"You just can't help yourself, can you?"
"What?"
"You come up with a plan, we split up, and you completely change the plan. You're a wild card."
"Is it really a bad thing that I can change direction whenever the wind does? If I hadn't done anything, Dr. White would have been shot."
Mercer and I were talking on a rooftop a couple of blocks away from Tony's pool hall. I was half listening as I was testing Tony's knowledge of Sal's bank accounts and passwords. There was an account that Sal had given Tony access to in case of emergencies, keeping his and his families funds separate, along with a bunch of cash in a vault at his home. I wasn't that interested in the money, but I was going to take whatever I could from these assholes, while leaving the family account Sal had set up for his wife and kids should anything happen to him untouched.
"Maybe you should have let it happen." I groaned as I gathered the phones and wallets and absorbed them back into my body. Mercer was starting to get on my nerves at that point in time. "But you're right."
"Oh?" I was pleasantly surprised to hear that. Not a lot of people are willing to admit such a thing in an argument. At least not with me anyway.
"We are highly adaptable beings, physically. You being able to adapt mentally is good. I didn't know you from before this, so I have no clue if your ability to think on your feet is a new development. Similar to your claim of being more focused, among other things." Mercer made a decent point. And quite frankly, I wasn't sure. I've never been in situations like this.
"I mean, I guess I was a little bit more rigid back in the day, but that really depended on the situation. I would say this is probably more or less a mix of the way I was before and a new development. I mean, I have the skills and experience of two other people now, so being able to apply that to any challenging situations I find myself in is likely the bigger element to this." Though it was true that I did think outside of the box some of the time in my previous life, I did think, and still do, that my adaptability comes quicker with the experience gained from various people I've consumed.
"Interesting. Well, what's your new plan?" He turned away from the city and faced me, his arms crossed and waiting for my update. I shook my head.
"I'm going to tell the boys that an informant told me the Kazan Bratva are going to hit the Warehouse tomorrow night, and that we will act like we don't know, luring them into a trap. Send all their workers home, and keep their fighters. They'll be like little ducks, sitting in a row." Mercer smirked at this.
"So, I'll send the Russians to their warehouse and we'll clean them up as they fight it out." I nod my head.
"Exactly. I don't want to risk them driving all the way across town to get to the warehouse but we have no choice. If we just kill them separately, even if we decide to leave some bodies to be found with bullets in them. There is no way somebody won't think that to be strange."
"So we are going to kill and consume a few, but the rest we'll be shooting in order to leave no evidence of us being there."
"Wow, you do learn quickly." Mercer grunted, not amused by my sarcastic joke. "Jokes aside, yes. The ones we consume, we can leave it up in the air about where they are, and I'm sure the authorities and other rivals will assume they are likely in hiding. That way, we can use their money and faces if we ever need to get anywhere or do anything. Or at least, the ones that aren't on a list. Which likely won't be many of them. Consume some of the low ranking guys that haven't gotten on the radar of the authorities yet and they can be our disguises when we are out of the city."
"You have really thought this through in great detail." Mercer seemed to be impressed with my plan, which gave me a sense of pride and an ego boost. Something I wasn't very used to.
"Thanks. I spent all night thinking about it." Mercer chuckled at my claim and turned around.
"So, we figured out how we were wiping out the Italians and Russians, what are we going to do about Palmer."
"Simple, I'm Tony and Salvatore Estacado. I may not have Sal's memories, but Tony was in on many of the meetings and deals made with Palmer. So, I'll make a video recording of Sal, claiming it to be his dying declaration, describing the kind of corruption she's allowed into her precinct, and what kind of deals and pay offs she's taken with anybody from the Giovanni Family. I'd imagine she is probably playing all sides, or maybe she really has just taken the pay of one criminal group. I'm not sure. Either way, I'll send it to her superiors and to the media before we leave." Mercer whistled as I stepped up next to him and looked over the city. It was night, and the city lights were illuminating the surroundings.
"That's actually perfect. Sal's dead, civilians witnessed it, but you need to prove that Sal knew he was going to die."
