A/N: My OC will have gained the memories of a rapist and will briefly mention it. He won't go into extreme detail. It's the first person he consumes, and no, the Italics part isn't the memories of his rape victims, it's a conversation between him and his old army buddy. There are six paragraphs afterwards that describe said army buddy, and then the paragraph after that is when the MC will mention the consumed's nature. I'm not looking to get graphic about this so I won't be detailing any of the memories where these despicable acts have taken place.

Just wanted to prepare any who would be triggered by such things.

Please, enjoy

Less then an hour after the accident, Mercer and I moved further into the city. My plan hinged on having witnesses, so we needed to go to a more populated area. Downtown Toronto by the Art Gallery seemed as good a place as any.

I came running out of the alley wearing Estacado's face. I emulated bruises, a black eye, and a fat lip while running towards the art gallery. From out of the alley behind me came Mercer in a stolen vehicle. It was an unmarked van that he used to race up behind me, using it to bump me to the ground, but not run me over.

Mercer, in a disguise of his own, hops out of the van and marches over to me. As I'm trying to get up, I'm yelling in Italian, and Mercer is speaking in Russian. I've yet to consume a Russian so I only understand two or three of the words he says, as he rolls me over and proceeds to punch me a few times. I poke him in the eye, which makes him stumble back and when I turn to run he grabs me by my coat, pulls me towards him and places his one hand on the back of my head, and the other under my chin. I beg for mercy before he snaps my neck, and I let myself fall to the ground. Mercer whispers under his breath to me that this better work before hopping into the van and driving off.

What's the plan here?

Patience, you'll see.

Playing dead was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Given the fact that I don't need to breathe or blink, staying perfectly still while in absolute control of every cell of your body is child's play. Even better was the fact that I have no use for organs anymore, so having no pulse was possible all while staying conscious. Even if they flashed a light in my eyes I could prevent my pupils from dilating. Not to mention if somebody tried to resurrect me with a defibrillator, I my chest wouldn't open up to eat the appendages attached to the paddles.

I'm not sure I quite follow your meaning.

Eh, your pretty young, so maybe you've never seen the movie. John Carpenter's The Thing?

Can't say I have, though it sounds familiar.

80's movie. Basically it's about a research team in the Arctic that comes across an alien species disguised as a dog. The way it moves through the base is the same as me. It can consume people and replicate their DNA making near perfect copies, though it's more like a wild animal in it's attempt to spread, and it can separate itself to make more entities disguised as the people in the base. There are various other differences but I'll leave that unspoiled. I suggest you watch it. Maybe you'll get some ideas on how to deal with some of the things you are researching here, maybe even get some intuition on how to deal with creatures like me.

I'll do that.

Good. Anyway, crime scenes take a long time to process. The more evidence that's left, the longer it takes. Thankfully, all that we left was my 'dead body', tire tracks from burning out of the alley and away from the scene, and a wallet belonging to the Russian Mercer was disguised as. We did this not to get the police involved, but to let the Italian's believe they are coming under attack, and that the Russians are trying to make big moves. This will spark a war between them, and cause them problems they won't be able to handle.

Hopefully, this will prevent any of them from taking action if my family is found. Georgie, being one of Sal's most trusted, will have 'escaped' the Russians after being separated from Sal and Charlie, with Charlie remaining missing. Later on, as Georgie, I'll go through every Giovanni member I can find to see if any of them know who Sal hired to hunt my loved ones. He never let's outside contractors work without a babysitter, whether they knew it or not. That was my only hope of finding out who it was and silencing them permanently.

In the late afternoon, my body is being brought into the morgue, thankfully I was smart enough to pose naked, so that they didn't try to remove my "clothing". Though I think it would be funny to see how confused they've be when they couldn't, I'd rather avoid killing people just doing their job if at all possible. I unfortunately promised Mercer that if Sal's younger brother, Anthony Estacado, doesn't show up to deny the autopsy before it starts, that I would consume the Mortician and perform her duties until Sal's brother showed up to claim his body.

Luckily, the Estacado's are nothing if not punctual.

