Work. Birthday. Work. Computer upgrades. More work. Alien: Isolation, yay! Work-work-work.
So, I am really busy with work which went freaking insane because of holidays - 23d of January and coming 8th of March. I decided to actually finish this chapter as it is, so the next one would focus on...well, you will see.
Someone asked me about "lemons". I have a weird association with Will Sasso's lemons vines. They are weird, but to me are funny in a way. But yeah, I know what is it, and I don't understand why you would call sex scene a "lemon". Even "screwing" is more accurate than "lemon", really. But that's all I will say about it right now, because I am not the person who gives away everything - I want build up instead.
I have no idea how long it would take for another chapter to come out. Really. And, again, typos, my worst enemy, emerged from the abyss, but I already stated - no beta untill I finish this one.
I have ideas for other fic's, and the "Ascension" story already have grew larger inside my mind. If people show interest, there will be a second volume, which I am planning to make darker and a bit more complicated story- and character-wise. But let's see who is gonna survive this mess first.
As usual, enjoy.
- How's your leg? - Dmitri looked at his motion sensor, checking the area around them.
- Manageable, - grunted Carl, following fireteam. He already took painkillers, but still he couldn't move as fast as he wanted, and he tried his best to not slow marines down, - If we reach the reactor area, I can probable do something about the communication inside the facility.
- That's good, but don't give promises you can't fulfill, - Dmitri suddenly frowned, looking at the beeping motion sensor. He pulled his fist up in the air, commanding marines to stop, - How far is reactor?
- Turn to the right, and we should see the gates.
- Run.
All marines rushed to the right turn of big corridor, and Carl noticed how fast motion sensor was beeping now. He looked at it just for a second, but the signatures were everywhere around them, covering tracker's screen near completely. Carl tried not to think about his chances of survival, he tried just to run with marines to the end of the corridor, when suddenly a floor grate right in front of him suddenly opened, revealing big black hand with sharp claws, that tried to reach him. He fell right on his ass and tried to put as much distance between him and this black hand, when Dmitri with his fireteam turned around and opened fire at the hand, aiming mostly at it's owner under the grate – if they opened fire at hand itself, Carl could probably be coated by acid. When hand suddenly dropped dead, Carl gathered himself and continued running with marines towards the big giant gates in front of them. They, of course, were closed, but it didn't matter since marine had some very neat hacking device.
- Saito – gates, Shawn – flare to the end of the corridor and watch it, Kozlov – flare inside this vent and guard it, - Dmitri commanded, reaching his pouch with one hand and activating the flare, dropping it just nearby their position, - Carl, throw the flare down the grate and watch it.
As Carl activated flare and pushed it through the floor grate, he saw xenomorphs right under them, waiting for something. As soon as they were exposed to the light, they quickly retreated and disappeared in the dark, crawling through vents and along the pipes.
- Smart assholes, - Dmitri wiped sweat from his forehead, holding his rifle steady and looking at still beeping motion tracker, - They not approaching us for now.
- They know when they are exposed to attack, - Carl shivered, realizing how actually smart xenomorphs were. He also realized that his rifle wasn't ready, and he clicked safety switch, getting on his knee and watching through the grates.
- How the fuck we supposed to rendezvous with other marines? - whispered Kozlov, who was watching the vent near him, - We fucking cut off, the only thing that keeps fuckers away – it's opened space.
- So use this fucking knowledge, Kozlov, - replied Saito, who was nervously tapping on small keyboard, trying to hack the door.
- I mean...OH FUCK! - Carl hear rifle firing, and he glanced over to see Kozlov firing inside the vent, - I-it took the fucking flare!
- Throw another one, now keep it fucking closer this time, - Dmitri took several shots inside the corridor, - Carl, watch the grates. Saito, how long?
- Not long...OK, I think I got it.
- Kozlov, on my mark throw the grenade inside vent, timer for fifteen seconds. Shawn, lay the suppressing fire with me, Saito, take the point with Carl and be ready to close the gates. On three...three!
