Prototype : A New Start

Return to Monke

Mercer had waited for him to come home ever since he received the call from the bank to confirm the transaction. He stood in the middle of the lounge with both of his arms crossed, clearly a bad sign. He doesn't seem to be amused with the whole ordeal until he could confirm it by himself that the girls weren't taking advantage of his dorkiness for their own gain by a little privacy intrusion.

Hell, looking at the bunch of thumb-sized gemstones he brought home for his collection, such as the faceted Moonstone he bought for him, Zeus seems to be pretty content with the pearly opalescent Rainbow gemstone. Another one goes to his collection, though the evolved claimed that this is obviously a bribe to not get grounded.

"Hey, it worked."

Alex Mercer collecting gemstones and precious metals as some sort of hobby to entertain himself is definitely better than collecting humans like they are Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards, or total world domination through his hive mind powers as he consumed everything on earth.

If he ever grows disinterested with them, there are always more things to make a collection of. Watches, Coins and Currencies, those could work. It comes with its own set of problems, Once Mercer realizes some things couldn't be bought with money.... Maybe he'd swoop an entire museum clean.

Best part is, it was pretty obvious that he could pull that off.

But everything just had to go downhill afterwards. Specifically when he was in the kitchen, trying to make himself some dry sandwiches to snack on before going downstairs to the home theater.

But life sucks, as always.

The moment he laid down the ingredients on the table with his tendrils, Maria's father showed up which he was betting to be one of those Godfather types, if her personality were to indicate anything.

That was the moment when the bomb dropped on him, and Damian found himself rushing outside the mansion through the pocket doors which leads to the terrace on the back. He immediately dived into the swimming pool without any hesitation.

Minutes later, Mercer found an ugly lump of red tissue floating in the middle of his pool through the window. It only took him a second or two to process what, or who is in his pool. The virus carefully fished out its minion with the help of a bug net which was stored safely inside one of the closet. He dropped the remains on the side of the pool, still drenched in water as he threw the net aside.

"What are you doing this time?" He asked, quite bemused at the irresponsible actions of the blonde. Is this how kids grows up? Damian slowly formed back, albeit slowly due to the water bogging him down. He more or less managed to do so after around ten seconds of shapeshifting.

"..........My friend's dad thinks I'm into his daughter." Ah. "And he wants to meet me, so I'm taking the easy option."

"No." He raised a finger, pointing it toward Damian. "Bad Damian, Bad."

"End my suffering!"

"Well, I could understand why you're so nervous, but you didn't have to taint my pool like.... Wait..."

Mercer stared at Damian's drenched figure, he looks like a mess alright. As if someone just tried to melt him alive as a candle, but that wasn't the point. He's still drenched completely in water from the pool, yet he is retaining his form, albeit sluggishly.

"Go back to the pool."

"Just remember to delete my browser history."

"Yes, No, I mean. I'm serious," Mercer facepalmed. "Damian, you're soaking wet."

"Yes, I know, kinky, ain't it?" Damian smoothly replied, slowly dipping his legs into the water before jumping in. The water is just right above his waist. Damian leaned on the side of the pool casually as if nothing was wrong. "Well, minus the part where I look like shit, must be a turn off. Now excuse me while I cope with the pain-"