"Where's Maya?!" A familiar voice yelled out. Looking towards the voice, seeing the stubborn man known as James Heller standing there, pointing a finger at a hooded figure.
"Safe. For the moment." The hooded figure said, a smug grin on his face.
"You're gonna tell me --either on your own or after I skull fuck you and drain the memories from the hole." He said, pointing a finger continuously at the hooded figure.
"Huh, scary. You just don't get it do you? I gave you everything, and this is how you come to me. Can't you understand what I'm doing? Humanity is stagnant. Dying. I would give it one body. One mind. Think about it.--No more conflict. No more diseases. No more suffering. Don't you see? I'm giving it a second chance." The hooded figure said, pacing back and forth as he continued to talk.
"Enough of your fucking weird, fucking rambling, shit! Give me my daughter!" James yelled, advancing on the hooded figure with his blade arm raised.
"No... no. I don't think so. It's time you gave me something! You see, young Amaya shares your brand of annoyingly resilient DNA. And when she's ready, your daughter will become the mother of a New World." The hooded figure rambled, raising his arms into the air. He stopped and turned around, pointing a finger at James.
"Now the only thing standing between me and Earth's true destiny... is you." He said. Red and black tentacles wrapped around his arms and his arms shot out, shooting the tentacles towards the people that have been standing silently behind him.
"James!" Galloway said as she was absorbed into Alex Mercer, the hooded figure. The screams of pain and agony was the only thing that was heard while they were absorbed into Alex. When they were finally absorbed, Alex's eyes glowed red, while James was standing there in shock.
"Holy shit." James said, staring at the man in front of him.
"Well, let's get this over with, shall we?" Alex said, swinging his blade arm in front of him and getting into a defensive position. James, deciding to use his claws and whipfist, backed up a few steps, before Alex shot forward, aiming his blade at James. In reaction, James used his shield power to block the attack and bounce Alex off. Using his claws, James shot forward and started attacking Alex, clawing him the stomach and draining a lot of blood. The wounds healed nearly instantaneously, and Alex hopped back, shooting forward and clawing James' arms.
"Getting rusty, are we?" James sneered, smacking Alex to the side. Alex shot forward again, but was blocked by James' shield. Quickly switching back to the claws, James attacked Alex. Alex knocked James away with his blade arm and shot forward, hitting James with the blade. An explosion rocked the building, knocking James down and staggering Alex, with him being the first one to recover. He shot forward, swinging his blade through the fiery inferno and hitting James in the chest. James stepped back and shot forward, shooting through the fiery blaze and clawing Alex.
"Bitch, you ain't got nothin on me!" James yelled, continuing to claw Alex. Alex knocked James back and jumped into the air, and James jumped higher than he did and ran up to him, grabbing by the waist and jumping into the air. He flipped in mid air, and slammed Alex's head into the concrete roof. Alex wrestled out of his grip and slashed him with his blade, doing a backflip as he jumped and landed on his feet, charging James and clawing him. James used his shield again and pushed him back, shooting forward and stabbing Alex with his blade. Alex clawed at his face and dashed away, turning around and jumping into the air. James did the same as before, slamming his head into the concrete with bone crunching force. He picked him up and slammed Alex into the ground, tossing him away like a ragdoll. Alex got back up quickly, breathing heavily, with blood coating his clothes and face. The tendrils wrapped around his arms, and he switched over to his whipfist.
"Impressive. Now let's see how well you adapt." Alex said, shooting his whipfist forward and stabbing James through the chest. He pulled out and saw a helicopter flying by, and he grabbed it with his whipfist, bringing it down on James' head. The thing exploded, throwing James back against the wall. Alex used the opportunity to cause more damage and shot the whipfist forward again, impaling James. He ripped it out, seeing James breathing heavy from his wounds. They quickly healed, but slower than Alex's regenerative properties. James pulled himself from the wall, switching to his own whipfist and blade and swung the whipfist in a wide arc. Alex smirked and grabbed the appendage, chopping it off with his blade and sending his whipfist into James' chest.
"Come on Heller, do it for Maya." He joked, retracting the whipfist. He jumped into the air, shooting his whipfist towards James. James saw it coming and blocked it with his shield, and Alex pulled himself into the large spike, stunning him momentarily. James used the opportunity and stabbed Alex with his blade, pulling it out and swiping him across the face.
