Chapter 9: Crossing the Line
After James Miller had left, Cass looked at Syn and shook her head, not knowing what to say to the alien warrior. Since meeting him her life had been turned upside down. She had found and then lied to one of her best friends, had a basic type of brain surgery performed on her, and now she had to deal with more than she had ever thought. The ancient Chinese proverb 'May you lead an interesting life' came to mind, and although it was too late to say it, she wanted to say, 'who wants an interesting life?'
A low rumbling sound shook Cassandra out of her reverie, something she had been thoroughly enjoying lately. She glanced over at her unlikely companion. The alien hunter was laughing a bit about something he saw on the video screen. He chuckled deeply then, without warning, turned to Cass and spoke, his English improving by the minute.
"Plan we must, for what to do next. But first, food… No good planning happens with empty stomach…"
Cass nodded in silent response. It was too early for her to feel like talking, just like old times. She felt so free. There really was no way to describe the suffocating quality of being an observer in your own body. All of her personal preferences and quirks had been shoved aside in favor of the programming. Not three days ago she wouldn't have been able to decide for herself whether to answer audibly or not. It was the small things she missed the most. Getting up from the floor, she yawned and stretched her lithe body. Gathering some clothes, she stepped into the bathroom to wash and dress. A few minutes later, she dug out a fresh towel from her wall locker.
"Syn, do you want to get cleaned up while I go get us something to eat?"
He nodded, his eyes still on two very fat dark-skinned human women who were popping out of their too tight clothing as they fought with chairs over a male who was heavier than the two put together. Finally pulling himself away, he followed her into the bathroom. She showed him how to use the hot and cold settings on the small shower while he stood inside; he filled the space to near capacity, but was able to use it. Not particularly wanting to see him naked, albeit curious, she closed the door. It seemed like the Yautja male didn't seem to mind, so she left him to it. She checked herself over in a small mirror, glad to see that no blood had caked in her hair. Cass pulled on a pair of running shoes and then stepped out into the main corridor.
Walking briskly, she made her way to one of the main cafeterias and grabbed a tray. Not knowing what Syn might like to eat, Cass piled on different types of food, like before. Just as she had finished, she heard the room grow quiet. The small talk that one always heard, people and soldiers conversing, the occasional outburst of laughter or raised voice, died away. She already knew what to expect and turned to see squad four, Squad Four, a heavy armored unit of marines marching over to where she stood. Her jaw twitched, but she remained still. To anyone unaware of her abilities, it would seem they were taking ridiculous precautions to apprehend her. If she decided she didn't particularly want to go along with them, it wouldn't nearly be enough.
"Gene-Tech Two, I am to escort you to General Andrews. If you try anything I have permission to shoot. Do you understand?" the Captain stated, his hard eyes watching her for any signs of resistance.
"Sir, I understand." she replied submissively, knowing she could have easily disabled most of them without copping a bullet.
The party then walked quickly out of the room, Cass sandwiched in the middle. She walked silently, her thoughts whirling… What was going on? What about James…? More importantly, what about Syn…? Keeping her face composed and neutral looking, she and her escort made their way through the corridors to the General's office. The Captain that had first confronted her stepped up to her as the rest came to a halt.
"If you will follow me…"
Doing as instructed, Cass followed, noticing absently that the General's liaison was not at his desk. The Captain knocked, then entered the office, Cassandra, carrying her tray of food behind him. The first thing she saw was Fury standing behind the General, his red eye seeming to look right into her. Cass took a deep breath, not knowing what could happen, but thinking up ways to deal with the situation regardless. The General was reading something when she was led in. He looked up at her, then back at what he was reading.
"Have a seat, soldier." he mumbled.
The plan that came to her was simple, stupid yet brilliant in its simplicity. She sat down still holding the tray of food, which was rapidly cooling. She waited for a moment or two and then stood bolt upright, at attention.
"Gene-Tech Two reporting for duty, sir!"
General Andrews looked up, annoyed by what she said.
"Cassandra, I told you to sit down!"
"Sir, I have apparently brought you your breakfast, sir! Where would you like it, sir?"
"I did not ask you to bring me breakfast! Now sit down!" Andrews' face clouded, his eyebrows wrinkled as he pursed his lips into a thin line.
