5All right! This has been bugging me since I beat Dead Space 2: Just where the heck did the Ubermorph come from and why was it in the game? This is a one-shot I wrote to try and explain some logic behind this. I wrote a similar fic about the Hunter, Through Yellow Eyes, so I guess you could consider this the sister fic to that one. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think of it! :)
DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to Visceral Games and EA.
WARNING: There are Dead Space 2 spoilers throughout this story.
The "Chosen One".
Such an ironic name, wasn't it? For me, anyway. I was never one to believe in all that prophetic nonsense, but in that moment…I did. I really did.
And I sincerely wish I hadn't.
Shall I go back to the beginning? Before I found myself on the brink of death? Fine. This is how it all started…
I don't remember too much of my existence before I woke up, but when I did take in my first gaze of the world around me, the very first thing I noticed was that my vision was cloudy. I blinked all five of my eyes as I looked around, surveying the darkness of the room I was in. How did I get here? What was my purpose?
Blood. I could smell blood from a mile away, and it sent fear through every vein in my body. Why was there blood around? And screaming? I could hear the screaming as well. Some sort of disaster?
I shook my head. I wasn't sure if I was in danger or not, and I didn't want to stick around to find out.
I took one step forward, activating the blinding lights around me. Out of instinct, I threw one of my hands up in front of me…only to gape at my arm in response!
My skin was dark brown, but you could only tell if you got close enough to look at me. There were no rips or other serious lacerations that I could see; it was almost as if I was as good as new. I had two legs, two arms, and two extra appendages sprouting from my torso. I had no idea what they were for, but I supposed I would figure out soon enough.
Another ear-splitting scream made me jump a little bit, even though there was nobody around or even in my general vicinity. My guess was that I had supersonic hearing. Damn. Just what the hell was I that I had these…unusually sharp senses and near perfect appearance?
After getting used to the light, I continued to take a step forward until I reached a vent that was off to the side. With an inhuman growl that unnerved me, I ripped the cover off and climbed inside, crawling on all my limbs so that I could get around. I was determined to find out what was going on.
The screaming, which was already giving me a headache, only increased in volume, and I stopped to take a breather for a second. That was when it happened.
"My love…" an unfamiliar voice whispered. I whipped my head around; nobody else was in the vent with me. Was it all in my head? Or was someone really speaking to me?
"No, you're not imagining this," the voice replied as if it had been able to read my mind, "I want you to listen to me very carefully."
"Who are you?" I attempted to ask, though it only sounded out in grunts and groans, so I resorted to thoughts instead.
"I'm your guide. A prophet of sorts. You have a destiny to fulfill, my love."
What destiny? I questioned. This was getting stranger by the minute, and I wasn't going anywhere until my questions were answered.
"You will become a great leader. It's what you have been chosen for. This is your chance to do something worthwhile." I didn't reply as I continued to listen.
"Right now…there's a revolution taking place, and only you can lead everyone to the light. Go find your soldiers. They're waiting for you. Then, I'll give you your next mission." Before I could say anything else, the voice disappeared, leaving me to ponder my task.
Find soldiers, and build and army. How hard could it be?
Turned out it was going to be much more difficult than I had originally thought.
As time went on, I found I was struggling. I couldn't find whoever this mysterious voice was wanted me to find. Over time, I figured out why I was smelling blood and hearing screaming: an outbreak was taking place!
All around me, I saw nothing but the red liquid of life and other…creatures that eerily reminded me of me. The only thing that set me apart from them was that they looked like they had been through the mill; their skin was a lighter brown, almost bordering on green, and there were various tears all over their limbs. I shuddered. Why did they look like that, and why was I unharmed?
Suddenly, I began to hear a static noise that sounded like a radio coming into focus. Yes, that was it. I slowed down my crawling pace until I could make out the sound of the voice that I was picking up on. "Isaac!" it gasped, "They were afraid of us after the sessions. I remember! They took us to the machine! For our sessions! For the steps!"
