THE MONSTROUS WAY OF LIFE

by

LenSilvan

EDIT 7/11/2019: Added 800 words at the end of this chapter to finish the battle.

Summary: BtVS YAHF. On Halloween 1997, Xander Harris dressed as a Confederate soldier. Part of the outfit happened to belong Confederate Major Jasper Hale (Twilight series). When Ethan's spell hit him Xander was turned into a Twilight vampire.

Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight series, Marvel comics (X-Men)

"By his monstrous way of life he seemed to have put himself beyond the limits of reality. Nothing moved him or spoke to him from the real world unless he heard it in an echo of the infuriated cries within him."

James Joyce ― A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

DISCLAIMER: Series trademarks, all publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is not in any way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, and makes no money from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

Prologue

The early Californian morning was cloudy as was Xander's mind, all through the night he had tried to cope with the century and half of the memories Jasper Hale had left behind. Strangely, Jasper's memories of his vampire life weren't the hardest for Xander to cope with, the memories of the vampire were pretty much what Xander had expected from a vampire with a soul. The memories that made Xander want to scream in terror were memories before Jasper had been turned.

Jasper had been only seventeen when he had joined the Confederate Army, and his memories of the Civil War terrified Xander. He now knew from the firsthand how gruesome war it had been. The suffering Jasper had gone through during the Civil War, and the terrible things he'd seen were much worse than anything Xander could imagine.

Xander now remembered the terrors of the Civil War, and he didn't want to have those memories. He was glad that he didn't need to sleep anymore, he didn't want to know what kind of nightmares Jasper's memories would give to him. He desperately wanted to get rid of Jasper's memories.

The back door of the Sunnydale High was open which Xander took as a good sign, it probably meant that Giles was in the Library. He glanced at the clock as he walked through the, all too familiar, hallways; it was six o'clock. When he got to the Library, it was empty, and he sighed in frustration and sat down. For a few moments, he just sat there, then he got bored and picked up the old, musty, book that was on the table. It was a fascinating book and helped pass the time.

After he had finished reading it, he put the book back on the table and went to get another book. He was reading the sixth book when the light laughter attracted his attention and Xander frowned when he saw that no one had come to the Library. When he recognized the voice of the girl, who was laughing, Xander hoped that she would not come to the Library. Not that he expected Harmony to enter the School on weekends.

Unless there'd be detention, of course, but he doubted that it was the case, Harmony was talking with Aura and, as far as Xander knew, Aura never had been given detention. Xander was somewhat relieved when the voices of Harmony and Aura faded away.

When he turned his eyes back to the book he was reading, he suddenly realized that it was written Classical Latin, and he read it as easily as he read comic books. Xander closed his eyes and brought to his mind what languages Jasper had learned in his long life. He then put the book down and went to the Demon section of the Library and picked a book written in French.

After he had turned a few pages, he put it back and picked up a book written in older Greek than Jasper had learned, but Xander still understood the most of it. He walked back to the table, speaking a few sentences in languages Jasper had learned. As he sat down, Xander was baffled; he now spoke seven languages. Eight if he counted English. Xander smirked, remembering how many times Giles had said that the language he and Buffy spoke was not English.

Suddenly Xander heard Buffy complaining to Giles about someone named Ethan. As he stood up to be ready to beg Giles to figure out a way for him to get rid of Jasper's memories, he happened to glance at the table. There were eight books on it, and he had read them all.

"How long have I been here?" Xander muttered turning to look at the clock and when he saw that it was 08:51 am his eyes widened. "Huh? I read eight books in less than three hours?"

When the twin doors opened, Xander lost all his coherent thoughts as the delicious smell of blood entered his nose. As he, guided by bloodlust, leaped on Giles, he noticed that the Librarian's knuckles were scabbed and bleeding. A terror flushed over his mind as he sunk his teeth into Giles' throat and ripped it open. Then, as fast as he had jumped on him, he got away from Giles.

He closed his eyes, trying to use Jasper's memories to get his bloodlust in control. He opened his eyes when he felt a pressure in his chest and saw Buffy's baffled eyes looking down at his chest. Xander glanced down and saw what baffled her; she had a splinter in her hand, and there were pieces of the stake on the floor; she had tried to stake him.

