Damian set the scalpel down on the table beside the Lestradeck's body with a sigh. It was the same Lestradeck that had become affected in the control room earlier that day. After the first captured affected, Jason, had killed himself once he was no longer able to kill others, they had decided to put the alien into a strait jacket, hopeful that it would keep him safe. Unfortunately, he had still managed to commit suicide by swallowing his tongue.

The alien's head was cut open, the bright green brain luminescent in the open. He had found several similarities between this brain and the other brains of the affecteds he had researched, but he still hadn't found a cause for why they had been affected.

He turned when he heard someone enter the room, his eyes briefly glancing over Jason's body in the corner that was covered by a thin sheet. The same medical officer who had led him out of the arena the day before entered the room, his expression haggard. They were in a private medical room where Damian had commandeered complete privacy while he had examined the cadavers and up until this point he hadn't been interrupted.

"There's been another death," the man stated wearily.

"One of the prisoners?" Damian asked hopefully. He would much rather prefer the death of an affected rather than having another innocent victim being killed because of one.

"Don't sound so pleased about it." The medic scoffed in disgust. "But yes, another prisoner."

"How did he die?"

"Asphyxiation."

Damian picked up a sheet and draped it over the body he was working on. He was relieved that there hadn't been another attack. "Go ahead and bring him in."

There was a moment of silence. Damian continued cleaning up his area.

"What's going on?" The medic's tone was accusatory.

Damian glanced up towards the medic and peered at him quizzically.

"Ever since you got here there have been seven deaths and now everything is in lockdown." The medic's eyes were narrowed into slits. "We've never had that many deaths on our ship before, and none of our crew have ever had any inclinations towards wanting to harm another crew member- until you arrived."

"Are you blaming me for these attacks?" Damian stated as he stepped around his workstation.

The medic crossed his arms over his chest. "I might be. Unless you have anything to say for yourself I will deem you to be an enemy to this ship."

Damian approached the medic and stopped directly in front of him. He towered over the short man, knowing that his height was to his advantage. "You have no authority to do anything to me."

The medic stared up at him in determination. "Then I will act of my own accord."

"That would not be advisable." Damian clenched his fingers into fists. "The Captain has complete trust in me. I am in no way responsible for the deaths that have occurred while I have been here."

The medic broke eye contact and looked away, his jaw clenched. "I'll bring in the body then."

Damian exited the medical room after thoroughly examining the last body that was brought into him, finding the exact same similarities as in the other cadaver's brains. He had learned that even though once affected the victim would have no control over their actions, their memories would still be accessible. Meaning that whatever talent they had in regard to combat was accessible. He was worried about what might happen once more affected would break out and attack, as they would have full fighting and shooting capabilities and no reaction to pain.

He decided to do a few rounds throughout the ship to see how the crew were doing in light of recent occurrences. He wasn't needed anywhere else. The captain hadn't messaged him recently, so he figured that she didn't need his help. He was starting to like the captain, which was something that he had not intended to do. The universe was about to end, it wasn't time for him to engage in a romantic relationship as the fate of the universe was held in his hands. And her hands, he mused.

The abandoned hallway felt eery as Damian made his way to the elevator, the solitude a drastic change from the day before when the hallways had been bustling with life. How they were before the attacks.

He exited the lift on one of the higher levels and was pleased to see a few crew members bustling down the hallway going about their duties, their uniforms primarily pink and yellow. He made his way to the first doorway to his right and peeked in at the engineers going about their work. It was the same room that he had first met Jacob, and the memory caused him to feel a twinge of pain as the spot that the muscular engineer had once manned was instead filled by another man. A humanoid with the face of a frog turned to look at him as he peered through the doorway, her wide eyes squinting with distrust towards him. Damian glanced at her in confusion. He wondered if everyone aboard the ship was blaming him for the attacks.

A few other workers also paused to look at him, each one of them showing some form of distrust before hurriedly glancing away. Damian understood their distrust, thinking back to the conversation he had had with the medic. The attacks hadn't happened to them until he had arrived, but they wouldn't know that there had already been affected throughout the universe for at least two days before he had arrived. Naturally they would connect the dots and label him as the culprit who brought on these attacks.

He left the doorway and made his way down the hallway once more, and was surprised to hear a loud commotion breaking out in a large room at the end of the hall. He pressed forwards, extremely curious but was too far away to determine what the noise was as the hallway was extremely long. He heard running coming from behind him and pressed against the wall just in time for two large security guards to race past him, sprinting quickly towards the commotion. Damian felt a lurch in his gut as he realized that there must be another attack going on, so he also began to run after the brown uniformed crew members.

