Fic: Under Water, No One Can Hear You Scream 5A/5 Due South/Aliens
Title: Under Water, No One Can Hear You Scream!
By: Lopaka Tanu
Disclaimer: I do not own Alien or Due South.
Summary: Ray witnessed the destruction of the Nostromo, yet no one believes him. With the help of Fraser, his former lover, he finds proof that he was telling the truth. Proof that they take to Chicago. However, before any reunions can be planned, all hell breaks loose, and conspiracy members start playing point the finger.
Warnings: Violence, Alien hosting, language, character death, and Het.
Category: Slash.
Words: 51,000
Rated: Adult
Time line: Takes place five years after COTW. Canada's recent gay marriage laws are considered as a full legal marriage and all that it entails in this story.
Author's Note: Do not read this if you hated the movies Alien and Aliens. Part 12 "The whites of their eyes.... They have no eyes!"
Thirty-Five Minutes Later.
Ray strapped on his new Stetson styled helmet the Mountie handed him. Running his fingers over the edge of the brim, he pressed the buttons imbedded in it one after another. When nothing happened, he frowned at the Mountie.
The Mountie took off his own Stetson Helmet and turned it so Ray could look inside. Along the head band there was a masquerade eye mask. Making sure Ray was watching, he flipped it out then put it on his head. The Masquerade instantly molded to his face covering forehead to nose leaving only the eyes exposed. "Standard Royal Canadian Mounted Police Special Directorate Stetson Style Helmet as not to ever be out of uniform. The first button is a computer interface. It allows you to speak with and access a comm that directly uplinks you with ConSat, the Consulate computer and satellite network.
"The second button switches over to infrared scanner for the visual, while the third is an electrical field scanner. Anything generates one, you can see it. Don't use this around power outputs, it will blind you temporarily. The fourth button controls the radio. You can directly talk with it to do with as you please, you have experience with these so I don't need to give you the commands. That is all, Constable."
After mimicking precisely the man's actions, Ray pulled down his own mask and placed the helmet on his head. He watched through the eye holes as the Mountie climbed aboard the horse, tipped his hat, then road away. Ray gave the man a two finger salute, which turned into one, then marched over to the rest of his team.
They were standing next to a supply truck on the outskirts of their territory. The truck was being manned by a team from the Second division as indicated by the two on their shoulders. Section Two's team climbed onto the foot boards on the outside, holding on as the truck started up and drove away. With a last wave from a few of the people, the supply truck turned the corner and sped off out of sight.
Ray stepped behind the silently chattering group, signaling Hudson and Vasquez to ignore his approach when they spotted him. With the end of his staff, he slid it up between Hicks' legs, stopping before it made contact.
At seeing the staff peek out between Hicks' legs Vasquez and Hudson busted out in laughter. Looking down to see what had caught their attention, Hicks stared at the staff. "Ray, is that your stick between my legs?"
Vecchio, who up til this point had been adjusting the collar on the uniform the Operatives had forced upon him, suddenly looked up with a sneer. "Stanley!"
"Stick, Vecchio, he said stick." Vasquez cuffed the balding man upside the head. "Put on your helmet, we got to explain this shit before we can pound the beat!
"Put the head set on, the speaker goes in the ear. On the head set there is a control tab that allows you to turn it on. There is also a wire to connect it to your helmet. The port for the helmet is inside above the jaw strap, plug in the wire there. Also on the helmet are an eye piece that can fall down over your eye like a mini TV screen. This eye scanner has three modes, infrared, motion detector, and voice activated radio scanner. To control the functions, there are three buttons on the helmet brim next to the eye piece. They are respectively, radio, infrared, and motion detector. Any questions?"
Vecchio stared at Vasquez stunned. "Were you an auctioneer before you became the feminist's answer to Rambo?"
"It's a real shame you are a married pig, cause Frost, Hudson, and I are looking for a forth." She pulled Vecchio into a quick open mouth kiss, sucking on his tongue before biting it and letting go. She smirked at his pained expression and winked. "We ready to go, boss man?"
Hicks glanced the four over with a sigh. "No, but might as well get on with this. Vecchio, take point. Hudson, Vasquez, flanks. Ray, you bring up the rear and get that stick out of my ass!"
