Well, as per usual, time for the weekly update!
On the following day, Kira, not able to figure out what exactly was happening, decided to head over the university and continue with her routine as normal. All the while doing so, she was still going to investigate the matter of strange events that began the day before.
However... there was even more unusual behavior from people. Everyone she past who was having a conversation was saying something nonsensical or random:
"I need to go to the clown motel!"
"I like the part when the purple space worm entered the mountain of scallops."
"Goldfish are often a source of curiosity."
Kira could not help but look at nearly everyone weird, as though she were the only genius in the entire world at this point.
What the hell are these people even talking about? She thought. I hope Kai can learn something about what this is all about. I wonder if Dr. Meyers had anything to do with it...
She decided to head for the administration building of the university, and see if she could get any information from the school officials.
"Um... excuse me." Kira said as she approached the front desk. "Do you know what's going on around here?"
The lady at the front desk looked up from her computer screen, and a big, random grin appeared on her face as she stood from her chair.
"Congratulations! A winner is you!" she said to Kira.
"What?" Kira asked. "But... what did I win? I didn't even sign up for anything!"
"Hey!" the lady said, suddenly scornful. "That gives you no right!"
On the spot, Kira started darting her eyes around.
"No right for what...?" she asked.
"No, no, no... everyone has rights. Two wrongs don't make a right; three rights make a left." she said, suddenly changing to a casual tone.
"Okay..." Kira said, uncomfortable. "...I'm just gonna go. Sorry to bother you."
"To go places, open your eyes." the lady said.
Kira quickly left the building, rushing to a deserted spot, and sitting on a bench.
"My God... has Dr. Meyers launched some sort of brain-eating virus on the city or something? Nothing is making any—AAH!"
Kira suddenly fell, her buttocks hitting the ground. Despite being a bit dazed from the shock... she saw that the bench was getting static-y and glitchy, making a static noise. It suddenly became random, floating lines of what looked like binary codes... and then, one by one, the numbers vanished until the bench did the same completely.
Once again, Kira was loaded with questions she wanted answers to.
"Wh-what just happened... the bench... turned to code... disappeared..." she uttered.
Slowly... she was starting to realize what might be going on...
"I've gotta find Kai!" she said.
With that, she took off across the campus... but little did she know, she was being followed. Close behind her... was a clone of herself. The com-synth clone stood for a moment, observing the real Kira as she moved at a jogging pace across the grass field on the campus grounds. The WY logo flashed on her forehead as she narrowed her eyes, just before breaking into a jog herself, following behind the one she was impersonating...
(XXXX)
Aster, offset by the events that unfolded earlier, decided to head out and try to find Kira, all the while trying to be stealthy to avoid any unwanted detection. Just before he was about to leave, however, Kira's car came up into the driveway. When she parked, she emerged from the vehicle, still very panicked.
"What's the matter, Kira? Did you want me to stay inside?" Aster asked.
"No... it's just..." Kira said, trailing off.
"...Just what?" Aster said.
Kira told him about the nonsensical things people were saying, and how the bench she sat on vanished into floating, holographic code.
"I admit, things are getting a bit sketchy... but why are WE the only ones who are remotely normal?" Aster questioned.
"I don't know... I don't know..." Kira said.
Suddenly, Aster stood more upright.
"Wait... I can sense... strange brainwaves." he said.
"Yeah..." Kira said, shifting her eyes around. "...I can, too... they're coming from... right behind me..."
After a few seconds of waiting, the two made out a figure emerging from behind the foliage surrounding Kira's property, and what it was was something neither of them would have expected to see...
...It was a Xenomorph. A drone. Clearly, it was a genetically-unaltered one, as indicated by its lack of sexual organs or mammalian anatomy. As it approached, it began to hiss ferociously.
"Uh... Kira..." Aster said, scared stiff. "...I think it's you he wants..."
Kira began to back away... just before she broke into a sprint for her front door. This triggered the Xenomorph's prey instinct, and it began to chase her down. Aster, however, was quick to react, and tackled the unknown Xeno. The two wrestled it out, just before Aster managed to get the upper hand, and pin it to the ground with its tail against its neck and its head sideways.
The natural Xenomorph Drone, although restrained, showed no sign of yielding. It furiously struggled against Aster's hold, snapping its jaws continuously at Aster.
"Ɋƚţ˦ ΠηխՃ ԪӧӟԓԆ!" the Xeno telepathically shouted at him.
Aster tilted his head in confusion.
"Sorry, mister. But if you want to talk to me, you gotta do so in English." he said.
Even though Aster referred to it as "him," it was given that, being a natural Xenomorph, it was genderless.
In an impulse, it sprayed a cyst of blood out of its mouth at Aster, which merely caused the latter to tip his head upward and wiped himself off as if he were just soaked with water.
"What an idiot you are. That's not gonna work on me!" he said.
The Xeno continued shouted what sounded like gibberish protest, potentially the Xenomorph native language, but of course, Aster did not know a word of it.
"I-don't-speak-the-lan-guage!" Aster said, emphasizing each syllable.
