~I~

It's the same thing he's become use to by now. The recurring memories he's gained from either his past, the military, or even random people. They often hit him when he tried to sleep. He understood he didn't need the rest anymore, getting his energy by consuming everything that contained any sort of biomass, but he often did it to just, for once, feel normal. Go back to when he was actually a human and not a monster. And sometimes he found it hard to distinguish the difference between his memories, and the others.

Recently, however, his dreams became the same. He's back in Penn Station, this time with no one around and it's in ruins like current day. He's not holding the little vile of the virus anymore, but he's instead releasing it by vomiting up red chemicals. He gags a bit as it comes out his mouth, before he throws his head forward, allowing it to flood everywhere. He feels sick as he holds a hand up to his mouth, almost worried it'll happen again. The red chemicals evaporate from the ground and slowly float upward, finding a way out of Penn Station. He wants to stop it – wants to keep it from creating the same Hell he had to stop nearly a year ago. But he's not in control of his movements. Instead, before he can puke up another round, he wakes in a cold sweat. He's back in his new apartment, the sun just barely rising. He sits up in bed, resting his head in his hands as he gathers his thoughts. Why? Why does he keep returning to his death spot and re-release the Blacklight Virus?

Shaking his head, he gets out of bed, finding that his strange pet, Pacific, was already and trying to get under his feet. The little animal weaved through his legs as he walked towards the front door, the man grinning down at him.

"You know what time it is, don't you?" he questions as he opens the door. Automatically, Pacific shoots out into the hallway of the apartment building, looking back at Alex expectantly. It's a routine the two have gotten into ever since their meeting. Pacific had a lot of energy and because of this, Alex took him out every morning to go swimming in the ocean that was a couple blocks away from their home. And this was Pacific's favorite part of the day.

Of course, the little creature had attracted a lot of – unwanted, mind you – attention from the citizens of Manhattan. They often stopped the pair, either greeting them or just asking questions about Pacific. Alex couldn't answer nearly half of them, since he didn't exactly know anything about his pet. Just that he found the military chasing and shooting him in the ocean, where the creature managed to evade the bullets by swimming around. That was it. Alex didn't know what he was, how old he was, or where he came from. The thing he did know? Pacific enjoyed water and eating fish. That was about it.

However, to add to the day's oddness, Alex found himself perplexed by the sight of a commotion. People were running and screaming, but he couldn't see what they running from. Pacific had run up his leg and body, hiding in his hood, wrapping around his neck. With a soft growl, Alex shoots his arm out, catching a running civilian by their arm.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asks, the woman looking at him with fear in her eyes.

"You didn't hear?" She rips her arm out of his grasp, glancing behind in panic. "I-it's the second outbreak of the Mercer Virus! It happened in the Red Zone, but I didn't think it would get here so quickly!"

"Mercer Virus?" The woman runs off, leaving Alex to ponder over what he was just told. Second outbreak? Of the Blacklight Virus? Isn't that its name? When did they rename it? So many questions swirl around his mind and he can't answer any of them. Everything was fine just yesterday. But now, people were running here and there, screaming their lungs out and begging for anyone to help them. And in the distance, he could hear the familiar sound of the military arriving, ready to kill everything that moved. Abandoning a day down by the water, Alex turns and runs back to the apartment. He can't let his pet swim around with something so dangerous lingering around.

He swings the door open, Pacific jumping down from his owner and going over to the couch, looking at Alex with a mixture of annoyance and wonder. The man's in the kitchen, laptop open as he types away in the search engine. He's flooded with multiple news articles, all covering the same topic. He goes to the first one.

Second Outbreak in Manhattan, New York?

10 months ago, Manhattan was invaded with the Blacklight Virus, which has now been renamed "The Mercer Virus," from the creator, Alex J. Mercer. It's unknown where or when this second outbreak started, but military personal have urged citizens to stay in safe areas and to not interact with people displaying odd behavior. Scientists are working on a cure for the infected, but it's not known when it will be out and available for the public.

There's more to the article, but Alex doesn't care to read the rest. He slams the laptop shut, a string of swear words escaping his mouth in such a way that would make a sailor blush. He didn't understand what was happening. How was there another outbreak? He had fixed this all before he took a trip around the world. What could've caused another outbreak?

Pacific comes trotting over, standing on hind legs and resting a paw on Alex's foot. He looks down at the small creature, picking him up with a sigh.

"I don't know what to do," he tells his pet, "I don't know how any of this started, or how I can stop it. What am I gonna do, Pacific?"

Of course, the animal doesn't reply. Instead, he just walks up his arm and rubs his head against Alex's cheek. The man just sighs as he pats his back.

"I know. You don't know either," he grumbles, "We need to find a way to find out what's going on. Get to the center of this and kill it before it can release more of the Blacklight Virus."

Pacific nods, but gives him another confused look when he's set down on the dog bed Alex had bought. The simple "stay here" command keeps him seated in the plush bed, but he puts a paw forward in case he has to chase after his owner.

"I'm gonna go out," he tells him, making his way for the door. "See if I can find anything. Stay here and don't ruin anything. I won't be long."

And just like that, he's out of his home and back down the hall. His mind is filled with thoughts and even more questions, and he steps into the elevator, continuing a small rant to himself as he waits to get to the bottom floor. And when he does, the lobby is buzzing with people, hurrying to either get inside to their apartments to lock themselves up, or to try and leave Manhattan. Knowing last time, no one's getting out of the city anytime soon. He can even hear some of the people begging him not to go out, one person even grabbing onto his jacket and asking why he was going out. He gave the man a generic excuse, pushing him away and continuing out of the building.

It's gotten worse, he notes. More infected have moved up, and he can see people getting attacked. He lets out another curse. If only he had gotten lucky and kept some of his powers. Instead, he sprints down the street, pushing the crowd of panicked civilians out of his way. He gets deeper into the city, finding that it's slowly becoming ruined by all of the chaos. He skids to a stop as he notices Blackwatch roll in, some of them grabbing people and hauling them off. He doesn't know what to make of it. So instead of pondering, he goes behind the closest member and, making sure no one's paying attention to the man, consumes him. The memories flood in and he can hear the distinct orders from a higher up. Something about capturing the sicker civilians and locking them up in cages for testing. Another interesting order was to unleash a brawler on people. He felt his stomach do a flip. The first time he had gotten his claws were by consuming one of those creatures. Maybe he could redo that. Consume this brawler and, by any chance, get one of his powers back. Anything. He couldn't fight whatever this was by just sheer strength alone. So with a deep breath, Alex mentally prepared himself and ran off to the area the brawler was being released in, all the while praying that he would get something from it.