"Why, you used to love it when I put my *stick* up your ass." Despite his words, Ray pulled the staff back from caressing Hicks' posterior. He stepped out in front of the others, his mask down and staff raised like a samurai sword.
"Cut the theatrics, Stanley."
"Why, jealous cause I look like something from a French novel and you like a chimp in a suit?" Their bickering stopped the group from moving again. Ray was facing Ray, each ready to attack.
"As if."
"Oh, how very macho, noodle dick. Where'd you hear that one, the other nine year olds you hang out with?" Turnbull struck a pose, tipping his hat forward. "You are jealous I can pull off the Scarlet Pimp look better than Frase ever could."
"What a load of horse shit. You look like a kid who is playin dress up in his Mountie's uniform." Stalking up to the fuming Blonde, he flicked the lanyard around Ray's neck. "Besides, you are more like the red shirts on startrek. You know the ones, Stanley, they are always the first to die."
Ray swung the staff around the blade popping out of the end. "I'll give you a red shirt, you Italian bastard!"
Hicks lowered his head counting to ten in every language he knew, even some he only knew the first ten numbers of.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Their journey was marked in silence, any hostilities forgotten, after they had noted the deserted streets. Low rent highrises appeared to have been sacked clean of all possessions and left for decay. Entire store fronts were empty of anything resembling merchandise. Even the usual litter was missing, seeming to have been taken along with the rest.
Vasquez and Hudson swept over the area from their wing positions. One eye covered by their scanners, the other was free to stay clear. So far nothing beyond back ground motions caught their attentions.
Hicks shivered as another breeze whistled through the deserted commerce district. "Seventh Division, come in. What's our status people? Report from team one to twenty five in that order. Over."
Their earphone's cracked a second. "This is team one, we have scanned grids 1A through 2F. No civilians or hostiles located, sir. This place is a fucking ghost town. Over."
"This is team two. We have scanned grids 5A through 7B. There is nothing here either, sir. It looks like somebody came and took everything that wasn't nailed down, even got a few fire hydrants and man hole covers missing. We dropped a couple percussion grenades down before sending in a recon. Nothing down there, sir. Even the rats are gone. Over."
Similar reports were heard up to fourteen. When it got to team fourteen, only silence.
Hicks tapped the microphone on his helmet. "Team fourteen, check in, over." Static cleared over the radio. Turning his head to look at Ray, he covered his mic. "Turnbull, what sector did they cover?"
"Grids twenty-two through twenty six. They are working the far side of our territory over near the sixteenth precinct. That is about ten blocks from the docks." Pulling out a flat piece of metal from his hip bag, he activated it by waving his thumb over the center. The center seemed to melt into a transparent material and a gridded screen appeared. Symbols rushed over the topographic map forming names and locations. Ray scanned his palm device, the screen a display map of Chicago in the even marked grids. "The nearest team is Mizca of Division Four. The Sarajevos. Their frequency call number is point one five six six."
Hicks glanced over at Vasquez.
"I'm on it!" She switched the display on her eye patch by clicking buttons on the helmet. A group of numbers appeared on the virtual screen. "Find." The numbers flashes zero. "Frequency. Point-one-five-six-six. Lock." The numbers appeared on her screen behind a flashing dash. When she said lock, they all flashed as one then the channel on her earphone crackled into a new channel.
While she did this, Hicks spoke into his mic again. "Continue reporting, over."
"Team Fifteen, have scanned grids 27A through 30A, no solid confirmation of hostiles or civilians. We have spotted a herd of rats running from a sewer intake in grid 28D. Dropped a percussion grenade down the drain and the rats screamed. We heard something else scream, sir, but there was no evidence when the recon scout went down. Over."
Vasquez clicked her microphone on. "Sarajevos, come in. This is team zero of division one, please respond, over." She waited only to receive silence. "Mizca, pick up the damn line, I know you are out there. Over!" Still no response. "Damn it!" Glancing over at Hicks, she shook her head.
"Damn!" Hicks clicked the head controls over his left eye patch. "This is Sept Seven of Division Seven to all personnel in the Sixteenth precinct area, please respond. Over." His blue eyes scanned the area around them for activity. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as only the static replied over his radio. "Turnbull, how many teams in that area?"
