Chapters Alex and his daughter were sitting atop a building, contemplating whether to go ahead with Alex's plan or not.
"Just leave them. I know you saw that Heller guy's memories and stuff and it only made your drive to help stronger, but tell me, dad. Have they ever done anything good for you?" The girl said, now next to Alex at the edge of the building. Alex pondered his daughter's words. They certainly made sense. What had humanity ever done for him? All he did, he did for them. And what do they do? They try to kill him. To make matters worse, his own lieutenant tried to kill him after he tried to help. That really didn't make his opinion of others any better. But he had no other choice now.
"Yeah, you're right, Aria. How do you suppose we get out of this godforsaken city?" Alex said as he stood up. He was tired to trying to help. He then realized something. He was acting very much like a character in one of his favorite games. And he didn't like it one bit now.
What was that guy's name? Oh yeah. Albert Wesker. Alex thought as the image of the black suited man flashed before his eyes.
"Well, I heard of some sort of last resort that Blackwatch prepared just for you and me." Aria said as she stood next to him, the flames of an explosion below them licking at their feet.
"Last resort?" Alex had a confused look on his face, one he never had when he was alone. He usually knew everything he wanted to know, but now that he had an equal, it was a bit harder. Still, it was nice to find out something you never knew before.
"Yes. A last resort. I consumed enough scientists to learn that the last resort is actually a black hole generator." Aria said as she leaned on Alex. Alex looked to the horizon and found it as he always did. Completely submersed in total bloody chaos. He kind of liked it and at the same time, he hated it. He got kind of sick of operating within the same city, so he spread the infection to other nearby cities after he killed Heller. It was here in the city of Washington D.C. did he finally realize the worthlessness of his plan.
"And if your theories are correct, A black hole isn't just a gravitational hole in space. It's a portal to another dimension." Alex was feeling proud of his daughter, taking the initiative like that. He was also proud of the fact that she was learning more and more so fast.
"Okay, since you took the initiative on this, I'll let you decide what to do about this." Alex said as he turned away from his daughter to look at the carnage unfolding beneath them. He caught sight of a Strider, a new strain he developed for cities with skyscrapers, smashing one of its massive legs into the Reflecting Pool, causing a wave of bloody water to wash over and crush a few soldiers. Tanks tried in futility as they fired on the Strider's nearly indestructible carapace. He knew that only something like a submarine firing a couple of missiles at it could break through its diamond-hard carapace. Aria's answer came in mere seconds after he let her decide.
"Of course I want to do it! Its our only chance to get out of here!" Aria said as the Strider crushed a tank underfoot. Alex was going to miss his creations, though. What father wouldn't? But he had family now. And that family took precedence.
"Heh. I like your drive. Let's go." Alex said as he and his daughter jumped off the building and ran at full sprint, with Aria leading the way to the base containing the last resort. Alex grinned as they passed under the Strider. He was taking a huge gamble with this idea, but he had to. For Aria.
The base was heavily defended, but nothing a couple of shapeshifters couldn't manage. They disguised themselves as the scientists they consumed in the past and entered the compound. The compound was bustling with activity. Scientists rushed past them and soldiers watched ever vigilantly. Alex and Aria snuck past them with a well-practiced blending ability that made them seem as if they were simply normal scientists going about their business. They were far from normal, but normal was going to change very soon for this world. They entered the room that held the last resort.
Inside sat the last resort (obviously). And it was big. It was shaped very much like a gateway that one would see in a sci-fi movie. It was roughly the size of a tank. Alex silently consumed the lone scientist in front of the machine and searched through his memories for how to start the machine. He eventually found the code and turned to the console in front of him.
"I have the code." Alex said and Aria beamed.
"What are you waiting for? Put it in already!" She said excitedly as he put his hand on the console with a devilish grin. He was about to enter the code, when the alarms went off and dozens of soldiers swarmed into the room.
"We never get a break do we?" Alex said with an annoyed huff as black and red tendrils crawled over his arms to form claws.
"Nope." Aria said in a cheerful tone and turned her arms into three fingered appendages that she knew as the Tendril power. Alex charged at the soldiers, their rounds doing nothing to him, due to absorbing Heller's abilities, and slashing the first one apart and digging his claws into the next. Aria decided to redecorate the walls with webs of biomass and enemy corpses as she sent a biomass infused punch into the nearest soldier, causing him to have tendrils yank his body in different directions, bisecting him and removing his limbs. She repeated the process on the nearest soldier and deflected a nearing rocket with her shield into the offending soldier. Alex had switched to his favorite combo: Blade and Tendrils. He quickly pulled in a soldier and stabbed his blade into his torso without so much as acknowledging the incoming rocket that didn't even make him flinch. Aria brought out her favorite combo: Whipfist and Scythe. Aria used Whipfist to grab a soldier and jabbed her scythe into his torso and tendrils crawled onto the soldier's skin and she threw the convulsing soldier into the last group, causing him to explode with tendrils that took everything with it. Debris. Explosive tanks. Soldiers. The living tendril bomb pulled everything close and it all exploded in a shower of gore and fire.
They were so busy fighting the soldiers, that they didn't notice a scientist in the observation deck starting the machine. An enormous black hole appeared behind them and they dug their claws in the ground to stay in the room. A lone soldier who was stuck on the wall had a rocket launcher in hand and aimed it at the two.
Aw, shit... Alex thought as the rocket hit him and his daughter, sending them into the black hole. Above the Everfree forest, a rip in the sky was forming. Everypony was blissfully unaware of the danger they were about to be put in. Pinkie was having a perfectly normal sugar-high (by human standards) day, when she felt her tail twitch like never before.
"Oh, hello Pinkie. What brings you here?" Twilight asked.
"Something big is gonna fall! I just felt that you needed a heads up!" And with that, Pinkie was gone in a blur of pink (little does Twilight know, Pinkie just defied the laws of physics by going faster than Rainbow Dash on a sugar-high).
As soon as they were sucked into the black hole, they could feel their bodies going through immense pressure. They then used the Hive Mind to communicate.Aria, use your Armor! Alex mentally screamed as he used his Armor. She didn't need to be told twice. Her form shifted to Armor to prevent the pressure from crushing her. A couple of minutes later, they felt the pressure lift and they were blinded by the sudden appearance of light.
