Watchdog's Terrifying Secret

Sahara stops walking for a moment before disappearing. Watchdog looks around frantically trying to find her until he is hit in the face with a heavy blow. He flips a few times before standing, still sliding backwards. He throws a punch extending his arm to reach her but she disappears again before it can reach her. Watchdog is then hit into the floor.

Watchdog 'Not good… At this rate I'll…'

He tries to get up but before he can fully she kicks him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing blood to spit from his mouth. The kick is hard enough to make his eyes to white out, causing him to begin losing consciousness as he is sent smashing into the roof. Noticing this, she smirks and goes to follow up with another kick while he's still in the air but as soon as she appears next to him he turns his head with an intense look in his eyes. She is caught off guard by the sudden change in intensity as he grabs her leg, spins and slams her into the ground. She coughs out a little blood from the impact but before she realizes what just happened, he extends his leg and delivers a straight kick to her stomach. More blood comes out of her mouth as he follows up by shooting himself at her and lands a heavy punch to her face from above. This one causes the energy to dissipate in a shockwave, her hair and eyes still remaining the new colors though. He slowly lifts his fist away from her face as a blood trail connects them for a moment. He stands with one foot on her stomach, looking down on her as his eyes glow a bright green. After a moment she regains consciousness and growls.

Sahara "Get off of me!"

As she shouts she bursts out in energy again causing Watchdog to flip over but as soon as he lands he dashes at her and tries to punch her in the face again. She barely dodges this time and jumps back. He then turns his head and looks directly at her. She sweats but then growls as she uses her claws to send four large cuts his way. As they race towards him, he turns and covers his fist in spikey bone and punches straight through them. Sahara is shocked he could blast through the cuts so easily as he crouches then jumps at her in the air. He grabs her leg with his right arm then flips and delivers a heavy kick at her head. She is able to put her arms up to block for a moment before being sent flying into the ground. She lands on her feet as she looks up only to be met with two hands on her shoulders and Watchdog's forehead being slammed into her nose. As blood pours out of her nose as her head is sent back by the force and her energy is dissipated once again but he does not let her shoulders go. He pulls her back in fast causing her head to snap forward and meets her face with a knee this time. He lets her go as she falls to one knee. She holds her hands under her face as blood pours from it. She looks up to see him just standing there looking down on her. His bright green eyes glowing in the shadows.

Sahara "What? Got nothing left to say?"

He doesn't respond, he doesn't even blink. It almost seems as if he isn't even a real human. Sahara sweats.

Sahara "Don't think this is over. You giving me the time to catch my breath will be your last mistake."

Still no response. He just stares at her. She begins to sweat even more as she growls a little.

Sahara "Argh, you looking down on me!?"

She releases her claws and swings her right arm at him in an attempt to cut him in half with one huge swing but he grabs her wrist. An air cut sent ripping through the wall behind him and tearing his clothes and skin just a bit across his chest and arm. Her eyes widen at the lack of reaction to the injury as blood runs down his arm and body. He begins crushing her wrist tighter and tighter until it is completely broken. She calls out in pain as she grabs his wrist with her other hand. She grunts and grits her teeth as she attempts to make him let go. Once she realizes she can't, she releases her claws from the other hand and stabs them into his stomach. With a painful grin thinking she got him, it quickly goes away when he doesn't move. Instead, he grabs her other wrist with his other hand and crushes that one too. She cries out in pain as he lifts her up a bit.

Sahara "You son of a bitc-"

Before she can finish her sentence he kicks her in the face. Her head snaps back as tears and blood rolls down her face. She begins falling forward again before he kicks her again. And again. And again. While holding her broken wrists to make sure she doesn't fall away, he repeatedly kicks her in the face over and over. After what felt like hours of pain for her, which was only mere moments, he lets her wrists go. She's on her knees as her arms lay to her sides, her head lowered, blood dripping. He stares at her for a moment with the same expression of neutrality. Her hand then twitches and he immediately kicks her into the wall. He walks over to her as she lays still, unconscious. He lifts his fist as longer bone spikes form around it. He aims at her face and swings down without a moment of hesitation.

