AN: This has now been beta'd
Something slammed into Gemini with, if she'd be human, bone shattering force, sending them both flying through the air until they both landed awkwardly and began rolling down a hill inside the Bio-dome. They came to a stop at the bottom of the hill with Gemini finding herself firmly pinned beneath another body with strength equal if not greater than her own. Gemini looked up to find a large girl a top of her pinning her down with her arms, arms which had the same ridges on them as Gemini except that they spread further and covered most of her arms. Looking the girl over Gemini also noticed another thing, girl had a tail made out of the same chitin exoskeleton looking rather like a scorpions tail swaying from side to side behind her.
**Hiya** The thought came across from the other female hybrid cheerfully looking down at her, her long hair falling around her face covering most of it. Gemini frowned at the other girls cheerfulness, she herself wasn't in the best of spirits after being tackled, so pushed the other girl off of her and rolled to her feet with a single graceful move that humans simply couldn't do. The other girl sat up on her haunches with her tail sticking out behind her to counterbalance her weight and cocked her head curiously at the Gemini, watching, observing and considering her.
**So they made another one?** The girl asked her telepathic voice having an strange underlying metallic ring to it.
Gemini nodded, it was obvious they had made another otherwise she wouldn't be here and licking her lips, tried to asked a question of her own using telepathy. **Who are you?**
The girl paused to consider the question and for a while Gemini thought she hadn't done it correctly then the other girl offered her right arm out show the brand XH-11 in her flesh on the inside of her arm. **They say my names this** she replied referring to the brand on her arm.
Gemini frowned again **That's not a name**
XH-11 dropped to all fours and prowled around Gemini, circling her and looking all the world like a black panther with the black fatigues she was wearing and her chitin arms and tail, the sight seeming both perfectly natural and alien in a fairly disturbing kind of way. Then pausing about three quarters the way around Gemini she looked up at her and asked: **And what would be your name then?**
**Gemini** Replied Gemini without any hesitation
**hmmm….. the others call me Aya** Replied Aya after musing on Gemini's name
'Others?' Thought Gemini with interest
**Sure, I'll take you to them** Responded Aya to Gemini's thought as a question even though she hadn't meant it as one. Aya quickly disappeared into the foliage of the Bio-dome leaving Gemini struggling to catch up as Aya covered the ground quickly on all fours, weaving in and out, up and over tree branches and bushes. They continued until they came up the fake cliff faces that covered the other side of the bio-dome.
In a small group at the bottom were a group of 3 other hybrids, all female and they all had tails but there were obvious differences between them. A taller one laying on top of a boulder had chitin exoskeleton pipes sticking out of her back and most of her back was chitin which merged into human flesh at her sides, she was the least human of the group although you could still see the human in her. The other two were rolling around on the floor play fighting, trying to pin one another down but stopped the instant they noticed someone approaching and tensed as if to fight but relaxed slightly when they saw Aya although still seeming warily about a stranger in their domain.
'Fair enough' Thought Gemini 'I wouldn't totally trust a stranger either' This time she managed to keep her thoughts to herself 'Heh…. Getting the hang of this mind speak'
**Aya?** They questioned in unison, the thought being broadcasted widely and both cocked their heads to the side in unison, obviously wondering who was the stranger with Aya. It was actually kinda cute……. if you could call any of her kind cute.
By looking at them Gemini could tell that they were twins, they were exactly the same height, had similar markings to one another and seemed totally identical. 'I dread to think how I'm going to tell them apart' thought Gemini.
**Tia, Mia this is Gemini** Aya introduced them using her telepathy on a wide band as she stood back up on her hind legs, the twins seemed curious towards Gemini but keep their distance, it was then that Gemini took in the size of everyone around her. Aya was much taller than her, maybe about 5 ft 6 inches while as the twins where the same height as Gemini coming in at 4 ft 10 inches but she couldn't tell the height of the other hybrid lying down.
**Gemini** Aya was now addressing her **These are the twins Tia…** Aya mentally projects an image of one on the right **…and Mia** Then an image of the twin on the left. The twins somehow sensing their being talked about both nodded at Gemini in unison.
'Do they always do that?' Gemini wondered
The twins were now curiously looking behind her, noticing her lack of tail. **What happened to you tail?** The thought laced with curiosity came from Mia.
**Never had one** Gemini replied to Mia's question
**I don't know what I'd do without my tail** Thought Tia to everyone, holding and almost hugging her tail in her arms before letting it go and having a few practise swipes with it. The tails themselves where almost purely chitin exoskeleton and had a blade or barb on the end which looked vicious, so on the whole weren't the most cuddly thing in existence.
Remembering the numbers branded into their skin Gemini asked **Which numbers are you?** at the blank, confused thoughts sent back, she mentally prompted ** …the numbers on the inside of your arms**, to which Gemini ended up with a pair of upturned arms which had the numbers XH-10a branded on Tia's arm and XH-10b on Mia's arms.
