Hello friends. Back again and fresh like the death. Well, sort of.

Claws: Come on don´t tell me you wouldn´t enjoy this hunger. I know you love it. That´s why we all come back again and again.

Joy: Nice to hear from you again. Just stay a little longer then you might find out what the fires are about.

With this in mind - Lets go on.

The next step

When they came to him with the knifes in their hands, he first thought that he was done. Thats it. She changed her mind. Figured out she doesn´t need me anymore. Get rid of me. He even started to wonder what he could have done wrong, if he had said anything to offend her. Sometimes women were offended by things a guy just didn´t even noticed. But then they didn´t use the knifes to kill him at all. Instead they cut loose the ropes that had bound him to the chair. They fell down to the ground with a sloppy sound like dead snakes. Link massaged his wrists still uncertain what the whole thing was supposte to mean. One of the aliens activated the projector and showed him Gallaxhessa´s face.

„What is that?" he asked her. „You letting me go?"

„Not quiet yet." she said. „But I thought you might appreciate it to have some more elbowroom."

The aliens were still moving around him busily. In their hands they were holding devices, which they now placed on the floor.

„What are they doing?" he wanted to know.

„Just hold still for a moment." Gallaxhessa said. Link closed his eyes when the red light flashed over his face and then down his whole body.

„What the …?"

„I´ll explain later." Gallaxhessa promised. „For now I have work to do. I hope you understand that I can´t let you out of the sight of my clones yet. But I´m sure you´ll get along."

„W... Wait." Link cried. „What …?"

„I´m really sorry, Link, but I have work to do." she interrupted him gently. „This has to wait. Unless you made a decision you want to inform me about."

„That´s what I wanted to talk about." he affirmed and then quickly added: „I … I don´t say I say yes. I just … lets just say I would …" He was looking for the right words. „What would happen in this case?" he asked. „How would we go on?"

„Why, I already told you. I would ask you to talk to your friends. To tell them what I told you. To convince them that it would be better for all of us to work together. You could start with your friend the Cockroach."

„You know about his condition?" Link immediately asked when he was remembered on the Doc.

„As far as my clones informed me, the laser this man shot at him did damage to his nerve system." Gallaxhessa explained. „Don´t worry, we can repair it. It´ll just need some time. So far he is sleeping." Following an intuition, she suggested: „I could instruct my clones to inform you directly as soon as he wakes up. What would you say to that? It takes far too much time to always run it through me first. I guess it would be better for him to hear your voice as often as possible. Don´t they say it supports the healing process?"

„Yeah, I guess so." Link said stunned.

She nodded. „I tell my clones to call you as soon as he wakes up." she promised.

„Thanks." he said still reluctantly.

She gave him a smile. „I sure hope he´ll be all right soon." she said. „I never had any grudge against you monsters." She waited for a response from him. When he didn´t give any she simply said: „We talk again soon." and switched off the channel.

For a moment she just stood there at her console, thinking. He was still mistrusting her. She had seen it in his eyes. It was strange. Before, when he was still bound, he had looked different at her. It was as if she had not only cut the ropes but also some of the trust he had gained into her. Was that possible? It seemed so strange to think about something like that. It didn´t make any sense. Why should he lose trust because she didn´t bind him any longer? But that was what she´d seen in his face.

She shook the thoughts off her mind. Why was that bothering her so much anyway? He was still her prisoner. Her clones wouldn´t let him go. And she had more important things to do right now. There was still an amount of Quantonium to get to. She took a device from the console and got herself a tool. It was time to make a point.

...

The alien search party was approaching the city limits now. Somewhere around this area they had lost contact with the last party. Whatever had happened to them had to have happened here. Therefor the four clones were looking around very carefully now. They didn´t want to step in the same mess like their predecessors after all.

So far the streets were empty. At least they were deserted. There was a lot of garbage lying around and after the one robot had been destroyed there was a big mess in this area anyway. But there were no signs of any lifeforms around. At least none that were to be seen. The clones had activated their tracker though, to scan the area for movement. At least the periphery within a radius of five feet they would be certain about that it was clean. So far it was. They still expected to find the bodies of the last party every moment now. Probably killed by the human shotguns. Some of these annoying creatures were still around and hiding. They tried to fight them but there was no chance for them to succeed. As soon as they would find them, they would put an end to that disturbances they created.

