"God bless us every one.

We're a broken people living under loaded gun.

And IT can't be outfought,

IT can't be outdone,

IT can't be outmatched,

IT can't be outrun."

The Catalyst, by Linkin Park.

Explosions could be heard in the distance, as Linka Loud and her 10 brothers had barricaded in the Loud House.

Outside the town was in flames as Pariah went on his rampage.

"What the heck is that thing?" Said Linka's brother Lynn.

"I don't know." Linka said. "It looks like a man but, he has those crazy powers, and eats people."

They all ducted down as a car crashed just outside.

"It's some sort of demon or something." Said her younger brother Lars. "I would think this was pretty cool if I wasn't so afraid for my life. Sigh."

"Well hopefully that electric guy I met earlier can take care of him." Loki said.

...

Soon the military arrived.

"Attention crazy, super powered, cowboy looking dude!" A general barked into a megaphone. "I order you to stop rampaging through town, or we will open fire!"

"You think I'm afraid of you?" Pariah said.

"Alright men OPEN FIRE!" the general ordered. Then an army of soldiers started shooting at Pariah.

Pariah ran over and turned them all into hamburger with his claws. Then some tanks rolled in.

One of the tanks fired on Pariah. The blast hit him square in the chest. He was knocked off balance for a few moments, but soon regained his footing. He grabbed the barrel of one of the tanks. Lifted the entire tank over his head, and smashed it into another tank, destroying both tanks.

"Tanks for the easy work out!" Pariah said.

"Holy crap!" Said Lynn, as he stared out the window at the chaos outside, he then turned to his brother Lane. "His jokes are even worse than yours."

Then a squadron of jets flew in. they shot rockets at Pariah.

Pariah caught the rockets with his bare hands. "I think you dropped these." Then he tossed them back at the jets, blowing them up.

The general then hopped onto Pariah's back, and put him in a coke hold. "If you think I'm gonna let you terrorize this town, you've got another thing coming maggot!"

Pariah knocked the general off of his back and onto the ground.

"Just what the hell are you anyway?" The general said.

Pariah set his foot on the general's chest, and leaned into his face.

"I am the bringer of death." Pariah said, then he consumed the general. He then went back to destroying the rest of the tanks.

...

Pariah had destroyed the military, with only a few foot soldiers left, cowering in fear. Suddenly Pariah was struck from behind with a bolt of lightning.

Furious Pariah turned around, to see a bald man in a yellow leather jacket, with lightning coming off of him.

"So you're the guy they call Pariah." The man said in a gruff British accent. "Looks like you've made a bit of a mess here mate."

"And just who the fuck are you?" Pariah said.

"My name is Cole McGrath." The man said. Cole then took out a large tuning fork shaped lightning rod he called "the amp". "Now let's dance." Cole said as he channeled lightning through the amp.

"It's the electric man!" One of the soldiers cried out. "We're saved!"

Pariah fired a few spikes at Cole, and Cole created a shield of electromagnetic energy to deflect them.

"Cool powers." Pariah said. "Think I could try them out?"

"Oh you want cool?" Cole said. The he created a ball of ice in his hands and through it at Pariah. The ice ball exploded at Pariah's feet and froze him solid.

Within seconds Pariah shattered his icey prison, and was free.

"Lightning AND ice." Pariah observed. "Impressive."

Pariah turned his arm into a giant circular saw. He stuck the saw into the ground and used it like a wheel to propel himself forward. He turned his other arm into a blade and slashed at Cole.

Just before Pariah could reach him, Cole created a pillar of ice below his feet, launching himself into the air. Cole took out the amp in mid air, and brought it crashing to the ground, creating a shock wave that knocked Pariah off his feet.

Pariah got back up, morphed the saw into a whip, and swung it at Cole.

Cole caught the whip with his amp. The whip wrapped around the amp, and Cole channeled his electricity into Pariah.

"GAGAGAGAAGAGAGA!" Pariah screamed as he was electrocuted. Cole then froze Pariah's whip, and shattered it.

Cole swung the amp at Pariah, and Pariah blocked Cole's attack with his blade. Pariah then slashed Cole's stomach open with his claws, spilling Cole's blood and guts.

Cole wasn't dead yet though. He limped to a nearby street light. He raised his hand to the light. Electricity drained from the light into Cole's hand, and body. Coles wounds healed upon contact with the electricity.

Cole called down a mighty bolt of lightning from the sky that struck Pariah. Cole kept calling down lightning until Pariah was reduced to a skeleton.

Pariah fell to the ground.

Cole slowly walked to the charred skeleton.

"Ay you dead mate?" Cole said.

Pariah then got back to his feet and his flesh slowly grew back.

"Damn this bugga can take a hit." Cole said. With Pariah's flesh burned off, Cole could see that his teeth were shat and pointy like a shark's.

Pariah grabbed a soldier and consumed him. After consuming the soldier Pariah's entire body (and his clothes) grew back.

"Well good thing your clothes grew back." Cole said. "I have no desire to see you naked."

"Likewise." Pariah said.

Cole shot a rocket of electricity at Pariah, Pariah dodged it and it blew up behind him.

Pariah then created a long bony staff with his powers. He swung the staff at Cole who blacked it with his amp.

The two swung their weapons at each other, blocking, striking, and parrying.

Soon Pariah cut off Cole's arm with his staff.

"GAH!" Cole screamed as his arm hit the ground.

Then Pariah shoved his staff down Cole's throat. Pariah then yanked the staff out of Cole pulling his guts out of his mouth.

As Pariah spun his staff over his head, letting it rest behind his back tentacles shot out of Pariah's body and wrapped around Cole to consume him.

As Pariah consumed Cole, he could feel a surge of energy coursing through his body. Bolts of red lightning sparked from Pariah as Cole's powers became his.

...

A portal opened up behind Pariah.

Pariah turned around to see Rick Sanchez step out of the portal. Rick was now wearing a military outfit.

"Rick Sanchez." Pariah said. "Come back for round 2 I see."

"Round 2?" Rick said. "Oh I think you're thinking of a different-urp Rick. I've never seen you before in my life. But I have heard of you."

"Another Rick?"

"I'm rick J-87." Rick said. "Current leader of Seal Team Ricks."

"Seal Team Ricks?"

Then more portals opened up behind Rick J-87. A Rick in a military uniform stepped out of each one.

"Ricks!" Rick J-87 said. "Seize him!"

Then the Ricks fired at Pariah with laser assault rifles.

Pariah blocked the laser blasts with a shield of electromagnetic energy.

"I guess it's time to test out my new powers." Pariah said to himself. Pariah then shot bolts of red lightning out of his hands. "INFINITE POWER!" He yelled, as he electrocuted the Ricks.

Pariah dashed toward the army of Ricks, and started slashing at them with his claws.

"Don't let him eat you!" Said Rick J-87. "If he eats you he'll gain every bit of knowledge and every ability you have!"

"Yeah because it's always been my dream to get eaten alive by a psychotic mutant!" Another Rick yelled sarcastically.

Then Pariah stabbed his claws into the chest of Rick J-87.

"Oh fuck." Said Rick J-87 as Pariah consumed him.

Pariah held his head as his brain was flooded with the near infinite knowledge of a Rick.

"Oh SHIT!" Yelled one of the Ricks. "He killed our leader! Who's in charge now?"

Then one of the Ricks fired a laser revolver into the air. This Rick was wearing a sheriff's uniform with a cowboy hat, and a thick beard.

"After J-87 I'm in charge." He said with a deep southern accent. "I'm Rick WD-8. We will beat this monster. We are the ones who get to live."

Then Rick WD-8 shot Pariah right between the eyes with his laser revolver, blasting a whole in his head.

