8AN: This could have been released a lot sooner and with a lot of polish but I got so friggin lazy. I like writing, but hot damn is it also tedious sometimes. Oh well, I have no real excuse. I'll make sure to polish this later after I make a coupe of chapters (that I will actually revise and improve before uploading).
Also! Leave reviews, man, they ignite that will to write.
"Targets neutralized! Weapons down! Weapons down!" Was the call-out that ended the barrage of firearm ballistics. The Blackwatch operatives surrounding the two corpses put their trigger discipline into practice and extended their index fingers to rest it against the trigger-guard.
"Confirm vitals, leave no chances." Commanded the highest ranking among them. Two Blackwatch soldiers approached the duo of corpses and knelt at the sides of each to inspect and confirm the status of the subjects.
They placed their index and middle fingers at the pair's jugulars to check for a pulse so that they might affirm what was already thought.
"Kills confir—"
My hand shot out before I even realized what I was doing, fingers closing around the the wrist of the offending appendage touching me. My fingers easily dug through thick fabric and flesh, gripping into the bone as I dragged the Blackwatch soldier down as my freehand clenched into a fist.
Said fist was swung and found itself imbedded in the soldier's cranium.
Within seconds I felt tendrils extend from me and pierce the operative, effectively breaking him down and turning him into additional mass to make up for the damage done to me.
While the last bit of biomass is absorbed, all of that man's memories and experience became mine. I saw his precious moments and his darkest sins, I saw it all for a fleeting moment before coming back to reality.
The quickest glance over saw me inspecting Mercer and seeing the same occurrence from an outside perspective.
Words weren't needed between Mercer and I. With morbid shock overriding the present squads of Blackwatch, we turned and hauled ass towards the fence with stability and speeds we had not prior had.
Then the commanding officer yelled, "Shoot them! Open fire, open fire!"
The barked command inspired the discipline instilled within all the operatives and they all trained their weapons on us only for the thundering weapon-fire to follow less than a second after.
Hails of bullets trailed just behind or after us with the odd round or two striking us despite our rapid motion.
With the distance crossed I leapt first, clearing the whole dumpster and fence with one go.
Not far behind, Mercer accomplished the same, all the meanwhile calling out to me, "Don't stop! We need to lose them!"
Feeling the same desperation in his voice within myself, I complied without complaint and hauled all the ass out onto the street where we shot past cars and civilians at speeds easily surpassing both.
It was unfortunate for myself and Mercer that two apaches flew overhead to cut us off.
"Left! Left!" My voice shouted against the sharp winds on my face. Mercer and I took an acute turn and I almost slipped—though it felt like I was drifting on my feet, trying to catch a grip while running.
Once my running stabilized I looked over my shoulder to see the choppers still retaining their place behind us. Fuck me. Helicopter season it is, then.
I put my all into reaching the current full sprint speed available to me, passing Mercer by a small margin before charging a leap and jumping onto the side of the nearest complex. Running up the side of a building to the rooftop, I take one more jump and turn around to ascertain the apaches' location. Right on cue. From behind, once I landed upon the roof, I heard Mercer yelling, "What the fuck?!"
Shortly after I was joined by my fellow virus as I hawked down the nearest air conditioning unit and tore it off like it was paper mache.
"Ho-holy shit! I had an idea, but to think this really works?!" I chucked the unit over my head at one of the helos with all the strength I could.
The aerial vehicle was too mobile for the most part and maneuvered out of the way, its weaponized wing being the only thing damaged.
"Good idea. Now we can fight back." Alex called out before following suit and doing the same with a generator and his own pursuing helicopter, using that same strength to throw it at the helo.
It took some effort, but by being a cunning little shit, I ripped out a generator and AC unit and set the generator aside.
I gripped the unit besides me and threw it to the right of the chopper, only to immediately grab the remaining generator and launch it to where the helicopter would maneuver.
"Critical hit!" I cried, pumping my arms out into the air as the whining and whirring of a failing helicopter sounded off, an explosion succeeding the crash of the chopper. The sound of a second alerted my to Alex's own win against the other helo.