"You keep jumping around and I'll have to rip your spine out through your mouth." James mocked. James shot forward, leading with his blade, and Alex swiped him with his whipfist, catching him and swinging him around in the air. He slammed him into the ground, jumping onto his back and stabbing repeatedly into James' back. James lifted himself off the ground, pushing Alex off, and swung his whipfist around, catching Alex in the face and started swinging him in the air himself. He slammed Alex into the ground, and jumped back as the whipfist nearly gutted him as it swung by. Alex wrapped his whipfist around another helicopter and brought it down on James, except he jumped over the helicopter and brought his whipfist down on Alex.
"You throw like a girl." James joked, throwing his whipfist into a large arc. Alex blocked it with his blade, wrapping his whipfist around an explosive barrel and throwing it at James, watching as it exploded in his face and knocked him into another wall. With cat like reflexes, James hopped out of the wall just as Alex shot forward, allowing him to slam into the wall and used his whipfist to stab him in the back and drag him out. He tossed Alex into the air, jumping a second after him, and stabbed him through his back once again with his blade, and started twisting around, throwing him off the blade and into a raging fire from the helicopters. Alex came flying out of the inferno, clothes still aflame, and stabbed James through the stomach, driving him into the ground and proceeding to claw at him.
James headbutted Alex, tossing him off and stabbing him with the whipfist once again, swinging him in a circle before he finally slipped off and slammed into a wall of explosive barrels. Three barrels shot forward, two of the three hitting him directly and exploded, throwing him into the burning helicopter wreckages. Alex shot his whipfist into the burning inferno, feeling him hit living tissue, and pulled out James from the fire, stabbing him a few times and slamming him into the ground. James got up off of the ground, seeing another flying helicopter flying towards him, and jumped into the air, summoning his blade and shooting towards the ground, cleaving into Alex and throwing him back.
"Not such a big man now, are you?" James questioned. Alex got up and jumped into the air, shooting forward and was going to cleave James in half with his blade. James blocked the large blade with his shield, grabbing him and stabbing him with his blade once more, then swiping the blade across Alex's face.
"Shoulda kept your blade." James said, watching as he tumbled across the ground. Alex got off the ground, slowly this time, breathing heavily. He watched his wounds regenerate, but starting to actually slow down.
"Well now you've just pissed me off." Alex said, the red and black tendrils enveloping his arms once more. He pulled out his hammerfists, slamming them together, the ground cracking slightly from the force. Alex raised his arms, and demonic bird calls were heard all around them. Evolved birds started swarming around the building, barreling down on James. James growled and waited for the right moment to summon his ability, grabbing and ripping apart the birds, letting the blood flow onto the ground as the tendrils dissipated. James shot his whipfist forward, the small blades plunging into Alex's chest. Alex cried out in false pain as the arm retracted, shooting forward and slamming his fists into James, throwing him into the wall. James plunged the whipfist into Alex's chest before slamming into the wall, and he saw Alex jump into the air, hammerfists at the ready. He jumped up and avoided the bone crushing fists, stabbing Alex in the face with the whipfist, jumping behind him and throwing him in front of him, doing a little flourish with his whipfist.
"Impressive, I taught you well." Alex said, picking himself off of the ground.
"You didn't teach me shit." James said, swinging his blade at Alex's head. Alex dodged the blade, picking up his fists and slamming them into James' chest. James tumbled away from Alex, and heard more of the Evolved birds arriving. James got up quickly and summoned his ability, letting them shoot everywhere and tearing apart more of the birds. The tendrils dissipated once more, while James jumped out of the red mist and punched Alex in the face. Alex raised his fist and knocked James away. Alex cried out as he jumped into the air, only to get a whipfist to the face and have it twisted around to the back of his head.
"Missed me again." James said, pulling him backwards.
"I'm going to enjoy watching you die." James said, watching as Alex feebly got onto his feet. Alex summoned his blade and jumped into the air with a grunt, and James blocked it with one of his claws. He raised his other hand and severed Alex's blade arm. Alex summoned his whipfist and shot it straight at James, only for it to get caught again. James pulled Alex forward and used his blade arm to sever Alex's whipfist. With an almost pained grunt, Alex summoned his hammerfist, jumping into the air and bringing his fists down on James. James caught his fists and started pulling on Alex's arms. After a few seconds of pulling, he ripped off both arms, letting Alex fall to the ground with almost animalistic growls of pain. His arms couldn't rejuvenate, and he got onto his knees, letting out growls. James grabbed Alex by the throat, and Alex let out a single chuckle.
"Huh. Welcome to the top of the food chain." Alex said, and James switched to his clawed hands and readied his unused hand. James started stabbing and clawing Alex, completely destroying his body and consuming his remains. All the while, Alex was chuckling on the inside, the irony of the situation completely ridiculous.