"I am. I'm going to make him confess to sending Georgie after me to kill me. A long with other crimes that he committed that Georgie and Tony knew about, involving murders and other such things. As a result, he was worried that people were going to kill him, Kazan, Triad, etc. He was sick too. I'm certain he was coughing up blood, so I'll showcase that in the video. I'm also going to be outing the next shipment of people that they were bringing into the country. I think I'm going to have Georgie say some things to. There are plenty of his victims who's families never knew what happened to them. They deserve closure."
"Are we faking his death as well?" I shook my head at his question.
"No. Faking death without getting too many people involved has been too tricky. We do have Dr. White in our corner for the time being, but I won't ask her to help until I've earned her trust."
"What are you going to get her help with?"
"Faking my death." Mercer gave me an incredulous look. "I will return to the lake, naked, and stay underwater so they can find me after Sal's video reach's authorities. When my body is found, it will be the smoking gun, the silver bullet, that will take down Palmer, and shut down the Giovanni in this city for good. I will organize with Dr. White so that she doesn't have to do an extensive autopsy in front of an audience, and we will take whatever samples are needed from one of the guys we are about to consume so that she has something to wave around and lie about. After that, I'll make sure whoever Palmer's replacement is, keeps their nose clean for awhile before I leave."
Mercer stared at me for a minute, motionless, unblinking, and discerning. He was sizing me up, and I just stared back at him. Resolute in my plan. He nodded as he turned back to the city.
"I've never been able to stay in the water very long." I perked up at this.
"Really? Why?"
"Well, if we look at the outbreak in Manhattan, the Blacklight Virus couldn't cross large bodies of water, so getting off the island and infecting the mainland just wasn't happening. When I tried swimming for the first time, I immediately jumped out of the water. Even heading for it I had the instinct to stay out." This was news to me, and I definitely didn't like it.
"Wait really? Fuck. I wanted to check out the deep ocean."
"Listen, this is important. When we go into the water, our forms become rigid, making it difficult to move and manipulate our cells. Our senses become extremely muted. We may as well be without senses all together. Last but not least, it is... uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable? That's it?"
"It hurts. But it's not like getting slashed, pierced, or blown up, nor does it feel like you're on fire. It's... it's cold. Even when the water isn't that cold, even in may, it was like I was encased in ice. My body instinctively urged me to jettison out at soon as possible." Strange. We were supposed to be highly adaptable, but water seemed to be our only limitation. I wondered however, if I was different.
"Noted." I was a little dejected. My 'drowning' could have helped shut down the Giovanni. I was determined at that moment to get back out to the lake where it's isolated to test if I differed from Mercer in more ways then one.
"Well, I suppose I should go get started. You should get back to Tony's place. If you're gone to long they'll think something is up."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm aware." Alex shook his head at my attitude and turned to leave, but I grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
"I have a question." He looked back at me expectantly. "I saw you manipulate the direction you were moving in the air the other day. I never got to ask how you managed that. I am wracking my brain, but I couldn't really tell what you were doing. We should be too heavy for that." Mercer smiled at me and took a step off the ledge of the roof.
"Okay, seeing as it's dark out, we can risk this little lesson."
"Sweet."
"You're right, we are heavy. However, we can manipulate the density of our bodies, to an extent. This is why we aren't dragging ourselves against he ground. Well, that and our immense adaptable strength. When it comes to our mobility, think of your body like an elastic object that stores mechanical energy, that then is released when the opposing force is removed. When I jump as high as I do, I basically make my legs elastic, and force pressure onto them internally by shifting more mass into, or more accurately, onto my legs. When I'm ready to jump, I release the force and all that stored energy snaps me into the air. Same goes for the manoeuvre you saw me do. I call it air dashing."
"Air Dashing? Really?"
"Well, what would you call it genius?"
"I don't know... aerial... okay fine I've got nothing."