"Where's my brother!" By now, the Mortician had closed my eyes, and was about to cut in to me before the interruption. I was relieved, but also annoyed because now I couldn't look at what was going on without giving away my nature.

"The Autopsy hasn't been performed yet, Mr. Estacado. I would be more then happy to release his body after we are done here." A one Dr. White was a Black-Canadian woman in her mid 30's. She had a very matter of fact way of speaking and didn't seem to take bullshit from most, if her tone was anything to go by. It sort of reminded me of my mother's tone when she was about to put somebody in their place.

"What do yous need to cut him open like a stuff pigged for, ah?! His neck was fucking snapped! It's all over the news, and all of Downtown Toronto saw it!" I could hear the Mortician sigh in frustration and begin to argue when suddenly I heard another woman's voice.

"It's alright, Dr. White. Witnesses have given their testimony that a man yelling Russian was the one who killed Sal, and the wallet found in the alley belonged to a member of The Maggia."

"Chief Palmer, we might still be able to determine how Salvatore Estacado was taken from his car before the accident. Not to mention that information hasn't been released to-"

"Yes, slip of the tongue. Please, prepare Salvatore Estacado to be transferred into the custody of his grieving family. There will be nothing useful gleaned from this autopsy after all." I could feel the tension in the room. So thick it was like molasses in January.

"Whatever you say, Chief." I could hear Dr. White's frustration as she agreed. She didn't have a choice. Clearly, judging by her blase attitude, the Chief was likely on the Giovanni's payroll.

Shortly afterwards Estacado and the Chief left the room, leaving Dr. White alone. Even though she was ordered to leave me be, the embalming would still need to be done before Tony can take "Sal's" body.

"I am so fucking tired of this..." I hear some shuffling as implements are wheeled towards me. Some more shuffling is done before a sigh escapes her lips, and then complete silence... until...

"O Allah, I seek Your counsel through Your knowledge and I seek Your assistance through Your might and I ask You for Your immense favour, for verily You alone decree our fate while I do not, and You know while I do not, and..." I opened my eyes and saw hers were closed. I already knew she had brown eyes from before she closed my, and sitting on her nose were round glasses with silver frames. She had a nose stud in her left nostril, and a few earrings in her ears. She had curly black hair that barely reached her shoulders, and the hair on the left side of her head was tightly braided. She had her head bowed, and her hands were in position for Muslim prayer.

"...You alone possess all knowledge of the Unseen." I had heard this prayer before, and decided to finish it for her. Probably wasn't the best idea, but I couldn't risk her getting infected, or taking samples just to spite Palmer and Estacado.

She gave a surprised yelp and hilariously, didn't back up, but grabbed a scalpel and rammed it into my eye. I liked her. She plunged it deep enough that if I was a regular man, I'd be dead.

Not wanting her to scream a second time I quickly placed my hand over her mouth and held her, gentle but firm, as to not let her do anything else that might alert unwanted visitors. She struggled against me, and even grabbed for the scalpel again.

"Can't have that, Dr. White." I leaned away and absorb the scalpel into my being. I may not have been able to consume it, but I could store it in my body for the time being. The look of horror on the poor woman's face made me feel slightly guilty, but I quickly pushed it aside. We didn't have time for that.

"Listen. You can't kill me, and I'm not your enemy. You want this corruption to stop plaguing the city, your department, or whatever the hell it is that's bothering you about it, than let me help you." She was breathing quickly and shallow, her eyes wide in terror. I couldn't blame her, it was probably going to take a minute for her to come around.

"Perhaps I should show you a less threatening face." Luckily, I can have the entirety of my form shift without effecting that which I'm holding. No risk of injury or infection. I transformed back into the first look I manifested after absorbing Georgie, the jacket, pants, boots, and I leave my hair up in a ponytail.

Bewilderment, and fear are still evident in her face, but now there is something more... curiosity. Leave it to a doctor, a mortician of faith no less, to be able to stomach such a thing.