The tracker started to beep.

„I have something." the clone that was holding it cried.

„What is it?" another one asked looking at the device.

„I can´t tell." the first clone answered with rolling eyes. „This thing doesn´t show pictures. Just movement."

„Yeah, I know that." the second clone replied insulted. „But it tells you how big it is. Maybe its just a small animal."

„No, its not. Its bigger than an animal."

„Maybe its a big animal." a third clone offered but was completely ignored.

„Sure it is a human." the second clone stated and took the laser canon it was carrying. „Where is it now?"

„Somewhere over there." the first clone said. „Behind that corner."

The second clone led the way, its gun ready to shoot as soon as the target would show itself. The others followed, also with their guns ready. Only the clone that carried the tracker didn´t take its gun. It was carrying the tracker after all.

„Wait." it cried. „Its moving."

„Of course its moving." the second clone replied annoyed.

„No, I mean its changing direction." the first clone explained. „I guess it knows we´re here."

The clones looked around unsure. Then they saw something rushing by, far too quickly for them to see it right, but that didn´t stop them from shooting at it. Their lasers blew up a newspaper box, smashed a window and cut through a row of parked cars. One of the cars started to howl and made one hell of a noise. The aliens covered their ears and moaned. One of them shot at the car again and the noise stopped.

„Stupid earth technology." it cursed.

„Did we hit it?" another one asked for the target they had been shooting at.

As if to answer the question something clattered behind them. The four aliens spun around but couldn´t see anything. The one with the tracker looked down on its devise again.

„Its right over there." it said and pointed at a car that was buried under a heap of rubble.

The first alien approached the car slowly, trying to spot something. „We know that you are there, human." it cried. „Come out and we will kill you quickly and painless."

Again there was a clattering, followed by some scratching sounds as if something was crawling over the debris. The trickling sound of falling dust completed the sound setting. The aliens stared at the heap, totally on the edge. The first one grabbed its gun tighter.

„Come out now or we have to melt down that chunk you´re hiding at." it cried.

When nothing happened it lost its patience and got ready to shoot. Just a second before it could pull the trigger, a movement at the heap made it stop. So the human had decided to come out after all, it thought and waited until it could see the whole figure. It was not exactly what it had expected though. But that didn´t matter. The clone gave an evil smile. Then it just pulled the trigger and shot.

But instead of being hit and flying backwards like a good target was ought to, the laser seemed to have no effect at all. The alien looked down on its weapon in disbelieve and raised the power. When still nothing happened the other clones joined in with their lasers too. All but the one that was still holding the tracker that was. It was about to put it away and take its own gun too, when suddenly something happened. Instead of killing the target they were aimed at, the lasers seemed to turn around and send their burning heat right back into the canons they were coming from. The three aliens looked down at their weapons in disbelieve, while the material already started to glow reddish. Since they didn´t know how else to react to that they just kept shooting trying to get the lasers to do their work after all.

They better hadn´t. Because one second after their guns had started to glow the laser beams they fired seemed to come to life. Now they really turned around. Like an animal they jumped off the intended target and at the aliens that had shot it. There even was a fuzzing sound in the air when it happened, like the snarl of a predator. The three aliens had barely time to open their mouths for a scream, when the flaming beams had already hit them, burning them down to three heaps of ashes almost instantly. The fourth alien who stood farthest from the group threw its gun away, before it could decide to blow up as well and ran. It ran as fast as it could, to get as far away from that place as possible.

While running it took out its communicator and reported what had just happened. Not that any of the aliens on the other end of the line could have understood what all this was supposte to mean. Since when were laser beams able to just turn around? It was a technical and physical impossibility. Instead of reporting ridiculous things the clone should try to find out what was really going on.

Being instructed so, the clone went on. It went on and made its way through the streets, always looking around when there was a sound. Since it had not only lost its gun but also the tracker, it had no idea where it was or what was around. Was this strange thing following? Would it try to burn it too?

Eventually it reached a wall, that seemed to be completely out of rubble. That had to be the wall the last party had reported. They had said they´d cut a hole into it with their lasers to get to the other side. This hole couldn´t be far away. Somewhere along this strange looking wall. The clone started to round it but when it finally found something that looked like a laser-cut hole it had to learn that it had been sealed from the inside. Something really strange was going on here, that was for sure. It took out its communicator again, to report this found, when a shot rang out. The alien clone dropped to the ground and was dead.