The next thing they felt was crashing into the ground, causing a shockwave to sound through the forest they landed in. The sound repelled the weaker creatures and attracted the stronger ones. Alex groaned as he stood up and dismissed his armor, Aria doing the same.
"You alright?" Alex asked as he walked over to Aria.
"I'm fine, dad. Thanks." She said as she hugged him and gave a smile. Their tender, father-daughter moment was interrupted by several growls coming from deeper in the forest. Soon, many creatures from the myths of humans emerged from the forest, out for their blood.
"You hear that?" Alex asked with a predatory smile on his face.
"Yup." Aria said in her ever so cheerful tone as she got into a combat stance. That's when they attacked.
Twilight felt that huge shockwave from miles away and it caused them to lose their balance.
"I have to go see if she's okay!" She was beginning to panic as she bolted to the edge of the Everfree, where Fluttershy lived. Celestia knows what kind of trouble she could be in right now.
Fluttershy was busy trying to get Angel to eat when she heard the loud crash and quickly flew under the table with a quiet squeak.
"W-W=What w-was th-that!?" She stuttered quietly as she poked her head out from underneath the table. She wanted to hide under there longer, but a sudden realization came to her. What if her animals were scared or hurt by whatever crashed? She had to go see if they were okay! With shaky legs, she swallowed her fear and left the house, neither mentally nor physically ready for what was to come.
Alex had already started the carnage while Aria prepared.
"All is fair in love and war, my dear." Alex called out from ahead of her. Alex was busy with the Hydra on his ass. It was like fighting four of the Hydra's back home, except this one didn't throw cars at you. Alex saw a head coming for him as he stopped, to which he payed no attention. He swatted the head away with the force of a truck going ninety and it's skull was dented in a way that it would never get up again. Alex dodged the other head coming for him and caught it with Whipfist and slammed it into the ground with a loud crack. Alex tore off the head that was dented, stabbed it with his Whipfist and threw it at the other Hydra heads. The heads were pulled together by the explosion of tendrils ad crushed by the force of the impact. Alex landed and walked over to Aria.
"Kill count is 25." Alex said with a smirk.
"Nuh-uh! Kill count is 21!" Aria retorted.
"You said it yourself, one head per enemy." Alex said with a victorious grin. Aria threw her hands up in defeat.
"Whatever." She said simply as she looked in no apparent direction. She flinched when she saw six small, colorful equines approaching them. She squealed and ran over to them.
Ch.1: The Truth of Mercer
The ponies were shocked to find a huge amount of blood and no bodies surrounding two bipedal creatures. It seemed that the two were arguing about something, when the one with the strange black clothes put on a victorious grin and the other started pouting and noticed them. It pretty much squealed and ran towards Rainbow Dash, who tried to get away, but was caught by the creature with a black and grey hood and was pulled into a literally bone-crushing hug.
"I think you're hurting her." The hooded figure said, hearing the pained gasps coming from Dash as it walked up to the other one.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" The other creature said as she let go and apologized over and over again.
"Sorry about that. My daughter can get a little excited sometimes." The hooded figure said as he helped Dash up.
"What are you?" Twilight asked, taking a step back. Aria and Alex began speaking to each other using the Hive mind.
"Should we tell them what we are, dad?" Aria said with a worried look on her face. "No. Tell them we're humans." Aria spoke up.
"We're humans!" Twilight was taken aback by this. There have been stories about humans in the past, but everypony dismissed them as old ponytales. Yet here they were, two humans in the flesh. One of them nearly killing Rainbow Dash with a hug.
"We thought humans were a myth!" Twilight exclaimed and Alex was quick to answer.
"We thought talking ponies didn't exist." Alex said.
"I knew you existed!" Aria said with a grin that seemed too large for her face, much like Pinkie. The ponies did not pay any mind to her and they continued to listen to Alex.
"So, you got names, or do we call you by color?" Alex said with his hands in his pockets. Aria had to fight the urge to shout out their names and hug each and every one of them with her vice-like grip.
"What?" She asked rather innocently. Alex shook his head and looked back to the ponies. They managed to hear what Fluttershy said and moved to say their names.
"What happened here?" Twilight asked, looking at the pools of blood on the forest floor, causing her to shiver. What kind of sick horrors happened here?
"We got attacked by Manticores and they ran off before we could kill them." Alex lied. They consumed them. Aria shot her father a glare and it was returned with a confused look from Alex.
"What?" Alex asked. Aria didn't bother answering and sighed.
Dad, you don't do that! Never tell a pony something like that! Aria thought. She knew that her father was a bit dense, but not this dense.
"Why would you want to kill them?" Twilight was trembling slightly.
"They attacked us, so our instincts forced us to act." Alex said. Twilight was less shaken now, but still very shaken. Who could have spilled this much blood? Twilight couldn't focus on her question when Aria couldn't resist the urges anymore. Twilight hardly noticed Aria sneaking up on her friends and pulled them all into a bear hug, giggling like a madwoman.
"Aria, save it for later." Alex said as he tapped her shoulder.
"Sorry." Aria said as she regained her composure and felt embarrassed about doing that to her favorite characters in the show. And in a place like the Everfree? She felt stupid now.
"What are you doing here?" Twilight asked.
"We fell through a black hole that some jackasses made to get rid of us." Alex grumbled. Twilight ignored his language and Rainbow asked another question.
"They were afraid of us. What we could do." Aria said with a frown.
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Twilight asked and she got the same response as earlier: Alex jerked his thumb in the direction of the blood while he wore an annoyed expression.
"Right." Twilight said as she shrank back a bit.
"Ah won't have it. Yer staying with me." Applejack said.
"You sure?" Alex asked. Aria on the other hand, was trying not to tear off her own arm to try and wake up from this beautiful dream.
"Ah'm sure." And with that, they began to make their way to Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack led the virus and his daughter to her barn and opened the door for them to enter. Aria couldn't control herself and rushed to the pile of hay and crashed on it, thinking about everything that had transpired during day with a grin on her face.