Ray pressed a control on the palm device causing the grids on the screen to shrink so that the display map covered a wider area. "I'm counting ten... Wait, two lights just went out. Hicks, we're losing our people. Them bastards are picking them off like flies!"
"Hudson, call in a strike force, for that area. Tell them to send in the evacs first, I want to get our people out before we blow them to hell." Hicks didn't wait for a response. Cocking his gun, he readjusted his stance. "Pick up speed, people, we need to get to our site, now!"
All nodded then picked up from their cautious march to a brisk jog. Vecchio scanned the area using his TR barrel as his focus. Sweeping quickly the street, up the sides of building and down the corners of alleys, his vision carefully marked nothing irregular. He ignored the chatter from the wing men as they continued relaying orders. Something quick off the side of a building ahead of him, a shadow in the shadows, caught his attention. "I got somethin ahead of us movin fast."
Both Vasquez and Hudson stopped mid sentence to look at where Ray Vecchio's gun was pointing. They too saw the shadowy figure moving out into the midday sun. Aiming their weapons, both Operatives activated their scanners once more. Hudson was the first to pick up the signal with his heat sensors. "They're Human. Six of them, possibly armed with something bigger than a glock."
"Take aim, Turnbull, guard our six, Vasquez and Hudson our flanks. Don't fire until we get a clear shot. Disable, not kill. That means their guns, not body parts..." Hicks cut off when a brilliant flash from behind blind sided him. Dropping to one knee, he brought up his TR to aim. "What the hell was that? Turnbull, what the fuck is going on?"
Ray stood above the others. He was standing one leg forward, the staff under his right arm aiming towards the front with his left adding support. Gripping the staff's middle again the end flashed once more. This time there came several cries of pain.
Smirking, he stood up erect but kept the staff aimed at the now prone figures. "Disabled."
Hicks stood up. Angrily, he jerked the staff from Ray's grip and slammed it against the street. The staff's end flashed temporarily blinding all of them. "Just what the hell do you think you were doing, Turnbull?"
Ray rubbed at his eyes with one hand while the other snatched the staff back from Hicks. "Saving your asses. We don't know what the hell they are doing out there and the closer they got, the better their chances of killing us."
"They are more than fifty feet away from us, I thought you said the range on this thing was only twenty!"
"It is, meters transfers into feet right?"
He glared, that was all he could do to keep from laughing and decking his former lover. "There is a hellova difference. Yards are closer to meters."
Ray gave him a cheeky grin but wisely kept his mouth shut.
Hicks glanced his team over once, blinking the last of the spots from his vision. "Turnbull, Hudson, check out the hostiles. Vasquez get an evac on the horn and see if they can airlift these ass holes out of here. Maybe they can get some information from them as well."
He got three nods as they went about their assigned tasks. Ray and Hudson moved out towards the downed people with their weapons at the ready. Ray's staff was charged for another shock blast if they had some how avoided the first two. Grinning maniacally, he moved quickly towards the fallen people, Hudson followed close behind.
Ray looked over his shoulder quickly to judge Hudson's temperament. When the other man nodded his acknowledgement, Ray faced the people again. They reached the end of the ally a moment later.
There were six young men ranging in age and appearance but none over twenty. Each held hunting rifles ready to fire. Their clothes were standard camo lined with knives and home made pipe bombs.
Ray snorted. "Vigilante wannabes. Looks like they might know a little about what is going on. Not enough to save them, but maybe enough to give us some recon." Kneeling beside one, he reached out the end of the staff to knock away their weapons. None of them moved when he poked at them with the staff. "Seems they are down for the count."
"What the hell is in that thing?" Hudson gestured towards Ray's staff.
"Enough juice to kill an elephant plus a little more." His face cracked in a lunatic's grin once more. Standing over the perps, he checked out the surrounding alley. "I'd say the way they were coming up was from where we are heading. If they were hunting in our direction, either their prey is moving in this direction, or they are on their own recon of the area."
"My money's on their prey was headin for us." Having stripped them of everything but their underwear, Hudson stacked their gear in a pile, poured the liquid from a vile on it, and then lit it on fire with a mini torch. Their clothes and weapons disappeared in a sudden blaze, soon all that remained was charred ash and melted gun metal. "I'm not seein any unusual markings on their necks and faces that would indicate implantation." Checking over the smallest one again, he grimaced. "Except this one, he has strangulation markings. What do you think we should do?"
