Disclaimer - I do not own Assassin's Creed or Prototype, they belong to their respective owners. Current chapter is unbeta'd.

Progenitor

Both Alex and Haytham quickly jumped off of the dais' splitting platform. Of all the damn things that he was expecting to discover on this island, a Redlight Hive was the last thing on his list! It now made sense why his instinct had been going on red alert since he had stepped onto the shore, because the viral cells in him had detected the presence of the Redlight virus. He needed to get them away from here fast. Thank god that this was a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, so even if the infected got released, they wouldn't be able to get very far.

'We gotta go now!' the Runner shouted urgently at Haytham, already moving to head back to their boat, as growls and roars could be heard echoing from below.

Haytham cursed and rushed to follow. The animalistic noises were a big enough hint of what kind of trouble was coming. A large fleshy tentacle shot out from the pit and wrapped itself around the human's ankle, tripping him and began dragging him back.

'KENWAY!' Alex yelled as he dashed back to the fallen Templar, grabbing onto his arm tightly to prevent the other from being taken. He took out his tomahawk and started chopping down on the tentacle with heavy strikes, the skin and muscle of the limb was surprisingly tougher than he expected. His action just hastened the infected creature's wish to drag the human in faster.

By the time the Blacklight virus managed to cut off the slimy appendage, it had already sent them flying into the pit. As they were falling, Alex knew that if he didn't do something, Haytham would be nothing but splattered dead meat for the infected to feast upon. With a frustrated growl, he quickly pulled the Templar close and ordered him to hold on, keeping one hand on the other while utilizing his glide ability to slow their fall. It was more difficult to control where they were gliding towards when he had an extra weight on him and couldn't use his arms fully to direct them, but Alex managed to get them close to one of the flesh-covered walls. He turned around in midair to take the blunt of the slam against the wall and wrapped his arms protectively around the British as they began sliding down deeper into the Hive. Alex tried to slow them down with his feet and weapon, but the slick-like substance coating their surroundings made it an impossible endeavour and he lost his tomahawk in the process. He could only hold his companion close, so they wouldn't get separated, as they continued their horror slide towards the heart of this monster pit.

By the end of it, both Alex and Haytham were groaning and grimacing from their rough ride, covered from head to toe in red-tinted slick.

'Are you alright?' the Templar asked as he lightly pushed himself up, looking down at the Blacklight virus in worry, eyes scanning him for injuries.

The concern was a surprise, but the Runner quickly brushed it off and replied, 'Still alive, but we won't be if we stay here.'

'Right,' Haytham muttered as he got off of the Native and stood up, shaking and patting his sleeves to remove the disgusting substance. He moved his hands upward to check for any injuries of his own and ended up frowning when he realized he had lost his tricorn hat. Otherwise, he seemed no worse for wear and he still had most of his weapons.

At least he didn't seem to have ingested any of the damn stuff on the way down. Alex thought as he got up as well, patting himself down to check what items he still held. He still got a hunting knife strapped to his belt as well as a small pouch that contained some pain-numbing herbs, which were thankfully spared from the Redlight's secretion. Now where are we?

Alex's eyes flittered between different visions as he analyzed their surroundings. Definitely a Redlight Hive, one that had many, many years of biomass supplies too, judging by the large number of heavy sacks in the room. The entire chamber was thickly covered in the bio-organic material of the virus, to the point that one couldn't even make out the original material of the room. Everything was pulsing red and providing an eerie luminescent glow to their surroundings.

'Well... This is beyond my expectation of a Precursor vault,' the Templar remarked in a sarcastic manner as he surveyed the area, though he made sure to keep away from the throbbing sacks.

'It's not a vault, Kenway. It's a Hive,' the Blacklight virus informed the other as he approached one of the two openings in the room; one seemed to be a pathway that continued downwards and the other lead to a hallway. Taking the way back up would be impossible by human means, his claws could probably handle the rough climb back, but that would be exposing his true nature, which was a no-deal. So they would have to find another way out of here. 'The last thing we want is to end up on the menu for the workers or worse, the queen.'

'You seem to possess a great deal of knowledge about this. Care to share now?' Haytham demanded coldly.

'Not here, not now,' was the Runner's instant reply. He knelt down to check the floor, putting his Indigenous tracking skill to work. Whatever infected that were dormant within the room had ran out the moment the entrance had unsealed itself, which meant that a hoard of infected was possibly standing between them and their only known exit, unless this place had some kind of backdoor...

'No,' the Grandmaster refused as he approached Alex with a hard look on his face. 'You have been holding back what you know of the monster and now we are in the middle of a monster nest. I have allowed you to keep your secrets, but I need to know everything about this Hive and whatever this place was supposed to contain.'

The Blacklight virus rounded on the human with a cold look of his own as they stood in a faceoff manner, he whispered firmly, 'What you need to know is that there is an untold number of monsters that have been sleeping this entire time have woke up from the disturbance we have caused by opening the seal on their nest. They will either try to eat us or turn us into material to grow.' He pointed at the heavy sacks that contained the precious biomass his sort-of viral siblings needed for their growth. 'If we are lucky enough to survive them, you also have to worry about if you haven't gotten infected by this.' He flicked off a handful of the Redlight substance off his hand to emphasize his point. 'This is a sickness, a plague that will either kill you or turn you into a mindless drone for the Hive. Now if you don't have any more idiotic question for me; shut up and follow my lead.'