"I don't remember any…sessions," another male voice-Isaac?-replied in a dubious voice.
"You're lucky you don't remember. When you do, he starts coming back." If I had eyebrows, I would have raised them in confusion. To who was this human referring?
"Who?" Isaac also asked, mirroring my thoughts, "Who comes back? Who?"
I crawled just a little bit further in time to see a rather skittish looking man with black hair and blue eyes down below. He was looking around frantically as he laid his eyes on something next to him. "Oh, look at you," he cooed, "You've grown up so much! Where are you going?"
"Stross, don't follow him!" Isaac warned, "He's not really there!" So this man-Stross-was hallucinating like I was? Did he hear a voice in his head? Did he see an apparition?
In that moment, I suddenly felt a pinching sensation in my body, and I was overcome by a sudden desire to follow this Stross character. He said something about remembering "sessions". So he had forgotten them before? Was it my job to make him remember?
Maybe it was.
With that, I continued to crawl, fixing two of my eyes on Stross and the other three on the path ahead of me, lest I collide into a sudden wall or something. I tried to be as quiet as possible so that he wouldn't see me approaching.
Finally, the vent ended, and I was forced to punch through the opening to get down to Stross's level. I must've been too loud or something; he jumped, whirled around, screamed, and began to run away.
That annoyed me. Why was he trying to run away from me? I was only trying to remind him of his past! Therefore, I roared in an attempt to get his attention as I flexed my fingers and stomped after him. "Come back!" I tried to shout, but it came out as something incomprehensible. Something a mere human wouldn't be able to understand.
Stross screamed again and began yelling, "No, no, no, no, no!" He stopped, picked up a screwdriver that was laying on the floor, and pointed it at me.
"S-stay away from me!" he stammered, his hands shaking as he pointed the weapon at me. Like that was going to do any significant damage to me. I just chuckled to myself as I advanced towards him, but he surprised me: just as I went to reach for him, he raised the screwdriver and poked one of my eyes.
"AHHHHH!" I screamed, stumbling back as Stross turned and fled. That was it! Now I was going to kill him!
"Yes, my love," the voice from earlier whispered reassuringly to me, "That's right. Tear him into little pieces! It's what you were born to do!"
To kill other living beings? That didn't seem right. Not at all. But at the exact same instant, instinct took over. A much more feral instinct that I didn't know I even had. It terrified me but at the same time…maybe that voice was right. Maybe I was born to kill.
I hated that thought.
With that in mind, I climbed into another vent and resumed stalking Stross. It seemed like the more he remembered, the stronger my pull to him was. Why, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that I had to get closer to him…to kill him.
I hated that thought, too.
A little while later, I peered through the vent to see Stross just circling back and forth as he broke out into a sweat. "Isaac," he started, "The steps. He wants me to follow the steps. Step one: crawl into the dark machine…"
"Stross, calm down," Isaac coaxed from his end, "He can't hurt you!"
"He wants me to go into the dark machine, Isaac. I can't go. She's in there. She's waiting for me."
"Stross…"
"Oh God, oh God, oh God…" Damn, this guy was paranoid, wasn't he?
"Stross, listen to me!" Isaac retorted, "You need to keep moving. Can you get to the train? Can you do that?"
Finally, I was in a position to get him. I crashed through the vent and charged towards Stross.
"He's coming. Can't talk!" he shouted, hanging up and running away from me once again. No! I wasn't going to let him get away this time! I also realized I was the "he" Stross had referred to before. I couldn't help but feel infuriated because of that. I wasn't even going to hurt him; he had been the one to slash me with a screwdriver first!
