NOTE: Hello again! Sorry for not posting in such a long time but college and lack of inspiration got in the way. I truly hope to make up for it now. Thank you very very much for all your reviews. Without your support I would have not felt such a strong desire to continue this story.
PART 4: "The missing queen"
Half an hour later, Leah and Lara left, leaving Lex alone to prepare for the trip. After taking a shower and slipping into a new outfit, Lex packed only some essential things in a backpack then went to the collect her weapon. She took her time to study carefully every inch of it, since she had never had the opportunity to do that before.
She reevaluated once again her present status and how much her life had changed in such a short period of time. It was like only yesterday she had set off on a most usual expedition, when she received that dreadful call that was to change her life forever. A part of her was angry for not having abandoned the mission when she had the chance, since she had been unable to save anyone but herself, but another part of her was glad she hadn't abandoned her principles and had done everything she could till the end.
She reached out to take the weapon from the prop that Lara had brought for her to hold her weapon on, thinking that this shocking experience had been benefic after all, as it opened her eyes and showed her a face of the world some people never come to know. Just then, as her hand grabbed the weapon and lifted it from the prop, there was a sudden knock on the door. She went to see who it was when she remembered that no one could get in the building without using the intercom and she was certain she had not let anyone in. But then she heard a man's voice coming form behind the door:
"Postal delivery!"
Lex was relieved to hear this and mentally scolded herself for becoming too paranoid. Fortunately, she was not too quick in opening the door and stopped right in front of it when she heard the postman calling her name.
"Miss Woods, postal delivery. Are you home?"
Normally, Lex should not have found at all unusual that the man called out her name, since it was written on a small plaque on her door, but still, there was something that held her back from opening it. A few moments later, she was glad she hadn't opened the door, when the man took no shame in checking to see whether the door was locked, in an almost brutal manner, as if he was trying to force it open.
This really scared Lex and she immediately grabbed her backpack and the weapon, and got out to the fire escape through her bedroom window. She was very close to reaching the ground when she noticed a man dressed in a dark suit, wearing a white shirt, a tie and a pair of dark sunglasses, resembling the secret agents one sees in movies or TV series, surveying the area. Before she could jump down and run towards the crowded street, the man spotted her and in no time he reached the bottom of the ladder and started climbing up after her. Lex started climbing back up as fast as she could to get away from her pursuer, but when she looked up, she saw that there were two more men – dressed in similar outfits – waiting for her in front of her bedroom window.
"Miss Woods, there is no need to fear us. We are here to help you," one of the two men spoke, drawing Lex's attention and thus giving the man who was climbing after her the needed opportunity to get closer and grab her left ankle.
"Please understand that we are doing this for your own good," spoke the other man of the two who were standing at the top of the ladder, when he saw Lex's frightened expression as the third man grabbed her leg.
"Come with us. We are the only ones who can help you," the other man spoke again and leaned over the balustrade, offering her his hand to help her up.
"Thank you for caring, but I am very much capable of helping myself," Lex spat out ironically, this time looking self-confident and courageous.
In one swift move, she turned halfway around, one foot on the ladder and the other still in the pursuer's grasp, and took out the weapon that she had attached to her backpack. It all happened too fast for Lex to understand how exactly she had managed to make the weapon extend to an almost 5 feet long spear, which she used to smack her pursuer across the face; but when her pursuer was lying unconscious on the ground with a deep cut on one cheek, that was not really important. Another thing that passed even faster was a bullet that brushed past her right ear the moment she had hit the man with the spear.
"No. We need her alive for now," one of the two men informed the one who had fired at her, his plain tone denoting no signs that he cared whether she lived or died; he spoke as if referring to a test subject and not at all to a human being.
The "alive for now" part didn't sound very appealing to Lex and she knew she had to get as far away as possible from those people. Acting on the spur of the moment, Lex totally bypassed the possibility of actual climbing down the ladder, and she jumped, landing on a large dumpster, overfilled with plastic, garbage bags all of them – luckily for her– being well sealed.
She quickly got out from there, the 5 feet spear still in her right hand, intending to head towards the street, but she was surprised to see that the man she had rendered unconscious was nowhere to be found.
At the moment, Lex didn't exactly care what had happened to him, her only concern being to get to the street as soon as possible. She immediately started walking towards the exit of the back-alley she was currently in, when she heard a noise that made her stop and hold the weapon firmly with both hands in front of her chest, ready to use it if necessary. She felt she had developed a stronger power of concentration and she was now almost always attentive as not to be taken by surprise. The pyramid experience had definitely played a great part in awakening the warrior spirit within her, and now, more than ever, she was grateful for it, because the moment she stopped, the man she had hit earlier appeared in front of her from behind a corner, aiming a large pistol at her.
"Drop the weapon," he ordered the very moment he appeared in front of her. The fresh wound on his cheek didn't seem to bother him in the least and to Lex, he looked more like a robot than a man. Nonetheless, she didn't ponder too much on that and acting just as quickly, like out of a defense mechanism, she hit his hand with the spear, making him drop the pistol. Afterwards, she tried to hit him as well, but he managed to grab the spear, without touching the edge of the blade and cutting himself.