"If you are wondering what happened to Salvatore Estacado... well, let's just say God decided it was his time. I believe Muslims are of the belief that all things come from Allah..." I decide at this moment to release her, test the waters. As I'm removing my hands from her person she doesn't scream, but the terror is still evident by how much of a death grip she has on the appendage used to cover her mouth. She stares at me, confused, frightened, but the fear is fading somewhat. Maybe her faith was stronger than I initially thought.

"...and all things will return to Him. You are... wh-... what are you?" I see that she's still unsure if she should be conversing with me. I had limited knowledge on Islamic characters and beliefs, so I had to be really careful about how I would wing this.

"I... was a man. I died. And I was reborn." She considered my words carefully, looking about ready to faint. I motioned for her to take a seat, which thankfully she did. I could see she was nearly drained from the shock, but she had spunk. Refusing to pass out on the spot.

"Oh Hell, you aren't Jesus are you? My mother would rub it in my face if I met Jesus of all people." That was when her fear was almost completely replaced by annoyed, incredulity. I almost laughed, but maybe the faith route really was my ticket to getting her compliance.

"No, not quite. If anything my state of being is my second coming. Not his."

"Then what? Why are you capable of taking the form of Salvatore Estacado?"

"Because I... punished him for his sins. When I woke up at the Lake, I was given a purpose, to hunt him and those involved in my death, and deliver retribution upon them." White looked displeased with this answer and started to scrutinize me further.

"How does that have anything to do with what I just asked you?"

"Think about it. If I can take their forms, their identities, and their knowledge, then I can use that against them. Though I don't have Sal's knowledge."

"Why not?"

"Because when I was about to take it, we got hit by a city bus. He and his driver Charlie... died. I could salvage their remains for the purposes of infiltration, but not their minds, their memories, their souls." She stopped pacing and took a step back from me. Her eyes never left the position I had been standing in. She was still scared, and unsure if she could trust me.

"This... this is all too much. I must being losing my mind. Driven mad by the corruption all around me." Slowly I walk towards White, and I gently and carefully extend my hand to her, with the palm facing up and leaving it open for her to take on her own.

"I can't explain it myself. Angel, monster, I don't know. All I know is I was given a second chance, and I don't intend on letting these people hurt anybody else. If you are a woman of faith, than believe that I am literally the answer to the prayer you just made. You asked Him for help, because you couldn't see a way through on your own. I don't necessarily believe in Gods anymore, but if I was still a Catholic, then I'd say God likely sent me to help you. Remade me, so that this wickedness can be purged from this city." I knew what I was saying was bordering religious zealotry, asking a follower of Allah to believe in my sermon, but it wasn't only for my benefit. Maybe not fully altruistic, but it would help them greatly if I could get Palmer and those he worked for off the streets, and return this city back to the people.

I heard voices heading our way before she did. It was Anthony and two of his goons. He was telling them to wait by the door. From what Georgie knows about his other Uncle, is that he is more paranoid then Sal, and suffers from Complex PTSD. It was one of the main reasons why Sal was better suited as head of the Giovanni family. Tony never showed any real interest in the role to begin with, but he had no choice now but to take it on. At least until he could find a suitable replacement.

"They're coming back. But not Palmer, she's gone. If you work with me, we can clean this place up in no time." Dr. White looks to the door, and back to me. She repeats this while a look of distress plays across her face and tears well in her eyes. She puts both her hands on her head and looks about ready to give up.

"How do I know I can trust you aren't a Jinn, or a demon or whatever?" She was pleading with me now. Desperation was reflecting back to me in those brown irises, and my heart wrench for her plight.

"You have to take the leap of faith first, Yasmin. The trust part comes after. I won't disappoint you." The woman's face goes from hopeless desperation, to revelation. I knew I must of said something that triggered an important memory in her mind. She looked back to the door as it was about to open and she rushed forward to meet the uninvited Tony Estacado. As she does, I slip back onto the operating table and take Sal's shape once more, forming the injuries I had created from before.