"She's fine. She's just trying to get used to this. Thanks for letting us stay, Applejack." Alex said with a smile that he almost never showed in the NYZ. He usually wore a demented grin as he tore apart several soldiers.
"No problem, Alex." Applejack said, walking back to the house.
Alex and Aria really didn't need to sleep (they could, but it wasn't necessary), so they just stayed up and talked.
"I didn't do anything. If anything, I should be thanking you. You found out the information about the black hole." Alex praised his daughter, causing her to blush.
"Dad, stop it!" Aria gave her father a playful nudge and lay her head back down on the hay to try sleeping for the first time in months. She immediately fell asleep and Alex decided to go out for a walk. And by walk, I mean parkouring.
Twilight could do anything but sleep. She kept wondering what Alex and his daughter were after she sent a letter to the princess.
"How the hay is he doing that!?" Twilight was too busy gawking to notice Alex heading for the library.
"Hey Twilight." Alex casually said as he climbed up the railing on the balcony, causing Twilight to jump back in shock.
"H-how did you do that?" Twilight stuttered as she tried to comprehend the physical feats that Alex just pulled off. He just jumped across the roofs of Ponyville and balanced himself on a point that was as thin as a pencil!
"Uh, natural talent?" Alex said, rubbing the back of his neck. He wasn't lying, at least. That really was natural talent.
"Listen, I'll tell you in the morning. Now go to sleep." Alex said as he backflipped off the railing and started sprinting back to the farm.
Twilight was completely silent as she stalked Alex through the shadows. Alex entered the barn and slept for the first time in months. Twilight waited a few minutes before making sure Alex was asleep. Twilight saw that both of the humans were asleep and readied a Mind Delve spell for Alex. She loomed over Alex and her horn glowed a soft lavender. She was about to enter his mind, when she heard a voice.
"How did you know?" Twilight said in a soft voice, so as not to wake up Aria. Alex pointed to his silvery-blue eyes that were glowing an eerie yellow (thermal vision).
"Like I said, natural talent." Alex said, motioning Twilight outside. They closed the door as quietly as possible and Alex spoke.
"You know, I was serious about earlier. Poking around in my head will not be a pleasant experience. You could have just asked me in the morning." Alex said calmly to a guilty Twilight. She felt like she was being scolded for trying to make off with a cookie in the cookie jar.
"Twilight, I promise you will know everything in the morning. Now go. Get some rest." Alex said as he gestured her to Ponyville and entered the barn as soon as she started walking.
"I promised Twilight." Alex said, falling asleep on the hay with Aria.
Alex woke up with a groan. No wonder he didn't try to sleep before. All the people he consumed felt the same way about waking up. It sucked. The sun beating down on your eyes and no matter how much you resist, the sun wakes you up. Alex spitefully opened his eyes and woke up Aria, who had been clinging to his arm.
"No.... I don't want that donut....Biscuit, eat it for....me..." Alex couldn't help but chuckle at the cute display before him (Aria was talking about her pet Hunter). Alex decided to let her sleep and he sprinted towards the library before the town woke up. Luckily, he reached the library before the town woke and climbed onto the balcony to wait for Twilight to wake up.
Twilight woke up to the rays of the sun burning through the protection of her eyelids and reluctantly opened them to see Alex leaning on the wall to her right.
"A-Alex!? What are you doing here!?" Twilight demanded an answer for the intrusion.
"Oh, okay. I'll just go out into town in the middle of the day and show every single pony in the town that there is a human here," Alex said with a sarcastic smile on his face as he prepared to jump off the balcony.
"Wait! Fine. You can stay." Twilight said and Alex stepped away from the balcony with a triumphant smile on his face. Twilight called the rest of the Mane 6 and Aria managed to slip past all the ponies in town so that they could talk in Twilight's library.
"So Alex, you said that you would answer all our questions today." Twilight said with a smile.
"Alright, what do you want to know?" Alex asked.
"What was it like back where you're from?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Dad, let me answer this." Aria said.
"Okay, Everyday was a total shitstorm and our days there were mostly spent trying to stay alive, killing infected and soldiers who attacked us on sight." Aria said like it didn't matter.
"What!? You killed them!?" Twilight shouted.
"How else were we supposed to survive?" Aria retorted and Twilight backed off.
"Um, what are these infected?" Fluttershy asked.
"Good question. I'll let dad answer that." Aria said, gesturing to Alex.
"Alright, I guess I'll start at the beginning. There was a company called Gentek and they were contracted by an unofficial military force called Blackwatch, to create a virus called Blacklight." Twilight interrupted.
"What did they want it for?"
"I was getting to that. Anyway, Blackwatch wanted it to strengthen their soldiers, and it did. Only downside is that they turned feral and attacked anything that got close, even other infected." Twilight was shocked at this.
"That sounds horrible!" Alex just laughed.
"That's not even the best part. Blackwatch decided that the project cost too much and had too little results, and they started killing off the scientists." Twilight was disgusted.
"How could they do such a thing? Couldn't they just stop working together?"
"Blackwatch didn't want any witnesses. Anyway, one scientist realized what was happening and he stole a strain of the virus and was caught at a train station. He tried reasoning, but Blackwatch just killed him on the spot, but not before he threw the vial of the virus on the ground." Twilight was horrified.
"These Blackwatch people are no good! They didn't listen, even a little?"
"Nope. Do you know who that scientist was?" Everypony shook their heads.
"That scientist's name was...... Alex Mercer." Alex finished the first part of the story with a grin as everypony's eyes went wide and their jaws hit the floor.
"But.... how? You died? How are you standing here?" Twilight said, trying in vain to make sense of this. Alex laughed and continued the story.
"You remember when I said I smashed the vial in the ground? Yeah, the virus entered my corpse and rebuilt itself... as me."
"What? How? I thought you said that the experiment kept failing?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know. Maybe I got one strain that was good or it wasn't exposed to anything until I smashed it into the ground and it entered my corpse." Alex shrugged.
"Anyway, there I was, fighting a war against a military faction that had the silent authority to decimate a country at the first sight of infection and a horde of bloodthirsty monsters that wanted nothing more than to spread the infection." The Mane 6 began feeling sorry for Alex and Aria.