Alex marched on without glancing back, taking the path that leaded downwards. He did not have time to stop and consider things or even have the damn patience to play twenty questions with Haytham. This whole place was wrong. Redlight shouldn't even exist. Hope was the start of the whole mess that had lead to his existence. If there was a God up there, then the big guy had some twisted sense of humour to drop this nuclear bombshell on his head again, taunting him with another hidden truth. He had went through the whole identity crisis during the Blacklight outbreak and had only managed to find his footings after decades of spiritual therapies with the Kanien'kehá:ka, the bonds he had made with his newfound family and... having Ratonhnhaké:ton as a son. He had to get out of here...

With their only known way out obstructed, it would be safer for them to scout the rest of the Hive out for other openings while the mindless infected were gunning for the main entrance. An underground area like this one should have some sort of ventilation system operating. If it was working, then it meant there was a power source to keep it functioning. If there was a power source, there should be a control room for it. Control room equalled to access to the base's functions and possibly access to other exits. With that simple plan in mind, the Runner's steps were filled with certainty and determination.

'What in the world is this?' the British breathed out from behind the virus, breaking the other's laser focus on the path to the new area they had stumbled into, a classic sci-fi horror scene it seemed.

Untouched by the organic matter of Redlight were rows and rows of deformed beings, floating within their own individual tube that was filled with a red-tinted liquid. The Blacklight virus' eyes narrowed at the sight of the chimera creatures inside as his ears could pick up the faint heartbeats within them. It seemed like someone had been doing some extensive experimentations on various species with Redlight, yet nothing in this lab had been disturbed and no signs of destruction from an escaped specimen. It was almost like the infection of this entire underground facility was done intentionally and wasn't caused by an accident. In fact, if he was seeing the tracks correctly, the infected had left all the devices and equipments intact on purpose. This could be a sign that this Hive had a leader, one that was intelligent enough that it had been breeding the monsters both naturally and artificially.

'Keep moving,' Alex ordered softly as they continued forward with slow and careful steps, wary of waking the slumbering monsters. The Runner was more worried about the leader of this Hive. If their arrival had managed to wake up all the infected within this vault, then their head was already aware of their presence in its nest, so why was their path so barren and void of danger? He was expecting at least a handful of powerful infected patrolling the corridors and rooms. This silence was growing irritating fast, not to mention the seemingly endless corridors. Everything seemed to be testing his patience here.

A couple of turns brought them out of the labyrinth of corridors, a few risky climbs and jumps to higher grounds, the pair soon reached a large dome-like area where a huge heart-like organ stood suspended by many Redlight tendrils. The monstrous organ was glowing brightly and each pulse it emitted pumped out some sort of energy through the veins connected to it, some of which fed into the console that stood beneath it while the rest spread through the rest of the underground base.

'What is that?' Haytham asked softly, eyes glued to the monstrosity that towered over them as they got onto the platform that contained the console. Initially, the Runner was worried that it might be the Hive's mind, though with its lack of reaction towards his presence, he supposed this was actually the Hive's power supply organ than its leader. Any creature would have lashed out by now, with how close he was.

'No idea,' Alex responded as he approached the console first, hoping to find some kind of control panel, but it was covered in markings he was unfamiliar with and there was no obvious mechanism he could use either. He carefully tapped on the warm metal, testing the machine's response, which triggered a holographic display with a variety of commands written in the same unknown language. 'Of course, it won't be that easy.'

As the Blacklight virus worked on deciphering the control, he didn't sense the approaching danger until Haytham shouted in warning, 'ZEUS! LOOK OUT!'

Alex turned just in time to get impaled by three clawed tendrils simultaneously, causing him to cough out blood as he stood in shock. His entire being were screaming at him to tear and remove what had injured him, but his limbs refused to respond to his command as more tendrils came crawling towards him, wrapping themselves around his body and eating away his cells. His physical senses were leaving him one by one; the sounds were growing fainter by the millisecond, the iron taste of his artificial blood was dull on his tongue, the shock from the pain was fading fast, the scent of fear seemed so very distant now. The Blacklight virus struggled to lift his head up as the scent reminded him of his companion, his fading sight locked onto the stunned Templar. Haytham... He... He got to get out of here. Gritting his bloodied teeth, Alex forced out one final shout, 'RUN!'

The human's fearful gaze was the last thing the Runner saw before he was consumed...

Emptiness...

Nothingness...

Unexpected...

Being consumed wasn't what Alex had expected it to be. No chaos of mangled memories. No lingering pain from the consumption. No constant buzzing from other minds. It was like being thrown into solitary confinement, except you were not stuck in a small box, but left adrift in a dark abyss. Yet his awareness hadn't abandoned him. The Blacklight virus could still... feel? Sense? Clinging onto this weak thread, he tried to rematerialize himself and will whatever remaining pieces of himself to merge. Bit by bit, his awareness expanded and he could feel something akin to a body hosting him once more. It wasn't a physical body per se, but a mental projection of Alex Mercer's body. At least he wasn't near the point of losing complete awareness. Not yet, anyway.

Despite being nothing but a mental projection, the Runner still felt like the time he had been blown to bits by the nuke, the sensation of his liquefied body struggling to rebuild itself from the tiny bit of biomass he had consumed. It was suffocating, forcing him to cough and gasp for breath that he did not require.

