187The peaceful darkness was abruptly torn apart by a flash of fire and agony. It ate through his eyelids, dug into his skull, clawed into his throat and ripped at his skin. Breathing became impossible to do, each inhalation drawing in ember and ashes, scorching the vulnerable tissues inside of his chest.
He lurched into a standing position with a strangled choke, chest tightening and cutting off his air supply. Vicious bone talons broke skin, scales formed thick plates over soft flesh. His heart thudded against his ribcage, pumping blood and spreading a surge of adrenaline throughout his system.
Panic spiked when his legs tangled with something- he ripped free easily and lurched to the side, his leg hitting and shattering another obstacle. His shoulder made contact with a solid surface- a wall? He whirled around, claws snagging on the material briefly, then threw himself with his back against it. He hated having a wall to his back, but at least it meant his enemies could only attack him from one side.
Something doesn't add up.
He was still burning, but there was no fire. He was all alone in his own dark bedroom, ducked into a corner, claws out like he was going to fight a Hunter. A weak position and a bad way to wake up- He realized that his own pulse was hammering away at the inside of his chest and his breathing irregular- too fast to actually gain oxygen, too shallow to reach his lungs.
He grimaced and had to force himself to slow down, take deep breaths- just like his instructor told him to avoid a panic attack. But this- this wasn't a panic attack, was it? He was still feeling the pain, could still smell the scorched flesh, the ashes and smoke- but he was unharmed. There was no fire, and the only damages he could see were those he caused himself. He had shredded his own blanket, the down feathers were softly drifting through the still air. He had shattered his nightstand, his electronic clock was broken. The wall sported deep gashes that matched his claws. His shirt was torn where his spikes had snagged on the material.
The damage was...neglectable, when compared to his first freak out in Manhattan, when he had taken out two walls and completely thrashed three rooms.
Then he heard steps, and his hackles came back up again. Without a conscious thought, his teeth were bared and a low growl worked itself out of his throat.
"Daddy?"
Heller choked himself off, muscles locking him down like a deer caught in headlights. Maya stood in the doorway, worry on her little face as she twisted her fingers into the hem of her purple pajamas. "Did you have a bad dream again?"
Again, because that wasn't the first time, wasn't the first time she had witnessed it. But it had been a while since his last. He groaned once and ran his paw over his scalp, then dropped heavily on his bed with a fresh shower of down feathers, burying his face in his palms with a huff. Fuck.
Maya eyed him for a moment, then slowly approached him and pulled herself up to sit besides him. "Was it mommy again?"
"Not this time", he gruffly admitted. Hadn't been Colette for a while now. He dropped his hands on his knees and stared at them, willing them to change back. "Sorry for waking you."
Maya shrugged and leaned against his side, watching the scales slowly turn back into normal skin. "I was thirsty anyways, so I went to get a glass of water."
Heller snorted. "Yeah, that is a lie."
She made a face. "I didn't want you to worry."
"I always worry about you. That's my job. And I'm afraid I'd hurt you accidentally."
"You won't", she told him earnestly. "And I know to leave you alone until you've calmed down again." Maya cocked her head. "What did you dream about? Uncle Ragland said talking about it might help to deal with it."
Heller furrowed his brows. What had he been dreaming about? "I think I was burning. No clear pictures, just the feeling of being on fire, of not being able to breathe." Usually, it were vivid images and memories (often not even his own). "And I think I was fighting something bad. Something that scared me."
"The big monster that killed mommy?"
"I don't think so", He didn't like to remember the Supreme Hunter that he had personally taken down, even though it was a big achievement to defeat a thing that was as strong and clever as it had been. "It was just something big, and I was burning."
It was pretty vivid for a dream, he had to admit.
Maya hummed, then pointed at his hands that were back to normal again. "Does it hurt?"
