A/N – Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, but I blame it all on the complexity of the dialogue I needed to come up with. To make up for it, it's a lot longer than most of my other chapters. You might need to break out the tissues for this one. Enjoy!

Chapter 21 – Under Control
Weyland-Yutani Research Base

Train spoke into a microphone at the communications station. "That doesn't sound like a survey ship to me based on your description."

"We hailed it and got no response," said a voice coming from a small speaker.

"And you say it was here before you arrived?"

"That's right."

"Okay, just stay put for now. Leland is almost done and I just want to make sure he's got the Elf under control. It shouldn't be too much longer."

"Fine. Just send us word when you're ready for pick up."

"Train out," he said before pressing a button to end the transmission to the Company ship currently orbiting the planet. Then he tapped the com device on his ear. "Let's complete our tasks quickly, gentlemen. Our ship has arrived." He waited for a response. "Anyone out there?" Still no response. "Goddammit," he said with a sigh and turned toward the door. When the door slid open, Train came face to face with a blaster, aimed directly at his forehead. He glanced at the individual on the other end. The Elf. If he was here, and fully dressed and armed, then that meant Dr Leland was either unconscious or dead.

Legolas pressed the barrel of the blaster against Train's forehead, forcing him backward into the room and away from the door, which immediately slid shut behind him. "You must be the one in command."

"Where's the doc? Did you kill him?"

"I know not who you refer to, but I will tell you that I have killed three thus far."

Train's eyes narrowed. "He would have been the one in the lab."

Legolas remained focused on his eyes as he reached his free hand to take the weapon from the man's belt. "Then the answer is affirmative. I killed him."

That meant the other two killed were his men. But the real problem was that the doctor was dead, which meant that the Elf was under no one's control. From the looks of him, he meant business.

"I also killed the three creatures kept in the chamber with the glass partition."

Train had no interest in the aliens. "So, what now?"

Legolas motioned to a chair. "You tell me."

"Tell you what?" asked Train, not moving.

The Elf grabbed Train by the front of his shirt and roughly shoved him backward.

Train fell into the chair, nearly toppling backward off of it. "Whatta you want from me? I'm just doing my job."

"What exactly is your job?"

"Security. I'm here to protect the people in this compound."

The corner of Legolas's mouth twisted upward, revealing a lethal canine. "Protect? And what about your men?"

"They follow my orders." Train glanced around, looking for anything he could use as a weapon.

"Your orders were to kill everyone in this compound."

Train couldn't figure out how the Elf could have known that. "No, that's not right."

"I heard your conversation with the ship in orbit. I stood out in the corridor and heard you through these walls."

Train frowned. First of all, the walls were solid steel and virtually soundproof. And secondly, how could the Elf have known he had been talking to a ship in orbit? "I don't know what you're talking about."

Legolas poked the blaster barrel against Train's head. "Stop testing me, human. I am no imbecile."

"Yeah, right. You're some kind of genius."

"Tell me why I was brought here."

"You should have asked the nutty professor before you killed him."

"Well I am asking you now."

"If it had been my choice, I would have dissected you."

Legolas moved the blaster downward and fired it.

Train's right kneecap erupted from the blast and he howled out in pain before turning to the Elf. "Mother fucker!" he spat out. "You're not getting anything out of me, so fuck you!"

Legolas aimed the blaster as Train's head again and leaned toward the man's ear. "I ask again, why was I brought here?"

The pain in his knee was blinding, but Train found his voice. "You hear through steel walls but you can't hear what I just said? Let me repeat it. Fuck you!"

"Your attempt at valor does not impress me."

"You might as well just kill me because I'm not planning to cooperate with you…" he paused as a bout of intense pain gripped him. As soon as he was able to breath again, Train continued where he left off. "Not…not in any way, shape or form, Elf."

"There is no doubt you will die, human. I just have not decided the manner in which to kill you."

The door suddenly slid open and Legolas whirled his head around to see who entered. At that exact second Train reached to push Legolas's wrist up. The blaster discharged harmlessly into the ceiling. But Train misjudged the Elf's reflexes. With his free hand, Legolas drew one of the long knives and plunged the blade into Train's stomach. Train grunted and stared in shock. After extracting the knife, Legolas pulled Train to his feet and held the man in front of him before turning to face the doorway.

Train felt the blood rushing from the wound in his stomach and he covered it with both hands. But between that and the blood flowing from his knee, he knew he wasn't going to last much longer. His eyes lifted toward the doorway as Vaughn entered, followed closely by two other men. He immediately recognized one of them. Dane Truman, better known as Freak. "Look…look what the…cat dragged in," he managed to say before he died.