"Mr. Estacado, I understand you want your brother but I have to embalm him fi-"

"No, I want my brother now. I don't trust you. You're going to try and keep him here. He deserves to be with his family." Tony shoves past Dr. White and marches over to the table. I could hear white begin to speak, probably trying to come up with an explanation for why my real face was standing in the middle of the room, not realizing I had quickly replaced myself on the table. I left my eyes open this time, so I could see a bit of what was going on. Also to unnerve Sal's brother.

I also replaced the scalpel that Yasmin had stabbed me with.

"You bitch! You hate us so much, you decide to mutilate my brother?"

"Mr. Estacado, it isn't lik-" I could hear a gun be drawn and a hammer pulled back. Which was my que to stand up.

"Relax, little brother." I sat up straight, which caused Tony to spin around and point his gun at me.

Before he could react however, I morphed my arm into the tendril limb Mercer used on Georgie, and launched it towards Tony's weapon, enveloping it completely. He manages to pull the trigger as I do so, but my mass has engulfed the weapon to the point where the gunshot is almost completely silenced. Before he can scream, I transform my other arm and do the same, shape shifting into my real face.

I look over to the mortician when something falls over in the room, and notice that White has backed into another table, and had knocked over a coffee mug. There was no time to waste. I needed to consume this fucker before his men come to check out the disturbance. Luckily they were ordered to wait outside and to not let anybody in, and i was banking on their reluctance to disobey their lunatic bosses orders to give me time to fully consume him.

Meeting Yasmin's eyes, she had raised her hand to cover her mouth at this point, I shake my head and give her an apologetic look.

"Look away, Yasmin. And please, don't scream." I don't wait as I start producing tendrils from my body as I have before. The minute they start popping out she turns away, unable to watch. Remarkably, she doesn't scream, and I'm grateful for that small blessing.

I refocus on Tony and watch as my sleek black arms begin to burrow into his skin, his muscle, his organs, and pump him full of the virus. I decide to take a little bit of time to mock him. My anger getting the better of me.

"Your family is blight on the Earth Tony. You defend despicable cunts that put their hands on women and kill those that get in their way, all for a profit. The people are sick of your kind. I'm sick of your kind. Your family tried to put me down, and I got right back up again..." I turned into Charlie at this point. "...and I started..." I then turned into Sal. "...consuming every..." then I turned into Georgie. "...last one..." then back into myself. "...of you."

His face was similar to Georgie's. Absolute terror. Nightmares were playing out in front of him and his already unhealthy mind was not capable of withstanding the pressure being put on it at this moment. The minute I finished my sentence I dragged his form into my body and put on his face. His life flashed before my eyes, but I did not care to focus to heavily on anything, save for a conversation he had a day ago with a one Mr. Goodkat.

"Who is he?" The man speaking was wearing a suite with no tie, and a pair of sunglasses. He was Caucasian, with short light brown hair, and a mustache. He was around the same height as Tony, who stood only an inch shorter than Sal.

"That's the thing. We don't know. As far as we can tell, wrong guy, wrong place."

"You say he put two of your best in the hospital?"

"No, they were Sal's boys. Mine wouldn't go down that easy."

"Right. You've told me before that you put them through the same shit we went through."

"Yeah, well, need our guys to be the toughest around. Besides, most people in my line of work don't even know how to hold a gun properly, let alone maintain it."

"Right. If I remember correctly, Bruno is no slouch."

"No, he's Sally's toughest and biggest, but he's kind of dumb and quick to anger. He got ambushed with a barstool. Now he's in a coma. Tony, the other Tony, was beaten so bad that he'll never walk again, and his arms and back are beyond fucked."

"Ruthless. I like him. You sure you don't want me to neutralize him?"

"Sal has already let his little freak off his leash to go grab the punk."

"Freak? You mean Georgie right? Isn't he Cynthia's kid?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Just, surprised. You Mobster types tend to take family very seriously, despite any shortcomings and deformities."

"This is beyond deformity, Nate. He's an abomination, and God forgive me he should have been aborted."

"Ah, that bad eh."

"I'm telling ya, brother. We are monsters, sure, but that kid is a fucking demon."