Then the twins as if one became bored with the conversation, immediately went off running and squealing playing a game that obviously involved a lot of tackling.
Which left Gemini wondering how short their attention spans were. This thought was reward with a thought giggle from a source she didn't recognise but obviously Aya did, as her mind radiated amusement.
**That's Naomi, she's the eldest of us** Aya answered amusedly to Gemini's confusion about who had giggled and point up at the other hybrid on the rock.
Naomi herself was caught between amusement and indignation. **Thank you very much Aya but I'm only 4 months older than you** Naomi thought towards the two, before hoping down from her rock and landing on all fours before straightening up in front of Gemini but not actually looking at her **So you're the new one they made, huh?**
Aya as if by some unspoken cue generally transmitted an image of Gemini presumably to Naomi, one thing that caught Gemini's attention was that the image wasn't in her Heat vision but instead in the normal human eye sight of being able to see colours. Gemini took a second to marvel at how different the world looks though a different pair of eyes.
Then Gemini sensed that Naomi was sensing her amazement with an almost sad longing, when Gemini send the telepathic equivalent of a question mark Naomi replied **The only way I get to see the world is though other peoples eyes** Naomi sighed **Which means rarely…. The human's have a saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" …well in our case a picture is a thousand words… its that much harder to send**
Gemini suffered brief confusion on Naomi's words until she realised that Naomi was actually blind… which probably explained the not look at her when talking. Naomi following Gemini's train of thought and replied
**I'm XH-09 one of the earlier experiments that actually survived however I am not with out my faults, none of us are which is why they keep making new ones in an attempt to improve, make us more like them just stronger more powerful.**
It was Aya which spoke up first **She's our leader, just because she's blind doesn't mean that she's any weaker with the higher amount of… what was it the humans call it?… ah yes Xeno DNA she's got sharper senses and stronger muscles than all of us.** Aya's thoughts radiated sudden amusement ** She could always beat me… still can**
Gemini nodded at this, you could see the extra chitin and pipes along Naomi's body, she actually looked more alien than human then it was no wonder she was more powerful.
************
Gemini spent the next week with her family just messing about and getting to know everyone, the scientist were taking their time in constructed a new containment room, not that Gemini was complaining. A lot of the time she spent by play with the twins which despite being older than Gemini seemed to have a very child like attitude to the world. When Gemini questioned Naomi about this she was told it was because the genetic memory wasn't as stronger with the twins leaving them literately younger minded, not that it matters as she wouldn't wish them to be any different.
Naomi herself spend most of the time resting and sleeping probably due to her faulty metabolism and Aya was always stalking around, patrolling around the Bio-Dome continuously despite the fact nothing could enter without them sensing it. That was another thing that had happened, Gemini had become accustomed to the others mind and could feel them just on the end of her consciousness all the time which itself was a great comfort. It was during one of Aya's little patrols that Gemini had decided to join in on that a sickly sweet smell begin to pour into the dome, Gas Gemini thought as she fell into unconsciousness.
************
XH-013 AKA Gemini sat on the edge of a cold metal examination table with her hand handcuffed together and the handcuffs chained to the table. She was wearing new clean medical gown, which provided her some warmth in the air-conditioned medical lab, the old one had became stained from her time messing around in the Bio-dome, she personally blamed the twins and their secret love of tackling people. The room she was in had two doors in it and at each one there were two guards posted with machine guns. 'Hmmm… escaping wouldn't be much fun' Gemini thought
The room she was in appeared to be some sort of medical examination room and had two examination tables in it, on the other table sat a girl, she had a resigned air around her as scientist took blood samples, poked and prodded her.
Scientist's that she didn't recognise hurried around the room, taking data from both her and the girl sitting on the examination table and then inputting that data into the scientific equipment that lined the room. Well that's what Gemini assumed they were doing, with her eye sight she could tell what was on the monitors and they could have been secretly playing Pong for all she knew… She doubted it but you never knew with these scientist types.
Gemini watched the scientists with a detached eye as she sat on the edge of her table before deciding they where boring and turning her attention to the girl sitting on the other table. Unlike herself the girl didn't appear to be handcuffed or chained in anyway and was just sitting docilely on the table of her own free will apparently.
Gemini guessed she was probably about 15 years old with shoulder length hair and was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, Gemini then paused and mentally thanked her human half of her mind for all these little tidbits of information. The one thing that attracted XH-013 attention about this girl was that her skin temperature was higher than it should be, it was like she had a fever yet didn't appear to have any other symptoms and wasn't acting like she was sick.
Gemini was musing over the puzzle of this strange girl when Dr's Matthew's, Johnson and Blackwell came into the room, followed by a third man who was tall, well muscled and seemed to have the same too high skin temperature as the girl. The scientists were currently talking to him as they walked into the room.
