A/N: I was watching "Listening to Fear" (the episode with the Queller) the other night, and it's explicitly said there that Buffy and co. have never encountered an extraterrestial before, and that this story is impossible. But we'll just pretend those lines of dialogue never happened, shall we?
"Please sit down gentlemen." Professor Walsh had gotten over her close encounter with Hostile 100 and was back to her brusque self as Dr. Angleman, Riley, and Traeten filed into the conference room. "We don't have much time. The situation is nearing critical-"
Suddenly every light in the room vanished, plunging the place into blackness. Shouts could be heard from outside the room. Walsh sighed. "See what I mean?" Her voice, disembodied by the darkness, sounded sardonically amused.
The lights flickered and came back on. Walsh sighed. "That's the fourth incident so far, counting the failure that led to the specimen's escape," she said. "Then there were the phone lines earlier today, an incident half an hour ago during which the coffee machine went berserk, and now this. It's only a matter of time before security systems fail, and we have another containment breach. We need all personnel concentrated here, to defend against the worst-case scenario. That means we can spare little for the Xenomorph problem, which Riley tells me is beginning to grow beyond our control. Riley, tell them what happened tonight."
"My team and Buffy encountered a full-grown Xenomorph in Weatherly Park," he said. "It was larger, more aggressive, and stronger than the full-grown creature Buffy encountered in her home. She thought that this creature may be the result of a sub-terrestial being captured and impregnated, and I'm inclined to agree. We subdued and captured it, though Mason was injured in the exchange, and it is now being held here. I'm told special measures have been taken to ensure its security."
There's an understatement, thought Professor Walsh. The alien was being held in a regular cell, but two M-60 machine guns mounted on motorized tripods were trained on it, linked to an automatic firing system. If anything entered the space outside the alien's cell, it would be torn apart by armor-piercing slugs in an instant. It rendered that section of the hallway impassable to Initiative personnel, but it would certainly minimize the damage of a breakout. Though no one knew what to do about the acid that would be spilled all over the place...
"The Xenomorph attacked us outside one of the entrances to the tunnel networks running beneath the town. Before we encountered it, Forrest noted blood and tracks leading into the tunnel. As the team was pulling out, I decided to stay behind with Buffy to investigate. We determined that the alien had captured a dog for impregnation by Hostile 100, assuming that it is breeding. At this time, an alien in prelarval form attacked us. I don't know what it was doing there. We eliminated the prelarval creature, secured its remains for study, then withdrew from the area. The bottom line is that Hostile 100 has chosen the old tunnels as its habitat, and two new Xenomorphs that we know of have appeared in the 48 hours after its escape."
Walsh looked pensive. "No new meteors have fallen anywhere near Sunnydale all week. There hasn't been so much as a shooting star. That rules out new organisms arriving from space. Which leaves reproduction." She turned to Angleman. "Is it possible? Could Hostile 100 be reproducing by itself?"
The doctor cleared his throat. "I've been reviewing Technician Hicks' notes, taken while Hostile 100 was captive, and have found nothing to support asexual reproduction, nor anything to discount it. We simply have no idea how these things reproduce. However, it does seem to be the only explanation for the new creatures. As for the rest, an underground habitat would be rather cramped for something of Hostile 100's size, but otherwise would be ideal while it was trying to hide from us. I won't be able to confirm the sub-terrestial hypothesis until I've seen the captive firsthand."
Walsh sighed. "You see the problem then," she said. "The Xenomorphs are multiplying quickly, and even a few are extremely dangerous. They've entrenched themselves where it will be difficult to locate them, and where they can move throughout the city undetected. And, due to these malfunctions, we don't have the manpower to deal with the problem without exposing the entire operation to destruction."
"Excuse me, Professor?" asked Traeten. "I might have an idea."
Walsh looked at him closely before responding. "Go on."
"One of the technologies Ravnon has developed thanks to our partnership with the Initiative is a small mobile laboratory based on your facility, complete with a containment area using the same electrical fields the Initiative does, and a self-contained power source. The product was meant for sale to biological field expeditions to hazardous regions such as the Amazon. We only have a prototype built as of now, but I think we can have it flown here from L.A. within 24 hours. You could then move one or two of your more dangerous specimens there while this business with the malfunctions is resolved."