"Same thing you did with their weapons."
Nodding, Hudson spit from the burnt smell in the air. "I'll have to confirm it with Hicks."
"Do it fast." Ray's eyes shifted across the buildings, scanning up and down their sides and the alley. On instinct, he charged the staff and brought it up to bare on the end of the alley. "Come out with your hands up. You know a little of the capabilities of this weapon, don't make me demonstrate its full range and use."
"Don't shoot!" The female voice echoed in the alley. "I'll come out slowly."
"Then do it tossing any weapons in the trash can."
"All right, I'm coming out." First hands appeared over the edge of a dumpster at the end of the alley. They tossed a hand gun into the bin then raised up high. Slowly the figure's head came into view, her face partially covered by a rats nest of hair. "I'm going to step away from the bin and walk slowly to you."
"Good one, Ripley, now drop the other gun before I drop you." Ray wasn't fooled by her compliant actions one bit.
"Just standard procedure, Ray, you know that."
"I also know it is best not to run out on a fallen comrade unless you know they are dead." His tone kept deceptively calm.
Ripley tensely pulled out the gun from her waist band and dropped it in the trash before starting forward. "I had no way of confirming, you know that. We were under siege, the enemy had us surrounded."
"Yet you so conveniently escaped with your hide intact. Then to continue, you betrayed your pick up, not a wise move in hostile territory. Gotta trust somebody sometime, Ripley."
Hudson, who had been watching their interactions the whole time from his place just outside the alley, gestured for the others to remain silent. He continued to watch through his mini-parascope around the corner. With his hand, he gestured at Hicks that there was one of the guys on the ground starting to move. "Ray, one of the hostiles is active. You want I should neutralize the bastard or Ripley?"
"I'll take care of the little fuck, its the one with the parasite in him. You grab Ripley." Ray kept his staff leveled at his partner, making sure she didn't make any quick moves. "Make it fast, Hudson, I ain't got all day."
"Keep your pants on, Kowalski, I'm on it." Moving quickly around the corner, Hudson trained his weapon on Ripley. "Okay, got her, terminate the host."
"Not until you grab her, I don't want her escaping in the blast."
Hudson growled in frustration. "Fine. Move it, Lieutenant, double time."
Ripley jogged up to the front of the alley, smirking at Ray as she passed him and the downed young men. "Best enjoy the way you speak to me, Hudson, this is the last time you will ever speak to a superior officer in that tone again."
"Yes, ma'am." Grinning from ear to ear, Hudson reached out and grabbed hold of Ripley's arm. "Come quietly and no one gets hurt, come loudly and I'll make it worth your while."
"Please, keep it in your pants, we don't want to make the squirrels jealous." Ripley allowed Hudson to lead her to the edge of the alley.
"Oh, I'm hurtin, Rip, I think I might be dyin." Suddenly, he found his grip on Ripley's arm reversed and she was relieving him of his hand gun. Holding it to his chin, she placed him in front of her as a shield. "What are you doin, Ripley?"
"Do as I say and I won't have to use this." She watched as Hicks signaled Vasquez and Vecchio to remain back. "Good to see you made it out alive, Hicks."
"The same to you. Don't shoot him Ripley, we got orders to take you in alive and unharmed. Bishop knows it wasn't you."
"It was the midnight deckman on the coast guard ship, Ripley." Ray aimed his staff at her carefully. "We know it wasn't you, so why don't you let the hapless fool go?"
"I know it wasn't in me." Ripley cocked the gun and aimed it at Ray. "Because the creature is you."
"What? You on something, Rip?" Hudson jerked a little but froze when Ripley's grip held him fast, pointing the gun back to his head. "We are on the same side here."
"No, he isn't." Taking aim again, she pointed the gun at Ray. "I've been watching them, tracking their movements. At first I didn't know what the hell was going on, it didn't make sense that so many of our people were on the move. They mobilized too quickly, the evacuation of the city, the guard patrols, the assault craft."
"They had anticipated this, Ripley, trust me, no one was more surprised about the arrival of the entire Organization than me. Especially after such a devastating blow, we should still be in damage control and recruitment phase." Hicks' hands were up in a placating stance. "Just let Hudson go, we can talk about this."