Legolas felt Train slump and he quickly grabbed him around the neck to continue using him as a shield while taking aim with the blaster.

"Don't shoot!" yelled Vaughn.

Legolas pulled the trigger, releasing several blasts into Vaughn's chest.

Freak and Aragorn dropped Vaughn and quickly ducked back through the doorway as Legolas fired upon them.

"Legolas," yelled Aragorn. "We have come to rescue you!"

Legolas looked into his memory, trying to recall the familiar voice. "You should be asking who will come to rescue you," he called back.

Aragorn shrugged toward Freak when the man gave him a look. "Do you not recognize your own friend?" continued Aragorn.

"I do not recall having friends!" He dropped Train and held the blaster with both hands, aiming it at the doorway.

Aragorn turned to Freak again and before the other had a chance to stop him, the king of Gondor stepped out of cover. He slowly entered the other room, seeing his friend holding the blaster, aimed directly at him. "I am still your friend."

Legolas scanned the man's face. Nothing came to him. Not a single memory. He watched the man lower his weapon to the ground before straightening again and raising his hands. "I do not know you," said Legolas.

Aragorn frowned and took another step forward. "Do you not remember me? I am Aragorn, your friend."

Legolas clenched his teeth in anger as he continued to search his mind for this man. "You have ten seconds to convince me or I will kill you."

Aragorn was startled by the sight of canine teeth in Legolas's mouth, but he continued anyway. "You have known me all of my life. Estel, they called me. We have been on many journeys and battled in many wars together. You have many friends. And you have a wife and three children. Do you not recall them either?"

Legolas looked away, desperately searching his mind to confirm what the man said. He had friends and a family. No images greeted him. There was nothing. As he turned back to the man, he sensed no deception coming from him. The man was being sincere.

"Please, Legolas. Allow us to help you." Aragorn looked Legolas over, trying to see if anything else had changed about him.

"Why am I here?" asked Legolas.

Freak stepped through the doorway at that moment and he kept his weapon facing up and non-threatening. "I'll answer that. You've been used as a science project for some Company assholes who think merging an alien with another being is going to solve all of our goddamned problems."

Legolas shifted the blaster toward the other man. "What do you mean by merging?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but in a nutshell, they gave you a bunch of alien traits."

"Alien?"

"Ugly black creatures with lots of teeth."

Legolas remembered the three creatures he had killed. So the doctor had altered his DNA. Then he frowned at the fact that he understood what it meant. Genetic Engineering came to mind. He slowly lowered the blaster in resignation before turning to the one named Aragorn. "You say you know me?"

Aragorn nodded. "I know you well, my friend."

"Why do I not remember anything? Why do I not know who I am?" he asked in frustration.

Aragorn cautiously moved closer to Legolas and finally reached a hand up to squeeze his shoulder. "We will find the answers, Legolas."

Freak moved toward the door. "Look, I wish we could sit around and figure this all out right now, but I've got a job to do here. This place needs to be history before the damn Company ship comes to claim you."

"The ship is already here," said Legolas and then he pointed to Train lying on the floor. "I heard him communicating with it."

"Shit, then I suggest we get going."

"What must we do to destroy this place?" asked Aragorn.

Legolas stepped toward a console opposite the communications station. He looked down at it and then began to type on the keyboard without even thinking. Thoughts formed in his mind and his fingers followed what he did not understand.

Freak raised his eyebrows and took several quick steps toward the console. "What're you doing?"

"Self-destruct sequence." The words had formed on his lips before he realized he had no idea where they had come from.

Freak turned to Aragorn with a frown and then back to Legolas. "So you know what you're doing?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.

Legolas continued typing on the keyboard, watching the commands scrolling on the screen. "Apparently so." Then he walked over to Train, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him toward the console. He took the man's hand and placed it on a flat panel. A light scrolled beneath Train's hand, scanning it thoroughly.

"Self-destruct sequence initiated by Lieutenant Thomas Train," said a mechanical voice. "All personnel must evacuate within ten minutes."

Freak turned to Aragorn again and they looked at one another in confusion. Both knew that Legolas should not have known to do what he had just done.

The mechanical voice spoke again. "You have four minutes and forty-five seconds to reach minimum safe distance."

Before Aragorn could say something, Freak held up a hand. "We'll debate it later. Let's just get the fuck out of here." While Legolas followed Aragorn out of the room, Freak glanced down at Train lying dead on the floor. "And don't let me catch you on my side of the universe again, you got that, man." Freak headed for the doorway, then turned one last time to the dead man. "Oh, and one more thing. I'm taking your APC."

