Something was wrong. She didn't like the look of the people she'd been put in a room with. Bonnie Jones was a bounty hunter and did pretty damn well for herself. Particularly in her old stomping ground of LA. Lots of criminals running away from the law there, with plenty of debt behind them too. If she wasn't catching the bastards and handing them over to the police, she was handing them over to debt collectors. It was a lucrative business that paid her debts, and bought her a nice condo on the beach where she could go for a run in peace with her three Alsatians. They used to come on the job with her as back up, but they're too damn old and lazy now. Fluffy, Fang and Chuckles did make her smile...
So what I want to know is why the fuck have I been dragged away from my cushy bed at the crack of fucking dawn by the feds and thrown into a room with all these bitches?
Bonnie sat forward on her chair, elbows balanced across her knees and her hands throwing a tennis ball from one to the other lazily. Her long brown hair was tied into two long pigtails and slipped over her chest as she leaned further forwards. She scanned the room with cold blue eyes and licked her teeth with boredom. She was the last to be thrown into this room, apparently, as she'd been sat here cooling her heels with these fine ladies for an hour now, and no one else had joined them.
One of the women screamed geek. She didn't look uncomfortable with this abduction, and was working away happily on her laptop. She sat at a desk and ignored the rest of the room. The trainers, slacks, white blouse and blue lab coat gave her away as a squint. Change the colour all you like sweetheart. A lab coat is a lab coat, even if it's pink. Her hair was brown and tied back in a large bun. In fact, Bonnie was only disappointed that the woman wasn't wearing jam jar glasses over her hazel eyes. she had some freckles across her cheeks though, so Bonnie's faith in the stereotype had been restored.
Sat at the far side of the horseshoe of chairs she found herself on the end of, was a woman that screamed 'I'm a good soldier'. Hispanic looking woman, pretty, but her dark brown eyes were hard. Like hers. She's seen some shit. The woman had her long raven hair tied back in a plat and her uniform was none-descriptive as to which part of the military she belonged to. Military issue boots, camouflage trousers, belt, jacket and white tank top underneath it. she didn't have any distinctive tags, and she sat upright in the chair patiently. Bonnie had caught this woman looking them all up and down discretely, sizing them up, and dismissing them as any sort of risk. My ass. She shouldn't underestimate people like that. all people are dangerous.
Next in their merry little gathering was an Asian woman. She was dressed like a civilian in ugg boots, skinny blue jeans, a long blue tank top with a cartoon bunny on the front and a long black coat. She sat with one leg crossed over the other and the foot swayed from side to side slowly. Her short bob of black hair had a blue sheen to it, and her curved fringe was dyed pure blue. Her eyes were icy blue, odd for a person of Asian descent to have, but everything about this girl was odd. It's that smile on her face. She's clearly nuts. I hate the crazy ones.
Finally there was a sane looking woman next to her. She was the only woman she'd ever met that was taller than her, and Bonnie was 6ft. They had a similar physique, tall, toned but not bulky. No steroids for breakfast here. Her rack was enough to make Bonnie envious, sporting D's herself, this woman looked at least two sizes bigger than her. must be proportional to her height. Dam. She wore practical boots, denim shorts, a short sleeved green t shirt and her dark green body warmer hung over the chair. Her hair was blonde and cut into a short pixie cut, very practical, and her green eyes caught hers as she smiled.
"You look like shit." The woman addressed her, making her snigger and point down at herself.
"Oh this? well, I was in bed when they snagged my ass." Bonnie was wearing nothing but a pair of black sleeping shorts and a black vest that just covered her chest. "No time to change apparently. If anything those fuckers were lucky."
"Why?" The blonde folded her arms over her ample chest and turned to give her her full attention.
"It's been so damn hot recently I usually sleep in the buff." The blonde chuckled and bumped her shoulder with hers.
Hmmm Bonnie thought. A nice girl with a sense of humour. The first normal person I've met is a fucking Aryan, but never mind. "You know, let's get this shit rolling. I'm Bonnie Jones. You?" She offered the taller woman a hand, and she shook it. hmm, firm grip.