"Not a lot", Heller told her. "Just a form of numbness like you've slept on it." Takes a while to reconnect the nervous tissue that got removed in the transformation anyways. He also lost his fingerprints on his first transformation. Had been kind of informative coming up with some excuse as to why without admitting he was a science experiment. He figured Hetty knew the real reason, though, just played along.
Maya shrugged. "Oh well. I guess you do need someone to look after you."
"Really?"
"You can lift cars and beat up giant monsters, but you are a mess on your own", Maya declared, puffing out her chest.
Heller arched one eyebrow. "Did Dana tell you to say that?"
"Yup", Maya beamed at him. Heller frowned a little, knowing that the thought of Dana triggered something inside his head. He wasn't sure what it was, however, because his head still hurt. With a grunt, he shook himself slightly.
"Since we are at secrets, what are your nightmares about?"
"I'm always alone. Nobody is there. Not you, not mommy, not Uncle Ragland, or Dana or Alex or Uncle Cross. Not even the mean men. And I call and call and nobody answers. And then I wake up."
"And you come over to steal my blanket."
"Because you are there and you are warm", Maya pointed out. Something clicked inside his head.
There, and Alone. Maya had said. Heller realized that he was alone. Inside his head. He shouldn't be, had never been since the last two years. He could always hear the voices of the people inside his head, sometimes even managed to listen and learn from them. A side effect of being infected with Blacklight- he was part of the Hive, could always hear it.
But the Hive wasn't There anymore.
His head was silent, and it scared him. Where did it go? Why couldn't he hear it anymore?
...The fire.
It wasn't a dream.
It were real time experience. From the other end of the Hive Mind. Now there was silence where before had been countless voices. And that was a very bad sign.
His eyes flashed and his world turned muddy, with only him glowing faintly white. He lifted one hand to his head to help him focus, and just spoke one word. "Mercer?"
Maya's head poked up, her eyes settled on his face as he focused. But she didn't say a word. Neither did he.
Heller felt his pulse speed up. "Hey, Mercer. Say something" There was nothing. Not even a growl- and he knew for fact that this guy would have heard him on the first word and would have had a cruel retort.
Shit
That was not good.
Maya was looking at him now, fully alert, and she wordlessly slipped off his bed as he got up and grabbed his phone from the nightstand opposite of his bed, already punching in a number. "C'mon", he snarled with a slight panic in his voice. "Answer the damn phone." There was no reply however, only a robotic female voice that told him the number was not accessible.
"They don't answer their phone", he muttered, eyes narrowing.
"Alex and Dana?" Maya asked with a small gasp. "Are they okay?"
"I don't know." Heller tried another number and let it ring. This time, it was answered nearly immediately. "Speak"
"Cross", Heller didn't have time to waste. "Mercer. Something's wrong."
There was a short pause. Cross knew better than to ignore his gut feeling. "Wrong? How?"
"The Hive Mind. It's gone. Can't get Dana on the phone either." He grit his teeth. "They're still in Empire, aren't they?"
The Blackwatch soldier didn't reply, but Heller heard muffled voices in the background. "Switch on the news", he said simply.
"What?"
"Do it. USTV."
He hurried into the living room, Maya following him close-by, and quickly found the remote control.
"-we're here at Empire City, where just a few minutes before a catastrophe took place." Heller froze, eyes locking on the woman on the screen. 'Linda Kaufman', her name tag said. "Witness reports are confused as to what happened, though all seem to claim a...burning giant appeared out of nowhere."
"Fuck", Heller breathed, echoing what Cross exclaimed at the same time. "We are currently trying to find out what happened, though it seems this...being appeared at Archer Square, before making its way towards the docks and...destroying everything on its way before it...disappeared. We have no information about the amount of casualties but we can be certain-" She swallowed and tried to wipe a tear off her cheek, "We can be certain that this new catastrophe overshadows the explosion that happened a scarce two months ago."
"Fuck", Heller snarled, not hearing the voice of the reporter anymore. A giant being? What in the Hell-?!
"It looks like this could be something about this Conduit bullshit from last time." Cross growled.