As door opened, Carl and Saito got inside the gates and quickly observed the room for hostiles, but Carl knew it would be a safe place since this room was a conduit between reactor area and main corridors, and it was isolated by several layers of metal and anti-radiation compounds. Of course the main core was also shielded, and they won't have to worry about radiation, at least for now...meanwhile, Shawn and Dmitri were laying suppressing fire, and they were warned by Kozlov who threw the grenade inside the vent. As Carl looked back at the corridor, he saw many black shadows crawling on the walls and ceiling towards them.
- Saito, the gates!
As Dmitri said, Saito quickly typed something on his keyboard, closing the gates and moving to another gate panel. Dmitri quickly gathered marines in another formation, as they were now holding the other side of the room. Thee good news is that no vents were in this room, meaning that xenomorphs can't get inside. No grate floor, no double ceiling – xenos were trying to find way around, as they slashed at the door, but it was useless.
- Good thing they don't know how to hack doors, - Carl nervously looked at the gates, hearing how it was holding against constant xeno assault.
- They probably will find a way, but at least we have time, - nodded Dmitri, - Saito, how long?
- Almost ready, just give me a moment.
- When we inside, where we should head to, Carl?
- Across the corridor and to the left. There are control rooms, four of them, but I visited only the one on the left, - Carl closed his eyes, trying to remember if he was correct about that information, - Yeah, left one.
- OK, I got it.
- Let me check, - Dmitri took the motion sensor and watched it's display for several seconds before nodding, - Open it on three. Everyone, to the center...one, - Carl and Dmitri, along with other marines, quickly turned their rifles towards the door Saito just hacked, - In case of enemy contact, short controlled bursts. Two... Three!
As doors opened, a xenomorph claws showed up from the sides of gates along with their heads, trying to get inside the room. Carl didn't even had any time to react – he opened fire as long as he saw xenomorphs, trying to hold the rifle in his hands and compensate the recoil. Dmitri did a good call, because they were pretty far away from acid that was flowing everywhere and were less worried about ricochets. Carl didn't count how many xenomorphs they killed, but when they were done with shooting, they realized how bad the whole situation was – every xenomorph they killed near gates exploded with acid that was covering now whole hallway where they were supposed to run towards reactor area. But before anyone had time to notice their dire situation, Carl switched rifle to fire in semi-automatic mode and started to fire upon the ceiling. Dmitri was about to ask Carl why he was wasting ammo, but when the first ceiling part fell down, he quickly understood what engineer was doing – he was shooting at part of the ceiling to reveal large pipes, that were going all way down to the reactor area. Carl carefully moved towards the still boiling acid on the floor and shot several more segments down.
- It's power lines – they are sealed by several protective layers, and I tried not to breach them. They could carry our weight, but we better lose some before we start climbing, - he quickly returned back to Dmitri and pointed to the ceiling, - There's enough space to hold onto them, but someone must help us reach it.
- Shawn, you will do the lifting, - Dmitri quickly took off his backpack and threw it on the other side, arming himself with rifle and placing motion tracker on the floor, - Throw backpack and pouches over to the other side. Kozlov, you first, place the rope on this side and right over the door frame. Carl, you next, then Saito.
Carl only now noticed how suddenly xenomorphs stopped attacking the gates behind them. They probably were trying to get around, and probably those xenos were just a scouting party, which wasn't good – they had little to no time to sabotage the reactor core. Meanwhile, Shawn helped Kozlov to reach the power lines, who quickly hitched the rope on the pipe and started to move his hands slowly over the lines. The tricky part was about the door – Kozlov had to release one hand in order to grip the power line over the other side, since the door frame was in the way, and he had to release his hand again and quickly grab the power line, placing another rope on the other side. Carl wasn't so sure if he could do it, but Kozlov just showed everyone that this is possible. When Kozlov reached the other side, he took motion sensor from the backpack and placed it on the floor near him, watching the long corridor with gates opened on the other side, leading to reactor chamber.
- Clear.
- C'mon, Big C, - said Dmitri, who watched over the big gap. Some xenomorph bodies already went through the gap and disappeared down there, melting more stuff on their way down.
Carl placed the rifle over his shoulder – thanks to the special strap – and he started to climb over the rope. Those pipes were strong and sturdy, but Carl just couldn't stop thinking about him falling down to the gap. He started to move his hands over the pipes towards the door frame, when he heard a beeping from motion sensors, which nearly made his heart stop.
- Go, Carl, go, they still far away, - said Dmitri, looking over the monitor, - Twenty meters.