"YEAH LET'S GET THIS MOTHER FUCKER!" yelled one of the Ricks.

"He's screwing with the wrong people." Said Rick WD-8.

Pariah got back to his feet and the hole in his head closed back up. "You know, since you guys are each from other dimensions. That means I can do this." He then grabbed one of the Ricks, infected him with a bio bomb, and threw him at the other Ricks. The Rick exploded in a mass of tentacles killing a bunch of other Ricks.

Rick WD-8 narrowly escaped the explosion.

Pariah walked up to Rick WD-8 smiling. "You know this will only end one way."

"I will kill you." Said Rick WD-8. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but I will kill you."

Just then another Rick jumped on Pariah's back, and started stabbing him. Spikes shot out of Pariah's back, killing the Rick, who's body then absorbed into Pariah, giving him more knowledge.

"Send in the genetically modified Ricks!" Rick WD-8 ordered.

Then more portals opened up.

Out of one portal came a Rick made entirely out of fire. Out of another came a Rick with bird wing that could let out a loud screech that sent shockwaves that damaged enemies. Out of another came a rick dressed in all black, with black hair that came over his eyes, and he had the ability to manipulate dark matter and energy. Out of another came a Rick who was the size of the Hulk and just as strong.

Pariah smirked.

Hulk Rick picked up a car and threw it at Pariah. A pulse of energy came from Pariah, and the car stopped in mid air.

"Electro magnetism." Pariah said. "That'll come in handy." He then threw the car back at the super powered Ricks.

Two more portals opened up. Out of one came a Rick who could turn invisible, and the other a Rick with red hair and a microphone.

Fire rick flew into the air and shot a beam of fire at Pariah. Pariah then shot a beam of ice that clashed with the fire beam.

Pariah eventually over powered Fire Rick and knocked him to the ground. He walked over to Fire Rick. Fire Rick shot his fire breath at Pariah. Pariah morphed his arm into a shield to block the flames.

Then the Rick with the red hair and microphone started to sing.

"We're no strangers to love." He sang. "You know the rules and so do I."

Then Pariah lost control of his body as he started to dance. "What's happening?"

"Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you down."

With Pariah under them mercy of Rickroll Rick's powers, Bird Rick let out a screech that blasted Pariah into a wall.

"Ugh." Pariah moaned as he got to his feet.

...

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Asked one of the Ricks. "remember if he consumes any of them, he gets their powers."

"This is how we survive." Said Rick WD-8. "By telling ourselves we are the walking Ricks."

"Dude what the-urp fuck are you talking about?"

...

Rickroll Rick continued to sing, forcing Pariah to dance.

I need to get rid of this guy first Pariah thought. Must resist urge... to... shake... my... booty

Pariah let out a shockwave of electricity and knocked Rickroll Rick to the ground.

Pariah jumped into the air, came down on Rickroll Rick with his blade and consumed him.

"Big deal." Said Rick WD-8. "So now he can sing and create annoying memes."

Hulk Rick stomped over to Pariah.

"RICK SMASH!" He yelled as he slammed his fists into the ground, creating a shockwave sending Pariah flying ten feet back.

Then Hulk Rick walked up to a black board with a complex math equation written on it. "RICK SOLVE FOR X!!!!" He roared. Then he solved the equation in less than a minute. "RICK CONTEMPLATE MEANING OF EXISTANCE! IN INFINITE UNIVERSE NOTHING MATTER! RICK BECOME NIALIST!" He roared. "GAH!" Hulk Rick yelled as Pariah's blade was shoved through his body. Hulk Rick was then consumed by Pariah.

"Rick die like a little bitch." Pariah said. "Though I do already have super strength, so consuming you really does nothing."

Then Invisible Rick turned invisible and snuck up behind Pariah, and tried to stab him in the back with a dagger.

Pariah grabbed invisible Rick's hand before he could thrust the steel blade into him.

"Invisibility." Pariah said. "Cool power. However it's not very effective against a guy who can see in all wave lengths." Pariah then consumed invisible Rick. Then he turned invisible.

"Oh shit." Said Fire Rick "Now we have no idea where he'll come from."

Then Pariah appeared behind Fire Rick. "peaka boo!"

"Of course." Said Fire Rick.

Then Pariah shoved his claws into Fire Rick and consumed him. "Mama mia, that's a spicy meatball."

Bird Rick shot another sonic blast at Pariah. Pariah created a portal under his feet and teleported behind Bird Rick.

"Almost forgot about that power." Pariah said. "I got it from that first Rick I met. The one leading that task force hunting me. Who through consuming you guys I figured out is called Rick LH-11."

Pariah then grabbed Bird Rick by the wings. He pushed his foot against Bird Rick's back, and yanked his wings off.

Bird Rick cried in pain, then Pariah consumed him.

"Hmm, tastes like chicken." Pariah said. "looks like the only one left is you, Emo Rick."

"Ugh, it's Dark Rick." Dark Rick said, in a monotone voice. "Sigh"

Dark Rick then disappeared into a cloud of darkness, and appeared again behind Pariah.

"Hi." Said Dark Rick.

"GAH!" Pariah jumped.

"The universe is nothing but –urp, empty darkness." Said Dark Rick. "Just like my –urp soul." Then Dark Rick blasted Pariah with a beam of Darkness.

Pariah shot a blast of fire at Dark Rick, who just turned into a cloud of darkness.

"From dust and darkness all thing came, and to dust and darkness all things will return." Said Dark Rick. "Burp, Sigh."

"Morbid little thing aren't you?" Pariah said. "And that's saying a lot coming from a serial killer."

"One called Pariah." Dark Rick said, his bored, monotone voice never changing. "I can see deep into your soul."

"What's going on?" Pariah said, as the entire world grew darker and darker. Soon Pariah found himself in complete darkness.

"I can see your deepest darkest fears." Came Dark Rick's voice.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Said Pariah. "I have the powers of a god. And I can take any powers I want. What could I possibly be afraid of?"

"You fear losing your power." Said Dark Rick. "You fear that deep down you are the thing you hate most. HUMAN!!!!"

That last word cut through Pariah like a knife.

"I am not one of those worthless humans!" Pariah said. "I am immortal! I will never lose my powers, and I will never die!" Pariah looked around in the darkness franticly. He was actually starting to panic. For the first time since he was a child, he was felt afraid. "Where the FUCK ARE YOU!!!!"

Suddenly the sound of children laughing came from the darkness. But this wasn't playful laughter, it was sinister mocking laughter. Pairs of red eyes appeared in the darkness surrounding Pariah.

Pariah closed his eyes, and brought his hands to his ears. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"No one has ever loved you." Came Dark Ricks voice. "I'd feel sorry for you... if I had feelings. Burp, sigh. In your whole life the only thing that has given you anything is The Mercer Virus. Through it you learned everything you know, through it you were able to protect yourself, feed yourself, clothe yourself, and find –urp shelter. The closest thing you ever had to a parent was The Virus. You fear losing these powers as a –urp child fear losing his mother. And that's what you are, a child, alone and scared."

Pariah's hands sparked a bit, he smiled. "maybe it's time I turned on a light."

Then Pariah summoned lightning from the sky, that struck the ground in a blinding flash, clearing away the darkness, and knocking Dark Rick to the ground.

Pariah then encased Dark Rick's arms and legs in ice.

"Oh would you look at this." Said Pariah, his confidence having returned. "Who's the scared little kid now?"

Dark Rick looked up at Pariah with fear in his eyes.

Pariah kneeled down and got into Dark Ricks face.

"You know you Ricks." Said Pariah, as his eyes glowed red. "You're not so different from me. No you're not are you. The only person who will ever love you is yourself. So you made this whole citadel of the one and only person in the entire multiverse who will ever care for you, and that's you. You all act so tough, but inside you're all alone and scared. I'd feel sorry for you, he he, if I had any feelings. And you're wrong about one thing, I am not alone." Pariah then shoved his thumbs into Dark Rick's eye sockets, and consumed him.

