Author's Note: A lot has been going on lately and I do apologize for the late update...a lot always seems to be going on with me..xD also, blame my beta-boyfriend :D
Enjoy!
Alex returned to Dana's Safe House to see that she was watching his daughter, Riley. Jessi had asked Dana to watch the baby girl and dropped her off not too long ago, as she had to go to work. The child wouldn't stop trying to get his attention, only being convinced by Dana to pick her up. She was distracting, constantly trying to pull on his jacket and shirt, even his hood and hair. He had to let her back down and she continued to tug at his pant leg, but he managed to concentrate on what Dana was trying to say.
Dana informed him that there was information about a young woman, Elizabeth Greene. Alex recognized her, Dana not finding this surprising in the least as Alex's name was the only one other than hers in the file. He decided that whoever she was, she had to have known more than he did. She was still at the GENTEK building, so that's where he would be headed next. He managed to wiggle out of Riley's grasp and headed out the door, the little girl turning her attention to her aunt, showing her toys and waddling off to do her own thing.
Blackwatch Headquarters — RED CROWN Command, Battery Park...
"AXIOM will sweep to the river. BRIMSTONE will encircle the entire sector and detain anyone moving through the area. I want this contained by daybreak."
"But, Sir, there are nearly a hundred thousand people in the Blue Zone..."
"I'm not interested in excuses. Get it done!"
The general turned off the screen overhead, turning to the two people who walked into the room just seconds ago.
"We have a situation I think your teams are well suited for, Captains. How long until your people are in place?" he asked.
"We're prepped and waiting for orders. We can be wheels up and boots on the ground anywhere in the city in fifteen." Jessi spoke up.
"With respect, Sir, a suppression operation in a city of twelve-million is slightly more than our teams can handle." Cross added.
"The situation has already evolved, Captain. You and Captain Adams aren't participating in the containment action. Your teams have a single target: Alex Merer. Codenamed: ZEUS."
Jessi looked over at Cross with her eyes alone, not saying a word, wanting to hear more rather than interrupt the General. She instead looked at the photos that they had of him in the files.
"We've learnt that he's carrying a new strain. He's eliminated fifty of our men and smashed through a two-foot steel door. You interested?"
"I'm your man, Sir." Cross said.
"Of course." Jessi added almost immediately.
Cross looked at Jessi in admiration. Here she was, doing her duties as a Blackwatch Captain, but couldn't make it more obvious that she just wanted to completely fall apart. She had to find and eliminate the man she once had a life with, the father of her child. It was only hours ago that she got the news he was shot dead in Penn Station, only to find out that he was somehow replicated and still living, having to take him out, for real this time.
"I don't need to tell you two what's at stake." the General said with his back turned to them before returning his sight on the two.
"Sir." Cross and Jessi showed their respect with a salute.
"Dismissed." he finalized the briefing.
Jessi and Cross turned to walk out of the room, but was stopped by the General calling out to her.
"Yes, General?" she replied, standing in place after giving a nod to Cross to go on ahead.
"I hope you will set things right with your second chance. I don't want your personal feelings getting involved with this task. If you cannot handle this, let me know."
"This is not the man I knew, Sir. I have no qualms with the mission given to me." she stated with a tone of indifference.
He gave a nod of approval and she continued out the door.
GENTEK Facility — 51st Floor, BLACKLIGHT Research Division...
It was dark and reeked of death. Bodies were scattered along the floors, one even stuck within the doorway. What was this? Alex stepped inside, seeing only a single light in the large room shining into a glass casing and a woman sitting inside. Along the walls, he could see membrane-like material moving as if it were breathing. He ignored it, proceeding to approach the woman. Her head was bowed down, her knees up and her arms under them.
He walked up the few steps, stopping at the top, "Elizabeth Greene?" he called out for her attention, confirmation that he was in the right place.
She looked up at him, dried blood stained on her face and eyes empty; void of any sign of life, "The time for waiting is over." she said, her voice almost like a hiss. She stood up in one quick movement and hit him. A simple act, but it held enough power to completely throw him back, hitting the wall behind him and falling down to the floor.
She sauntered over as he recuperated, looking down at him.
"I don't understand." he said in confusion, hands and knees still on the floor.
"Watch." she hissed out, placing her hand on his head.
A flash of horrible images went through his mind: the torture that she was put through over the past years, weakening him and he fell down to the floor, groaning through the pain. He proceeded to pick himself back up slowly, holding his head as he was still in recovery.