Conduits...yeah, he remembered the news report from a month back, from after the situation in Empire boiled over. He also remembered he shouted at Mercer for a good two hours, for blatantly disregarding his cover and going all out, attacking and killing God knew how many Marines to protect the people of Empire from being gunned down.
But now? Now he was worried. An alleged giant had attacked the city Mercer had been in, had caused massive casualties. And the Hive Mind became lost. At the same time, he dreamed of- no, experienced-being burnt alive.
"Fuck", he growled again.
"Daddy?" Maya tugged at his pant legs, but was still staring at the screen. "Daddy, wasn't that the city where Alex and Dana were?" Her voice was distressed, and tears started forming at her eyes. He quickly picked her up and cradled her against his shoulder while Maya whimpered, pressing her face into his chest. He shut off the television, so she wouldn't be exposed to more bad news. "They should be fine." He tried to sound convincing, but he could tell that he hardly did. "You remember how he told us he survived a bloody nuke? He's okay. And when he's okay, Dana will be too."
Maya whimpered, signaling that she didn't believe a single word. Heller didn't, either.
Cross growled. "Whatever this was, it caught us with our pants down. Fuck." He was yelling something at somebody, then turned back to his phone. "I'll head over there, check things out."
"Cross- wasn't there this Electric Man over there too?" He thought he'd heard something of the sort, but wasn't sure. Not anymore.
"MacGrath. I don't know what he is to Mercer, but far I heard, he was the only Conduit in Empire." Cross muttered under his breath.
"Shit, think that was him, just went nuts?" Heller was told that Conduits were bioweapons, much like D-Codes were. Who knew how stable they were, both physical and mentally?
"That's what I'm going to find out", Cross scoffed. "I'll keep you in the loop if something comes up." There was a short pause. "Make sure you are ready to leave at a moment's notice. It is possible HADES is needed in the foreseeable future."
The connection was cut. Heller scowled at the TV screen, even while rubbing Maya's back. She was crying against his shoulder, clinging to him with all her might. She was scared that she had just lost the remains of her family. And Heller could not tell her that everything was alright, because it was not- some thing just wiped out part of a giant and crowded city. And without any possibility to figure out what the Hell had happened, they were rendered blind and helpless, were forced to wait until something changed.
He was fucking sure that whatever was going to happen, it was going to be way worse than what already had transpired.
At the back of his skull, the Hive remained silent, leaving only the thunder of his own pulse in his ears and the fading taste of ash and copper on his tongue.
Fort Detrick resembled a chicken coop. Everybody and their grandmother were rushing from one end to the other, swearing, arguing, yelling for supplies. Within moments the entire situation had changed, and they were trying to turn things in their favor. Last month they had been forced into a truce when Mercer blackmailed them by blatantly threatening them to air their dirty laundry. While usually an action like that would be quickly silenced, Mercer specifically made it so they couldn't.
There were too many people aware of him since he'd been on national and international television, too many people for Blackwatch to silence- so all they could do was to stare at him and shake their fists in powerless anger. Rooks claimed they were keeping their assets under watch, but he was fooling nobody. In truth, Blackwatch was tearing at their collective hair as they tried to figure out how to deal with the Runner now.
For an entire month, Mercer had been aware of it, had gone to watch their compound at Empire much like they watched him. Neither were willing to make the first move, so all either could do was look for an opening. Something to pry from without the many eyes watching them.
They've been at a stalemate. The appearance of whatever this thing had been took all of them by surprise and turned everything upside-down. Their staring contest forgotten.
ZEUS, gone. Blackwatch thrown into turmoil because something happened and they had no way to react. After the first panicking minutes, reports from their base at Empire came trickling in, and the men demanded orders to follow. Something to do, because they had no idea what they could do themselves. What they reported, however, was more than just worrisome. There had been basically no warning at all when what witnesses described as 'burning giant' suddenly popped into existence and just removed half of Empire's Neon District off the face of earth with the force of a nuclear warhead, before it vanished in a massive plume of smoke and embers near the docks. Thousands dead already.
