Chapter 1: Welcome to the New World

"Yeah and people are gonna hate you hard one day, see how this works?" James said coldly, before brushing past the newcomer and out of the restaurant.

"Rev, we have incoming Hercs most likely so you better get back to the carnival, we will be their later maybe." Marcus said to him as Bella squirmed about in his arms. "Zeru how did you get past the police."

"What carnival?" Revenant shot back. "I'm on patrol." With that, he fired a cable and got out of there.

Zeru turned to shadow"i think we got better things to worry about"he replied as helicoptors could be heard more clearly.

"Yea and we need to get past the police to move away from the Hercs, so please lead the way." Marcus asked more with a please hurry up tone.

"if you insist and try and keep up" zeru responded before taking off full sprint down an alley heading down it zig zagging as needed to get away from the scene.

"Keep up.. I am holding a cougar... Wait, I have super strength right now." Marcus said with a laugh and used Bella to keep track of where Zeru was going.

"i held a cougar too once."zeru said turning right down another alley before contiuing his comment"but then i realized that she wasn't my type"he said before bursting out with a small laugh."i'm joking btw incase your wondering"

Marcus just looked at Bella and she looked at him as both didn't understand what he meant. "Right well are we close to home."

zeru sighed since it appeared they didn't get the joke."not even close we still got good ways to go and want to get there soon so don't stop"

Managing to put some distance between himself and the restaurant was easy enough. Getting back to the carnival with a clear head, was another matter entirely. Gestalt......did I kill that man? he asked.

Do you wish to know? The answer.....could do more harm than good.

Tell me. Please.

Very well....based on what we know about human anatomy, the force of the blow you delivered, would have ruptured several organs. The injury would have been terminal, and that he coughed up blood suggests that his lungs began filling with it. They drowned.

They.....oh god, I'm gonna be.... James stopped on a rooftop, willing the nanites away from his mouth as he puked all over the roof.

(z i'm just gonna skip to ze base.)

The three of them took several routes while waiting for clear streets before crossing them as a man holding a full grown couger wasn't that sleathy. They were able to get back with no trouble and Marcus allowed Bell to find her room.

Back at the restaurant several men went though the dining room. They found only two survivors of the incindent. "Sir, girl and middle aged woman are the only survivors. The vigilantes moved before we got here." The soldier reported to his officer before looking at the human that was back to normal except for some serious changes to his body. "Oh god."

while bella went to her room and marcus did whatever zeru made sure the blastdoors were sealed and locked before heading to his room locking the door and taking off his helmet and putting it away before lying down and falling asleep.

Obviously you are not okay, Gestalt said.

No shit.....Gestalt, I just killed someone. A crazy, mutated person sure but they were innocent. Someone turned them into a weapon.

Silent for a few seconds, Gestalt responded "On your world, you euthanize rabid or terminally sick animals, saying it is 'The kindest thing to do.' And even for humans that are terminal and in pain, you euthanize them by saying it is to help end their suffering. Why then, should you feel any different?

Because those people were not animals, before they were turned into monsters, or sick or terminal. They could have been saved.

Not true. When the blood from the mutated made contact with the epidermis, we were able to analyze in greater detail their condition. James.....what had been done to them, was irreversible. The compounds in his system that mutated him, inflicted permanent physiological damage and alterations. During the transformation, the pain it would have exerted would have been of such magnitude his mind would have broken, and there would have been nothing of the man that once was.

So what, you're saying I did the right thing killing him?

I'm saying that there was no hope for him, or those like him. That for them, they must be treated as rabid dogs, and the kindest thing to do for them, is to end their pain by killing them.

You make it sound easy.

I was made for war James. For me, it's supposed to be easy. It's harder for you James, because you are organic, human. You evolved to run on emotions, and we do not mean that as insult, only fact.

Bella Walked out in some jeans and a singlet with a jacket over and Marcus was still wearing his usual cargo pants and jumper. "You up for going back?"

Bella gave him a long look before moving her hair to side. "Why?"

"Well I have a lot of raffle ticket's and such." Marcus said as he pulled out several raffle tickets he lost count.