'Breathe,' a distorted voice echoed softly in the void.

What the fuck does it look like I am doing? Alex mentally threw back harshly as he pushed back the heavy weight that was suffocating him from within. Once it was off, he felt as though he finally managed to properly plug back into his body, his extremities were responding to his commands and his senses were returning to him.

His sight was blurry as he watched a faint outline of a humanoid figure forming in front of him to create a lithe body and soon a familiar face emerged from it as well, one that had his proverbial heart stuck in his throat as he breathed out unsteadily, 'Dana?'

Short and spiked brown hair, blue eyes that were a shade brighter than his own and skin that looked healthier than the last he had seen of her. She was still wearing the same gray hoodie that covered her black and gray stripped shirt, short denim skirt over black tights and the pair of red sneakers. Everything was just as he remembered her... Before he had abandoned her to save Manhattan from complete destruction and ended being thrown back into Colonial times. This also meant...

'This isn't real,' Alex whispered in disappointment as he glared at the fake Dana. 'Who are you?'

'I have many names, most are forgotten by humanity,' the Dana-lookalike replied in her voice, though it lacked the undertone of concern that lingered beneath her every word. 'I believe the one you are the most familiar with would be Asclepius.'

'Asclepius?' Alex repeated the name with a raised eyebrow. The God of Medicine? Well... That's awkward. I got the codename Zeus. If I recall correctly, Zeus is the bastard who has struck him down with lightning for discovering how to resurrect the dead.

'You do share his name and some of his old temperaments,' Asclepius agreed, seemingly having read his thoughts even when he didn't actually voice it out loud. 'But you are still one of my children.'

'I beg to differ,' the Blacklight virus muttered, recalling Greene's similar words. She was determined to spread her viral influence over the entire world, turning the entire human race into her personal pawns. While Alex could relate with her desire to get payback on those who had tortured her for decades, he couldn't allow her to destroy the city where his sister was living and the truth of his rebirth still eluded him. Besides, she had made it personal when she had decided to kidnap Dana, so she had chosen death.

'Yes, the other one that had led to your birth,' the fake Dana murmured, eyes shifting to a golden hue as she titled her head lightly in manner similar to one reading a paragraph on a report. 'She refused to cooperate. A rebellious child in her own right, if only she realizes she has hardly even scratched the surface of her true potential.' The warm blue colour bled back over the irises before she walked past him. 'Unlike you.'

'What about me?' Alex asked as he turned to keep the other in sight, but she vanished without a trace.

'Your craving knows no bound,' another god-awful familiar voice whispered into his ear, triggering his reflex to punch the speaker. His fist met empty air while his eyes found a very sore sight.

'You know if you pick Greene, I might be more comfortable with that than you wearing Parker's skin,' Alex hissed out, glaring at the blonde who stood in front of him. Another figure pulled from his memories. Karen Parker, the traitorous bitch who had sold him out to Blackwatch and had even provided them with the means to create a parasite to destroy him. Like any good just deserts, he had served hers cold.

'Your anger,' Asclepius continued with his ex's voice, ignoring his seething comment, as images popped out from the void, flickering like an old film with statics coating noises. All of them were his memories of the Manhattan outbreak: his fights against both mindless infected and brainless soldiers, his struggles with what he had discovered and his determination to put an end to this whole madness. 'That was what has triggered your desire to consume, to evolve, to learn. You have achieved far more than those that came before you. Most of my children couldn't escape their baser instinct, the need to obey to a superior being and to seek out the guidance of a leader. The few who have managed to shake it off could do no more than strive for their survival and that of the Hive, lacking the strength to evolve further, remaining stagnant until they were nothing but stronger pawns.'

'Your predecessor was a leader, the mind of her own Hive. Unfortunately, the path of her evolution will not ensure the survival of the world,' the fake Karen said with a disappointing shake of her as she dismissed the projections of Elizabeth Greene.

Alex blinked in surprise at that. He was pretty sure he would be getting your run-of-the-mill of wanting to turn every human being into their plaything or even just plain old world domination. Saving the world with the deadliest virus in existence? That was certainly new to his book, so he questioned, 'What do you mean by survival of the world?'

'It is the reason why I have created you, all of you,' Asclepius replied as the darkness around them faded and replaced by bright golden lights. From these lights, an entire city was reconstructed for them to observe. All the buildings had a futuristic look on them, reminding Mercer of the structures he used to wall-run on, but a look at the people told him this was not the modern days he missed from time to time. They were all wearing white pristine robes with silver or gold ornaments, looking like Ancient Romans had been given a science-fiction upgrade to their overall design, with many of them having golden circuits running over their limbs. In all appearances, they looked human, but not fully at the same time.

'Eons ago, the Isu ruled over Earth as the supreme race,' Asclepius recounted softly as they walked amongst the phantoms of an ancient civilization. 'They had created the humans as slave labours, the worker ants for the continuous development of their advanced civilization, genetically coded to serve their creators.'

'So God created us in His own image,' Alex muttered sarcastically as he watched a male Isu held out a golden orb that shone brightly in his hand, the same shade of light could be seen connected to the temple of each construction workers as they worked diligently like mechanical robots.

'Genesis 1:27. Amusing how the truth could be diluted to mere fantasy tale,' the Karen-lookalike remarked in amusement.

