Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Prototype.

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I'm dead.

It was the first thought that entered his mind. The dark cave walls greeted him as he opened his eyes, clearly he wasn't dead. The last thing he remembered was using the hydraulic jack and then… In one swift move he stood up, frantically checking his surroundings and inspecting his arm. That black substance was nowhere in sight and he seemed alright. Was it just a dream?

No, he knew it had happened. This vivid memory he had couldn't have been a dream. But where is that thing? He didn't know, at least he seemed fine. Physically he didn't feel any pain or discomfort which was strange since he had worked in the mine. His work always left him exhausted afterwards. But there was a fog clouding his mind, and making it hard for him to think without concentrating.

"I'm Mark, and I work as a miner." He said to himself. "Well, at least I don't have any brain damage."

Mark knew he hadn't been unconscious for long, regulations stated no one was allowed to work alone for more than a couple of hours. Everyone else was almost certainly up in the station, and he began to move through the mine. Dodging large rocks as he moved through the narrow passageways, eventually he reached the mine entrance.

A couple of guards greeted him outside the entrance, but he paid them no mind. Mark probably should have alerted Dr. Lycan and Dr. Kurt about these events, but the only thought on his mind was to find a bed and sleep. Moving on autopilot, Mark soon found himself inside his own quarters and dropped down on the bed.

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The security door slid open with a hiss. A large figure in military green stepped into the laboratory, where a single scientist stood over an examination table. On the table, something was still alive. As the large figure approached, the scientist did not turn around. Only two other people in the entire world had access to his hidden compound, and he knew who had come to see him.

"Welcome, Colonel Weer." The scientist said.

The figure covered in green took a step closer. His face betraying no emotions, he was the right hand-man of General Peter Randall.

"Have you completed your research?"

The scientist turned with a sharp, hooked instrument in his hands. The man on the table behind him shuddered, and then grew still.

"Not by a long shot. The first stage of my experiment is under way, it should be finished soon."

"What have you learned so far?" Weer asked.

"As you know, this is the second subject we've found." The scientist scratched his chin. "He like the one before is infected by the Blacklight virus."

"He's one of the evolved, I know."

"Yes but you're only half right." The scientist replied. "The subject possesses many of the same characteristics as the evolved, but this subject doesn't have access to its abilities."

"Why not?"

"From what I've been able to gather, Mercer didn't infect him with the intension of creating a loyal soldier." The scientist took a deep breath. "My experiment shows that the virus is trying to change itself."

"And what does that mean exactly?" Weer asked.

"We know the virus enters, re-purposes and changes the cell, and then replicating previously dormant non-coding segments of DNA." The scientist swallowed hard. "This virus however, seems to be programmed to change the dormant segments into something else. Basically, it's trying to give itself new abilities through trial and error."

The scientist put the instrument down on the table. "My guess is that Mercer will probably try to absorb them once the virus has gotten the desired effect."

Weer stood silent for a moment. "Do you have anything about your findings on record?"

"Pah!" The scientist replied. "You know it's too dangerous, no, everything is safe inside my mind."

Weer smiled. "Good, then you have just one problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Because I'm Mercer." Weer's old and rugged face convulsed, and a slightly larger hooded façade shimmered into place. Without a moment's hesitation, claws crawled from his right arm and he slammed into the scientist.

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He sat up with a start; his vision blurred, like waking up from a bad night's sleep. Only it had not been one night, more like several hundred thousand nights. Memories of a hundred people flooded his mind. All of them familiar except for one, this 'Mark' was a new experience, a miner without any accomplishments to be of value. And yet, his memories were more special than any of the others. Alex shifted through Mark's memories, sorting out and destroying the useless ones and keeping the rest. Apparently the world hadn't ended as he thought, instead life had continued, not on earth but in other places. In fact, there was an entire galaxy full of different life forms.

Alex shifted to his right, putting his feet on the floor. Apparently there were a war going on between two factions, obviously nothing had changed. War still continues, now on a bigger scale than he was used to. What caught his interest was the terms 'Sith' and 'Jedi', warriors using some kind of mystical power which allowed them to perform extraordinary feats. If he wasn't a bioengineered virus capable of ripping a person in two, he would have written it off as characters from a fairytale. But this guy Mark seemed to believe they existed, the company he worked for was employed by one of them after all. Alex was broken out of his thoughts by several loud bangs, someone was at the door. On instinct Alex activated his thermal vision, only his line of sight was not enhanced nor could he see any heat signatures.

"Seems I'm not strong enough, yet." Alex said to himself.