- Fuck them, - grunted Carl, getting to the rope and grabbing it, - They probably will reach us from this gap.
- Flare down there, - Dmitri commanded to Shawn, who quickly threw the flare inside the gap, - Carl, take a look, while flare still not eaten by acid.
- ...I guess it melted down to ventilation and maintenance shafts, - Carl swallowed, looking down from his position. His hands gripped the rope tighter, - Yeah, seems like it. They could rush from there.
- Is there any other way from reactor area? And keep moving.
- Plenty of escape routes, - Carl switched to moving, and he started to carefully move his hands over the pipes, - You want to blow this way, Dmitri?
- Pretty much, - he nodded to Saito when Carl dropped from the power lines, - Carl, get back-to-back with Kozlov and watch the gap, and don't forget the backpack...fifteen meters. Move, people! Saito, go! You will watch the gap too.
When Carl dropped near Kozlov, he quickly got to marine's back and quickly glanced over the ammo count, wiping his sweat from the forehead. He could swear, that his heart was about to explode from the constant pressure, and his arms were trembling a bit. Carl put his backpack and some pouches back on, looking at large gap in front of him. Saito was moving pretty fast, and soon enough he reached the other side, arming himself and pointing his rifle towards the gap. Next one was Shawn, since Dmitri decided be the last to cross the gap, covering crossing marines.
- ...ten meters, Shawn, move faster!
- I see them! - he yelled, looking down and raising his legs from the gap, trying to move as fast as he could, when suddenly a big black shadow jumped from the gap, surprising both Carl and Saito. They both opened fire, but they missed the target – the xenomorph was holding onto Saito, hissing with anger.
- Get this fucking thing off me, I am slipping!
- Don't open fire, acid will cover him too! - yelled Dmitri, who got lucky to not being shot by Carl and Saito.
- Shit! - xenomorph released one of Shawn's hands from the pipe, and now marine was holding by one hand only. Xeno hissed, gripping marine's other hand, clearly overpowering him. Shawn growled suddenly, - Well, fuck you too then! - he reached his waist with grenades, arming one and releasing his hand.
- Take cover!
The explosion shuddered walls and was loud enough to make Carl's ears ringing. He opened his eyes, swallowing nervously.
- ...fucking bastard, - nervously said Kozlov, looking at the mess of metal where Shawn fell.
- He closed the gap, - Dmitri said with empty voice, looking down the gap and throwing flare down, - Bought us time...we should keep moving. But first..., - Dmitri reached his bag and placed explosive on the wall near him.
- Back! Back! - shouted Wolbur, - Don't get too close to her! Shit! - one of the marines lost his leg due to Queen's bladed tail, and she moved in to rip the human in half right in front of everyone.
- Grace, find a way to retreat! Marines, lay suppressing fire! - Willis was focusing mostly on the xenomorphs that swarmed the whole place all of sudden. Since their bullets couldn't penetrate the Queen, that was advancing to them pretty fast, they must think of another way to hurt her. They lost the smartgunners, since Queen prioritized them when she landed and started the carnage.
- There is a way, through the ventilation!
- Broke it down! Marines, full retreat! - commanded Willis, moving with Grace inside the smaller corridor.
- ...give me some time, - Grace sensed the coming of xenomorphs, hissing loudly. With a quick motion of her tail, she grabbed a rifle from one of the dead marines and quickly disappeared, - Vent is nearby. I will join you shortly.
She made several jumps over the corridor, jumping from the walls and ceiling towards the coming xenomorphs. The acid would close the marine's way to the escape, so Grace had to act quickly. She jumped to the nearby corridor and hit the xenomorph with her shield-crest, making it fall from the wall. She pulled fallen xenomorph by it's tail towards her and smashed her fist into it's mouth, splattering acid and chitin all over the place. Looking over the corridor, that was just swarming with xenomorphs running over the walls and ceiling towards Grace, she reached Willis:
- I can't hold them for long, - Grace bent her knee in position to fire. Checking the ammo count, she pressed the rifle against her shoulder, making short bursts towards incoming xenomorphs. With her strength, recoil wasn't much of a problem, and she made every single burst count.
- You don't have to! - radio cracked on her neck with voice of Willis, - Keep firing and move backwards!