Pariah got back up, and cracked his neck. "Anything else?"

Rick WD-8 narrowed his eyes. "Send in... The Slender Rick!"

...

Another portal opened up and a monstrous Rick stepped out. This Rick was at least 8 feet tall, he had a black suit, and no face (aside from his blue-ish whit unibrow, and hair). And he had tentacles coming from his back.

Slender Rick starred at Pariah with his faceless face. Pariah's head was filled with static, and voices.

Slender Rick grabbed Pariah with his tentacles, and pulled him toward his blank face. Slender Rick opened his face to reveal a gaping mw of razor sharp teeth.

"Oh so you think you're going to eat me huh?" Pariah smirked. "Well you got it backwards my friend. You're not going to eat me, I'm going to eat you!"

Pariah opened his mouth and a tentacle shot from his mouth into Slender Rick's. Pariah then consumed Slender Rick.

"You could get in my head." Pariah said. "And now that I have your powers, I don't even need to infect people to get in their heads."

"Oh shit! He's taken out Slender Rick!" Said one of the Ricks.

"Well then we have no other choice." Said Rick WD-8. "We'll have to send in... him."

"What are you INSANE!" Protested another rick.

"It's our only option!" Rick WD-8 said as he grabbed the other Rick by his collar. "This fucker has taken out all our most powerful Ricks and is growing stronger by the minute."

"And who's fault was that."

"I had to send them in. We need to stop this monster!"

"Yeah and everything we throw at him, he just eats and uses their powers against us. Can you imagine what would happen if Pariah got... his powers!"

"That's not going to happen, he is unstoppable. By all intensive purposes a GOD!"

"It's your funeral sir."

"We have no choice." Said Rick WD-8 in a dark voice. "Send in... Doctor Rick-hattan!"

Another portal opened up. Out stepped a Rick who's entire body, and lab coat were glowing blue. He had no pupils, and he had a dark circle tattooed in the middle of his forehead.

"Hey what up guys!" He said. "I'm Doctor Rick-hattan. WABBA LUBBA DUB DUB! I did the same experiment as –urp Doctor Manhattan in that movie Watchmen. You know the artsy overrated superhero one. So yeah I did that same experiment from the movie, and... and got the same result. Now I have –urp, Doctor Manhattan powers. I'm, I'm Rick Sanchez with the powers of Doctor Manhattan. So who was it you guys want me to fight now? That crazy cowboy looking dude, with the glowing red eyes, and psychotic smile? Alright let's get this over with."

Doctor Rick-hattan raised his hand toward Pariah. Pariah gave Doctor Rick-hattan a confused look. Then Pariah exploded into a fin red mist, that settled to a puddle of blood on the ground.

"Alright we did it!" Said Doctor Rick-hattan. "When we get back to the Citadel we're all getting Pizza, on me." Doctor Rick-hattan said as he put on a pair of sunglasses.

All the other Ricks cheered.

"We all fought bravely today." Said Rick WD-8. "I'm proud of you all, and I'm proud to be your new leader. This will certainly go down in history."

Then Dora the Explorer and her monkey Boots appeared.

"Yeah we did, WE DID IT!" Dora started to sing as all the Ricks danced to her song. "We fought Pariah a shapeshifting monster from another dimension, WE DID IT! We suffered heavy losses but we beat him in the end We DID IT! He consumed the genetically modified Ricks and gained their powers but we did it!"

"Hey wait a minute." Said one of the Ricks, pointing to the puddle that used to be Pariah. "THAT BASTARD'S PULLING A TERMINATOR 2!!!!!"

Sure enough Pariah's blood and guts were accumulating and taking form.

"CAN NOTHING KILL THIS GUY!!!!" One of the Ricks yelled.

"HOLY MOTHER FUCKING SHIT!!!!!" Dora cried. "COME ON BOOTS LET'S THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. BEFOR OUR ASSES GET EATEN ALIVE BUY THAT FUCKING MONSTER!!!!!"

"I'M RIGHT FUCKING BEHIND YOU DORA!!!!" Boots yelled. "LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Then a tentacle shot out of the growing red mass and grabbed Boots and pulled him in.

"BOOTS!" Dora yelled as she rushed to Boot's aid. She grabbed Boot's hand, but Pariah was too strong. Boots was pulled from Dora's grip and into the mass of bloody red goo, where he drowned and was absorbed and consumed.

A bony hand shot out of the red blob and grabbed Dora's arm. Dora screamed, then tentacles shot out of the blob and into Dora's eyes. A mouth full of sharp teeth formed, and clamped around Dora's face, and she was pulled into the red bloody goo, and dissolved.

(And now Pariah knows Spanish.)

"RETREAT!" Rick WD-8 yelled.

The other Ricks all ran away, opened up portals and left the dimension.

Rick WD-8 and Doctor Rick-hattan were all that remained.

"Doctor Rick-hattan, you have to get out of here." Rick WD-8 said. "If Pariah eats you he gets your powers."

"I can take him!" Said Doctor Rick-hattan. "I know I can."

Doctor Rick-hattan shot a couple blasts of energy into the red blob, but it kept forming.

Soon Pariah had fully regenerated his entire body (and cloths).

"You wanna do this the hard way?" Said Doctor Rick-hattan. "Come on, LET'S GET SCHWIFTY!"

Then Doctor Rick-hattan grew to the size of a building.

Pariah zipped through the town as Doctor Rick-hattan shot mighty beams of energy at him, hitting buildings and blowing them up.

Soon Pariah found himself in front of The Loud House.

The Loud brothers and Linka got out of the house just before Doctor Rick-hattan shot a beam of energy at the house and blew it up.

"To my bomb shelter!" Levi announced.

"HOLY SHIT DUDE!" Pariah yelled to Doctor Rick-hattan. "uh, in case you forgot, I'm supposed to be the bad guy!"

"Good and evil are –urp made up constructs that lesser beings use to try and justify their existence." Said Doctor Rick-hattan.

"Well I can't argue with that." Pariah said.

...

The Loud siblings hid in Levi's underground bunker, away from the chaos outside.

"Ok this is just crazy." Said Lynn. "First we had the crazy guy with the knife arms, then that electric guy, then all those old dudes, and now we got that giant blue guy. What the heck is going on? Is this some reality TV show or something."

"I told you I saw a monster." Linka yelled at Loki.

"It's hiding in the dark, its teeth are razor sharp!" Said Luke.

"Sorry I didn't believe you Linka." Said Loki.

Linka started to feel light headed.

"Hey Linka you ok?" Lynn asked. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine I just..." Linka responded. "I just feel a little light headed is all."

"Come on, you should sit down." Said Loki, as he walked Linka over to a chair and sat her down.

"Man our entire house was destroyed." Said Leif, "what are we going to do?"

"I don't know Leif." Said Loki.

"And where's mom and dad?" lexx asked.

Linka held her hands to her head, as she started to get a splitting headache. The room started to spin, then she collapsed to the floor.

"LINKA!" All the boys yelled.

Loki knelt down and tried to shake Linka awake. "Linka wake up!"

...

Pariah continued zipping around the town avoiding Doctor Rick-hattan's energy blasts.

"You think you can hide from me?" Said Doctor Rick-hattan. "Do you realize how powerful I am? I'm a cross between Rick Sanchez, and Doctor Manhattan! I AM THE DEFINITION OF UNBEATABLE!"

Then Doctor Rick-hattan spotted Pariah.

"Found you!" Doctor Rick-hattan said as energy charged up in his hands.

