Chapter 20 – Intruder Alert
Weyland-Yutani Research Base
Beck slowly eased down the metal stairway, stepping on the landing of Sub-Level 5. His face was covered in bandages similar to Riggs. He and Riggs had suffered injuries when the Elf they had brought in earlier, and thought to be unconscious, attacked them. Beck drew his blaster and checked the corner around the stairway. His last order from Train had been to find Dr Messer and the little Elf twins and dispose of them, no questions asked.
To the left was a storage room, mainly used for medical supplies. Beck cycled the door open and entered the darkened space. After turning on the light, he scanned the corners and any other places where someone might think to hide. The room was empty. He turned off the light and walked out, making sure to cycle the door closed.
His next destination was the Medical facility further down. Beyond Medical was the Surgical chamber, which was mainly used for alien extractions. Beck almost reached the door leading to Medical when he heard a faint swoosh. Something slammed into his back with enough force to push him forward into the metal wall ahead of him. Intense pain quickly followed. Beck turned around to face the elevator and stairway at the other end. Someone emerged from a shadow on top of the elevator car. He recognized the Elf…and he was notching an arrow into a bow. Beck could barely feel his hands as he desperately tried to raise the blaster up to shoot.
Legolas raised the bow and stared down the shaft of the arrow aimed at the man. His instinct told him that this man had been looking to kill someone. Legolas did not know if he had been the target or someone else. But he sensed nothing good about the man.
Beck's eyes widened as the arrow was released and it impaled into his chest, directly into his heart. The force of the arrow sent him backward and the arrow that had impaled his back now broke completely through the front. Beck didn't have a chance to think about his dilemma because he was dead before slumping to the titanium floor.
Legolas was about to hop off the top of the elevator car when it suddenly began to move, heading up. Voices reached him and he quickly flattened himself, remaining in the shadow.
The elevator stopped at Sub-Level 3 and Legolas peeked out from above as two men entered the lift.
"Did you see the face on that last one, pleading and crying like a baby?" said Vaughn.
The lift began to descend.
"Yeah," said Darwin as he laughed. "Oh please, please, don't kill me! I have a wife and three kids…Boo hoo hoo!"
When the lift stopped on Sub-Level 4, the two men walked out.
Vaughn pointed to the two storage chambers on either side. "While we're on this level, check those storage rooms. I'll report to Train in Communications."
As Vaughn walked down the corridor toward the door leading to the Communications facility, Darwin entered the storage room on the left.
Legolas waited until both men were out of sight before he silently hopped off the elevator car. He unsheathed one of the knives and moved toward the storage room, leaning back against the wall beside the door. The man inside was moving things around, making enough noise to wake the dead.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are." Darwin pushed crates out of the way to uncover hidden areas. "I know you're around here somewhere, you meddling bitch," he mumbled under his breath.
Legolas waited until he could feel the vibration of the floor moving closer to the door. Then he jumped out in front of the door and buried the long knife in his right hand into the middle of the man's throat, cutting off any further sound. Legolas anticipated a struggle, but Darwin just stared at him in shock.
Blood trickled out of Darwin's mouth as he tried desperately to cry out for help. If he could only make a sound, Vaughn would surely hear it. He raised the blaster in his left hand, but the Elf grabbed it before he could get a shot off.
Legolas yanked the blaster out of the man's hand and then pulled his long knife out of his throat. He watched the man stumble backwards, his hand over his bleeding throat. He fell over several crates and then stopped moving. Legolas stepped forward and stared, just to make sure he was dead. Then he wiped the blade of the knife on the man's trousers before placing it in its sheath on his back.
There was an inkling of a memory that told him there were seven men he needed to deal with. He had killed three so far, including the one named Dr Leland. That left four more. Time to finish off the rest of the bad guys.
Blasts struck the walls and floor around Freak as he bolted down the corridor and hurled himself through the doorway of the Electrical Room of Sub-Level 1. Across the corridor was the Generator Room where Aragorn currently fired his blaster in the direction of the two Weyland-Yutani security men at the opposite end near the elevator.
Freak stuck his arm out into the corridor and fired his blaster a dozen times. Then he pulled his arm back and turned to Aragorn. "We gotta get to that elevator before they call reinforcements."
Aragorn had no idea what an elevator was, but he figured it had to be something located near the men they were shooting at. "What do you propose?"
Freak went into his tool belt and produced a small canister. "Smoke bomb."
Aragorn fired several blasts before staring at the item in Freak's hand. "And what do you do with it?"
Freak fired off several blasts of his own in the direction of the security men. "You throw it and when it hits the ground, a thick smoke fills the surrounding area and makes your eyes sting."
Aragorn ducked as two blasts struck the wall near him. "Toss it to me. I will throw it and go."
"No way. I'll go."
"Let me go."
"Fine. We'll toss a coin."
Aragorn frowned in confusion. "What is a coin?"
Freak rolled his eyes. He kept forgetting that the people on this planet didn't have a clue about a lot of things. "I don't suppose you know rock, paper, scissors?"
Ilmarin
Ariedel was staring out the window. At the sound of the door opening, she spun around and found Legolas stepping into the room. "Legolas!" She ran to him, flinging her arms around his neck and tightly embracing him. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."
"I have returned," replied Legolas, nuzzling his face into her hair.
Ariedel pulled away and looked him over. "What did they do to you? I don't see anything different. Are you all right?"
Legolas smiled. "I am fine. They did nothing to me."