When rifle started to beep with a traitorous sound about spent ammo, Grace threw the weapon away and rolled back, turning around on all fours and running away from the xenomorphs. She can't fight them all, especially fight them alone, and praetorians were still dangerous foes for her. But it's not about praetorians she worried about.
The Queen was their problem. It wouldn't take her long to realize that they just distracting her from the real threat, which was Carl right now, since he was responsible for sabotage. And they must keep Queen busy...but how, if they are losing? With that thoughts Grace rushed from the corridor just to see a xenomorph grabbing marine by leg and pulling him out of the ventilation shaft. With a loud roar she charged into xenomorph, bumping into it and pressing xenomorph's head to the floor with her knee. She quickly grabbed the clawed xenomorph hand and released marine's leg from the tight grip. When marine went away from the struggling Grace and xenomorph, she tore her opponent's limbs before smashing the head with her knee.
- Grace! - as it turned out, it was Willis she just saved. He threw towards Grace his rifle, - Short controlled bursts, cover our retreat!
- We need to find a way to kill her. I can't challenge her alone, - grabbing M41A, she started to move backwards, firing from time to time towards the pursuing xenomorphs.
- Hey, Wolbur, got any ideas?
- Fuck if I know! - he yelled back at Willis. Grace heard rifle firing with a xenomorph screeching before Wolbur continued, - We need to recount everything we had left first!
- ...we need to drop here, - Grace suddenly stopped, pointing her thoughts towards Wolbur, - They waiting for us on the other side.
- Hold! - Wolbur shouted, raising his fist in the air and taking out his motion tracker, - Grace, you sure? I am not picking up anything.
- They out of range, and they will stay still undetected, - she sighed and kicked the vent access near her with one powerful strike of her leg, - We need to drop here.
- Everyone – dropping here! Move it!
Grace covered marines as they were dropping from the vent inside the large warehouse with lots of tall thick barrels, and when all of them dropped down, Willis asked Grace to stay inside the vent for a while. After some searching inside backpack and pouches, Willis handed Grace two strange discs with a numerical keyboard on them:
- It's plastic explosives, don't touch the keyboard yet, - Grace curiously tilt her head to the side, observing the discs in her hand, - Remove the safety cap on the other side and place them inside the vent from both sides on the ceiling, so we can cut xenomorphs from our position. When you place those, click this switch to arm, type "fifteen", click switch again and get the hell out of the vent. Got that?
- I am not human, but not stupid, - she returned Willis his rifle and dashed inside the vent, doing exactly what Willis asked her. She decided to place the first explosive as far away from the opened vent. Take safety cap off, place it on the wall, arm with the switch, type "fifteen" – meaning that she will have fifteen seconds to place another one. She did it in eight seconds, though. Dashing inside the opened vent, Grace waited for the explosion to pass before asking Willis, - What now?
- Wolbur, where are we?
- Waste storage, - Wolbur shrugged, holding strange device in his hand – a box with a fat retractable tube, - Found the Geiger counter nearby in emergency closet, but we lucky – nothing.
- So we are nearby reactor area?
- Yeah, - Wolbur pointed towards local area map with evacuation plan right next to it, - Shit isn't getting better.
- It isn't, - growled Willis with frustration in his voice, - She will come down here for us, and we don't have anything to stop her. What about comms?
- Too much interference, we can't contact anyone right now, - Wolbur spat on the floor with frustration, - I hope Carl will figure this shit out...because I have a plan.
- SADAR her ass? - smirked Willis.
- SADAR her ass, - nodded Wolbur, - We just need to preoccupy her a little. When Carl will re-establish communications, we gonna ask Grizzly to take a trip to our dropship and get heavy armaments. But we need to make that bitch follow us into some area where we can fight her.
- ...egg chambers, - suddenly said Grace towards Wolbur, - Where her children lie dormant. She placed those chambers right under the reactor, I can smell them now. If we destroy the egg chambers, the rage could probably cloud her judgment.
- So, Princess have a plan about venturing down and destroying so called egg chambers. This can piss the Queen royally.
- ...god damn your pun, Wolbur, - Willis giggled a bit, along with some marines, - OK, we going down, crashing the shit on our way, getting her pissed and hoping that we will be able to call Grizzly and survive, while she travels back and forth. Sounds like a good plan.