The first, mad thought most of them at Detrick had was that ZEUS now finally was tired of all of this and just showed them how little they really were. Then realization set in and that truth was a lot harder to swallow.
Mercer was a biological weapon, and should he ever decide to take over, the effect would have been a lot slower and much less destructive than this sudden and abrupt devastation. No, this thing was something else entirely, a living nuclear warhead- and it had just casually wiped half the city off the map.
Nobody in Blackwatch knew what exactly it was, but the possibility it was a repeated performance from two months back was high. Which meant Conduit activity.
According to Moya Jones' researches, Conduits were the newest version of bioweapons. Individuals who possessed powers way superior to any Runner, while at the same time, being capable of creating own drones.
And whatever just happened, Blackwatch was going to want it.
That was why Cross was the first on the first Blackhawk bound for Empire, combat gear already in place with his Wisemen at his back. The other first responders didn't question it, knowing perfectly well that the Wisemen's target had always been ZEUS. Under his orders, his team had spread the rumors that they would hunt that thing down should it ever become necessary. He suspected it weren't very good rumors, though, since there had been several witnesses who saw them working with Mercer during the first and second outbreak, though Rooks didn't seem to mind. On the contrary, even, he'd always given him and his team way more leeway than any other member of Blackwatch had.
It suited him perfectly, because Cross wanted to be the first to get to Mercer anyways, but for a whole different reason than what he pretended. He had to get him out of the city and away from Blackwatch- if he was still alive, that was. Though what Heller said made him concerned. A lost Hive Mind meant that the source was gone. He'd seen it before, when Greene died and her brood lost all control.
And that possibly meant that Mercer was gone for good- though even then Cross had to make sure that Blackwatch wouldn't get any sample of Blacklight into their hands. He held no illusions that, no matter what human catastrophe just happened, his own bosses would only all too gladly take the virus back and continue where they left off, with no concern whatsoever for the souls lost in the process.
No matter the thoughts he himself held. He could have potentially lost his strongest ally, something of a friend, maybe, yet if he came across his remains, he had to make sure they became impossible to be taken. No matter his own feelings.
This whole incident had happened mere half an hour ago, and the reality of it hadn't sunk in yet. But as he and his Wisemen piled into MacAlistair's Blackhawk, the first to leave for Empire, he couldn't stop the bile from rising in his throat. What was he going to find? How many had died already? Would they even know what they were looking for?
Would they even have a chance?
The job was already bad enough, but the realization that even with their watchful eyes shit like that just kept happening sat uncomfortable in his bones. What even was their purpose when the same people he was sworn to protect kept dying left and right? The Red Line was long gone, there was nothing to hold anymore if any body could be a potential weapon of mass destruction.
Runners had been bad enough, creatures twisted by sickness. But they had to obey some rules, which made fighting them easy. They needed bodies to spread, they needed time to set up, they needed enough people to hide behind.
But these Conduits? Nothing they did followed a logic. There were men who wielded natural powers like an extension of their own bodies, there were bastards capable of lifting metal using nothing more than their minds, people who could control others simply by poisoning their water. There were creatures that could heal by absorbing the bioelectrical signals right out of a human body without even having contact, some could shoot lasers from their eyes or turn invisible or teleport.
And worse, they were alone, but still able to take out hundreds of men at once. Hell, this big thing? It was a Conduit. Must have been. And it alone had managed to devastate most of a city just by appearing.
They made Runners, even such fearsome ones like Greene or Mercer, look completely obsolete, harmless in their limited abilities. They made Blackwatch look obsolete. A relic of a time long past, when war was simple men against men and men against monsters. Now it was men fighting gods.
Whoever had created these human weapons lost control of them the second they had been unleashed.
"Sir?" Cross tilted his head slightly, just enough to eye Fernandez, who sat besides him. "With all due respect, but what is going on? Nobody's telling us anything."
