Chapter 9

I own nothing

Heller's P.O.V

I felt like crap as I stood bent over panting. I had somehow run 2 blocks in under a minute, survived a 4 story fall, and healed from being burned by flames for 30 seconds. And I was confused. Just before I had been forced to run, I had seen two people in the control room that were dressed oddly. One was a woman that was about 4 feet tall, with black robes and some sort of sword in a sheath on her hip. The other a boy about my height and with orange hair, wearing the same robes, but his sword was as tall as he was and almost looked like a cleaver knife wrapped from point to hilt in a white bandage as it hung from his back sideways like a single strap backpack. They had looked at me and me them but no one else seemed to react to them like I was the only one that could see them. I didn't have time to consider if I was going crazy, when a body suddenly came flying down one of the alleys and knocked me over.

I quickly pushed it off and saw it was a Blackwatch solider but he seemed to be in pain as he held his legs at an odd angle.

"Well, well, well who do we have here?"

I felt hatred hotter than the flames of hell as I turned back to where that voice had come from. And walking out of the shadows, the one who had done this to me and killed my family, was the infamous Alex Mercer. He had both his arms in some sort of claw form. The arms were red and black and merged smoothly with his leather jacket, but as you got to the hands, there were claws where each finger should have been, each thin and slightly serrated, while extending razor sharp about a foot beyond the hand. His eyes looked at me coldly as he watched beneath the hood of his gray hoodie.

"Hello Heller."

I yelled back at him in fury and fear.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME?"

He simply walked over while shifting his arms back to normal and kneeled down while keeping his hood up.

"I gave you the mercer virus. That's what their calling it aren't they? The same virus 2 years in a row. And the same Black Watch here to save New York. Wake up Heller. This isn't a coincidence. This is a Blackwatch bio-weapon experiment. Designed by Genteck, Released by Black Watch, blamed on me. And I'm here to open your eyes."

He shifted his hands back to claws as he grabbed and easily lifted the black watch solider. He stood up and Heller followed him as he looked at the man in his "Creators" claws.

"James Heller, meet Black Watch lieutenant Mark Simion."

He looked at him as Mercer gently took his arm and seemed to agitate something in him. He looked at the lieutenant and felt something taking over as his arm turned into tendrils the pulsed red and black as his arm reached forward.

Mercer grinned slightly as Heller reached forward.

"Yes. Let it come to you. Let the truth sink in."

The lieutenant looked down as Heller's hand slide into his chest and screamed in pain and terror as his body was broken down and absorbed and Heller was pulled into something he couldn't explain.

He seemed to be looking through someone else's eyes as he watched a scientist say "Mercers interference with the New York detonation was bad enough. He can't remain at large."

He seemed to respond as he heard Simions voice say "what? You afraid he might fuck things up even more?"

The scientist seemed agitated by this response.

"I was on the Genteck team that developed the virus Simon. In 1964. I will not see my life's work ruined!"

Then he was pulled out of whatever had just happened.

Heller fell to the ground on his knees as he felt over whelmed and put a hand to his head.

"What the hell was that?" he asked mercer as he removed the hand from his head.

Mercer answered in a patient tone.

"Every living thing you consume makes you stronger. You take their form and you take their memories."

As he explained Heller saw a band of red light run up his arm then fade when it reached his fingertips. He did feel stronger. Like he had just had a big meal.

He stood up.

"I've heard you talking. And I've seen your weird virus shit. But I haven't seen nothing that will me believe you over them." He said as he gestured over his shoulder back toward the Blackwatch base.

"No? They cut you Heller. They put you in a cage with over 50 starving infected. Then they tried to burn you…alive. I didn't release the virus. And I didn't kill your wife and kid."

He put a comforting hand on Heller's shoulder as he looked down. He didn't want to believe Mercer, but what he said made sense in a lot of ways. But he wasn't going to go along on just his word alone. He would have to find more information before he made judgment.

He looked up at mercer as he said "So what do you want? You want to fight them?"

Mercer seemed a little pleased as he began walking around.

"I want to destroy them. Blackwatch, Genteck, the virus. And I want your help."

He stopped and turned to Heller.

"But there's something you need to do first. Genteck's has been experimenting with the virus, making all kinds of infected creatures. You need that DNA. When you're ready, I'll find you."

He walked away before he stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"And for god's sake, man, put some fucking clothes on."

Heller looked down at himself. Since he had been operated on before being thrown in the cage, his chest was a mass of white cloth and blood. He felt something shift inside him as he imagined himself dressed and shrugged his shoulders as he was clothed. He was in a black leather jacket with a red cross on the back and a high color with red on the inside of it. It was also had a red flame outline design along the sleeves with black fingerless gloves on both hands. He looked up and saw mercer was gone, swallowed by the shadows. But something was still watching him. It was like an itch he couldn't scratch. And as he looked higher he saw what it was.

General P.O.V

Ichigo and Rukia watched the entire conversation as mercer appeared and explained himself to Heller. And they both knew without looking at each other that something didn't add up. But they weren't sure what that something was. They looked at each other as mercer left and had one of their one look conversations. They had to report this to soul society at once. And as they looked back down they saw Heller looking right at them with narrowed eyes. He quickly crouched and jumped up, landing in a crouch before them. He stood and looked over them with calculating eyes. When he was done taking in their appearance he asked 2 questions.

"Who are you? And what do you want?"

They looked at each other again before Ichigo stepped forward with his hand out stretched.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. The woman behind me is Rukia Kuchiki. We don't want to fight. We're here to help."

Heller looked at the hand and then back at him. Heller didn't know what to make of this one. He looked to be about 17 but his stance was one that he had seen in marines before he had gotten infected. Relaxed yet ready to move at the slightest hint of danger. And his eyes were much older and more knowing than anybody else he had ever met. He slowly reached out and shook the kid's hand.

"Sergeant James Heller. As I'm sure you know, I'm not human."

"Well neither are we. Not entirely."

Heller tensed at that sentence as he turned to look at the woman who had spoken. She was beautiful but it was a dangerous beauty. Like the beauty of a blizzard as it slowly froze you from the inside out. And she seemed to be just as experienced as the kid before him, if not more.

"What does that mean? If you not human then what are you?"

She seemed to find the question amusing as she looked at him with a slight grin on his lips.

"We're Shinigami. And as Ichigo said, we're here to help"