Lex squinted through the rain and the strands of soaking hair plastered across her vision. Despite the gloom of the storm she could just make out the shape of Scar standing in front of the tower. She saw him turn towards the Queen and bow to her; a gesture of pure, mocking arrogance.
She knew him well enough to guess what was going on in his his mind "Making me pregnant after all this time; he thinks it's a sign - thinks he's untouchable! Why doesn't he just get himself back here?"
She yelled his name, calling him back, the wind stole the words out of her mouth and hurled them away into the night. She tried again.
This time he turned… even over the distance, even wearing the mask; she knew he was looking at her face. She locked her eyes on him, willing him to come to her.
All at once a she noticed the Queen had stopped her mindless thrashing and become still. Now that deadly intent was focussed on the grapnel attached to the deck. Scar hadn't noticed – he still had his back to her as she gripped the chain and gazed along the length of it curiously, testing its attachment to the deck.
Then, weaving her long, thin fingers through the links she began to pull.
Lex felt a terrible sinking in the pit of her stomach as she realised what the xenomorph was about to do.
"Scar! The Queen!" She screamed, but he couldn't hear over the noise of the storm.
The tower was already under immense tension bearing the Matriarch's weight. The struts resisted for a few moments but they were no match for the vengeful mother and her hunger to get closer to her mortal enemy.
At the sound of rending metal he spun round, saw the threat and sprang away. Her heart lurched in her chest, worried that – fast as he was – it wasn't going to be fast enough.
The collapsing crane hit the deck of the platform, just missing Scar by a few feet. She watched in a slow-motion agony of paralysis as the panels gave way and the floor became a slalom; tipping the tower, the Queen and Scar all down towards the waves.
She heard him fire the grapple gun, the noise from the explosive charge only slightly dampened by the distance. She saw him hanging there – no longer falling – and air rushed into her lungs as she gasped with relief.
Then, just as it seemed the Queen might be about to go over the edge and into the sea, she threw out her only free arm and managed to arrest her fall, razor talons finding impossible holds on the slick metal. She was still attached to the toppled tower by three of her limbs. Lex could see the weight pulling her down but somehow… somehow she was still hanging there.
Then, to her horror, the xenomorph's other arm came free. She didn't know if the impact had damaged the crane enough for the grapnel to spring loose or whether desperation had given her added strength. As if in a nightmare, she saw that huge clawed hand reach out. Up and up it stretched, clutching Scar's ankle like the grip of Death itself. Immediately his arms snapped taut, stretched out by her dreadful weight as she strove to pull him down to her waiting mouth.
Fear rippled through Lex like physical pain, shocking her into action. As the hangar finally whirred into the open position she banged her fist down on the lock button and began to run towards them.
Just then, she heard a scream from the direction of the Chameleon and turned just in time to see – and this time her blood froze in her veins – Selim and Isaac! "Oh Jesus, what are they doing outside?!"
She veered in their direction, sprinting to try and intercept them, but in that instant she knew they were going to get there first and all she could do was watch. Watch her two boys race ahead of her neck and neck, running towards Scar… and the Queen.
Selim twisted at the handle of the bug thumper as he ran, trying to increase the weapon's power, setting to full capacity the way he remembered his Father had showed him. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when he got to the Queen but somehow this didn't seem very important. Suddenly everything else receded into the background, seeming muffled. Even his mother shouting his name sounded fuzzy to him as he ran on.
Through the rain he became dimly aware of Isaac keeping pace with him. Though everything else had faded away he could hear the other boy's breathing, it was almost as if Isaac were a part of him… like they were acting as one person. Selim frowned; he couldn't let his only friend face this danger.
"What are you doing Isaac?" He snarled without slowing down, knowing the other boy could match him stride for stride "You should not be doing this!"
"I'm not leaving Selim, I want to help you!"
"I must fight her. I am yautja and you are not!"
"Whatever you are is what I am! And if you fight then so do I!"
Selim grimaced, giving the thumper's handle a final twist, but he couldn't disagree. This was exactly what he felt; he wondered why he had tried to resist it. They were the same, it was wrong for them to be apart, no matter the consequences...
"Together then?"
"Together!"
As the two boys reached the top of the slope Selim saw his Father still hanging doggedly onto the grapnel line, massive arms trembling with strain as the Queen strove to drag him down with her.