„What´s up, Al?" Alisha cried up to Perez who was on his post at the lookout.

„I just shot an alien." he reported down to her. „It tried to creep in here through the hole we plugged."

„Are there any more?" Alisha asked alarmed.

„I can´t see any." he answered. „But I keep my eyes open, you bet your ass."

„You all do that." Alisha yelled over to the other guards. „As far as these things are concerned we can be sure that there is always more than just one."

But of course there shouldn´t be any more aliens. At least not at the time being. The rest of the aliens group had been neatly vaporized only a few streets before they had reached the wall.

...

The team around Major Stanton that had almost reached the FBI headquarter in the inner city, was facing much more aliens. Way more aliens. It seemed as if the deeper they got into the city the more aliens were around in the streets. No wonder those civilians they had been coming for to begin with had called for help. It became harder and harder for the small group of Marines to stay hidden and still move on. Most of the time they walked over the roofs but sometimes there was just no other way but to get down into the streets to get to the next building. The last time they had almost run into an alien patrol. Just one second slower and they would have been spottet. When they were on the roof and sure they hadn´t been followed, Stanton demanded a short stop.

„Man, that was close." one of his men exhaled.

„Yeah, too close." Stanton agreed. „Myers. Go and check the streets ahead. I want to be sure we´re running in no more patrols before we go on."

The addressed man saluted shortly and left. Stanton addressed another man. „Dan, how far is it to that damn building? Are we there any time soon?"

„Not much farther." Dan Aprons answered and pointed over Stanton´s shoulder. „I think it should be somewhere over …"

In this moment they heard shooting and spun around. It was definitely an MP and it was somewhere in the direction Aprons had just pointed at. Judging the sound it was still another quarter ahead. The sound was carrying.

„Well, I guess thats them." Stanton said.

Myers came back to them running. „Did you hear that?" he asked.

„Yes." Stanton said. „All right, thats it. Get ready. We move in."

The group started to move. They crossed the roof and climbed up a little landing to reach the next one. When they were halfway across this roof, Stanton noticed something in the corner of his eye. Something in the sky. He turned around without really planning to stop but when he saw what it was he slowed down. It was the projection again. Gallaxhessa´s head, huge and in 3D, hovering over the city. The others had noticed it too and one after the other his whole group stopped and stared over at the huge picture.

From somewhere down in the streets they heard some aliens cry out: „Hail Gallaxhessa."

The nine of them instinctively went down to their knees. But the aliens were far away, probably three streets from their position. The sound was carrying.

„This is your last chance, Susan." Gallaxhessa said now. She was looking into another direction though, not at them. „Surrender yourself now." Gallaxessa demanded. After a moment she said: „Are you sure that this is your last word?" A moment. „Well, you disappoint me."

„Who is she talking to?" Susan whispered.

„Obviously the Boss found a way to convince her that you´re in the bank with them." Stanton said. „If I had to guess I´d say Kayleigh. Her voice sounds similar to yours."

„I really thought you´d care more about your friend." Gallaxhessa said now and the next moment another projection appeared next to hers. A picture of the Missing Link.

„Link." Susan whispered worried.

Stanton immediately made a gesture to keep her from standing up. „You can´t do anything." he reminded her. It worked to hold her back. For the moment.

„Come out now, Susan, or your friend will pay for your cowardice." Gallaxhessa said and after another moment, she said: „As you wish."

The picture of Link was hit by a laser at the arm and started to cry out in pain. Stanton swirled around and grabbed Susan just in time to keep her from jumping up and running headless to save someone that wasn´t even there. But there were aliens in the street not far away and if she should try to surrender herself to them … he could´t allow that.

„No." he hissed at her but she struggled and threw him to the ground.

The other Marines came upon her and tried to hold her back. It didn´t help. She was too strong for them and in her worry about her friend she didn´t think about how strong she was compared to them. Two of the men flew straight ahead and would probably have fallen off the roof if it hadn´t been for the balustrade. The others were just shoved backwards but they fell to the ground anyway. Susan noticed that she had forgotten herself and hesitated. This short hesitation was over when she heard Links scream again. But it had been long enough for Stanton to get to his feet again. He was now standing in her way, aiming at her with his gun.

