Prototype-The Killing Instinct-The Final Act
Alex walked down the hallway, seething with the iciest and blackest rage the fledgling god had ever experienced before in his life. General Randell was the last link in the chain, the final and strongest link that Alex had to break. The General had started it all off, The General had been the one that authorised experiments on his own troops and now Alex realised it was General Randell who had caused his death and subsequent rebirth...I'll be sure to thank him. Right now Alex intended to repay all of this back, back a hundred times so this madman would know the wrath of the new god on Earth. Thinking of himself in such deified terms gave the thing known as Alex Mercer satisfaction, a little self recognition was deserved after accomplishing so much in such a short time. This in turn led to a new digression in thought, yet another rich and unexplored avenue of thought that the Virus chose to let its own genius indulge in.
Alex always had, wondered quite sincerely, why human scum had dubbed him Zeus. In this moment, before murdering the General pondered it as he walked. Suddenly it hit him. It all clicked into place. Zeus, in Ancient Greece, was said to have taken his place as King of the Gods from his father who was a Titan, the Elder Gods so to speak. So too was Alex now rebelling, wresting power from those that no longer deserved it and taking it for his own. Human were the old masters of the Planet. Soon, very soon, the Planet itself would be Virus as it sunk its roots into the foundations of the Earth. Humanity forgot themselves, either becoming embroiled in petty moralities and reason or hate filled wars, they simply could not live as one in peace. They failed, they were arrogant and ultimately they were the Titans. Alex was Zeus. Elizabeth was Hera. They were the new Gods, truly...divine.
Absorbing people's memories had its advantages; the hive had grown from bestial to being super intelligent in around a month or so. The General however had knowledge no solider could have-weapons stockpiles; launch codes...everything they needed to destroy Humanity and build the world anew. If one looked at it morally, every human that was absorbed was saved from itself. Every human that was killed was a waste yes, yet hardly a loss to be concerned with. It was, for Alex, that simple. The General could not be allowed to die, he had to be absorbed. Yet Alex felt empty, that would not satisfy his wrath at the man and vengeance needed to be administered, Alex sought something cruel, something of sublime artistic quality and hard justice...the idea sparked in his mind like rock upon flint, a slow absorption, not quick and merciful, slow and prolonged. Alex would eat and drink the man's memories, savour them like the finest tastes of the mortal world. Yes Randell would suffer pain, for Elizabeth's amusement as well as his own, but he would be milked like a cow of his information-each detail poured over in detail at leisure. It was perfect; Alex felt Elizabeth shudder in anticipation and knew that it was good.
Now to the task at hand, Alex ran fast-summoning a massive burst of speed combined with increased mass, security doors crumpling tearing like dry, brittle paper. Nothing could stop Alex, no door or weapon, the new god of Earth was marching to deal out his judgement and eventually death. Mildly surprised, Alex saw that the General had actually opened the doors even though Alex could get in with ease anyway. Alex also sincerely hoped this was not some sadly misguided act towards wanting mercy. Alex Mercer had none for this man. However his senses were on high alert, there was something very wrong with the General's heart beat and shape. It was...all wrong. Alex warily entered the room, saw a withered and shrunken corpse of a Super Solider abomination...lots of shrunken corpses. They littered the floor, but had not yet started to decay, their faces were still warped and edged with obvious agony. From the darkest shadow in the room the General's voice came forward like wind that fans the flames.
"You see Alex Mercer...I needed the Virus in their bodies. I knew you would come...had to become more than a man, more than you, more than anything!"
It was a scream of hatred that did nothing to hide the General's insanity, yet when the ragged breath and hoarse voice grew nearer, when the General stepped from the shadows, Alex Mercer had to admit for the first time since the Virus, he was shocked.
What he saw was an affront to Nature itself. The General had mixed his cells with watered down Blacklight Virus, they had become unstable and had evidently started to decay in parts, the flesh unable to stretch to compensate for the new bulk in the General's form. His fingers had elongated into gruesome bone claws that had evidently ripped through the skin upon the Colonel's hands, flies had began gathering where his fingers had been. He was an unspeakably ugly and rotting mess. Far less than human, far less than virus, a pulsing patchwork of oozing wounds and virus tendrils that held the seemingly fragile body together. Alex wasn't fooled; this Virus was merging itself with the General's bone structure, making him far harder to kill. Maybe a challenge, to Alex it was true completion. Matter and Anti Matter, Blacklight Virus and the imitation and like all things, the two strains would fight for supremacy. If Randell won, his strain would seek out Alex's and destroy or replace it, as Alex had done to humanity before him. Alex laughed; he had not fought for the World, to lose it to this degenerate upstart.
They had nothing to say to each other, Alex had wanted to kill this man since the very start of his journey, when he was "young" before he had feasted upon the humanity. Not purely on...well Alex sneered, human morality but for a far deeper and purer reason. It was hate. The hatred for someone who had tried always to undermine and undo all Alex had fought for. Now at long last the meddling fool would pay the price. No merciful absorption or death for him, only the long despair of tortured agony.
Alex ran at the General, the Blade being his most treasured combat form emerged and made the sound of hunger in the air as Alex swung it at the General-the diseased cancer which begged to be cut. Randell's body in turn performed a curious manoeuvre in counter, at the exact point where Alex struck the Virus oozed against him, gathered and hardened as his own blade form simply struck ineffectively with a dull thud upon the point which should have been a gaping wound. General Randell laughed, raising his hands as long barbed tendrils shot out at Alex's head, threatening to skewer him, yet Alex reacted fast as the tendril shot against his shield, both breaking and then reforming back to their respective bodies. Alex realised The General had very little control over this Virus, that it was undeveloped and only defending him because it was the Virus's host. Alex spawned Claws, a weaker yet very indulgent weapon and leapt upon Randell with a snarl, slashing in a mad bloodlust, tearing and ripping, trying to hurt him and managing at times. Any human would have been mince meat, yet Randell struggled and formed a hammered fist, slamming it against Alex as the latter flew against the wall, looking at Randell now caused Alex to smirk, the General was still human enough to bleed, the claws had found their mark. Alex however was relatively unfazed, his biomass softened the impact and it was good to be so perfect. Alex was the superior strain. Sudden rage began to boil through Alex as he tired of the contest, spiralling and drill like matter lurched suddenly from his form, slamming into the General with more force than Alex previously thought possible, it would have levelled a streets worth of adversaries. Unfortunately Randell bore the full brunt of this onslaught, it slammed into him and forced him through several walls-then exited through his back-the General's protection could not withstand such a concentrated assault-usually used, Alex noted with amusement, for levelling buildings. Alex leapt at the General, not to finish him off but to instead preserve the General's life until his usefulness had been expended.
"Elizabeth, my dear General, is going to have such fun with you. I'll take all the reward for giving my love a new playmate."
The General's screams were a fitting testament to the fate of humanity in general, a fate Alex relished with a sadistic grin, as their world and their weapons now sat in his hands. To be destroyed or remade upon a whim, Alex thought while grinning with sadism, my whim...