4 Explaining and Fighting

"I'm gonna give you guys the benefit of the doubt, okay?" I said loud enough for the woman and her supposed team to hear clearly, "The people I killed," I motioned around us, "Were a government hit-squad sent to silence me. They were actively trying to kill me and I replied as such," I spoke with a deceptively calm voice, despite my anger.

The bright red-haired girl seemed a bit taken aback by my response and the team behind her also seemed to go into their thoughts. Barbara just looked at me with a forlorn expression, yet it also looked like she'd expected this. Maybe she knew I worked under Waller?

After a bit of thinking, the girl in front of me seemed to calm down considerably, and her eyes stopped glowing green and were replaced by two very beautiful eyes. Like two emeralds.

Though not better than Barbara's. For sure.

Anyway, the girl placed a hand on her chest and gave me an uneasy smile, "I apologize. If I'd have known, I would have taken a different approach," her smile got more and more relaxed as she continued, "My name is Koriand'r. May I be as forward as to ask you yours?" she stepped closer toward me, her smile seemingly infectious.

Just as I went to answer, Barbara came out of nowhere and stood to the side of us, looking up at Koriand'r with a not so friendly look. Jealousy, perhaps? Well, maybe this day ain't too bad after all.

"His name is Alex Mercer, Kori," Barbara said with a slightly sharp tone, "And he's an employee of Amanda Waller. Or rather, he was an employee of hers. Hence the hit-squad."

Hearing her I raised my eyebrow in surprise, "Now, how do you know that?" I questioned, "Stalking me, maybe?" I finished off with a tease, not being able to help myself. Barbara's face flushed slightly, which was clear even with her mask covering most of it.

"No!" she said hurriedly, looking up at me with embarrassed eyes but with a small amount of guilt that seemed to be pushing at her, "...I mean, maybe a little bit?" she held up her hand, her index finger and thumb placed close together in a gesture while laughing nervously, looking to see if I would be mad with her.

But I wasn't mad. More just surprised that she could still speak to me like this despite seeing my massacre a dozen or so people.

Before I could answer her, the dark-haired boy from before came over to us, mainly looking at Barbara, "How do you know this guy, Batgirl?" he asked with confusion, the domino mask he was wearing quirking upward with his raised eyebrow.

"We've known each other since we were kids," I replied, earning a surprised look from Koriand'r and the dark-haired guy I was beginning to associate with Robin, Batman's sidekick. He did wear the same kind of suit and the domino mask was a sure dead ringer for Robin. The Robin look-alike turned his gaze toward Barbara, his eyebrow still quirked in a questioning gesture.

"Is that true, Batgirl?"

Nodding with a slightly flustered look, Barbara gave a short reply, "Yes, it is," before looking back at me, seemingly still wondering if I was mad at her for the apparent stalking she'd done. I just smiled at her to clear her doubts.

"So this means you will come with us without a fight, yes?" Koriand'r beamed at me, looking between me, Barbara and the Robin look-alike.

Another voice spoke up behind the optimistic girl, "I don't think so, Kori. Ain't that right, buddy?" a, what I could only describe as a cyborg walked over from where the green fire still burned. I'd seen him - how could I not? - but I'd assumed he was wearing armor of some kind. Though he did look pretty cool from the perspective of a sci-fi nerd like myself.

Giving a wry smile, I shook my head, "Yeah, you could say that," I backed up, away from them all, before continuing, "I've killed dozens of people. No matter if they were trying to kill me or not, I'm looking at life in a cell for the rest of my life if I come with you. Though I doubt any cell could contain me as I am now, honestly," I heard a scoff from the Robin look-alike, but I ignored him and carried on, "The JLA would no doubt listen to my story, but people like Batman would probably push for me to be put in a cell. I'm sorry for the trouble, but I have things I need to do. You're free to capture me after that," I shrugged, knowing that was a lie, but they didn't need to know that.

"What do you have to do, Alex?" Barbara was the first to speak after me, her forest-green eyes trying to bore holes into me, "Why can't you just come with us? We can help!" she pleaded, her voice cracking slightly to the end, her eyes tearing up slightly.

About anything else, literally anything else, and I would have gone with them.

But betrayal...betrayal like the one Amanda Waller put me through? Sadly that wasn't something I could let slide. Even for Barbara.

She sent people to kill me. They succeeded in my opinion. As I took that virus, I died. The virus brought me back.

Kind of like a revenant, huh?

"You'd help me kill Amanda Waller and anyone else involved in Project Blacklight?" I asked, and her face immediately blanched. I could see that part of her wanted to say yes and help...but a larger part of her couldn't say yes. "See?" I sadly smiled, "We're on different sides now, Bar--Batgirl," I corrected myself before I said her name, not knowing if the others knew it.

Teary-eyed, Barbara backed up a little before averting her gaze.

It hurt. It hurt to know that she'd side with these people over me. That she'd willing let them fight me and take me in. But I can't blame her for that, can I? She has her morals, and I have mine. If anything, she's doing the morally good thing. Something she can take pride and solace in. All I'm going to do is spread death.

Heh. Whatever.

"So, are we gonna do this or not?" I said with a false smirk, trying to hide my dejection, before getting into a mixed form of martial arts stance. One that I'd put together through combining all the memories I have from the soldiers who'd practiced hand-to-hand combat relentlessly. I don't mean to brag, but I'm gonna brag; I have a lot of experience due to my memories. 15-20 years from each person, and I've absorbed around 30 people so far. So that's 450-600 years of combat training, and the mindset to improve upon it and cast aside all the useless habits each of the people had.

This has turned me into quite a lethal fighter if I do say so myself.

Maybe in my preparation to destroy and kill everything Amanda Waller stands for, I could frequent a few underground martial arts rings to improve on my fighting ability?

