"Who said anything about a pawn?" Mercer asked, sounding amused, and yet somehow kindly as well. "You have a great gift, Yukino. I must say, I'm disappointed to hear that you killed the one who gave it to you, but you can learn to embrace it! Use it to its fullest potential! That's what my goal here is." He stood up and went to the edge of the roof, overlooking the city.
"The strongest of the humans, the ones who aren't content to grub in the dirt with the rest of them, they can benefit from our powers. We can give it to them, and bring evolution to a stage that was never possible before! The ability of an organism to reshape itself at will, adapt to its environment in an instant. Think what civilisation could become, with the Evolved taking their rightful place at the top!" Mercer turned to look at Yukino.
"And with your help, maybe that final step can be taken. Perhaps we can combine the Blacklight virus, and the one that you recieved from Alex, to mutate it in a way that will allow us to deliver its full effect to those who we choose. You could be a queen! A general of an army that cannot be stopped by any weapon yet built. The possibilities... they can hardly be imagined even now. As for voices, well, you get used to them. I hear the screams of thousands of victims echoing in my head, all the time. It just becomes background noise. You may even learn to like it. After all, you probably already consider the terror of your victims a kind of music, don't you?"
Jensen turned to Caius.
"I didn't see anyone draw a weapon until you did. And it was obvious that the woman was baiting you." He pointed out. "Seems to me you over-reacted. Even putting aside what I said yesterday about brawling in the streets, what if she were just trying to distract you? Draw you off so that a hidden accomplice could slip past your attention?"