„No." he repeated his order. „You stay."

„You wanna shoot me?" she asked him not believing it. She attempted to keep going and he cocked his gun.

„I wouldn´t tempt it." he said. „You might be strong but I don´t think that you´re bullet proved."

Susan tried to stare him down but the second scream of Link when he was hit by another laser made it impossible for her to keep up a straight face. Instead he looked pleading at Stanton.

„I´m sorry." he said sternly. „But I can´t allow that you give her the Quantonium."

„Your friend can´t take much more of this, Susan." Gallaxhessa said now. „Its your last chance to save him."

Stanton made a gesture with his gun that spoke more than a thousand words. He wouldn´t let her go.

„You won´t shoot me." she said.

„Believe me I will." he replied. „Surrendering you is the only thing I can´t allow to happen. And if you make me, I will make sure that the aliens never get the Quantonium … by destroying it."

Susan almost couldn´t believe what she heard. She remembered that Stanton had overheard the aliens say, that if she died the Quantonium would vanish. But that had been just a heartless information so far. Until now.

„You would kill me, to prevent the aliens getting the Quantonium?" she asked in disbelieve.

„My first duty is earth." Stanton replied. He kept aiming at her. Sweat was running down his face. Still he didn´t even blink.

„Come out or I will kill him!" Gallaxhessa cried now getting angry. When still nothing happened she lost her patience and almost snapped at her clones that were with the Link: „Kill him!"

Stanton´s head unintentionally switched around for a second. He immediately realized the mistake he´d made and turned back just in time to see Susan running at him. He reacted by instinct and pulled the trigger. He hit her in the chest and she fell down, mostly by pure shock. She tried to stand up again, grabbing the dart that stuck in her chest and removed it. But it was too late. She was already feeling dizzy. Swaying and fighting for her balance, she heard Link scream again. Longer this time and much more painful. Then his scream just stopped. Susan tried to look up at the projection but her vision was already blurring. If it was the drugs or her own tears she didn´t know. Then she lost consciousness.

She didn´t hear Gallaxhessa´s angry shout anymore: „This is your fault, Susan, I hope you know that. You could have stopped that. You could have saved your friends life." Then the projection went down and everything was quiet again.

Stanton looked at his men and then down at Susan, a painful sting in his chest. This was why he hated war. It just costed far too much.

In the bank Monger was clinging painfully into the counter in front of him. B.O.B.´s crying next to him was the only sound he heard in this silence that had followed the projection. This and the shocked breathing of Kayleigh who sat on the floor with her back pressed against the counter after she had been forced to keep up an act that had resulted in the death of another creature.

A hand lay down on Monger´s shoulder. He didn´t need to look up to know that it was Bryce. He couldn´t look up anyway. His eyes refused to leave that empty space in the sky where he had seen the Link being executed. And he hadn´t been able to do anything but watch it happen. He just couldn´t believe it. How could it have come so far?

...

In her robot Gallaxhessa hit the console with both of her fists in anger and frustration. She had really done it. Susan. She had really allowed that her friend was killed. This human carrier was no better than all the others. Gallaxhessa had believed, truly believed that as soon as she would threat her with killing the Link, a creature she had claimed to be her friend, that she would surrender. She hadn´t done it. She had watched him being hurt and suffering agonizing pain and yet she hadn´t come out.

Gallaxhessa was angry. She hadn´t even intended to go all the way through this act but this stubborn refuse of the carrier to come out, had made her snap. So she had ordered to kill him and still Susan hadn´t come out. Once given an order she had not been able to go back from there. That would have shown weakness and that was something she couldn´t allow. So she had finished the act. They had made her finish the act and that thought made her angry again. Because that also meant she had nothing left to put pressure on the carrier. She surely couldn´t tell them that it had been an act. And that made her even angrier.

For a nanosecond she considered trying to put pressure on the carrier with the other monster, the Cockroach. But then she dismissed the thought. If it hadn´t worked with the Link why should she care about the Cockroach? Oh, Gallaxhessa was so angry. No more than angry. She was furious. She had really believed that she would come out to save her friend. She had believed it because he had made her believe it. He had believed it.