"You don't understand, those things are out there! They aren't contained in the city, this whole thing doesn't make since." She continued to back up a step at a time. "It didn't start to make since until I took in the Human factor. Or should I say Human looking factor, then certain things started to click in place."
"What are you talking about?"
"Those damn aliens!" Switching the gun to her other hand, she forced Hudson into her left arm. "I knew about the aliens before I even went on this assignment, I am a level two operative, second only to Ray and then the Prime Sept."
"So both of you knew these creatures existed?" Hicks looked from Ripley to Ray. "Is this true?"
"It is common knowledge among the Council and their advisors. We had to be briefed in case the situation arose. We are part of the back up plan just in case the Septs were all killed, a secondary Council." Ray shrugged, twisting this staff so that the end faced the sitting up body of the young man. "Stay down, boy."
"I'd do as he says, their kind don't care for you." Ripley smiled humorlessly at the young man. "They were talking about burning you just a minute ago."
"What the fuck?" He started to sit up before a high pitched squeak sounded and he was blown backwards two feet, a dart sticking out of his chest. "What the fu..." The next second the alley was coated in bloody pulp as he exploded.
Ray lifted the end up to target Ripley. "Drop the gun, now."
"You didn't have to do that! He wasn't infected! They were ambushed a few clicks back by some locals who had strung him up before they killed them!"
"Acceptable casualties, Ripley." Ray twisted the handle. "Final warning."
"God, are you even Human anymore?" Shaking her head, she started to pull the trigger.
A shrill shriek filled the air as an evac swooped over head breaking their concentration. "This is the Organization Evac Tripoli, lower your weapon and release the Operative."
Ripley was distracted by the levitating craft a moment, long enough for Ray to fire the dart. Hearing the high pitched squeak, she pushed Hudson forward so both them were rolling away. The dart struck the brick wall beside her, exploding five seconds afterwards.
Chaos erupted the moment the dart went off. Ray turned the staff on the hovering Evac and twisted the handle. Six darts shot out and impacted into the craft's closest engine. The Evac listed to one side before the darts exploded taking the entire starboard wing with it. It tried to make a landing on a near by building but as it drifted out of sight they heard a crash then an explosion. A shot off the wall beside Ray had him looking back to the alley's entrance and Ripley.
"What the fuck is that?" Hicks too took aim at Ray. "Lower the weapon, whoever the fuck you are, now!"
"That is Ray, or what is left of him." Ripley fired again as Ray bounded into a back flip to land on top of the half closed dumpster, sealing it all the way. He landed on one knee, staff at the ready. Gripping the handle, his expressionless face remained neutral. He fired the electrical surge at them.
All five people at the mouth of the alley fell to their knees then slid to the ground unconscious. They tried to fight the effects of the stunning blast, but darkness took them quickly. The last to succumb was Ripley, having Hudson taking the brunt of the blast.
Her eyes widened as Ray strolled up to them, fear filling her when she discovered she couldn't move. The last sight she held was of Ray standing over them, his eyes studying them with a clinically bland expression.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ripley awoke with a heavy weight pinning her down. Pushing the motionless bulk off her, she opened then closed her eyes at the dying light of the day. All around her parts of debris continued to burn from the earlier fight. The building Ray's dart had half demolished was now a blackened cinder. Shock filled her at the realization it had only been just one dart.
Then she remembered the others. Looking down first at the still unconscious form of Hudson, she was relieved to find him unharmed. She glanced over the alley locating first Vasquez then Vecchio, laying against each other, Vecchio shielding her body even unconscious. She checked down the alley for Ray finding only five more blast craters where he had 'taken care of' their hostile problem.
Something was missing.
Besides, Ray, she couldn't place what had disappeared. She looked back at Vecchio and Vasquez again. An extra helmet was laid by them, the name on it slowly registered. Ray was gone and so was Hicks. A cold chill gripped her heart.
"Newt." ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Part 13 That I shall never breathe again.
Two hours Later.
Ripley sat in shock as the truck bounced along the war zone that had become the streets of downtown Chicago. Behind their truck lay the other three supply trucks of the convoy also holding wounded. She couldn't believe it had all happened so fast. The truck hit a particularly large pot hole jarring the other three people awake.