Cass smirked to herself, then did as he asked. The General turned away to get a folder, and as he did so, she stood up again, at attention.
"Gene-Tech Two reporting for duty, sir!"
When he looked up at her, he had surprise and annoyance written all over his face.
"Gene-Tech Two, do you have a problem? I have told you to sit down. Now sit!"
Cass did as she was told, but she was already planning her next move. Andrews took a deep breath and then spoke.
"What do you know of the technician James Miller?"
"Sir, there is a technician by that name on the employment records of the base. He was working on several programs that have to do with the X-tech and the Gene-Tech programs."
The answer was so general and vague that it was bound to enrage. Andrews clenched his teeth.
"Yes, I know that. Anyone with a high enough security clearance would know that. You do remember that he is the one that found the bugs in your programming and the viruses that were planted?"
"Sir, I am on a diagnostic loop and do not have access to that information."
He sighed and turned from her. Just as he left her line of sight, she stood up again. Standing at attention, she let her tray of now cold food tilt at an odd angle in her hands.
"Reporting for duty, sir!"
General Andrews whirled in his chair, his face livid.
"What is your problem, soldier? Can't you follow orders? I have told you more than once to sit down. Now Sit!"
"Sir, yes sir!"
She sat with a crisp movement, keeping her face blank, but laughing inside. Andrews cleared his throat, but his apparent act to keep calm was more than obvious.
"Technician Miller was found to have classified information that he should not have had access to. He was apprehended by Sergeant Fury as he tried to escape this facility. As you know, there are strict penalties to be paid for treason…" The General actually paused for a moment to let it sink in, though Cassandra's face remained blank. "He had put you into a diagnostic loop to keep anything untoward from happening in the C.B.A.U. Now, I need you to tell me what went on between you two. Did he say or do anything that you found to be odd or out of the ordinary?"
Fury had killed James…? Cass sat frozen in her seat. She had to use all of her will to keep her face blank as shock rolled through her body. She sat so still that Andrews swiveled to look at Fury, who had said nothing. As he turned, she knew she would have to play her final cards.
She stood up again, at attention.
"Gene-Tech, Cassandra Tripp reporting for duty, sir!"
The anger on his face etched deep lines across his forehead, which was soon marred when he realized what she had called herself. He turned to the marine Captain.
"Wait outside please Captain…"
"Sir." the soldier nodded in response.
Getting out of his chair, Andrews walked right up to Cassandra. Fury cleared his throat, placing a hand on the Generals shoulder.
"Close proximity to Tech-Two should be avoided until such a time as she is retrained or deceased."
Both Cassandra and the General were shocked. The behavior was totally out of character for Tech-One; he never gave a shit about anyone before. Andrews nodded, somewhat gratefully, and took a step back, but still glaring at Cassandra.
"How do you know that name soldier…?"
"Sir, that is this unit's previous designation, Sir."
"Do you have a programming glitch?" He looked at Fury. "Can you check her out through your link with C.B.A.U?"
Fury nodded and bowed his head as he tried to connect via his neural net, as per usual. Although this time, he could find nothing of her link and tried to reach into the void to see if there was any connection at all.
"Sir, there is no existing connectivity with Tech Two." he finally said.
"I want you to run up a diagnostic and then report to a technician to have yourself taken off the diagnostic loop." said General Andrews, shaking his head as he spoke to Cass.
Grinning inside her head, the female Gene-Tech played her last card.
"Sir, you do not have authorization to order me off the diagnostic loop. I cannot comply. I cannot run a diagnostic. You are not authorized to order a self-diagnostic."
His eyes grew round, and he started to turn red.
"WHAT? What do you mean I do not have the authorization? I am the Commanding Officer of this facility! You have reported to me and have followed every order I have given you."
He started to repeat himself, his anger growing every moment. Cass stood there taking the barrage of words until the General sputtered to a stop, his eyes bulging slightly.
"Gene-Tech, you will comply by my orders."
"Gene-Tech Two reporting for duty, sir." She saluted him, allowing the tray to crash to the floor.
"God Dammit…! Get this defective piece of shit out of my office. Take her to her quarters and tri-lock it from the outside." he growled, pointing a shaking finger at her.
