Origins- Protectors

Chapter Thirty-Two: Paint the Town Red, Part Two

Jones feigned a jab at Niamh, hitting her in the face with a more powerful punch. As he did this, he swept the legs out from under Lochlan with a slide tackle, the alien alloy armour he wore allowing him to slide to his feet before Lochlan hit the ground. Shaine's knife jabbed towards Jones, but he caught it with lightning reflexes. The two stood there, both pushing at the blade as it slowly struggled towards Jones' abdomen. Then it flew away, thrown by Chimera, who had taken control of the body,

"You may be stronger than Jones!" Chimera roared, "but I'll pull you apart limb by limb!"

Chimera was a lot stronger than Jones in mind and body. He had fought his way through the tough training to become an SCD agent on behalf of the other personalities, but because Jones was the first personality, he was the dominant personality, meaning that he could take over the body at any given moment,

"This is Jones speaking," Jones said, stopping, "how about I tell you and your friends my story before we do anything else?"

Draedon stood, composing himself,

"Sure," He replied, hoping to buy some time,

"On my biggest mission for the SCD," Jones began, "we had to defeat an artificial country known as Zeta. Everybody there was a mercenary who could give me a run for my money, with one of them being a superhuman being. Chimera and I destroyed the entire underwater city, but the thought of how easy it would have been as a superhuman has plagued me ever since. Then some pathetic kids like you come along and gain the power that I would kill for!"

Towards the end of the monologue, it became apparent that Chimera was taking over again,

"Once my plans come to fruition, I will gain power beyond your wildest dreams!"

"Where does the virus you stole fit in to all of this?" Niamh asked,

"You foolish girl!" Chimera roared, "the virus was a red herring, as was the sound weapon. It was the blood converter that I needed!"

"Wait!" Lochlan shouted, "why not just take some of the serum every hour? You would stay superhuman?"

"The drug causes the skin to liquefy once the effects wear off," Nighthawk replied, taking over and gesturing to the defeated grunts, who were beginning to liquefy, "and anyway, the serum's blood component will only match with the same blood type,"

"So you stole Zachary because..."

"Because his unique ability to change his blood could allow me to modify a perfect serum, one that would last forever and have no drawbacks. One that would work for any blood type!"

"Well, you're not a superhuman yet, so you mustn't have found a way to create it yet," Draedon pointed out,

"The only component I am missing is for the blood harmoniser to work on my sample," Jones said, taking back over, "only three hours and I may shed this detestable armour for good,"

"The armour reflects the power that we stand for," Nighthawk interrupted, pushing Jones out of the limelight,

It was a scary sight to watch a man argue with himself, so it was a welcome interruption when Niamh asked,

"So why hold hostages out here?"

"To distract you," Jones replied, "you didn't even realise where Zachary was being held, or where my facility was. That is because most people believe that lightning never strikes twice,"

"You went back to the stadium?" Shaine exclaimed,

"Now you're catching on," Jones replied, bracing himself for a fight, "and the few hostages I left alive will perish if you go anywhere near it,"