"Dr Wesker the preliminary test we ran on the girl suggest that the genetic mutations you were worried about will not be a factor in the transformation and that it should proceed with only minimum mutations….." Dr Matthew's rambled on, Gemini toned her out as she noticed both this Dr Wesker and the girl seem to relax at the news..
'Well even I'd be worried if I thought I was going to start mutating' Gemini thought as she wondered exactly who this girl was but was knocked out of her train of thought as Dr Johnson and Dr Blackwell began fighting.
"No! Absolutely not! I'm not going to be the one to take a blood sample this time!" yelled Dr Johnson waving his arms about gesturing causing Gemini to grin in memory. The other girl just looked curiously from Gemini to the shouting doctor with obviously no idea what was going on.
Dr Blackwell looked at him with a patient expression "It was only a little acid…."
"Only a LITTLE! Look at that!" Dr Johnson ranted shoving his hand in Blackwell's face "That's going to leave me with scars for the rest of my life"
Dr Blackwell rolled his eyes "Fine then, I'll take the blood sample but you can be the one to run it down to the lab"
"I'm not carrying a test tube of that things blood down the corridors I'm telling you now!" Dr Johnson retorted thinking about the acid spilling.
Dr Blackwell got a pained look on his face and rubbed his face "Then take a containment box"
Dr Johnson opened his mouth to retort then stopped and muttered an "Oh…." Before wandering off.
Dr Blackwell came up to Gemini, slightly nervous she could tell from his scent although he didn't show it and stuck the needle in her and taking blood sample, this time the needle didn't melt or fall apart making Gemini pout with disappointment.
Dr Blackwell noticed Gemini's pout and stared suspiciously at her before walking away to give Dr Johnson the blood sample and then went over to the other side of the lab to do some sort experiment.
Everyone was now on the far side of the room and paying no attention to them, so Gemini decided to have another look at the girl and caught the girl staring. The strange not sick girl averted her eyes but every now and again would glance back curiously at Gemini until after a few minutes when she worked up the courage to speak.
"Who are you?" she asked quietly looking at Gemini "Can you talk?".
Gemini glanced over at the scientists, who where still to busy in their discussions or experiments and decided its was safe enough to answer. "Gemini" replying quietly so the scientists wouldn't overhear the conversation, she'd rather have them underestimate her capabilities and believe she and her siblings couldn't understand them.
"Oh… I'm Birkin, Sherry Birkin." The girl, Sherry replied after a moment of thought. "Where were you…… I mean…. Where do you come from?" she asked curiously staring at the chitin ridges on Gemini's arms.
Gemini smirked with irony "here". It was all an answer required as Sherry fell silent again obviously thinking it over as she did so she rubbed at a spot on the inside of her arm and when Gemini looked, to her surprise she noticed Sherry had also brand on the inside of her arm. It wasn't the same brand as on Gemini or her sisters arms, the numbers where T – 045 and it had a image next to it which looked vaguely like something in Gemini's memories………. Ah yes, a DNA helix… that was it. It was an image of a DNA double helix on her arm.
Now it was Gemini's turn to be curious as she nodded towards the mark on Sherry's arm and asked in a low voice not more than a whisper "What's the brand for?"
Sherry looks at Gemini, as if deciding she can trust her, she decides they are both more or less in the same boat and so replies saying "My father… He changed me before I was born… he erm….. Genetically engineered me with the T-virus…. Meaning I'm turning into a Tyrant"
Gemini raised an eyebrow "Tyrant?"
Sherry licked her lips before continuing "A super soldier created by the T-virus" she stopped to look over Gemini before asking across in a low voice "So what's your story?"
"I'm some sort of hybrid between humans and an alien species…… I can remember stuff from my human side which is strange but…. Useful"
Gemini paused.
"look don't tell anyone I can talk or understand them okay?" Gemini asked in a slightly hard tone.
Sherry looked up shocked "why?"
Gemini rolled her eyes "Because I want them to underestimate me and it'll… Shhhhh" She cut of when Dr Wesker and Dr Matthews broke off their conversation and gave Sherry a quick glance implying painful things if she said anything, judging my Sherry's gulp Gemini guessed she understood.
"Yes well that's hopefully what the administrator will think too…. Hello Sherry" Said Dr Matthews as she reached the two medical examination tables they where Sherry an Gemini were both sitting on.
Sherry ignored Dr Matthews and looked up at Wesker as if asking what was going on.
"We'll be staying here for a while….I'll tell you later come on" Said Wesker indicating she was to follow him and began to headed out of the door. Sherry hopped off the table and followed him out of the room, giving Gemini a brief look from behind Dr Matthews's back.
Gemini was then left alone in the labs with the scientists who poked and prodded her with their various instruments for another half an hour until she was lead again by a security force of 12 men, this time to a metal cell.
Looking around the small cell which looked unsurprisingly like the one she first woke up in except this time the floor felt like a new type of metal, she settled herself down to wait for ….. whenever the scientist wanted her again, but she couldn't shake this feeling of foreboding