{Chapter XII}
"Each of your weapons have been chosen for you based
on the Alien you are to face. The coordinates will lead you from
alien to alien-defeat it, and you move on to the next."
"And-if
we do not?" Dr. Cockroach asked, as he studied the weapon he had
received, it was some sort of magnifying glass, which seemed to have
sensors and buttons on the side. I knew very well he knew the answer,
but he had asked it anyway.
"Then you will be dead."
It shocked me-I knew
that was going to be his answer, but knowing this may be the last
moment I saw any of them-filled me with dread.
"I wish you all luck."
And with that, we all
looked at out instruments. Insecto-who had a shield of armor on
him-gently directed him with sky-lights. He was gone first, followed
by Susan-who had what seemed like a sword and shield. Next was
Missing Link, who had what seemed like a harpoon. BOB left next-I
wasn't sure what he had, because I didn't see anything. Dr. Cockroach
glanced at me, and then at General Allen.
"Be seeing you." H
He did a slight incline of his head, and was gone within a matter of minutes. That left me, and when I looked down at the shotgun I had, it had no coordinate. No direction. I narrowed my eyes at it, turned it over, banged it on my hands, and even dropped it to try to get it to relay the coordinate. General Allen remained silent at this time, and suddenly a wave of anger swept over me.
"Don't tell me you've taken away the alien I'm
supposed to fight so I don't die saving this planet."
"You are
close to death as it is, my dear. I can't let you go out there
knowing you may never come back."
"Close to death? You are
too, so is Dr. Cockroach, so are all of them. The moment they were
born-they were close to death. Don't keep me alive for your own needs
and emotions."
"You have been apart far to long, Jennifer. If you run
out there-and get exterminated by some Alien,
I thought you were
dead for so long, my dear. If I find that you are-indeed-dead, I'll
never be able to live with myself."
I twitched in anger at his
use of 'exterminated'. I hissed at him, and he drew back, I saw fear
in his eyes. I had to remember-he was only human. I was a monster,
even in his eyes-and even though he loved me. I was still a monster.
"You don't know then, do you?"
"Know of
what?"
I turned from him, and he approached me, touching me on
the shoulder.
"My deadline."
"Deadline?" He asked me,
confused.
"Because of this experiment, because of this-this transformation of cells, I have gained many things. But I have lost the human age. Instead of living out at least thirty more years here-my days are confined to only three years."
He didn't reply.
"So it doesn't matter when I pass on, now-or later.
But the thing is, I'm not going to be here much longer. And,
Xavier-Xavier." I shook my head, holding it with my hand. "Without
the emotion of love, Xavier, I feel nothing that I should feel for
the one who truly owns my heart."
No reply.
"So standing there, and making it so all my friends are fighting some sort of alien-and having them die because I was not there to try and help them its selfish. Would you rather me die in a bed, as you see me wither away, or would you rather me die-fighting? If you are not letting me go out there and fighting the aliens by my self, then I am taking you with me, and we shall fight, together."
I turned around to face him, and hugged him. I did it out of care for his emotions-as I felt nothing. I knew the feeling was there-I knew that if it was not gone that it should have bloomed. But there was only a shadow in place of the emotion. And so, I simply had to imagine. But I had to imagine something I hadn't felt in so long. And so, I had no idea what it felt like. I had no idea. I was a brain-no longer a heart, and the brain knows nothing unless it is linked. And I severed that link.
"Well?" I asked.
"Well?"
He did not reply, and I looked up at him.
His eyes were dimmed. He seemed unresponsive, and I drew away from
him, confused. What did I do? I did not know, how could I know? I not
only erased the emotion of love in myself, but I had no idea about
interpreting the emotion in others-and whether I had hurt them. I
pulled away, looking at General Allen curiously, cocking my head. I
looked a lot like a rat there, as my hand lifted up like a rat's, and
I paused, freezing. I blinked, he seemed unresponsive. I didn't know
why-was that natural? No it wasn't. Humans don't just lock down.
When I went to touch him again, I felt him grab my arm,
and it startled me. He said to me in a whisper, "I can no longer
lie to you, Jennifer. I told you this. I cannot continue the lies I
have lead you to think are true."