That's when… not exhaustion, hit me, but the realization that I was in one of the worst worlds I could be in. In less than an hour I have killed three people. The one soldier before my escape and the two in the helicopter. What the fuck? What the fuck?!
[You're feeling distressed. I understand this is difficult for you to cope with but you must keep moving. Preferably before you are once again located.]
"Not even a second to rest. Fuck me." I bit out beneath my breath. It really began to hit home just why it was that Alex Mercer only ever went into his sister's safe-house less than a full handful of times in the game. He can't stay in one place for too long. His powers, his status as a high priority target, what he's capable of. It puts everything at risk if he's seen moving through any one area.
Whatever, it was time to move. With that final thought, I crouched and tensed the biomass in my legs before releasing and taking a massive leap away right after Mercer. He might become an asshole in the second game, but as of right now he's my best bet at some place to lay low for a while.
It took some time, but we eventually tracked down the Blackwatch unit that had been assigned to the seizure of Dana Mercer. It was a pain in the ass, because unlike the game where Alex collapsed and fainted in a dead-end alley—where he happened to consume two Blackwatch soldiers that also *just* happened to know of Dana's location—he was sprier than a spring chicken due to the operatives we previously consumed.
I overlooked the apartment complex from another similar building several blocks away. The only reason certain sections of the game didn't occur, such as Alex sort of passing out in an alley or even absorbing the guy that knew Dana's address, is because my presence is already causing changes both minor and potentially major.
I swear to the fucking lord of anything that the instant I'm able to, I'm using the book to maximize my Blacklight's abilities and potential.
[Considering that this power freebie literally allows you to assimilate anything biological in origin, there's literally too much for you to potentially have.]
Power freebie? Power freebie?! It hasn't even been a single fucking day and I've been traumatized arguably more than anyone else in a short amount of time! Fucking system.
[Well sorry for giving you the power of many peoples' wet dreams.]
Any human alive would take such a great power-up! But in these conditions? Fuck no! Because of this shit, I'm going to have to waste an entry in the book just to get over all of the gore and horror here.
[Perhaps it be best you focus on your current task. Alex Mercer has grown tired of waiting for you while you internally rant at me.]
Oh. I leapt from the my perch and traveled into the building—then Dana's apartment—only to see Mercer finish off the final Black Watch operative that had attempted to accost Dana. In the meantime I slide my foot back to touch and breakdown the nearest corpse for a quick biomass boost.
"What the fuck?! Y-You just put your fist through him!" Dana began to back away, her fear causing her to retreat from her brother as she holds up her arms and looks away in the case of potential violence.
I, however, see an opportunity. I lean forth and whisper to Alex, "Go hug her, man. She's your sister. Make feel safe or something."
Seeing Mercer actually grunt and do as I ask as awkwardly as possible was amusing to no end.
Now then, I plop down onto the couch at Dana's safe-house to keep guard over the only human in our trio, where I crack open the Book of Life. Alex was out doing his thing like in the game and I decided to interfere a tad less. It was time to power myself up—before powering up, though? Hey, system.
[Need to see your stats?]
Yep, if you don't mind.
[Your stats are as follows;]
[Physical fortitude: 346]
[Mental Fortitude: 306]
[Spiritual Fortitude: 169]
Huh. Not bad for now. Though it bothers me something fierce to see my spiritual fortitude so low compared to my two other stats. Hey, system, would it be against the rules to ask for your wisdom on whatever I wish to write in the book?
[Not in particular, no. My main purpose is to quantify your fortitude classifications and guide you should you need it.]
Would it be within my range to essentially give myself Redlight alongside my Blacklight and make a better, more powerful virus? I could deal with my trauma later, to be honest. Power to survive this world and the next comes first.
[Performing necessary calculations… yes, it is entirely possible. Be advised: prepare for excruciating pain. Blacklight and Redlight are essentially the same, however, their minor differences will momentarily clash and you will be rendered unconscious.]
Not needing anything else, I go ahead and write in the book, a compound desire. In the boom I write, 'Solaire Astora will gain Redlight and it will merge with Blacklight to create a deadlier pathogen than either virus.'
I immediately passed out.