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard a loud explosion, and then felt a searing pain in my arm. "AHHH!" I screamed again, and when I glanced up, I saw Stross holding a Plasma Cutter out in front of him, though he didn't look like he knew what to do with it. I chanced a glance at my arm again, which had been detached from the rest of my body, leaving me in pain. Enraged, I sprinted towards Stross, and as I tried to swipe at him, he shot me again, this time in one of my legs. Grumbling, I used the remainder of my limbs to crawl towards him, and I was getting ready to grab his foot when he yelped, accidentally dropped the Plasma Cutter, and made a run for it. Damn it! He had gotten away again!
I felt all five of my eyes well up in tears of pain, and then I decided that I wouldn't cry over this. Besides, another, more liberating sensation was taking over, and when I swept my gaze over my body, I noticed I was regenerating an arm and legs! Whoa! I thought, I can regenerate limbs?
"Yes, you can, my love," the voice whispered soothingly, "Another indicator that you are perfect to serve a higher cause."
Wow, I thought, shaking my head and slowly readjusting to having all my body parts again. I stumbled through the hallway, following the sound of Stross's breathing. He couldn't be too far ahead. By the time I rounded a few more corners, I heard him whispering something to Isaac again.
"Isaac?" he stammered, "He's gone. Listen, the steps can destroy the Marker. Step 1: crawl into the dark machine. Step 2: the screws go tight, all around…" What? What the hell was he talking about?
"I don't understand," Isaac said.
I took a step that must have echoed off the walls, for Stross whirled around and gasped. "Oh God, he's back!" he cried, "No! No, no, no, no, no!" He pushed a table in front of him to block me and ran for it. Damn it, I thought, clenching my fist, I'll never be able to get him.
"Yes you will," the voice reassured me, "His time will come soon. Just find the soldiers. They're not too far now."
What I would soon find out was that the soldiers were hiding in plain sight.
How much time had passed since I last encountered Stross? Hours? Days? It felt like days.
In that time, I had learned more about my surroundings: I was on a space station called the Sprawl, and as I had deduced when I had first woken up, there was an outbreak. So far, many people had unfortunately fallen prey to the creatures doing the killing…Necromorphs. I shuddered as I glanced down at my hands. Was I one of them? I didn't look like the others, but it probably didn't matter. I killed just like they did. I cornered humans and had my way with them, even though it bothered me at first. They were no match for me.
"This is the army I was talking about," the voice explained, "You're doing your job. Keep going. Next, you need to convert Stross and Isaac."
Why? I thought. It was much easier to talk to the voice that way, I found.
"Because they're going to be the ones to complete your mission."
I felt slightly crestfallen. Oh, I thought, disappointed. I was hoping to do everything myself.
Suddenly, angry shouting broke me out of my daydreaming. As of now, I was in some sort of mines, seeing if either Isaac or Stross would make it over here. I had searched high and low for them throughout the rest of the Sprawl, but they had disappeared. Stross hadn't remembered anything else while I was around.
"Isaac!" an unfamiliar, female voice cried.
"Shh," Stross whispered, "It's gonna be okay, I promise. This won't hurt a bit. Cross my heart and hope to die…"
"Stross!" Isaac yelled. I tilted my head to the side so that I could hear what was going on. Too bad I couldn't see anything, damn it!
"Stick a needle in your eye…"
"Stross, God damn it!" Isaac snapped. Whatever was happening, it must have been life threatening. Even the few times I had encountered Stross, he had seemed dangerous. Wherever he was now, I would get him for sure.
I hurried up my crawling as I felt that pull again. I don't remember what happened between that transmission and my discovery later, so I'll just cut to the chase.
All I did was crawl around in my desperate search for either man, though I still wasn't sure why. I didn't bother to ask, for I assumed the answers would be revealed to me over time. Oh, they were, all right. They fucking were!
By the time I managed to get out of the vent I was in this time, I crashed to the ground to find a surprising sight: Stross dead on the ground with the screwdriver in his head!
Hey, I thought, gasping to myself, What happened here?
"Isaac took care of him," the voice answered, "He made the girl…lose depth perception in one eye and was about to do the same to Isaac. And…let's just say I decided to spice things up a little bit."