Kira, cautiously, stepped forward, picking up a board sitting against her porch deck. She made her way over to the struggling Xenomorph... and struck it over the head repeatedly. It shrieked and hissed angrily... up to the point of being knocked out from excessive head trauma. Aster then let go, and stood up. They both examined the alien specimen on the ground.
"...Uh...A-Aster..." Kira began. "...wh-where... did this... Xeno... c-c-come from...?"
Aster shook his head. "I haven't the slightest idea... maybe he escaped from some secret lab around here or something..."
"Another lab here, too?" Kira said.
"Well... given this guy's temper... I'd say he deserved to stay locked up! Unlike the other Xenos like me and Sugarcube..." Aster said.
Kai's car suddenly pulled off to the curb. He quickly got out, Sugarcube following behind him, as they made their way over to the Sykes. When they saw the unconscious Xeno, they all stopped.
"Woah... what's THIS?" Kai asked.
"Did you rescue another of our kind?" Sugarcube asked.
"No..." Kira said. "...it saw me... and rushed to attack me..."
"But I stopped him! And I just gotta say... he's got quite a temper..." Aster remarked.
Kai knelt down to examine the alien. "This isn't one that's genetically-engineered, or kept in captivity... there's no tracking device implanted in the desired locations..."
"So... what does that mean?" Kira asked.
Kai looked up at her.
"...It means this is a recently-caught wild Xeno." he said.
"So... what is it doing here?" Kira asked.
Kai shrugged. "Who knows? And what's even weirder is the fact that natural Xenos can't adapt well or survive very long without the aid of a Queen..."
"AAAH! Kai, look!" Kira said, pointing to the trees just on the edge of her property.
Emerging from behind the trees was a much taller figure... which turned out to be a Xenomorph Queen. Accompanying it were a Drone and two Warriors. Kai stared in utter surprise at what they were seeing.
"Shit..." Kai said. "...did I just jinx it by mentioning a Queen?"
None of them were able to answer, because the Queen let out a hiss, and the three lesser Xenos rushed at the group. The two Warriors went after Aster and Sugarcube, who began to use their instinctual CQC to fend off the asexual aliens, occasionally circling each other in a standoff. Kai took on the Drone, mainly with his knowledge of various martial arts, such as Karate, Taekwondo, Aikido, and even Pencak Silat.
Kira was the only one whom the Queen turned her attention to. In desperation, she attempted to run away... but the Queen quickly knocked her off her feet with a swift swing of her tail. Kira was stunned from hitting the ground, and hastily tried to stand back up... but the Queen picked her up in her hands. Then, she turned Kira around to face her, holding her up at "eye"-level. The Queen hissed at her.
"...N-no... please..." Kira begged, struggling against the Queen's grip. "...j-j-just let me go... I won't hurt you... please..."
The Queen held its tail straight at Kira's forehead. The latter was thoroughly frightened, afraid, in that moment, that it was going to thrust through her head and kill her. However... she quickly felt less afraid, and bizarrely, more relaxed. She half-closed her eyes, and her pupils dilated; she could feel herself succumbing to some sort of trance.
The Queen was telepathically force-feeding neural signals into Kira's brain through a special node in her spinal cord, contained in her tail...
After a few moments, Kai was able to land various blows on pressure points that he learned about in Xenomorph biology, which rendered the Drone paralyzed, while Aster and Sugarcube managed to outwit the two Warriors due to their more-human creativity and unpredictability, which enabled them to land killing blows with their tails. It was only after they all turned to the Queen that they saw Kira being held in its hands, the end of its tail being held at her forehead, and Kira looking entranced.
"Kira!" Kai called up. "Kira, is the Queen hurting you?"
Kira did not answer. It seemed like she was deaf or something.
"I'll make short work of this!" Aster said. "It's takes a KING to put down a Queen!"
Aster rushed over to the Queen's posterior... and jabbed his tail into the base of her own, creating a large blood spurt. The Queen hollered as she released Kira onto the grass. Just when Kai, Sugarcube, and Aster all prepared to take the Queen on... it just retreated back the way it came from. She continued to run until she was completely out of sight.
"Damn it! We should've won!" Aster said, frustrated.
"But... how is a Queen able to get this much free reign without drawing attention...? Granted that everyone has gotten very weird..." Kai said.
"Nevermind that!" Sugarcube said, just before turning to Kira. "Kira! Are you okay?"
Kira was standing with her back facing the three, she was slowly swaying a bit as if she were drunk. She was also pressing one hand to her forehead. Kai stepped forward.
"Kira... you alright?" he asked.
Kira turned around... only to reveal that her eyes had turned a demonic yellow, her pupils were hyperconstricted, and she looked angered beyond all thought.
"Woah..." Kai said, stepping back. "...what the... Kira! What's the matter with you?"
Kira looked as if she had been possessed. In fact, she was... in a manner of speaking. She looked at her feet to see the plank she dropped. She picked it up, and slowly began to stalk towards Kai.
"...Serve... the Queen..." she said. "...Serve..."
Things just keep getting both weirder and worse, don't they? Well, I hope you all have caught onto what's been going on at this point! And I plan to have some more surprises happen while it's still an element of the story! So, hope you all are doing well, and I'll see you in a little while! Keep holding on...