Spins

Alley knew this was bad. She had no illusions about that. She stood in an armored bunker with the four guards and Jane as the odd group watched Lizbeth do a painstaking preflight. Jane hadn't spoken since Lizbeth had started to do what Alley commanded. Since she had realized exactly what Alley had done.

That was fine. Alley had no idea what she would say. 'I am sorry' just didn't cut it. Especially since she wasn't.

Yes, the odd pilot in his odder ship needed to be stopped. Lizbeth had a ship of her own and it too was space capable. It wasn't supra-light capable in the same way as the other, but according to what Alley had dredged up from Lizbeth's mind, the girl could make it do short range hops across some kind of barrier that would mimic such flight, allowing her to travel far faster and further than even the X-Com craft could. Its weapons were a match for the other and he would not be expecting an attack from that direction. They had a chance, which was more than could be said before. Lizbeth may have been a good person once, but now? She was an evil bitch and Alley was truly sickened by what she had found in the girl's mind.

"Matron." Jian had arrived shortly after Jane and her face said it all. She knew. She understood and she did not blame Alley like Jane did. Could she? Alley wasn't sure if Jian could actually argue with Alley. If not? That was whole other can of...well, something nasty. She was trying patch things up between Jane and Alley. As far as Alley was concerned? They couldn't be. Alley had done something truly evil. Unspeakably evil. It was needed, but that did not excuse it. Whatever the warrior was going to say next broke off when Alley waved a little.

"No, Jian." Alley said very quietly, not looking away from where Lizbeth was finishing up. "We have time, but not a lot. If he follows the same procedures as before, he will make four jumps before coming back in system. His first targets will be the X-Com Avenger and the Gobi base." Jian nodded, her face set. She had not moved from standing between Jane and Alley. She was trying to keep the peace. "Then Cydonia."

Everyone winced at that. It hadn't really been a surprise to anyone that the Lady had put her base on Mars. The 'where' on Mars had been a bit of a shock. It had taken even this incredible place's sensors some time to detect the Lady's hidden fortress. Cydonia wasn't a face as many had thought who had looked at the red planet through powerful telescopes, but it was a distinctive mountain. An easy to find landmark on a planet full of landmarks. Alley had never been there, few outside of the Lady's people had. Some people still thought that there was a face on Mars, but Alley had seen real time pictures taken by Advent cameras. The nest had been curious. (While they had been younger, Alley's nest had read lots of science fiction and fantasy pertaining to the Red planet in general and Cydonia in particular.) There was nothing. Just a mountain that now hid a precious secret. A free Ethereal and her people.

"Alley?" A worried voice heralded Doctor Cooper entering the bunker. His escorts followed him, Valere and the woman in armor both silent as the doctor took in the tense scene. "What has happened?"

"I am sending someone to stop the pilot." Alley said quietly. "You have two patients in a room down the hall." Doctor Cooper didn't move, seeing Jane's tension and Alley shook her head. "I did something very bad, Doctor. Jane is rightly upset with me."

"Whatever you plan, don't do it!" The man said with a sigh. "Do you have any idea how the Lady will react if you do anything dumb?" At that, Jane stiffened, but Alley shook her head.

"The Lady knows what I did." Alley said softly as Lizbeth turned to the armored window and waited. Alley bent down to a microphone and spoke. "Get it warmed up, Lizbeth. You launch in two minutes." Lizbeth did not acknowledge the order, just started for her cockpit. Doctor Cooper stared at the window and then at Alley, his face pale. "What I did, I did, Doctor. There can be no forgiveness for such. No matter what some may preach, the end does not justify the means. I took her free will from her and I will pay for that."

"The Lady didn't say." Doctor Cooper said slowly. "I can see why. Such an act… Alley… You are not evil."

"Am I not?" Alley inquired sadly. "What I did… I cannot say I took no enjoyment from it after she hurt me and far more others than anyone knew. I did. I enjoyed hurting her." Jane looked at the Viper but did not speak.

"Alley..." Doctor Cooper slumped. "I will tend the patients, but you… You better be here when I come back. Clear?"

"I cannot guarantee that, Doctor." Alley replied as she watched Lizbeth climb into her ship and shut the canopy. "If Jane doesn't kill me, my nest will."