Two minutes later Legolas, Aragorn and Freak emerged from the circular door on the floor of the outer compound and ducked through the open door of the APC.

The mechanical voice of the central computer sounded loudly through the base. "You have two minutes and nineteen seconds to reach minimum safe distance."

Freak sat at the controls of the APC and glared at the unfamiliar console. "Okay, let me see here. This one's definitely different than the one I've got. Give me a minute here while I figure out where the damn starter's at?"

"Freak, we have less than two minutes," warned Aragorn.

"I know, I know!"

Legolas leaned forward and pushed a button on the steering handle. The APC came to life.

Freak glanced over his shoulder at Legolas, wondering how the hell the Elf figured it out before he did. Then he looked out the front window. "Shit, forgot to open the door."

"Who needs doors?" Legolas leaned forward again and flipped a switch, then pushed another button. A missile shot from the APC and struck the opposite wall of the compound, creating a large hole.

Freak stared at Legolas and then shook his head. He set the APC in motion, driving it through the hole and around to the other side of the compound.

Several minutes later, when the APC was speeding down a dirt path, the Weyland-Yutani research base erupted from the ground like a volcano, flames and black smoke belching into the sky. Debris of varying size rained down around the fleeing vehicle.

In the APC Aragorn turned to Legolas and threw an arm around his shoulder. "Tis good to see you alive, my friend."

Legolas struggled to find Aragorn in his memories, but everything prior to his awakening in the cryochamber was shrouded in an impenetrable fog. He did not even know his own identity, much less anyone calling him friend. Not knowing how to respond to Aragorn, Legolas simply looked away.

Aragorn tried not to feel hurt that the friend he had known all of his life did not remember him. Would he eventually regain his memory?

Ilmarin

"But it's not possible," said Ariedel. She desperately tried to remain calm after hearing what someone in The Company research base had done to Legolas.

"I saw the code," replied Jordan. "Leland's a genius."

Ariedel gritted her teeth. "A genius? He alters my husband's DNA, turns him into a fucking alien and you call the man a genius?"

Jordan shook her head, glancing at those in the room. "That's…that's not what I meant. I'm sorry."

Ariedel turned to Thranduil and buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, but she was far from feeling any kind of comfort.

Gandalf glanced around at the others. Celeborn was seated with Galadriel, who was recovering from the wounds inflicted upon her during her capture. She had regained much of her strength in the last few hours, but had yet to speak of her ordeal. Elrond and Arwen were seated nearby, Eldarion and the cloned adolescent forms of Elladan and Elrohir sitting between them. The initial appearance of the twins had brought Elrond to tears. Even though, the twins were not adults, he was thankful that he had his sons back. Gimli and Frodo stood together, arms folded near the window while Glorfindel and Haldir stood at another window. Ripley and the Company man, Quinn were near the table where Bishop continued to monitor the alien activity with his tracking equipment. Alfirin sat on another couch, arms wrapped around Anwar, who was weeping silent tears over the news of her father. Gandalf finally sighed heavily after seeing the somber looks on the faces of everyone. "If we lose all hope, then how will Legolas be expected to survive this ordeal?"

Anwar suddenly wailed outloud. She pulled away from Alfirin and ran to her mother.

Ariedel drew Anwar into her arms with Thranduil. "It's okay, baby. Everything's going to be all right."

Bishop raised his head and listened to the voice on the com device attached to his ear. "It's Freak. The Company base has been destroyed and they're on their way back."

Ariedel turned toward Bishop, her eyes red from tears. "Legolas?" she asked in a whisper.

"They have him," he responded in his usual quiet voice. "He's alive."

Ariedel took Anwar by the hand and the two of them rushed through the door.

The gate opened to let the APC within Ilmarin's boundaries. It slowly crawled along a path through the hundreds of tents, the Elven people moving aside to let the strange vehicle pass.

Freak glanced up through the windshield, seeing one of the Dropships hover near the other one briefly before slowly landing. He had earlier contacted his crew for a status on the number of aliens. Bishop mentioned picking up only five more signals and because no one reported back that the queen had been eliminated, it meant she was one of the five remaining. It was getting dark and for the time being, he wanted everyone back at Ilmarin. They'd go after the queen in the morning.

As Freak drew the APC to a stop near the Dropships, he spotted Ariedel standing with a young girl who resembled her. This had to be her daughter. It didn't dawn on him then to wonder how the girl have gotten to this side of the planet. His main concern was more centered on what would happen when Legolas stepped out of the APC. To make matters worse, Arwen, Thranduil and Alfirin joined them. The whole family was there to welcome back someone who wasn't even going to remember any of them. He reluctantly switched off the APC's engine and sighed heavily before getting out of the seat.