Pariah looked up at Doctor Rick-hattan. A shockwave of energy shot out from Pariah's feet, and he rocketed up toward Doctor Rick-hattan's face like a bullet.

Pariah stuck Doctor Rick-hattan right in the center of the circle engraved in Doctor Rick-hattan's forehead, imbedding himself within Doctor Rick-hattan's brain.

"Oh shit!" Doctor Rick-hattan exclaimed. He clawed at his own head trying to get at Pariah.

Then a giant tentacle the size of a tree shot out of Doctor Rick-hattan's eye. Then another tentacle came out of his mouth, into one nostril, out the other, then into his ear.

Doctor Rick-hattan let out a cry of pain. Then an even bigger tentacle burst out of his stomach.

Blood spreyed out of every opening in Doctor Rick-hattan's body, flooding the streets like a crimson rain.

The tentacles wrapped around Doctor Rick-hattan's body and squeezed harder and harder. The tentacles dug into his body and started to break down his flesh.

His body began to get sucked into itself until Doctor Rick-hattan was no more.

Pariah fell to the ground victorious.

Pariah turned and looked at Rick WD-8 and smiled, his eyes glowing red.

Rick WD-8 then promptly wet his pants, opened a portal, and got the hell out of there.

Suddenly Pariah blacked out.

Pariah woke up in some sort of dark void.

He looked around him, nothing but inky blackness for as far as he could see.

"Where the hell am I?" He wondered.

Suddenly in the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by glowing red energy. He could feel the presence of something far greater than himself.

He knew right away what this energy was. It was the virus itself, in its purest form. It was awe inspiring. This was more than just a virus; it was an all powerful source of energy.

It spoke to him, yet it did not use words. Instead the knowledge was instantly transported to Pariah's mind.

As powerful as Pariah now was, he hadn't even reached a fraction of the virus's true potential. This is what the virus wanted him to know.

Then Pariah was given another truth.

Once he and Alex Mercer have their final confrontation, the winner will unlock the full power of the virus within their cells, and become more powerful than any mortal could ever imagine.

...

Pariah came back to reality. He got up and looked around at the town now in flames.

"PARIAH!!!!" came a voice from behind Pariah.

Pariah turned around to see an angry, dark skinned man, in a brown leather jacket, stepping out of a portal.

Another portal opened up behind this man, and Alex Mercer stepped out.

"Well, well, well." Pariah said. "If it isn't Doctor Alex Mercer of dimension LH-11. And I see you made a new friend. Sergeant James Heller of dimension P-2."

"How the fuck did you know that?" James said.

"I just got done consuming a boat load of Ricks." Pariah said.

"That's not good." Alex said to James.

"Well James. Looks like the Ricks gave you the ability to hop dimensions." Pariah said.

"They gave it to me, I stole a portal gun and ate it to get the power then transfer it to Alex Mercer. Let's not get caught up in the fucking details." Said James Heller.

"James Heller!" Alex Mercer said. "You told me the Ricks gave you this power to hunt down Pariah. You lied?"

"Yeah uh, sorry about that." Said James.

"Oh this is great." Said Pariah. "Now you two are going to turn on each other."

"No I'm good." Alex said. "He told a little white lie, no big deal. I've done much worse."

"Oh." Pariah said.

"When my wife was killed by that damn virus. And when I learned there were other realities being threatened by the virus." James explained. "I swore to myself that I would eradicate every fucking bit of the virus from the multiverse. So after creating my own portal technology, I found myself in the citadel of Ricks. I stole one of their portal guns, and consumed its power. I learned about you from consuming some mother fuckers that worked for Blackwatch in my home dimension. I knew you had this virus your entire life, and I knew you would be more powerful than I could imagine. I knew the only man in the entire multiverse who could help me stop you, was my old nemesis, Alex Mercer. So I found this version of him, and enlisted his help. You intend to spread the virus that killed my wife. So I am going to stop you, to honor the memory of my beloved wife, and ensure the safety of my daughter."

"And I just straight up don't like you." Alex Mercer added.

"Huh." Pariah said. "I guess it's two against one then."

"Looks like it." Said Alex Mercer.

"Guess I'll have two even the playing fields then." Then Pariah duplicated himself.

"WHAT THE FUCK!!!!" Said James. "Mercer, you know this guy, what the fuck is happening?"

"I don't know. He seems to grow stronger every minute." Alex said. "I know whenever I consume somebody, I gain all their abilities. He must have consumed someone who can be in two places at once."

"One of the ricks gave himself the powers of Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen." Both Pariahs said at once.

"Enough of this bull shit." Said James. Then he leapt into the air, turned his arm into a blade, and came down onto one of the Pariahs.

Pariah turned his arms into shields and blocked Heller, and sent him flying to the ground. The other Pariah picked up Cole's amp from the ground. He swung it at Mercer who dodged the swipe. Mercer stabbed his claws into Pariah. They got stuck in his flesh.

Spikes came out of Pariah's back, and into Mercer's body. Heller rushed over and tackled Pariah separating him from Mercer.

"Thanks for having my back Heller." Mercer said.

"No problem." Said Heller.

"You know after we're done with this, maybe we could grab a beer or something." Mercer suggested.

"You know Mercer, I never thought I'd say this." Heller said. "But I think I would like that."

Pariah then appeared behind them. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting?" Then a shockwave of energy erupted from Pariah sending Mercer and Heller flying.

Pariah then again split into two clones of himself. One of the Pariah's picked up Cole's amp and the other turned his arms into claws. The Pariah with the amp swung it at Alex Mercer, and the other one started slashing at James Heller.

Alex blocked Pariah's amp with his blade, sending sparks flying. Alex kicked Pariah to the ground, but then another Pariah came up from behind and put Alex in a choke hold. With his blade arm Alex swung around and lobbed Pariah's head off.

The head grew tentacles out of its neck hole, and scurried across the ground. Eventually finding its way to Alex and biting him in the leg. Alex tried to shake the head off of him, as it shook around, growling like a mad dog.

James Heller dodged Pariah's slashes. He turned his arm into a whip and swung it at Pariah. Pariah managed to dodge each swipe.

"Hold still mother fucker!" James yelled.

Alex kicked the Pariah head from his leg, and then the headless Pariah body walked over and placed the head back on his shoulders.

Pariah caught James Heller's whip in mid air. Pariah froze the whip solid and it shattered.

"You know I could just make you guys explode with my mind." Pariah said. "But that trick doesn't work on the evolved like us. Besides, where would the fun be in that?"

James Heller turned his arm into a blade and rushed at Pariah. Another Pariah came from the side and stabbed Heller. Heller plunged his blade into the Pariah's flesh, and consumed him. He then turned to the Pariah in front of him, as his eyes started to spark.

"Guess what mother fucker!" Heller said. "I consumed one of your clones, now I have your powers." He raised his hands at Pariah and shot a lightning bolt at him.

Pariah flinched a bit, but remained unmoved.

"Now I think it's time we even the playing field." Heller said. He started to concentrate hard, but nothing happened. "What the fuck? Why can't I replicate myself like you can? I consumed you, I should have your powers."

"Correction." Pariah said. "You only consumed a fraction of me, so you only get a fraction of my powers."

Then Alex Mercer managed to grab one of the Pariah's and consume it.

"Well." Said James Heller. "Looks like we'll just have to consume every last one of you fuckers, UNTIL THERE'S NOTHING LEFT!!!!" He then slashed at a couple of the Pariah's and consumed them.

Then a large blade burst through James's chest.

"So how's that plan working out for ya?" Pariah smirked. Then two more Pariah's came in and stabbed there blades into James's body.

"Any last words, James?" Said one of the Pariahs as he got in James's face.

"GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!!" James said.