She stepped over, holding her hand to the wall. The membrane dried up from her touch, crumbling to reveal the city skyline. She looked over to him as his head was bowed, "I am your mother." she stated.
This caused him to snap his head up in surprise, looking over to her only in time to see her simply walk off the edge and disappear. He stood up and looked over the edge to see if he could still spot her, but his attention was drawn away by growling and tearing from within the room.
Creatures carrying the general aspect of a human, but completely deformed erupted from the mass tissue, looking straight at Alex. Their roars were almost as gruesome as their appearance. One leapt straight for Alex, letting him catch a better look at them. How could creatures like this possibly be? They were monstrous, deformed, unreal. It aimed straight for Alex's chest, using it's large arm to knock him out of the window. He fell straight down to the ground, a crater being left in his wake as he picked himself up with ease.
Tanks and armed soldiers were present, their attention being drawn right at him. They didn't hesitate to open fire, but it was quickly stopped as the creatures from the fifty-first floor came crashing down on to them, a soldier even being picked up by the creature and having a huge bite of him being taken before tossed to the side.
Damn it...there just aren't enough military here to slow them down...
He grabbed a soldier standing next to him, his attention entirely on the creature beforehand, "I need to know what you know." he told the soldier as his tendrils devoured him, gaining whatever useful knowledge he could get from the man.
There was a military base not too far from the GENTEK Facility. The creatures' attention were all on Alex; he could lure them there, with more military power to help him. He began running for the base, the creatures not faltering to follow.
Upon arrival, he busted through the window on the roof of the building, all eyes immediately drawing to him as the soldiers opened fire. He grabbed up a rocket launcher as one of the creatures following him came down through the same opening. He wasted no time in firing the weapon at the creature, knocking it back on impact, but it was still standing.
Holy shit...
He ran to the top of a row of massive tanks, firing the launcher a couple more times at the creature. It stopped chasing after him, holding its head and wavering around. He grabbed the stunned creature, his tendrils coming out to possibly gain more strength. His body began tingling, mostly his arms as they changed; sharp, giant claws replacing what were once his hands.
What the fuck...
He tried attacking a couple soldiers that were shooting at him, his blade-like tips slicing through them with ease and they fell to the ground.
That works...
"Devil Dogs!" a Marine called out.
Alex looked to see more of the creatures crashing down to the base floor, all after him.
More of them...and I'm just getting started...
He wasted no time in going back and forth from the creatures, dealing damage to each and barrel rolling out of the way when they tried to take a swing at him. It was going to end at this rate and he wasn't sure whether the militia were after him or these creatures instead. He looked around, noticing six large chambers in the base and had the brilliant idea of how he could easily end this.
He picked up a rocket launcher, ignoring the horrid creatures that were constantly chasing him as he fired at the tanks until he'd managed to blow one out. The tanks were extremely resilient, not faltering as easily as he thought they would and he would run out of rockets at some point. He decided to try launching at each one instead of concentrating on one at a time while thinking of a contingency plan to finish them off.
Would the bullets from these guns work? Rockets aren't even taking these damn things out easily...
In his thought process, one of the creatures had managed to strike him. Instead of falling to the ground, he used his claws while his eyes were on the monster to stop himself, his arm getting stuck in the ground momentarily and was surprised when enormous spikes had risen from the ground where the creature was, killing it.
Was that my doing?
He looked at another one and drove his claws into the ground again, the same thing happening confirming his suspicion.
The downside of using this against the tanks was that he would be vulnerable to the creatures attacking him as it caused his claws to be stuck into the ground. Perhaps there was another way to do more damage.
He ran up the wall, latching on for a moment before jumping back and gathering as much of his strength as he could, forcing himself down to the ground. The damage he had dealt in that moment was vast, destroying all three tanks on that one side and killing nearly half of the monsters chasing him.
It would take him a while to gather enough strength to be able to do the same damage to the remaining two in the facility, so he concentrated on taking out anything attacking him. The soldiers that were in the base were all dead. That meant that he would have to use the creatures to increase his strength even though his body was already recovering from the damage he dealt to the tanks.
He put his concentration on the monsters, stunning them before latching on to them and letting his tendrils do the rest. After consuming a few of them, he replayed his steps in dealing the devastating attack on the two tanks still standing and once they blew out, the loud, cracking sound of the walls breaking was all too clear as the building exploded, the entire base crumbling down and killing the monsters that were chasing him all the while.
Well, that was...fun.
≺) [ṃȧƌạṁeḤuɲʈǝrr]