"I'm Henrietta Klaus."
"Ah, german?"
"Ja." She chuckled. "I was born in Dusseldorf, but I have worked all over the world which helped me learn English, and other languages."
"So you're a linguist?" Bonnie cocked her head to one side, and clocked that the other three women were paying attention to their conversation.
"Nein. I'm a Dr of Biology and Ecology. I specialise in the study of predatory species in their natural and unnatural habitat. Their behavioural patterns and their impact on other species within their environment."
"Wow, totally need to apologise to you Henrietta." Bonnie put her hands up. "I didn't peg you for a brain box. You look like me."
"You'd be surprised how many times I'm asked if I'm a personal trainer." Henrietta chuckled and stretched her arms in the air, cracking something in her back as she moved. "Keeping up and avoiding lions and Komodo Dragons requires you to be fit."
"I'll say, Dr Klaus."
"Please call me Hetta." She chuckled, so feminine for such a tall woman. "So Bonnie, what is your profession that requires you to keep so fit?" Hetta poked her six-pack and raised a shapely brow at her.
"I'm a Bounty hunter." She shrugged. "I find people. Those people are not usually nice and usually put up quite a fight."
"I bet..."
"And that's us two. Your turn." Bonnie threw to the room and locked her steely eyes onto the solider across from her.
"I'm private Antonia Hernandez." Bonnie raised a brow at the woman. She looked Hispanic, but she sounded British. Not posh, but not American. "S.A.S, weapons expert."
"Pleased to meet you Ant-"
"Oh, no." The soldier waved her hands, stopping Bonnie in her tracks. "Call me Toni."
"Excellent." The Asian woman started giggling and looked at the unnerved soldier. "I'm starting to understand why we are here."
"And you are? And you care to share?" Bonnie, Hetta and Toni stared intently at the peppy woman.
"Whether you choose to believe me or not, I'm an assassin." Toni went on edge, like she was contemplating arresting her. "Government approved."
"Which government?" the woman cackled at that, and put her hands on her hips.
"Whichever one pays me enough." She winked at the solider, pissing her off. "I'm Noriko Shinju. And if I'm here, someone needs to be made dead."
"What?" the lab coat squeaked up from the desk, blinking her hazel eyes at the room.
"Think about it." Noriko got to her feet and walked over to the nerd's side, making her very nervous. "Look." She pointed to Bonnie first. "A bounty hunter, a tracker of dangerous predators, one of Britain's version of special ops and a weapons expert, and of course little ol' me, an assassin...you do the math doc."
"Why do you keep calling her doc?" Hetta got to her feet, feeling the need to get the Asian woman away from the trembling doctor. "You've met?"
"No. But she smells of an operating table. Either that, or a morgue."
"Try a laboratory." The timid woman waited for Hetta to stare off Noriko into returning to her seat before continuing. "I'm a geneticist. In fact I'm on the verge of mapping and splicing a resistance to uncontrolled mutations from a species of salamander. The implications of that if we could introduce that gene into a human host would eventually help to cure diseases like cancer." She snapped the laptop shut. "And yet despite this, I've been dragged from my lab for days now and no one has told me why."
"And you are?" Bonnie was feeling a headache coming on. this woman spoke at a million miles an hour.
"Oh, forgive me." She cleared her throat. "I'm Dr Emma O'Riley. I work for Wayland-Yutani incorporated in their-"
The door slammed open and in came two army generals and another woman in a lab coat. She was much older than the rest of them, with her aging blonde hair twisted back into a hair pin and, her watery blue eyes cold and calculating behind her square glasses, and her hands on her white lab coat pocket as she led the generals into the centre of the room.
"Good morning everyone. I take it you've taken the liberty of introducing yourselves to each other?"
"Yeah, it was real heart warming." Bonnie grumbled, and kicked her legs out. "Why are we here?"
"Yes, straight to the point. I am Dr Jenkins, and work for a company that I will not name at this time. you are specialists in your field, and you have been recruited to-"
"Abducted." Bonnie grumbled, ever the rebel. Dr Jenkins set her stare to freeze and glared down at the unworthy woman.