Bella looked at them before remembering the ones she had were most likely shredded or covered in blood but getting out after what she saw didn't seem like a bad idea. "Sure thing." She said with a smile as they opened the blast door before closing it. "We should also tell Urthus that he can go home." She finished with a laugh that Marcus joined in with.

Zeru ended up waking up and realized he wasn't as tired as he thought so he walked back out and went to look for bella and marcus.

Fact's don't hurt any less Gestalt, James responded. I don't want to kill anyone.

If you had not killed that Berserker, what do you think may have happened? More lives would have been lost, lives that have as you organics would have it, hope. There was no more hope for the Berserkers James. You must accept that.

Silent, James straightened, the nanites forming back over his mouth for the mask. Not now.....not even soon. But in time, Gestalt. I just can't be a killer though, that's not me.

No one ever said the right thing, was the easy thing. Just that it was right. We do not suggest killing everyone you fight, just those like the Berserkers, these.....lost causes.

Sighing, the sound odd as it was modulated by the nanites, James began heading back for the carnival. For now, moot point until it next happens. Do me a favor, call Chris for me.

Very well.

"So how much do you know of Revanant?" Bella said to Marcus as she remembered what Revanant had said to him back at the battle.

"That he's a true hero. Not a hero that would kill out of hate or to stop someone from winning. A true batman." Marcus said with a laugh. "I also know that he's a good kid and for some time I looked up to him as he kinda showed me that killing gets you nowhere and before I had no problem killing people." He finished while looking at his somewhat fake arms. He started to think about that, maybe his arms were better off a shadow. It helped with fighting..

"How many have you killed?" Bella brought up and awoke Marcus from his thoughts.

"I could tell you what I told Rev and only killed twenty something but I won't. I've had six years of death. I lost count of the men I've killed but I think it's past fifty." Marcus sad with a somewhat sadness and a sigh.

"Well we can't change the past but right now your doing your best." Bella finished as they made their way to the carnival.

Back at the carnival, Chris was wondering what was taking James so long. It was only a trip to the bathroom, not a continental flight for goodness sake.....then her phone rang, his ringtone. "James?" she answered, having taken out her phone to respond. "Where are you, It's just been me and Amy manning the station." His response was a bit telling, his breathing a bit ragged like he was running and exerting himself, so she could guess, but wanted him to say it. "There was an emergency," he said. "More of those Berserkers, but it's done now. I'm on my way back but......don't expect me to be all there," he said, to which Chris asked "What do you mean?"

"Can I tell you later?" he asked, clearly distressed. She caught on, if not to why, then at least the fact he was troubled by something. "Sure," she said. "Just....focus on getting back." Managing a small chuckle, James said "Always do. See you in a few minutes."

They soon found their way to the carnival and Marcus decided to get some more tickets as he had the money to do."Hey I'm gonna go get some more tickets you find Frank." He told her as he brought some.

Bella sighed and went ahead to sniff out Frank to see if he stayed or not. "Knowing him he will have won half the games here..I wonder if he cheats." Bella said to herself before shrugging and moving on.

Getting back to the carnival was easy, James slipping in behind the school where it was out of sight. Changing where no one could see him, he made his way through the main building, arriving back in the carnival with time to spare before the drawing. "James!" he heard a voice call out, and saw Chris waving at him from her booth. Heading there, James greeted the three girls. "Hey Chris, Amy, Stella, keeping the booth going?"

"And how," Amy said with glee. "Nearly half our raffle tickets gone and we're running low on apples." She walked out of the booth, leering at Cynthia as she said "Ya here that Cynthia! I'mma beat you in this game something fierce!"

Bella couldn't catch Franks scent and started to follow several other ones out of boredom until she smelt a very familiar one. She caught the scent well but decided not to persue her prey and just keep walking onwards to find something to do.

"How many raffle tickets can one have?" Marcus said to himself as he looked at the raffles in his hand.

Good to be human for once.

Marcus nearly winced at Darks voice but slowly narrowed his eyes and tapped his head with his fist. "Shh, I'm having a peaceful time."