"But wait, there's more." The Mane 6 decided to listen further to Alex's tale of woe.
"I managed to get all my memories straight with the help of my sister, Dana, and I saw how stupid and violent humanity was. So naturally, I decided to help. I decided to give humanity my strain of the virus to give them a hive mind." Twilight was getting confused.
"Hive mind? Like bees?"
"Sorta. If you want to compare it to that. In retrospect, I think it was a stupid idea. Anyway, after Dana died, I felt lonely and I started roaming the city. I found a girl who was trying to get away from the infected and I killed them. She had lost her family during an evacuation and she ran and got chased by infected. I decided to infect her and make her my daughter and teach her everything I knew." Alex said, gesturing to Aria.
"That's me!" Aria said in a cheerful voice. The Mane 6 were stunned. Alex had lost everything and he was raising his daughter as normally as possible.
"Anyway, Blackwatch started getting desperate when they found out about Aria and developed a last resort: A black hole generator. We planned on using it to escape to another universe and build a life there, and here we are." Alex finished. Most of the ponies still had their jaws on the floor and Alex smirked as he pulled his hood down. This is gonna be fun... Alex thought to himself.
Alex had just finished explaining what happened to him and Aria, when Rainbow Dash asked a question.
"Sure, but we have to get out of sight." Alex said with an enthusiastic smile. Alex and Aria bolted out the back door and to the edge of the Everfree forest, with the rest of the ponies following.
Princess Celestia had just awoken from her sleep to raise the sun. When she finished, she noticed a letter waiting beside her bed.
"What!? Humans!? Here!? I have to go to Twilight immediately!" Celestia said as she called for Luna and a chariot to Ponyville.
"So Alex, what kind of powers do you have?" Dash asked with the curiosity just dripping off of her words.
"Well, we have a virtual invulnerability to almost any weapon, Instant regeneration, unlimited stamina, almost instantaneous adaptability and we can change our body parts into weapons." Alex said with pride. Rainbow's eyes widened at the mention of weapons. Alex picked up on this immediately.
"Yes, we'll show you." Alex said as he switched his hands to Claws with Aria following suit.
"This is our Claws power." Alex said as he moved to hack a tree out of the ground. The ponies jumped back in fear as Alex's claws ripped through a tree like it was made of paper while Aria jumped up and ripped the rest of the tree to shreds. Alex receded his claws and formed the Tendril power and fired tendrils from his arms into a tree and yanked them free, uprooting the tree and leaving Aria to barrage the tree with tendrils until it was nothing but splinters.
"That was our Tendril power." Alex pulled out his next power, his old Blade. The ponies were staring in awe as a blade that was as tall as Alex sprouted from his arm. Alex kicked up a boulder and sliced it in half with the blade and left Aria to dispose of the rest.
"That was Blade." Alex said as he pulled out the last power he could show without structural damage (He held back Musclemass because he thought it would be unimpressive): Whipfist. He pulled it out and judging by reactions, Dash was unimpressed by the size of the blade (compared to the others). Alex smirked and threw a rock in the air and split it in half with Whipfist and grabbed one half, while Aria grabbed the other. They both threw it into the forest and bowed to the ponies with their eyes wide and jaws on the floor while they dismissed their powers.
"And that was Whipfist." Alex said.
The Princesses had been flying to Ponyville, when she saw a rock get split in midair by something. Oh no... Celestia commanded the guards to land outside the forest near the ponies and the humans.
"That.Was.AWESOME!!!" Rainbow couldn't help it. She knows when she sees something awesome.
"Thanks." Alex felt pride. No one had ever said that his or his daughter's powers were awesome before. They usually only screamed before they died. The next thing Alex knew was that he was flying through the air and into a tree, which snapped from his body weight and momentum. Aria ran to her father.
"Dad! Are you okay?"
"Aria, you know I've been through worse." Alex said as he got up.
"That's true." Aria said with a giggle.
"That doesn't mean I'm letting whoever did that get away with it."
"Don't hurt her too bad." Alex agreed and ran for the Princess, fists prepared to strike. He wanted to gauge the ability of his opponents before going all out. Celestia fired another knockback spell, which Alex simply ran through.
"Same trick won't work on me twice." Alex charged forward and delivered a ground shaking punch to the Princess' shield, shattering it. What kind of human is this? He's shrugging off my attacks and he broke my shield! Before she could think further, Alex reared his hands back and pushed forward with his Palm Slam attack that sent her flying. Before she could steady herself, she felt something grab her leg and pull her to her attacker, then get thrown into a tree. One of the guards rushed forward to meet Alex, only for him to be flicked into the air and the other fired a fire spell that charged into a firestorm and Alex merely basked in it's flame.
"Napalm hurts more than this. That said, I don't get hurt." Alex said as he slammed his fists together and the shockwave dispersed the flame and the unicorn fainted from exhaustion. The Princess got up and charged a spell that was the Equestrian equivalent of a nuke.
"Oh, finally deciding to get serious, are we? Go ahead, try it." Alex challenged her. Celestia fired the spell in a concentrated beam and Alex merely stood there, grinning . The beam hit Alex and the explosion rocked the earth and dust flew into the air, making it hard to see.strange creature walked out of it. The armor receded into it's flesh and revealed Alex with a devilish smile on his face.
"Impressive. Any other human would have been vaporized. But I'm not a normal human." Alex brought out his claws and charged at the Princess, only to be stopped by Fluttershy's stare. Somehow, this simple animal stopped him by looking at him. Alex merely turned on his thermal vision to scare her off and continued. Alex dug his claws into the Princess, eliciting a pained scream that could shatter his eardrums if he had any, which Alex found annoying, so he ripped out her throat, killing her........Laughing !
"I don't believe we've met. My name is Alex Mercer and my daughter over there," Alex pointed over to the tree he crashed into, where Aria was standing and waving. "Is Aria. Who is the one who attacked me?" Luna shrank back a bit, but held her ground.
"She is Celestia. My sister. And you almost killed her!" Alex laughed.
"I only did because she attacked first. You must be the Princesses." Luna became even angrier when he knew that they were royalty and didn't even try to talk. No one is that stupid.