"...recruited to do a very specific job. This is a matter of national security, and so you will have to sign disclaimers before I can give you any details."
"Brilliant." Bonnie jumped to her feet, her breasts bouncing under her night top. "So I'll not be doing that and will be going home now then."
"Miss Bonnie Jones, let me make something very clear before you make the wrong decision."
The two generals started handing out very thick contracts out to them all, and Bonnie was having a standoff with this bitch of a doctor. "If you leave this room without signing the form and agreeing to the job, the company I work for will ruin your life." Bonnie clenched her teeth and her fists. She squared up to the doctor and glared at her for all she was worth.
"I'd like to see you fucking try it." frustrating her more than anything, Jenkins just smirked and tilted her head ever so to one side.
"You're mortgage will go into default, the less than legal retrieval of convicts will be brought down on you so hard you'll not remember how you ended up in prison with all those people you helped put there." Bonnie seethed, her fists shaking by her sides. I'm going to knock this bitch out.
"You can't do that."
"Go on then." The doctor chuckled coldly and pointed to the door. It wasn't being guarded. She could walk straight out. "No one will stop you Miss Jones, however you know the consequences." Dr Jenkins turned to the room. "Oh, and similar if not worse fates await the rest of you if you try to leave as well." She glared down at Dr O'Riley until she took her laptop and vacated the desk. She then put an ear piece in and pressed a board clicker. The panels behind the desk opened up to reveal a large computer screen, which was in standby mode. "Hurry up, I'm a very busy woman."
Bonnie stared at the smug woman for a few moments, then made moves to swing for her. Private Antonia charged into her and held her close.
"She clearly works for some big players to make threats like that. Coming from someone who has seen worse done to people in the name of national security, I strongly advice you do this."
"One punch, just one-"
"No." The enraged bounty hunter seethed, shrugged Toni off her and accepted a damn contract from one of the generals.
"Fine! Here's to fucking team work!"
They all begrudgingly signed their confidential agreement wavers and hardly blinked before they were whisked away from them.
"At last. Now, as to why you are here." Dr Jenkins pressed her clicker and the screen showed two side by side images. They were women...in hospital gowns...on metal tables... "This is Alice." She pointed to the left hand side of the screen. The woman had a snarl on her face, long brown dreadlocks, deep honey tanned skin and big amber eyes. As she snarled she revealed two sets of fangs set on top of her normal gums. One set above her upper canines, and one set below her lower ones. There was also some sort of large birthmark on her skin, like freckles, but bigger, and outlining her face, neck, arms and legs from what they could see. "And this is Eve." Jenkins pointed to the right side of the screen, showing a second woman. Her skin was much paler but she wasn't athletic looking like 'Alice'. She had curves to spare, voluptuous in every way...except for a very long looking black tail flailing from the table. It had a skeletal design and a spear shaped point to the end. Her long raven hair fanned around her smirking face. Her eyes...were black. No whites, no pupils, no iris, just black.
"What the fuck are they?" Bonnie jumped out of her seat and pointed at the screen. "Lady, I've seen freaky people, but those things take the fucking prize."
"Indeed." Dr Jenkins looked down at her like an un-amused school teacher, and waited for the naughty girl to return to her seat. "Against what you will want to believe, due to the extensive nature of our cover ups over the years, our planet has been visited regularly by a humanoid species that has only been described as a predator. A hunter. We don't know their names. But why know their pattern and what they want." Jenkins clicked the screen. All the women flinched at the sight of their very first Predator. He was stupidly tall and ridiculously ripped. He (loin cloth suggested heavily that it was male) had deep cream and yellow mottled skin, some sort of camouflage netting covering his body, armoured boots, gauntlets, chest and back plates and one hell of a mask. It showed off a wide brow, and slightly protruding mouth. The picture had been taken of the predator moving, as the long dreads were twisting through the air, showing that he was actually turning around when the shot was taken. "They are hunters of what they deem to be worthy pray."