"Yeah that's what I thought." I stuck out my tongue to mock the man and he just rolled his eyes at me. "Alright, for air dashing, think of it like when you take an elastic band, place it around your thumb, pulling it back with your fingers and then letting it go to snap forward. Your front is the thumb, and the back is the band being pulled backwards. Internally, you are shifting your mass in such a way to allow this, and externally you may move you may pull your arms, shoulders, and legs back a bit to allow for maximum resistance. Releasing is just snapping your biomass from the back of your frame to the front. Given how much you are going to be carrying, the force generated will be sufficient enough to launch you forward." I was ecstatic. Elated even. It wasn't quite flying, but it definitely sounded like a lot of fun.
It was then that I realized that I was already doing this subconsciously. When I was running up that wall after the car accident, my legs were springing up, rather then my feet just digging into the wall causing structural damage. I mean there was still some chips in it, but for the most part I could just keep up the momentum without worrying about leaving gaping footprints in the side of buildings. You'd have to get close enough to even see it. Given what Mercer had said about jumping, I knew that I didn't even need to start on street level, meaning I wouldn't even leave small blemishes at human eye level. Needless to say, I was giddy with excitement.
"You know, I'm realizing that I was already doing that while running up the side of the building yesterday." Mercer nodded his head.
"I figured after I explained it to you you'd consciously realize. The first time I jumped over a 15 ft wall I wasn't even aware of how I did it. Too busy running for my life, terrified and unaware of who I was or what happened to me. So, when I had some breathing room, which was rare, I stress tested my abilities, and figured out the logical and efficient ways of performing these acts. Frankly, you running up the wall without leaving size 11 holes the first time doing it is impressive." Mercer's praise gave me another tinge of pride, something left over from my days of needing validation. My days of insecurity. I can't say that I was completely devoid of such things then, or even now, but I definitely had changed in the short time that I was brought back from the dead. I guess dying does that to a person.
That, and getting powers that I was immensely excited about. Too bad that too was short lived.
Without giving me a heads up, Mercer turned towards the opposite end of the building and started running. I realized that we basically ran with a similar principle. Where as before I thought it was just our strength making up for the weight, it was in fact the opposite. We used our weight to our advantage to spring forward, allowing for longer but still quicker strides, resulting in insane speeds.
When Mercer reached the edge of the building he barely indicated that he leaned down to coil his legs and snapped into the air. I saw him briefly pull back and then shoot forward to indicate his air dash ability, which he did multiple times. He went high and far, and when he was coming down, his jacket shifted, and he ended up with something resembling the flaps of a wing suit to glide gently down to the building below him.
He cleared nearly two blocks, and made it look like child's play. I was astonished to say the least, but not so enamoured with the display that I didn't immediately go for broke.
I went full tilt, making it to the edge of the building in no time. I could feel my legs the whole way coiling up and my biomass putting pressure on them, getting ready to send me to space upon release. Space was an obvious exaggeration, but I definitely took off like a rocket when I jumped off that ledge. I was soaring, wind in my face and hair, the sky above me and the city buildings below me. I wasn't flying, but it was the closest thing I had to it.
I noticed that I definitely didn't jump as high as Mercer did, or as far, so I figured that I'd eventually get stronger and faster, regardless of whether or not I'd ever catch up to him. Seeing as how I wasn't going to make it as far as he did without landing and jumping again a few times, I air dashed the gap left between me and the building I needed to land on. Pulling my limbs back, pinching my shoulders together like I was being pulled by ropes, shifting the mass in my body like he said, and then snapped it forward, and the rush was something else. I couldn't contain how awesome I thought it was any longer.
"WOOOHOOOO!" Almost immediately after whooping I felt stupid and slapped my hand over my mouth. I knew Mercer wasn't going to be happy about what I had just done.
I landed on the building losing no momentum as I sprinted forward a few paces before leaping again, air dashing twice this time, and gliding as well. It felt kind of odd having the wings of a wing suit as apart of my flesh, as opposed to an actual suit. The wind brushing my 'wing' skin was a sensation I never thought I'd feel in my life. Yet there I was. Feeling it.
I did this a couple more times and ended up next to Mercer on the roof of a high rise. There was a rooftop patio that he was standing in with his arms crossed. Definitely pissed.
"Seriously?! Do you know what a low profile is?!" He was quietly shouting at me, and I flinched in response.