I absorb the rest of his memories and come back to the room, now as Sgt. Anthony Estacado. Dishonourably discharged for beating a Warrant Officer that he didn't see eye to eye with so badly that he was delegated to desk duty for the rest of his career. Where as Tony got the boot.

If you care at all, Doc, Tony has a short fuse, and he definitely should have handled that situation differently, but that Warrant Officer was a useless tit that relied on his daddy the Congressmen to bail him out of every fuck up. If anything, it was a win win getting them both off the battlefield.

Anyway, Lt. Nathan Barnes, a brother in arms from the States that he made when they Canadian and American forces were on a joint operation together, and they got surrounded by their enemy. They both lost most of their teams that day, basically being solely responsible for the survival of what remained of each side. They were ruthless, and though they didn't always see eye to eye, they valued their brotherhood more than most of their other relationships, or at least that's what Tony believed. He actually felt a stronger kinship to Nate than he did his own brother.

Anyway, shortly after Tony was dishonourably discharged, Barnes was promoted to Lieutenant and recruited into a some black ops group. He never told Tony what they were called, but almost everything about them was redacted, and nobody in the public really knew they existed. Because of his new training and contacts, Barnes would some times be hired by the Estacado's to gather information or take out targets that were beyond their own pay grade. Normally high profile assassins or the like that worked for the Russians or the Triads.

Watching Barnes however, he was recognizing that Tony's mental state was deteriorating, and that he was only accepting jobs from his old army buddy out of a sense of brotherhood, not because he actually wanted to. He did seem to take an interest in me however, and I didn't trust that he would leave my family alone like he promised. Tony knows him to be almost as monstrous as Georgie. I think his military idealization of brother's in arms has blinded him to the fact that Lt. Nathan Barnes is just a different kind of monster, but on par if not worse than Georgie. With Georgie's knowledge, I could see it in his eyes, and the way he looked at the people passing by in the park they met in. He viewed them like cattle.

Tony, on the other hand, had a different kind of disgusting appetite. I felt unclean, like my skin wanted to crawl off of me, and quite frankly I could probably do that. For the first time I had consumed a rapist. Well, actaully I've only consumed the memories of one person by that point, but Sal and Charlie, judging from both Tony and Georgie's memories, weren't the types to apparently do such things. Georgie himself didn't care much for sex, getting his pleasure from dismembering his victims.

God, the looks on their faces, the screaming, the crying... I shove those memories aside. I hated that I had them now. Mercer's words ring through my head and I hoped to anybody that would listen in that moment that my maker wasn't exaggerating when he said that I never needed to sleep. If that was the case, then I'd live the rest of my immortal life in an unblinking vigil.

I shake my head of the memories, seconds have passed, and I Yasmin has gone to ground, on all fours. I thought she had taken up the fetal position, but I could hear her praying in Arabic. I could also hear Tony's men discussing entering the room. I holster his gun and speak to Dr. White.

"Dr. White, you need to get off the ground." She froze as she sat up to continue her prayer, her hands were raised up similarly to how they were when she was praying over me.

"You said to take a leap of faith... I think I made a terrible mistake." I knew that we had almost not time. She was definitely crying now. Her knees, she was kneeling in the coffee that spilled from the broken mug. I had no idea if she was kneeling on any of the shards.

"Yasmin, I swear I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not going to go just eating people on the street. The Giovanni have made an enemy out of me, and they are targeting my family. That all started before I became whatever I am now."

"And what are you now? Huh? Something less than human, or something more?" The question that haunted Mercer spilled from her lips and for the first time since I had my powers it became clear to me that I would never be able to live with humans that knew I could do what I could. Not good ones anyway.

Dr. White, clearly had a moral compass. One that caused frustration when the Chief of Police was dirty, one that gave her pause in working with a monster like me after witnessing only partially what I was capable of. Maybe if I saved a baby from a house fire or saved people from natural disasters she'd feel differently, but maybe not.

"I don't know. I've only been like this for a day. I need time to figure it out. Please. My family is in danger. A man without a heart has his sights set on them, and has a burgeoning interest in me personally. I need to get to him. I will get to him. With or without your help."

"Then why do you care about my assistance so much. Why don't you just tear through everybody."