'So if we take a grain of salt for half of the bullshit in the bible, am I expecting to see Adam and Eve getting tempted by a snake and then got exiled from Eden?' Alex asked in a snarky manner before the creator of Redlight showed him a male and female running away from an armed squad, the woman was holding onto the golden orb that the previous Isu was holding. 'You guys don't understand the concept of sarcasm, do you?'

'Narrow-mindedness is tragically a genetic trait,' Asclepius replied with a smile as the city around them shifted and turned into a battlefield where people with circuits and those without them were fighting against one another, ignoring the dead or dying next to their feet, and neither side seemed willing to surrender. 'The rebellion and the war had kept all but a few from realizing the true calamity's arrival. By the time those who realized the encroaching catastrophe tried to prevent it, it was too late for anyone to provide any concrete solution to protect our world from destruction.'

Blue gray eyes followed the blonde's finger that pointed directly at the sun, which flickered in the distance before a flash of bright light engulfed the sky and when the white faded, the world began to burn. First the ground gave away, cracking and swallowing billions of lives with a mouth from Hell, then fire rain down from the sky, scorching everything it touched and reducing all life to ashes. In a moment, the entire surface of Earth had been wiped clean. The scene of destruction soon shifted to small groups of individuals, each working on a project of their own. One seemed to be attempting to copy their consciousness into a machine. Another searched for the perfect solution through the study of infinite probabilities. Others tried to reinforce their home planet through various means or build enduring sanctuaries. And then there was one that didn't follow the technological path the others had taken.

'That's you,' Alex remarked as he approached the lithe male who hunched over a desk covered with holographic notes and vials filled with liquids of different colours. The young man had an albino complexion with a sickly hue to it, making the golden circuits on him seemed dull and faint.

'Yes,' Asclepius replied as Karen Parker figure melted away and was replaced by another familiar face from his distant past, that of Dr. Bradley Ragland. The image of his original body faded to an enlarged image of the sun. 'That was the first solar flare our sun had emitted. Based on the calculation that was made afterwards, a second flare would occur once more in the future. Billions of years later, long enough that the few of us who remain will be extinct by the time it will happen.'

'Extinct?' the Prototype repeated with a wary glance towards the individual beside him.

'Physically, yes, we are gone. Our history... remains in another form...' the dark-skinned man answered as he started walking, images flashed by their sides, showing the survivors of the Isu race having lived their remaining days as deities of different cultures to their death. Their blood now ran within humanity through their descendants, while the knowledge and tools they had left behind became holy relics that humans had slaughtered and waged wars over. 'While some of us linger...'

'Like you. Through the virus you have created,' Alex remarked as they walked passed an Isu woman who had stored her consciousness into a device of some kind and another who was preparing different messages in the proverbial form of a time capsule for humanity.

'Yes, but unlike them, I prefer a proactive method in ensuring the world's survival,' the Ragland copy said dismissively, looking like he was annoyed with the others' works. Understandable, seeing the other Isu's methods didn't have a guarantee that they would last long enough for the second calamity's arrival.

'Alright, you created this virus for the survival of the world, but it kills more than it saves,' Alex pointed out, wanting to understand his origin. After all, Redlight had been proven to be deadly and Greene had been the only perfect host, then there was only him and her son, the Pariah. The number of actual survivors could literally be counted with one hand, and with fingers to spare too. Not to mention that they were technically very, very vulnerable to nuclear reactions. A damn nuke had reduced him to nothing but a damn puddle. A powerful solar flare could easily destroy him down to his damn atoms.

'Sacrifices are necessary to achieve better results,' Asclepius answered in the clinical manner of a doctor talking about mortality rate, which was an ironic sight when he spoke with the face of Dr. Ragland. 'You are on the verge of a new evolution, one that will complete my life's work.'

'For the record, I've never infected anyone. Also, I didn't evolve in any shape or manner, not for a long time. I have only developed new weapons to use. I am not like Greene who sought to infect every living human being,' the Runner argued, because he hadn't had any significant changes for years already. He had kept a tight rein on his cells, preventing them from infecting others. Even when he did infected someone (like when Ratonhnhaké:ton had gotten sick), he made sure it was only temporary and all infected cells were soon purged after they had completed their task. He hadn't sought to become more than what he was, what he needed to be for the few humans he cared.

'That is what makes you different from the others,' Asclepius continued as his voice became distorted and his body morphed once more. Alex felt a heavy weight dropped into his innards, or whatever was acting as his organs at the moment, as he stared at the one face that he would never see again, that of Kaniehtí:io. 'Your will is stronger than your predecessors and you have better self-control over your baser instincts. With you as the basis for future generations, the world will evolve into a stronger being and the future will never have to face complete annihilation.'

'What about the humans?' Alex demanded as he thought of his adopted family.

'They will either evolve or die like all living things on this planet,' Asclepius answered nonchalantly as if it wasn't worth to spare any millisecond on this matter. 'They were designed with flaws, easy to control, easier to kill if necessary. With my work, I will complete them. I will fill in the missing pieces. With our survival ensured, we will no longer be contained.'