The banging continued faster than before, they were getting impatient. Alex made sure he was still 'Mark' and went over to the control console by the door. The comm. system in his quarter's had not been fixed yet, even thou they broke down several days ago. Apparently fixing a lowly paid miner's comm. system was not high on their list of things needed to be done.

The door opened with a low hiss, revealing two armed guards. The one to the left Alex recognized as 'Jackass one' and 'Jackass two' was on the right, Mark did not have any love for these two. There had not been any real hostility between them but they tried to stay out of each other's way. Alex did know their names, but decided jackass was more fun.

"Where the hell have you been?" Jackass one shouted. "Dr. Vul and Dr. Lycan are furious with you."

"What? Why?" Alex asked.

"Come with us." Jackass two grabbed him by the arm and forced him out of the room and in to the corridor. As he was escorted through the facility, Alex thought about how to proceed. He was a bit 'hungry' after all, but decided it wouldn't hurt to let things play out first. From their current direction of travel, he knew they were probably going to Dr. Lycan's office. Or rather Dr. Vul's office as it was now. They passed three more corridors with grayish durasteel walls and the occasional transparisteel viewport before arriving at their destination. As he was shoved through the door, Alex thought about the many different names he now knew. Durasteel and transparisteel, how many different types of steel do you need?

The office was nicely decorated with several large statues of various species at the sides; across the room was a large desk with Dr. Vul sitting behind it. The desk itself seemed to be made out of wood, a cherry desk if he had to guess, but that seemed unlikely. The desk seemed superfluous since there's little to no paperwork to be seen; only a small datapad was visible. The entire office was dim-lit and his escorts took a position by the entrance, resting their hands on their holsters. They were trying to create a sense of danger; Alex could barely hold back a laugh.

"So Mark, what do you have to say for yourself?" Dr. Vul asked.

"I.. I don't know. Have I done something wrong?" Alex answered.

"You know damn well something's wrong." Dr. Vul leaned slightly forward. "You were supposed to work in the mine and then contact us when you're done."

A moment of silence passed before he continued. "Instead I find you sleeping in your room, the mine almost caved in, and a lot expensive equipment destroyed." He took a deep breath. "And worst of all, my discovery is gone! There's no trace of it."

Your discovery? "I don't know what to say" Alex said. "I was in the mine, working, and then everything went black. Feeling like I had a concussion when I woke up, so I must have gone to my room before crashing on the bed."

"So you don' know what happened to it, at all, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."

"Don't try to bullshit a bullshiter boy; do you think I came into this position from being nice and trusting?" Dr. Vul leaned forward again, now resting his arms on the desk supporting his chin. "You will tell me what you did with it or my boys here will make you talk."

Alex glanced back, the two guards now stood directly behind him grinning menacingly; they apparently had waited for an opportunity like this.

Alex sighed. "Fuck it; I'm done with this charade."

"What?" Dr. Vul frowned.

The blade crawled from his right arm and he slammed into the two unsuspecting guards by twisting his body around, four thuds entered his auditory senses as he came to a full stop. It had been so long since he enjoyed this feeling, and seeing the doctor in front of him falling of his chair with widespread fear across his face, only helped sweeten the feeling.

"Wha…What are you?" Dr. Vul asked as he crawled backwards, coming to a stop when his back hit the wall.

"I'm what your friend Dr. Lycan so cleverly called, 'That lump of biomass.'" Alex said grinning, before shifting his appearance. Letting his usual three-layered clothing appear, the button-up white shirt, the plain grey hoodie and the black leather jacket with red tribal design. He always felt at best when he had Mercer's appearance, his first and favorite personality.

Alex took quickly dodged the desk and now parked himself in front of Dr. Vul.

"Please don't kill me, I can help you!" He swallowed hard. "I know many things, and… and you won't be able to leave this facility without me."

Alex grinned. "Don't worry; I'm sure you'll be very helpful."

Dr. Vul nodded and formed a pained smile, before being stabbed by three claws through the stomach. Vul's expression was the same as everyone else's when Alex absorbed him, that of pain, hate, despair and a bit of confusion. Alex closed his eyes, feeling the rush of new memories enter his mind had been a bit strange in the beginning, but that was a long time ago.

He slowly opened his eyes. "Yes, you've been most helpful."

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Au

General Weer does not exist in the Prototype Universe so don't bother looking him up. And I haven't played Prototype 2, so I will pretend it never took place. Also this story will follow the Kotor storyline to some degree, I haven't decided on how much yet. And another thing, do I need a beta reader?