Aragorn stood with Legolas near the door, waiting for it to open. During the ride to the mountain, Aragorn had told Legolas everything there was to know about him, about his family and friends.

As Freak approached, both Aragorn and Legolas turned to him.

Outside the APC, Ariedel held Anwar close to her, terrified about what might step out of the vehicle. The door slid open and she held her breath. The first to step out was Freak. Just from the expression on his face, Ariedel knew something was terribly wrong. Then Legolas appeared, nudged along by Aragorn as if he had been reluctant to leave the APC.

"Ada!" cried Anwar as she pulled away from her mother and ran to embrace her father. (daddy)

Legolas did not move as the young girl hugged him tightly, burying her face into his chest. He searched his fogged memories. Nothing.

Ariedel's heart sank. She watched as he just stood there, as if he didn't have a clue who Anwar was. His daughter, his own flesh and blood. Why was he not returning her embrace? She glanced at Freak who raised a finger to his temple, hinting that something was not right in Legolas's head. When she turned back to Legolas she immediately knew what he lacked. His memory was gone.

Darkness fell over Valinor when Ariedel met with Freak, Aragorn, Jordan, Zion and Quinn in her bed chamber, discussing the current state of Legolas's mind.

"He told me I looked familiar to him," said Aragorn. "But he cannot seem to locate the memories."

"Something about a fog in his head," added Freak.

"But there's still a chance he might regain his memory," Ariedel insisted, turning to Jordan.

"I honestly don't know," replied Jordan. "We've only got three other cases to base anything on. Ripley and the twins. But they're clones. What Leland did to Legolas has never been done before. Only Leland himself might have known what results to expect."

"And he's dead," said Freak.

None of them were aware their conversation was being heard by someone on the rooftop. Legolas was crouched at the edge, eyes looking toward the reflection of the moon in the sea, but seeing nothing as he listened to the words drifting up from the balcony below.

"What went on down there?" asked Ariedel. "I thought the plan was to sabotage, not kill everyone."

Freak exchanged a glance with Aragorn before turning back to Ariedel. "Yeah, that was the plan. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the head of security decided to send out his death squad. His name was Train. He obviously had no intention of letting anyone walk out of the base alive once they created whatever they had set out to create. Everyone was pretty much dead by the time we got there."

"But why would Train kill Leland if the man wasn't even done with his experiment?"

"Train did not kill him," replied Aragorn. "Legolas did."

"You know, none of this shit really makes any sense," said Freak. "He was doing things he couldn't possibly have a clue about. Like initializing the base's self-destruct sequence on the central computer."

Ariedel frowned. "What're you talking about? He doesn't know how to do that."

"Well, he did, so you tell me. How much did he learn while he was on Gateway?"

She shook her head in confusion. "He may have learned a thing or two, but nothing as complicated as using a computer to initialize a self-destruct sequence."

Jordan glanced at Quinn standing beside her and noticed his eyes darting nervously around the room. "I think I know the answer." She pointed a finger into Quinn's chest. "You did something to Leland's computer. I saw you."

Quinn looked around at the others staring at him. They waited for him to answer. "Leland programmed the Elf to be docile for him. I guess he wanted to make sure he had some kind of control. I…uh…I sort of overrode all of that and programmed certain other traits. Technical traits."

Freak sighed heavily as he walked up to Quinn. "Such as?"

"Well, pretty much everything."

"Whatta you mean everything?"

"That's exactly what I mean."

"So, what're you telling me, that he can hotwire a Dropship? Program a starship computer? What? What're you telling me?" he yelled at the end.

"Yeah. All of that."

"Shit!" Freak started to pace in agitation.

"Are you crazy, Quinn?" yelled Jordan. "What in the hell possessed you to do that?"

"I…I wasn't thinking. I was just really pissed off at Leland. I wanted to sabotage his work."

"So you get back at him by messing up somebody else's life?"

Freak grabbed Quinn by the front of his shirt. "Do you even realize what you did, you stupid fuck?" He shook Quinn for good measure. "With all that data in his head, and I mean stuff he doesn't have a clue about, he's gonna have a goddamned meltdown."

Quinn tried to pull away from Freak's grip. "Hey, what I did to him is the least of his problems."

Freak released him with enough force to propel him several feet backward. "Get this piece of shit out of my face, Zee or I swear to God…"

Zion grabbed Quinn and dragged him none too gently toward the door. "Let's go, shit for brains. You move wrong, I'll shove this pulse rifle up your ass and blow the top of your head off."

When they left the room, Jordan turned to Freak. "Was that really necessary?"

"Well, what the hell do you expect me to do?" yelled Freak.

