BLADE Tower - 2058 hrs
"They restrained me, right after that.", Xavier said. "I guess the idea of a big scary monster popping out of my body was a little too much for them."
"According to Team Decker's report, you fought back and resisted." the Woman redirected. "Why?"
Xavier tilt his head as he gazed away. "In retrospect, I may have over reacted a bit. There seemed to have been a bit of miscommunication between me and the Rescue team. They were freaking out, then I got the idea that they'd drag me out in the rain, which got me freaking out, and after that ... well I'm probably not going to be on their friend's list."
"Why were you sheltering yourself from the rain?" she asked.
Xavier rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure I recall mentioning, somewhere along the line, that those things respond to water." Xavier returned to facing his interrogator, "by the way. Not that my opinion is of any concern of yours, but if you are planning on sending another team down to that place, I would like to emphasize the irony of being infected by a water seeking parasite at a WATER Refinery." He raised his voice on the word 'water' but quickly returned to a show of calmness before anyone decided to shoot him again.
"Another thing:", Xavier continued before anyone could respond, "are you sending anyone back? I never did get that question answered."
"That's not my decision."
"Well, then I guess your absolved of any responsibilities concerning it then, aren't you?" Xavier said, sneering. "Be sure to tell whoever does make that decision to screw themselves."
"The construction of the Water-Purification Plant near Biahno Lake was not made by anyone here in Administration. The Research Team, who fell victim today, made that decision themselves. They, and members of BLADE and Engineering, all collaborated and worked together because they thought they could prevent a Water Shortage here in the City."
"They died for nothing ..." Xavier said.
The Woman folded her arms across her chest, and in a very serious tone responded. "If they did die, it's because they tried to help the Human Race survive. You think that's nothing?"
No ... Xavier thought to himself. "They did not need to die. They shouldn't have died. But they did."
The Woman didn't say anything in response to that, and a depressing atmosphere clouded the room as they both had their moment of silence. Thinking about those who lost their lives tends to do that to a room. Xavier thought about Dwayne. They were renting out that house in Ishmael Hills together, and now he would have to pay for it on his own. Maybe he could open it up for rent? Get a few roommates ... but who? It occurred to Xavier that he didn't really have any friends on this planet. He never really felt the need to pursue a social life while in BLADE, as the first few months were very hectic and the assignments he undertook for Pathfinder and the ambition and sense of duty he felt dwarfed any motivation he may have had to just, sit and talk. And then there was Dwayne Chambers. A Reclaimer with a personality, and someone Xavier found to be easy to talk to, and someone who shared his ambitions. They'd run into each other on cross assignments, with Xavier in Pathfinder finding the occasional wreckage strewn about, and Dwayne in Reclaimer answering the call. Soon they found themselves working together more frequently, and when they both received candidacy for obtaining a Skell License they decided to form their own team. He, literally, was Xavier's best friend in the whole wide world. And now he might be gone forever, trapped in a slumber never to be found.
The shadow of a smile formed on Xavier's mouth. I'm thinking like some damn old widow ... How pathetic is that? Not incredibly, but Xavier did feel sad.
The Woman was the first to speak again, "Okay let's get back on track." She resumed her pacing in front of the restrained BLADE operative. "How did you discover this 'illness'? Did someone in your group turn?"
Xavier blinked, and thought back. Then answered, "Ajoa Byers. The survivor we found, she was the first to turn in front of us. But we weren't the ones who figured out what was going on with everyone in the plant. That "honor" goes to Ian. The guy who was in charge."
"Ian Parker? You found him alive at the plant?"
"No. But we found his access card. Or rather, Roman did, after we engaged the group of Xenos inside the facility ..."
Biahno Water-Purification Plant - 1240 hrs - Three minutes after meeting Ajoa ...
"Roman and Dwayne, with me! Let's go kill these things!"
Ajoa had her ears covered, to shield them from the high pitched alarm ringing, as she approached the main console hooked to a series of large monitors embedded in the wall of the Control Room. Terrence remained with her with his shield out, keeping a close eye on the door leading out to the Facility's main entrance. With his Blast Cannon drawn he rushed through the doors leading further into the plant with both Roman and Dwayne close behind.
"Not like we came to have tea with them!" Dwayne shouted.
"Shut up, Dwayne! Let's go!" Xavier called back.
They snaked their way through another hallway much like the one they came through upon entering the plant, although this one didn't have any doors leading to adjacent rooms. They saw more red flashing holographic words that read EMERGENCY, and Xavier couldn't but feel like he was back on the White Whale again. They were under attack the Xenos were here to kill us...