He then looked at Giles, lying in a huge puddle of blood. He had to use all his willpower not to go and lick that blood. That was the moment he realized that he had been turned into Jasper's kind of a vampire.

"Head," Xander said, looking into Buffy's eyes. "Cut off my head."

Buffy didn't hesitate, she went to the cage, opened it and took out a sword, and when she raised the sword, Xander leaned forward, exposing his neck. He heard a swoosh and then barely felt the hit on his neck. The blade only scratched his neck.

"What are you!?" Buffy asked, looking at the small scratch Xander's neck. "I hit as hard as I could, I used all my Slayer strength, and it only made a scratch!"

"I think that I'm sort of a vampire—" Xander paused, looking at Giles' body. "I'm sorry, I don't know how to die, Jasper was practically impossible to kill... I must go. I have to… find a place where there are no people," he said and ran out of the Library, out of the High School, out of Sunnydale.

Moments later, when the dense forest surrounding Sunnydale closed in around Xander, he zigzagged through the tangle of trees. As he moved down a path that grew ever steeper, the underbrush thickened, the trees were arching over him until they blotted out the pure blue of the sky.

He stopped running, the air was filled with the sounds of nature—birds, rodents, and large animals, all mingled with the hum and buzz of insects and the wind going through the leaves of the trees. Driven by his primal needs, Xander sniffed the air, trying to find a scent trail of something he could eat.

Soon he found the bear and leaped on it, sunk his teeth into its throat and ripped it open and drank. After he had killed the bear, he just stood there staring blankly at the horizon going through Jasper's memories, trying to figure out a way to kill himself.

But, as far as Jasper knew, only another vampire of his breed could kill him, and, as far as Xander knew, there weren't any others in this world. He had not ever heard about 'the cold ones.' For a long time, he stood there, feeling sorry for himself, silently crying. Then, at last, he sighed deeply and began to walk North.

And so the days passed on; Xander walked, hunted animals when hunger became too much to resist, and when he smelled cars, exhaust fumes, burning oil and wood, all kinds of smells of humanity in its worse, he turned away from them until one day he realized that he had not seen, heard or smelled any people in months.

He was still filled with grief and sorrow, but slowly, he had gotten used to living in the wilderness without any company, hunting wild animals. In there he was not a threat to anyone, and by the time the spring came he had started to like his life, there weren't any duties, no school, no need to worry what to do with his life, there was nothing but him and the wildlife.

Early June when Xander saw three helicopters, he wasn't worried, on his travels, he often saw airplanes and choppers. However, the third time they passed him by he began to wonder why they were circling around. The next time the helicopter came, Xander tuned his vampire ears on it and heard the description of the man they were hunting. The description matched himself to a tee.

Xander sighed, even though he had done his best to avoid humans, somehow he'd been noticed.

Xander ran away from them, getting higher and higher in the mountains. The coldness didn't bother him, nothing much did. Three days he hid there, but his hunger was fast becoming an issue. On the fourth night, he went hunting. He caught a wolf pack, ate three of them, trying to make sure that he had not killed the alpha, they had cubs, and Xander didn't want to wipe the whole pack out.

When he was about to leave, the army helicopters came again, and he got hit by a rain of bullets. The rapid gunfire didn't hurt him. Then, all of sudden an anti-tank missile hit him in the back. Before he got up, another missile hit him, and it was followed by a third shell, by which time he was so dazed that they managed to put shackles on him and before he knew what was happening he was lifted in the air by the helicopter.

Xander tried to break free, but the chains were too strong. He could climb up to the helicopter, but there'd be humans in there, and he was hungry. He didn't want to kill anyone.

All he could do was to hang there and wait for them to put him down.

They took him into some sort of military base and dropped him into a round room. Xander tried his best to break free from the shackles without success. "It is no use to try to break free, those shackles are made of vibranium," A voice said, "watch the TV."

Xander turned to look at the TV-screen on the wall. It flickered, and then he was watching a video feed of Willow and Buffy walking into Sunnydale High. "What the fuck?" He said.

"Mr. Harris, we know who you are, and we are aware some of your abilities," the voice said as the video was cut to Joyce working at her Art Gallery.

In a few minutes, he saw surveillance video about all his friends, Cordelia and Angel included and then to his parents.

"What do you want from me?" Xander asked.