Fury stepped away from the General and over towards her. He moved to her side and gestured towards the door. She obediently followed, stepping on as much food as she could and mashing it into the thick piled carpet on the General's floor. Her erstwhile escort consisting of the entire Squad Four and Fury made their way back to her quarters. Now she was getting a little nervous… What if they wanted to come in? What if Syn was seen? No doubt he could handle himself, but if he was inside, he would have no cover. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel…
One of the marines touched the pad by her door and then turned the door handle; it was dark inside. She silently thanked God that Syn had figured something was wrong. One of the marines stuck his head into the darkened room, and Cassandra's heart skipped a beat as he quickly withdrew it.
"At least you will have a lot of time to get rid of the smell…"
"Enough… Go back to your patrols Captain." snapped Fury.
"Yes Sir… Toaster Oven…" mumbled the marine as he walked away, a few of his squad sniggered.
Cassandra looked up at Fury, her eyes hard and defiant. The large male Gene-Tech opened his mouth to speak, but Cass got there first.
"Why did you kill him…? Do you have any idea what you have done…?"
"It was an order."
"That's it… It was an order…? How would you like it if I killed your daughter under orders from a superior…? Oh, yes… I do know about your daughter; I know a lot about her…" replied Cassandra, noticing the strange look on Fury's face. Then her face softened a little as she folded her arms over her chest. "You know something, just now, when you realized all you love is in the balance and you couldn't do anything about it, you actually showed emotion. Even though you are aware she can't know you are still alive, you almost look human again… Sergeant Richard 'Fury' Campbell…"
Cass left the speechless Gene-Tech standing in the corridor and entered her quarters. She knew enough about him to be sure that he wouldn't report it to anyone, as well as the fact that, even though he didn't like doing it because it confused him, he would delete the conversation from C.B.A.U.
As she walked into the darkened room, the door automatically closed and locked behind her. Taking a step further, she felt a firm, yet gentle grip on her arm. It pulled her through the bathroom door and into something large and warm. Emotionally, the female Gene-Tech reciprocated Syn's action and tenderly stretched her arms out around his chest to pull herself in tight. Something deep inside her clicked on as a wave of warmth and safety washed over her; something about being in the grip of the Yautja male seemed so natural. Before she knew it, Cassandra began to sob like a child. She felt a large arm drape around her shoulders as they began to shake. He may have been from a totally different species, but he knew emotions, and he knew how they could affect one's abilities. Laying his free hand on top of her head, he mumbled softly to her.
"Nothing to worry about there is, safe you are…"
"They killed James…" said a soft voice from Syn's chest.
Fury walked away from the door, seething inside. It was not an emotion that he often encountered. He usually felt nothing at all and preferred it that way. The coldness of his near unfeeling flesh, following orders, not having to think about how he ended up in this situation to begin with was a mercy he could never expect as a regular soldier. But recently, even he noticed that emotion was more frequent than before. Not able to vent normally, he turned into another vacant corridor and slammed his fist repeatedly into the wall. The pristine metal sheeting creased and buckled, forming a small crater, but he continued undaunted. Finally able to feel the pain that shot up his arm, he stood staring at his bloody pulp of a fist. His programming overrode his anger then, and with a few moments hesitation, he stalked off to the Gene-Tech program technician.
A few minutes later, he stepped deftly into Lisa Murvane's lab.
"Gene-Tech one reporting to have my hand repaired." he stated calmly, as if there wasn't blood streaming to his elbow and you couldn't see bone fragments sticking up through the skin in a dozen places on his hand.
Lisa looked up, a cup of tea sitting next to her. She sighed lightly when she noticed his hand; he always did this when something made him angry. There was a loophole in his programming that couldn't control his anger. She made a motion to him to sit down.
"Sergeant Fury, what did you do this time?"
"I would rather not say, Dr. Murvane. Please fix my hand so I can return to my duties." he replied as he lowered himself into an examination chair.
Lisa started to work on his hand, aligning the bones to make the chemical healing faster. She looked into his eyes as she worked, noticing the anger brought on by Cassandra words still there. Narrowing her own, she retrieved a solution to rinse out the blood from the cuts. After a few moments she stood and spoke.
"Sergeant, I want you to relax and take a nap while I deal with this wound." She snapped her fingers and then said, "Let me get you a cup of tea."