"Because I'm not a sociopath, and definitely not the type to hand wave "collateral Damage" like it isn't a big deal that people who have nothing to do with this will have their lives destroyed for being nearby when I cut loose. I want to do this smart, and I've fucked up a couple times so far, and I've been lucky that none of those times have resulted in innocent lives being lost. Please. All my power, and I can't do this alone."

A silence fell over us. Yasmin dropped her hands, and I was anxiously listening to the men outside. Luckily, one of Yasmin's mortuary technician's had come back from a coffee run, and was trying to get in. Tony's boys were body blocking the guy, asking him questions to try and distract him, but I didn't think he was ignorant to who they worked for. He clearly wanted to get through as soon as possible.

"What am I supposed to do?" I thought at first she was asking me, but I turned and saw that she was looking skyward. The woman was begging her god for answers, and my non-believing nature told me that she'd never get an answer. But I had to convince her that she was.

"Yasmin. In Christianity, a common thing they say is that God made us in his image. Seeing as how God is all powerful, it would make sense that he could change his face, and walk the Earth as anybody. Hell, Jesus and The Holy Ghost are considered as different entities but still pieces of him. Maybe I'm a piece. All things come from Allah right?" I technician now is trying to actively get through, and is about to cause a scene if he doesn't. I needed Yasmin to play ball.

"And all will return to Him. You will face His judgment one day, it is not for me to decide if you are an abomination, or an angel sent to reap retribution." The woman then stands up and takes a few deep breaths. "Or maybe you are just a man with abnormal abilities and it is completely unrelated. I don't know."

"Questions for later. I have a plan. If the boys ask where Sal is, we tell them that the body was taken by the Russians. I know you have a service elevator in the back-"

"No. The Giovanni already have enough of a reason to go after the Russians with the stunt you've pulled. You need to set this right immediately."

"How would you suggest I do that." The woman turns to me and marches up to my face.

"You are the boss now. The head of the Giovanni. You need to call off any call to action."

"Are you insane?! They'll never believe the war vet, Anthony Estacado, wouldn't be going to war with the Russians over his brother's murder. I was hoping they'd pick each other off and reduce the numbers-"

"You clearly don't know very much about gang warfare. These guys may act like they are above the street criminals and thugs, but they will get as sloppy and bold about their murders as any other angry jack ass with a gun. People are going to get hurt because of this. You need to be there, at every turn, to end the fighting. If you expose yourself, then so be it." I was beside myself. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Really, I shouldn't have been surprised, I was the one who said she had a strong sense of morals. Of course she would care more about protecting the people than keeping a low profile. Especially since she had no idea about the reality of how what I am and who would come looking if I exposed myself to the public.

"I can't expose myself, but Tony is a soldier, so being there for every fire fight shouldn't be too hard." And on top of that I knew I could have Mercer accompanying the Russians.

"Whatever it takes, or I'll call in the army." Not ideal.

"Fine."

"What's your name. Or should I just call you Legion." I questioned her choice, but knew that despite the disparities, that it kind of fit.

Mark 5. Jesus meets a man, Matthew, who was possessed by demons. When Jesus asks for their name, they respond...

"We are Legion for we are many. Not quite accurate to what I am. The people I consume aren't alive and I'm not possessed. Whatever." I walked over to her desk and wrote down the cell numbers of all the men I've consumed. I had all four cells stored in my body, along with four sets of keys and four wallets. They were dead now, and seeing as how I don't want my personal 'Derek' information to be tracked, I'll just use their money.

"What's this?"

"To stay in contact. Text one of these numbers so I have yours." She agreed just as her Technician finally burst through the door.

We play our roles. She acts disgusted with me, and I ordered the boys to pack up and move out. They tried to ask me about Sal's body but I told them to shut up, and acted like 'Tony' was about to have an episode, which shut them up immediately, and we all left.

The game was on. There were hiccups sure, but I got what I wanted. Nathan Barnes is my next target. I just had to make sure a full blown gang war doesn't spill into the streets of Toronto.

How was I going to prevent that exactly?