"Really? Nothing at all?"
"Nothing at all," he repeated. Then he took her hand and led her to the bed. "Let us celebrate our reunion."
Ariedel went through the motions of undressing and then reclined on the bed. She watched him undress, visually inspecting him for anything to indicate that the Weyland-Yutani scientists might have impregnated him with an alien, or done anything worse. A moment later he joined her on the bed, wasting no time in moving on top of her. "Legolas, can't we talk about what happened to you before we do this?"
"No talking," he angrily said.
She frowned at this sudden change of attitude. He forced her legs apart and started to mount her. Something didn't seem right to Ariedel. Something about him had changed. She pushed at his shoulders. "Legolas, stop. I don't think I want to do this right now."
Legolas forged onward, ignoring her protests. "Do not fight me, Ariedel. It will only hurt more."
"What do you mean hurt more? What're you saying?" She continued struggling to push him off.
Suddenly he raised his head up and arched backward. What followed next scared the living daylights out of Ariedel.
Legolas started shivering and then he opened his mouth to release a painful cry. When he raised his hands and looked down at them, the skin began to crack in different places.
Ariedel's eyes widened as she watched Legolas's face suddenly split open. She screamed and tried to get out from beneath him. But his weight continued to hold her down to the bed. Bloodied pieces of flesh fell from him and landed on the clean sheets. She was repulsed by it and by what was exposed. Beneath the falling flesh was a grotesquely misshapen alien, with jaws far too large for his own face. The creature bent toward her, his foul breath nauseating Ariedel. He opened his jaws and hissed near her face. She turned her face away in fear and revulsion.
"Ariedel." The word uttered by the creature had barely been audible.
Ariedel slowly turned to face the creature that had once been Legolas. Just then his inner jaws shot out to strike her head.
§
Ariedel released a scream as she sat up in bed. A quick glance around revealed that the only other person lying beside her was her daughter, Anwar, who surprisingly hadn't been woken by her scream. The dream played over in Ariedel's mind and she wiped at the tears spilling from her eyes. It was obviously prompted by Thranduil's news of Legolas's capture.
Something terrible was happening to Legolas. She just knew it. The fact that Freak, Aragorn and Gimli had gone to rescue him didn't ease much of her concern. The Company was capable of anything, even in a matter of hours, especially if they thought it was going to benefit their overall picture of the future. Hopefully the worst case scenario would be that they had impregnated him with an alien and drew his blood to clone him. Lipinski could easily extract the alien onboard the ship.
Ariedel was more concerned that the Company scientists would kill Legolas after they had taken his blood. She nearly gave Glorfindel a seizure when she tried to get the exact time of Legolas's capture out of him. A little over two hours might have passed before Freak, Aragorn and Gimli would ever reach the base, not to mention the time it would take for them to enter the compound and perhaps deal with security and anyone else there. If Legolas had indeed been impregnated, then they would be cutting it close. They would have to hurry to get him to the ship for extraction surgery.
If he had been impregnated with an alien embryo…
Ariedel laid down again and rolled over on her side to face Anwar, who continued to sleep soundly curled up on her side in a ball. She reached up and brushed the hair from her daughter's face, gently caressing the girl's flawless Elven skin. "Everything will be all right," whispered Ariedel. "It just has to be."
A knock on the door drew Ariedel's attention and she quickly got up to answer it.
Arwen stood in the corridor, an anxious look on her face.
"What's going on?" asked Ariedel.
Arwen sighed before responding. "Gimli has returned and he is not alone."
"Legolas?"
Arwen solemnly shook her head. "Nay, not Legolas. Others are with him."
Ariedel walked out of the bedroom and followed Arwen.
Weyland-Yutani Research Base
"One…two…three!" yelled Freak as he tossed the canister down the hall while Aragorn let loose a volley of blasts from his pulse rifle.
The corridor at the far end quickly filled with smoke.
Riggs and Tucker began firing their blasters aimlessly, hoping to pick off the two targets down the hall.
Riggs activated his com. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Sub-level 1! We're taking on heavy fire! Someone get the fuck down here and help us!"
Train's voice sounded in Riggs' earpiece. "Beck and Darwin, make your way up there. Do you copy?"
There was no response.
Train's voice came again. "Beck and Darwin, do you copy?" There was a short pause before Train responded again. "Vaughn's on his way up."
Riggs and Tucker continued to fire as they stood side by side to avoid shooting each other. Just then something came at them on the ground and bowled them over.
Freak and Aragorn quickly stood up and each took one of the men. A brief scuffle followed, with some punching and pushing before the two men were rendered unconscious. Freak and Aragorn dragged the men into the Food and Refrigeration Storage chamber and then Freak shot into the panel near the door to disable the mechanism so they couldn't get out.
With that task complete, they headed for the stairway.
Legolas jumped down from the ceiling grid after the elevator carrying Vaughn headed upward. A moment before that, Legolas had felt the vibrations in the floor and jumped up into the metal framework of the ceiling just as Vaughn had exited the door. Now Legolas faced the door leading to Communications, knowing that the man on the other side of the door needed to be killed. He searched his memory but found nothing. He had no memory of the man, yet Legolas somehow knew he was responsible for something foul, just as he had known Leland was responsible.
Raising the blaster to inspect it, Legolas checked the strength of the power element and found it full. Once he terminated the life of the leader, any others would be fairly simple.
Sorry it was so short, but it made more sense to end the chapter here, Please review. Thanks.