"Hm." Pariah smirked. "Exactly what I'd expect you to say." He then turned his fingers into claws, and jammed them into James's eyes. The Pariahs then pounced on James and ripped him to pieces and consumed him.

"Nnnnnooooooo!!!!!!" Alex Mercer screamed.

All of the Pariah's once again merged into one being. Alex Mercer leapt high into the air, then he rocketed back to the earth, head first with the force of a meteorite. The impact of Alex hitting the ground caused a huge shockwave.

Alex got back to his feet. He ran at Pariah again, and stabbed his claws into Pariah's chest. Before Alex could consume him, Pariah cut off Alex's arm, and punched him in the chest. Sending Alex flying back.

"You're easier to kill hen there's a bunch of you." Alex said.

"That's because in this state you face me at my full power." Pariah said.

"Well if you keep splitting like that." Alex said. "I just have to kill each of the clones one by one. Eventually I'll deplete your bio-mass, and you'll become weaker."

"But you forget one thing, Doctor Mercer." Pariah said. "Bio-mass is a living thing, we evolved are living organisms. We're made of cells, cells that reproduce and grow. Hence the Bio, in bio-mass. Eventually any tissue I loose in a fight, will be replaced with new growth. And with my enhanced powers, that won't take long at all. Plus our consume ability allows us to take the tissue, or biomass as you call it from other organisms and use them as our own, healing our wounds. So anything I lost to our angry friend there, I got back once I consumed his sorry ass. Basically, unlike that bald guy, and his electricity. You and I have an unlimited source of power. Seriously Mercer, I thought you were a scientist."

Pariah then opened up a portal behind him, he lifted his arms to his sides, and fell backward into the portal. The portal then closed.

...

Somewhere deep in the cosmos of the multiverse, lies a museum called the House of Rock. This museum is owned by a man known only as the music man. He was a short plump man, with thick dark hair, and a dark beard.

(The Music Man is from a fanfiction called Rock Them Dead by Paul Ferancick)

The museum was dedicated to the greatest musicians in the multiverse.

It was closing time at the House of Rock, and all the alien tourists had left.

The Music Man was cleaning some of the albums in his exhibits, when suddenly the air got colder.

"Damnit!" He said. "I thought I got that thermostat fixed."

Then the door opened behind him. He turned around to see a beautiful woman walk in.

She was wearing a tiny red sweater that came down to just above her belly button, and a red and grey mini skirt, that came just below her hips.

She had long jet black hair, full blood-red lips, and eyes as blue as the sky.

"Oh hell-o." Said the music man. "And how may I help you on this fine evening?"

"This is a fine place you got here." The woman said in a sexy voice, then she placed her hand on the music man's chest. "Think you could give me the grand tour?"

"Sure." The music man choked out. He then brought the woman through the halls of the museum.

The woman saw a portrait of a band of three kids playing instruments. One of the kids was overweight, one looked obnoxious, and the third one had a really big head.

"So who are these guys?" The woman asked.

"The Llama Lords of Science." The Music Man replied. "I always believed good music comes from the heart, yet Jimmy, Sheen and Carl here have made a descent argument against that. That is of course until they destroyed their instruments. You can't get too greedy in this business; they say absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"Oh you don't know the half of it." The woman said with a smirk.

"What was that?"

"Uh... hey who's she?" The woman pointed to a portrait of a pale young woman with blue hair that almost looked like flames.

"Ember McClain." The Music Man answered. "Would you believe she's actually a ghost?"

"Interesting." Said the woman.

Then the woman came across a picture of Rick Sanchez, with his grandson, they seemed to be playing a concert of sorts. The woman glared at the photo with rage in her eyes.

"That's Rick Sanchez." The Music Man said. "Get Schwifty may have been a jam. But Rick Sanchez is a bit of an ego maniac."

"I've met him." The woman said. "He's no friend of mine."

"I doubt he even has any friends." The Music Man said. "not even the other versions of himself."

The woman smirked. "What's this?" She said picking up some sort of ancient scroll.

"That my dear, THAT is a song, an ancient song. It's the first song ever written of a matter of fact."

"Oh?" The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Don't bother trying to read it, much less sing it. The language it is written in it has never been spoken in over countless millennia. And the beings that wrote it have never been seen by any race that exists today, for they have gone extinct long before ANY race in the entire multiverse had even evolved past single cells. I have spent my ENTIRE LIFE trying to translate it, and I don't even know what genre it is. And believe me, I have been around longer than you can imagine." The Music Man said. "And this song, isn't just for rocking out to. This song has a purpose."

"What purpose?"

"It tells a prophecy." The Music Man said. "A prophecy of the end of time."

"The end of time?"

"This song," The Music Man said. "Written at the beginning of time, about the end of time. It tells of the coming of a great evil. An ever changing force of destruction that exists only to consume, and to mutilate, and kill. This force will grow and grow, until it has consumed all there is. It will consume all dimensions, as well as time itself. When there is nothing left it will consume itself."

"Interesting." Said the woman. Then her eye caught on something else. A funny looking instrument. It looked like a guitar, but more advanced. It was made out of some sort of space aged metal, and had a bunch of buttons on the bottom. It looked pretty complicated to use. "What's this?" She asked.

"The Xanaxis Stroder." The Music Man said. "An ancient instrument that requires a great sacrifice to master."

"Looks like you'd need extra arms to play that." The woman said. "Can I have it?"

"Why?"

"Could be fun." She gave him a sexy smile.

"Well this is no ordinary instrument, my dear." The Music Man said. "To master it, it requires you to give it everything. Everything you are, or ever will be, you must devote to the instrument. Only two humans in the history of everything have ever played that instrument. Myself, and a young girl named Luna Loud, or at least one of the infinite versions of Luna Loud."

"Luna Loud huh?" The Woman said.

"You know her?"

"I've heard the name." The woman said. "I suppose I could track her down and... pick her brains. But why spend the effort, when I got someone right here who knows this thing inside and out."

She turned to the Music Man. "Think you can give me the secret. Oh wise master of music."

"I don't think you understand." The Music man said. "I can't just simply tell you how to play this thing, it takes time, and dedication."

The woman walked up to the Music Man and put her hands on his shoulder. "Oh you don't have to tell me anything. And I don't need any time."

"What are you doing?" The Music Man asked.

Then the woman pressed her lips against the Music Man's lips, in a passionate kiss.

The Music Man was stunned with confusion. The woman slid her tongue into his mouth. Her tongue seemed almost inhumanly long. Suddenly she slid her tong deeper into his mouth. He gagged as her tong slithered down his throat. The woman's eyes rolled back into her head, as spikes grew out of her tongue and pierced the inside walls of the Music Man's esophagus. The man's throat burned as the spikes injected acid into his flesh.

The Music Man put his foot onto the creatures chest, and pushed it away from him with all his might.

The creature's tongue ripped bits of flesh out as it was ripped from the Music Man's throat. He coughed and spit up blood.

The creature then retracted its tongue and began to change form. It formed into a man over 6 feet tall, with a black suit, black pants, black dress shoes, red tie, and black cowboy hat, with what looked like a giant tuning fork strapped to his back.

'Y-YOU'RE A MAN!?!?!" The Music Man said.

Pariah looked at the Music Man. "Seriously?" He said. "That's your first question?"

"What the FUCK are you!?!?"

"Well" Said Pariah. He looked back at the old scroll, with the ancient song. "I recon I'm that beasty in that song your alien friends wrote."

"The great consumer!" The Music Man Said. "It's true. Well then again, you could be any sort of alien creature. I mean this is the multiverse, You're not the only shapeshifter I've seen."

"Oh and just so it's clear." Pariah said. "What I was doing there. I was trying to feed on you, I wasn't trying to, you know, get with you or anything. I don't swing that way, alright."