Cross's lips twitched downwards. This here, this wasn't Blackwatch's usual willful neglect of the need-to-know-basis in their own men. This was just as worse. Because this time, they had no idea.
"I don't know either", he grit out, "We had some reports, but there's only little consistency." He had thought it would be a normal day with him training the new recruits. Instead he was now heading into an active disaster area to hunt for a biological weapon who might or might not be already dead.
Across from him, Santos clutched her rifle. "...could this be ZEUS?"
Cross shook his head. "That's a definite No. We know what an outbreak looks like, and that wasn't one. More even, ZEUS had remained docile during the last month, despite knowing fully well where Blackwatch was in Empire- and that's as much as a peace treaty as it gets. Our scanners didn't pick up an increase in Blacklight either, so I'd say that he's out of the woods on that one. This was something else."
"But what else?"
"You know of Conduits?"
Anders cleared his throat. "Conduits...like the Electric Man?" They had files on that kid, even if they were hilariously thin, just contained a few personal information.
"Yeah, that's one of them", Cross confirmed. "So here's what we know: We're about to head into Empire City. Just at sun-up it fell victim to an attack of unknown nature. Numbers of casualties are currently unknown. At the same, as we know, Mercer's in that place. This attack, or whatever it was, will have probably gotten his attention, if not outright kicked his ass- and I'm afraid it's the latter actually."
"'Afraid', sir?" Jackson arched one eyebrow.
"Heller contacted me", the Specialist grunted. "Said he lost contact to the Hive Mind. So I guess we have to assume the worst. And you know what happens if it is the worst."
The grim expressions of his team told him enough. If Mercer was injured enough, he wouldn't make a difference between friend and foe. The Specialist cleared his throat. "I know this will get me court-martialed if I tell you that, but any trace you can find of Blacklight you will report to me. We have to prevent another Manhattan from happening, and I certainly don't trust the upper echelons to not fuck it up."
"Word", Estoban grunted. "You think they'll continue the viral research?"
"Think? He knows, man", Redstone scoffed. "You know what kind of assholes we work for."
"Assholes kept me out of prison and pay well", the other shrugged. "Just wanting to know where we stand."
Cross nodded briefly. "Now you do. While we are at it, I want you to keep an eye out for MacGrath. You know, the so-called 'Electric Man'."
"Fucking dumb name", Santos muttered under her breath.
"He's a Conduit, in case you didn't know", Cross continued. "It's almost like a Runner, only without the viral aspect. He's got enhanced strength, durability, regenerative factor- not on the level of our D-Codes, though", he nodded towards Grayson, who just bowed his head. "However, his additional powers can be best described as comic book", he winced slightly before continuing. "He can shoot lightning from his hands and drain all kinds of electricity, biological included. If someone knows where Mercer is, it'll be him or Dana, but we know that she won't be out in the open. MacGrath himself will not be not very happy to play ball with us, so we'll need to be convincing. However, I have no fucking clue how he falls into this current situation. If he was the only to blow the city to high Hell, he's going to be even less inclined to help."
"We'll deal with that if it comes to it, actually", Anders commented. "So, find ZEUS, or anything left of him. And then?"
"We decide then", Cross pointed out. "But our job is to stop this entire shit, and that means, we need to be quick about it."
MacAlistair cleared his throat. "We're approaching Empire. Hold on, ladies." Cross got up and headed over to him and Estoban, glancing outside and at the city that came up in front of them. He swallowed involuntary, eyes narrowing. There was a giant black hole in the middle of the Neon District, with a long track of rubble and destroyed buildings running in a straight line towards the harbor. Fires were still burning all over the place, spewing black smoke into the rising sun. Cross could see blue lights flashing down there and other helicopters circling the air- rescue teams already at work. He wondered just how many people have been killed in this. He wondered where Mercer was. Down there with MacGrath? Or dead?