"From the tests that we did with Rupert Giles' blood, we learned that none of the sedatives or poisons known to man will work on you. Usually, I don't care what our guests think, but since we know next to nothing about your species. If my information is right, you are a fountain of knowledge of your kind, so, in your case, it would be easier for everyone if you'll cooperate. So, I am giving you an incentive to let us study you."

"Huh? Giles?" Xander paused, realizing that he had bitten Giles and if he'd survived he would have been turned. He felt guilty about leaving him behind to deal with his new abilities without anyone telling him what he now was or help him control his bloodlust. "He survived the blood loss and the transformation?"

"Yes to both accounts," The voice said. "Is that rare?"

"Yeah, very rare," Xander said.

"Well, that is news to me, that kind of information is just what I need to hear," The voice said. "As I said, I'm giving you an incentive to cooperate if you obey us, your friends will be safe."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Perhaps you shouldn't, but I'm not interested in your friends. I'm interested only in you and your abilities. Since Rupert Giles has disappeared, you're our key to the immortality," The man said. "Truth to be told, I could make this a very hard for you, but I'd prefer if you'd cooperate with us. It always is easier when the subject is working with and not against us. I don't enjoy unnecessary violence. However, I am not going to lose any sleep if I have to order my men to kill your friends."

The screen was showing Buffy and a barrel of a sniper rifle that was aimed at her.

Xander nodded. "Got it, behave or you kill my friends. Why me?"

"The blood sample of Mr. Giles didn't work, and he has disappeared. Apparently, your body is the key to immortality without losing the soul."

Xander groaned, he didn't want to become a lab rat, but it seemed that he didn't have much choice if he wanted to keep his friends alive. "Okay, it's not like I have any choice. But I have one condition." He said, deciding not to tell them that it was the venom that turned people, not his blood.

"And what might that be?"

"I will let you do to me whatever you want, and I will be a good boy as long as I get weekly reports how my friends are doing and video of them so that I know that they're still alive."

The door opened, and a middle-aged man walked in. "Acceptable," He had a wicked smile plastered on his face. "Welcome to The Facility."

Chapter One

Blue Krait opened the side door of the chopper and looked down. "ETA?"

"Three minutes." The pilot replied.

Blue Krait nodded and checked his weapons as he always did before the mission. His handler offered him a blood bag, and he gulped the blood down, and after that, he counted seconds until the chopper started to circle around.

"Weapon XI is in the position." His handler spoke in the microphone and then smiled at Blue Krait. "This will be your 100th kill, we need to celebrate afterward," he said and sighed deeply when Blue Krait just looked back at him. "Well, I will celebrate anyway," he said and looked into Blue Krait's red eyes. "Kill the target, take the laptop, and burn the hut."

Blue Krait nodded, put the helmet on, opened the seat belt, and jumped off the helicopter. The wind rushed in his ears as his body was falling 160Mph. Just before he hit the ground, he turned, and landed on his feet and started to run. Fifteen seconds later, he got to a small hut hidden deep in the forest.

Without slowing down, he crashed through the door and froze; the woman inside was stunning and naked. But that wasn't why he had frozen. As he looked at the beautiful naked woman, memories flashed through his mind. Memories that were rewriting the original memories of his youth, adding a girl, Dawn, to them.

The new memories opened old gates inside of his mind, and emotional connections to memories were recreated, and personality that had been dormant was freed from its mental cell. While he was looking at the naked woman, Weapon XI broke free from the Facility's mind control.

After the spell had finished creating false memories of Dawn Summers into Alexander "Xander" Harris' mind, he looked at the naked Asian woman before him feeling dazed and confused. "What the…?" He said and grabbed his head when he heard voices. "I hear voices..." He looked at the naked woman. "I'm insane."

No, you are not, his own voice replied. We broke the mind control, and we don't have much time to escape. You must let me take control. Then a terrible headache hit him, and Xander felt as if he'd been pulled down into a bottomless pit. He turned his scared eyes to the woman. "What's happening to me?" Then he was going down; someone or something was taking control over his mind and body.