'Lies?' I thought, 'what-what
lies?' I didn't think any lie he could have told me would be bad. He
had deserted me for years-any lie on his head could not match that.
Still, his grip on my arm did not release, or calm down. When I went
to speak, my brain shut down. Electricity sparked through every vein
in my body. He was not causing it-it was the memory again. I still
had scars, I still was wobbly. My eyes went out of focus, and I saw
nothing before me. I tried to escape his clutch on my arm, and I
think I may have hissed in fear, but I didn't know. Every moment made
the current in me sting. My brain went haywire, memories replayed in
my mind-and I began to loose control of my actions. I lost control. I
blacked out-the seizure had struck again.
I don't know how long past. I opened my eyes, half afraid, and I lay curled up on the dry ground. No General Allen was in my sight-no one. I had dropped my weapon, it was gone. Where it had gone I had no way of knowing. I hurt all over, and some of the scars had ripped open again. I forced myself to my legs, and looked around for anyone. General Allen wouldn't have left me-no-no he wouldn't. Fear came over me, I was still within the shadow of the facility, and yet I was alone. What if the alien had come? What if it killed Xavier? I trembled, and collapsed to my knees. I couldn't believe that. No. He wouldn't have-he's not-is he? My brain couldn't think or calculate. I was afraid to do anything-afraid to think to hard, or to walk. The seizure may be triggered again, and I doubted a rat could survive a lot of it. Especially in bad spells like that. However I needed to figure out what happened, and if indeed an Alien had come and killed General Allen, I needed to find it. I forced myself onto my feet, and I wobbly continued, in a random direction-not sure of where to go, or where really I would be. I had not moved in my location-I fell and woke up in the same place. For whatever reason, however, I felt extremely nervous, and extremely afraid. If there was an alien around, I had no defense against it. No weapon, no super-human powers, only my brain. I was only a monster because of my experiment, and how it went wrong. I was a monster because I had crossed the line of human research. I felt lost, knowing I had no power or will to fight-fearing my brain to weak to do much. And I felt alone, as if everyone else had perished. It was still light out, which calmed me down a bit. The last thing I needed was to be left for did in the desert in the cold nights which I knew would occur. I forced myself onward, until I could no longer see the facility, but I froze when I heard none other then the voice enter my skull.
"You have come far," it told me, "but you have even farther to go. The other aliens are probably beaten by now, but I remain undiscovered. Simply because I cannot be found, until I choose to show myself to you."
"And-and when will that be?" I called out, not sure if the Voice I heard was in my head or coming to my ear. But for the first time, I heard the voice reply.
"Soon, sooner then you think. Turn around, and wait."
I did so, my reasoning was fried at this time. He could have told me to keep on going, and I would have. The Voice was not at all controlling me, but I was tired-I was to weak to try to not listen to him. I did not see nor hear any other sounds. Not from the others, or any aliens. Not for an hour-not for two. Just when the sun was setting, however, I heard footsteps, and heard it coming from both sides of me. I grew afraid, trembling, the fur-hair on my back rose in fear. My tail twitched savagely like a whip. I realized, however, that the footsteps coming toward me were not the Voice. They were all of the others-all except General Allen. I grew afraid when I did not see him.
"What's taking you so long?!" I hissed, not loud enough for the approaching to hear.
"You will meet me when you least expect it."
I collapsed. I blacked out. I couldn't take the stress anymore, I knew now that the chances of me staying alive after the trauma I went through were slim. I woke up again, with all the monsters around me.
"My dear-are you alright?"
"I don't know,
Doctor." I said truthfully, leaning up from the ground.
"Where's
General Allen at?" I heard 'Link ask. "Wasn't he with you?"
My
vision slowly increased to its peak, as it has done in the past. They
were all battered. Dr. Cockroach had a badly torn leg, and his
clothes were torn here and there. Susan had a few bruises. 'Link had
a scar now over his right eye-whatever Aliens they fought, I knew
that if I was in their place, I would not have survived. I still did
not agree with General Allen, but I wondered now more of where he
was, and not what he did.
"He disappeared..." I moaned, "what happened with
the aliens?"