Zeru eventually made it to the carnival again and decided to get something to eat while he looked for the others half heartedly.

As time wore on, the night grew darker and the light of the carnival illuminated the area, shades of yellow red and orange from the festive Halloween lights and lanterns. The booth James and his friends were working at had done well, enough that Amy managed to at least win the bet against Cynthia. The last event of the night, was the raffle contest, and while the three cleaned up, the rest of the people were gathered around the stage, awaiting the drawing for the prizes.

"So, this was fun," Chris said, eyes on James. She was still worried, his mood barely improving. He had yet to tell her what was on his mind, and it was a mystery that had her worried.

They couldn't find Frank and decided to just enjoy the night seeing Zeru pop up every now and then but even he dissapered from their thoughts as Marcus and Bella enjoyed their chat of their supposed deaths and Bella mainly enjoyed the story's Marcus had to share about his six years of hell. They too gathered around the stage as Marcus had high hopes of winning but would easily congratulate the person who did win.

Zeru had wondered around waiting for the raffle and when it was about to start decided to head to the stage and hope he got enough tickets to win something useful.

"Yeah, really was," James said, a small grin on his face. "Really needed this actually......though can't say I'm thrilled about the dance. Do I really have to go?" he asked Chris, to which she smirked and said "Hey who was the one griping to me last year about how alone you were at the dance?" Sighing, he said "I was." Carrying on, Chris asked "And who was the one that said if they ever got asked out they should seize the moment?"

Looking at her sullenly, James said "I was...." Chris grinned, thumping him on the shoulder. "It's just nerves James, trust me you'll cope." Eyeing her then, James asked "So who are you going to the dance with?" It was Chris' turn to look bashful, looking away from James as she said "It's a surprise James. But I think you'll like them."

You won human. You have officially made me hate you more than I could ever have. Dark said in a demony irritated tone that Marcus slightly chuckled too.

Told Yea I would. he thought back to the entity before turning to Bella only to see her sitting down. "You might want to get up before someone who's jelous of your looks try's to mess up your hair somehow." He joked to her but still made her stand up and look around suspiciously which only made Marcus laugh a little harder and then received a light punch from Bella.

"Your mean." She said to him but only got a small reply.

"To the persise Bell, I'm insane." He said to her while tapping his head three times with a closed fist.

"Hopefully for them," James said with a small smirk, before returning to cleaning up the booth. While that was going on, the drawing for the raffle contest began. The first prizes up for drawing were the basic ones, things like gift cards for stores or online music. Then came the larger, more expensive prizes like new HDTV's with massive screens, gaming consoles, and even some new tech-toys like holo-projectors and mind controlled robot dolls.

Away from the carnival though, the police had managed to capture one of the drivers employed by the Chemist who delivered the Berserkers. He was detained at the local precinct, word of it being kept hush-hush......but not from Gestalt, the AI having infected their systems long ago. When the connection was made, he informed James.

James, the police were able to arrest one of the drivers that dropped off the Berserkers. According to their file, they have suspected ties to the Chemist.

That was all James needed to hear. With the booth clean enough, he said to Chris "I gotta go, I'll see you back home." She gave him a questioning look, before sighing and saying "Got it.....but for the love of god James, don't mess it up tomorrow night." Grinning at her, he said "I'll be sure not to."

He left the booth, everyone else distracted with the raffle contest and giving him cover to slip out unnoticed. Changing, the nanites cloaked him for the extra measure of being unseen as he moved away from the school. Okay, give me the rundown on this guy.

Anton Chekov, Ukrainian immigrant. Believed to have ties to the Russian mob, and for the past year is believed to be in the employ of the Chemist--that is so far the only ID authorities have on them might I add--working mid-level jobs. Police arrested him on, of all things, stealing a car. Turns out the car he decided to steal as a getaway vehicle had a broken tail-light he was unaware of, and when they pulled him over.....

There was a fun image that needed no further explanation, and James found himself grinning beneath his mask, already shooting off over the rooftops the police station. Okay, do you know where he is now in the building? A holding cell?