Strife "It appears my theory was correct."

His fist stops centimeters away from her. He does not look at Strife as he walks towards him. Strife steps into the room they are in and stops.

Strife "One of our Hexed mentioned that you were acting weird before escaping from the lab that night. Assuming it had anything to do with the serum it held, I thought I'd watch to see how 'weird' you were actually acting. And it seems I was correct."

Watchdog slowly looks at Strife. After a moment, he turns and dashes to Strife with his bone fist pulled back. He gets extremely close but before he can strike, Strife lifts his cybernetic arm and puts his open palm in front of Watchdog's face. He then releases a sound shockwave at his face which sends him flying back. He flips, lands, and looks up with his bright green eyes still giving the same expression. Strife squints his eyes just a bit as if frustrated his attack didn't do what he wanted. Watchdog charges him again but this time Strife's arm parts adjust a bit before he lifts his hand and fires another shockwave. This one lasts longer and blasts Watchdog heavily. At first he stays on one knee almost unaffected by the shockwaves but after a moment he begins to close his eyes and cover his ears as he is pushed back. He tries to shout but of course his voice is drowned out. After a few moments, Strife steps closer and stops the shockwaves. Watchdog is still on one knee, panting and bleeding from his ears and mouth. His eyes no longer glowing green. Strife looks down on him as if observing him.

Watchdog "What *pant* happened?.."

Strife points at Sahara. He looks over and his eyes widen with shock.

Watchdog "Did you do that to her?"

Strife "No, I am afraid you did that all yourself."

He looks back at Strife with intensity and disbelief.

Watchdog "When could I have..? How could I..?"

Strife "It appears you and I are quite similar."

Watchdog "What? You and I are nothing alike!"

He is then smacked across the face and sent tumbling across the room. A large turquoise colored arm comes from Strife's back but slowly absorbs back into him after hitting Watchdog. A crooked smile comes across his scarred face.

Strife "We are quite alike indeed."

Watchdog sits up, still trying to catch his breath from what he did earlier. He pants and coughs.

Watchdog 'What happened? Did I really do that? Then why does my body feel like it's burning? I feel like I just worked out for five days straight…'

Strife "You're wondering why your body is aching so much more than usual aren't you?"

Watchdog looks up at him with surprise. He simply looks with a slight amused grin across his face.

Strife "Do you want to know how I ended up like this? Ended up here?"

Watchdog growls a little as he gets up and charges him.

Watchdog "I don't care! You're still my enemy, I will beat you!"

He rushes him but before he can get too close, the energy arms come out again and punch him into the roof. As he falls, the other arm grabs him by the neck and slams him back down onto the floor.

Strife "I'm sorry, I meant; You want to know how I ended up like this. Ended up here."

Watchdog coughs up a little blood as Strife begins walking past him slowly.

Strife "As you can see, my body is quite destroyed. Scarring all over, missing limbs, malfunctioning organs. And yet here I am, standing before you with not but a scratch on me. Still able to use my abilities efficiently and powerfully. The Devil's Syndicate was able to take me and give me new life. Someone who was being tortured and destroyed from the inside out, and turned me into someone so powerful. Why do you think that is? That they'd choose me over anyone else?"

Watchdog "I don't know. Maybe they're just so charitable and caring."

Strife smiles from the sarcastic remark.

Strife "Hm not quite. They are harsh and brutal. The brainwashed cultists don't even realize they are nothing but expendable fodder for the boss's goal. But no, it wasn't out of the kindness of his heart. It was because I was the key to his plans. You see, that serum you fought so hard to protect in that secret lab that no one, not even those police officers, knew existed, that serum runs through my veins. I was the one who told them. I was living proof that with enough tinkering, that serum would be the key to obtaining his goal. To make an army big enough and strong enough to achieve that goal. And with a few modifications, I was more powerful than any other member."

He lifts his synthetic arm as if showing it off while talking. Watchdog listen's with intrigue.