"Father!" Selim cried out before he could stop himself and the masked face snapped up immediately in their direction.
"Selim! Isaac!" He bellowed furiously "Get back to the ship or I will skin you alive!"
His voice faded to a growl as the Queen pulled on his ankle even harder, heaving herself upwards. She looked up at the two boys with a malicious hiss.
The red mist descended on Selim then. Without a word, he seized hold of the quivering chain in his small hands and began to climb down towards them as fast as he could, Isaac following after him.
"Mei'Seika! Stop! Go back!" His father roared, almost as if he were in pain.
Suddenly his Mother appeared at the top of the incline "Selim!" She screamed "Isaac! Get back here! Get away from her!"
Selim felt their voices tear at him like blades. In the past he had found himself almost incapable of defying his parents – the twin deities of his universe – but now he couldn't seem to stop himself.
When his Mother saw he wasn't going to obey she began to scale down towards them both even her climber's skill couldn't bring her down fast enough. Not when he had a head start, not when his veins were filled with this terrible burning that made him leap forwards without even thinking about what would happen if he fell.
Mei'Sika – stay back! Please!"
Selim had never heard his Father sound like that before. It felt feel strange to hear him beg, but it was not enough to stop him.
He pulled to his feet still holding onto the chain, struggling upright, fighting against the storm. He felt Isaac wrap an arm around his waist, anchoring him, just as the Queen finally managed to pull herself within striking distance of all three of them. She reared above them, her mouth distended in an deathly grin.
"I am yautja!" Selim howled into that awful smile "I do not know fear!"
As the Queen struck, lunging down towards him, he struck back. He plunged the bug stick right between her terrible jaws and pulled the trigger.
Scar's arms and wrists burned with agony as he held onto the chain, the pain creeping along his bones and up into his shoulders. He had stopped being able to feel his hands a few minutes ago when suddenly he heard his son's voice and looked up. To his dismay he could see the slight figures of Selim and Isaac outlined against the stormy sky, standing at the top of the slope.
Scar had been totally concentrated on trying to save himself, but in that moment he was almost paralysed by fear. Seeing Selim so close to the yautja's most lethal quarry was terrifying beyond anything he'd ever known.
"Selim! Isaac! Get back to the ship or I will skin you both alive!" He roared, hoping that fear of punishment might drive them away. Selim ignored him and began climbing down the chain right before his eyes with Isaac close behind him. Scar was torn between fury at their disobedience, pride at their courage and sickening terror. He knew the matriarch would not shrink from taking the lives of these two children in return for her slaughtered spawn.
He hurled threats and pleas at them; hardly aware of what he was saying, only aware of the all-consuming need to get them away from the Queen "What is he thinking?" He raged inwardly "Even if he can get to me what does he think he… can …do…"
At that moment, he saw the black object in Selim's hand and he realised with a horrifying thrill exactly what his son was planning.
"No!" He thought "If Selim strikes the Queen with the bug stick and she is holding onto me, the current will pass through my body into the chain and from there into him and Isaac too! If the thumper doesn't stun her she will kill him. If it is a strong enough charge to stun her it will be more than enough to knock them unconscious; they will fall into the sea!"
All at once, he knew what he had to do.
In his head he could hear the words that the nightmare Lex Queen who was also the bitch goddess had whispered to him "This is what you desire, you and all your kind; Death..." But it was not true, not true at all.
He raised his eyes towards his son, taking one last look at him and the strange replica, knowing they would very likely be the last thing he would ever see.
Then he felt the hot breath of the Queen at his back; saw Selim rise to his feet, heard him scream defiance in her face.
Scar let go.
Lex saw Scar lose his hold on the chain an instant before the Xenomorph's head was lit from within by a bright blue spark, like a grisly jack o'lantern. Then her eyes were forced shut as white light burned away the darkness and there was a huge concussion as the full force of the current slammed into the Queen.
When she opened them again, blinking desperately, between flashes of white light she could see the Queen go down, collapsing like the skeleton of some prehistoric giant as the electricity disrupted all brain activity. They were falling – Scar and the Queen – their limp, unconscious bodies dropping away from her until they disappeared off the end of the slope.
Then they were gone, lost to the waves, the long chain dangling down the only sign that they had ever been there.