You…you made him do this? I asked, shocked, You made Stross snap and then Isaac kill him? How?
"Oh, that's my secret. If you finish your task, perhaps I'll tell you, too."
I frowned. Something about this was starting to feel wrong, but what could I do? I had already gotten so many soldiers together throughout the rest of my time on Titan Station.
"Now, take Stross's body and place him in the first hole you see. There should be an Infector in there waiting."
Why? What will happen?
"I think you can figure that out."
I sighed. This was starting to turn out suspicious, but I was so adamant about being the chosen one that I didn't care.
But I should have cared. I guess it's too late to take back everything, huh?
I did what the voice asked me to do anyway, carrying Stross over to the hole and watching as the Infector dragged him inside, not exposing me to the transformation that I had seen so many times over the last day or so.
"That's it," the voice whispered, "One down."
Something about that struck a nerve and refused to go away.
Finally.
After much wear and tear (and suffering from multiple lost limbs), I surveyed the scene around me with pride. Hundreds of Necromorphs waited in line, which, believe me, hadn't been easy. What they were waiting for, I wasn't sure, but I knew something big was about to happen. I just wasn't sure what.
Some of the Necromorphs in the back began getting restless, and in turn, so was I. What was about to happen?
"Any minute now," the voice said, "If I know Isaac like I think I do…"
And suddenly…
Whoosh! The bulkhead door in front of us burst open, and all the Necromorphs around me began rushing inside, even pushing past me violently to get to their destination.
W-whoa! I thought, What? What's going on?
"You've done it!" the voice complimented, "I think I'll take it from here!"
My good mood evaporated. What do you mean?
"Oh, didn't you figure it out by now? You've gotten my army together! There's no more use for you anymore!"
What are you talking about? I demanded, clenching my fists.
"Can't talk! I have a Convergence Event to start!"
No! Don't go! Come back here! But the voice was gone. Instead, I slowly entered the station, walking calmly in the midst of the chaos. Above all the din, I could hear yet another unfamiliar voice.
"You compromised the compound, you idiot!" it snapped, presumably to Isaac, "If any of them reach the Marker…Fall back! Fall back to the Marker Chamber! We have to seal it off!" The Marker? What was the Marker? Was that what was running the whole Convergence Event, whatever that meant? I wasn't sure, but I would find out.
Huffing, I continued on my way, taking out anybody that tried to attack me. I wasn't like these other Necromorphs. I could do things they couldn't. I was saved for something better than this.
So why didn't I feel like I was special?
"Because you're not," the voice hissed, reading my mind, "I only told you that so that you would do my work for me. The makers weren't enough. I knew it wouldn't be easy to get to them directly, so I manipulated the situation a little bit. And you got the Necromorphs together."
I don't understand, I thought.
"You think you're special, but really, you're just like all the other Necromorphs who are nothing more than mindless killing machines. Like all the lowly, pathetic humans who underestimated my power. Do you know who I am?"
The Marker?
"So you're not as stupid as I thought you were. Do you remember anything before you woke up?"
No.
"Well, allow me to remind you."
Suddenly, I felt a tug, and I stumbled forward, smacking my head on a vent. The millionth one I was going to crawl into today. Sighing, I ripped the cover off and went inside, trying to find the fastest way to Isaac.
What the hell was that for? I demanded once I was finished crawling and arrived in another large room.
"To be an indicator. Oh, I remember you from your old life. You're not that much different now than from then. You're still determined to carry out any task you're given, including getting the makers to remember."
As I continued to stumble, I blinked as the scenery changed. The blood on the walls around me disappeared and the labs were clean, before the outbreak happened, probably. I just stopped and looked around as a few apparitions appeared. One of them was Isaac.