Mercer scared me. The slap he hit me with on the roof after the car accident was painful. He rearranged my face with a slap. When we faked Sal's death, I felt every blow. It was like a truck was hitting me over and over. I was pretty sure he didn't want to destroy me, but I knew he could do it easily if I didn't keep myself in check.
"Look I'm sorry alright. But you gotta understand, I never thought I'd ever be capable of doing things like this. Anybody that wasn't afraid of heights would love being able to jump and move like we do." I tried to reason with him that my reaction was only natural, but the living Virus was having none of it.
"You don't get it. This isn't fun and games. It's gruesome, bloody, survival. One fuck up and the city is in lock down and Blackwatch is shooting anybody that gets in their way. They'll level the city if they have to." I could see the frustration and concern mixed into his face. There was no way he was afraid of dying. I don't think they had what it takes. But, maybe there is something I don't know. He didn't give me every single detail about New York. Still, my frustration was growing at this point, and I wasn't going to be scolded like a petulant child.
"You're being melodramatic Mercer. First off, we're in Canada, secondly, if people happen to see us jumping from roof to roof, they will try to rationalize it. Probably believing we had wing suits or something, and if the media gets it, they'll describe it as strange but likely nothing to be concerned about. We're going to be long gone before anybody can react to such sightings if they are ever made." Alex looked about ready to blow a fuse as I argued with him. I was growing ever concerned with my impending doom, but I refused to stand down.
"Fool. You weren't in New York. You don't have any idea what you're talking about. You don't understand th-"
"No! You don't understand!" At that point, my quietly growing rage erupted suddenly, and i was shouting at my mentor. I needed him to understand how powerless I was before. How different everything was now. "You were never human, Mercer. Never weak. You've never known mortality and fragility like I have! You keep bitching and moaning about survival, but what do you think I'm doing here! THEY KILLED ME! Held my head under fucking water until I was filled with liquid and drowned. I got to watch part way through, my soul was leaving me, and I could see my final moments. With all those stolen lives you have in your head, you still can't get it through your thick skull that in an average lifetime, a person like me would accomplish nothing grand, and would be crushed under the boot heel of the powerful, working in their factories, warehouses, stores, doing their dirty work for them, and if we're lucky, we find a partner that appreciates us regardless of our lower class job, and less than ideal financial situation. If we're lucky, we can manage those things and still be happy together. IF WE ARE LUCKY! The ones running the world convince us to kill each other in war and in politics, with belief systems and dogmatic ideas, with or without a God being involved. And when you point it out, people look at you like your an alien, a Pariah." Mercer's face slowly shifted from wrath to frustrated confusion. At the time, I wasn't sure what about my rant got him to think about it, but I would come to regret this speech later.
"Shit all the collateral damage you probably caused in New York, imagine how those people felt watching this hooded monster destroying tanks, using them as ballistic missiles to take out Apache helicopters, and slaughtering monsters. Then become crushed by falling debris, killed by stray bullets and shrapnel, or even the times you decided to make an entrance, landing hard and causing tremors that shook the Earth around you. Let's not forget your stupid ass mistake of letting Elizabeth Greene out of her cage, causing the outbreak in the first place, and that's all after what the real Alex Mercer did in Penn Station. Besides the Blackwatch soldiers and Gentek scientists you personally consumed, how many human lives were lost? Hmm? Defenceless. Hopeless. Don't blame me for relishing the fact that I don't have to feel like that ever again!"
When I was done, I quickly noticed how I wasn't out of breath, my throat wasn't sore, but my body temperature was rising. It seemed that if enough emotional distress was caused to us, we could still have certain physical reactions to emotion. I found it very strange, but I didn't spend a lot of time contemplating it however, seeing as how Mercer seemed to take offence to my rant.
At first I thought he was going to hit me, but instead, he turned around, keeping his face out of view, and without a word, he just left. I watched only for a second as he raced through the air before I decided to turn towards the Lake I was drowned in and head in that direction. I needed to cool off.