Xander's body convulsed for a moment, and finally, he stretched his full height, cracked his neck, and turned his red, cold, and emotionless eyes to the screaming woman. "Shut up," He said and then, ignoring the terrified woman, Alex pointed his guns at the locks of the collar around his neck and pulled the triggers. He then dropped the weapons on the floor and put his fingers under the metal collar and pulled with all his might. At first, nothing happened, but, then the locks gave up, and the collar snapped into two pieces. "You have about four minutes before the backup team comes," Alex told the naked woman. "If I'd be you, I'd be gone by then." He then undressed to get rid of all possible tracking devices and got out of the building and started to run.

Alex was miles away from the cottage when he realized that, even though he hadn't killed the woman, he had left the naked Asian goddess to be killed by soldiers backing him up. It hadn't crossed his mind that she couldn't run as fast as he. Alex stopped, pondering what he should do. He sighed, knowing that it was too late to save the woman and again began to run as fast as he could.

After a few minutes, Alex heard three helicopters coming. For an hour, Alex played cat and mouse with the choppers, and then he got to a bluff. Ignoring the coming choppers, he looked down at sea, backed off from the cliff and picked a huge rock. Carrying it, he ran over the cliff and dived into the cold sea. When his feet hit the bottom of the sea, he continued running the seabed until he was surrounded by the dark waters.

The coldness and darkness of the sea didn't bother him, but he realized what his spur of a moment decision to escape from The Facility's control meant. He had broken their deal, and now all his friends were free game for The Facility. Although, he was sure that, for now, Facility would not attack them. No, they would either monitor his friends hoping that he would contact them, or they'd kidnap them to blackmail him. Alex decided to warn his friends. He dropped the stone and swam to the surface, on the horizon, he saw lights of a city. He started to swim.

Alex got off the sea in a warehouse district and jumped up to the roof of a warehouse and sat down, holding his head because his mind was bombarded by the emotions of other people. The pressure those emotions were putting on his mind was almost overwhelming. The Facility had done something that had significantly increased the pathokinetic powers he'd inherited from Jasper, and up to that moment he had always had the power dampening collar on him, so he had no experience how to block the emotions away.

Instinctively he created a rough wall inside his mind to keep the unwanted emotions away and then he broke into the warehouse below him. In the locker room, he found dirty jeans and a red t-shirt. The only shoes he found were two sizes too small for him. Alex then raided the place, there wasn't any money, but Alex found some knives, chisels, axes and all sorts of other tools used to carve wood.

He put them on a tool belt and filled his pockets with small metal beads he took out from the ball bearings he found. He had no gun, but, from experience, he knew that if he'd throw the metal beads, they'd become as lethal as bullets. Now that he was armed, he felt a lot better.

For a while, Alex sat at the desk in the office, looking at the phone, trying to figure out what to do. He couldn't call his friends to warn them. By now their phones would be bugged and warning them would give The Facility a reason to attack them before they would disappear. Suddenly he got an idea whom to call he smirked and called to the phone number he had seen Phil Coulson call three months earlier.

"How can I help you?" A woman with a faint Russian accent answered.

"I want to speak to Director Fury," Alex said.

"There is no one called Fury in here."

"Listen..." Alex paused as he suddenly realized who he was talking to, "I know your voice. We met in Bucharest three months ago. Even though I broke your arm, you still almost managed to catch me. Why is Natasha Romanova, aka Black Widow, one of the head agents of the S.H.I.E.L.D answering the phone?"

"Blue Krait?" Black Widow asked without explaining why she was answering the phone.

"That is one of the names people have called me."

"Who was with me in Bucharest, and what did he say to you?" Black Widow asked.

"Phil Coulson. He promised to make me watch when he feeds my balls to a poodle and only after that he'll kill me. It was one of the most imaginative threats I've ever gotten," Alex replied. "I never figured out why he was sent to Bucharest?"

"Phil was a personal friend of the man you killed," Black Widow replied. "Do you want to surrender to the S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"No, I just want to give Fury tools to bring down Weapons program and capture their spies in S.H.I.E.L.D.," Alex said. "I know that you are recording this. Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles, Cordelia Chase, Daniel Osborne, Buffy, Dawn, and Joyce Summers, Anthony and Jessica Harris. All of them are residents of Sunnydale, California. They might be in The Facility's hit list. Protect them, and I tell you everything I know about Weapon and Weapon Plus programs. Considering that I have an eidetic memory and for three years, I was their head assassin and had access to their databases, that is a lot of information."

"Are you sure the people you mentioned are on a hit list?"