When that last phrase left her lips, Fury's head sank to his chest. After a moment, he brought it up again so he could look at Lisa.
"Thanks, sweetie. You always know what your old man wants to calm his nerves."
"That's alright, Dad, but you gotta stop hitting walls…" She did not bring him a cup of tea, but she did continue to doctor his hand. "Aside from the obvious, how are you doing, Dad…?"
Fury looked at her and ran his good hand through her hair.
"You know how it is, Honey. These stupid greenies, they think they are all hot shit and don't need to think before they shoot, and this new one... she is really pushing my buttons!"
Lisa went and got a syringe, then filled it with some chemicals and a small dose of nano-tech stimulant. They would help speed the repair to his broken hand. She looked at his face as she prepared the injection site; his mechanical eye was dark, his artificial half dormant for the moment.
She smiled, enjoying his banter. Although his daughter was dead by many years, killed by him in a way that would have had him hung, shot, and drawn and quartered if they still did that, he had no recollection of the event. She had partially altered his memories and replaced the daughter with her own image, letting him think she was his little girl. The program she had created after Gelia 'moved on' was basic, but very effective. Gelia's technique was exceptionally fruitful, but she didn't really pay any heed to what remained of the human side of her experiments. This was the part that Lisa Murvane reveled in, being an amazing biologist, she had always thought the human brain was much more powerful than people gave it credit for. Even with the monstrous power of current artificial intelligence, it would have been nothing without human brain power.
With her programming active, Lisa could quite literally 'turn off' the part of Fury that made him what he was, the perfect soldier, for the most part. She had coded and hidden very detailed memory filters in place, so as to keep him complacent. So when the artificial side was active, what remained of Richard Campbell had access to its memories and everything it could see, feel, smell, the whole nine yards. Instead of simply overpowering the human side, she let him run free, though he didn't have physical control. The slight lenience she showed him made him believe that Lisa was working on a way to get rid of the control over him all together.
"Damn, kid, when you gonna get me a synthetic eye so I can see outta both of them?"
"Dad, you know I am working on it. But with budget cuts, I just have to be patient." She replied with a placating smile.
His face darkened.
"Yeah, I know about that, Pumpkin. God damn budget cuts, that is what led to the death of my whole squad! God dammit, we have to stop those damn bugs."
"Hey, calm down and keep still! You know I am working on that too. I have got some new trainees for you. Another prototype of Xenomorph soldiers to patrol and kill their own kind…"
It was as if he hadn't heard her, keeping up a dialogue all his own.
"Damn bunch of kids, all of them dead cause of those damn bugs. We have got to kill all of them. Every single last one of 'em. I don't want no more Marines dying because of those idiots at the company…"
Lisa finished her repair work and sat next to him for a moment.
"Hey, Dad, why don't you get some rest okay…?"
"Lost them all, a whole platoon to those hard shelled monsters. Why didn't I die with them? Why am I here…?"
He looked at her, pain in his face. It was always the same with him, his anguish and anger due to losing so many young marines to the Xenomorphs. On his death bed, he had told the General to do whatever it took to contain them and to keep other marines from dying. And the General had taken him up on that, by having him turned into the being he was today, part man and part something else, something dark… Lisa Murvane knew that in order to keep him from destroying her work, she had to coerce him into thinking she was his daughter, to ensure he didn't take out the research labs. Her work for the U.S.M.C and Weyland/Yutani was her life. And no one, including him, Cass, or the General was going to stop her. The General was easy to deal with, but with some ability for free thought, Cass and sometimes even Fury were obstacles in her way.
Lisa sighed and said another key phrase. Fury's head sank to his chest again. When he lifted it, his red eye was glowing and he was as cold and remote as ever. She looked at him and spoke.
"Gene Tech One, you are required to have at least 5 hours of down time. I suggest you head to your quarters and have a technician connect you for a maintenance check. It will also allow your hand to heal. In the future, go hit a punching bag in the gym and stay away from walls."
He nodded and got up to leave. Just as he was about to exit, he turned back to her.