At that, everyone stilled.

"No one is going to kill you, Matron!" Jian snapped, her hand on her spear. Jane hadn't moved at all, her face almost as expressive as a wall might be.

"They don't have a choice, Jian." Alley replied, still even. "I violated my word. I asked the nest and Jane to stop me if I did such. I did. End of story."

"Did you?" Doctor Cooper asked, an odd bubble of emotion in his tone. Not fear. Anticipation? Alley glanced at him sharply and he was eyeing her speculatively. "Did you really?" He shook his head. "I think I need a guide." He crossed his arms and it was clear he would not budge until Alley led him.

"I will show you to the room." Alley said as she spun and slithered towards the door. The doctor and his escorts followed her. Jane started to move, but Jian blocked the way and both warrior women glared at each other. Alley shook her head. "Your quarrels are with me, not each other. We can settle whatever needs to be settled after the threat has passed." Neither of them moved and Alley heaved a sigh. She looked at Doctor Cooper who frowned.

"Kristen." The doctor said to his escort who had never removed her helmet. "Keep them apart."

"Yes, sir." The fully armored woman strode to stand between the two and did not move, drew no weapon. Instead, her armor was suddenly glowing with powerful force fields. It was clear to see she wasn't going to budge. She looked from one to the other and did not move as Jane growled at her. She did not reply and Jane shook her head.

Whatever was said after, Alley did not hear as she slithered from the room and led the doctor and Valere towards the room where Maya lay with the pilot. And the other. Alley would have made the entire trip in silence except the doctor suddenly chuckled. Valere's face held shock as the doctor snickered. Alley just looked at him.

"Dang, Alley. You are good." The Doctor said with a grin as Alley stopped short. "They don't know, do they?"

"Know what?" Alley asked, making sure her face held confusion.

"Hmmm." The human who wasn't really one anymore said slowly. "Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't you make your nest and Jane Kelly swear to stop you, using whatever force was needed, if you used your Molecular Control power in an evil fashion?" He inquired. Alley felt her guts freeze as he shook his head. "Now, from what little I gathered with some difficulty since the Lady has been remarkably closemouthed even for her, you had to break this Lizbeth woman free of the Warlock's control." It was sort of a question, sort of not. Alley nodded, her face smooth. "That would have been psionic, not molecular."

"She was drugged." Alley replied, working to keep her tone offhand, but the doctor was not fooled.

"Was she?" The doctor slowly shook his head. "And… You acted evil in enslaving someone by using your unique power to neutralize a drug, or a host of them, in someone who was compelled to act evil and-" He broke off as Alley clamped a hand over his mouth! Valere gasped, but the doctor's eyes were twinkling! Was he smiling?

"No." Alley said in a very soft, but very insistent voice. "Doctor! Do not push this!"

"This is all part of your plan, isn't it?" Doctor Cooper said slowly when Alley released him.

"Doctor, I enslaved her." Alley said sharply, but again, the doctor was not fooled!

"Did you?" Doctor Cooper paused and then shook his head. "And... I was just told to drop this. You know by who. This is going to nag me, Alley. Mom..." That was heavily sarcastic "...knows I am not going to just 'drop' it no matter how insistent she gets, so… What do you need?" He asked as Alley stared at him. "You must have a plan and I am part of it."

"You have three patients, Doctor." Alley said as she started off again. The other two followed. "If Jane finds out about the third, we haven't seen bad yet. X-Com did something truly horrible and I do not know if we can fix it. We have to try. I have to do what I must but I am no doctor. Maya and the pilot… they need a doctor. Not me."

"Alley, your healing ability puts me to shame." Doctor Cooper's tone held no jealousy, only awe.

"They need you, not me." Alley said sadly. "I am not human. You are." Both Valere and Doctor Cooper eyed her and Alley shrugged. "More than me."

"Funny." Valere spoke of the first time. "You act more humane than many humans I have known." Alley eyed the Sectoid headed girl and Valere shrugged. "It is the truth. You are the very definition of the word 'selfless' Alley and I know why." Alley would not meet her pure black eyes and Valere's voice softened. "Alley, you are not alone. I woke up like this and went more than bit nuts as a result. I got better, but as a result, I know what it is to be different. To look different. You may be totally inhuman looking, but you are kind and gentle. You are not an enslaver!"