"For the most part they were easy," 'Link
stated. "Harder then Galaxhar, but easy."
I didn't say
anything, but when I felt myself drift off again, the Voice seemed to
keep me revived.
"If you drop off again, you will die."
It wasn't a threat, it was a warning. I knew my body was dying. It couldn't stand the seizures, and the shocks. I didn't say this, however. I tried to ignore it, tried to stay awake, I needed to know who the voice was, and, I needed to thank it.
Our group did not move from our spot, instead, they
circled around me, each one tending to their wounds, and to mine. A
few of my old scars-I say old lightly-had reopened themselves, mainly
on my head. Which was a bad sign. When darkness fell, I drew
extremely cold, even colder then 'Link had. I dare not fall asleep
however. I was afraid if I shut my eyes to long, I may never open
them again. So, I was glad when I heard running coming toward us.
It
was no more then General Allen, cut, bruised, and his suit torn in
shreds. He held my weapon-half blown apart.
"Jennifer-" He panted, "I am not to late?"
"Late?"
Dr. Cockroach questioned. "For what?"
We didn't answer, but he
continued. "Are you alright? How many more times have you blacked
out?"
"Three-three I think." I didn't try to count.
"Alright. We'll need to head back to the facility
quickly-we can't risk having all of you in this state at this
hour."
"Never mind us-" Susan chimed in, "what about
you?"
"Never mind me." He said, and I noticed that he did
not have his glasses on, and the memorable hue of his eyes seemed to
have changed. However, I couldn't place how or why. "Is Insecto
okay?"
'Link nodded, "I believe so."
"Alright-we'll
need him to escort us back, there is no way most of you can
walk."
"No." I hissed, suddenly. My strength was gone after
I did that, I don't even think I was able to stand, but I spoke. "We
can't leave."
"Why not?" General Allen asked. I saw concern
in his eyes-and I did not dare to look at the others.
"The
voice is coming." I stated, "the Voice is coming, and I am not
going to die until I know who it is."
Silence.
I panted hard, and I looked up at General Allen, and he looked like he was about to cry. If I could have stood, I would have tried to comfort him in ways I never knew how. But he seemed to have read my mind. And, I realized what his lie was. He spoke, however, reviling it to all the others that had not caught it. His voice echoed, like a whisper.
"I never wished to lie to you, Jennifer. But I did-and
now I will pay by seeing your demise. I am the Voice, Jennifer. And,
I-was the alien you were to face."
I did not expect the second
part, and my eyes widened at that, my ears perked forward. All of us
seemed interested.
"It was I who murdered General Monger, and I who escaped. I who destroyed those who wronged you, all so I could meet you. After they questioned you-I knew that it would be to late, if I did nothing. So, I took over the facility. One by one, I did. Each sector, each area, all hoping that I had not been to late. So now, my dear-my love-even though you will never understand nor comprehend it, I am going to reveal to you the Alien, to whom you fell for."
He backed up away from us, and I saw in horror as his face contorted. It squished down into a circle, and his jaws seemed to dislocate and change. His neck moved down, and his body floated into an unnatural position. His legs contorted to some new way. His arms moved as if he were praying, and his ears disappeared, and then reappeared as two antenna. His hands narrowed out into sickles, and his skin molded into the color of dead grass. His eyes, that memorable blue hue, now was black, and full of space, he was no longer any form of human. For, now, standing in front of us, was the elegant form of a Praying Mantis. It was not just a giant one, however. It was different, its exoskeleton was bullet proof. Its antenna would read minds-is wings were that of a bat's.
"And
here I am now." The
once-General Allen concluded.
We were in awe. I was afraid, I was
not sure what this meant for me. I was not sure what I was supposed
to do-how could I kill someone I had known? Not just known-but should
have been married to?
"And here, I shall stay."
I knew now. His voice was hostile. I was not sure if he still loved me, I would never know. The voice who had helped me all this time-the one I had ripped my heart out for!-was going to kill me. I had no weapons, no one did. I forced myself to stand, and I began to take the last steps of my life-to fight the one I thought would be the last one I'd ever have to face. Alone.