"Patient Four…Isaac Clarke. Just completed his latest session and is now moving on to the interview after receiving the usual medication," a doctor with a white lab coat announced into a recorder. I blinked my eyes as he turned to face me, only he wasn't really looking at me. He was tall, with dark, brown hair, green eyes, and a pretty well-built physique. Dr. Michael Richardson, his nametag read.
"Well, Mr. Clarke," Michael began, "What can you tell me about the USG Ishimura?"
Isaac remained silent, glancing down at the floor as he wiped some blood out of his right eye.
"Isaac?" Michael asked in a slightly harsh tone.
"I…don't remember," the systems engineer whispered, not taking his eyes off the ground, "I don't remember anything."
"For God's sake, Isaac!" Michael snapped, "Surely, you remember something!"
"Enough, Dr. Richardson," the other doctor in the room, Edgar Foster, piped up, "I believe Isaac Clarke's been given the right amount of medication."
"But he's like dead weight to us! His mind is just one big cesspool! I've got to find a way to get him to reveal more secrets! Every time he remembers something, I'll be around."
"You do that, Doctor," Foster said nonchalantly, leading Isaac back to Stasis. Michael watched them leave and then headed down to the Marker Site, where the soon-to-be one-hundred story artifact was almost finished. Michael became enchanted with the idea of building another Marker. He wanted to understand it as much as the rest of EarthGov did, especially after the experiment on Aegis 7.
Perhaps he was a little too enchanted, for despite the fact that the Marker wasn't complete yet, some sort of effect was already taking place. He reached out and touched the side of the Marker when it happened.
Michael wasn't sure whether or not it was a freak accident, but out of nowhere, he suddenly heard a loud explosion just before everything went dark.
And he never woke up.
"Yes," the Marker whispered to me once the flashback ended, "You were that doctor from the explosion. I was trying to start the Convergence Event before I was finished, but you got too close. At the same time, one of the canisters near you exploded while you stood next to me and touched me. Because you came into direct contact with me, you became the regenerating Necromorph that you are, with all the codes from Isaac and Stross's heads. That's how I was able to communicate with you, my love. You're mine, and no higher cause, fake or not, is going to change that. I was able to manipulate the makers, so I did the same to you, too."
So you used me? I thought, feeling tears of rage prick my eyes, That's all I was to you? A pawn?
"I don't have time to form bonds with anybody. Not with Convergence at hand. You've been so good already, so why don't you go fetch Isaac? He's the most important piece of all."
No. I wouldn't do it! I wouldn't!
"Yes, you will. If you don't…" The Marker didn't need to finish the threat, for I was already sprinting away so that I could find Isaac. I had to warn him about the Marker's plans! He had to turn around and leave!
Unfortunately, that was how it all ended.
When I finally did manage to catch up to Isaac by the NoonTech Diagnostic Machine, he had suddenly remembered everything…which sent me into a tailspin. My opposing thoughts clashed in my head: warn Isaac…kill him…warn Isaac…kill him…
Kill him ended up winning.
I swooped in to try and slash him, but I was no match for him; it looked like he had every single weapon from the entire station. Very often, he used Stasis to slow me down and shoot my limbs off. I smirked as I felt my body parts regenerate for a few seconds before chasing him once again.
At the same time, though, I was disappointed: the "Chosen One" had been a hoax. It had just been a means for manipulation, which made me angry. The fact that the Marker was using us all for its own diabolical purposes was wrong. We didn't deserve this. Stross didn't deserve his fate, either.
The minute Isaac lured me into a room with a fan at one end of a tunnel, I knew this was going to be it. I still fought back anyway, even though I didn't see the point. I cut Isaac across the chest, though he just retaliated by whipping out a Contact Beam and using it to push me right into the fan itself. No, no, NO! I thought as I tried to fight against the force and the wind.
"Thank you, my love," the Marker thanked me with a snicker, "Isaac will be joining us soon."
That was the last thing I heard before everything went silent around me.
The Chosen One.
Yeah, I was chosen, all right.
Chosen to be a pawn.
Chosen to die.