It was a painfully obvious attempt to get his hands on the alien, thought Walsh. But it was also just what she needed. With her biggest internal threat secure elsewhere, enough personnel could be freed up to deal with the Xenomorphs once and for all. Let him poke around with the thing, she decided. As long as he doesn't let it get loose, I don't care what he learns from it. Once these malfunctions have ended, we'll get it back and it will become part of 314. Some good could come of this yet.
She smiled at Traeten. "We greatly appreciate your company's generosity in this matter, Mr. Traeten," she said. "Will you let me know when your facility has arrived?"
Traeten smiled back, as Riley and Angleman exchanged puzzled looks. "Of course, Professor."
"And then one of those crazy facehugger things that attacked you tried to jump Riley, but I grabbed it just in time, and-" Buffy noticed that Giles did not share her late-night energy for this matter, and in fact was yawning rather noticeably. She'd come to his apartment straight from the Park instead of going back to the dorm, once she'd realized the implications of what she'd found that night.
"Giles. Focus. End of the world here."
"Hrrm?" Giles managed to force his eyes open and look at Buffy, who was regarding him reproachfully for a change. "Well, it is three in the morning!" he protested. "Are you quite sure it's that serious?"
"Let's see... Each Xenomorph is 100 killing machine. It looks like somehow H-100 is reproducing, and has made two little monsters that we know of in two days. Plus there's that dog-"
"Yes, yes, I see." Giles was now quite awake, and began to pace. "You're saying that at this rate of reproduction, it won't be long before the Xenomorph population swells to a catastrophic level. And once the town can no longer hold them, and Hostile 100 begins sending its young out to establish colonies elsewhere..."
"Today the Hellmouth, tomorrow the world," said Buffy.
"I see. Forgive me for not being more attentive, it's been a rather trying day..." Giles stopped pacing and cleaned his glasses instead.
"Lots of book shuffling?" asked Buffy.
"Lots of book reading," corrected Giles. "After what Willow found on the Internet, I've been trying to find a clue as to how and why this egg, and possibly more, landed on our planet, as well as double-checking our research from yesterday to make sure whether this creature has been encountered before. But there's nothing, nothing at all in any of the manuscripts."
"That doesn't happen very often," observed Buffy.
"Indeed. Whatever we're facing, we're the first to face it," he said. "Oh, and that reminds me; Willow called while you were in the Park. She continued looking into that article she found, and found that the incident allegedly happened in the Mongolian desert, and that it wasn't Ravnon itself that was involved, but the Exploratory Expeditions Corporation, which the article claims is a front for Ravnon."
"Exploratory Expeditions?" asked Buffy.
"EEC for short," said Giles. "They're sort of high-tech prospectors; they go to remote places and attempt to locate resources for exploitation."
"Sounds like a good buyer for the kind of products Ravnon would develop while working with the military," Buffy said.
"Precisely. Ravnon itself is such a secretive corporation Willow was unable to find any links to it on the Internet, but EEC does have a site which she is investigating."
"Sounds good," said Buffy. "Anything else?"
"No, but I would suggest you ask Willow to have a look at the police patrols that were scheduled for tonight. What you described with that officer was extremely odd," Giles advised.
"No kidding," agreed Buffy. "Maybe I could also ask Spike what he knows about the layout of those tunnels, whether there's anywhere H-100 could squeeze itself into without needing a chiropractor. I wonder where he is..."
Spike suddenly felt a burning, horrific, intense pain running in a line from neck to left shoulder. He tried to scream, but there was something incredibly tight and foul wrapped around his face, blinding and gagging him. Despite whatever it was, he was breathing, steadily, constantly, something he hadn't done in centuries. He was dimly aware of loud, frantic voices, and the sensation of movement, but most of all the pain eating at him, and the unnatural, long-forgotten sensation of breath.
Am I alive? he thought groggily, am I dead? Is this Hell?
Sure hope the Master isn't here, was his last thought before sinking back into a black sea of oblivion, where everything made much more sense. Don't think eternity with him would be much of a party.