Chapter #20

Zeno did as he planned and graduated from college in not in two but a single year, he had to hack the school's systems for it but it was worth it.

He then had to pay a fine but still, it was worth it. Zeno had many offers from companies after that stunt but he rejected them all, including Gentek.

He won't be staying long and he honestly does not want to work for somebody anymore.

Anyway to celebrate his early graduation Zeno went ahead and kidnapped Alex from his home in front of his girlfriend and went to get Dana from NYU.

He brought them to a noodle shop to eat some ramen. He knew how to use the chopsticks due to his previous life but he totally forgot about his friends.

They were truly struggling...

"Stop laughing Zeno. We never had ramen before!" Dana pouted.

"I can't believe you're my only friend." Alex too was holding his forehead.

He truly believed he made a mistake by getting involved with Zeno.

He wouldn't have if he knew his sister would fall for him and Zeno was capable enough to kidnap him from his home.

'My security isn't good enough it seems.' Alex's paranoia went into overdrive as he thought about his options.

"So, Zeno. I heard you refused Gentek's offer too." Alex said after finishing his ramen.

"Yeah, I honestly don't want to work for anyone, even my current job is more of a freelancer thing." Zeno replied.

"Why did you study Biochemistry when you already had a good paying job anyway?" Dana asked, while she thought. 'You could have moved in with me while I studied, idiot.'

"Having a college certificate looks good in my living room." Zeno answered Dana with a smile.

The two certainly did not have a response to that.

After their improvised dinner, Dana had to leave early due to having a morning class.

Which left Alex and Zeno alone. They decided to walk to Zeno's place in Manhattan.

"So, how long are you going to stall my sister?" Alex asked once Dana left.

"I was kinda hoping she would move on, I am not going to say she deserves better with her personality but still..."

"What are you hiding anyway? Oh don't look at me like that three of us knew each other for how long? Fourteen years or so. I can tell you're holding something." Alex scoffed.

"Well, I can show you, I need to have a conversation with you anyway." Zeno said as they entered the building.

This whole building was bought by Tyrone, it was later passed to Zeno. It was completely fortified against spying.

Once inside Alex quickly noticed the fortifications, since they were not hidden on the inside. Zeno would never let anyone he didn't know in this building.

"Damn, and I was thinking I was paranoid." Alex whistled as he sat down randomly.

"Yeah, it is kind of a requirement for the information I am about to share." Zeno quickly rummaged through his files before pulling the ones related to Blackwatch.

Alex took the files and read them, the more he read the more his face twisted. He didn't care about the deaths and such but he could guess how this might endanger him, Dana and Zeno.

"I already got several safe houses ready just in case. Parliament is pressing on them, soon they will clean the board." Zeno explained.

"I see... Thank you." Alex said.

Alex Mercer is not a person that would thank anyone casually, he spent the first nine years of his life in foster care since his mother was in prison.

Once she got out with his baby sister in her hands he had to take care of her since his mother clearly wasn't going to.

School was hellish for him due to his mother and absentee father. He had to fend for himself his entire life until Zeno arrived and took some of the heat.

Now with this, Alex finally accepted the man in front of him as his friend.

"Well, I got more news, it's about the Blacklight and your compatibility with it." Seeing Zeno's smile Alex thought maybe he should change his mind.

_______

Two hours later Alex left the house feeling more amazed than scared. He never thought Zeno was so far ahead in the field of genetic engineering.

The calculations, the simulations of how they fit into his own genetic sequence was all done so brilliantly that Alex didn't even care about Zeno taking samples without asking him.

'With this I can be strong enough to protect myself, Dana too should be resistant enough. I can finally relax.' Alex thought to himself before remembering Blackwatch.

His face turned serious, he was originally going to ask Zeno or Dana to research Gentek since his own search came up empty.

Now that he knows there are people after him he can prepare in time and sneak out a sample of Blacklight.

'It would have been nice to chat with Elizabeth Greene as well. Too bad she is comatose according to Zeno.' Alex shook his head in disappointment for the lost opportunity.

'She could offer insights about the mind of the virus considering how long she lived with it, either way she is not a threat as long as she is asleep.'

That night Alex had broken up with his girlfriend. Their relationship wasn't stable in the first place since Alex couldn't trust anyone outside of family.

Now with the noose on his neck tightening, he didn't have the tolerance to deal with her bullshit.

______

Just one small year later Zeno got an alert on his computer showing the Blackwatch's movements. He had set the alarm for Alex's death sentence.

Seeing it he messaged Alex in a coded way telling him to bail out after taking a dose of Blacklight modified to his calculations before jumping to his car to pick up Dana immediately.

Dana had just finished her newest tabloid and was about to deliver it when a car drifted in front of her.

She was shocked until the tinted windows rolled down revealing Zeno.

"Come with me if you want to live!" Zeno opened the passenger seat as he shouted.

Dana, who had been thinking he was just trying to be funny, happily boarded the car not knowing this would be the last day of her normal life.

_______

"So where are we going?" Dana asked excitedly.

She kind of liked the serious expression on Zeno's face. His goofy face was the best but this one was better than his original bored look.

"To my safe house outside of New York. Alex should meet up with us there." Zeno said.

"Wait, this is serious?" Dana asked.

If this was a joke Zeno would not keep it going for this long .

"Yeah, there are some reports in the glove compartment. Read them." Zeno said.

Dana read through the files on the way, she couldn't be sure whether she should be angry at her brother or be amazed.

Her brother worked on a bioweapon and when he decided to be a decent human being and ask where this was going to be used he got a target on his back.

Dana didn't care what Blackwatch had done in the past nor the event with the Redlight. As far as she cares Elizabeth Greene can go and die in a ditch.

But she cares about her brother...

"Wait, how is my brother going to come here?" Dana asked as they arrived at the safe house.

Zeno just pointed to the sky much to her confusion. Looking up, she saw a black dot falling towards their location.

Soon that figure revealed to be her brother who just glided over to them while spraying blood all over.

"Damn, I didn't know the gliding worked with blood." Zeno commented as he looked at the trail Alex left behind.

Meanwhile Dana who was happy to see her brother safe, just jumped on his back ignoring all the blood.

"Yeah, me neither. We need to relocate." Alex grumbled while taking Dana down.

He had to consume animals on the way to replenish his biomass, there was also a voice at the back of his head telling him to consume everything.

Alex knew that was the virus' doing so he ignored it but it was simply too annoying.

'I can't share this with Dana. She is not resilient as I am when it comes to such things.' He thought as he retracted the virus trying to reach her.

He didn't know why but Blacklight seemed to want to spread on it's own, since he was trying to be incognito he restrained it.

'Weirdly the virus doesn't approach Zeno. Interesting.'

Seeing their safe house was busted before they could even enter Zeno punched the self destruction code before they left with the car.

"Try not to bleed on the seats." Zeno joked.