"You know if you want that instrument you could have just asked." The Music Man said with a raspy voice, as he held his throat. "Man I think I'm gonna need a lozenge."

"Well you said it takes a lot of time and dedication to master that thing." Pariah said. "Honestly I would rather skull fuck you, and drain the memories out the hole."

"Oh you really want this guitar don't you?" The Music Man said as he grabbed the alien looking guitar. "WELL YOU CAN HAVE IT, MOTHER FUCKER!!!!" He then swung the instrument at Pariah's head, as hard as he could. Pariah quickly took the amp from his back, and used it to block the Music Man's guitar.

The two objects made a loud crash as they hit each other.

"Now is that any way to treat a guest?" Pariah said. He then channeled lightning through the amp. He swung it the Music man. The Music Man blocked it with the guitar. This time when the objects collided lightning channeled into the metal guitar, shocking the music man, and knocking him on his ass.

"Here, take it!" The Music Man tossed the guitar to Pariah, who caught it in mid air. "Now leave me the fuck alone!"

"Nah that's not enough." Pariah said. "I can't just have the instrument. You said it yourself I need the knowledge to play it. That knowledge is in your tweaked out little mind. I just need to bash you brains out, and suck up what I need to know."

The Music Man got up and ran.

"Where do you think you're going?" Pariah said. He then turned his arm into a whip, wrapped it around The Music Man's leg, and pulled him to the ground. He then took the metallic guitar, and started to bash in the music man's skull. Pariah then consumed the music man.

...

Leni Loud was doing her hair in front of the mirror in her bedroom, when Lincoln walked in.

"Hey Linky." Leni said seeing her brother in the mirror. Not noticing the dark angry expression on Lincoln's face. "What's up?" She continued to brush her hair.

"Oh hello... Blondie." Lincoln said.

Leni got a look of confusion and shock on her face. "Um... excuse me? What did you just call me?"

"You heard me..." Lincoln said. "You blond idiot."

"LINCOLN!" Leni yelled. "That is NOT nice. You shouldn't call people names like that, especially not your own family."

"Funny you should talk about... Being loyal to the family." Lincoln said.

"Uh... like what are you talking about?"

"Oh cut the crap Leni!" Lincoln snapped. "What did he promise you?"

"Who?"

"You know damn well who! Pariah!"

"Piranha? Ew, that movie was GROSS Lincoln. Totally not something a boy your age should be watching."

Lincoln facepalmed. "No Leni not Piranha, Pariah. It means out cast."

Leni gave him a blank look.

"You see Leni." Lincoln began to explain. "With my powers I can view people's memories. And I just fought a couple of Pariah's goons. And in their memories I saw Pariah mention recruiting a "Blond idiot" Kind of fits your description."

"Powers?" Leni's expression lightened. "Oh I get it. You're playing super heroes again. Ok I'll play with you, but you think we can be a little less um... harsh, I know this is pretend but, I really don't appreciate you calling me an idiot, it hurts my feelings. You know I get picked on for not, you know, being able to learn as fast as everyone else."

Then Lincoln remembered that he had wiped everyone's memories.

Lincoln cocked his head to the side, and his eyes glowed red. Suddenly everything that had happened came back to Leni in a rush. She fell off of her chair onto the ground.

In an instant Lincoln was on top of Leni.

"Lincoln I... I... what are you..." Leni stuttered.

Leni shrieked as Lincoln's arm morphed into a blade. He pressed the pointy tip of the blade up to Leni's chin.

"What did he promise you?" Lincoln repeated. "What deal did he make with you?"

"Lincoln please." Leni begged. "I have no idea what you're talking about! PLEASE STOP!"

Lincoln pressed the blade harder against Leni's chin, drawing a drop of blood, that trickled down the metallic substance Lincoln's arm had become. "You know, I could just consume you, and see your memories. Then we'll know if you're telling the truth."

"PLEASE LINCOLN NO! I'M TELLING THE TRUTH!" Leni cried. "You really think I'd betray you like that. You're my brother Lincoln, I love you. If..." She sniffed. "If you have to kill me to understand that, then just do it!"

Tears rolled down Leni's face, Lincoln eased his grip. He turned his arm back to normal. He then hugged Leni tight.

"I'm sorry Leni." Lincoln said. "I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."

"It's ok Linky." Leni said hugging him back. "I forgive you."

"ATTENTION LOUD FAMILY!" Came a voice from outside. Lincoln and Leni looked out the window to see the house was surrounded by dark government looking armored vans, soldiers, tanks and helicopters.

Standing in front of the loud house was a man in a black leather trench coat, black sunglasses, with blond hair that was greased back like someone from the 50s, and he was holding a megaphone.

"I want you all to come out of the house with your hands up." The man said. "You are all under arrest for aiding and abetting a fugitive."

Lincoln and the Loud sisters came out front. The parents were both at work.

Lori stepped up to the man.

"Ok who the heck are you? And what's this about?" Lori said.

"Are you in charge here?" The man asked.

"Mom and Dad are gone for the day, so I'm in charge for now, yes." Lori responded. "Now who are you? And what's this about aiding and abetting a fugitive? We don't have any fugitives in this house!"

"My name is Albert Wesker." The man said. "I work with the government, and I'm afraid your brother is not who he says he is."

"Lincoln?" Lori said. "What are you talking about, Lincoln's never hurt anybody."

"That's where you're wrong." Wesker said. "See that... thing that claims to be your brother, is not really Lincoln Loud, or at least not any more. It's not even human. Now if you don't relinquish the creature to us, I'm going to have to place you all under arrest."

"YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE MY BROTHER!" Leni snapped. "And stop calling him an it! He's a boy!"

"Yeah!" Said Lynn, taking out a baseball bat. "If you want him, You're gonna have to go through all of us first!"

"Yeah!" All the other sisters said in agreement.

"You do realize I have an army right?" Said Albert Wesker. Then the army of soldiers, as well as a few tanks trained their guns on the Loud family.

"Guys it's ok." Lincoln said, then he walked up to Wesker.

"Ah turning yourself in." Said Wesker. "That's a good boy."

"Who said anything about turning myself in?" Lincoln said. Then he turned one of his arms into claws, and the other into a blade.

The sisters all gasped.

"Oh Ryan." Wesker called out. "How about you do what you were paid for, and capture this runner."

A man in a black tactical outfit, with short wavy brown hair, brown eyes, and five o clock shadow, walked up.

"With all due respect sir." Said Ryan, "I believe they prefer the term evolved. I think you'd be able to relate given your... you know..."

"Just catch the son of a bitch." Said Wesker.

"Ok Mr bossy." Said Ryan. He then took out a pair of swords, which became engulfed in blue flames.

"Remember." Said Wesker. "I need him alive."

Lincoln leapt at Ryan. Ryan dodged Lincoln's attack. Ryan swiped at Lincoln a couple of times with his sword. One of Ryan's swords slashed Lincoln across the chest.

Lincoln let out a cry of pain. Then Ryan put the swords away, and pulled out a high tech looking gun. He aimed it at Lincoln, pulled the trigger, and shot a powerful taser at Lincoln.

The intense shock stunned Lincoln and caused his arms to turn back to normal. Ryan walked up behind Lincoln and placed a pair of high tech cuffs on Lincoln.

"Now don't bother trying to escape." Wesker said. "These cuffs will detect when you try to change form and shock you."

Lincoln looked back at his sisters, who were all stunned with disbelief.

"Guys help!" Lincoln pleaded. They just continued to stair, as their memories of the past weeks returned in a rush.

"It's still me guys." Lincoln said. "I'm still your brother."

Then Ryan walked Lincoln over to one o the armored trucks.

"For the record kid." Said Ryan. "None of this is personal." Then he threw Lincoln into the back of the truck and closed the door.