"You knew? If you knew, why did you fight back?" Luna was just curious now.
"I really hate the conceited type who think they can win, when they know they can't. Also, I don't have much faith in high authority." Alex simply walked over to his daughter.
"Why?" Luna asked.
"As you have seen, I'm different." Alex said, pulling down his hood.
"So not every human has those powers?" Alex was shocked and amused. He didn't think these ponies were that dense.
"Are you joking? Humans don't have powers or magic. But they're smart and can create advanced tools to help in their daily endeavors." Alex said with a sigh.
"You speak like you're not one of them." Luna said.
"I'm not. At least not entirely." The ponies backed him up telling the Princesses his story. All the way from the company to the black hole generator.
"So you're a living virus?" Celestia said, getting in front of the ponies. Alex just laughed.
"I am. But you don't have to worry. I can only infect something if I want to, and that's the last thing I want to do here." The Princesses relaxed, knowing he was telling the truth.
"Dad, I think we should tell them the whole story." Aria said.
"Alright, but let's do that when we're not outside." Alex said, looking up to the sky.
They returned to the tree home, with Alex and Aria sneaking in through the back. Alex sat down next to his daughter in front of the ponies.
"What's a morgue?" Alex smirked and answered.
"It's a place where they store dead bodies to find out the cause of someone's death." Alex snickered as the ponies reacted with disgust.
"Why would they do that?" Twilight asked with a look of disgust on her face.
"Like I said, to find out the cause of death. Moving on, I ran out of the morgue, only to be chased by a chopper." Twilight asked another question.
"What's a chopper?" Alex didn't find it surprising they'd ask questions like this.
"It's short for helicopter. It's an aerial transport vehicle for the military, armed to the teeth. Rockets. .50 caliber guns and enough room to carry 6 soldiers. Moving on, I got chased about 3 blocks and it shot a rocket at me. I got hit, and I grabbed a car and threw it at it."
"What's a car?"
"It's like a chariot, except you don't need anyone pulling it. Oh yeah, the fastest car on earth can go 300 mph. At least, that's what I think." Rainbow's eyes widened at this, but she kept herself from asking about it.
"Anyway, soon after that, I found my sister, Dana. She helped me clean up the city, little by little. Then came Greene. She was like me, except she controlled the infected and infected everything she touched." The ponies were shocked at this. Something that could infect something else just by touching them.
"I had to consume her, but there wasn't really a celebration. She kidnapped Dana and she pulled through a coma after I brought her to a doctor named Ragland. If she hadn't, well......... I would have a very different objective from saving the city." The ponies began to feel even more sorry for the two. They lost everything, even their memories! And they still wanted to save humanity.
"I met a man named Captain Cross. He helped me by telling me about the D-code supersoldiers and BLOODTOX. BLOODTOX was a poison against Blacklight, but I built up immunity and destroyed the stuff before it could spread. D-codes were supersoldiers enhanced by another strain of Blacklight. The strain was a lot weaker, but safer. They were really annoying in the fact that they could track me wherever I went." Alex paused to let the ponies catch their breath. He couldn't blame them. Not many can sit through his story without feeling even a little bad about it.
"He helped me again by helping me get aboard the USS Ronald Reagan and fight the Supreme Hunter. After I consumed it, I had to fly a nuke out of range from the city. It blew before I could get out of range of the blast, and I was reduced to nothing more than a puddle of biomass. I managed to consume a crow and regenerate." The ponies were confused and shocked.
"What's a nuke?" Twilight asked.
"It's a bomb that can destroy anything in a 2 mile radius." Alex shuddered at the memory. Sure, he was more resistant to explosive damage now, but he didn't want to test it out.
"2 miles!?" Everypony had their jaws on the floor.
"Yes, I found out that humanity was as evil as Blackwatch. Each individual, no matter how nice they were, only cared for themselves. I decided to end that stupidity by releasing the virus and giving them a Hive mind and ending all the wars. I needed a lieutenant in my plan, so I infected a soldier named James Heller. He kept on screwing up my plans, so I had to consume him. After I saw what I did to his daughter and my sister had died.... I just.... I didn't know what to do. I wandered the city feeling dead. I didn't speak, I didn't fight as well as I used to. Then I found Aria." Alex gestured to Aria, who had tears beginning to form in her eyes.
"She was running from infected and I rescued her. She had a bad life. She had abusive parents and they soon died along with her friends during the infection. She agreed that I would infect her and teach her how to survive and gain powers, under the condition that I treat her like the father that everyone but her could have." Aria couldn't hold back the tears. She just cried softly into Alex's chest while he stroked her back.
"Shhh.... It's okay. I'm here for you." Alex soothed Aria and wiped away her tears.
"There. You feel better?" Alex said with a smile. Aria simply gave a nod and rested her head on Alex's chest.
"I think we should continue this tomorrow." Alex said, holding Aria. The ponies understood and all slept in Twilight's library.
While the ponies were asleep, Alex was watching over Aria, who was also asleep. You deserve a good life.... Alex thought as he curled up next to his daughter and fell into the blissful state of sleep that was never necessary for infected.
Alex woke up pretty early (such as his instincts from the Red Zone) and he decided to go for a walk (you should know what he means by walk now). Alex ran through the town, only to find the limits of the town within seconds.
Really? Ugh, I need to stretch my legs and this town won't do. Alex thought as he ran for the Everfree forest. Aria woke up to find that Alex wasn't next to her. He must have gone stir-crazy and run off into town. Or the forest. Aria slipped out the door and sure enough, Alex was nowhere to be found.
Dear Ponies, Me and dad have gone to the forest to stretch our legs.
Aria
With that, Aria ran off to the forest to find her father.
Alex was jumping from tree to tree and not really anything else. This was as close as he could get to the excitement of cutting down infected and soldiers in the NYZ. Alex was about to return to town when he heard a loud growl from his left. He looked and saw a blue bear the size of 2 Hunters staring at him with a Hunter's gaze.
"Now things get fun." Alex put on a sadistic smile as he caught the bear's paw with one hand and snapped it at the wrist. Alex didn't even give it time to cry out in agony as he grabbed the bear's head and planted his feet firmly on the bear's shoulders. With one swift move, he tore the bear's head off and consumed it.
