It had been only a few days after her invasion of the Shadow Brokers Base. Her hired guns had long since left the base after being paid and she was alone within the metal walls of his old, no... Her new, ship.

After grieving over the loss of Feron, and taking over the Brokers network for her own she was just roaming through the files to learn what she could about the Protheans and anything he might have on the Reapers. It turned out that the Broker had been investigating ways that might have actually benefited to stopping them, or atleast avoiding them.

Figures he'd only be concerned with his own safety. She thought spitefully.

Her investigation of his gold mine turned to things like indoctrination, and a thorough look into husks. Something about how they were changed from a human to a zombie-like monster had been a large subject of his investigation.

"What is..." Liara muttered as she noticed there was another file linked to this one, something about an event that occurred on planet Earth over a century ago. The moment she selected to open the file she immediately regretted it.

"By the Goddess!" She nearly threw up over the monitor. Her face going pale as humans, or at least what appeared to be humans, appeared all over the screen. But they were... Wrong, these weren't the kinds of people she knew. They looked nothing like Shepard, or those that served aboard the Normandy alongside her and the rest of their team.

No no these were monsters, skin horribly deformed and bodies crawling with hell. The images showed them tearing apart their fellow man, swarming the streets of some burning city while men in strange black uniforms and gas masks fired upon them.

"Are these... Husks?" She asked herself as she dared to look at the screens in more detail, "No...The husks always appeared... Synthetic in some nature... This is just..." Her eyes drifted to another file followed by a long detailed description of something known as Project BlackLight.

"This was... Man made, by a group of humans..." She began reading through the files, "Blackwatch..." Liara muttered the name, something about the word just sent a chill down her spine. She found little details about this supposed viral outbreak but there were some very interesting bits about Blackwatch, they were similar to Cerberus in some aspects, and they developed high tech weaponry and super soldiers.

And from the Blackwatch file she found her way to something even more terrifying. Finding an old and nearly broken video file she watched as someone... Something, coated in black jagged armor and wielding a massive blade tore through both infected and Blackwatch soldiers. The weapon he held...

"Wait... It isn't holding that blade..." She realized, eyes going wide, "That thing is... It's arm..." She gasped, watching in horror the monsters hands morphed into jagged razor claws, going toe to toe with a massive human soldier in hand to hand combat.

She had to find out more. Whatever this thing was, it had been created by mankind... At least that was what she assumed.

The next file she selected took her to a hooded man. He was human, appeared to be in his mid twenties and wearing an older style clothing. Jeans, a black leather jacket and grey hoodie underneath. His face was barely visible but held a cold, calm appearance.

"Alex Mercer..." Liara whispered, as if afraid this demon could hear her. His file was filled with information, most all of it revolved around his abilities.

Shapeshifting, regeneration, cerebral invasion and consumption of living mass. Inhuman levels of strength and speed, rumors of the ability to see heat and detect infection. The ability to create armor as well, most likely out of the carbon in his body. A small tag under genetic analysis caught her eye, and despite her better judgement, she clicked on it.

That was when she found herself selecting a storage file the Broker had saved. It was a tiny blood sample kept in one of the high security areas. She recognized that part of the ship, her mercs had stormed through it in the attack.

"This type of thing... Studying it could help... Maybe really help us in the fight against the Reapers." She muttered, "But... Perhaps it would be too dangerous... Mercer is supposedly the embodiment of the virus... His blood could still contain an airborne contaminant..." But she then realized the Broker had been studying this himself, if there was an airborne risk of infection this should would be long gone.

Deciding that she had to try, Liara stood up and made her way to the science wing of the ship so she could get some gear.

And then she would see what mysteries this blood sample could offer.

Upon entering the storage area, now appropriately dressed in hazmat gear that covered her entire body and kept her face covered. She grimaced at the sight of bodies still lying around, mostly those that belonged to the Shadow Brokers forces, and a few of the mercs. Liara carefully stepped over them as she made her way to the storage unit that was supposed to contain Mercers blood.

Taking a deep breath she reached for the handle of the container, "Well... As Shepard always said... Here goes nothing..." And pulled it open.

A sharp hiss filled the room as coolant was released while the container opened. Liara swallowed uneasily as she reached into the layer of frigid fog and pulled out a small glass vial full of a shimmering red liquid. This was supposed to be blood... But Liara had seen humans bleed, they weren't supposed to glow like this.

Well... He wasn't really human was he? She asked herself as she slowly turned and started walking. Her eyes glued to the glowing blood.

Unfortunately this state of unawareness was about to get her killed. As one of the supposedly fallen Broker Guards weakly reached for the knife on his belt. He had a few bullet wounds but was definitely alive. Gripping the handle he slid it from his sheath just as Liara was passing by and attacked, grabbing her leg and pulling.

"AGH!" She cried as she fell, the vial falling from her hand and smashing on the mans leg while he pulled Liara down and pressed the blade to her throat.

"You little bitch," He growled, the voice behind the helmet made it obvious he was batarian, "I'm going bleed you good for this, I may die but I'll make sure you suffer a thousand deaths before I do!"

