A/N: I can see that people aren't really getting on board with the whole "Alex can't eat the undead" thing. You can't eat the dead in-game, why would he be able to eat them here? McMullen shot himself and Alex couldn't eat him, because he was dead. I'm following the game's logic with some headcanons of my own. Thank you for reading regardless.
xxxxxxx
"Hey."
The low, gravelly voice from behind made Rahim nearly jump out of his skin, along with Rami's and Omar's sudden expletives as they pulled out their guns. He stumbled over as he reached for the closest weapon - the pistol - and whipped around, shakily pointing it at the owner of the voice, his heart roaring in his ears.
Standing before them was a man. Despite his face being obscured by a black hoodie, the slow crawling on Rahim's neck made him fully aware that the man's gaze was locked on him. It was watching his every move, his every twitch of the muscle, his every breath and every blink. He couldn't help but freeze in place, like a rabbit centimeters from the open jaws of a fox.
Still, he pointed the gun at the man's chest, trying desperately to stop his hand from shivering. He needed to- he needed to say something, but his mouth was too dry to form the words. The man didn't move, his hands in his pockets, yet something about his stiff posture, his stare, the way he didn't even seem to breathe made all of Rahim's body scream danger.
"Who… Who the hell are you!? One of Rais's guys?" he heard Omar yell, brandishing the pistol wildly with his finger on the trigger.
The man cocked his head, as if confused by the question. Finally, the oppressive weight of his eyes left Rahim and snapped to Omar instead, who froze up. Still, Rahim couldn't move - somehow, he knew the three of them were already dead. Omar's hands shook so much that Rahim worried he would drop the gun, but somehow he managed to hold steady.
"Do you…" the man began in the same low voice. He trailed off, seemed to think for a moment, then continued. "Do you have a large bore hypodermic needle, some swabs, a biopsy punch, or a triple sealed container? Any will do."
What.
"What-?" Omar squeaked, echoing Rahim's thoughts. "No! Wait- Answer my question first!"
A soft, inhuman growl reverberated through the air forced him to rip his eyes away from the man. It sounded like a damn Volatile-! Both he and Rami looked around wildly for the source, but soon realized with a seize of his heart that the source was right in front of them. Omar, pinned under the man's gaze, just stared back, not daring to make a sudden move.
"Do you… know someone who would have it, then?" the man asked stiltedly. Despite his confused tone, Rahim could tell that his patience was wearing thin. Whoever - or whatever - this guy was, he didn't seem to even notice the guns pointed at him.
Rami stepped in front of them, pistol raised to the man's head, but the man didn't react. Was it just a brave front? Rami was stiff, so tense that he looked seconds away from springing into action. He dropped the bag hanging from his shoulders to the gravel with a thud, then used his free hand to hold up the other to steady his aim.
"Answer the question," Rami demanded. "Give us your name. Are you one of Rais's men?"
"We aren't afraid to shoot!" Rahim piped up, lying. The man's gaze flicked to him, then to Rami, and let out a quick huff. Was that… a laugh?
"Fine. I'm Alex," the man- Alex relented. Rahim blinked. That name was too normal for a creepy weirdo like that! He even knew an Aleksandra at the Tower! "I don't work for Rais," he continued, saying the name as if it was the first time he heard it. "That good enough?"
The pistol aimed at Alex's head wavered, then lowered. Rahim stole a glance around. Omar lowered his too, though didn't put it away. So, Rahim decided to follow suit, holding it at the ready but not outright threatening the man.
"Do you know where I can get the stuff or not?" Alex asked, leveling a scowl. His hood lifted slightly to reveal the eyes that have been watching the three. Rahim startled at the sheer cold and dead look, and resisted jumping again when they snapped to his movements. Those eyes belonged more on a Volatile than some random guy!
Alex seemed to be waiting for something, shifting about in place - then Rahim remembered that there was a question asked.
"Uh, I don't know," he said, stomping down on the urge to stammer and wilt back. Even as the guy tried to make himself unassuming, all of Rahim's nerves still screamed at him to get the hell out of there. "Maybe Doctor Zere would have something like that?"
The words left his mouth before he even registered what he said. Omar stared at him like he was an idiot while Rami tried to shush him unsuccessfully. And with that, he realized that he was indeed an idiot. Not even Rais's gang knew about Zere as far as he knew, and there he was, just giving out names because he got intimidated. He would've sunk into the ground if Alex's stare wasn't focused on him, keeping him ramrod straight. Did the guy ever blink?