After my fight with Mercer, I didn't feel all that enthusiastic about my newly developed abilities. I was so pissed off with him that I wanted to go back and smack the shit out of him, but I knew that wouldn't end well for me, and I also knew that's not what I actually wanted. I was just frustrated and getting fed up with the fact that despite this power, I was still answering to somebody. We had scum running around destroying lives, and there I was trying to set things right. Every turn was another asshole thinking they were better than me, superior in some way. Georgie's thought before he died was how pathetic it was that he was dying because of me, and how I was absorbing him. Well, that and the absolute terror of what he was seeing. Even his demented mind wasn't impervious to the fear that beings like Mercer and I can induce.
Eventually I made it to the lake, and by the time I did, I was torn between still being pissed and feeling sorry for the guy. I said a lot of harsh things to him, but they were true. I was being fair, and even if I wasn't, my point about how unfair it was for the people of Manhattan stands. Human's are defenceless in the face of creatures like us. We can go anywhere, be anybody, and destroy basically everything with our hands. He never knew that fear, not truly. Maybe when he first woke up, for brief while before getting shot and realizing it didn't do much to him. The difference between that fear and the ever looming doom of our mortality isn't he same however. Mercer, or rather Blacklight, waking up for the first time in the morgue was a kin to a new born animal with human awareness, barely, and desperate to figure out it's surroundings and situation. Of which, Mercer did in short order. Again, he didn't really go into all the details about Manhattan though. So at the time, I wasn't sure if I was off base or not.
Walking through the woods, I reach the lake and realize I took the path that Georgie and his men took to drown me. I was standing in the spot where they had held me under and until I stopped moving, stopped breathing, losing consciousness. I was dead. My mind flashes back to those memories, and I wished to God, I wished to the Universe, I wished to anybody that would listen that it would stop. Because from there, my mind remembers both my memories of consuming Georgie, and Tony, and their memories of doing so, and it is as Mercer said. Brutal. Bloody. Survival. Nothing about it was actually all that pleasant. Probably the worst aspect about my power was the horrors I had to watch. How I had to remember I was the worst monster in the end, eating the monsters of the world. If I ever decided that I needed or wanted to, eating anybody on a whim. Being them, living their lives and preying on those closest to them.
I had this gut wrenching feeling that reminded me that we were lucky Mercer chose to change me, and not somebody like Georgie. I almost couldn't stomach the horror on his victims faces, let alone the nightmare it would be for anybodies family should somebody like that prey on them in such a manner, and reveal the truth at the last possible second. If I could throw up I probably would have.
I initially thought about how the method I had used on Sal and Charlie, and even Tony in the morgue, was similar to that of the Night Lords of Warhammer 40K. Basically, the Imperium of Man has these genetically engineered super soldiers called space marines, and their legions are lead by Primarchs. Without getting too much into how it all worked, the Night Lords were lead by a guy called Konrad Curze. The story goes that Primarchs were shunted to distant planets, and grew up on their own or with the people of said planet, into great warriors and leaders, save for Angron. That's another story. Anyway, Curze ended up on a world that was in perpetual darkness called Nostramo. When he landed, he was a baby, and he ended up just on the edge of the planets molten liquid core. He survived on his wits and superior genetic make up, surviving by eating the creatures in the underhives, but eventually came to the surface. His eyes were solid black, and the poor bastard was haunted by psychic precognitive visions, namely of his death at the hands of this Golden Man who he did not know. As he got older, he started punishing the corrupt of the planet, like Sci-Fi super-batman, using fear to make them adhere to his new laws. He became known as the Night Haunter, and on the day the Emperor of Mankind found him, he wept, for he had finally met the man that would kill him one day. And it was his own Father.
The Night Haunter's legion, The Night Lords, would then be united with their Primarch, and they would be forged on the perpetual darkness of Nostramo. There, he taught them to use fear and stealth in conjunction with brutal savagery, believing that fear was the key component to being the most potent weapon against ones foes. They would hide, sneak up on you, and then reveal themselves briefly, to give you a mini heart attack before disappearing again. They were preternaturally good at hiding, maybe even supernaturally so with the power of the warp, again something to be discussed at some other time, and they would repeat this process until they decided you were afraid enough to kill. Then, they would show their face to you, and end your life.