"Predators, humanoid predators." Hetta gulped, gripping her knees so hard her knuckles had turned white. "I can only theorise that from their sheer...size and tools that they must hunt something like...us."
"Even I could have told you that." Noriko pretended to gag, sat back in her chair with a huff.
"You would be correct." The doctor continued. "They come to our planet every 50 or so years, or when the temperature is suitably high enough for them. In cold years they don't venture out, it seems."
Oh great. Bonnie scowled. Bitch has a sense of humour about something that hunts our kind. Great. "We have had quite a few interactions with this species over the last few generations, and although it has taken us that amount of time, we have gathered enough intel to gain an advantage." She changed the screen, showing the same predator pressing buttons on his left gauntlet, and then disappearing.
"What the fuck?!" Jenkins ignored Bonnie's outburst this time.
"They are on average 7 ft tall, have very dense muscle tissue that most bullet wounds will only inflict shallow, if not superficial wounds to. They are all medically trained enough to deal with their own injuries in the field, and as you can see from this video have vastly superior technology. They can hide themselves from our part of the spectrum, and until the 1990's we thought they could only see in infra red. This is partially true." the good doctor sighed. "However it seems they cured that weakness too by equipping sensors in their masks to compensate for the whole range of the spectrum. In 2004 we discovered one of their half century hunts in Antarctica." She changed the screen again. This showed the schematics of what could have been a maze for all they knew. "Here they stored another species of alien they hunted, even more deadly in my opinion than the predators." Another click, the screen changed, the room flinched and Emma squeaked. "We call these Xenomorphs. The larger one is a queen, and the smaller one is a drone."
"There are those fugly things up in the north pole?" Bonnie gulped. "I'm not going up there."
"You won't have to." Jenkins rolled her eyes, and pointed to the aliens on the screen. "They are dead. These species are highly adaptable killers. Their blood is more acidic than anything we can produce in a lab, and can eat through steel and concrete alike. They use some sort of telepathic and hormone based method of communication rather than sight, and have shown that they also respond to changes in temperature. Their life cycle involves the queen being fertilised by one of her warriors so she can lay eggs. These eggs hatch into-" click, bring on the barf bags. "-what we affectionately call face huggers."
"Erm..." Toni put one hand on her stomach and the other hand up in the air. "...what you say 'face huggers'..."
"Because they require a hose to continue their life cycle. The face huggers are moving eggs in a fashion." she changed the screen again to a human with a face hugger pulsing over his face. "They find a host and forcibly impregnate it with the Xenomorph embryo. It travels half way down the trachea, fuses with the wall and grows outwards in the chest cavity until chestation has been completed."
"Don't tell me they-" Hetta began, only for a helpful picture to appear on the screen. "Oh I think I'm going to hurl."
"This phase is referred to as a chest burster for obvious reasons." The doctor chuckled, sickly amused by how pale they had gone. "This will then feed on the host as much as it can before detection and grow rapidly. The infant will shed its juvenile skin and emerge an adult. All are female, nearly all are drones. A queen will grow to an immense size and control the drones to make a nest and produce the next generation of Xenomorph. A select few of her sister drones are exposed to her pheromones and stimulated into changing genders to-"
"We get the picture." Even Noriko was grossed out by this point.
"I'm glad. Whereas Predators hunt our kind, skin the bodies, tear out the spine and skull to polish and wear on their walls as trophies, Xenomorphs use us as hosts to proliferate at such a rate they can take over a city in days."
"What exactly do you want is to do?" Toni sat forward, game face on.
"Alice and Eve." Jenkins pressed her clicker and sighed, going back to the first image of both women. "Are the result of a billion dollar research project. These species of alien are so powerful and advanced in ways we can't ignore, that I was tasked with using the genetic remains found in a severed hand in 1990, and a retrieved frozen egg in 2004 to produce an enhanced human hybrid for each species. We believed this to be an answer to our next stage in evolution, or at least an answer to the threat of either of these aliens from hunting our kind."
"Oh dear lord." Hetta held her chest, looking at the picture of the women. "They are alien human hybrids..."