"See you later, Pumpkin…"
Her face dropped as he walked out. He wasn't supposed to be able to do that. If the human side of Fury was coming out, they were all in serious danger. Luckily for her, his physical body would still have to follow any order given by her pertaining to its functionality and well being. She would have to keep an eye on C.B.A.U and wait for him to connect before she attempted to change anything. If he was somehow able to learn that she was leading him on… Her plan was no more, without Fury, she had no chance…
"FUCK!" She smacked an open palm down onto the bench top, making equipment clatter around. "This is the last thing I need… Fuck I hate machines…"
After several minutes, Cass pulled away from her new friend. Her eyes were red and swollen, but the glint of anger and pain in them was only too familiar to the alien hunter. She stood still, not speaking, and walked over to the sink of the small bathroom. She turned on the cold water, splashed her face a few times, and then shut it off. Patting herself dry with a towel, Syn could see anger in her every move, that cold detached look that he himself had held for so many years on her face. He clicked a query at her, but she had turned her back to him and pulled off her clothing. With strong, precise movements, she began to pull on the tattered remains of her armor. Knowing too well what she was contemplating, Syn stood up and walked over to her.
"And what will this accomplish…? Certain death it is, to fight now…"
Cass tried to ignore him, yanking on her boots. His touch on her shoulder caused her to jerk her head up and glower at him.
"I am going to kill that fucking son of a bitch! He took from me one of the few things that kept me sane, one of the few people I cared about. I don't have anything left to lose. My life was taken from me when I stupidly thought I had an easy way of making money and to make my life better. I blindly obeyed someone that was an authority figure without stopping once to ask why. That blind obedience and my ability to multitask in a way people need computers in their heads to do brought me to the monstrosity that I am today. I am more synthetic than human. Even being disconnected from the C.B.A.U., I still have a computer in my head. Most of my body's main muscle groups are synthetic, and I can't fucking survive without having to fix them."
"Anger like yours, I know. No good will come of it now. Use it, or it will use you."
Cass rolled her eyes at Syn and shrugged off the hand he had laid on her shoulder. Her world had collapsed on her, just when things seemed to be going right for a change. She had gotten control of herself, a dream that had taken so long, and now it was not worth living for. Her anger quickly melting to a mechanical coldness, the Gene-Tech soldier looked up again at the Yautja male.
"Look, I got your people the information about what is going on here. My other half was soundly defeated by you, and then you did a bit of field surgery to ensure she never comes back. We are even. I got you into the complex and have gotten you a way to find and destroy what you came here for. I have two things I want to do before I die. One is to kill General Andrews, and other one… find Fury… and break his fucking neck."
Pulling on her other boot, Cass clomped over to the small computer station. She grabbed the wetware data cable that was lying on the floor and pulled off the freckle on her arm.
Muttering under her breath 'God, please help me so that I can make this work….', she plugged the cable end into her data port and then into the correct computer interface. Her face wrinkled with pain, and blood started to seep from her nose. Grabbing a piece of torn sheeting, she held it up to her face, her eyes never moving from the screen. Syn tried to move her, but Cass used her enhanced strength to give him a slight shove. Her eyes rolled into her head for a moment, and she moaned with pain. On the screen, several images came up. After several coded screens flickered into existence and faded just as quickly, a schematic map appeared; it showed an unidentified storage room some eight levels below them. Unplugging herself from the computer, Cass rubbed her arm and threw down the bloody rag.
"Glad to know that some parts of my fried brain still work…" She looked at Syn and then at the computer, "You can download that into your wrist device. It will give you the exact coordinates of where the stuff from the ship is kept."
Cass started to pull the bed from the wall when Syn stepped up to her. A side of him smiled, knowing that Elder Bre'ta'ak had done something similar to him. He didn't smile outwardly though, his eyes narrowed instead, and he growled a warning to Cass.
"Do not go. It is death if you go as you are now."
"I don't care. You have all the information you need, and your superiors want me dead anyway. This makes everyone happy."
He grabbed her and crushed something under her nose. She was unconscious before she could even get a blow in.
"Happy, this makes me not. I do not want you dead…"
He laid her on the bed and dressed in his own armor, knowing she would be out for at least a few hours. He would have time to do a reconnoiter and settle an old score before getting himself and his new friend away. Then, blowing the place to hell would be the last card to play.
He downloaded the information from her console computer into his wrist device, then he accessed the program his shuttle had created so he could see a detailed schematic of the floor plans of the facility.