"And where would I find Doctor Zere?" he asked, though it felt more like a demand.
Before he could make another mistake though, Rami came to his rescue. "If you don't work for Rais, then who do you work for? You're clearly not from the Tower, and we've never seen you before."
Alex stood silently, trying to bore holes through Rami's skull with his glare. Maybe they shouldn't be interrogating the man who wasn't bothered by three guns pointed at his face, Rahim thought but didn't voice.
"I was a tourist," he said eventually, shrugging. "Made it from the other side of the city."
"Fine," Rami relented. It didn't sound like he believed Alex, but Rahim didn't either. What kind of tourist could make it all the way through from the epicenter of the infection all the way to the Slums by himself? Without any weapons either, Rahim noted with surprise; Unless he was concealing it, the man didn't even have a pipe on him. "What do you want with those… things you asked for?"
"Could we have this interrogation somewhere else?" Omar cut in out of the blue before Alex could say anything. "We're out in the open. I'm surprised a horde of Biters hasn't shown up yet. At least maybe to the roofs." He gestured towards the trainyard roundhouse, then faced Alex again. "You're good with climbing, right?"
Alex raised an eyebrow, the first truly normal expression Rahim's seen on him since they met. He could understand the feeling - getting interrogated with guns aimed at him, then directed to join them in a secondary location to get interrogated further. That didn't help him relax any, though.
"I can climb," Alex said, sparing a glance at the metal roundhouse. "If I tell you what I'll be doing with the materials, are you going to direct me to this Doctor?"
"That depends on what it is," Rami said in a clipped tone, bending down to heft the bag back over his shoulder. Rahim's eyes widened. Rami must have been seriously freaking out to be that outwardly hostile.
But Alex just shrugged. Hands still in his pockets, he began to walk towards the roundhouse. The guy didn't even walk normally. His shoulders were hunched like he expected to get attacked at any moment, his steps were confident yet quiet, like he was on the prowl for something. Rahim had half a mind to ask him if he was related to a Volatile, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.
The three of them - four now, he corrected - made it to the edge of the roundhouse without incident. The area was clear of Biters, despite it being a perfect place for them. Shaded, damp, lots of places to pop up unexpectedly. The majority of them were probably inside of the roundhouse, since it was pretty easy to stumble on the gravel surrounding the outside. Still, he was grateful that they didn't have to deal with them. There were already thirty people in the Antizin line, he didn't want to be number thirty-one.
There wasn't a direct way up to the roof, but from what he's heard from Jade and Rami, there never usually was. They were runners, experts at parkour - they'd figure something out. From what he could see, there were two ways they could make it up without having to go inside of the building. To the left, there was a stone walling they could climb up, then if all four of them had the right upper-body strength, they could pull themselves up onto the metal sheet that was jutting out. The other way was to climb on top of one of the parked trains, up the metal railing, then take a flying leap onto the roof. Either way was dangerous for a beginner.
"Left or right?" he asked quietly, but both Rami and Omar were already clambering up the stone. It made sense, he supposed. Real runners thought on their feet. They didn't need to ask when they could already work in tandem. They didn't need dead weight.
He was about to follow when a chill ran through his body. Oh. Right. Alex. Those dead eyes were locked on him, and he couldn't help but shudder. The constant glaring, he could deal with. Lots of shell-shocked victims of the outbreak stared into space for minutes to hours on end. One of the kids had it so bad that he would only talk on good days, and even then it would be single words. He was used to getting stared at.
Rahim had only run into a Volatile once before. He thought it safe to say that standing beside Alex felt like the second.
"Do you need help getting up?" he asked hesitantly.
"No," Alex replied, and Rahim let out a muted sigh of relief. "It'll be loud if I get on there. The screamers might come."
Screamers? Oh, Virals. Wait- "How could you climbing up that be so loud it attracts Virals?"
He actually looked somewhat bashful for a moment, an expression almost alien on his face. "I'm pretty heavy," Alex admitted. Rahim gave him a once-over. As creepy and hunched up as he looked, he seemed like an average build under that jumper. Maybe he was secretly jacked. That would explain at least partially how he was able to get through Harran without dying.
"Let's just get off the ground, at least," he said, and lifted himself onto the wall. "You can't be that heavy. And if you are, then we got plenty of weapons! It'll be fine." Why was he reassuring this guy!? But, then again, Alex hasn't actually done anything to them yet. Maybe they were being suspicious for no reason.