- The only plan, Willis. OK, marines, let's move!
The reactor area, that was the size of a football field, held four control towers with lots of big pipes coming from nearly everywhere towards the giant dome, that housed the complex machinery and where main reaction was taking place. Marines and Carl found the area map and started to plan their next move:
- OK, here's the plan – while I am turning emergency shutdown off, you need to place the explosives on those main coolant pipes – they are dark-blue and marked with big "MCP" letters, - Carl pointed his finger towards map area, - We still need auxiliary coolant pipes to buy us some time, and that's what they do – in case of possible reactor meltdown, they can only slow down the process. The system also will try to shut down the reactor, but as I said, I will turn it off, but we need to do it from all four control towers, - Carl pointed his finger to the window, where marines could see other control towers in the corners of this giant room, - I'll also will try to do something with communications.
- How much time we will have when we blow up the coolant? - asked Dmitri, looking over the area map.
- If I close the air ducts, it will be six-eight hours, ten tops, - Carl wiped sweat from his forehead, - The excessive air pressure along with rising temperature will cause a meltdown for sure.
- So, we placing explosives on main coolant pipes, reach the control towers, shutting emergency shutdown and blowing the pipes, - summarized Dmitri, rubbing his chin, - Carl, you stay here and solve the communications, you will coordinate us. We split in two groups, so we can cover more ground - Kozlov with me, Saito - you are to this tower nearby. We need to move fast – xenos already on us, and it's matter of time when they will find a way here...Carl, take this motion sensor and place it behind you, so xenos won't flank you.
When all marines left, Carl suddenly felt, how uneasy it was without them around. The sudden quite felt heavy and tense, and Carl tried to compensate it with working on communication problem. The main reason why they didn't have any communication with surface levels was simple – layers and layers of protective anti-radiation shielding which blocked radio-signals. Carl wasn't sure, why someone would turn this off, but after some time he understood that it was actually damaged or even cut off. Of course, there were auxiliary systems, Carl just needed to reroute the power to them and activate the transmitters on needed frequency. When he got system working, he heard, how bad things were for marines:
- Jesus fuck, watch the acid! Watch the acid!
- They on top of us, shake them!
- Fuck, they just keep coming!
- Grace, get down!
- "Delta", can you hear me? Communications are restored, - Carl quickly grabbed the headphone set, turning microphone on and returning to dig into control panel.
- Good fucking news, Carl! - it was Wolbur, who was firing constantly, - Dmitri, you there?
- Yes, sir, - Dmitri was also firing at something, judging by xenomorphs screeching in distance. Carl could saw the flashes of pulse rifles in the distance with marines shoulder lamps, - We encountered hostiles, but we repelling them.
- How much time you need to sabotage the reactor?...Willis, six!...nice shot.
- Half-hour, probably.
- I suggest you do it as quickly as possible. Grizzly? Can you hear me?
- They fucking want my APC! - Carl heard Grizzly growling along with APC's engine working. She was probably on the run, - I can't even close the distance, they keep me away from the atmos!
- Scratch that. Get to the dropship, I will instruct you later.
- Roger that, getting to dropship.
- Steiner?
- Here. Grizzly was cut off, but we placed turrets in right directions, - by the sounds of it, Steiner was fighting too along with other marines, - Running low on ammo, though, we won't be able to hold them forever.
- Hold as much as you can, that's an order. Murray?
- Holding! - she was yelling, since the xenomorphs screeching was too loud, - Not sure for how long!
- Uni, Rynder?
- We lost some marines, those fuckers...get the fuck out! - Carl heard an explosion from grenade along with xenomorphs yells of pain, - They pressing us good!
- Continue to hold, Grizzly?
- Here, approaching dropship.
- Get all heavy toys you can load into APC, and some ammo too. We are will proceed with...
Suddenly Carl heard very loud screech. It was the same he heard in the complex when he was repairing reactor - full of pure anger and power, that made him shiver again. What was worse, he heard it not only in the comms - that screech was vibrating from the pipes nearby.
- ...Oh, it worked. We pissed her majesty...Grizzly, get those supplies ASAP! - Willis yelled over the radio, firing constantly at something, - Wolbur, what next?
