#codename zues

- Whatever, just shoot the guy and call it a day

(Shooting him does no damage)

- Uh... okay. How about explosives?

(Rockets & grenade launchers only throw him off-course)

- Oh, for crying out loud... Time to bring in the big guns!

(Attack Helicopters just give Alex a free helicopter)

- BIGGER guns!

(The same goes for tanks)

- You have GOT to be kidding me... Okay, if conventional weapons won't work, then we'll just destroy him from within!

(The super-cancer created specifically to destroy Alex Mercer at a molecular level barely slows him down. He cures himself shortly after.)

- What the hell does it take to kill this thing?!

- Hmm... maybe we need to fight fire with fire. When all else fails, create supersoldiers to save the day!

(the D-codes get folded like lawn chairs)

- What?! But we made them with the freak's own strain of the virus! They specialized in hard-countering all of Mercer's powers and go-to tactics... Sigh. Okay, fine. What haven't we tried yet? He's shrugged off bullets, explosives, biological warfare, supersoldiers.... Oh, How about chemical warfare? We haven't tried chemical warfare yet.

(Alex develops a high resistance to bloodtox within hours of exposure)

- Screw it, let's just drop a nuke on him and call it a day

- ....

- .......

Unlike other games with a morality system, Alex's karma rank at the beginning of of the game doesn't start at "neutral." It starts at the lowest value possible, because everyone assumes the man-eating monster is pure evil unless proven otherwise.

If you keep civilians off the menu and only fight the military in self-defense, then the military's radio chatter regarding "ZUES" will shift to a more lighthearted tone (and even get a bit silly). Hijacking a vehicle will non-lethally evict the current occupants. At really, really high karma, the military will tense up but not automatically attack if they see Alex with his claws (or any of his other powers) out.

Becoming a hero is not an option. The highest karma Alex can get is barely above "neutral" status - at which point the military barely tolerates Alex's presence, and warily accept his assistance with fighting the infected.

Dana: "...that my older brother pulled a Frankenstein to make you?"

Alex: "that's not... Okay, that's technically what happened, but-"

Dana: "It totally is! He made you by using Mad Science to rez a corpse!"

Alex: "IT WAS HIS OWN CORPSE, DANA"

Alex: "so... You don't hate me for being a man-eating sentient virus wearing your brother's face?"

Dana: "..."

Dana: "To be honest, I'm more focused on all the Big Sister Privileges I'll finally get to lord over you."

Alex: "???"

Dana: "As a science baby that my older brother created, that makes me either your big sister or your aunt. Since there's no way I'm ready to be called "aunt dana" by someone who looks older than me, that only leaves the first option."

Alex: confused virus noises

Dana: "for starters, I'm claiming permanent dibs on the tv remote."

Alex: "o...kay?

Using the door means going inside the apartment building. Which means passing Ken The Doorman.

Who wants to make small talk whenever Alex comes through.

His verdict on humanity: humans are just.... People. They do stupid stuff when they let their baser instincts drive, but at the end of the day they're just trying to get through their lives in one piece like any other organism.

He'll still tear you in half if you try to attack him. But as long as the situation doesn't escalate to violence (or biological warfare), Alex is suprisingly patient with people.

....however, being patient with people and being good at interacting with them are two VERY different things for Alex Mercer.

Alex may understand how people work, but that doesn't mean he's willing to mediate or play therapist. When put in front of someone who's acting like a turd (not being a threat, just a pain in the neck), Alex prefers to simply sit back and watch quietly with what he thinks is a neutral gaze.

However, the few things he does judge is more than enough provoke him into Kill Mode.

At the top of the list is:

Threatening Dana, being willingly involved with biological warfare, threatening Dana, unethical human experimentation, threatening Dana, direguarding quarantine procedures during a deadly outbreak, threatening Dana, and people who cause unnecessary fatalities.

Oh, and threatening Dana.