"No, but most likely they are."

"I'll talk to Nick, but I cannot promise anything."

"Don't judge them just because I'm asking to protect them. My friends are innocent, they don't know who I have become. Yes, they are my friends, I love them, and I'm willing to do almost anything to keep them safe. Tell Fury to think about that. I'll call you in ten hours, by then I want to know that my friends are protected," he said and hung up.

He needed to move fast, the next months he had to stay on the move, after a few months, the Facility would stop actively looking for him, especially if he'd spill all he knew about Weapons program and the Facility to Fury. Alex grinned, telling Fury that he had killed two of his agents would infuriate the man, but Fury was a pro; he wouldn't let his feelings interfere with his job. Fury would direct his anger against the Weapon Plus program and its leaders, which, hopefully, would keep The Facility busy enough that he could find a way to disappear.

Alex took the yellow pages and located the nearest sports & hunting shop, and then broke into it. After he'd picked up some clothes and boots, he broke the cash register and took all the money he found there. Then he packed useful things into a rucksack and ran away when the security guards came. He climbed to the roof and dressed up, and by the sunrise, he was sitting on a train protected from the sun by a thick curtain.

The sun would not kill him, but it would make his skin sparkle, and sparkling skin would creep people out.

Alex got off the train in New York City, which was big enough city for him to stay long enough to write down everything he knew about the Facility and send it to Fury. For hiding, New York was a good city; it was crowded to suffocation, but it also meant that his mind was slowly getting overwhelmed with unwanted emotions. There were too many people to keep their emotions out; Alex realized that he'd had to find a place where he could be alone.

Not an easy thing to do in the city of millions.

As he walked out of the train station, he grabbed a phone book and read it to find a Professional makeup store. One of the tricks he'd learned in the Facility was that if he used enough makeup, his skin wouldn't sparkle in the sunlight. Makeup made him look stupid, but people were used to seeing crazy looking characters. Most would just think that he was a clown or mime going home from work. He found the shop, bought a makeup kit, and when he got out of the store, the wind brought a smell of the forest, and he followed the smell to the Central Park.

Following the smell of the forest, Alex got to the park, and when he was deep in the park, Alex sighed in relief, at there he was far enough from people that the pressure around the head eased so much that he was able to think. He sat down, the mess inside of his mind began to trouble him. He had too many overlapping memories, and he was hearing the voices of the men inside of his head.

The terrified voice of a young Xander Harris wanted to die or be turned back to a human, and he wanted to go to his friends. The voice of Jasper Hale was wondering what had happened to him, and he wanted to know how his friends and family were doing. Alex shook his head, the least annoying of them all was the emotionless killer, Blue Krait, and the only one of them that he knew for sure was fully under his control and would leave the moment he commanded him. Alex bought a burner phone, hailed a cab, and got to the other side of the city. "Alexander Lavelle Harris, I presume?" A male voice answered to his call.

Alex wasn't surprised that Fury now knew his name, he had known that Fury would find it out when he had given the list of names of the people he'd wanted to be protected. "A long time ago, I used to be Alexander Lavelle Harris, but I'm not him anymore. Too much toxic water has passed under the bridge for me to ever be Xander Harris again," He replied. "The deal I want to make with you is that you'll protect my friends, and I'll deliver all I know about Weapons programs and The Facility to you."

"You are a wanted man. At least three independent states, the USA included, have given you death sentences and a six have given you a life sentence. You are a serial killer who is wanted all around the globe, and I don't make deals with serial killers."

"I'm not a serial killer; I was an assassin, emphasis on the word was. I have retired from the assassin business. I know that you want to arrest me, but I just got my freedom, I'm not eager to get behind bars. Give me a few months to enjoy the freedom, and then we can talk about me surrendering to you," Alex coolly said. "Are you going to take the deal I am proposing or not?"

Fury was silent for a moment. "What kind of info can you give me?"

"Names of the people assassinated and kidnapped by the Facility. All information about Weapon X, XI, XII, and XIII programs. The Facility also has three spies inside of the S.H.I.E.L.D," Alex replied. "As I told you; I have an eidetic memory, I remember everything I have seen or heard. Oh, and I can tell you where the bodies of the two spies you sent to The Facility are."

Again, there was a short silence. "Miss Summers, you can talk to him," Fury said.