The security guards entered the room long before he did, but as he ran he heard the noise of hand to hand fighting and the unmistakable sound of a laser firing off accompanied by a bloodcurdling scream. He hoped that it was one of the guards incapacitating the affected, as no one besides the guards were allowed to carry firearms while aboard the ship. More screaming came from the room as he heard more blasts going off, cutting of the screaming instantly.

He skidded around the corner to the open doorway where the sounds were emanating from and immediately ducked back into the hallway as a laser shot out towards him. The sight he had seen was utterly horrifying. The brief glance he had caught was enough to inform him that the security guards had not been successful in catching the affected and instead had been blasted to bits- presumably by their own guns.

He leaned back against the wall in order to formulate a plan, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. Already two more security guards were heading his way, but it would be too dangerous for them to engage the affected as he had a weapon of his own, which he had already used. He heard a few more shots going off, undoubtedly killing the rest of the workers who had been trapped in the room. Damian knew that the best option for him to do was to wait; he had no weapon and as soon as he peeked his head around the corner he would be blasted to smithereens.

The two security guards rushed towards him with incredible speed, holding their lasers at the ready. The noise inside of the room began to stop as the shots ceased to fire, the only noise heard was the nearing footsteps. Crew members were crowded around the doorways, their faces full of shock and confusion as they stepped aside for the large brown-uniformed men that streaked past them. Damian knew that they wouldn't be safe mingling in the hallways once the affected left the room and began firing at them, but he hoped fervently that it wouldn't come to that.

Finally the guards arrived and Damian held out his arm to keep them from stepping past him and into the sight of the affected, but they pushed past him and into the doorway. Immediately a red light sped through the air and from his position Damian was able to see the scene unfold in front of him perfectly. The laser hit the first guard in his chest, causing blood to spurt everywhere and leaving a gaping hole. The other guard instantly leapt out of the open to the opposite side of the doorway, his jaw clenched as he watched the body fall to the ground. The guard's blue eyes connected with Damian's as he raised his weapon at the ready. The guard's strong jaw was thrust forwards in determination as they listened to the unmistakable sounds of approaching footsteps.

Suddenly the affected appeared; seemingly just a regular technician besides the bright red stains across his pink uniform and the gun held at the ready in front of him. His back faced Damian, his bald head gleaming yellow. Seeing his chance and without a second to waste Damian lunged forwards to grab the affected from behind, reaching one arm around his neck as he jammed his other hand up to hit the arm that held the laser. A flash of red erupted in front of him before he wrenched the affected's arm in the air and tried to wrestle the weapon from him.

The affected turned to face him, his face eerily familiar and strange as they both grappled for the gun, his expression entirely devoid of emotion. Damian recognized him from the games. It was Zach, the one who had gotten the second best score in the shooting range and who had also participated in Last Man's Standing. No wonder why he had been able to get the security guard's gun and was able to aim so accurately. His black eyes stared directly ahead as the vertical gash for his mouth was slightly opened, his relaxed expression a perplexing combination to his rapid movements fighting get the gun away from Damian.

Damian wrenched his arm downwards between the two of them and tried to wrench the laser away, realizing that it was now pointed towards his own chest. He swiftly brought up his knee to the affected's side when suddenly bright red exploded all around him.

Red mist settled all around him, his eyes blinded by the blood red color, a warm liquid completely drenching his face and chest. He brought his hands to his chest, expecting to feel a wide gaping hole where his heart once was, but instead felt the familiar muscles where they should be, his hands becoming sticky and warm from the liquid splattered across his uniform. He tried blinking away the red but it remained, dripping off of his eyelashes and spread across the once white walls. He looked down and saw the affected lying in a heap, its strange expression completely blown off along with most of the rest of his head.

He quickly glanced around him at all of the gaping spectators who had just witnessed him murder the technician, his eyes resting on the body of the security guard who had hid with him outside of the doorway- his head also mostly decapitated. He looked away from the gruesome sight and rubbed his hands on his sides in order to wipe off the sticky blood that had settled on him. He looked inside of the room to see if there were any survivors, but all to be seen among the consoles were bodies lying on the floor, their blood pooling together into a massive puddle.

He turned away from the open doorway and began heading down the hallway and did his best to ignore the stares he was receiving. He wiped his slimy hair off of his forehead and wrinkled his nose in disgust as he picked out a chunk of flesh from his curls. He dropped it to the ground as he continued down the hallway, rubbing his blood stained face with his equally sticky hands and realizing that he wasn't going to get clean until he took a shower. It wasn't his responsibility to pick up the mess that had been wreaked by the affected, and besides, he had done enough by eliminating the threat. For now.