'Guess this is the end for me.' Alex thought, allowing himself to be consumed. His mind shut down, and his conscious fell into a deep sleep, rethinking about the events that happened for two years. 'Blackwatch and Gentek have been using the civvies to experiment on with the infected.' One part of his brain said. 'After James nearly destroys Blackwatch and Gentek, I assumed control over every infected human in the city, and they go rampaging through the streets.' He thought. 'Did you have a choice on whether or not you wanted to control the infected?' His brain asked. 'I assume that, since I've been infected since the first outbreak, I was given control of the virus.' He answered. 'Did you want the control of the infected though?' His brain asked. 'No. I was forced the control of the infected. I just went... mad with power...' He answered. 'Would you stop an outbreak if you get another chance?' His brain asked. He remained silent for a full minute before answering. 'If I get another chance, I will try my best to stop an outbreak of the virus.' He said with determination.
Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were up to their crusading, except they were in the Everfree Forest for monster hunting.
"How long have we been walking?" Scootaloo groaned.
"For ten minutes." Sweetie Belle said, looking through the bushes. A crack of thunder sounded above them, and they all looked up.
"There wasn't supposed to be a storm tonight!" Scootaloo said. A faint whistling could be heard, but the ponies were too busy scared.
"If there wasn't supposed to be a storm, then what was the thunder about then?" Sweetie Belle said.
"I don't know! It's probably just the Everfree Forest with the clouds moving on their own." Scootaloo said.
"Girls, do y'all hear that?" Applebloom said, although it was ignored by her two friends.
"When we went into here ten minutes ago, there were no clouds above the forest. How could there be a storm with no clouds?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"A magical storm." Scootaloo said.
"There's no such thing as a magical storm Scootaloo." Sweetie Belle deadpanned.
"Do y'all hear that whistlin'?" Applebloom asked a little louder, although it was still ignored by her friends. Before the argument could be continued, something crashed into the trees above their heads. They all squealed in fright and started running around, when a large form fell from the trees, slamming into the ground with bone crunching force. The girls stopped running around and looked at the large form, seeing it's clothes soaked with blood and red and black tendrils slowly moving about its forelegs. The coppery smell hit the girls in full force, and all three of them nearly gagged at the smell.
"What is that thing?" Sweetie asked.
"I don't know, but it looks injured." Applebloom said, looking at it's blood caked clothing.
"Should we help it?" Sweetie asked.
"We can't just leave it in the forest for timber wolves to eat!" Applebloom said, turning to Sweetie Belle like she was stupid.
"Scootaloo, can you go and get Twilight and tell her that there's something injured in the forest?" Sweetie asked, ignoring the look Applebloom was giving her. Scootaloo groaned, but ran off, heading for Ponyville. Ten minutes later, Scootaloo arrived with Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, all three looking irritated.
"See, I told you there was something injured." Scootaloo said, bouncing up and down and pointing a hoof at the strange being. Twilight walked up to the creature, a curious look on her face, watching the red and black tendrils as it slowly reformed what looked like minotaur arms.
"It looks like a hairless minotaur." Rainbow said.
"What's up with it's forelegs?" Scootaloo asked.
"Those aren't forelegs, if its body structure is close to minotaurs, but arms. I've never seen something like this before." Twilight said, pulling out parchment and quill from her saddlebags and writing down stuff.
"It looks like it was in a tough fight." Applejack said, walking up to the being and poking it with a hoof. It didn't respond, but the tendrils started moving faster, almost like a reaction. More of its arms started appearing, before fully rejuvenating all of it and disappearing into thin air.
"Now they're just gone, but its arms are fully healed." Twilight said, writing down more stuff.
"That isn't possible. If it was injured and its arms were destroyed or otherwise maimed, its arms should not be like this." Twilight said, poking the appendages with her quill, watching them twitch at the touch.
"Where'd it come from anyway?" Rainbow asked.
"It fell from the sky!" Sweetie Belle yelled.
"It doesn't have wings." Rainbow said.
"There was thunder, then it crashed through the trees and hit the ground." Applebloom said.
"A magical storm?" Twilight said, scratching her chin.
"I thought magical storms weren't real." Scootaloo said.
"No, they're real. They happen every five hundred years, and this one is four hundred seventy six years early." Twilight said, utter confusion wracking her mind.
"There isn't much explanation for it though. It didn't come from the forest, and it just plummeted from the sky." Rainbow said.
"I need to send a letter to Princess Celestia." Twilight said, pulling out a second piece of parchment, writing a short message on the paper, and sending it off with a small magical spark from her horn. They sat around, occasionally looking at the prone being, until they heard a clopping of hooves on ground. A white, tall alicorn arrived, giving everypony a warm smile as they bowed.