Oblivious to my thoughts, Koriand'r brought up her fists as they started glowing and crackling with green fire, before she slowly lifted into the air, "If we must, we will, yes," as she said this, the cyborg's left hand morphed into a cannon, and the dark-haired boy brought out a staff that quickly extended into a bo staff.

Barbara just backed away. The Robin look-alike saw this and shook his head in sympathy before turning back to me with determined eyes.

I sensed no bloodlust or intent to kill from any of them, so I won't hurt them too badly.

Ever since I turned into a virus...I've been able to sense people's strength. Koriand'r is the strongest out of the 3 of them, with the cyborg being quite strong as well. The dark-haired teen was the best a human could be, at his age anyway, but if he was anything like Robin, and therefore Batman, I knew not to underestimate him. I grew up on stories of Batman taking down superpowered villains in Gotham, so I knew anyone trained by him would be just as effective.

But even then I didn't feel danger.

I could just tell...that I was better. The more evolved one.

And so I attacked with ruthless abandon.

. . .

POV Change - Barbara

I could barely see when Alex first moved. The only tell that he'd moved was that the tarmac he'd been standing on had completely caved in, cracks spreading for meters upon meters from where he'd seemingly launched from, a small crater there.

He was a blur as he approached Kori, who brought up a hand to fire a bolt of plasma at him. Her Tamaranean physiology giving her an advantage in reaction speed but even then, the bolt missed and Alex appeared, his arms changed. They were black, with red veins running through them, and they had taken on a rough, rocky appearance. His fists seemed a bit bigger as well. Like bulky hammers instead of fists.

He swung one of these 'hammers' in a ruthless hook that collided with Kori's jaw, snapping her head to the side. But Alex didn't stop.

He kept laying punch after punch into Kori's midsection, the very air shaking and popping after every hit, showing the absolute strength of his blows. The fact I could barely see his fists could speak for the speed of his punches. Blurs of black and red were all I saw.

Kori couldn't retaliate. I'd seen her sparing with Cassie, laughing, and yet her face was morphed in a dazed pain like she'd been hit by a freight train whenever Alex hit her.

And as soon as it began, it ended as Alex sent a blow to the center of Kori's face, blowing her backward with a crack that was ever so similar to the boom of thunder. She flew past us, leaving a trail of blood behind her. She was seemingly out for the count.

I turned back just in time to see Cyborg sending a volley of shots at Alex who brought up his hand and morphed it into a shield like the one that saved my life. I wonder how his powers work? Are his powers why Waller is after him? Why can't he just come to the League with us?! Why does he have to get revenge? Wouldn't it be enough to just...Nevermind.

Meanwhile, outside of my dejected head, Cyborg had started upping the output of his cannon, sending barrages of massive blue beams that collided and melted away at the shield in front of Alex. Tim, next to Cyborg, was hailing as many projectiles as he could but they either passed through Alex or had no effect on him.

And the beams didn't seem to be bothering him as I could still see his calm face.

As if to show this, his free arm elongated and took on a more tentacle-like appearance, looking like multiple vines wrapped around each other. The unique appendage ended in multiple sharp spikes that pointed forward like spears. As I was inspecting the blades, Alex whipped the appendage around before flicking it in Cyborg's direction.

The blades easily pierced through Cyborg's stomach, embedding themselves in him, before Alex pulled back his 'arm' along with Cyborg. Alex's shield morphed back into the hammer-like fist from before and as Cyborg got in front of him, he slammed the fist into the metal plating on his head, slamming him into the street below with a massive bang, followed by cracking sounds as the force broke the surrounding tarmac like an earthquake would.

Cyborg and Kori had severely underestimated Alex. We all had. Even Alex seemed surprised with his physical abilities which alarmed me even further:

This might not even be his limit.

Smiling, Alex stood up, holding the half-unconscious Cyborg down with his boot-wearing foot. That smile sent chills up my spine.

. . .

POV Change - Alex

Well, that was easy.

It seems that my physical strength is higher than I estimated. No matter what, this fight has given the virus vital information to mutate and evolve me further. I can already feel my body getting stronger and faster, my reaction speed becoming even more inhuman.

Lost in thought, I felt more projectiles pass through my body, and I turned to look at the dark-haired teen who had a bit of a sweat going on.

I politely smiled before moving Biomass toward my legs and improving my jumping and running ability, "Well, now that I've taken out the people who could chase me via flying...I guess I can just go, right?" I kept up a facade that I was okay despite the pain of this whole scenario.

There's a difference between knowing you can never be with the girl you love and have to stay away from her to avoid hurting her, and you can't be with the girl you love because she's a hero who will hunt you to the ends of the Earth if you cross her path. The latter has a particular sting to it because it means I'll probably run into her from time to time.

Without waiting for a reply, I jumped away, onto a nearby building before I starting sprinting with everything I had, cracking the roof I was running on.

I only kept this up for a while before I far enough away before I caught a guy stabbing a woman.

Jumping down behind him, I put a fist through his head and absorbed the man. I ignored the depraved memories as I kneeled next to the corpse of the woman who'd been stabbed. I stared at her for a while before absorbing her as well.

Hey, it's free Biomass, why not use it?

It turns out she was a doctor at Gotham General. So her expertise will come in handy. Despite all my medical knowledge, I never went to medical school. So her experience and knowledge can only bolster my own, while also filling in what little gaps were in it.

I morphed into the appearance of the man who murdered her before standing up and walking out onto the street and wondering where I could go.

"Things to do...things to do," I muttered as I walked down the empty street, "I think I'll find a few criminals first," I smiled before walking in the direction of some of the rougher neighborhoods in Gotham.

Though I'll have to keep it quiet. Don't want Barbara and the Robin rip-off to come after me.

With that in mind, I picked up my pace.