Chapter 37: Remember and Fight

It had been two weeks since the attack, things had been interesting and intense around the laboratory compound which now buzzed like a bee hive with activity. Jolene and her hive had started turning the labs into an actual hive, one that would be more defendable if an attack happened. They worked day and night with their sisters, using their building resin to cover broken windows, create tunnels, close doors, anything they could do to help themselves in an attack. One that they all knew would probably happen.

In the process they discovered many experiments and equipment that were undergoing tests by the company. Things like chemical weapons that had been created from xenomorph blood, pheromone sensors that were based on the vision that Amun and his kind possessed, there was even biological body armor that was being grown that mimicked their exoskeleton. The company had been busy making all sorts of things.

Then came the horror of what else was going on within the hidden labs of the underground complex. Organs, body parts and pieces of Jolene's daughters had been found in hidden room that had been tucked away in the farthest reaches of the labs. And every time they found more, it hit Jolene like a missile to the chest. She felt worst when she realized that some of these were her daughters that she had never gotten to name. The ones that she had lost. The ones that had nothing that they could be remembered by. So, as they discovered them one by one, Jolene did them one last favor, she gave each and every one of them their names.

These names were then carved onto the walls near the underground entrance of the labs where everyone who came to visit could see. It also served as a reminder of how much they all hated to fight, how much they all hated losing those they loved. It reminded them that they did not want to add another name to that wall. Bobby had taken it upon herself to add the names of those who had died from her hive to this wall of the lost.

As she used her claws to slowly carve their names into the metal of the wall, she felt worry creep into her mind, for she knew that Amun would not be happy to know who had been taken from them while they fought to free Jolene and her daughters. He had collapsed before she had the chance to tell him. She looked to the wall and let out a huff of air. Of the thirty of them that had stayed behind after Emilia had left, ten of her sisters names were now upon this wall. Ten more than she had wanted.

She placed her hand over their names as she remembered them. Erica...Sara...Angela...she would miss them all. As her claws slid down the wall over their names, she paused as she came to the bottom, where she knew she still needed to add one last name.

Abby had always loved her sisters, even though she did not spend much time playing with them. Bobby knew better. Her sister had always help when she had asked, without question. Abby would ask her questions that Bobby was happy to answer, no matter how silly they were. She would always answer. She had always seemed to love learning as much as she could.

Bobby's claws slowly began drawing the letters of Abby's name, it felt like a knife cutting into her very soul as she did every line. She missed her sisters, each and every one of them. Every memory of them ran through her mind, even the memories she had of their first hive, of the first home that they had ever had. Then, of the ones that were now buried in the earth of the jungle above her. Bobby's long, ebony head fell to the ground, she was tired of burying her friends, burying her sisters, burying her family.

As the images of her dead sisters flashed in her mind, her anger grew and grew. She had not realized that her lips had curled back, exposing her sharp teeth. A sudden sound caused her to snap her head up, she had unknowingly punch her fist into the wall. She pulled back her hand and looked to the throbbing knuckles of her clawed hand.

"Bobby?" The voice caused her to snap her gaze to its source, her anger still in control so her teeth and claws were present. She did not mean to let out the hiss that followed, it was a natural response.

Bobby realized her mistake the moment she recognized Jenna standing before her. The human recoiled a few steps and Bobby watched as a mist of yellow surrounded her, letting the xenomorph know that her friend was frightened. She watched as Jenna took a few steps back, not knowing if the alien would attack. Bobby closed her lips and lowered to all fours, needing to dramatically change her appearance. She then slowly approached the human, letting out a low purr while she did.

Jenna recognised the apology and put out a hand to Bobby, which the xenomorph meet and pushed her smooth head into. Jenna felt Bobby warm exoskeleton while her hand slipped along her wet carapace. It was a feeling that she did not mind, she was use to it being so physically close to Scarlette.

Jenna could also tell that Amun's first born was attempting to hide her sadness, considering she had caught her with a fist implanted into a steel wall. Jenna placed two hands under the drone's chin and lifted it so she could look at her face. Jenna smiled wide, hoping to take her sadness away.

"Hay girl, I know you're hurting." Jenna looked to the wall of names that Bobby had just been writing out and saw the half finished name of Abby. "You've lost so much, I know you must be tired of it. You still have so much though! Try to focus on that, love. You have a wonderful family who is here for you. Who are willing to fight beside you. You're sisters love you very much and are willing to stand by your side through thick and thin. You also have a father that loves you very much. Who is willing to travel across the world to fight for you. To save and protect you. Try to focus on that ok?" She comforted her friend while she stroked her long head. Bobby began to purr louder, letting her friend know that she was enjoying the comforting words.

Jenna went down to one knee to come down to Bobby's level, wanting to look into the dark void where her eyes should be.

"We will all get through this, we have quite the family now and we 'ant going anywhere. I promise." She said, still with her wide smile and kind eyes. Bobby brushed her face upon Jenna and continued her purr.

The moment was suddenly cut into when the sound of a siren and flashing red lights that took over the corridor. The volume of the alarm caused Jenna to cover her ears to dampen the piercing sound. Bobby quickly started to scan the area, looking for a cause to the alarm. She could not see anything in their area, so it had to be a problem somewhere else. There could only be one thing that would cause this big of a problem. Jenna looked to Bobby, who turned to face her as well.