And so, Rahim pulled himself to the roof where his friends were waiting and chatting about something in hushed tones. He was about to join them when the metal behind him wrenched with a loud screech. The three of them abruptly dropped what they were doing to rush over to the edge to see a disgruntled Alex on the ground, holding a ripped-off chunk of what used to be the jutting out sheet of metal on the roof. He threw it aside with a clatter like it personally offended him, then started off towards the direction of the entrance of the building. Thankfully, as loud as it was, it was under the volume threshold for Virals to come swarming in.
Now he wanted to ask if Alex was related to a Demolisher too. A Volatile and a Demolisher having a night out - it sounded like the start of a bad joke, but from what he saw, it might as well be a valid theory.
"What the hell was that?" Omar hissed, blinking owlishly at the now vacant spot. "Did you see that? He just- he took off that whole thing!" Rami just nodded, white as a sheet.
"It was already rusting, maybe it just broke off when he got on it?" Rahim tried, though the justification sounded weak even to him. How heavy did someone have to be to do that?
"Maybe? But-" Whatever Omar was going to say was cut off by the creaking of metal behind them. They jumped and turned - Rahim was suddenly glad he was young, because having so many heart attacks in one day probably already shaved off a decade from his life. The man climbed out from an already broken window leading to the roof without saying a word, and stalked over to them like nothing happened. Both Rami and Omar drew their pistols again, but kept them pointed to the ground.
"Hey."
"What was that?" Omar blurted out, gesturing with the gun hand towards the direction where the metal sheet used to be.
Alex's scowl deepened. "I'm heavy."
"What? Bullshit! How fat do you have to be to rip off metal?"
"Not fat, it's-" Alex took a breath, muttering something unintelligible yet distinctly colourful. "Doctor Zere. Where is he?"
"Like we'd say anything before-"
"Tell us what you want with him first, and those materials," Rami interrupted. Omar shot him a look. Business first, questions later. Though, Rahim really did want to know what was going on. Did Alex have something to do with the shadow from earlier? Was that him?
"Fine," Alex said. Then, he explained, each word sounding like it was physically painful to say, like pulling teeth. "I was a… scientist. Virologist. Before the outbreak. I lost my lab and my equipment, and everyone I used to work with." He paused for a moment. "I need at least the basics to take field samples. Depending on what data is collected, a cure could be synthesized."
What.
What!
A scientist! Virologist! A cure!
Rahim's mouth dropped open. "Why didn't you lead with that, then?" he said. So much could have been avoided if that was the first thing Alex said. If it was true, at least. It sounded way too good to be true.
"You had guns pointed at my head," Alex said in a deadpan.
"Hang on, you said you were a tourist first," argued Rami, stepping closer. "Scientist or tourist, which is it?"
"Both. I don't work every damn day of my life."
Well, they couldn't argue with that. Maybe he was just antisocial, and that's what made him creepy. That didn't explain why Rahim's skin crawled every time Alex looked at him, how he made it from the city center to the Slums, or how he managed to snap metal with his hands, but it was a start.
"Are you going to direct me to Zere or not? I told you what you wanted to know," Alex snapped, and the three of them flinched at his tone. They exchanged looks between each other, considering what to say next.
"Prove that you're a scientist," Rami demanded.
Alex shot them an exasperated look. "How? I don't carry a doctorate around with me." He muttered something under his breath again, then gestured towards the Tower and the Gym that stuck out above the motorway. "Look. You're from there, right? That's the Tower?" They froze, but Alex continued. "Just escort me there if you're so damn scared of what I'll do. You're armed, you can handle it. Three against one."
xxxxxxx
Alex decided that dealing with teenagers wasn't worth the air it took to talk to them.
Blackwatch was simple. He knew what they wanted - him dead - and they knew what he wanted - them dead. The situation got more complicated as time passed, unfortunately, but the base level of wants never changed. It was easy. With the Marines, it was a bit different, since they were just the fall boys. But a bullet through his mass usually came from the hands of an enemy unwilling to talk things out in the first place. He didn't start fights after Randall's death.
Teenagers, on the other tendril, were much different. He had little experience with them. They were on Dana's 'do-not-eat' list, as well as the 'do-not-eat' lists of many of those screaming in his mass. He'd never go out of his way to consume one anyway; there wasn't much practical information to be gained from them, and their smaller bodies would provide less biomass for the trouble it took.
But another issue was just that they were annoying. He never had much patience in the first place, but asking him to play nice and pretend to be human around a group of snotty brats was another thing altogether. He would just have to grit his teeth and bear it, though. At least until they reached Doctor Zere. Then, maybe, he would have some direction to go towards.
