifty yards down the road where it smashed into one of the pulverized cars that were strewn about. I didn't follow through with the attack, and instead bolted for the whining and smoking car. The scene was startlingly similar to the wreck I had caused and I hoped Charlie was still alive. He had to be.

My ears strained, but they weren't sensitive enough to pick up on Charlie's heartbeat. I held my breath as I pried the door off its hinges and crouched down to peer inside the upside-down car. I had prepared for a bloody scene – I had prayed he was OK, but forced my hopes down all the same – but what I hadn't prepared for was the blast of heat and the sting of pain as buckshot smoked through my face, neck, and shoulder.

The blow knocked me off my feet and I flinched as my sight blanked out of my right eye for the few seconds it took my body to repair itself. I got to my feet slowly and cringed as the pieces of metal were sweated out of my skin and plinked on the pavement like macabre sprinkles. I approached again, but this time I stayed out of his line of sight.

"Charlie?" I called. I heard the thud of Alice landing behind me and the patter of her feet as she flitted in the direction of the remaining hunter.

"Bella?" he moaned in a weak voice. "You need to…go…get away from here." I crouched down again slowly, relaxing as I saw the barrel of the shotgun angled downward. I didn't think he realized he had shot me; the thought wasn't exactly comforting.

Charlie was crumpled against the roof of the cruiser, blood soaking into his uniform and leaking onto the glass shards that were scattered everywhere. He looked a wreck with cuts and bruises checkering his skin and his left leg sticking out at an odd angle. It was a miracle he could lift the shotgun at all, much less fire it successfully. He watched me through half-closed eyes as he wheezed.

"Dad," I choked, feeling the ink tears forming in my eyes. I closed them and pursed my lips, steeling my resolve. I would get him help; I would take him to Carlisle. If anyone could help Charlie, he could. "It's going to be OK."

I cast a quick glance at Alice, who seemed to be doing quite well against the lone hunter. I felt the overwhelming need to help her as I remembered how the jagged stump of her hand looked after her last fight, but I forced myself to stay with my father. She was doing well anyway; half of the hunter's jaw was missing from its face and its entire right leg below the knee was gone.

I braced my hands against the crushed car frame and gently applied pressure, gradually prying the metal apart. Charlie shielded his eyes as loose pieces of glass rained down, and I was quick to reach for him once there was space to remove him from the car. He hissed and moaned as I maneuvered him out of the wreckage without tweaking or jostling anything damaged. Alice blurred up to me and gasped, taking a quick step backward immediately. I looked up at her and locked my eyes with her black ones.

Of course! The blood.

"Go warn Carlisle, Alice," I stood and gripped her biceps, taking her focus away from Charlie's injuries. "I'll be right behind you with Charlie." Alice nodded, unable to speak, and flitted away.

"What are you – oh!" Charlie winced as I lifted him up into my arms, cradling him awkwardly. I turned around and took a look at what was left of the street.

A sort of sadness crept into me from the damage the infection had caused. The other hunter was in pieces on the ground, smearing the earth with more of the virus. There wasn't a sound – it was almost like a twisted canvas or a still life – and I briefly wondered where the survivors had fled. I wondered if there were any survivors.

I sighed and shifted Charlie's weight closer to my chest as I took off running toward the Cullen mansion. On the run there I thought about how much disaster my presence had yet again caused. Forks was…finished. There was no way to cover this up – there were too many dead bodies and destroyed property. I was surprised the troops hadn't swept in yet in their helicopters and tanks, ready to raze the town to stop the spread of infection.

I shook my head and looked down to take stock of Charlie's injuries. There would be time to mourn the lives destroyed later. Right now, I needed to make sure one of those lives wasn't Charlie's.

End notes: It's been over a month, but at least I was able to update Unstoppable Force. That almost never happens.

A few of you have been wondering about the whole...Alice and Bella thing. I've been reading fiction on this site for a while, so I know all too well what kinds of things are expected with the different pairings. The thing is...I prefer the stories that focus on plot first and that's how I generally write.

I've said it before - no need to write a review to tell me I can write the story the way I please. I want you to know the whole 'relationship' thing will happen at some point, but it's not going to be the deep, sex-filled sappy stuff I see all too often. That's not a jab at those who write that sort of thing; I just tend to focus on the supernatural/sci-fi aspect more than anything else.

A bit of trivia: I actually own a replica [Prototype] jacket like the one Alex Mercer wears in the game. It's very cool.