Okay, sorry again for the long wait, but I've had quite a lot of trouble when it comes to my school's financial aid, and I've been having to spend several hours working on that with my parents, and that accompanied by the ridiculous amount of homework I have been receiving. So, now that I've managed to find a bit of free reign, it's time to pick up where we left off!

Kira, Aster, Kai, and Sugarcube all decided to head back to the Weyland skyscraper laboratory that they had originally come from in order to gain access to the Virax supercomputer and see if they could escape from the virtual system. It was already dark, so hopefully they could be able to use the lack of light to their advantage and avoid detection by Meyers and Baldwin.

"I don't know what we should expect when we arrive back there, but we should prepare for the worst." Kai said.

"I agree." Kira said. "This could all be a trap by Dr. Meyers."

"Whatever happens, we'll be ready for it!" Aster said.

It was a bit awkward for Kai to try driving in his car, especially since he had grown in height considerably, and his tail made it difficult to sit in the seat properly. Kira decided to sit in the trunk of the SUV, and Aster and Sugarcube took the back seats, leaving the entire front row free for Kai. Despite managing to make it work, any of them would agree that cars are just not made for Xenomorphs.

Once they made it back to the complex, they all got out of Kai's car and quickly made their way to the front. The door was locked, so they simply broke the glass to enter; it was a virtual world, so they were not committing any real trespassing. Plus, there were no alarms that went off.

"Okay, so we get back down there, access the system, and find wherever we gotta plug our heads into in order to wake up back in our real bodies." Kai said.

"Sounds good." Sugarcube said.

They all went back along the familiar path to the Virax quantum supercomputer in the basement of the building. Once they made it inside (having to burn through the door with acid blood that Kira and Kai had to promptly learn how to spray from their mouths), they accessed the interface of the colossal mainframe.

Despite his hands being different, and "visual" perception working in a completely different way for him and Kira, Kai was still able to use the computer's keyboard and mouse. However, he shortly ran into an unfortunate complication...

"Ngh, I can't believe it! It's encrypted!" Kai said. "And SORIA's transmitter is missing!"

"Well, it's not like she would be of any help to us in this world anyways..." Kira said.

"So, how will we get out of this computer world?" Sugarcube asked.

Kai did a bit of further typing to reveal the pseudocode that would give them the information they would require.

"Apparently, access to the real mainframe via the virtual one requires something called a… 'Superkey'..." Kai said.

" 'Superkey'?" Kira asked.

"I'm guessing it's a protocol that will decrypt every virtual node of the Virax mainframe." Kai said.

Kira was about to say something else, however… she gained a sudden onset of uneasiness.

"Uh… Kai..." Kira said.

"Yeah, I sense it too..." Kai responded.

Both of them could sense, by pure instinct, that Meyers and Baldwin were getting close. They could just feel the pure, psychic rage of the two men from roughly a mile away.

"I just wanna know why they even bothered bringing us to the virtual world in the first place!" Kai said.

"I thought he was going to put us back into our cold, isolated cells again!" Aster said.

"Oh, how I never want to think about that ever again..." Sugarcube remarked.

"So, we should probably get out of here right about now!" Kira said.

"Wait, Kira..." Kai began. "...I have a better idea!"

"What?" Kira asked.

Kai was eying a device that was sitting on the console desk. It was a code localizer, capable of tracking down any designated code that was active on any computer system in the world. It functioned through satellites for global scan accuracy.

"What's say we make those two bastards paranoid as a bit of a… distraction…?" Kai suggested.

(XXXX)

After Kai had finished explaining his plan, Aster and Sugarcube made it to the roof of the building's entrance, which was only three stories high, and in front of the actual skyscraper portion, awaiting Meyers and Baldwin's car to arrive any second now.

They had been given the code localizer, which they would use as part of the plan. Even though they did not actually have the source code of the Superkey, they could still trick the two escapees in order to hopefully gain an advantage over them.

Kira and Kai, meanwhile, were hidden behind the bushes and shrubbery surrounding the front of the building. They would hopefully be able to eavesdrop and hear some useful information.

Sure enough, the lone car from the highway had pulled off and made its way to the WY building, where it pulled right up to the front entrance. Meyers and Baldwin stepped out and began to examine their surroundings.