It was slow going, the way to the Tower. The one with the bad attitude insisted on sticking to the roofs to get out of reach from the zombies. The slow, ineffective, useless zombies. What good would being on the roof be against the screaming ones? They would just climb right after, and faster too. He couldn't stick to the ground, however, because at least one of the three always had an eye on him, and they would demand him to climb back up.
What Cross would think of him now, if he saw the mighty ZEUS taking orders from a group of teenagers. He never heard the bastard laugh before, but that might be what it would take.
He had to subtly shift his density for each footstep to not fall directly through each building, which didn't help how long it was already taking. Even so, he still largely outpaced them. When they reached some kind of shanty town nearby the towering apartments, they jumped down from the rooftops, now weaving through the alleys. He completely understood why - there was no possible way any of those shitty roofs would be able to hold a human's weight, let alone his.
When they reached the edge of the stone stairs that led up to the Tower, the one with goggles on his head and mud on his shirt suddenly stopped, forcing the rest of them to as well.
"Wait," Goggle-boy said, even though they were already waiting. "I can't just go back in. Not yet."
The rounder one frowned. "Right, your sister…"
"She shouldn't be back for a while, I haven't seen the drop come down yet," said the one with the bad attitude. He shifted to a whisper, and the three of them leaned close together away from Alex, but he could hear everything regardless. He looked away, pretending to ignore the conversation. "Rahim, if you want to stay out of the Tower, we can ditch this guy after we hand him off to Spike."
"Spike'll tell Jade that I'm out," Goggle-boy- or, Rahim whispered back. "And I don't… really feel comfortable having him around everyone else."
"We'll warn the guards about him. They have rifles, they can put him down in a second if he causes trouble." Good luck with that. "Just wait outside, me and Omar will drop him off, then we'll come back and we can do stuff."
Rahim nodded, and the three of them split the huddle. The annoying one took the bag from his shoulder with a huff and shoved it into Rahim's arms, who almost buckled from the sudden weight. The innards of the bag clinked and shuffled around as the kid put it on. There were definitely weapons in there, judging by the metal and plastic sounds, but the only guns were the ones already in their pockets. It made sense, ammunition would be scarce in an apocalypse for the everyday man. He wished it were scarcer in Manhattan. As much as he enjoyed using the toys himself, his biomass didn't appreciate healing the holes and burns all the time.
The remaining two, Omar and the other, approached him. They kept their expressions neutral, but he could hear their racing heart beats and their quickened breaths. It was a good thing that he didn't have a sense of smell, because just seeing them jittery like that caused a spike of hunger in his writhing mass.
"We're taking you to Doctor Zere, follow us," said the unnamed one, taking the Glock out of his pocket, but not aiming it. That children had better gun manners than the spooks and troopers he met on the field was astounding. He could get used to this level of respect.
"What about him?" Alex asked, jabbing a thumb at Rahim, who was leaning against the wall of the stairs.
"He's staying. The trailer isn't that far, it'll only take a couple minutes to get there."
And so they slowly trekked in an arc around the Tower. The streets were almost completely bare of the infected, and they jogged fast enough that any attempts to grab at them failed. He took the time to inspect the Tower as they passed it. The build itself wasn't all that different to any apartment complex in Manhattan, being just as drab and colorless. The brick foundation wasn't even painted over, criticized some of the more particular members of his biomass. Most of the windows were boarded up, and much of the outside was covered in graffiti. Yet, somehow, the most notable part of it were the billowing sheets that read 'PLEASE HELP US!' and 'SURVIVORS INSIDE', something that many of the buildings he passed by shared but never bothered to notice.
They kept jogging until they reached a tall chain link fence by a road, one of the few made of asphalt and with cars in the area. The kid was right, it really was only a couple minutes away from the Tower. Omar put a finger to his lips, then knocked twice on the makeshift metal door stuck in the fence. After a second, it slid open with a screech to reveal a man in a combat uniform holding an ACR, but again not aiming it. A speck of respect bloomed in him for the survivors of Harran - they at least knew some form of trigger discipline.
"Omar and Rami, isn't it?" the guard said with a familiar accent, ushering them inside and closing the gate behind them. It was a small soccer court inside the fence, probably for little league. And, more importantly, to the right was a large semi-truck occupying close to 70% of the place. Zere's trailer. "And who's this? Some straggler you picked up? The hell are you troublemakers gettin' up to this time?"