"Yes, I am." Alley spun and started forward again, making the pair of human shaped beings follow her. "You two need to stay in the room with Maya and the pilot. Maya will need help, the pilot probably will too. He says his name is Sam, like Maya's brother, but that one died, so I am not sure if that is true or not." Alley sighed heavily. "I bet his form in the ship is a thought form. A psionic sending given enough material strength to work items in the real world." At that, both Valere and the doctor hissed. "And yes, I know who did it and how to stop him."

"Alley… Doctor Cooper said very softly. "You cannot face him alone." Alley looked at Valere and shook her head the raw fear she felt from the pure black eyes. Then again, the Lady's people had felt he Warlock's raw power from a distance and knew all too well how such unbridled power cost.

"I do not fight alone." Alley replied. "This is not your fight. It is mine. You need to tend your patients, doctor. Valere? He will need you to scan… Well..." She shook her head again. "The Lady told me you were tech trained. You will see. Easer is helping Mina. You need to help Maya, Samuel… and Jenni."

"Jenn-" The doctor broke off as Alley entered the room where Maya lay with the pilot and he stopped short as he took in the scene. The two unconscious humans and the vat with the brain in it. "Oh no..." He breathed, horrified. "NO!"

"Hello Doctor." Jenni said from her speaker. "This not how I wished to meet you again." Alley knew they had met in passing during the mess with Hiloria, [(See fanfiction X-Com 2: Choices)] but not the particulars. From how Doctor Cooper sounded and looked? They hadn't parted as enemies.

"Oh..." Doctor Cooper looked as if he was going to spit, curse or faint. "Ah… Alley?" He inquired as the Viper slid back towards the door.

"You have your role to play in this, I have mine." Alley was quiet. "All three will need help. Do not leave this room." She warned. "I can guarantee your safety in here, but nowhere else in this base. He touched a lot of it."

"And the room is safe.. because..." Doctor Cooper stared at the puddle of purple goo on the floor that had been an Avatar before Alley had lost her temper. "Oh. Psionic reaction to that has to hurt."

"My heart bleeds." Jenni snapped form the vat. "This isn't what I planned. I messed things up, Doctor. Alley knows what she is doing, even if she won't say what she is doing." That was snide.

"Better that I am the only one who has this burden." Alley said quietly. "You need to talk, you and Jenni, Doctor. Stay. Here." That was a command and both Valere and Doctor Cooper nodded.

"You better come back." Doctor Cooper said with a growl worthy of Jane Kelly.

"I will do my best." Alley promised with a sad smile as she left the room and shut the door behind her. She didn't bother to lock it. She started off, but not back towards the bunker. Towards another door. She slid into the hangar and smiled as she saw the Veritech's canopy up as she had ordered Lizbeth to stay until she arrived. No one else knew what her plans were. No one would approve.

"Alley?" Jane's startled voice came from the intercom as Alley slid towards the waiting ship with all of the speed of her kind. Vipers were not the most durable of alien species. They were not the most powerful physically, technologically or psionically. What they were, was fast.

The speed of Earth snakes was well documented over short distances. All of them could reach speeds while striking of almost three meters per second. The strike of some snakes had been clocked at well over that! Vipers, while not Earth snakes, shared many characteristics with species more commonly known as the King Cobra and Spitting Cobra. Both of these were insanely fast in the wild. Not to mention incredibly dangerous to provoke. Kind of like Alley, come to think of it.

"Alley? What are you doing?" Jane managed as Alley coiled for a fast moment just below the open cockpit and then all but shot herself into area beneath the still raised canopy, eschewing the ladder that Lizbeth had not retracted. "ALLEY!" Jane screamed as Alley coiled up on the seat. The feel from Alley's partner changed to shock mixed with rage and sorrow! Jane had just put the dots together and was not happy!

"Go!" The Viper commanded as the canopy came down. Lizbeth did not bother protesting, she hit the controls and the twin exhausts of the small fighter ship roared to life as the door in front of them opened and a starscape appeared. Then massive acceleration pushed Alley to her seat even as she gripped it with her hands and mental powers.