Alex was about to run back to Ponyville to talk to the ponies, when he heard an even louder growl come from behind him. He looked and found an Ursa Major. An angry Ursa Major. And a pretty big one, too.
"Momma Bear's mad." Alex said as he pulled out Claws and charged at the angry, cosmic bear.
Aria ran into the forest an heard the sounds of battle not far from her location. I hope you didn't do anything stupid dad... Aria thought as she rushed to the source of the sound. She broke the treeline and was met with Alex riding an Ursa Major like you would a horse.
"I got bored and Smokey here, decided to come out and play!" Alex said with hardly contained joy as he felt the Ursa buck underneath him. As Alex and the Ursa zoomed just in front of Aria, she could swear Alex had his fist in the air as he wore a childish grin. Aria was just standing there, jaw planted in the ground for about 5 minutes, when Alex got bored of this and decided to consume the Ursa.
"This was fun, but I gotta end this." Alex said as he switched to Blade and rammed it into the Ursa's skull. Alex fell to the ground as the Ursa's memories flooded his mind. Mostly primal and instinctual memories but damn, there were tons of them.
"Dad! You okay?" Aria said as she leaned over her father, poking him with a stick.
"Yes Aria, I'm fine. That bear had a lot of memories." Alex said as he stood up.
"What the hell were you doing here?"Aria asked with an annoyed tone.
"I was going stir-crazy in the town. I suppose the virus is starting to adapt to longer periods of no fighting, but I still need to consume once in a while. You do too." Alex said, finally relaxed and not murderous.
"Why don't you go hunt something, something big. It'll help. I'll just go back to town and answer all the ponies' questions." Alex said just before running back to town.
"Dad's right. I'm going to need to consume something big if I want to live here peacefully." Aria sighed and ran deeper into the forest to find something to consume. Then she found it.
Celestia was the first to wake up. She began her daily ritual of raising the sun and by the time it ended, Twilight was already awake.
"What is it, Twilight?" Celestia was getting curious as to what would have Twilight so worried so early in the morning.
"Alex and Aria left a note!" Twilight said as she handed, err........ hoofed? it to the Princess of the Sun.
"They ran into the forest? We have to go find them!" Celestia said as she woke the rest of the Elements and Luna.
"Tia? What is it?" Luna asked with a yawn.
"Alex and Aria ran off into the forest!" That woke up Luna.
"We have to go get them!" Luna and Celestia bolted out the door, the Elements following close.
They ran to the edge of the forest with only one of them out of breath (Rarity) and they heard rapid footsteps coming from the forest. Alex emerged from the top of the trees, barreling towards the ponies very quickly. Alex shifted his weight and landed 6 inches front of the ponies. Perfect landing. The ponies flinched and spoke to Alex.
"Hm? She's still in the forest." Alex said nonchalantly. The ponies were horrified at Alex just leaving his only daughter in the Everfree forest.
"You just LEFT her in there!?" Rainbow Dash screamed in Alex's face. Alex simply gave her a deadpan stare.
"If I didn't think she could handle herself, do you think I would leave her alone? In a place like that?" Alex jerked his thumb over to the forest.
"I left her in there because I knew she could handle herself well, and I needed to get all your questions out of the way." Alex was getting a little ticked off by their reactions, but he kept his cool. How could they have known?
"Okay, here's a question. Why did you leave town?" Twilight asked with an irritated tone.
"Me and Aria were getting a little stir-crazy, so we decided to run around the forest. We ran into a little problem." Applejack interrupted.
"What kind of problem?" Alex responded accordingly.
"We ran into an Ursa Minor and Major." The ponies were shocked, to say the least. This guy took on an Ursa Minor AND a Major?
"What!? How did you survive?" Dash was really eager to hear another story from Alex.
"Simple. I consumed both of them." Alex said with pride. He didn't know what they were capable of, but it was obvious that killing an Ursa Minor AND Major IN A ROW has never happened before.
Twilight was curious about consuming the moment Alex said it a few days ago.
"Consuming is when I kill something and break down it's DNA structure to use as my own. In other words, I kill it and then I eat it. Then, I can use it's identity as a mask. I can take it's personality, it's speech patterns, everything. I can effectively lead a normal life with no one being the wiser." The ponies were disgusted and Alex chuckled at their reaction.
"You ATE your kind!?" Twilight and Fluttershy were disgusted to the point they looked like they were going to throw up.
"Yes, but I couldn't do anything about it. But, I have refined it so that I don't have to anymore. Not so much with Aria, but she's getting better." Alex heard a familiar growl coming from the forest, one that he swore he left behind the moment he left the NYZ.
Inside the forest, Aria found her meal without trouble. A Hydra poked each of its hungry heads out from the trees, saliva dripping onto the forest floor.
Somewhere in the Hydra's throat, Aria felt her forehead begin to pulse. A tick mark showed on her forehead and she spoke softly.
"Ewww.... This sucks..." She moaned as the unconscious Hydra head got up. It growled and it lunged, ready to finish what its brother started. Aria turned in time to see the head charging in. She grinned. She simply held her hand out at the head. As the head approached, Aria quickly shifted biomass to her arm to form a lance. The Hydra didn't see it coming. Its head crashed straight into the lance, the tip of the pointed biological weapon protruding from the other side of its head. Aria kicked the head off and began to feast on her meal. She jammed the lance into its head and began consuming it. Its many collective memories flooded her mind as she finished.
"Ahh... That was good.." She said as she walked towards the exit of the forest. Soon, she found the exit and she could hear a shout from the other side. She crouched low and saw that Alex was talking to the ponies. She was about to just walk up to them, but she had an idea. She snickered as she readied her means. This would be great.
Alex heard the growl and his mind began to race. No, no it's not possible. How could they... Alex was interrupted by a Brawler Hunter pouncing on him and knocking him to the ground. He quickly kicked it off and got into a combat stance as the ponies let out screams of terror.
Alex ran in and kicked the Hunter in the face. Normally, this would crush it's skull, but this one held it's ground and swiped at him with a claw and a roar. Alex moved back and realized what he was fighting.Aria, what the hell? Alex spoke with the Hive mind.