- Grizlly, you have to break through the xenomorphs from the main entrance!...Willis, get down! - a short pulse rifle firing was heard, and after a pause Wolbur continued, - Grizzly, blast your way through to reactor loading area - you will see the freaking arrows pointing you - and pick every marine on your way there!
- On it.
It was a living hell, judging by marines chatter on the comms. Carl was helping Dmitri with navigating and planting explosives in right places. The motion sensor behind Carl was beeping from time to time, but xenomorphs were targeting primarily marines, popping out of the air ducts and dropping from the ceiling to them. Some shots were damaging equipment and other pipes, but they could care less about it since entire operation was about sabotage. Carl wasn't sure if they could actually escape or pull this one off at all, but they had no other choice left.
Dmitri was leaving one marine per tower so they could turn off the emergency shutdown, and it was dangerous - Saito already was in tower, along with Kozlov, and now Dmitri was alone, running against xenomorphs to secure place. Eventually he made it inside, as Carl sighed with relief when he heard his voice:
- I am in. Carl, instruction.
- OK, face the control panel. On your left there will be a glass switch, smash the glass and place hand on the switch.
- Done, - all marines in towers reported almost in unison.
- On three turn the switch to the right. Three! - Carl turned the switch, and he saw the first red light appearing under control panel, - Good, that's first step. Now, there is a second switch, right under the control panel, turn to the right on three...three! - Carl reached under the control panel and turned the switch to another direction, watching second red light appearing, - Last one. Place your hand on the first switch and turn it now to the right and hold for fifteen seconds. On three...three!
- I hear them crawling nearby, - nervously whispered Saito. Carl looked over to see the tower where Saito was, and he nearly had a heart attack - the xenomorphs were crawling all over the control towers, including Carl's one.
- There's a button on the right side of the control panel, it has "ES" letter over it, press it! - he already did that, making several protective layers close the windows, - Emergency shutters will buy us time.
- I still can hear them...damn it, how long?
- I don't know, the system doesn't want to respond, - Carl growled, looking at one light indicator that was still dead, - Hold the switch.
- Fuck! - Carl heard Saito swearing and firing his pistol, - They came to my tower and opened the fucking doors!
- Hold the switch!
- Trying to! - Carl heard several more shots, and after five long seconds a third final light indicator turned red.
- OK, we turned emergency shutdown off, now blow the pipes!
- Fuckers! Stay still you as..., - Saito suddenly yelled very loud, making Carl shiver again. Saito was yelling for a long time, until Carl heard strange high-pitched sound along with Saito's muffled screams. When Carl realized that he was listening to the silence instead of marines, he was about to call them when he heard pneumatic door opening. His instincts told him to hide, and as he covered behind the control panel, he turned his speakers off to not reveal his position. In the silence he heard very familiar low hissing and taps of claws on the metal floor, revealing the xenomorph presence inside his room. What make the situation worse, is that Carl heard another alien, but second one wasn't moving at all, so Carl had to take a little peek to see one xenomorph standing in the door frame and another one was slowly moving around.
He can't take them head on, he can't take them at all. The only way out was too insane to even think about it...but did he had any choices left? Probably not. Carl tried to breath as quietly as he could when he started to slowly reaching from his cover to control panel, looking for emergency shutters button. The xenomorphs, luckily for him, were busy with opening personal lockers, so Carl risked a lot by moving out of cover even more to see the needed button. When Carl pressed it, he knew that it would take three or even five seconds to lift the shutters again, exposing the windows, and those shutters would made insane noise, alerting the xenomorphs. The only way to hold a bit more was to fire blindly in xenomorphs direction, trying to make them fall back inside corridor and not kill them in process - their acid could do a lot of damage to the machinery and wires in control tower.
When shutters servomotors started to work, both xenomorphs turned their domes heads towards Carl, who was just a meter away from the windows, holding M41A in both his hands. Just like before, short controlled bursts, he started to pin down xenomorphs, making them retreat inside the corridor with a hiss of annoyance. Now it was very dangerous situation - Carl turned his back to xenomorphs, hiding behind the control panel and closed his eyes, firing at window. The glass exploded with millions of pieces, scratching Carl's clothes and exposed skin everywhere, but he had to move fast. Carl quickly got up, holding rifle in both his hands, and dashed towards blown up window, dropping down...