Strife "But there is still one problem even they don't realize. My body is still dying. That serum destroys its host from the inside out, breaking down the cells on a molecular level. The organic body simply cannot handle such a concoction. It's simply too much. The engineers and scientists of the Syndicate simply are not capable of fixing this problem. The augmentations they put inside of me have suppressed the side effects and given me more time but I am still destined to die a painful and gruesome death at the hands of that serum."

Watchdog's eyes widen as Strife stares out the window for a moment but Watchdog sharpens his gaze a little.

Watchdog "If you know this, why haven't you told them that? They plan on using that same stuff on the whole city! You're condemning them to death!"

Strife stares out the window for a little longer before turning to look at him and smiling.

Strife "Perhaps I just want to watch it all burn."

Watchdog sweats and is taken aback by his comment he said so calmly. Strife then turns to face him.

Strife "And now, I have someone to join me in death. Someone who will live long enough to understand that pain."

Watchdog gets a look of confusion.

Watchdog "What are you talking about?"

Strife "You of course. You have that serum running through you as we speak."

Watchdog gets a look of shock and fear.

Watchdog "What..?"

Strife "I'm not entirely sure how but somewhere along the lines it was put inside of you. It must have been a very little amount which explains why it only activates on certain occasions but all the same, you will still die at this same rate."

Watchdog stares in disbelief for a moment before his eyes widen when he remembers something. Back at the lab, in that room he found, with the animals with glowing eyes. The ones who were not startled and eventually the cages with the decomposing bodies. That vile of green fluid he found and when the member shot his hand destroying the vile and tearing apart his hand. In that moment, the fluid spilled all onto his open wound.

Watchdog "It got into my blood back then… That's when…"

Strife "So you do remember. I'm glad I could inform you of your upcoming death but have no fear for we will die together in a horrible way. Take solace in that you will not be alone. We will die together."

As he says this he begins to smile in a crooked, grotesque way. Watchdog looks down and clenches his fist. He starts laughing a little to himself. Strife's smile then goes away.

Strife "Laughing at a time like this. You must have lost your mind."

Watchdog "Haha.. No, not me. But you definitely have. So obsessed with the idea that you won't die alone anymore. Well I've got news for you."

He stances up and raises his fists at him.

Watchdog "I'm not dying anytime soon. That seat is all reserved for you!"

Strife looks at him with an unamused look.

Strife "Well no matter."

His synthetic arm parts adjust and move for a moment before he lifts his arm and fires a soundwave at Watchdog. He covers his ears but can't drown out the sound. His eyes begin to glow green a little again as Strife stops. Watchdog leans over a little before standing straight up.

Strife "Did I forget to mention? That serum can be controlled by different types of sound frequencies. That's why he wanted it so bad. You can be commanded without any resistance whatsoever. Now, on your knees."

Watchdog does as he's told. Strife steps towards him and points his open palm at his forehead. The arm parts adjust again before releasing a shockwave. Strife's eyes widen as Watchdog jumps in the air, dodging the attack. He looks up only to be met with a kick to the face. He hits the floor hard but immediately looks at Watchdog. He is just standing there, eyes still glowing.

Strife 'That should have worked. The serum is perfectly programmed, those frequencies give command without confusion. So how did he dodge?' "Watchdog, throw yourself out the window."

As he says this, Watchdog begins walking towards the window. He gets to it but before throwing himself through the glass, he stops. He begins shaking as if trying to resist it. His face is strained as his muscles twitch. Strife stares with intense surprise.

Strife 'He's fighting it…'

Strife then grabs him with one of his energy arms and throws him against the wall and with the other arm, punches him through it. Watchdog sits up still under the mind control. Strife steps in front of him.

Strife "I'm not sure how you're doing it but somehow you're resisting. We can't have that now."

Strife points his synthetic palm at him but before he can fire, he is hit in the forehead by a small rock. Some blood comes out of the spot but he doesn't move. He slowly looks back down at Watchdog. His arm up like he threw it and his eyes twitching for a moment before he closes them. Once he opens them, only one of his eyes is glowing green. Strife gets a look of frustration and confusion.

Watchdog "I may not… know how it works… But I won't… just do as you say..!"