"So this is the being from your letter Twilight?" Celestia asked, walking up to the creature.
"Yes Princess Celestia. From the girls stories, the being fell from the sky and crashed through the trees, with it's arms apparently maimed or ripped off by brute force. It had some sort of tendrils wrapping around the wound, rebuilding the bones, muscle, and tissue of the arms and appendages." Twilight explained. The princess looked at Twilight like she was crazy, but inspected the prone body. Suddenly, red and black tendrils enveloped its entire body, startling everypony and sending them reeling backwards. The tendrils disappeared a few seconds later, and the clothing on its body was completely clean of blood, grime, and dirt.
"I-I see." Celestia stuttered, utterly astounded by the creatures abilities. It started twitching, causing everypony to back up in caution. Its eyes flew open, revealing sickly gray and light blue eyes. It sat up, blinking its eyes furiously and rubbing them. Its eyes focused and he looked around, seeing the terrified ponies standing away from him.
"Horses. Perfect." It growled, but by its tone it could tell it was a male.
"You can talk?" Twilight asked excitedly.
"What the fuck?! Talking techni colored horses!" He yelled, backing away from them.
"First of all, we're ponies, and second, please refrain from using that language." Princess Celestia said, taking a step forward.
"Don't take another fucking step, or I will rip you all apart!" He said, the red and black tendrils wrapping around his arms, turning one of them into a spine like form with small blades running along its surface, ending in a large blade. The other hand turned into a large clawed hand, with its appendages being replaced by large blades. His arms glowed a yellowish/reddish hue, making him look absolutely terrifying. They all backpedaled at the sudden appearance of the dangerous looking weapons, reaching the edge of the clearing.
"How the fuck are horses talking?" He asked himself, watching each of ponies with tactical expertise, seeing the three small fillies hiding behind the ponies in terror. They heard him clearly, and they all took another step back. He took a step back, trying to decide if he should stay and try to talk to these ponies, or run away into the forest, get a hold on himself, and build an army of infected.
'You said that you wouldn't allow another outbreak to happen!' His brain said. He froze, remembering those exact words, and sighed, dismissing the weapons and turning around.
"Where's he going?" Twilight asked, taking a step forward. He turned back around, looking at the purple pony.
"I made a promise that I wouldn't allow another outbreak of the virus again, and I intend to keep that promise." He said, turning back around and taking about five steps before he felt something grasp his hand. He looked at his hand, seeing a purplish glow around his hand, and looked back to see the lavender colored pony with her horn lit up with the same aura around it.
"What do you mean?" She asked, taking a few steps in front of her.
"Twilight, don't close to that thing!" Celestia yelled, stepping forward. His face hardened, hearing him being called a thing like General Randall did.
"You ponies are no different from humans. You're afraid of the unknown, and would probably kill me as soon as I turn my back on you." He growled, pulling on his hand and breaking the lavender pony's concentration. The ponies froze and stared at the human, either in shock or horror at the accusation he just put onto the ponies.
"Ponies are the most loving and caring race in Equestria, and would certainly not harm you." Celestia said, marching up to the human.
"You call me a thing, telling the pony to not get close to me, and would probably condemn me to death with not a second glance. Next thing I know, you're going to start killing innocent ponies in the streets and injecting them with viruses just to see how they would react." He said, taking a step towards the large pony. "It's only a matter of time before you're precious little race is going to be tearing each other apart." He said.
"That's not true!" Rainbow yelled at him.
"Then prove that you aren't the same as humans. Prove that you aren't selfish, and that you would be worth saving." He said, turning to the cyan pony. They all froze, having no idea on how to prove themselves to the human. Twilight looked to the human, looking straight into his eyes, seeing regret and pity behind the emotionless mask he puts onto his face.
"Come with us." She said. He turned to her, looking into her large purple irises. The rest of the ponies were staring at Twilight like she was crazy. They stared at each other for a full minute, until he looked away, looking at the rest of the ponies.
"That's pushing it in the right direction." He said, looking at Twilight once more. She gave him a warm smile, walking back to the Princess and her friends.
"Are you crazy Twilight?!" Rainbow whispered in her ear.
"It's that, or let him walk away and think that ponies are no good." Twilight said simply, leaving her friend dumbfounded. They started making their way back to Ponyville, when they heard a growl. Alex summoned his powers, using his thermal vision and seeing wolf forms surrounding the group.
"We're surrounded, fifty plus wolves." He said, turning off his thermal vision. He decided on his blade and whipfist to fight the group, not wanting to injure the ponies with his hammerfist.
"You might wanna stand back." He said, smirking as the first of the wolves emerged from the foliage.