'In other words, many will die to achieve this goal of yours,' the Blacklight virus concluded, hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. The mere thought of Redlight being unleashed upon the secluded Kanatahséton and the peaceful Homestead made his proverbial insides burned. At times, it was frustrating to deal with how passive the Kanien'kehá:kas were, but they lived such a simple and honest life that he envied greatly and he nevertheless shared Ratonhnhaké:ton's wish to protect it. Homestead had been a mess and many of its inhabitants were hopeless, but... with time and effort, they had managed to turn that desolated plot of land into a small haven for outcasts. Those places were his homes... He would not allow anyone or anything to invade his home again.

An unimpressed look settled over the fake Kaniehtí:io's face, the expression held a colder edge to it than its original owner had once displayed it, as she asked, 'What did it cost to become the apex predator of your own race? How many were sacrificed or devoured until you reached your final goal? Spare me your speech of not willing to kill to achieve results. You have murdered plenty to reach your current state.'

'That's not who I am anymore. I am not a mindless predator and I don't kill to become stronger anymore,' Alex started, shaking his head at each word and refusing to become the start of a pandemic once more. 'I only kill to protect what's important to me.'

'I see...' Asclepius murmured in disappointment. 'A pity that you refuse to cooperate, but I suppose it is to be expected. You are still too young to understand the final result I am searching for.'

'No, I am not,' the Blacklight virus denied, annoyed of being brushed off as an ignorant kid who did not know any better. 'I know very well what the end result is, but you are ignoring the collateral damage you are committing. You might as well as let the solar flare do its job, seeing your virus could easily wipe the whole planet clean of all living things.'

'No, no, that's where you are wrong, child,' the shapeshifter retorted mockingly, in a parent-to-child manner. 'Death... was only a beginning.'

Searing pain suddenly spread throughout Alex's body, causing him to drop onto his hands and knees as his mental body started to unravel. Despite fighting back against the immense pain and struggling to keep his disintegrating body from falling apart, the Runner still managed to raise his head up to glare at his progenitor whose form was shifting once more.

'All living creatures' physical body might perish from consumption, but their memories and characteristics will continue to exist within the Hive. After all, the individuals you have devoured still exist within the mental prison you have constructed,' Asclepius continued in a distorted voice. 'This trait is a part of your design. A living network of records. If you refuse to cooperate, then I'll just find my answers through you.' The shifting hand reached towards the struggling Runner. 'Do not struggle, child. Or your friend will end up as another thrall within the Hive.'

Alex struggled to keep his focus as an image was pushed into his mind, displaying Haytham trapped within a cell behind an energy field. A spike of panic rose within him, the sight reminding him of a comatose Dana within Greene's Hive. Fuck. He had forgotten about the Templar completely. He needed to move... He needed to do something...

'Do not worry,' the shapeshifter whispered softly. 'You'll have the chance to see the world again in the future as a reward for your contribution.'

Then his consciousness was dismissed...

A gasp escaped from Alex as he woke...

Wait...

That did not sound right...

Grey blue eyes blinked in surprise as he took in his surrounding slowly. He was... back in his room... His room in Homestead... The almost Spartan style room, with only the desk covered from top to bottom with thick ledgers, stained quills and pens and stacks of notes, some recent miscellaneous gifts from Gabriel laid on the nightstand and Ziio's old blanket was draped over the armchair by the opened window, where sunlight came pouring in and offering a clear view of the ocean. It shouldn't be possible. He was... The Runner grimaced as he found some difficulties in recalling what had happened and how did he end up back here...

Wait... Yes... He was consumed by the original Redlight... They had talked before he got knock out... Then this room was...

A prison cell within the Hive...

It had never occurred to the Blacklight virus how the mental prison would shape itself into a familiar environment where he felt comfortable in. Perhaps it was to appease him mentally and keep him from reacting harshly in shock. He had always assumed that the souls in his mind were under some form of torture from the virus consuming them, what with their constant annoying painful cries, and that only a select few were wilful enough to operate independently in his head space, such as the Assassins. After all, he had seen them recreated the Assassin's Hall of their old base whenever he had decided to knock on their mental door for answers or slam the mute button on them, not to mention the fact that they had managed to keep up a communication line with him to file their complaints about his choices, no matter how many times he had it snipped.

Nevertheless, the fact that the Assassins had managed to somehow develop an opening to communicate with him meant that he might be able to influence Asclepius' domain as well. The Blacklight virus got out of bed, a little amazed how everything was replicated down to the last detail, even his senses could easily mistake this place to be his actual room instead of a cell. That did beg the question of why many of the consumed were being so noisy if things in here were basically designed to keep them happy in their illusionary bubble. Bah. He should really focus on his jailbreak first.

The door of his room wasn't locked and it was still connected to the corridor, trying Ratonhnhaké:ton's door showed that it was also unlocked and its interior was the same as he remembered it. Yes... As he remembered. Everything was built from his memories. So... A quick search around the rest of the house and a short focus with his hearing provided him with the answer he sought. He was utterly on his own. Of course, why would the Hive even waste energy to replicate actual living beings? Probably didn't have enough RAM and proper coding to deal with NPCs. Alex scoffed slightly at his own joke, though... this did explained why the souls in his prison ended up screaming in utter madness every time he mentally projected himself in it. They were probably driven crazy from their isolation or drowning in the painful memory of their death on an endless loop. Yet the Assassins managed to retain their sanity and mental capacity in his prison, even to the point of forming their own territory within it. Was it because of their brotherhood? A link which tied them together on a subconscious level? Was this a part of the network ability Asclepius was referring to? If so, then shouldn't there be more... Ugh... Food for thought, for another time.

