As Damian walked through the sewer system, carrying the two bodies with him he couldn't help but grimace at the stench assaulting his nostrils.
"Maybe having a superhuman level sense of smell isn't as good as I thought it would be. Now I get why Wolverine is always puffing on a cigar." Damien continues walking for another 30 minutes until he finds an open area and sets the bodies down.
"Well I guess I'll just have to wait until these guys fully transform before I do anything else. I just hope this mutants power is actually something useful and not just something cosmetic or disadvantagous."
For the next 30 minutes Damien waits in silence while thinking about all the possibilities and dangers of being in the marvel universe, especially since he plans on having zombies become the dominant lifeform in a universe filled with gods and magic.
"I wonder how long it will take for my zombie virus to become like the Hunger virus that can even infect someone on Galactus' level?" Damien thinks to himself with a chuckle, but before he can think further on that topic he suddenly senses movement from the two 'corpses'.
Both the cop and the mutants body start twitching violently before both open their blood red eyes and slowly stand up while staggering as if drunk.
Damien instantly feels a faint connection form between him and the two zombies, its as if they are extensions of his own limbs yet at the same time completely independent beings it's a weird feeling but he doesn't dwell on it and instead focuses on the Mutant zombie to see what changes have occurred.
While focusing on the Mutant Damien finds that the X-gene seems to have been changed by the virus and while it for the most part appears exactly the same it seems to be more aggressive and stronger. This causes his mutant power to start morphing his body even more but due to his cells having been transformed into zombie cells that are more adaptive to change his body doesn't resist and instead embraces the change.
This causes the deformed body of the Mutant to start rapidly swelling and morphing and in a matter of 10 minutes becomes a 10 foot tall brute covered in bone armor.
As Damien looks at the now transformed Mutant he can't help but be intrigued. The mutant despite not becoming a special infected has strength on par with one and despite not having a strong mental fortitude or superhuman level intellect has developed a basic consciousness.
"From the looks of things the zombie virus reacted to the X-gene that was already in his body and caused the X-gene to unlock its full potential and at the same time enhanced the zombie virus in his body from the standard strain into a Mutant strain." As Damien looks at the changes inside the mutants body he can't help but wonder what would happen if a mutant, on top of having the X-gene enhanced by the virus they also became a special infected and how the two powers might coexistence.
"It seems I'll need to infect a few people with knowledge in biology and genetics while also allowing them to retain their consciousness, but who should I choose?"
"There's Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Hank Pym, Hank McCoy(Beast),Dr. Doom, Bolivar Trask, Dr. Sinister, Bruce Banner, Samuel Sterns, Dr. Connors, Aldrich Killian, and Maya Hansen. The ones who know most about biology and genetics are most likely Reed, Beast, Dr. Doom, Dr. Sinister, Dr. Connors, Aldrich Killian, and Maya Hansen." Damien thinks about who the easiest ones to infect would be so he can plan ahead.
"The easiest ones to infect would probably be Maya Hansen, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, and Bolivar Trask their the only humans without powers which means that unlike the others who have mutations in their DNA I can just scratch them instead of outright killing them or putting them in a state of near death to allow the virus to take hold inside their bodies." With his mind set Damien gets back to the task at hand.
"With Progenitors Authority I'll have access to this form anytime I need. I guess this kind of makes me like Hulk minus the personality and anger issues."
"Speaking of the Hulk I wonder if he's fought Abomination yet? If not I might be able to infect both Hulk and Abomination after they wear themselves out." Going through both zombies memories Damien finds out a lot of both shocking and interesting things about this world.
"Interesting, it seems that Hulk recently rampaged at Culver University which means that the Incredible Hulk plot has already begun and it won't be too much longer before Abomination is born. Even more interesting than that is the fact that the Ironman 3 plot is also in motion and just yesterday the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles got hit by an Extremis Soldier, that means that soon Tony will end up in Rose Hill, Tennessee where he'll be vulnerable." As Damien is contemplating his next targets for infection he suddenly hears fast and heavy footsteps coming from behind him.
Turning around Damien comes face to face with the Lizard, Dr. Curt Connors, currently mid leap with his claws out aiming directly at my face. He instantly turns his head to the side to avoid the claws but is a fraction of a second to slow causing the left side of his face to get torn off.
As soon as the Lizard flies by him he orders the now 10 foot tall brute to engage with the Lizard but not to kill it. As Damien watches the fight the flesh on his face quickly knits back together revealing smooth skin where just a second ago there was exposed muscle.
As the brute runs overs to the Lizard and raises his fist to hit the Lizard in the chest the Lizard senses the danger and uses his superior speed to effortlessly dodge the attack while swiping his claws at the brute eyes which are the only unprotected part of his body. With a sickening squelch they pop like water balloons.
"AARGH!!! DIE LITTLE REPTILE!!!" Contrary to what the Lizard thought would happen the brute — instead of slowing down and clutching his face in pain acts as if the pain is nonexistent (which it is for a zombie but the Lizard doesn't know that) and starts thrashing around wildly while getting angrier and angrier at being plunged into a world of darkness. Not even the other zombie is spared from his wrath and gets pulverized by one of the brute's wild punches.
The Lizard however quickly recovers from his shock and weaves between punches and plunges his claws in-between the joint gape of the bone armor in the back of left legs knee causing the brute to kneel. The Lizard then moves in front of him and seeing that the brute's eyes have already healed the Lizard decides to dig his claws into the brute's eye sockets reducing them into a watery paste. However as the Lizard starts to pull his claws out the brute shoots one of his large hands up and clamps it around the Lizards wrist in a vise-like grip.
Feeling the scaly flesh in his grip a menacing smile appears on the brute's face.
"MY TURN!!!" The brute clenches his other fist and slams it into the the Lizards gut directly piercing his stomach leaving a bloodied fist coming out of his back. The Lizard struggles momentarily before slumping down and with a swat of the brutes arm his corpse is thrown to Damiens feet.
***Chapter 2 End***
I'm not sure who my first special infected will be or if it will be an OC or a marvel character.
I'm planning for Special Infected to have a Z-gene that gives them their powers, similar to the Mutants X-gene.