He crawled into the duct work again, remembering that there were movement sensors and gun turrets placed throughout the duct system. He smiled, his mandibles spreading in his mask, and lay there for a moment, bringing up the hacking program on his wrist computer. When Cassandra had allowed him to connect to the core system moments before, she didn't stop to think that his technology was much more intuitive than that of the humans. Or maybe she did, and just didn't care. Now with remote access to the basic core security systems, Syn touched several interactive symbols in this new projected display with his claw. The adaptive software created by his wrist device activated, and in a few more seconds, he had the duct security in a loop that would ensure he could go unseen by any eyes, mechanical or otherwise.
Returning to the previous display, the facility schematic, he laid out a course that would take him as close as he could get to the chamber that held the remains of the Yautja ship and the stolen technology. It would take him at least an hour to make his way there, as it was a fair distance from his current position.
Fury waited for the door to Murvane's lab to close and then headed to an elevator to get to the lab he called home. When he was first activated, he was assigned to patrol and guard a certain floor. He was never told why, just that any unauthorized personnel or anything that even seemed to move was to be shot. No questions asked, no quarter given. He had shot three scientists and a lost clerk before they modified his programming a little. Now he asked and had to receive clearance codes before he shot someone. While performing these duties, he had created a little area all his own in an older lab just around the corner. He no longer had to patrol the original area, but since he had claimed a home for himself and a lower ranking lab technician could also use the space, he was allowed to keep his little domain.
He left the lift and walked into the corridor, automatically scanning to see if anyone was about. He heard some voices, muted, and knew that at least two people were on this level. He sighed and headed for his quarters. As he entered the lab, he took off his shirt, and then sat down on a chair to unlace his boots. He laid his pulse rifle against a wall, scuff marks there told of a routine long held; he always placed it in that one certain spot. Removing his clothing, he went into the shower that was recessed into the back wall. After stepping out of it a few minutes later, he put on a set of gym clothes and a green shirt. Staying barefoot, he drank a bit of water from a glass, and then ran his fingers through his short cropped hair. Walking over to a lab chair that looked more like a massage chair, he sat down on it and pulled a data cord up to the arm rest. He felt for a recess just behind his ear, and then plugged the data jack into the port. He then leaned forward into the oval shaped head rest and proceeded to close his eyes and go offline…
Syn made his way with relative ease through the duct works. He found a larger maintenance corridor that ran alongside most of the ducts and the main hallways of the facility. Keeping cloaked, he had to slide down vertical shafts and twice he had to re-hack into the system to keep from being blasted. All of that took time. He had wanted to get back before Cassandra woke up, but it seemed as if it would not be so.
Finally, he reached the level he wanted. He waited for a single human to walk by and then he quietly opened the grate to the utility shaft he had come through. Using the alien stealth that belied his bulk, he dropped down to the floor; anyone looking would only have seen a shimmering image for an instant. The real skill for any Covert operating under cloaked conditions was not speed, it was grace. Slow, smooth movements prevented image distortion.
He watched where the human male entered, and as the door closed, he caught a brief glimpse of the 'Tech-One' creation Cassandra had described to him. Apparently, this one harbored great strength and cunning, a very tempting challenge for Syn'kra-va'al. The Gene-Tech had his head down and appeared to be asleep.
Syn's acute hearing was able to detect the goings on in that room, and he quietly moved to be able to get in through the door, once it re-opened.
Harold Cristoff walked in to his private lab to see the Gene Tech off-line. He was slightly disappointed. Though he was usually quite boring, lately Tech-One had been showing odd signs of actually taking interest in his surroundings. Cristoff went over to his bench space at the back of the chamber and checked his samples. He was running a long term study, and his cultures needed very little in the way of care or checking. The only stipulation of his personal use of this lab was to monitor the health and welfare of Tech-One. He could usually do his work while the soldier was offline, which suited him just fine.
He checked on the damaged hand that C.B.A.U had automatically informed him about and saw that with the heat caused by the rapid healing process, the Gene-Tech was a little dehydrated. He went to grab a bag of glucose, but his hand met empty air. He couldn't put off getting supplies any longer. Sighing, none too happy about having to leave his work, he retrieved his lab coat and went out the door. As he exited, he felt a slight breeze, as if the ventilation ducts above him had gotten air pushed out of them. He looked around and then shrugged. Nothing ever happened down here, well, not stuff Harold was allowed to know about anyway. Now on the upper floors, that was where the excitement was. He sighed and walked down the corridor.