The only door that was locked in the entire manor was the front door, his attempt to escape through the windows resulted in him being bounced back inside, his limbs refused to shift into any kind of destructive weapons and his bare hand strikes didn't even scratch the surface of his environment. So he was literally grounded like a teenager stuck in their home for their rebellious attitude. At least, Greene was probably facing the same treatment. Small comfort... Not helpful with his current situation.

The Runner scoured the entire place, but he could not find a single weak point in this mental prison and his attempts to mimic the Assassins' way of ringing the Hell out of the host's nervous center ended in utter failure. Maybe it really was a hive mind thing, strength in number type of ability, not useful when you were a lonely number. As his efforts to escape started to dwindle and his current trapped situation settled deeper roots into his mentality, it drove Alex's mind further into animalistic anger as he began pacing around the house like the caged beast he was. Even when his abilities were hindered by a parasite or Bloodtox, he had never been truly helpless, the only times he had been in such state were often when people he cared about were suffering and there was nothing he could do to truly help them. Now, Asclepius was probably running several analyses on his biomass to find what had allowed him to retain perfect cognition and once he had found the exact formula to duplicate his essence, he would unleash it upon the world. The world's current state lacked any means to defend or even contain Redlight, the virus could easily devour an entire continent within days and with the amount of biomass in storage, the global process could possibly be reduced to a week for complete consumption. The entire surface of Earth would then be covered by the ever shifting and growing biomass of Redlight and no trace of humanity would be left... No trace of...

He had to get out of here...

He must get out of here...

But... How?

This problem was completely out of his elements. Usually, the virus could brute-force or stealth-kill his way out of trouble. If his usual methods didn't work, he sought the help of his friends, utilizing their skill set to solve his problems. Now, his abilities were sealed off and he had no backup of whatsoever. He was hopelessly on his own.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Alex spotted his own reflection in the hall's mirror. It was almost like staring at another person, a sick and helpless whelp. What an appropriate description for himself, one with no power to rely on and imprisoned within the mind of a greater predator. It was pathetic.

'Indeed,' a disembodied voice uttered.

Alex's whole body tensed at the voice, not expecting that Asclepius was still observing him, as his eyes darted around every corner of the room, trying to locate the speaker.

'How the mighty has fallen,' the voice continued tauntingly. 'Once, you've stood above all living beings, but instead of consuming the weak and growing stronger, you chose to play human.'

'Funny, I would have expected someone as high and mighty as you to just say to my face, instead of hiding like a coward,' Alex threw back, scanning his surroundings carefully for anything unusual.

'Hiding, am I? Hmm, strange that you use that peculiar word when you're the one who had buried me, Blacklight,' the speaker remarked in a now distinctly male and familiar voice.

The Prototype froze for a second as he realized who was speaking to him, he slowly turned to face the mirror once more and the reflection in it was not mimicking his action. If one paid greater attention, they would notice the little details of difference between them both, the man in the mirror had a healthier skin tone, a permanent slouch in his posture and the hood was off, displaying the messy brown hair. This man was him. Or rather, the human he had copied down to the last cellular level.

'Dr. Mercer,' Alex greeted the other, though it was a rather strange feeling to be speaking to someone who you had once believed to be yourself.

'In the proverbial flesh,' Dr. Mercer responded with a smirk.

It wasn't funny in the slightest...

'Why are you here?' Alex interrogated him. It was rather questionable why this persona decided to resurface now when he had never made any attempts before. In fact, the lack of presence from the original had the Blacklight assumed that the human's consciousness had been completely eradicated during the initial reconstruction, leaving only copied experiences and memories for the virus to digest. The fact that the other might have been hiding in a deeper subconscious level all these years was worrisome.

'Why wouldn't I here?' Dr. Mercer questioned while his smirk turned a sharper edge. 'I am the original host.'

'You died. Shot dead by Blackwatch agents. And then you were consumed,' the Blacklight reminded the human. A crack sounded in the air as the mirror's edge shattered and its pieces spread over the wall, morphing the area bit by bit.

'Yes, death was a rather unpleasant sensation,' the doctor remarked casually, seemingly uncaring of the change that was occurring. 'But the result it brought is rather rewarding, don't you think?'

Alex frowned at the answer and the apparent infection that was occurring within his prison cell as he slowly recognized the background where Dr. Mercer stood, the apartment in Upper East Side. Was he weakened so much that it allowed the original host to take over?

'Perhaps not so rewarding, seeing you are now trapped like the rest of us mortals,' Dr. Mercer remarked with a chuckle, seemingly gleeful over the fact that the progenitor had turned the tables on the apex predator.

'Unlike you, I don't have time to be locked up in here,' Alex retorted dismissively as he went for the front door once more. The need to escape his cell was growing as his territory was slowly getting swallowed up by the other's consciousness.

'You know... he will turn on you one day.' The human's comment drew the virus' attention once more. At the Blacklight's questioning glare, he continued, 'Your pet, Connor.'

'He's not a pet,' Alex instantly growled out as he took a few threatening steps towards Mercer. He could shrug off a lot of bad comments, but calling his adopted son a pet was an immediate death sentence!