"Xander? Is that really you?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy..." Alex paused when the younger he began to yell inside of his mind. "Oh, shut up!" He groaned in frustration.

"Huh?" Buffy said,

"Not you," Alex said, "younger me."

"Uh… Xander, what are you talking about?" Buffy asked.

"I'm suffering from a dissociative identity disorder caused by brainwashing and torture. I'm the most stable personality in this body, which, considering that I am a high functioning sociopath without the ability to feel empathy is somewhat troubling." Alex analyzed himself, he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let Fury know that he was mentally unstable, knowing that only made Fury triple his efforts to find him.

But Alex also knew that as manipulative and ruthless as Fury was, he was an honorable man. If the Director of the S.H.I.E.L.D thought that the torture Xander Harris had suffered in The Facility had made him create personalities that could handle it, there was a small possibility that Fury would want to catch him alive because he would see Xander Harris as an innocent person.

Alex revealed his mental unstableness because he was sure that Fury's agents had been ordered to kill him at sight. A small chance to change that order to 'capture at sight' was better than nothing. "Now, as I told to Fury, I used to be Xander Harris, but I'm not him anymore. I'm Alex, the third persona Xander Harris has created. Think of me as Xander's ruthless and overprotective big brother. Now, forget Xander and give me a briefing about the Hellmouth. How is everyone?"

"Xander is inside of you?" Buffy asked.

"Forget him, Xander doesn't have the skills to survive in the situation I have found myself. Blue Krait is a killing machine and an assassin, but he really isn't a thinker. I was trained to be a special ops soldier. When I'm in control we have the best chance to survive," Alex said, hoping that, after the call, Buffy would confront Fury about wanting to kill her friend. Alex hoped that the emotional Vampire Slayer would start pressure Fury to catch him alive in a vain hope to get her 'Xander-shaped' friend back. "Are everyone okay?"

Buffy hesitated.

"Answer him." Fury said.

"Mom and Dawn are here; Director Fury will create new identities for them. Willow is Clea Strange's apprentice. Apparently, our Willow is a very powerful witch..."

"Ms. Summers, do not give him classified information," Fury said.

"Right, sorry, Boss. Xander, our friends, are alright and protected," Buffy said.

"Boss? You work for Fury?" Alex asked.

"I have been a S.H.I.E.L.D agent since High School graduation. S.H.I.E.L.D noticed us when we blew Mayor up," Buffy said.

"You blew Mayor Wilkins up..." Alex snorted. "Let me guess he was the biggest bad in the town?"

"You got it."

"Him being the villain makes sense and explains why the town seemed to have been built for the vampires and demons," Alex said remembering the sewer tunnels that practically were streets for the vampires move around during the days. "who guards the Hellmouth if you're working for S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"Sunnydale has been evacuated and is a military base now. Faith and two S.H.I.E.L.D teams are located on the Hellmouth to keep it closed," Buffy replied.

"Faith?" Alex asked.

"She was called after Kendra," Buffy paused. "Oh, you never met either of them. You revived me when I drowned, but I was dead long enough for a new Slayer to be called. Faith reports to Council, she is—"

"Ms. Summers..." Fury warningly said.

"Sorry, Boss," Buffy said. "Anyway, Xan, you wanted to know that we're alright and protected. Now you know that we are."

"Okay," Alex said. "Fury, I will write down everything—" Suddenly he heard someone mentioning his codename, he cursed inwardly, he'd been too cocky; Fury's men were coming to get him. "Damn, Fury, you are good. I expected it to take at least two more minutes for your boys to come."

"Huh?" Fury said. "My men are still on their way."

"Shit," Alex cursed. "Then it has to be The Facility, Fury, I'll contact you later, bye for now," he said and hung up.

When he sensed someone behind him Alex spun around, but it was too late, the muzzle flash blinded him, and the bullet hit in his forehead. Blinded Alex jumped away from the threat letting Blue Krait take over, knowing that he had the best chances to survive the attack. Before he had time to escape, a rocket hit him in the back and exploded with a deafening boom, and he crashed through the brick wall. Blue Krait got up, shaking his head. His view was still blurred, but he saw dozen or so soldiers coming in. One of them was pointing him with a Milkor MGL lightweight grenade launcher.