"Now get the rest f them." Wesker commanded.

"WHAT?!?!" Lori shrieked. "You said if you got Lincoln, you'd let us go!"

"No, what I said was." Wesker explained. "If you give us Lincoln, we'd let you go. None of you complied, and I had to get one of my best men to take him down. So now I'm placing you all under arrest. Besides you've all been in contact with this creature, and I'd like to run some tests on you."

Once Lincoln was in the truck, Ryan had gotten in the driver seat and drove off. Lincoln over heard Ryan talking to another soldier in the truck.

"So what's with this Albert Wesker guy?" Ryan asked. "I mean I've worked for a lot of assholes in my day. But Wesker, the things I hear about him. What they say he can do. He told those kids he worked for the government? I didn't know Umbrella was a government organization. I thought it was just a pharmaceutical company with way too much time and money on their hands."

"It's best not to ask these kind of things." The soldier replied.

"And what about his partner?" Ryan Asked.

"Partner?"

"I've seen him talking to this guy. I Thought Albert was the leader of this whole operation, but this guy almost seemed like he was Wesker's superior. I never got a good look at the guy, he was always cloaked in shadow."

"Like I said." Said the soldier. "Just keep your mouth shut, and don't ask any questions."

"Geez, I bet you're fun at parties." Ryan said sarcastically. "I'll tell you one thing. This guy did NOT seem to like Albert at all. Kept calling him a blond idiot."

Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief at that. So it wasn't Leni after all. He thought.

"My gosh man do you ever shut up!" The soldier yelled.

"Not really." Ryan replied. "Now did I ever tell you about the time when I..."

Then Lincoln heard a loud thump, and something hit the road.

"Really?" Ryan said. "You're just going to jump out of a moving vehicle like that?"

...

Before he died, James Heller granted Alex Mercer the power to move between dimensions. Then Alex was able to consume a fraction of Pariah, just before Pariah retreated to another universe, further strengthening Alex's dimension hopping ability.

With his viral senses, Alex Mercer was able to track Pariah through the multiverse. He tracked him down to a strange forested world.

Alex slowly walked through the woods fallowing Pariah's sent. He took out a tape recorder, and started to record his own voice.

"Mercer's log." Alex said. "I've tracked Pariah through the multiverse. I've never dreamed the virus could have this much power. Recently I had made a new friend by the name of James Heller. He was from another universe one where it seems that I myself had become some sort of super villain. Now I had never considered myself a hero by any means, though I assure you, THAT Alex Mercer, and myself are two entirely deferent beings. It seems that that Alex had given into the virus, but this James guy was able to stop him. He had my powers, I'm lucky he didn't try to kill me too. I guess he realized I'm not the Alex Mercer who killed his family. Him and I had traveled the multiverse looking for Pariah. For a while I thought I had more than just an ally, I had a friend. But just like Ashley, and Dana. Pariah took James away from me as well. Now all I have left is that white haired kid with all the sisters, Lincoln Loud. Funny story about him. He's been able to take a form without consuming someone. His virus is showing mutations I have not seen in any evolved before. It's like the virus is mutating, or evolving. Virus's do tend to do that. Makes me wonder what else this thing can do, in what other ways can the DX1118 virus mutate the human body. As I get closer and closer to Pariah I find myself thinking. The strand of virus within Lincoln came from me, and it started to further mutate and evolve. Is it doing this because it was part of me? Over the years I have studied my own genes compared to other infected specimens, and something about me is different. Could I be some sort of catalyst, some sort of jumping off point for the virus to evolve? If so, Lincoln only got a small dose of my virus, what happens if Pariah consumes me? If he gets all of the virus in my system. In a memory of one of the men I've consumed, I heard someone say that Pariah was the final purpose of all life on earth. What I have seen today, Pariah is indeed more powerful than I could imagine. Could consuming me, with the highly mutative property of my genes, bring that prophecy to light? I shudder to think what would happen, and yet I still search. One way or another Pariah must be stopped."

Then Alex Mercer heard a noise coming from deep in the forest. It was the sound of a guitar, a soothing country tune.

Alex moved toward to music, something about was almost hypnotic. Then he heard singing, he recognized the song. It was a pretty well known one.

"Almost heaven, west Virginia, blue ridge mountain, Shenandoah river." Mercer instantly recognized the voice as Pariah. Somehow the music was drawing him in.

"Life is old there, older than the trees. Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze. Country Roads, take me home, to the place I belong! West Virginia, Mountain mamma, Take me home country roads."

The music didn't sound like an ordinary guitar. It still sounded like Country Roads by John Denver, but something about the tune sounded strange and hypnotic.

He eventually came to a clearing in the woods, where Pariah sat by a fire. He was playing some sort of futuristic space age instruments.

The instrument had string and buttons, and all kind of complicated parts. It looked almost impossible to play for a normal human. But being a shapeshifter Pariah had grown an extra pair of arms to push the buttons on the bottom as he plucked the strings, creating perfect harmony.

"All my memories, gathered 'round her, misty taste of moonshine, tear drop in my eye."

Alex looked around to see that Pariah had skinned a bunch of rabbits and strung them up on stands set up around him. More skinned rabbit lay in a large pot, sitting upon the fire. Next to Pariah was a cage containing one lone, terrified looking bunny.

"I hear her voice in the morning hour she calls me. The radio reminds me of my home far away."

Pariah stopped singing as his new guest arrived.

"The man in black fled the desert, and the gunslinger fallowed." Pariah said.

"Singing a country song, and quoting Stephen king." Mercer said. "About what I'd expect from a serial killer who dresses like a cowboy."

Pariah retracted his extra arms back into his body, and put the instrument down on the ground next to the amp. "Why don't you take a seat Alex, I've been expecting you. You like rabbit?"

"I uh... never had it." Alex said, cautiously sitting down on a log across from Pariah.

"Didn't think so." Pariah said. "Our kind is used to a uh... different kind of meat, if you know what I mean. Now I know what you're thinking Mercer, you're trying to figure out how to kill me."

"Now what makes you say that?" Alex said. "I mean all you did was murder everyone I ever cared about, and threaten to destroy all of humanity."

"Not everyone." Pariah pointed out. "You still got the boy. And I also know why you're not taking out your claws to fight me right now."

"Oh... and why's that."

"I'm too powerful. If we got into a fight right now, you'd be dead and you know." Pariah smirked. "But don't worry, I'm not going to kill you either. Not yet at least. I want you alive to see my plans. And once you've seen everything I'm going to do, that's when I'll kill you."

"Oh, and what is your grand plan?"

"Well if you've been paying attention, you could have probably figured that out by now." Pariah said. "but make no mistake Mercer. I said I WANT you alive for it, I don't NEED you alive for the big show. Make one mistake here, and you'll end up like Peter Cottontail here." He then took a cleaver and chopped the head off of a dead rabbit laying on a tree stump before him. "Well more like Patricia Cottontail. This little rabbit's a girl. Most of these rabbits you see here are female. About 25 or so female." Then he placed his hand on the cage containing the one living rabbit. "And only one male."

"What do you want?" Alex said.

"Oh just a little chat." Pariah said. "Maybe play some music. You like my new toy. Got it from some charming fellow with an obsession with rock and roll. Hehe he won't need it now."

Alex was about to say something but Pariah interrupted.