They both took off down the corridor towards the chamber that was housing Amun.

Bobby waited as Jenna pressed the key pad to open the large metal doors, the alien was meet with a scene of panic. Jolene was upon the floor in front of the large cryo-tube that held the king, she was not moving. A few of her daughters were traversing her body in a frantic panic in attempt to wake their mother. Charles was hovering over Richard, who was now frantically typing away at the control panel, doing god knows what. Scarlette was pacing behind the two humans, but her focus was on her father.

Amun, who was still not awake, was twitching violently back and forth within the liquid of the tube. His body reacting badly to something. The beeping of the kings vitals could be heard from the computers and they were way to sporadic, even for a xenomorph king. Something was very wrong. Bobby moved to join her sister while Jenna moved to stand by Charles.

"What the hell is happening? What's wrong with him?" She asked as she approached.

"I don't know! He just..I dunno! Richard! What the fuck man!?" They both looked to the scientist. The man kept his eyes on the computer screens in front of him, tapping away with furious fingers. It took him a moment to realize that someone had asked him a question.

"His primary heart is failing. The secondary is attempting to compensate for the work load but its slowly doing the same. It's not big enough to take over for long periods of time." Richard said while he continued to play with the computer system. " It seems that, because of this, his internal temperature is rising dramatically...He can't cool off properly."

"Second heart?" Jenna exclaimed. 'What do you mean second heart?"

"He...has...two...hearts. Did I not say it in English?" The man snapped back. "His body is too large for a single organ to pump his acid blood around, so he has two it would seem."

"Well...fuck'n fix it!" Yelled Charles. The scientist turned in his chair to face the two, his face full of annoyance.

"It's not that easy, I didn't even know he had two hearts till four days ago. A queen only has one, and because I have had zero time to study your friend, I have no idea about his anatomy." Richard explained as he spun back around. " For all I know, he is dying."

The statement was followed by a sharp moment of silence from everyone.

"I swear, if you let him die, I'll let my girl here eat every bit of your insides while we keep you alive to watch." Jenna said as she grabbed Richard's shoulder and gave it a very hard squeeze to let him know that she was dead serious. Richard did not doubt the statement. The man kept working away at the computer. A swift kick to the chair her was sitting on reinforced the statement.

"Yes, yes, I get it, keep him alive or I die. Did it ever occur to your that I have no idea how to save him because he is so different from anything I have ever seen, hence my will to capture and study him?" He said as he spun in his chair to face the woman again, his gaze cold and serious. " I will do everything I can think of to keep him from dyeing, but I cannot say that it will work, I have no idea what will affect him and what won't." He turned back to the computers, turning his back to Jenna.

Jenna grabbed the chair and spun it around so that Richard's nose was almost touching her own.

"Fix it...NOW!" She yelled to his face, then spun him back around. The man did as he was told, more fearing the xeno praetorian that was watching him over the woman's shoulder. Never the less, he went to work.

Bobby came to stand beside her sister while they both kept their gaze upon their father. They shared a moment of silence before the first born spoke.

"What is happening to him?" Bobby asked, Scarlette slightly tilted her large crowned head towards her older sister, more surprised that she had asked the question than anything. She brought her gaze back to her father while worry radiated from her mind and hit Bobby like a truck.

"I have no idea, everything seemed fine then he started twitching, the machines started making strange noises, the humans started to panic...I do not know." The royal guard let out a long huff of air. "Then...Jolene seemed to disappear, her daughters started to panic and...I just...I do not know." The fear was obvious in her words.

Bobby looked from her sister to her father who was still twitching violently within his glass chamber. She mentally reached out for him, to see if he would respond in anyway, but nothing came back. Her father's touch was nowhere that she could find. Something was very wrong, but somehow she knew that Jolene was helping. She knew that Jolene was talking with her father, telling him that he needed to wake up, that he needed to come back to them. She knew...somehow she just knew.

Bobby broke off from her sister and made her way towards the dormant queen that now lay upon the floor of the room. Breathing, but still as a stone statue. Bobby watched as Jolene's daughters circled their mother, looking for any physical problem that they may be able to help with. They would look forever because the problem was far from physical. Bobby knew that she was within her father's mind, and that there was nothing they could do to help them.

Bobby moved to the large crown that was Jolene's head and placed her clawed hand upon it. She looked from the queen to her father and scanned his large figure. She knew that the queen was helping, she knew that Jolene would not let her father die.

"Do you know? Do you know what is happening to mother?" A voice asked Bobby as she stood, looking helplessly at the xenomorph king. Bobby turned to look upon a drone that was now sitting upon Jolene's crown, only a foot or so away from herself. Bobby looked at the alien for a moment before looking down at the queen that was breathing deeply. She did not know what to say to the little drone, she could tell that she was afraid, but did not know how to comfort her. Bobby took a deep breath and let it go slowly.

"She is saving my father...she is helping him come back." She raised her long head to look upon her king and in a very quiet whisper to herself. "I know she is."