"Where are those little bastards?" Meyers asked.

"Up here! Come and get us!" Aster said.

Meyers and Baldwin looked up at the roof above the entrance wing's third floor to see the humanized Aster and Sugarcube.

"The hell are you doin' up there!?" Baldwin shouted up at them.

Aster pulled out the device given to them by Kai, and showed it to the two men three stories below them.

"Look what we got here!" Aster said.

"We've got us a 'code lo-cal-i-zer'!" Sugarcube said, having trouble pronouncing what the device was.

"Yeah!" Aster added. "You use your little escape-key, and we'll know where to find it! It's already been plugged into your virtual computer to know which signal it is!"

"Let's kill 'em!" Baldwin said.

Just as he was about to enter the building, Meyers held out his arm sideways to stop him.

"Patience, my friend." Meyers said. "The last time I went off of impulse, I was outsmarted by Sykes and Ripley."

"Well, this ain't like the last time! This is a virtual world that you made! They don't know how it works! These kids are just running around scared, trying to get away from us! They don't have a plan!" Baldwin said.

Meyers looked at Baldwin with narrow eyes.

"No more thinking, alright? I do the thinking around here! And I've got an idea..." Meyers said.

Baldwin sighed and stepped back. From there, Meyers returned his attention to the humanized Aster and Sugarcube on the roof of the entry wing.

"SR-724! VX-429!" Meyers called.

"Yes?" Both of the Xenos-turned-humans said.

"I just want to say that, right now, nothing would give me a greater sense of satisfaction than to put a bullet through your heads." Meyers said.

Baldwin chuckled.

Meyers shrugged. "Picking off two Xenos wouldn't make me feel bad in the least, ya understand?"

"Mm-hm." Aster and Sugarcube both nodded.

"However, since we are in a hurry, we will offer a compromise that will benefit everyone here: if you throw down that synced code localizer, we will not hurt you! We will release you all from Virax back into the real world… and you will never see nor hear from us again!" Meyers said.

"You promise?" Sugarcube called back down.

"Scouts' Honor!" Meyers said, holding his right hand over his chest, and holding up with left with his three middle fingers raised.

Aster and Sugarcube looked at each other for a moment, nodding.

"Okay!" Aster called down to the two men.

Meyers and Baldwin chuckled silently.

"Like gullible children, they are..." Meyers said, his voice low in volume.

Aster picked up a meter-long steel pipe that was sitting among a pile of them on the rooftop of the few-stories-high wing of the building, and then peered back over the ledge at the two men.

"Okay, give it to us!" Meyers said.

Aster immediately threw the pipe down at the two men, whose eyes went wide at the falling projectile.

"SHIT!" Baldwin shouted as they both jumped out of the way in time their arms covering their faces.

The pipe clanked loudly upon hitting the concrete pavement. Meyers and Baldwin examined it after they were sure it lost momentum.

"What the hell was that?" Baldwin asked.

"A pipe..." Meyers said, picking up the metal tube. "...they're throwing pipes at us!"

Baldwin's jaw dropped. "The little shits..."

Meyers stood back up and glared angrily at Aster and Sugarcube, who were still looking down at them.

"Okay, 724 and 429, you wanna throw pipes!? Go ahead! Throw another one!" he challenged his foes.

Sugarcube picked up a pipe this time, throwing it down at her former captor with all her fury. The two men shielded their faces with their arms as they jumped aside once again, only lowering their guard once they were sure it was safe. Baldwin stepped forward this time.

"If you big space-bugs can't do any better than that, you're gonna lose!" he shouted.

Aster and Sugarcube both picked up pipes, throwing them simultaneously in an attempt to hit the men who have been causing them so much trouble. Once again, they shielded themselves and dodged.

"You got any more!?" Meyers shouted up at them.

Aster and Sugarcube looked at each other.

"What do you think? Should we back down yet?" Aster asked, quietly.

Sugarcube shrugged. "...For a moment." she said.

Meyers noticed that they were being apprehensive, and figured that they had given up.

"Okay, let's go." he said to Baldwin. "They don't have any more pipes; they must be out of them."

However, Aster and Sugarcube each picked up two more pipes out of the pile, making for a grand total of four. They both smirked at each other while they prepared for another barrage of falling metal to unleash.