Liara tried to struggle as he slid the cold steel down against her, about to penetrate the suit she wore and stab her through the side. But just as it pricked through the material he stopped.

"W-What the fuck is-" His words were cut off as he cried out in pain. Dropping the knife and seizing as he screamed in agony.

Liara took the opportunity and scrambled away from him, watching in horror as a growing mass of tendrils that originate from the blood began to dig into his body. Tearing him apart and melting him into the mass as a new body began to form.

It started with a skeleton, flesh quickly growing around it before skin and clothes began to form. Liara tried to push herself away, she could see what it was becoming. The demon was being reborn before her eyes and she refused to be his first meal.

But she couldn't move, her body was frozen by fear of what this monster could do to her.

OOO

Sitting between the worlds of life and death was strange. He'd experienced pain before, getting shot, blown up, chopped to pieces and incinerated. Alex Mercer had survived them all. But after he lost to Heller... He had been consumed, he'd accepted his death at that point. Almost welcoming his release from the stagnant thing called humanity.

But then he found himself in nothing.

There was no pain. No feeling. Nothing.

Somehow he survived, maybe it was a fluke maybe this was someones fucked up way of prolonging this mundane existence.

But for now he didn't care. For the first time in a long while he felt... Calm. Maybe it was just being in this state, but everything was quiet around him. No gunfire, no screaming infected or dying soldiers. Just quiet.

It was nice.

Taking what he thought was a deep breath he closed his senses off entirely. Feeling tired, more tired than he'd been for a long time.

I think... I just want to sleep... Was the monsters last thought as he drifted from existence.

A century passed by in a few minutes in his mind. And familiar feelings entered his mind. He could smell blood, he could smell fear, he could hear someone talking. as he landed on a piece of what he assumed was armor.

I'm going bleed you good for this, I may die but I'll make sure you suffer a thousand deaths before I do!"

Well that doesn't sound very good. He thought, but that wasn't what he cared about, what he cared about was the unfamiliar scent in the air. This place was different from anywhere he'd ever been. And he wanted to see it.

But to do that he needed a body. Figuring the one below him was alive and working he decided to take it. And so the consumption began. Just as he had recovered from the nuclear explosion when he saved New York, he devoured this man as he had the crow.

And within seconds Alex Mercer was alive once again. His silver blue eyes the room around him with suspicion. The soldiers laying dead on the ground were wearing white and black armor.

A variant of Blackwatch Gear?

No these people different... They weren't human but certainly weren't infected.

He spotted something, or rather someone. It was another body, appeared to be male as far as he could tell. Two big bug eyes on his face and an oddly shaped head. His body was long and lanky, appeared somewhat amphibian and only had a few fingers... And several bullet wounds.

"Hmm..." He hummed confused as he looked at the body, "Strange..."

And that was when the thick scent of fear filled his nose. Oh how he reveled in smelling it from those nosy Gentek Scientists or Blackwatch troopers. Turning towards the source he saw what seemed to be one of those nosy scientists.

"I don't even get five minutes to myself before I have to deal with one of you again?" He sighed rolled his shoulders, like he had to loosen up before getting rid of her.

Alex started walking towards her, figuring he could consume her and find out where the next Blackwatch base was. The fight was never over was it? Even after he lost his army to Heller and failed in his plans of remaking humanity he was still forced to deal with the little shits from Blackwatch.

But just as he got within arms reach of her, survival instincts seemed to kick in and she did something Alex couldn't have expected. Her body started glowing, a blue light forming around her and she lashed out, "Stay away!" She shouted as a burst of blue energy smashed into his chest.

Alex felt his body grow lighter as he was thrown across the room. Hitting the wall hard before he slumped down, slowly getting up and looking at her cautiously while she stood up. Face obscured by her hazmat mask.

"Interesting," He smirked, "I guess Blackwatch has been making new toys while I was out..."

"You think I'm..." She muttered, dropping her guard for a split second. And that was all Alex needed.

Dashing forward with inhuman speed he grabbed her by the throat and lifting her off the ground. Gagging she grabbed his wrist, trying to make him let go as he choked the life out of her.

"I am so sick of you fuckers," He growled in annoyance, his eyes burning into her visor from beneath the hood, "You'd think that by now you should have learned to leave me the fuck alone!"

"N-No!" She coughed, fighting for breath, "P-Please I'm not-"

"Shut up," He ordered, bringing her visor closer to his face, "I'm going to consume you, I'm going to find out where the rest of you fuckers are hiding and I will destroy you," Mercer vowed, "Heller might have stopped me from fixing humanity but I can still destroy Blackwat-" He stopped, eyes going wide as he noticed something strange. He thought her skin was turning blue from the lack of oxygen, but no her skin was really really blue!

Realizing what she had been trying to say he unceremoniously dropped the blue woman on her ass where she coughed and panted for breath. She pulled off her mask and rubbed her throat. Alex watched her face getting revealed and took note of her features. He narrowed his eyes and looked back at the frog-like man then back to her.

Alex was a genius, he had one of the most highly developed minds in human existence and he had seen some of the most unreal and unbelievable things that could never be believed without seeing. And it didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening here.

"Holy shit," He suddenly chuckled, "I've been abducted by fucking aliens."