The soldier launched a new grenade, Blue Krait ducked under it and threw a ball bearing into the soldier's head, the soldier dropped dead. Then came a flood of emotions; the mental wall Alex had built to keep the emotions of other people out of his mind had fallen, and a tidal wave of terror hit his mind; he was drowning on the terror of the other people. "GET OUT!" Blue Krait yelled, grabbing his head, wanting to kill all those annoying people.

And the blessed silence fell.

No other sounds than falling bricks, no emotions other than his own.

Silence.

Blood.

Blue Krait smelled blood, a lot of it, he cocked his head and looked at the source of the smell. He was surrounded by dead bodies. He walked to the man who still had a beating heart. Blue Krait grabbed him and ripped his throat open with his teeth. While drinking the blood, he kept his eyes on his surroundings, he wasn't going to be caught pants down again. As he fed Blue Krait watched a man dressed in black uniform with an Anti-Psi helmet on coming.

"Well, that was unexpected," The man said. Blue Krait continued feeding watching the enemy. "Strong and silent type, huh?" The black-clad man sighed. "I wasn't informed that you have psychic powers." He grinned. "It is nice to finally meet you, father."

Blue Krait tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Father?"

The man grinned. "They took your blood and made me. I'm improved version of you..." as he said that a blade came out from under his left wrist, and three claws on his right hand. "And these vibranium claws can cut you."

Blue Krait shook his head, the man had not been trained well. If the man before him had been properly trained, he would not have told his advantage to his opponent before the battle even had started. While the rookie boasted, Blue Krait was going through several different combat scenarios and planning his escape.

"Let's dance," The rookie said and leaped on Blue Krait.

Blue Krait ducked under the man's arms and jumped to the street. He grabbed the grenade launcher and pulled the trigger as the man attacked again. The grenade hit the man right in the chest, sending him flying on the wall. Apparently, his opponent's body wasn't as hard as his; the rookie didn't go through it, he just smashed on it. Blue Krait threw the empty Milkor MGL away and took an assault rifle from one of the dead soldiers.

The bones of the rookie were cracking on their places as he got up. His body might not have been hard as a marble-like Blue Krait's body, but his body regenerated at least as fast as Weapon X's body regenerated. Blue Krait took the safety off, pointed the gun at the rookie, and pulled the trigger, emptying the magazine on his face.

"Fuck!" He yelled. "you're not fighting fair!"

Blue Krait grabbed another assault rifle and started to shoot at the rookie as he leaped on him. He hit the enemy in the jaw with full strength, and rookie's eyes rolled on the back of his head as he fell, Blue Krait grabbed his left hand and used it to cut off Rookie's right hand. Then he grabbed the clawed hand from the floor and using it cut off his child's left hand. Blue Krait then lifted the armless man by the throat and using his own blade, impaled him on the wall. Under a minute, he was healed, but, like Blue Krait, he could not grow new limbs, and he wasn't going to let his limbs be reattached on him.

"You... cheated," he said.

Blue Krait let Alex took over the body. "How many of you are there?" Alex asked.

The rookie coughed. "But... they said you're a good guy... heroes don't... cheat."

"When fighting to the death, there are no rules only survivors. Answer me: how many of my child Cornelius has made?"

"Fuck you! I'm not gonna tell you, you'll kill me anyway."

"Killing you isn't the worse thing I can do to you," Alex cut off his left leg. "I can leave you alive without arms, legs." he put the blade between rookie's legs. "I'll cut off your penis and testicles too. Then I'll burn them and your arms and legs so that they cannot be reattached. If you don't want to live as an armless and legless eunuch for the rest of the eternity... tell me how many of you there are?"

The man looked into Alex's cold eyes. "Eleven," He replied. "We're called Rippers."

"Eleven, including you?"

"Twelve including me, only one in twenty-three survive the transformation."

"Thank you for your cooperation," Alex said and pulled the vibranium blade out of his child's guts, cut his head off, and picked it by the hair. He then ran out of the building, lifted the manhole cover, and jumped down as S.H.I.E.L.D agents appeared on the scene.

Moments later, when he was a few blocks away, he dropped the head down the ground and began to smash it with his foot until it was just a pile of broken bones, brains, blood, and flesh. He spread the remains of the head around the sewers, and then he got out of the sewer.

Two hours later he again was on a train.

TBC