...or he thought so. One xenomorph actually grabbed him by the backpack with his long lithe hand, hissing dangerously and trying to pull him back. Carl let out a scream of surprise when he realized the whole situation as he desperately opened all straps that hold him to the backpack. When last strap was opened, Carl continued to fall down, aiming at large coolant pipe, bending his knees in preparation for landing. When his knees touched the pipe, he suddenly slipped and was forced to fell from the pipe itself, landing on his back on the metal floor. Carl let out another scream when he landed, since he hurt his injured leg and landed too rough - his vision was blurred and obscured, his head was weighting a ton, and all his back was hot from the pain. He saw xenomorophs silhouettes crawling over the control tower, and he couldn't even get up in order to escape them.
Suddenly he saw another shadow over other xenomorphs, standing on the control tower's roof, but this one looked very familiar. The shadow dropped down, pinning down both xenomorphs to the ground and just smashing their skulls into the metal floor. Carl tried to reach his rifle with shaking hands, but it dropped too far away from him.
- What are you doing?
- G-Grace? - Carl asked hoarsely, trying to focus his vision on her. She quickly dashed to him, getting Carl on his feet.
- No, Mother Theresa, - she replied irritably, helping Carl to move, but after a while she decided to just carry him on her hands, running and jumping fast, - Dmitri told me that you were in danger, and I tried my best to come...how he said it? ASAP?
- As soon as possible, ASAP, - Carl wasn't sure that he like being carrying like a baby, which Grace of course sensed:
- You don't have a choice right now. We have to move fast, since we really upset the Queen.
- How?
- We just destroyed all her future children.
- ...we fucked.
- Grizzly, that red haired woman, will come soon to pick us up, we just have to wait for her - many marines that were holding our...escape corridor are pushed right now by enraged Hive. I can sense it, and it's actually very scary, - Grace slided under the large pipe while still holding Carl in her grasp, - The Queen is enraged especially, and she want to hunt us down. I guess she's trying to locate me, and it's a matter of time when she finds me.
- Why she wants you?
- It was my idea in a first place, - she suddenly smiled, showing her white-ish teeth in a large grin on her face, - And my execution. Just think about it from her position - an abomination leads humans inside her very nesting grounds and helps in destroying her Hive's future. I would be also...pissed off?...
- Yeah, pissed off, - nodded Carl, already seeing much better. He saw that Grace was approaching marines in the distance, that were waving to hybrid.
When Grace finally reached marines, she carefully dropped down Carl on his feet and helped him standing, while Carl finally looked at remaining marines. From Dmitri's squad, only Dmitri himself and Kozlov were alive, and they looked like hell. There were also Wolbur and Willis, with just two marines left in their joint squads.
- OK, we got Carl. Grace, any signs of Saito? - asked Dmitri her, only to see hybrid shaking her head in negative response, - Blyat'! - he suddenly yelled, kicking nearby pipe with his foot.
- Volkov, we need to move! - reminded Wolbur, who turned Dmitri by his shoulders in order to face, - You placed all explosives, right?...right?!
- Yes, all explosives are in position, - Dmitri nodded, slowly coming to his senses. Wolbur nodded and released Dmitri, who asked Carl, - Air ducts?
- They were closed.
- Now let's get the fuck outta here! - yelled Wolbur, waving in direction of nearby gates, - We have to make a big roundabout in order to meet Grizzly, since xenomorphs are swarming nearby, so move your asses! Dmitri, blow the explosives as soon as we outside possible blast radius!
They tried to move fast through the loading area, where all waste products and repair components were located. It was large enough to fit several APC's, and the roads inside the atmospheric processor were large, leaving xenomorphs less places to hide or attack from unnoticed. The coolant pipes were blown up minutes ago, as marines along with Carl and Grace proceeded to extraction zone. Occasionally some xenomorphs tried to show up, only to be met with pulse rifles.
- Move it, move it! - yelled Wolbur at marines, - Grizzly, where the fuck is APC?
- They trying to block our passage! I am trying to find another ways around, it won't take long!
- Get that APC to extra!...