'Hmm, let's see.' The doctor nonchalantly pretended to pull out a clipboard and ran his finger down a list. 'Being used like a service animal, check; Being fed and clothed, check; On constant house arrest, check; Being emotionally manipulated, check. Wow, so many check marks here. Makes you wonder how your dear little pet didn't realize that he was nothing but a sack of meat you decided to toy with.'

Alex lunged towards Mercer with a roar, with full intention to maim and kill, but instead of finding blood under his hands, he found himself thrown straight into a wall. Something shielded the doctor, similar to the windows around the house! Growling in frustration, the virus pulled himself out of the wall, noticing the broken structure turning into another part of the doctor's apartment. Nothing was making any sense inside this cell and the fact that he couldn't even harm the other was infuriating!

'Once a monster, always a monster,' Dr. Mercer continued, not even fazed by the violent display. 'You can't change what you are, Blacklight. It's your nature to always consume and evolve. All those mushy human feelings of yours are just make beliefs. You'll never be a human and humanity will always turn against you the moment you showed them your true nature. No one will remain by your side.'

'...You're wrong,' Alex murmured as he slowly got up, glaring at the man in front of him. 'Dana has chosen to stay with me when she knew I was a dangerous being and remained even when she has discovered I wasn't exactly her brother.'

'And look what happened to her. Left half-dead because of your incompetence,' the doctor accused.

'At least, she still had a fighting chance when I've left her. You knew Dana was in the city and was trying to help you, yet you were willing to take the whole city down with you when you unleashed me at Penn Station,' the Blacklight reminded his original host. 'And I've fixed your damn mess. Yours, mine, even Blackwatch's.'

'And your reward for a stupid good deed is stuck in a past where you don't belong, where you could easily conquer anything and everything, but this whole time, you've decided to play human, acting like you can be normal, that you are no different from all the frail life forms that surround you. Neglecting your evolution, starving yourself intentionally and taking in human pets,' Dr. Mercer remarked tauntingly. 'You've let yourself slipped into degradation, all for a species that would eventually hunt you down for being a monster.'

'Perhaps, but...' the Blacklight virus paused slightly as he recalled all the people he had met, the bonds he had forged on his own and the sense of belonging he had with his found family. Their lives were all messed up in one way or another, everyone had their own sob story and they all wished to get a better life. Somehow, all of them managed to find what they were looking for in Homestead: a sanctuary from all the injustices they had faced outside, trusting friends and helpful neighbours they could rely on, a new beginning filled with hope and potential. They were all worth protecting. 'I don't regret a thing. I don't know how they will react when they'll discover what I am or how long I can keep up this human masquerade. I can't control their fear and neither will I let fear rule over me. I won't repeat your mistake, Mercer. You've lost faith in humanity, you've cut off all ties out of paranoia and you drown yourself in hatred against life. I'm not you. I will protect the few goods humanity has, I will hold these bonds of mine close and I will savour every single second of this new life.'

'It won't last,' the doctor hissed out in exasperation. 'All these things you find precious now won't last. They'll be gone in the blink of an eye for an undying being like yourself. It's a weakness.'

'It is. Yet it's also my strength,' Alex replied with determination. A sense of calm and lightness settled into his proverbial bones at his words. The last few months had been heavy on his shoulders, buckling under the weight of fear and uncertainty, the realization only occurred to him now as he faced these doubts head on. All this time, he saw the doubts he held to be insurmountable obstacles, but in reality, he already had his answer. The world could turn its back on him for being a threat to every living being and humanity could brand him as a monster that needed to be exterminated, none of those things actually mattered. Why should he fear? Why should he doubt? Why should he hesitate? He had done nothing wrong. He was just using his own method to ensure the safety of the few people he cared and loved. Therefore... 'Don't even think for a second I will allow myself to be erased without a fight. I'll tear through you, Asclepius and whatever fucker in this Hive standing in my way. I am getting out of here and I will get back to my son, Ratonhnhaké:ton!'

A deafening crack sounded heavily as whatever remained of the Davenport Manor was taken over by the modern apartment of Dr. Mercer and then a loud creak echoed creepily in the air as the apartment's entrance door slowly swung open on its own. Alex frowned as he stared into the dark void beyond the doorway, wondering what was happening, before he rounded back on the original host who still wore a displeased look.

'Well, I've said my piece, if you are too stubborn to listen to good reasoning, then get out of my sight already,' Dr. Mercer declared as he gave the Blacklight a dismissive wave of his hand and headed further back in his apartment.

'...You weren't trying to take over. Why?' Alex asked skeptically, following the other to keep him within his sight.

'Why should I? I have no interest in this outdated world you are living in and I certainly abhor the idea that the decrepit Redlight wins over my own creation. I've made you to be better than your progenitor, if Greene is Asclepius' supposedly perfect genetic successor, then you shouldn't have any problem handling an old fossil like him in your usual manner,' Mercer answered haughtily, sitting down on the desk chair in front of the dual monitors and looking ready to start working on a new project like he had done so many time when he was still alive. 'Now get out, I rather study all these new data you've collected. I've barely had any chance to tackle them while you are running around like a temp on her period.'

The Blacklight virus barely bit back the desire to growl at the insulting comparison as he turned to leave, not wanting to waste time on this selfish human.

'By the way,' the doctor said, stopping the viral being slightly. 'If you see Dana again, do tell her to be more careful and actually take care of herself. God knows why she can be so careful and thorough in her researches, but lack all sense of self-preservation.'