In her rage she hammered her fist down on the button and called her clones in Las Vegas. She didn´t need to demand talking to him. His face appeared at the screen right away, looking at her asking, obviously expecting some news about his friend the Cockroach. Now that was real concern. Seeing this increased Gallaxhessa´s fury again and every thought of talking to him subtle during this whole negotiation was forgotten and replaced by pure anger. She had faked the projection of him but the carrier hadn´t known that. For her and all the other humans Gallaxhessa had really killed their friend.

„I just wanted to let you know that your pretty little friend Susan, just let me kill you." she snapped at Link, before he even had a chance to say a word.

He blinked at her confused. „What?" he asked.

„I threatened to kill you to make her surrender." Gallaxhessa explained, still furious. „I faked a projection of you to make it believable. They just WATCHED while I pretended to torture you. They watched you die, Link! I don´t know why you still defend those creatures and call them your friends. They obviously give a damn about you!"

She stared at him for another moment, a moment in which he tried to take in these words and especially this outburst of her. At the end of her speech she had literally yelled at him. When he didn´t find any words, she just hit the button again and switched off the channel. She just didn´t want to hear anything now. There was nothing left to say. She had seen everything she had needed to see. And she had really started to believe him that there were some exceptions amongst humans. She should have known better. She should have known better.

She felt a tear roll out of her eye and wiped it away angrily. No, she thought. This wasn´t over yet. She had just started. They wouldn´t get away that easy. Eventually she would get them. And the Quantonium. She would make them all pay. Again there was a tear and Gallaxhessa hit the panel before her in frustration. She leaned over it, her head hanging low and just cried. Oh, how much she hated them. Now even more than ever before. They were all the same. All of them. There simply were no exceptions. They had just proved that.

...

It was cool and dark in the water. The little pool he had jumped in after the humans had chased him through this strange woods, was not his home planets ocean, but it was enough to hide in after he had suffered the loss of his mistress´ ship and with it of everything he knew was home estate for him. After the humans had landed he had been angry. He would have killed them if he would have had a chance to do so. But then they had started shooting and the anger was replaced by pure fright. The instinct of survival had taken over and when he had found this little body of water he had jumped in and hidden, not daring to come out again. Maybe the humans were waiting for him outside.

He was scared. This was a strange place and he was alone. The only familiar feeling he had been able to find, had been this place in the water. And there he was hiding. Only that now he wasn´t hiding just before those humans any longer. There were strange creatures in the water that scared him as well. They had been here before he came but they had been sleeping. Now they were awake and swimming around. They were big with extremities that were something between legs and fins and they made strange croaking sounds to each other.

The Crock-Dog felt deep down that they were related, cold blooded like him but they were still different. And they were bigger than him, what meant they could hurt him. So he stayed put. Always hoping that they wouldn´t notice him, that they wouldn´t decide that he would be a good snack. After a while he had got used to them swimming around. But then they changed. They had grown bigger, their fin-legs had become complete legs and now they were huge.

And then all the sudden they all turned around as if one of them had called the others together and they swam to the edge of the pool. They were leaving. Despite his fear the Crock-Dog´s curiosity took over. After a short hesitation he attempted to follow them. Just to see where they were going. He would keep a save distance though.

Slowly he surfaced the water and peeked out. The creatures were sitting and hoping around at the edge of the lake now, sometimes croaking to each other. They looked around as if they didn´t know the area very well. As if they hadn´t discovered it yet, and were in the process to do so right now. The Crock-Dog became more curious. He swam to the edge and watched them for a while, still safely hidden halfway under water. Only his head was looking out. He didn´t move. If one of them should look in his direction they would think of him as a rock.

After a while the creatures seemed to withdraw into the woods. The sounds of falling trees and cracking wood filled the area. The Crock-Dog wanted to see more and eventually decided to leave the water and carefully follow them. He sneaked over the grass and hurried over to a bush to hide behind it. From behind there he peeked over to the wood, where some of the creatures still sat. He had just gotten a better look at them when a sound from behind him made him flinch. He slowly turned around and looked up at the creature that had appeared in his back. It looked right back at him with its big amber eyes. Then it opened its mouth and croaked at him. He was surprised that the creature sounded confused.

All right. After I confused you guys properly too, I´ll shut down for today.

And thanks for reading.