"Yeah, you could call him that," Rami said. "This is Alex. He's a scientist from the city center, and he wants to talk to the Doctor."
The guard's eyes almost bugged out of his head as he turned to face Alex. "What? You serious? Jesus, man! How'd you manage that? You must be packin' some serious heat under those layers!"
Alex shrugged, then resisted startling as the man clapped him on the shoulder. He shoved the hand off more roughly than he meant to, causing the guard to hold up his hands in a mock surrender. Luckily for them both, his biomass was still dense enough that a brief touch wasn't enough to make him lose it.
"We're just dropping him off," Omar said behind him. "He's not a bandit, as far as I can tell, but if he causes any trouble…"
"Don't worry about it," the guard replied, lifting up the rifle in an obvious manner. "How's Rahim doin' these days? Haven't heard much from the Tower lately."
"He's fine, just bored."
"Ah, yeah, I get that. All cooped up in there. I don't envy him, that's for sure."
Alex tuned them out. Small talk was never high on his list of interests. As far as he could tell, there wasn't much useful information to glean from the conversation, but he kept a single line of attention on it just in case. Fortunately, it didn't end up taking too long.
"Alright, I don't want to keep you kids any longer, so off you get," the guardsman said, and opened the gate again with a grunt. He waved as the two left, then closed it up after them. "Those lil' shits, they're worse than the ankle-biters up on the 19th. At least those ones don't got a nasty attitude, you get me?"
Alex just blinked. Was he supposed to respond? Evidently not, as the man continued. "Anyway, so you're here for the Doc?"
"Zere? Yes," he replied. Finally, he'd be able to get something done, as soon as this guy would shut up and let him through.
"Yeah, alright. Since those two vetted you, you're probably an okay guy," the guard said. He then studied Alex's face for a moment, squinting. "Hang on a sec, do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar…"
Oh. Of course the guy with the Boston accent would recognize him. "No. I look like a lot of people."
The man stared suspiciously for a few more seconds before shrugging. "Eh. Well, go on in. Zere's in the trailer. He's probably busy with somethin' right about now, since he always is."
With that, Alex strolled towards the back of the truck. The guardsmen he passed gave him odd looks, some glaring and others just trying to get a better look at him under the hood. But, since they overheard his conversation with the gate guard, none tried to stop him as he walked up to the door in the back. It didn't have a handle, so he pushed on it lightly and it gave way.
It was a lab alright. A shitty, tiny lab with almost nothing but the bare essentials. He expected as much - it was in a trailer. At least it was organized. All the papers were filed and stacked neatly, nothing was strewn on the floor, though a pinch of nostalgia struck him as he looked upon the hundreds of sticky notes stuck over all available surfaces. It was missing a blackboard, but he could live without getting his hands dusted with chalk again.
He frowned. Those weren't his thoughts.
There was an old man standing over an open laptop who immediately noticed Alex as he walked in. It would be hard not to, considering the ominous creaking that followed his every step on the trailer.
"Another patient for Antizin? Come, sit, sit," Doctor Zere directed, attempting to usher him into a nearby chair, but stopped as Alex held a hand up.
"No, I don't need… Antizin," he said, causing Zere's face to scrunch up in confusion. Was that what they were calling the vaccine? Did they already have one? He slightly regretted denying the offer - he could have studied the compound.
"Then…? What are you here for? I'm sorry, but I'm terribly busy, if you aren't here for your dose then I need to get back to work," Zere said firmly but gently. To the point. He could respect that.
He wasn't much one for directing a conversation. He could, owing to both the memories in his mass and Dana's yearslong quest to get him to talk to people. But if he wanted anything useful out of this encounter, he had no choice. He let his mind drift and latch onto a personality, bubbling up to the surface and taking over.
He stuck out a hand, and when Zere hesitantly took it, he shook it firmly with both hands. "It's great to meet you, Doctor," Alex said with a lazy grin. He flipped down his hood, revealing a mop of messy dark hair. "Sorry about that! I must not look it at the moment, but I'm a doctor myself. A Virologist and part-time Geneticist, by trade. I'm afraid I left my lab coat at home." He let out a good-natured chuckle.
Doctor Zere's face lit up, washing over the confusion. "Ah! Really?" he said, his voice completely different to when he addressed Alex a moment before. "Forgive me, but is there any way that I could verify your claim?"