Just a little act to scare the ponies. Aria giggled in the Hive mind. Alex grinned at the thought. The Hunter took another swipe, only to meet air and get kicked in the back, causing it to fall to the ground. It rolled over and was met with Alex's blade in front of it's face.
Aria switched back and acknowledged defeat.
The silence was deafening and Alex decided to break it by saying two words.
"That.Was.AWESOME!!!" Dash exclaimed. Alex was about to say something, when Twilight piped up with a question.
"Not in Equestria, but on Earth. That, my dear ponies, was a Brawler Hunter. They're a common sight where we're from." Alex said as he ruffled Aria's hair.
Twilight was too shocked to react. Those things were a common sight where Alex was from? Luna asked another question.
"Of course. These things used to always come after us." Alex said. Twilight recovered and asked another question.
"Since those things were obviously made by the virus, are there more of them?" Twilight asked with a tremble in her voice.
"Yeah, tons of different strains. There's the Hydra, the Common Infected, the Hunter Leader, the Juggernaut and the Goliath. Just to name a few." Aria chimed in.
The ponies collectively decided to just shut up about such a matter and introduce them to the town to alleviate any fears that the town might have of them. If that would work, they could only find out.
Alex and Aria were almost late for the meeting, but they managed to cut it close. Thanks to their enhanced hearing, they heard the meeting proceeding.
".... Alex and Aria!" Alex cursed silently, grabbed Aria (bridal-style) and jumped towards the town. They landed right in the middle of the stage, Alex shifting his weight so he would not damage the stage.
Celestia had called for a meeting in town square about the two viral embodiments.
"What? Too much?" The figure with the hood said with a smirk.
As Alex put down Aria, she whispered to him.
"Y'all sure know how ta make an entrance." Applejack complimented with low whistle to accentuate her point. Alex moved up to the front of the stage and began the meeting.
"As you all know, we are the fabled humans. Our names are Alex" Alex gestured to himself. "And Aria Mercer." He gestured to Aria.
"We will be answering your questions to the best of our ability." For the first hour, they answered the same questions they were asked when they first got here. They even told the ponies the story of their lives. The ponies then asked if they were a danger to them.
"Yes, we are a danger. But, we only wish for all your safety. Therefore, we are only a danger to anyone who will try to hurt you." Alex responded. Some of the ponies were still skeptical about this, but all their skepticism was assuaged by the presence of the Princess and the trust that she would never put them in harm's way. Then came the questions about humanity. The questions seemed endless. After another hour or so of answering normal and strange questions (strange being Lyra's questions), the meeting ended and all the ponies went about their day as they always did.
Only one pony remained, and that was, of course, Lyra.
"Hi. You must be that unicorn that kept asking weird questions about human anatomy." Alex said as he knelt down to the ponies' level. Aria had always loved this pony. Aria scooped up the mint green pony in her hands and pulled her into a bear hug.
"You are so awesome! Lyra, right?" Aria recomposed herself and put down the pony who then gasped for air.
"Yeah! I was just wondering if we could hang out some time." Lyra really wanted to become friends with these humans.
"Eh, sure, why not?" Alex shrugged and got a face full of mint green as he was nearly tackled to the ground. If it weren't for his powers, he might've budged further than a step. Alex pried the unicorn from his face and stared into her eyes full of guilt. Alex just sighed and put down the unicorn.
"We'll hang out some other time." Alex said as he and Aria waved the pony off.
Lyra was ecstatic about meeting humans. She couldn't believe it! Real live humans! She couldn't resist running up to BonBon and rubbing it in. BonBon couldn't help but roll her eyes and continue with her day.
Deep within the Everfree forest, low, inhuman growls emanated from the forest. Roars, animalistic yelps and grunts came from the forest along with the sound of tearing flesh and roars of victory.
Aria was taking a walk near the forest, when she heard the growls and roars coming from the forest and immediately began to worry. She stood at the entrance and contacted Alex with the Hive mind.Dad! I think you should get over here!" Aria shouted mentally.
"Why? What's wrong?" Alex asked.
"I heard something in the forest, something very familiar." There was a short pause and Alex spoke again.
"Should we bring the ponies?" Alex wanted to let them know.
"Yes, go get them. I'll be waiting." Aria sat down facing the entrance of the forest, thinking to herself.
What the hell did we bring with us...? Alex pounded on the library door, somehow not breaking it with his godlike strength.
"Alex! What's wrong?" Twilight was startled by Alex's behavior.
"I need you to get the girls. There's something wrong with the forest." Alex said as he sped off to find Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy.
Alex and Twilight had gathered the ponies near the Everfree forest.
"Aria! What happened in the forest?" Alex asked, dreading the answer. Aria gave a look that confirmed Alex's fears.
"No. No, they couldn't have!" Alex shouted.
"They did." Aria said with a sad look.
"Alex! What is going on?" Twilight was out of breath as she asked. Alex gave her a worried look.
"The Hunters are in the forest." Alex dreaded this. Some of the most deadly infected in the NYZ had come to Equestria with them.
"Y-you mean that thing that Aria turned into?" Twilight was on the verge of breaking down and crying.
"Yes! We are going in there to stop them." Alex said as he and Aria made their way to the forest.
"Wait! We'll-" Twilight was stopped by Alex's steely glare.
"Stay. Here." Alex said, his gaze not leaving Twilight's. Twilight gave a fearful nod and Alex ran into the forest with Aria. Twilight broke down and just sat there, motionless.
Alex ran through the forest, all the while speaking to Aria and the sounds of death growing louder.
"They probably came in with us." Aria shouted back as they reached the source of the sound. They saw four Brawler Hunters that were tearing up Manticore corpses. The Hunters got into a combat stance, but they softened at he sight of the virus and his daughter. One of the Brawlers charged at Aria, knocked her down and started licking her face, much like a dog that sees their master after a long time.
"Biscuit! You followed us? Diana, Ragna, Nugget! You all followed us?" Aria asked the Hunters. They all nodded, except for Biscuit. He just kept licking Aria's face. Alex just laughed and eased up his stance.