"I honestly don't think Quinn meant any harm by what he did."

Freak gaped at her. "The prick programmed the entire technical database of a fucking android into the brain of an Elf. Right now he's a walking wunderkind, but in a few months his brain will likely hemorrhage from all the shit he's not meant to understand."

On the rooftop, Legolas listened to them talking about his condition. He understood what was being said and was deeply disturbed by it. No longer able to tolerate the fact that they had not included him in their discussions, Legolas stood up and hopped off the rooftop. He landed in a crouch on the balcony and was oddly gratified to see everyone in the room jump in alarm at his sudden appearance.

Ariedel cringed at the disgusted look on Legolas's face. When he stood up and started walking into the room, she suddenly felt an overwhelming fear of him. What was wrong with her? This was Legolas…her husband for the last twelve years. She had given birth to three of his children. There was nothing about him to fear.

"I see you have all congregated without me," he said bitterly, glaring at each of them, one at a time.

When his eyes turned to Ariedel, she nearly gasped. They no longer held the warmth she was used to seeing. These eyes were cold and unfeeling…the eyes of a predator. Her heart sank at the possibility of him never remembering the love they had shared.

"My own wife shuts me out," he continued. His gaze remained on Ariedel. Everything about her seemed familiar…her eyes, her face, her scent. But he simply could not find the memories that linked this woman to his life. "You all stand about, deciding what is best for my well-being and have not the decency to include me?" Legolas turned away from Ariedel and approached Jordan. "Will I ever regain my memories?" he asked before stepping toward Freak. "What kind of trouble will I get into, having the technological knowledge programmed into me?" He did not wait for an answer before moving to stand in front of Aragorn. "What reason do I have to trust those who call me friend?" He moved away from him and finally approached Ariedel. There was a sense of fear and uneasiness in her. "What physical traits did Dr Leland feed into my DNA strand that makes me more alien than Elf?"

Ariedel was unable to look away from his cold eyes. When he gave her a crooked smile, revealing a sharp, nearly transparent canine tooth, she nervously stumbled backward away from him before stopping herself. He was no longer the Elf she had fallen in love with. This Elf had no memory of his former life. He felt nothing but bitterness and contempt. He trusted no one. Not his wife. Not even his own parents. "Legolas," she quietly said. "We're just trying to figure out what happened to you and what we can do to fix it."

Legolas turned to the others. "Leave us."

Freak folded his arms over his chest and glanced at Ariedel. He had no intention of leaving unless she wanted it.

When Legolas turned back to her with a scowl, Ariedel nodded toward Freak. "It's okay."

Freak waited for Aragorn and Jordan to walk toward the door before he followed them. He looked to Ariedel one last time before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Ariedel turned back to Legolas. He continued to scrutinize her as if she was something other than the woman he loved. "You remember nothing of us?" she asked him.

Legolas shook his head, unable to look away, searching his fragmented mind for the missing pieces of his past. This woman was his wife and they had three children, one of which had greeted him with open affection when he arrived in the city. He found no memories of them, as relentlessly as he tried.

Tears began to well up in Ariedel's eyes. "We'll just…we'll find a way to make things right."

"Tis too late to undo what has been done. Even if I were to regain my memories, would you still feel the same about me, knowing what I have become?"

Her lips trembled as she tried to respond. "Yes."

Legolas's brows narrowed angrily. "Is the truth so difficult to speak?"

"I am being truthful!" she shouted through her tears. When Legolas started moving toward her, she fearfully backed away until her back was against the wall.

Legolas placed a hand against the wall, above her shoulder and blocked her from escaping. Her scent invaded him, the scent of fear, of revulsion. He lifted her chin, but her eyes remained closed as she trembled. "You are not even capable of looking at me," he hissed.

Ariedel couldn't open her eyes as tears continued to slide down her cheeks. As her breath came out in sobs, she clung to the love she felt for him. She loved him with all her heart. Then why couldn't she get passed what had been done to him? If ever he needed her, it was now. But no matter how hard she tried, the fear just wouldn't go away. She was even unsure why she felt this fear. She didn't think he would hurt her in any way, or the kids. What was it about him that scared her so much? Alien blood flowed through his veins. What else was alien about him? Would he forever forget all that he was and eventually turn into the creature they had made him to be?

"Would you even allow me in your bed, Ariedel? I think not," he said in disgust before abruptly drawing away from her.

She opened her tear-blurred eyes and watched him disappear through the balcony, the way he had come in. Her legs weakened and she slid to the floor. Then she covered her face with her hands and continued to cry outloud.

Please review. I would love toknow what you think of this predicament.