"Don't sweat it! I understand completely. I'd have a hard time believing that at face value too," said Alex's persona, running a hand through his false, wiry hair. It squirmed slightly at his touch, but he willed it to tamp down. "Unfortunately, most of my papers weren't published, barring my graduate thesis. My piece on non-coding RNA was what got me hired." He sighed. "Top secret stuff. Military contracting, y'know? But if there's any way you could look it up, I'd be happy to show you."
Zere relaxed as Alex spoke. That's a first, a part of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Dana commented.
"It is okay, I can believe that," Zere said, and glanced at the laptop. "There is no Internet access in Harran ever since the communication jam was put in place. In hindsight, it may have been a bit foolish of me to ask for proof." Alex just smiled. It was good for them both. He didn't need to see that name again. "Regardless, I didn't catch your name, Doctor…?"
"Alex. Just call me Alex."
"Yes, well, Doctor Alex-" His eye twitched minutely. "I still must ask what you came to me for. Is it to work on the cure?"
Thankfully, his iron grip on the simulacrum prevented him from bursting into laughter then and there. The man was working on such a thing in a trailer lab with almost none of the necessities? He might have followed along back when he believed Karen was somehow developing a cure in a god damn house lab without any backing, but it's been years since then.
"A cure, you say?" Alex said, voice filled with interest. "I didn't believe it possible! Could you tell me about it? I may be able to help."
"Yes," he began, pushing some papers aside on the desk and opening files on the laptop. "It is… entirely theoretical, but my colleague and I believe a cure, or at least a vaccine, to be possible." He opened a file full of raw sequencing data that Alex faintly recognized as Rabies. "I will have to introduce you to Doctor Camden if you are genuine in your offer."
Alex considered for a moment. Cross did ask him to collect samples. The plan he was given was vague enough that he could extrapolate almost any meaning from it. If he wasn't going to be able to consume any of the Infected, then he wouldn't be finding the Runner any time soon. Having any kind of direction at this point would be better than nothing, even if it wouldn't result in anything substantial.
"Certainly," he said, and Zere gave a tired, yet hopeful smile. "But, I'm unfortunately out of any usable equipment. You'll have to understand that I wasn't expecting a zombie apocalypse when I came to visit." Alex let out a laugh, and Zere joined in quietly.
"It is of no worry, Doctor Alex-"
"Please. Just Alex, thank you." When Zere recoiled at the sharp tone, Alex amended with, "I haven't practiced in some time. It wouldn't feel right to use the title."
"I understand… Alex," Zere replied carefully. He cleared his throat. "My lab here is somewhat under equipped for the task at hand." Alex resisted saying anything. "But that is what Doctor Camden is for. He is in Sector 0, where the outbreak first occurred, trapped in a bigger lab with all the materials and equipment necessary." He gestured to a box radio resting on top of the refrigerator. "We communicate by radio when the connection allows us to, but it has been slow progress up to this point."
"You've been relaying data by voice?" Alex asked. No wonder the man had a rasp. "Regardless, may I see what you've tried so far? So I can get an idea of what I'll be working with here."
"Of course, of course," Zere said, ignoring the first comment. He beckoned Alex over to look at the screen, and opened up several files. He explained the data and experiments on screen while Alex read, but it wasn't necessary as he parsed through it.
The theoretical virion structure on the screen seemed to be closely related to Rabies. A variant. But Rabies couldn't pilot a corpse, and he doubted it could naturally develop the ability to do so. A manmade variant, then.
The numbers and words passed by near instantaneously, but he could read all of it. There were also several pictures and files of data involving various experiments. There weren't many field experiments conducted, and the data gained from them seemed insubstantial and inconclusive. However, the experiments done on the 'Antizin' drug were… interesting. He needed to see and taste the compound for himself to verify, but it was already drawing a picture of the whole situation for him.
"I see," Alex said after the explanation finished. "Yeah, I can definitely be of use to you here. I haven't worked directly with Rabies before, but I'm familiar with it and its family." He shot the Doctor a grin. "Also, I can do field tests. I might not look it, but I'm quite the Runner. How d'you think I made it here otherwise?"
"I'm not doubting your expertise, Alex," Zere said calmly. He was nearly beaming, held back only by deep wrinkles and the bags under his eyes. "This is excellent! I… welcome aboard, Doc- Mr. Alex!" Zere shook his hands readily. It was only the simulacrum that prevented Alex from ripping his away. "Next time the radio is working, I will introduce you to Doctor Camden, then we can truly begin!"
"Yep!" He nodded, and mimicked holding up a pitcher. "To a long and fruitful partnership!"
He would have to remember this simulacrum well, because it was going to be getting a lot of use in the coming days.