As the human exited, Syn'kra-va'al stepped lithely around him, and then stood dead still as the doors closed. He cocked his head sideways, regarding the prone man lying face down in a strange looking chair. A data cable was plugged into his neck, his hand heavily bandaged. The stealth operative stepped up to him, clicking to himself as he studied what he could see.
"You are the one that caused my small friend much anger and grief…" Syn didn't even realize what he was mumbling in his own tongue. "They said big you are supposed to be. You are just Pyode-Amedha… Dead Pyode-Amedha…"
Not really knowing what he wanted to do, Syn stood there for several minutes. Part of him wanted to just kill him, but he knew that Cass wanted that right for herself. Then how could he show this piece of excrement that someone had been there? Someone had been that close to him, yet had not killed him…
He thought a moment, and then chuckled, a very human laugh. Syn uncloaked and he gently pushed on Fury's forehead, his claws making small indents into his scalp. He lifted the unconscious man's head clear of the padded ring. He then took his other hand, and using one claw, traced a circle on his fore head, right between the eyes. A small trickle of blood made a red path that seeped down by the corner of his eye then down the side of his nose. The new pain made Fury open his eyes. He looked up and saw for a moment a seven foot-tall, armored being with long dreadlocks and a masked face. He heard the words in perfect English.
"Dead man…"
His head was dropped, and the mere nanoseconds that it took for him to raise it again, he saw nothing, heard nothing. Fury scrambled off of the chair. He grabbed for his pulse rifle, but it was not there. He stepped around the chair, and then fell as the data cable snagged and pulled him to the ground. He heard a faint echo of laughter. His eyes widened as he saw his rifle sitting in the toilet, and he heard the flushing sound. Flailing around, trying to find whoever was causing this, his arms swept in great arcs through the air. Feeling nothing, hearing nothing, he ran to the bathroom and grabbed his rifle out of the bowl. He flicked the safety off and started to aim wildly.
As the door opened and the returning Harold walked in, a red laser sight traveled a burning path across one eye then settled on its fatal mark. He stared at Fury, who had a red circle between his eyes and a small amount of blood running from the wound. Harold dropped the glucose bag and something else as well.
Syn stepped around the technician, brushing by him. Fury's eyes widened and his senses flared as he saw a blur of motion, the faint crackle of blue electricity, and then smelled the sour odor of urine from Harold. Fury made a dash past him, his bare feet slipping on the puddle that had pooled at the technician's feet. He hit the opposite wall, looking around wildly and pointing the rifle every which way.
Syn'kra-va'al had cut it almost too close. That was fun, but dangerous. He looked to find a way out of the corridor and saw just the door he was looking for. He almost went up to it, but turned away to a larger door just opposite of it. Something was in there… Something of interest to the alien operative. There was no security of any kind on the door, and Syn jabbed at the opening panel with a clawed finger. Once inside the large, darkened chamber, he smelled something that set him drooling. As long as he had to be holed up somewhere, this was a very good place to be. He saw many packing crates filled with different kinds of food, but his otherworldly sense of smell led him to one marked 'Hostess Distributions (U.A.C)'. He nodded his head in approval.
While he waited for the furor to die down, he could enjoy himself with his new found snack. The Yautja male crouched next to the crate, breaking it open with ease. He tore the packaging easily and took a deep breath. But before he ate, he poked his head up and scanned the chamber. There were two points of entry: the door he had come through and a small freight elevator at back of the chamber. The risk was minimal.
Syn scented the air once more.
"Where to find mustard…?"
Some hours later, Cass woke up. Her head was pounding as usual, and when she wiped her nose, she found a purple residue on it. Her rage and indignation resurfaced all at once, not a bit dimmed by her stint of unconsciousness. Her eyes hardened in pure feminine wrath, dire and unyielding. Slamming her head against the pillow and bed for a few moments, she screamed and yelled. Then, glaring at everything, she dived into the vent system, ranting to herself.
"I am going to fucking kill both of them!"