"What?" Vecchio quickly sat up against the rib of the truck's camo cover. "What happened?"
"We lost."
Vecchio looked at Ripley in confusion. "What do you mean we lost? Where are we, how did we get here?"
"We are on our way back to the base camp a mile outside of the suburbs and in to the country. The entire midwest is being evacuated, being told a terrorist released a chemical agent in Chicago." Ripley's dazed stare broke long enough to catch Vecchio's eyes. "The queen already had a foot hold three weeks ago, we lost."
"So she had a chance to set up shop, we can still kick her ass, she can't leave Chicago..."
"We have no way of knowing that." Shaking her head, Ripley wiped her face. The truck jarred them again, causing her to fall back against the tail gate. "Ray is gone, he possibly took Hicks with him. If that is true, we have lost both of them to the aliens."
"Why did the fuck up try to kill us?" Vecchio wasn't feeling charitable to his rival. "He usually at least warns before he shoots at ya."
"That wasn't Ray. The Ray we knew is gone, an alien inhabiting his shell." She snorted while shaking her head in disgust. "They are the most recent and dangerous of the Queen's drones. They can create as many of each other as they want. Infecting each person without them even knowing it. The alien lays an egg in the mouth, it goes in through the nasal cavity, up into the brain and then merges with the host. The entire process takes little under two hours."
"How the hell do you know this?"
"Because it happened on the salvage vessel. I knew the signs the first few dazed moments after I woke up when that thing rescued me." Ripley spit over the edge of the truck, a sudden bad taste in her mouth. "The aliens tried to do the same with me."
"How did you get out of it?"
Ripley glanced over at Vasquez, snorted and looked away. "The damn ship blew up as it was in the middle of trying to implant me. There were six of them on that ship, twelve aliens total. I don't know where they all came from, so don't ask. The cargo we brought on board wasn't big enough to contain six humans, much less six alien controlled humans and the six alien face huggers." She closed here eyes and laid her head back against the rib.
"As I said, they were trying to implant me, the humans were. I had escaped them and took the last face hugger with me to the life boat. According to our sources, these damn things are born in eggs. If they had already hatched, there was a good chance there were more of them. It was up to me to get the proof that we had a foothold situation. I just didn't think they had gotten Ray."
"It wasn't yer fault, Rip, those damn aliens are sneaky. Ray, he fooled us all. Ain't that right, stupid," said Vasquez as she elbowed Hudson.
Rubbing his chest, Hudson glared at his partner. "Yeah, Ripley, he fooled me too."
"How'd you know it was in Stanley, not that I am complaining? I would just like to know for future reference." Vecchio checked the clip on his shoulder rig. The rest of his weapons the Operatives had given him were curiously absent. He looked at the others and they had even less weapons than he did.
Ripley snorted, a smile catching her face. "That's one I do know. I knew it on the boat; they are almost invincible. No ordinary human can fight off a face hugger and win, it's impossible." She opened her eyes to stare Ray directly in the eyes. "And because the Ray Turnbull I knew would have died last night after being crushed under a three hundred pound diner table. That Hicks didn't mention it, makes me wonder how long he too was under the influence of these creatures."
Hudson didn't like the look of Ripley. Something was off about her. This wasn't the aloof, yet caring Operative he had known and loved to tease. "So how long has Ray been under the control of this alien?" For the first time since waking, he wished he had a gun.
"I'm not sure."
"But you said the queen had a foot hold three weeks ago."
Ripley nodded. "She did. No matter what we might think, that bitch is cunning. Until three weeks ago, there was no evidence she even existed. Her people would not move until they had a viable base and could create more of them. The destination of our cargo was in Canada, away from Chicago, which means she was settled down and already laying."
"Holy fuck!" Vecchio's wide eyes and pale complexion was all they needed to know he had come up with something. "All that bullshit about a new queen and the disappearance of the coast guard officer was a diversion. They don't know. They don't know!" Getting up, he moved towards the cab of the truck.
"What's he talking about?" Ripley looked between Hudson and Vasquez, both who had gone pale. "What is going on?"
"Misinformation." Vasquez was the first to recover. "Those human-aliens you were tellin us about, how much you wanna bet they are former government employees? Former since they all got broiled when that boat blew up."