No, they moved him to an interrogation room. A detective is inside, questioning him but for the moment they are keeping tight lipped. From what I've learned about your human mob groups, he's more afraid of his employers than he is of the police.

Then let's give him something else to be afraid of. How can we get in?

I have a plan.

As the raffles grew on, Marcus had one a new phone and Bella had somehow won a iPod from the small amount. Of games she was able to participate in before the draw but both were happy with their rewards even if Marcus had no clue how to use the phone. "It's good but their are so many things I have to set up." Marcus said to Bella as he fumbled around with the settings.

"You're be fine." Bella said to him while looking around the music that was on the ipad already.

The first part of the plan, was by going in through the front door. Cloaked yes, but it was harder than it sounded, since they had to time it right when someone else was going in. Gestalt crunched the numbers and talked James through it but ultimately it all relied on James doing the walking. But they slipped inside easily enough, the hard part being to avoid bumping into people as they made their way to the interrogation rooms. According to the data, Anton was being held in room number three, awaiting Detective Harper. But he was driving in from a case several blocks away, which afforded the pair some time to slip in. Which more or less freaked Anton out, the door opening and closing by itself, and with no one outside, there was no one to sound an alarm. And Gestalt had hacked into the room's security camera, so it just a loop.

When Revenant de-cloaked and appeared, Anton jerked back, and said "What the fuck is this?" Saying nothing, Revenant took a step closer to Anton, the table between them as he said "It's an interrogation room Anton. I'm here for information." At that, Anton sneered at him and said "Oh yeah? What are you gonna do hero? You may have all that freaky shit but the people I know scare me a lot more than you do." Because of the mask, there was no expression on Revenant's face as he reached across and grabbed Anton by the collar of his coat, hauling him over the table. "You're afraid of your bosses," Revenant growled. "But you're going to be afraid of me, a lot more than them. Where is the Chemist?" he demanded.

Anton wasn't impressed, spitting on the mask before saying "I've known guys who'd skin people alive. What's a goodie two-shoes hero like you gonna do? Because if you're the hero, upholding the law then you're not gonna do a thing to me." Silent for a moment, Revenant slammed Anton down onto the table, and held up a single finger. "Let me show you," he growled, "just what kind of hero I am." With that, the finger on his right hand took aim over Anton's shoulder, and shot out like a spear as the nanites exploded in a narrow lance. The tip of it speared into his shoulder and he screamed in sudden pain, making James thankful these rooms were soundproofed.

"Now," Revenant said, "that's just the first part. But you should be feeling it now, Anton." And he did. Around the site of the piercing, Anton felt his skin crawl, like something was.....moving under it. "Feel that?" Revenant asked. "Those are nanites. Millions of them, all moving under your skin and even deeper. Right now they're just avoiding sensitive spots, arteries and the like. But if you don't tell me what I want to know....." As if in example, Anton felt a new stab of pain in his neck, a warm, wet trickle running down his skin....and something else, crawling up his neck. It went to the corner of his mouth, before rising, and he saw dancing over his face a steel-gray strand of thread, like string, moving over him. "They will tear you apart piece by piece," Revenant said.

The void was dark. It was always dark.Left floated aimlessly though it for what felt like an eternity until she came across two doors. They were fake of corse, just made by death as to make himself look impressive but she opened them anyway and became the form of the human she processed walking on polished wooden floors.

An old man came into the room but she knew it was death, just in his human form. He was accompanied by another younger man who's hair was a pure red Matched by his eyes. "War." She whisperd to herself before slightly bowing. He took no notice of the entity and left after a few words with death, dissaperance into a bright flame. "So.. I send you to find Scyhe and what happened." Deaths voice rung out to Left's ears and gave her a inner pain.

"He has become stronger my lord, much stronger than before." She said simply to the lord of death but only got a disappointed sigh.

"You know I don't like failures." And with that he flicked his hands and she was gone. From life and death. To the true void.