"You have no chance." Lizbeth commented from where she was flying the ship. Alley did not react. "I will enjoy watching you scream while he tears you apart."

"Better that than what he did to the kids." Alley's cold rejoinder had the pilot tensing. "Or what I should say, what you did to those poor kids at his orders." Lizbeth didn't react and Alley's smile was a cold thing. "I had my suspicions as soon as I saw you in the base. You may be able to hide from normals and most psionics, but your molecular feel is distinct. You were the one who operated on those kids, who altered them to be disposable pilots and left them to a nurturer to raise as slaves for the Elders."

"You know nothing." Lizbeth muttered, but Alley wasn't paying attention as the area around the ship seemed to lurch and yes, it wasn't her imagination. The energy that surrounded it was purple! The Warlock was close!

"I know that he took you." Alley replied as she focused herself like never before. This would try her power and her control like nothing else she had ever faced. "I know you were in charge of the base. I know X-Com had no idea at all of what you did there."

"The world needed protection." Lizbeth said slowly. "It wasn't my fault."

"That he came and took the base, and you, with barely any effort?" Alley demanded. "No, that wasn't your fault." She shook her head as the world turned bright purple. "What has happened since, yes, that is your fault."

"I didn't have a choice!" Lizbeth sobbed that. Alley's next words made her stop in mid-sob.

"I know. I am about to give you one. Choose well, girl."

"What?" Lizbeth asked, confusion warring with her fear and pain. "What do you mean?"

"And…. Now."

Without any sense of transition, Alley and Lizbeth stood in a wide open room. The walls were Elder metal, but suffused with purple energy. Various evil looking pieces of machinery pulsed with energy both alien and psionic around the area, but it was the blue skinned being who rose form the throne he had been sitting on who took all of their attention. Lizbeth moaned in fear and all but feel to her knees, but Alley dd not react even as the Warlock smiled at her, pointed teeth gaping wide.

"Well, my dear. This is unexpected." The Warlock sounded amused. "I see Lizbeth is being herself. Pity she was so stubborn, but she proved a useful tool even after I broke her." Lizbeth all but buried her face in the floor as Alley just looked at him. He frowned slightly as Alley looked around.

"A throne? Really?" Alley inquired, her tone curious instead of angry or even concerned! "The Elders never needed thrones. Please tell me you are not compensating for something."

"You know you have no chance against me, slave." The Warlock seemed to pulse with power as Alley's tone cut him to the quick.

"And you know that what you did here is forbidden." Alley retorted. "I have no doubt that you can break me, given enough time. But you don't have that time."

"Oh?" The Warlock inquired. "The bomb you placed in the ship is an infantile trap."

"Yes." Alley's smile was one that only a Viper could produce. "It is." The Warlock stared at her, nonplussed for an instant and then he smiled broadly.

"So, you have come to join me?" The blue skinned former enforcer of the alien overlords of Earth asked. "I see your power imprinted on Lizbeth. You seem to be of like mind with me."

"No. Key word there, 'seem'." Alley retorted. "You see, this place is hidden from all but your servants or those you wish to corrupt. Bringing me here was bad idea. This is the last vestige of your power. A power you stole from Lizbeth and used to corrupt that base along with the soul of a young man who dreamed of flight." She shook her head slowly. "I do wonder. Did you enjoy it? Hearing those children scream as they went into Lizbeth's tender care?"

"I did." The Warlock smiled wider, but paused as Alley sighed. "What?"

"Part of me hoped I could explain to you how useless this conflict is." Alley coiled herself slowly and carefully, raising her head and expanding her hood. "But you do not understand, do you? You truly are not capable of understanding why the Elders forbade crossing the boundary that you breached. Forbid traveling to this place that you forged into this hidden base from which to launch your conquest of them and everyone else."

The Warlock stared at her and then his face hardened. "You will serve."

"I do serve." Alley retorted. "But not you. Never you."

"You think that now-" The Warlock started, only to be drowned out by piercing shrieks of sound from the distance. Coming closer! "What? No!"

"Surprise, asshole!" Alley struck, grabbing Lizbeth and fleeing even as the squadron of TIE Bombers flew close overhead and dropped their payloads on the Warlock's head.