After a short stretch they arrived at another Bulkhead style door, and just like the Main Entrance, it would not open without an authorization input from one of the Researchers' access card. "I hope you still got that card with you, Roman!" Xavier said, beckoning him towards the scanning plate. For reasons Xavier probably didn't want to know Roman had kept the Card inside one of the pouches on his Jacket. He slipped it out getting more of the bloody gunk on his clothes and hands, but once again it served it function, as Roman waked it in front of the panel another 'chirp' could be barely heard and the doors slid open revealing a series of catwalks traversing a pool of water containing the filters. And directly in front of the entrance, was a large Pod. Noise of the alarm screamed out of the now open closed facility, and it wasn't even a second before four arms, one pair massive, one pair small, smashed out from inside the shell and proceeded to tear apart the pod revealing an even larger Monster than the one they had encountered before.
"Fire, fire, fire!" Xavier called to his comrades, and they all pointed their guns at the beast and pulled their triggers, releasing three vectors of metal and fire into the creature's flesh. It responded like a man who had just been stung by a bee, and it only served to enrage it, and it charged the group head on.
Both Xavier and Roman chose to dive out of the way, knowing full well how powerful these Beasts were. But Dwayne, in either his brazenness or ignorance held his ground and unsheathed both of his Blades, holding them tip out. Collision was made, with the Beast ramming into the edge of two swords. Blood could be seen, but the momentum of the Creature's charge caused Dwayne to be slammed back into the railing of the catwalk the battle was taking place. The weight and force of the too was great, and the railing began to groan and break away. The air from Dwayne's lungs were pushed out in a gasp as he began to be crushed between the hide of his aggressor and the metallic beams holding him in place.
"Dammit, HANG ON DWAYNE!" Xavier shouted, pulling out his knife.
With the Xeno's back turned, Xavier launched an attack in an attempt to save his friend. He jumped onto the creature's body and hooked his left arm around its neck anchoring him up, and with the knife in his right hand he drove the tip of the blade into where a jugular vein would have been. Blood sprayed out of the wound inflicted as the Knife microscopic serrations vibrated upon contact with the beast. If he had only been attempting to free his friend, then Xavier succeeded, but he couldn't say that he had saved Dwayne. As he wounded the Xeno it responded by thrashing about violently trying to throw Xavier off its back, and during the commotion the railing finally broke causing Dwayne to fall into the Water below.
"ARRRGGHHH!" Xavier screamed, trying to hold on for dear life. It didn't last, as the creature rolled over, briefly crushing Xavier underneath forcing him to let go from the shock. The Xeno screamed into the air, and then proceeded to yank the pair of swords out of its chest. It turned to face Xavier who was only just returning to his feet. But before it could launch itself into another charge, it was met with a series of bullets coming from Roman's rifle forcing it back.
Quickly he moved to Xavier's side and brought him back to a standing position. Xavier shouts, "We need to regroup with Dwayne, he fell into the reserve!" Roman glanced at Xavier but never took the sights of his gun off the beast. "I know," he said, "I'm using a Flash Grenade, get ready." And as he said this he popped a large cartridge into the chamber of his Rifle. As the Beast turned to face the two again, Roman cried, "Flash Out!" and launched his Flash Grenade into the Xeno's scarred face. An explosion, then a Burst of Light of the Grenade detonated causing Xavier to avert his to prevent himself from being blinded. He could only imagine what the Beast must be going through right now. "Ramp, right side!", he called out, and the two moved down a ramp leading down into the Water itself. They didn't need to look very hard as they could see Dwayne already swimming towards their position.
Xavier smiled in spite of the situation. "Jeez man, you gave us a scare there. You enjoying a nice swim?"
"GET AWAY FROM THE WATER!" Dwayne shouted with panic in his voice, between breaths. "THEY'RE IN THE FRIGGIN' WATER!"
And sure enough Xavier could see two more of the same Xenos floating towards the three of them with one approaching Dwayne as he swam as fast as his Mimeosome was capable. Xavier felt a sense of panic brewing up within himself as well. "Oh, CRAP! ROMAN, SHOOT THEM DOWN!" Roman immediately aimed down his sights at the one nearest to Dwayne, but as he pulled the trigger his Rifle made the sound of a snap and a click. Roman swore, and as quickly as he could, he went through the process of ejecting the empty cartridge that had carried his flash grenade and re-calibrating his Rifle to fire live rounds again. But it was too late. As Roman cocked his gun, the Xeno brought Dwayne into a deadly embrace in the water, and with the last thing heard from him being a yell, he was pulled down beneath the surface of the water.