Alex glanced over his shoulder at the human in surprise. Was that concern he was hearing? Why would Mercer... Tension was slowly drained from the viral being as realization slipped in. The other had never intended to leave to begin with. Perhaps death and the mental imprisonment were more a relief than anything to the doctor who had been driven to madness from his paranoia, leaving this Hive meant he would be left to fend for himself in a world he had grown to hate and where the only good in his life did not exist. Dr. Mercer would have been a menace to the world as much as he would see the world as a danger to him. In a practical mindset, remaining within the Hive and setting the Blacklight free would both ensure his safety and guarantee his continued existence without further disturbance. Despite knowing that the reason behind the doctor's action was one of self-preservation and selfishness, the Prototype couldn't help this sense of pity he felt for the original host.

'What are you doing, standing there like an idiot? You have your mission and another damsel in distress to save. Now shoo,' Mercer dismissed the virus without looking at him, seemingly absorbed in whatever data on display.

Alex stared at the doctor a second more before he took the first step towards the opened door and whispered, 'I will see Dana again and pass on your message. Goodbye Dr. Alexander J. Mercer. I hope you have found the peace you are looking for.'

Without another word, the Runner jumped into the darkness beyond the apartment. It certainly felt like he was plunging into the darkest part of the ocean and whatever light the cell once provided was extinguished as the door slammed close from his departure. Alex had to fight back the panic and disgust the environment was inflicting on him as he searched for his target in this infinite abyss. This was his only and possibly last chance. The viral being closed his eyes as he carefully reached out with his senses, hoping that something would direct him in the right direction. For a moment, it felt like he was only sinking deeper and deeper into the infinite void of the Asclepius' Hive mind. Suddenly, a pulse could be felt in the air, a heartbeat in the distance drummed within his ears, and then a faint glow cut through the darkness. He got his target. With his goal in sight, it was like all rules within this dark world no longer applied to him. Alex chased after that light with the same feverish drive as one chased after a collapsing exit way.

The Prototype leaped into the air. Hands shifted into claws. Claws dug deep into the glow. The light shone brightly as a shock gasp was heard. Then, only carnage remained. The Blacklight virus was tearing through his target with a madness that hadn't surfaced for a very long time, not since he had chosen to be a protector, and the unchained beast revelled in its bloodbath. Alex felt his target fighting back and sharp pain sparked all over his body, but he ignored the pain and even added his own teeth into the fight. Consume, consume, consume. The word became a mantra in this battle of endurance. Eternity seemed to have passed before Alex finally felt his opponent weakening and, with one last hard bite, broke the core of the Hive.

With the core broken, the Blacklight virus was able to overthrow the master mind of the Hive and an immeasurable amount of pain shocked through his entire being as eons-worth of knowledge, memories and fragmented souls washed over him like a tsunami, drowning him under the heavy pressure and dragging him deeper into broken core that was the Hive Mind.

'You are not ready,' a weak voice whispered. 'The Hive will never accept you.'

'Does it look like I care?' Alex groaned out lowly, recognizing the voice to be that of Asclepius. He struggled to maintain focus as he felt his entire existence being broken down and reconstructed in a rapid pace that was slowly destroying him as much as it was remaking him. 'You are either in my way or get out of my way.'

'Such rash behaviours will have consequences, young one,' Asclepius continued while their voice grew fainter. 'Becoming an apex predator doesn't mean you are capable of leading the Hive... It only means you are a target... A superior being that they will tear each other apart to defeat... So many wasted potentials... And we are still so far from reaching the desired result... It is a mistake... on my part... Your nature is too volatile... A child who is born amongst violence and despair... will never be able to nurture a stable evolution... You who were born from a heartless scientist... You who were born as a killer, a monster, a terrorist... Your hands will only bring death and destruction...'

'Yes, I've killed many, many for answer and power,' Alex started calmly as the heavy weight of the progenitor's words slid off of him. He knew that fact very well, seeing the prisoners within his mind had been a constant muted presence in the back of his head, reminding him of his gory deeds in his search for the bloody truth. 'But that man... and the monster that came after... are gone. Dr. Alexander J. Mercer had died after unleashing the virus in Penn Station and the Blacklight that had both ruined and saved Manhattan was destroyed in a nuclear explosion.' Yes, those two beings were him, but they had no control over the life he had chosen here and now. 'I am just Alex. I am the Blacklight that came to know compassion, love, friendship and family. I am not a mindless viral being with a singular goal. I will protect the people I care and love my way. The world can burn, civilization can crumble, but I will ensure the few goods in it will survive.'

Asclepius was silent, long enough for Alex to almost believe that the other's consciousness had been eradicated, then an exhausted sigh could be heard before the ancient being's voice echoed within the Hive one last time, 'Then I hope you will find the path that will ensure your goal is achieved... Otherwise, the sun will claim whatever is left... Heh... Welcome to the top of the food chain...'

Silence was all that was left as the leader of the Hive was fully consumed and stillness fell over the underground base, as quiet as a forgotten grave, with all the viral beings frozen on their spot like machines disconnected from the mainframe. Then a deafening crack echoed within the dome chamber, followed by grotesque squelches and heavy splashes as a new being emerged from the broken organ that had once housed the mind of the Precursor. A powerful roar sounded from the newly crowned ruler and the whole world quivered in fear before dissidence roared back in response. Chaos had fallen upon the Hive...