Suddenly the floor under Wolbur and Willis exploded, making them flew away and hit nearby walls. A large clawed hand reached from the breach, then another one, and soon Carl was looking at monstrosity that emerged from below.
It was much larger, than praetorian they met before - at least six meters tall, with a large and lethally looking tail and a shield-crest similar to Grace's one with five points at the end of it. Not only this xenomorph had two large clawed hands, it had also two smaller ones for some reason. The creature slowly emerged, blocking their path to escape, and let out a low hiss that make Carl's blood froze.
- ...when I talked about a Queen, I forgot that she was no longer a usual Queen, - suddenly Carl heard voice of Emmerich. He forgot he still had working camera on him, as there were camera's on other marines, - It's an advanced Queen type our teams called Empress.
- And let me guess - you used Empress's DNA to make Grace? - Carl started to slowly back up from the Empress, that was looking alternately at marines.
- Correct.
- Carl, go. I am going to distract her for a while, - Grace suddenly jumped on the ceiling and started to crawl towards the Empress.
- Back! Back! - Willis helped Wolbur to got up and started to retreat from Empress along with other marines, - Our rifles are useless against it!
But it was too late. With one motion of her tail, Empress just smashed Grace from the ceiling and threw her into the wall, and with another one she split Kozlov in half. Carl suddenly felt a strong hand on his shoulder dragging him somewhere - it was Dmitri, who was running towards the one of the many inner warehouses. As he dragged Carl inside, Dmitri looked from his cover to see Empress pursuing Willis and Wolbur, that were also running towards warehouse. The other two marines that were with them were already dead - one was ripped in half, and another one was in Empress's secondary arms. That marine was creaming and trying to wiggle in xenomorphs hands, but she hold him tightly for some reason.
- She wants us to come out and save him, so she can end us in the open, - Dmitri swallowed, looking at the scene, - Suka...
- Dmitri, I had an idea.
- What kind of? - he turned his gaze to Carl only to see what young man was pointing at, - ...can you pilot this?
- Of course I can. I am going to stall her until Grizzly's arrival. I just need a help with it.
Empress soon got bored from the situation - the prey wasn't coming out at all, and she lowered her head towards the marine, slowly opening her large maw. With a quick motion, a secondary jaw shoot towards the poor marine's head, obliterating it in the process. With a blood on her claws and chitin, the Empress threw corpse along the corridor when she suddenly felt a presence behind her. It was her - the abomination, one of the many, yet the only who survived. She was not injured and looking for a fight against her...which was useless. Hybrid dashed towards her, crawling fast on the floor, but Empress stood motionless, only with her tail coiled behind. When hybrid jumped to the left, trying to flank Empress, the xenomorph's coiled tail suddenly shoot towards the hybrid. It didn't killed the abomination, but tail made a long wound on her leg, stopping hybrid's movement. With a hiss of satisfaction, Empress pressed her clawed foot on the hybrid, pinning her down to the floor and slowly pressing her claws inside her spine, making hybrid scream in agony - before she ends her life, she had to show her who is superior among them.
But she heard strange noises that got Empress's attention. She turned her head towards the noises and saw a big shadow coming from inside the large warehouse. Soon she source of noises was revealed, making Empress hiss in annoyance and incomprehension.
And Carl could understand why. With help of Dmitri he got inside the specially designed powerloader - it was enclosed version with lead plating against radiation and small observing window made out of transparent material that was used on ships and space stations. He also had his own oxygen supply for several hours, but he didn't need oxygen right now - he needed to draw attention from Grace to him. Swallowing nervously, Carl started to makes steps inside the powerloader towards the Empress, and when he was just several meter away from her, he activated the speakers and to his own surprise yelled with a sudden anger:
- Get away from her, you bitch!
The Empress released Grace and hissed towards Carl, taking slow steps towards him - which was good, since he challenged her and she actually accepted it. But right now he need to make sure that marines would escape along with Grace:
- Pick Grace up, I will stall her, - said Carl on the radio, closing external dynamics. He started to slowly back away from the Empress, making her follow him away from marines.
- Carl, don't you dare to fucking die, - Carl saw Willis and Wolbur carrying Grace away from the fight, - We will come back for you, just hold on.
- I will try, - said young engineer with a clear fear in his voice, watching Empress charging him with her claws extending towards the powerloader.