She had only a split second to realise herself what that meant, when there was a pitiful cry from beneath her, the sound of a heart that is breaking.
"NOOOO!"
She looked down to see Selim hanging from Isaac's arms as the clone tried to keep his grip on the chain and still retain his hold on Selim. Her son didn't even seem to be aware of the danger they were in, didn't seem to be able to do anything to help himself. He just hung there, reaching distractedly after his father.
"DADDY! No, NO, NOOOO!"
Immediately she shut her mind to everything else and resumed her descent as fast as she could, half abseiling and half sliding down towards them until she was able to grab a firm hold of them both.
Isaac was hanging on grimly but Selim was almost deranged "Mommy please! Please!" He screamed, his words barely intelligible in his distress "PLEASE! I have to get him back!"
She tried to hold him and say soothing words to him but he fought her – actually fought her – he was so maddened by pain "We have to save him!" He wailed.
Lex thought quickly, the spreading cloud of sorrow was looming up inside her, threatening to engulf her, but even now her brain was working to protect her children. Every second they stayed here put them in greater danger. The Queen and the falling crane had caused untold damage to the complex – not to mention the destruction of the bridge and Scar's explosives. How long would it remain afloat? Even now, she could feel it shake every time a large wave hit and to her they seemed to be lower in the water than when she had first come up on deck.
"We'll find him!" She said, not knowing if there was any hope "We'll get him Selim, but right now we have to climb up! It's not safe here!" She turned to the other boy "Go on Isaac, I've got him now." In reality she was worried that if he stayed, Selim might do something in his grief that would end up knocking them all off into the sea. At least she could give Isaac the chance to get to safety "Please!" She told him "Just start climbing!"
Isaac obeyed her slowly, in the manner of one who is shell-shocked – but Selim was clutching at her now, wracked by shuddering sobs.
"We can climb down Mommy," He pleaded "You are the best climber in the world, you can go and save him!"
"We will save him!" She told him urgently "But first we need to get to the shuttle! We can use it to fly down. Then we'll use the scanners to find him Selim, I promise!"
She forced herself to say the words even though somewhere deep down she knew she was lying to him and lying to herself too.
The rain had stopped but now a thick, dank layer of fog had seeped in from somewhere. The wind was still high and the sea still felt rough. She could hear the waves beating against the structure, the swell as big as houses "Scar must have been knocked unconscious by the current and he wasn't wearing his wristcom," She thought "And with the Queen holding onto him, there's no way he could have escaped the water… he must be…" She stopped herself, afraid of what she might do if she allowed herself to think about it "No! No." She told herself fiercely "He's not dead and we will find him; we'll scour the ocean until we do!"
Selim was looking at her, those luminous, innocent eyes blinking through tears and rain. It was heartbreaking to see how completely he trusted her; expecting her to make it all ok even though she couldn't, nobody could. She felt like she was betraying that trust but she also knew she had to get them both out of here.
"Come on," She said, crushing her own anguish "The faster we get to the ship the faster we can start looking!"
He nodded, her obedient little boy once more.
As quickly as she could, she began hauling him back up the chain. He made some efforts to climb himself, but his movements were clumsy and mechanical, like a zombie. Above them Isaac had already reached the top, pulling himself back onto steadier ground. She only hoped he'd have the sense to make his way back to the shuttle.
Lex struggled on grimly, having to do the climbing for both of them as Selim was a virtual dead weight. The fog was now so thick she could hardly see where the chain ended. It took her so long she almost wished she could do the same; give in to her grief and collapse; allow herself to slip down into oblivion. There were moments when the urge threatened to overwhelm her but she couldn't let it, for Selim's sake. Scar would not want that for either of them.
"Do not waste your time quivering with sympathy for me, soft meat…"
"I must have learned your trick for blocking out pain after all, you cold-blooded bastard," She thought dully "Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this."
She reached the top of the chain, about to haul herself and Selim both onto the deck … and froze.
For the second time that day she found herself looking up the barrel of a gun, into the piercing blue gaze of Diana Weyland.
Author's note: Don't hate me! I know it's been a while and this chapter is kind of a downer but believe me, this was always the way the story was going to go. It's not finished yet though. Hope you enjoy it, insofar as that's possible. Love and hugs x