"You can't do this!" Anton shrieked. "I've got rights!" Revenant snarled at him as he spat "Do you think I care? Ten people died, a dozen more are fighting for their lives, all because you dropped off those monsters. If you want me to stop, then tell me where I can find the Chemist, now." The nanites continued to crawl around under Anton's skin, and he could feel it like an itch on an agonizing level as they crept deeper into his body. "Alright alright!" he screamed. "He's working out of the Flatlands, in a closed off subway terminal on Flatbush Avenue. That's all I know I swear!"

The nanites in his body weren't just for intimidation. Gestalt was monitoring Anton's vitals, and gauged that he was indeed telling the truth, which he informed James of. "Good news," Revenant said. "I believe you." The nanites retreated, going back to the finger still in Anton's shoulder before it slid out, shortening back to its normal length. "Thanks for the information," Revenant said, cloaking again. "And don't worry, the wounds aren't serious." With that, he left, headed for the Chemist and intent on finishing this. Along the way, he placed a call since he knew there was no way to do this alone. He called on Shadow and Paladin, if either were listening, to meet him where he was headed. And be ready for a fight.

"Tucker did it." rang continuously in Marcus's old phone and Bella used him to pick it up as she didn't like the continous of the words. He picked up the phone and clicked the answer before laying it on his ears. "Ello, is this Someone I know?" He said into the phone as he didn't reconise the number.

"Shadow," came Revenant's voice, still altered and shifting like always. "It's Revenant. I got a lead on where the Chemist is, the guy that's been making those Berserkers we face. He's in the Flatlands, abandoned subway terminal at the end of Flatbush Avenue. I'm on my way there now, but would appreciate some back-up."

"Right, we will be their as soon as I get directions." Marcus said into the phone before looking towards Bella. "He found the maker of those berserkers, Rev. You in?" He asked her but still got a strong headed nod, saying she was going. yep a soul indeed.

As Revenant went zipping along on and between rooftops, he kept thinking on what to do, how to play this out. Gestalt, can we get any recon on the place?

Negative. Aside from cameras on the street, there are no subterranean cameras in the terminal. Most likely they were removed by the Chemist when he moved in. Also, according to city blueprints, there are entrances to the terminal in four areas.

On the HUD in the top left corner, a map of the terminal appeared, four areas highlighted.

However, we do not believe these areas would be viable entry points, no doubt sealed up. Going in from the other side, down the tracks could be a viable option though if they are not sealed, then at least guarded.

We'll figure something out.

After Marcus used his phone to find out where Rev said to go, Marcus cornered a taxi and the driver allowed the siblings in. Marcus showed the phones screen to the driver and he nodded while doing all the things a taxi driver does, they drove of towards the destination. Marcus was doing some planning on the way as to what to do and how to do it.

After the raffle was over zeru had won a few prizes and spent some time trading up until he had what he wanted and decided to make his way home while humming a tune to himself to pass the time.

Coming to a stop atop an apartment, James had a decent view of the street entrance to the subway terminal. It was dark down in the entrance, so either no power.....or no lightbulbs. James wondered where Shadow and Paladin where, since he definitely did not want to go down there alone. Not counting the guys with guns, but a dark cramped area with potential Berserkers? No thanks. Gestalt, try Paladin again.

Affirmative. Trying once more, Gestalt sent a signal aimed into the airwaves from James' phone, one tuned to Paladin's armor, hoping the suited hero was in the air.

Marcus and Bella reached their destination but stopped a block away to look like they were just having a simple walk. Who wouldn't find a taxi driving next to your base suspicious and they also didn'tmwant the driver to think anything and so they walked until Marcus realised Bella didn't have a mask. He may have shown his face to Rev but he.. he already knew Bellas face, that's if he was paying attention back at the restuarant. "Bell, you sure you wanna do this." Marcus asked her before his mask came to him in his usual way.

She looked at him to only see that mask, it gave people chills she knew that but she couldn't quite help but like the design of it. "Revanant found whoever's been turning those innocent people into monsters. I wanna help bring him down." Bella said to him with earnest and he nodded but something kept bugging him.

They turned a corner to see a subway terminal. Houses of the century. He thought to himself as he also lived underground. But not for long.

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