"Nooooo!" Xavier cried out. "ROMAN! KILL IT!"
"I can't open fire, I might hit him!" he stated, still aiming down his sights.
Xavier ran back up the ramp, he could see that the Xeno that Roman had blinded was now washing its face and eyes in the water of the Reservoir, but Xavier did not care about that in the slightest, the only thing that mattered to him was saving his friend before he drowned. He picked up his Blast Cannon where he had dropped it and ran down one of the catwalks. He picked up speed until he was now going into a harsh sprint, and when the moment was right, he leapt off of the catwalk and landed on top of one of the Filters sticking out from the water's surface.
As soon as his feet hit something solid, he crouched down and aimed his Cannon looking for his friend. The Reservoir wasn't shallow, but at the same time it was very clear and he could see his Dwayne and his opponent scrambling against each other near the floor. Dwayne was losing, as he had to fight against both the weight of the water around him and the arms and jaws of creature much stronger then himself. Xavier fired several times into the water and watched as the surface near him sizzled and hissed as the water evaporated at the touch of the supercharged rounds. They seemed to do now good, as they lost their velocity quickly upon submerging.
"Dammit!" Xavier looked through the steam into the water where his friend was fighting. Dwayne had been underwater for nearly a minute now, and if he hadn't drowned yet he would soon. They say desperate times call for desperate measures, and Xavier was feeling incredibly desperate at the moment. He couldn't effectively fire at the Beast from up here, and he didn't dare risk drowning himself by going down there to join the fight. Nor did he wish to abandon his friend. He needed to force the creature to let Dwayne go, and while there was a simple way to do so, he worried for the safety of his friend.
Dwayne was not moving anymore, and fear took all of Xavier's reasoning. This will maybe kill, but if I don't do this you won't 'maybe' die. And with that forced sense of resolve he yanked a Grenade from his pouch and primed the fuse and got it to cook. When he felt it grow warm he dropped the explosive into the water above the two fighters and watched it fall slowly down.
...4
...3
...2
...
The Grenade disappeared, and in its place a pocket of air was born that quickly ripped its way through the liquid chamber, sending a thick shock-wave in all directions. Xavier felt the filter he stood upon shake under him, but continued to watch whether his attempt worked. And yes, he saw the Xeno get cast aside in the blast and saw it release Dwayne. Dwayne's body floated near the surface and Xavier swept him up and hung him over his still aching shoulder. He kind of wished that he had just dived in, he was starting to feel thirsty. But first ...
Xavier leapt back towards the catwalk, only barely making it with the extra weight of his friend. He laid Dwayne down onto the platform and checked for his vitals. He wasn't moving which was never a good sign, but the major indicator of life in a Mimeosome is ...
"Shoot ..." Xavier said under his breath. He opened up Dwayne's eyelids and saw that his irises were a stone colored gray. Normally the eyes of a Mimeosome shone brightly and had a distinct color, but when they weren't in use or lost functionality from damage they reverted to a dim color to show that they were hollow. "No!" Xavier said.
During Xavier's ordeal in retrieving Dwayne, Roman had been engaging the other Xeno in the water by range. Eventually the pain must have became too much because the Beast swam away, and with the battle postponed Roman ran to his comrades' side. Upon seeing the motionless Dwayne he asked, "Is he ...?"
"He's drowned!" Xavier shouted with anger in his voice.
"I'm sorry ..."
"The hell you are, he isn't dead yet!" and he proceeded to perform CPR on his fallen friend.
"You're trying to resuscitate him?!" Roman asked with in-credulousness.
"There's a 30 second window to restore connection when the signal between Host and Mim is broken, I can still save him!"
Xavier blew air into Dwayne's mouth, and pressed down hard onto his chest.
"Come on! Come on, Dwayne! You're not that easy to kill, come on!" He was beating Dwayne's chest now.
"Come on! The pieces are still in place, Dwayne! You just got to get them working again! COME ON!"
And with a final heavy pound that from Xavier's fist coming down onto Dwayne's chest, the fallen Reclaimer gasped out and began coughing up water. Xavier could barely believe that it had worked, and Roman was even more flabbergasted. The color returned to Dwayne's eyes ad he continued to cough up the liquid from his lungs. With a groan he said, "Please ... tell me ... no one kissed me ..." He coughed again, then rolled onto his back. "That's a movie reference. Gosh, I miss T.V.."
Xavier gave a sigh of relief. But all comfort was lost when he heard a roar once again. The Xeno that Roman had flashed had just recovered, and it was angry. It was very angry.