"And they've escaped." Bonnie sat back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest. "Right?"
"...correct." Jenkins pressed her clicker again and showed them a security video. Both women were in opposite cages, Alice pacing and panting, Eve seemingly sleeping with her back against the cage door. A man in a lab coat and holding a tray with two bowls of food on it walked over to Alice first. He shooed her back from the door, then slid the bowl into the cage. She dived on it, shoving what looked like porridge into her mouth eagerly. Next the scientist seemed to speak to Eve, but she didn't move. He then poked her back, but she wriggled like a tired cat. He reached over her body to put the bowl down throw the bars, and everyone saw what came next. Eve sprang into action, pulling on his arm and clawing at his face and neck. He died in seconds, and the girl reached through the bars to pull at the various pockets he had. Out came the keys, open went her cage door, and off went Eve. Just as she passed Alice, she turned and stared into her eyes. "Their respective alien species hate each other. We thought at this point that Eve would just leave." The dark haired woman threw the keys into Alice's cage, nodded, and ran off towards the doors. "The fact that she sympathised with Alice shows she has some sort of capacity for human emotion. Something that had to come from her human side. This in theory makes her less dangerous than a pure Xenomorph, as she may feel guilt and remorse."
"Not fucking likely. She didn't look twice at the guard she mauled." Toni offered.
"Here here. That bitch is psycho." Bonnie added.
They watched as Alice used the keys, and ran towards the other side of the room, using a different escape route to Eve.
"The fact that the girls used different escape routes shows that they either thought ahead and believed it to be harder for us to catch them if they were fighting their way out of the compound on two fronts, or Alice didn't want to risk going after Eve. Like I said, their species are natural enemies."
"But they're human too." Emma looked up from her trembling hands, her hazel eyes heavy in thought. "Are they stable?"
"Yes."
"Oh dear. No chance of them naturally running down then. You must have had quite a few trials to get a stable Xeno-hybrid. Human proteins are so prone to denaturing in acidic conditions, which are necessary I assume for the Xenomorph part of her genome to function."
"And that is why you are here doctor. I will give you all my research to help you produce a successful sedative for each of the girls, and normal drugs either don't work, don't work long enough, or are fatal. I also want you to be my link to the team."
"Here's a question." Private Hernandez held her chin in thought. "Why can't you and all your high powered friends just bring them in?"
"I'm too close." The first sign of the human under all that science came through. "When I said I was tasked into making them...I mean I also raised them."
"Wow wow wow. Back up. You're their mom?"
"Yes. Literally." Jenkins blinked slowly, gathering herself. "The human part of their genomes came from me. And I raised them. For 20 years I lived with those girls in the laboratory." She wouldn't cry, but you could see her fighting away tears. "I taught them to read. How to dress themselves. I watched TV with them read them bed time stories when they were younger. Our recent bed time conversations have been about boys...a few more days and I would have been given permission to make them some male counter parts. So they wouldn't be lonely..." Jenkins pinched her brow. "I'll never be allowed to now. The company don't trust me to do whatever is necessary to contain the threat. And they are right. However, if I'm not allowed the head the mission, I can at least ensure the right people do. You are it ladies. You are my alpha team. You have the lives of my...of Alice and Eve in your hands." Jenkins tucked a stray ashy blonde hair behind her ear and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "I don't beg. If I did however, it would be for you to do everything you could to bring them in unharmed. Or at least alive. Extermination should be a last, last resort."
"Of course." Hetta got to her feet and held her hand out. "We'll do our best to bring them back to you doctor."
"Thank you Dr Klaus." Jenkins coughed into her hand and ignored the blonde's hand. "And the rest of you." the nodded and muttered their agreement. "Good. Now-"
"I don't know how to bring a target in alive..." Noriko looked genuinely worried. "None of my toys will be useful..."
"Oh Miss Shinju. You will be given the best new toys to play with. Now, let me get you to the coach. We have had a sighting across the state in Nevada."
"Nevada?" Noriko cheered up. "You mean one of your babies has fled to Vegas? Oh, this is going to be so much fun!"