Both must have fought the 'burning giant', and Heller had claimed he had lost the Hive Mind connection. But he had to look. Had to see for himself.
He froze out of instinct, head snapping up. They were flying towards the East, directly into the rising sun- but why was there a second sun just North of them?
...It wasn't a sun.
Something else entirely. Like a flat plane of fire in the middle of the old Historic Crater. It was pulsing, wisps of flames surging out and retreating as if it was breathing.
And it was constantly becoming faster.
Cross hissed, then grabbed the MacAlistair's shoulder hard. "Turn around!" He snapped, "And get us down! Now!"
"Boss?" The pilot looked a little bewildered, but then he spotted the pulsing object. Without questioning, he instantly did as he was told, and Cross quickly hurried back to his seat to strap himself in.
When the chopper spun away from the city, the light became brighter, changing into hues of orange and red before it spontaneously turned white. Cross's hands tightened around one of the handles, just seconds before the shockwave hit. The roar was deafening, and the force of the blow just tore the helicopter's rotor clean off. Metal groaned and alerts shrieked at them. The pilot swore under his breaths as the combined momentum of their own motion and the shockwave hurtled the Blackhawk through the air. The trees were coming closer fast, and all Cross could do was try to brace himself for the inevitable crash.
He didn't remember the impact, but when he came to- and that was worrisome in itself, he didn't remember passing out- he was on the ground and his head felt like it was going to split open. Should've worn a helmet
He grunted and attempted to sit up, but a strong pair of hands stopped him. "Sir, you better stay down, you took a nasty hit."
"Tell me something I don't know", Cross grumbled, eyes focusing on the face above. Was Anders, and there was red smeared across his forehead and cheek. The Specialist blinked at the sun high above them. "How long was I out?"
"Two hours, sir", the other said. He grimaced. "Grayson dragged us all out of the wreckage." He attempted to grin, but it looked painful. "Guess his thick skull is good for something."
"Har-di-har", the D-Code snorted. "I'll remember that the next time and will pull you out last, Neil."
Cross grunted as he tried to sit up. Vertigo hit him like a sledgehammer and he had to lean back against a tree stump next to him. "The others?"
"We're fine, so far", Estoban commented as he moved into his line of sight. "All a bit shaken, but we got up by ourselves."
"Maybe you should think about retiring", Fernandez threw in. "You've been out the longest, Sir. Looks like that's a good sign that you should start taking it easier."
"I'll take it easier once I'm dead", the Specialist grit out, slowly getting up to stand with the help of Anders. He caught sight of the Blackhawk- a mess of twisted black metal resting over and under broken trees. MacAlistair and Jackson where picking through the wreckage, and he could hear the pilot swear under his breath. "Another chopper down. I lost more choppers in three years than I did in the eight before that."
Cross approached them. "Radio?"
"Broken"
"Fuck."
"We retrieved the flares, though", Jackson pointed out. "Reneé and Dan are heading for some elevated terrain to set them off."
"We found one", Santos claimed as she marched out of the underbrush. "And...you might want to see this shit."
"Lead the way", Cross grunted. Anders helped to stabilize him as the team abandoned the wreckage and followed after the woman. "Dan's on that hill", she explained as she led the way. "Trying to get the attention of somebody, but I'm afraid we're shit out of luck on that one."
"Why?" Fernandez questioned.
"Because", Santos shoved a few branches to the side to reveal Redstone perched on a small hill, glaring into the distance. And on the other side of the hill- a giant crater, filled with churning sea water. Half-melted roads ran into nothingness, rubble was dotting the edge of the hole or peeking from the choppy water. The remains of ships still bobbed sadly in the waves.
Empire City was gone. Ten million people gone.
"Rescuing us might suddenly not be on top of their priority list."
So...I'm going to do this. Originally, I wanted to wait with uploading until I'm finished with writing, but since I am working so slow without additional pressure, I'll start this since I have about half finished. You'll get a new chapter every Friday, unless something gets between me and the computer.