"That fuckin bitch! She did it, she killed them all!" Hudson stared at Vasquez, he felt completely lost and out manoeuvered. How could it have gotten so bad? They were supposed to be the best. "Murie, Rosco, Brochardt, Leena, all of them."
"St. Valentine too," she whispered, lowering her head. "You were close, Rip, that bitch has been active a month. It's too much a coincidence. Thousands of Operatives, the entire US division, all betrayed by one man. All she needed was to infect a few key Operatives, they betray the Organization to our enemies, and let them do the rest. And that weasel Burke is the fall guy with none us the wiser. Clean out the locals by turning them against each other and you can swoop in and take control. That's one of our methods."
"There is no telling how many of our people she infected or how far her people are spread across the globe." Moving up to Ripley, he watched her hopefully. "Is there a way to stop them all? You know, like kill the queen to free the rest?"
"I don't know. They are all connected with the queen, but only so far as to be able to communicate with her and each other, nothing else." Her eyes opened and she looked at the Operatives and Vecchio as he sat down next to them again. "We need to get one of their Human drones and interrogate it."
"We have to identify one of them before we can do that."
"No need," Vecchio pulled out his gun and clicked the safety off. "They already got one. I had the guard radio the head quarters and they came up with half a dozen names of people who survived mortal wounds. Two tried escaping and the other four took their own lives before they could be stopped."
Ripley shook her head in disgust. "We already lost enough people to this, we have to find a way to stop it before she kills us all."
Ray smiled at her. "They also discovered something very interesting about those infected by the brain aliens. Their blood is concentrated acid. If it bleeds on something and that something melts, we got an alien."
"Well that is nice to know. Now how do you plan on testing everybody?" Ripley waited for a reply from Vecchio, but when none was forth coming, she looked out to the road. "None of our knowledge is really practical in application on this. We could be fighting this infestation or similar ones for the rest of eternity."
Holding his head, Hudson laid it back against the truck. "Do you suppose that is what happened to those that crashed here? They all died because that creature took over their world too?"
Vasquez elbowed Hudson in the ribs. "Way to be helpful stupid!"
"What, it was a legitimate question?" He returned the elbow to her ribs with more force. "If they had all that advanced hardware, why didn't they survive?"
"Because they were stupid, just like you, lunk head." Growling at him, Vasquez turned away. "There is nothing we can do except keep fighting. I'd rather die with a gun in my hand than end up one of them drones! We gotta draw lines, set up a perimeter and anyone who tries to cross it without bein cleared gets gunned down."
"That's a nice thought. Let me guess, you have no problem shooting kids..."
Whirling on Vecchio, Vasquez took his gun from him and put it to his head. "No, and I ain't got a problem shootin cops either. We are in a war, ass wipe, not a playground. There is always goin to be casualties, you just gotta make sure you ain't one of them. Surviving is the only true victory!"
Vecchio swallowed. He recognized the glean in her eyes, had been a cop too long not to. There was nothing in them that said she would back down first. After another moment's hesitation, he nodded slowly. "All right."
"Calm down. Fighting amongst ourselves over this won't solve anything." Ripley glanced to each one making sure she was understood. "There is a solution, we just haven't found it yet. Now stay calm and help me figure this out so when we get to base camp, we can at least claim to know something!"
"I noticed something about Kowalski, he seemed less like himself the longer I was around him. Like that thing was cocky enough that it didn't care anymore if we noticed. Whatever their plan is, it is going to happen very soon if not already." Vecchio shook his head in anger. "If I had been paying attention the warning signs of something wrong were all there. Hell, if anyone was paying attention, they would have at least thought he was using."
"Why wouldn't anyone be watching over one of their own? You guys are cops, amigos, you shoulda at least known somethin was shit with him." Watching Vecchio turn away, Hudson's own reaction to the cop was to glower. "This was about him being with a guy, ain't it? Your bunch a group of bigots? How many times did they accidentally do something or forget to do something cause he was openly gay?"
"It wasn't like that! I had no special love of the ass from the start. He took over my life, slept with my best friend, and ruined any chance I had of ever living normally again. And to top if off, my wife is his ex. There are some things she still does that only he liked. Do you know what it is like being reminded every day in little ways that you are the outsider?" Vecchio stared out the back of the truck, lost in thought.