"Looks like they didn't want to stay away for long." Alex gave another laugh. With their little Hunter pack, they felt like a family.
Biscuit was much like the regular Hunters, in terms of body build. But he was fast. Very fast. He could keep up with Alex and Aria if they decided to race. He was no slouch in the attack power department, either. Problem was his defense. Biscuit traded defense for speed. He had less armor, but still more than most Hunters.
Ragna was hunched over with his claws out. It was an evolutionary feat when he stood upright. He could match Alex in terms with his skills with the Claws (Yes, that includes Groundspike). Ragna was very powerful, indeed. He had longer and more powerful claws. He had very good armor, enough to deflect .50 caliber rounds from a gunship. His speed was average among the Hunters in Alex and Aria's pack. He could run upright. There really wasn't much wrong with him.
Nugget was hulking mass of death. She was almost as big as a Juggernaut. She had astronomical power and defense. Of course, that power and defense comes at a price. She had speed that was slower than a normal Hunter, and she was a little slower climbing buildings. Her strength allowed her to crush tanks with her bare claws. Her defense could deflect tank rounds, literally. Alex once saw her deflect a tank round and crush the tank. Her claws were much like the Supreme Hunter's claw, except it's on both arms.
Diana was like a slightly bigger version of the Leader Hunters: bigger claws, chitinous spiked armor, superior speed, power and defense. She was the leader when Alex and Aria weren't around. She may have had everything better than any other Leader Hunter, but she was not as good as the others who specialized in their respective fields.
Alex was leading them out of the forest, Aria all the while happily talking to the Hunters that she loved like family.
They eventually reached the treeline and Alex was starting to doubt himself. I hope this works......
Twilight had just recovered from Alex's little outburst.
"I don't know, but Alex and Aria seem to have it under control. They can take those things out no problem!" Rainbow Dash answered Twilight.
Soon, the sounds of footsteps permeated the air. Everypony was waiting with a hopeful look on their faces. They hoped that Alex solved the problem.
"A-Alex what are these things doing here?" Twilight was terrified out of her mind for standing so close to the Hunters. She stared at Biscuit as his saliva dripped down onto the ground, splashing a little on her hoof. She could feel her legs about to give way and she fought with every fiber of her being to stay conscious.
"These Hunters are different! They're like family to us, and we promise they won't hurt the ponies!" Alex wanted to convince them that their family wouldn't cause any trouble for the ponies.
"C-Can you promise they won't eat any ponies?" Twilight asked as she stared a Ragna's blood-soaked claws in absolute fear.
"Yes. I can infect them with my strain of the virus." Alex was proud of the plan he thought up just at that moment.
"What's that gunna do?" Applejack asked as Ragna licked his bloody claws, causing her to shudder. What good would come out of increasing their overall strength and speed?
"It'll make them faster, stronger, allow them to consume and break down DNA. But most importantly, It will allow them to control their primal instincts." Alex and Aria approved of the plan. All the ponies agreed except Twilight. Being the skeptic she is, she couldn't simply drop this topic.
"How do we know that they won't try to eat us in our sleep?" Alex just laughed.
"Normally, they would. But after being infected by my strain of the virus and being told not to eat any ponies, they won't." Alex stated.
"Alright, fine. I still don't like this idea." Twilight huffed.
Alex put a smile on his face and proceeded to jam his claws in the Hunters to begin infecting them. The Hunters didn't even flinch. They were used to pain. All the Hunters got boosts in their already tremendous strength, power and defense.
Biscuit got armor similar to Alex's Shield power. He could now deflect .50 caliber rounds from a gunship. Alex and Aria could still outrun him, but he was nonetheless faster. His claws extended and grew bulkier.
Ragna now had claws similar to Heller's claws (Third power upgrade). He got the same armor as Biscuit. He could now deflect tank rounds. His overall leg strength increased and he could now run faster than Diana.
Nugget got even more armor and her musclemass compressed to look much more like a regular Hunter. The only thing that gave her away was her armor. She could now effectively survive thermobaric tanks. Her speed improved so she could run as fast as Diana.
Diana looked like an elite version of the Leader Hunters back in the NYZ. Improved speed, power and defense.
"Alright, I need you all to do a favor for me and Aria." Alex said to the Hunters, who listened intently.
"I need you all to not hurt any ponies. Oh yeah, don't build any hives, either." Alex said. Diana had a guilty look on her face as she communicated with the Hive mind."Alex, Aria. I have something to tell you." Diana said with a guilty look on her face.
"What is it?" Aria asked.
"I think we already started a hive." Diana looked away in shame.
"You did WHAT!?" Alex shouted.
"I'm sorry! It was an instinct!" Alex was quick to forgive.
"How many are there?" Alex asked.
"10 Brawler Hunters, 4 Juggernauts, a lot of Flyers and a couple of Hydras. If you want them to not infect anything, just tell them through the Hive mind." Alex did as he was told and sent a mental command to not infect anything.
"We gotta go. We'll see you before dark." Alex said as they all ran back into the forest.
They soon reached the hive, which thankfully, wasn't fully developed. The entrance was just a hole in the ground. They entered the hive and issued their strain of the virus with only one goal in mind: stopping their need to eat and infect. They placed the hive in a form of hibernation, one that would probably last for the next thirty years and they sealed off the hive.
"Just another extension of the family, I guess." Aria said with a shrug.
High atop the frigid crags of northern Griffonia, King Alden sits upon his throne in quiet contemplation. It had only been two days since that... creature had crashed into the cliff face behind the castle. It came from a rip in the sky that disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. With it came a shower of what appeared to be red, gray and black dust that tasted of iron, as reported by one of his soldiers. It was strange, to say the least. It appeared like a much thinner ape that stood upright, wearing strange clothes to cover what its black hair couldn't. It spoke strangely, calmly as it seemed to look down on Alden's soldiers as they took aim with their rifles. The creature was a blur of violence as it quickly ripped through the contingent of soldiers assembled to investigate it. It took some bargaining to get the creature to calm down, but it was not a hard request in the end. Simply find a fellow named Alex Mercer.
Author's Note
Yes, I named them what I named them in Prototype 2.