I felt like I had, without even consciously deciding to do so, ended up doing the same thing to Sal and Tony. I made them think they were safe and secure, well not so much in Tony's case, but then as they looked upon the face of their loved ones, they saw their enemy, the man they tried to kill, back from the dead to claim their lives. They all died in fear, terror written on their faces. Tony was the only one I ended up seeing through his eyes when I switched from Sal's form to my own, and the horror superseded his rage.
Now that I was thinking about Georgie with the same abilities as mine, I wasn't quite keen on the idea.
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts, and realized I was just standing there, staring at the lake while lost in thought. I came here for a specific reason, cool off, and figure out how bad water really was for me. Realizing that I didn't need to take off my clothes to go diving into the lake, I decided to do so anyway. I looked around as I shifted into my naked form, and switched my sight over to heat vision, the power Mercer gave me when we were here the other day. Said it would be useful. Our eyes adjust to the dark pretty well, but heat vision is just too good a utility to pass up when it can light up people and other living things like a bloody beacon. Other than small nocturnal critters and avian creatures, there was nobody out here. So, I wound up, jumped as high as I could, soaring over the lake, and then letting my self drop.
As I was nearing the water, Mercer's warning rang through my head, and I found myself a little nervous, but I was determined to see it through. I descended faster and faster, until I hit the lake with a loud splash.
As I entered the water, I found that Mercer was correct that it seemed to be much colder than it normally would be at this time of year, but... I wasn't experiencing very much of what Mercer was claiming. It felt a little restricting, sure, but I didn't feel any pain or extreme discomfort. Shifting was definitely not something I wanted to risk at this point in time, but I was certain that I could probably adapt soon enough. As for my senses, I could actually hear owls hooting above surface level, despite letting myself sink further into the lake. I can see pretty clearly down here, almost better than I did on land, and somehow, my sense of smell was still present, though not as good as it was above water.
Without realizing it I shouted for joy. My mood completely changed, and having cooled off, I was ecstatic one again. In life, I wasn't that strong a swimmer, and I never cared much for going into the water for that reason only. I seemed to always sink and wasn't capable of treading very well, no matter how many times I tried to improve that skill. Now, I had at least two people I had consumed that were excellent swimmers, and since I didn't need to breathe, I didn't need to worry about coming up for air. I was curious as to how long I could stay under water for, so I decided to stick around for quite awhile, and test my swimming capabilities.
When I started propelling myself through the water, I was beside myself. I could swim like most people, despite my weight. I focused on my cells and what they were doing, and I found that by default they were shifting density continuously in order to provide mobility underwater. Basically, instead of 'swimming' in the traditional sense, I could move my body through the water with a thought. If I wanted to surface, my cells will become less dense then water, allowing me to become more buoyant, and if I wanted to sink, they would become more dense, dropping me to the floor. I yelled in excitement, and nearly panicked when I felt water rush into my body.
I was astounded however, for the water didn't fill my body, dooming me to a watery grave. Instead, I felt my form instinctively shift so that the water could pass through me like I wasn't even there. That has always been a mystery to me. I had no idea how I was able to float in the water without just hitting the ground while simultaneously letting it pass through me. And since I was able to shift to allow water to pass, I wasn't sure why I was so reluctant to try and shifting my arms into the tendrils or completely changing my clothes or form entirely. All I knew is that I wasn't ready yet to do such a thing safely. I guessed that maybe if I did drastic changes, I'd lose my form and risk being stuck in this lake until a life form came by and I devoured it. Either way, I wondered if talking underwater was impossible, and so far it was. When I went to speak, my vocal chords were still gurgling the water, making it impossible to understand and audibly speak while submerged. I tried thinking about how to change this but nothing was really coming to mind, until a fish bumped into me.
I thought to myself, if Mercer gained abilities from consuming some of the monsters in Manhattan that were created by Elizabeth Greene, then maybe I could gain some abilities from wild life.
Having made up my mind, I snatched the fish faster than I knew I could, and I began to rapidly shift the density of my body, while simultaneously placing my legs together and trying to mimic a fish tail so that I could ascend even faster. The thrill was exhilarating, feeling myself swim at the speed that I was, it almost felt like I was flying. The fish tried squirming in my hands but my grip was firm as we flew through the water, and when I hit the surface, I launched myself so far into the air, that I got more height then when I jumped.
"WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!" Mercer, Blackwatch, and Gentek be damned. I was going to enjoy this.
I found myself so high in the sky, that I could see the entirety of the surrounding treetops as well as have a clear view of the city. I was laughing in glee, absolutely hyped up about this new development. Looking down at the fish, I give him a little pat on the head while he wiggles around.
"I'm sorry about this little guy. Thanks for nourishing me and allowing me to learn something new from you. I won't waste it." With my sentiment of gratitude delivered, I allowed those black appendages to emerge from my hand and envelop the amphibious creature. It began to spasm a bit as I started polluting it's body with the Blacklight virus, and I discovered in that moment that it was a bit tricky to do so. It was then that I realized what my blunder was.
"Derek you numbskull. It's a fish, not a human. Difference genetic make up." It was at this point that I started to descend back towards the lake. Knowing that my body didn't want to shift under water, I air dashed, managing to do it twice, and made it to the lake side. "Holy shit. I moved further and faster than I did before. Fucking awesome."
It appeared to me at that moment that water seemed to give me a bit of a boost. I wasn't sure yet if it was a permanent one that now I had submerged myself that I'd forever be stronger, or if it was a temporary buff that would wear off and need to be regained through subsequent dives. Either way, it was good to know.
I spent a good two minutes examining the cells of the fish, trying to figure out how to infect it. The thing died through the process before consumption, so it was the equivalent of just eating the raw fish, but using all of it's parts for biomass. I determined that I would have to study them a little bit, and keep trying. It was at this point that I manifested a wet suit and began diving for fish and practising infecting them.
It was after about five fish that I stopped. I didn't want to eliminate the fish from the lake entirely, and would have opted to head into the ocean, but didn't have to. I had mostly figured out how to alter the Blacklight strain to infect creatures outside of humans, seeing as how the strain Mercer was infected with, was engineered to target humans specifically. Once I got it though, it made it easier for me to eventually collect some of the knowledge from the fish, though it was less about how much it needed to think and learn and more of what it intuitively knew from just being born and living in a body of water it's whole life.
Diving back into the water, I found that the extremely cold sensation had drastically reduced, and I was much more comfortable in that environment. On top of this, I could shift my form a little more easily now. I could also now shapeshift freely. It was ridiculous how fast I had adapted to the circumstances, and all I needed to do was consume some fish. It didn't end there though.
I felt my body urge itself to change into a better form for aquatic purposes. I shifted, and my skin turned light grey with scales covering most of my body. My hands and feet became webbed, but only half way up the digits, my fingers, toes, palms, and the webs in between were grey, while my ears pressed against my head and became just small holes. Like wise, my hair and beard went away, leaving me smooth save for the scales. The only part of my body they didn't form around was the area around my mouth, lower jaw, and my nose. I became more fish eyed. The eyes going fully black, making it so I can see much more clearly in the dark without using thermal vision. My nose also shifted, flattening against my face and my lips disappeared, leaving only a flat mouth and sharp teeth.
"Cool." Thinking about it, I realized at the time that I was the fish version of a furry, or at least their wet dream.
Oh lord.
Yep, that's right, I said it. Anyway, I don't recall if they were called fishies or scalies but I rolled my eyes at the thought and decided that if anybody was attracted to me in this form that I didn't really care, I just enjoyed the ability to exist in that aquatic space. Part of me actually thought it would be a lot safer for me to hide out underwater should anybody ever catch wind of me, and as a result, I decided to use that ability sparingly, and to not tell anybody about it, not even Mercer.
So why are you telling me?
You know why Doc.
...
So after messing around for awhile, I decided to come hopping out of the lake, and sure enough, maintaining my Fish man form was completely possible on land. I opted against scaring any locals when I decided I was going to grab some nocturnal birds, and see what I could achieve. Maybe even grab some other creatures. I was interested in figuring out what exactly I could achieve.
"I'm going hunting tonight."