"You son of a bitch..."
Ripley held Hudson back, tightening her grip on his shoulder until he sat back with a wince. "It doesn't matter, he had his reasons and they seem pretty valid despite your opinion. What's done is done and we now have another piece of the puzzle."
Vasquez handed Ray back his gun with a slap to the back. "So we know they have been close to this for a few weeks. What do we think the purpose of the smuggling of them drones were?"
"As I said, I think they were politicians or their aids from around the globe. It wouldn't surprise me if they were trying to start another hive, the face hugger I had with me when the ship blew probably carried a queen..." She trailed off as something came to her. "Where is Corporal Fraser?"
Vecchio looked at her over his shoulder. "He disappeared last night after Turnbull lost sight of him in China Town. There was a commotion over the police scanner of a man matching his description having a heart attack shortly after that. We never found out what it was because shortly there after most of the China Town district went silent. The aliens were moving in."
"Damn!" Ripley smacked the floor of the truck with one hand and brought the other to her face. "When we were on the boat, the glass shattered after Ray stepped on it. I think he did it on purpose to release it. When he fell in, the corporal went in after him and didn't resurface for a few minutes. They assumed it was because he was searching for Ray."
Ray switched back to Ripley from the back of the truck. "Wait, a few minutes isn't enough for the face hugger to lay the egg."
"Not with an ordinary one, but this carried a queen and several drones. It takes only seconds for the layer to deposit a ganglia in the nasal cavity. After that, it is only a matter of when the face hugger decides to lay the egg. The queen would have the perfect, willing host to be laid in at any time. Any damage done by the queen when she hatches is easily repaired by the ganglia, so the host is still viable." Taking a deep breath, she frowned at their confused faces. "If that thing could resurrect Ray after being crushed to death, I would assume it can heal the damage of a hatching."
"So you mean Benny is out there, one of them?"
"Among others, yes." She nodded at him.
"These things are planning world domination. They have the means, the man power, and the abilities. In the end, they will win, we are screwed. Got it." Vecchio slumped in his place.
"No, as long as there are survivors, there is hope. The Organization was founded by a handful of refugees from across the world. At the time there were seven different groups, each independent without knowledge of the other. They survived insurmountable odds and eventually merged to form the group we know today." Pressing a hand to her head, she shook it. "Look, we are exhausted and will soon be arriving at the base. There has to be something we can think of that will allow us to beat these things once and for all."
"We know that they bleed acid. If everyone is constantly tested and monitored, we could theoretically collect those infected and dispose of them." Vasquez screwed up her face in concentration. "Man, this deep thinkin crap isn't workin out too good."
"No, you have a workable solution, only problem is in the application. What if the heads of our projects are already infected? Then the testers could also be infected and instead of irradiating their fellows, they are infecting all others. It just lacks..." Ripley touched her head again, a sudden stabbing causing her to wince. Nausea formed, making her gag.
Vecchio, being the closest, caught her as she went down. On a hunch, he sliced the skin on her upper arm with a broken finger nail. Looking at the blood from her scratch, he was satisfied she wasn't one of the aliens. Then he glanced at Vasquez and Hudson and showed a drop to them. "Not one."
"What did you do to her?"
"Nothing, she fell over and I caught her." At that moment Ripley gagged again and spit up on his pants. "Oh great, wonderful, that's just beautiful."
Hudson laughed, then reached over to lift up Ripley's head. He checked her eyes and then let her face drop again. "Concussion and exhaustion. We'll have to wake her in an hour."
"Good, I was gettin tired of it already. Man, things were easier when it was her, our boss, and those damn blondes doing all the planning." Vasquez laid back against the bed supports.
"What's the matter, partner, feeling your I.Q?" Hudson grunted when Vasquez's foot shot out and connected between his legs.
"Shut it, bitch boy! Get some rest while you can." Vasquez curled her legs up under her and leaned into the truck to watch the city as it went by. Running a hand over her face, she wiped away the tears that had bled from her eyes.
Vecchio held Ripley close, smoothing a hand through her hair. He ignored Hudson's gasping coughs in favor of checking Ripley's cut. It still spotted red, but a scab was already forming. If nothing else, he knew about her.