"I think we both know what happened to the guy, best not waste time talking about it." Pariah said. "Anyway this dohicky is called the Xa uh... Xa... you know it was some weird alien name. Next to impossible to pronounce. Anyway, you've probably noticed how complicated this thing looks. Be hard for any human, without incredibly long arms to play it. But from the information I obtained from Mr. music guy, in the usual way us evolved learn things. Apparently this thing mutates the being playing it, changing their body to fit the instrument, like some sort of symbiote. Luckily for me though, my genes are already mutated, and the fact that I can change my own genetic makeup at will, means that the mutative factor has absolutely no affect on me. You know, so I don't turn into a giant rock and roll dragon or something. Nah if I do that it would be MY choice, not some fucking instrument."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Why Mercer," Pariah said. "I'm just trying to make small talk here. Neither of us are going to kill each other. I won't kill you, because I just don't want to right now. And you won't kill me because well.. you can't. So for the time being, we might as well have a relaxing evening."

"You sound pretty sure of yourself." Alex said. "But let me lay it on you straight. Not only am I strong enough to kill you, but I WILL kill you."

"Well go ahead then." Pariah said. "Kill me, right here, right now!"

Mercer looked at him angrily for few moments, then he calmed down.

"Yeah that's what I thought." Pariah said. He then reached into the cage beside him, and pulled out the frightened rabbit as it squirmed and kicked like mad. "You know I almost feel sorry for the little guy. I found all these bunnies I the same whole, they were probably related. This little guy just had the pleasure of watching me slaughter his entire family." Pariah looked at Mercer. "Now Mercer, I want you to take a close look at this rabbit. You think he looks a bit familiar?"

Alex looked at the rabbit. Something about it did indeed seem familiar. The rabbit's face, and it's buck teeth somehow reminded Alex of Lincoln.

Pariah tossed the already dead rabbit in the pot, then placed the living one on the stump. Holding down its head, as it struggled to get free.

"So, did you choose the boy in order to mock me?" Pariah asked.

"What?"

Pariah picked up the cleaver, and tossed it at Alex, who narrowly dodged the projectile as it dug itself into the log beside him.

"10 SISTERS!" Pariah snapped, then he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "That little brat has 10 sisters, and a loving mother and father. All of whom have been there for him his entire life. They've been there to comfort him when he was scared, to tuck him in at night, to read him bedtime stories." Pariah's eyes were starting to tear up and become bloodshot. "He has an almost laughably huge family full of people that care about him, and will do anything for him, and I had none of that. I spent my first 11 years in a fucking lab getting experimented on and cut up to be turned into a living weapon. And the only person in my ENTIRE life who gets me, the one and only person I've ever been able to share my feelings with, is some biker, grim reaper looking fucker, who also happens to be the man who killed my mom."

"Me?"

"And this kid you've picked as your apprentice. You couldn't find someone more opposite to me if you tried. He's kind, selfless, he has an insanely huge supportive family. EVEN HIS DAMN HAIR COLOR IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF MINE!!!!" Pariah pointed to his own jet black hair. "The only way he'd be more my opposite is if he had fucking tits and a pussy! I mean you couldn't have at least picked an only child?"

"I honestly wasn't thinking any of that when I picked Lincoln." Alex said. "He was dying, I felt bad for him, I just wanted to help."

"You wanted to help?" Pariah started to chuckle to himself. "Oh give me a fucking break! You're ALEX FUCKING MERCER! In case you didn't get the memo, you're a mass murderer! You have a body count that would make the likes of Jeffery Dahmer and Ed Gein jealous."

"I don't know what to tell you dude." Alex shrugged. "His sister Luna reminded me of Dana. I guess I saw a bit of myself in Lincoln, I don't know man."

Pariah calmed back down. "Well I should probably butcher this rabbit before he gets away." a bony spike about an inch long grew out of Pariah's index finger. Pariah picked up the rabbit and jammed the spike into its back.

The rabbit gave a high pitched squeal as Pariah moved his claw down its back.

"You know us evolved, we may be able to heal from almost anything." Pariah said as he peeled the still screaming rabbit's skin off. "But as I'm sure you know, we can still feel pain. You know I had arranged for some contacts back home to imprison the boy, and his family. After I've gotten the genes from the Lincoln's family." He threw the rabbits pelt on the ground. The now skinless rabbit was still alive, panting like crazy, in a lot of pin. "Then I'm gonna have them executed while the boy watches. Gonna make sure it's nice and slow for them. Maybe something like what I'm doing to this rabbit here." Then Pariah sliced open the rabbit's guts and pulled out its intestines, he then threw the barely alive rabbit onto the pot of boiling water. The rabbit let out a final shriek as it hit the water, and then it died. "And as for the boy, well. There's not many ways to kill an evolved. I'm thinking I'll have him strapped to a table and have his body pumped full of bloodtox."

Alex perked up at this. Bloodtox was a weapon that Blackwatch had designed specifically to fight Alex Mercer, and others of his kind. It was a toxin, the red coloring gave it its name. It was harmless to non infected humans. However anything it touched that was infected with the virus, it would burn like fire.

After repeated espouser to the substance, Alex Mercer had become immune to bloodtox. Now it was as harmless to Alex Mercer as it was to any human. Lincoln Loud on the other hand, had not built up this immunity. If this bloodtox would be injected into Lincoln's body, not only would it kill him, but it would be a slow and painful death. He would feel as though his entire insides were on fire, until his body dissolved completely and he was no more.

"You know what bloodtox is don't you?" Pariah said. "They've used it on you before. You know they first developed that damn stuff from... from doing experiments on me, when I was a child. You know for my first 11 years of life, when I was being tortured and experimented on, I kept asking myself one question, and you know what that was Mercer? Why? No not why as in why are they doing this to me, or why me. I had a pretty good idea what the answer to those were. No what I wanted to know was, why had I been taking that for so damn long. I could blow people up with my mind, I could turn into anyone, I could turn my arms into weapons. I had command over death itself. I heard one of the scientists say once, that I was the final purpose of all life on earth. Now why on earth should I let myself be treated that way, when I was that big of a deal. Soon I came to realize my answer. And it was that there was no answer. There's no reason I should ever be taking that kind of shit from lower life forms like humanity. From some primitive, stupid hairless apes. And I didn't want to be treated as an equal, No I wanted to be treated as a god. Because I was a god, I AM A GOD! You know my music friend, he told me of this prophecy, a prophecy about me. That I would consume and destroy all there is. He, you know I don't actually want to destroy humanity."

"You don't?"

"No I want to change it. I want to usher in a new age. This isn't a genocide I'm planning, it's evolution. I'm gonna infect the whole world. Once all are one, under one mind, my mind. There will truly be world piece. Hehe and why stop there, now that I know other worlds exist, I'll spread my armies across the multiverse. Any reality that can be infected, will become part of my hive mind. And any reality where everybody is immune, like that one with the gender bent loud siblings, the one I just leveled. Well I'll just have to destroy them."

"Immune?"

"Yeah." Pariah said. "That whole reality is immune to DX1118. I guess they caught it when it was in its early stages. You know before it became the omnipotent force it is in our world. You know that boy, that Lincoln Loud. He's not really a Loud anymore now is he?"

"Come again?"

"You brought him back from the dead by infecting him with your virus." Pariah explained. "You infected him with a piece of yourself. And that changed him, rewrote his very DNA. No, Lincoln is no longer a Loud, now... well now he's a Mercer. He's your son Alex, or at least part of him is. And if you wanna save your little boy Alex, you better go quick."

Alex got up and walked away into the dark woods. As Alex walked in the darkness, he heard Pariah start to laugh in the distance.

So you think you got me in a corner huh? Alex thought. And the gender bent Louds are all immune to the Mercer Virus eh? Boy you just made a huge mistake. THAT kind of information, is NOT what you want to be telling, to a scientist.

Pariah watched the woods, holding the now dead and cooked rabbit.

"I'll see you soon, Alex Mercer." Pariah said, taking a bite out of the rabbit. "Just know, that I can't be outmatched, I can't be outdone, I can't be outfought, and I can't be outrun."