In a frantic desire to escape, Lex acted faster and with more agility than she thought she could, and kicked the man in the stomach. She fiercely pulled the weapon from his hands and turned to run away, when the man sprung forwards from where he had landed and grabbed one of her legs, just like he had done before, pulling her backwards. This time Lex wasn't as tolerant as before and stroke one tip of the spear into his wrist.
"Ahhhh ……, damn you bitch!" he cursed, before letting out a cry of pain. This, and the stream of blood that started to flow from the wound proved to Lex that he was human after all.
However, at the present time, Lex couldn't be anything but indifferent to this man's suffering. Leaving him behind, she started running along a side-alley without looking back; she stopped only when she realized that the path she had chosen took her only further from the main street. She thought of going back but then quickly changed her mind when she saw the wounded man advancing towards her with his pistol pointed at her and ready to fire.
He ran after her, cursing her under his breath for the damage and great pain she had caused him. Some bullets were fired in her direction, but fortunately neither of them hit her as she took a corner that very moment. They ran in circles through the winding neighborhood for about ten minutes, Lex taking a new path every time but never being fortunate enough to escape into the busy street. She felt as though she was back in the pyramid.
Finally, she found herself back from where she had started and immediately recognized the alley she usually took to reach the main street. She started running towards the street when another man blocked her way. Although he was simply dressed, with a pair of blue jeans, a dark T-shirt and jacket, not in a smart suit like the other men who were after her, Lex saw that he had the same robot-like expression. His face showed no trace of emotion, most likely he didn't even blink, but stared coldly in the direction he was walking.
He was coming straight towards Lex, but by the look on his face she couldn't tell if he was looking at her or through her, as if she was not even there. At the time being, Lex thought it best not to cross paths with him. She wanted to go back, but the man she had been running from was a few feet behind her, aiming his gun in her direction. He didn't seem to be bothered by the presence of the other man, but it didn't look like they were part of the same team either. Lex turned again to the other man, desperately hoping he would be her salvation, only to see him doing some fast and starnge movements with his hands, as if he was preparing something between his palms. Although he was at a relatively big distance from her, Lex had the impression that in a fraction of a second, something had really appeared in his hands. She had no time for further examinations as he threw that thing, whatever it was, towards her. She threw herself to the ground and the object, that to her amazement she recognized to be a large icicle, impaled itself into the other man's throat, killing him on the spot.
The man who had thrown the icicle approached Lex and she quickly got up, preparing her weapon to use it in her defense if necessary. The man however did not even seem to care that she was ready to fight him off.
"Alexa Woods?" he asked sounding like someone who does not like to waste any time with small talk.
"You should know who I am, since you wanted to kill me."
"It would have passed by you anyway," he answered coldly and started to walk back the way he came. "Follow me!"
"How do I know you're not with them?"
"I was sent by orders of Colonel Warrington to bring you to the meeting point. Now follow me."
He continued walking in the same direction and after thinking things over for a few seconds Lex made up her mind and followed him. When they were a block away from reaching the main street, the man took a left and Lex did the same although she didn't understand his move until they reached his car, parked not far away. They both got in and the man drove away joining the traffic of the main street. After a few uncomfortable moments of silence, Lex was the first one to speak.
"So …… since you know my name, can I know yours?"
"Zero," the man answered promptly without taking his eyes of the road.
"Zero?" she arched an eyebrow and starred in surprise for a moment.
"Yes."
"Ok …… so, how did you kill that guy?"
"I threw an icicle at his neck."
"Yes, I saw that, but how did you do that? How can you carry icicles around in the middle of summer?"
"I don't carry them, I create them."
"With what?"
"My hands."
"You mean, just like that, out of thin air?"
"Yes."
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know, I was borne with it."
Amazed as she was, Lex thought it best not to make any further comments and simply sat quietly in her sit, recalling everything that had happened to her that day and hoping she would discover a logical explanation for this man's special ability, so to say, if indeed he could do what he claimed and the entire thing had not been just some charade. Even encountering an extraterrestrial civilization and teaming up with a being from another world seemed more logical.
As they were driving to their destination, Lex would glance from time to time to the man next to her. He had regular cut, short, dark hair, brown eyes and light skin which Lex thought was almost icy pale whenever she remembered the icicle incident. His brows had a shape that made him look as if he was frowning all the time and Lex thought it matched his personality, never talking, never smiling, acting almost mechanically as if his sole purpose in life was carrying out orders.
At the end of a half an hour's trip they met with Lara and Leah in front of the hangar where a small, personal aircraft awaited them. As soon as she got out of the car Lex was greeted by Leah who informed her that the trip had been canceled. Before she could ask any questions, she saw Lara coming towards her after having just ended a phone call.
"What's wrong?" Lex was worried by Lara's severe look.
"There was an alien queen that you killed, was it not?"
"Yes it was," she answered rapidly unsure of where it was all going.
"Was it dead before it fell into the abyss?"
"No, but the fall would have surely killed it, right?" the question uttered with a slight touch of fear in her voice was one for which Lex expected a positive reply that would set her heart at ease.
"At this point that is of no importance."
"What do you mean?"
"The creature is no longer there and if my assumptions are correct regarding those who took it, dead or alive, the alien now represents a great threat to this planet."