When they were sure that Meyers and Baldwin were looking away, they hurled the four pipes simultaneously. Meyers and Baldwin happened to look up once again, and shrieked as they saw the falling pipes. They covered their faces with their forearms and managed to jump aside yet again, just in the nick of time.

This made both men absolutely furious.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!" Meyers roared. "NOBODY THROWS HEAVY OBJECTS AT ME AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!"

Kira and Kai were still both hidden, across from each other on either side of the entrance walkway, in the bushes.

"Okay, now might be a good time!" Kira said. "Let's get them!"

"Wait, Kira..." Kai projected telepathically. "...it might not be a good idea to jump them so suddenly. For all we know, they could have some sort of backup or contingency programmed into the system, and it could spell bad news for us if we try to escape!"

"So… what exactly is the plan?" Kira asked.

Kai paused a moment before telepathically speaking to her again.

"Hey, I'm just making this up as I go..." Kai said.

The two of them happened to notice Meyers and Baldwin stop at the entrance, before making their way into the main building. By focusing their hearing like a directional shotgun microphone, Kira and Kai were able to pick up on their conversation.

"Listen," Meyers began. "they probably don't suspect you as a major threat. It's definitely me they're going to want to go after first."

"Yeah, and...?" Baldwin asked.

Meyers reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive, which he put into Baldwin's hand.

"I need you to hang onto this. It's super important!" Meyers said.

Baldwin examined it. "You want me to hold on to… it? But, why would I use it when you know what's going on around here?" he asked.

"All in good time, my friend..." Meyers said. "...but do NOT lose it!"

With that, the two proceeded into the building, and above, Aster and Sugarcube were quick to make a getaway. After waiting for a moment, Kira and Kai scaled up the building; they were able to cling to the concrete surface like Spider-man thanks to their Xenomorph abilities.

"Wow, I still can't get over how fun this is!" Kira said. "Why couldn't I have been born as a Xenomorph?"

"...Because if you ended up on Earth, you'd have to deal with Weyland-Yutani." Kai rationalized.

As they made their way up, Kai was thinking about what had happened a few moments ago.

"That jumpdrive Meyers gave to Baldwin… that's gotta be the Superkey!" Kai said.

"You sure about that?" Kira asked.

Kai looked over at Kira and nodded his elongated head once. "Positive. Why else would he tell him that it's 'super important'?" he asked.

Kira sighed. "Why couldn't it just be some Red Pills…?"

They made it to the top of the entrance wing, where they could sense that Aster and Sugarcube were nearby. They emerged from their hiding places to meet up with their Xeno-fied lovers.

"Now we know how you feel; not being able to sense anything really sucks!" Aster said.

"Anyways, we need to find a place to hide, fast!" Kai said. "We can't let them figure out where we are."

With that, they set off inside the building in order to find a place where they could elude Meyers and Baldwin. They had to be able to get the Superkey from them, so they could not just abandon the place. They needed to escape from the Virax system as soon as possible.

Kai gave a quick rundown of the situation to Aster and Sugarcube.

"We're gonna have to steal it from them when their guard is down… maybe the best time would be when they are asleep. That would give us extra time to get back to the Virax computer and make our getaway!" Kai said.

"Okay, so in the meantime… where are we gonna hide?" Aster asked.

"Well… I suppose we'll need to continue moving whenever we sense them getting close." Kira said. "Hopefully, they'll get bored with us and quit… but I imagine they won't leave."

"She's right. They'll probably guard the supercomputer to prevent us from escaping Virax." Kai said.

The four of them pondered briefly.

"Okay, we'll wait for them to hopefully fall asleep, steal the Superkey, and get out of here!" Sugarcube said.

"Okay, now let's go before they get up here and catch us!" Kai said.

(XXXX)

Meyers and Baldwin both searched high and low for their four quarries, scanning the region for digital biosignatures, but they were unsuccessful in trying to find them, as they were continuously moving to avoid the two men.

"I'm getting the feeling that they've left." Baldwin said.

"No matter." Meyers responded. "We can simply wait them out. Now that they know we are in a virtual world, they are bound to return to the virtual interface to escape back into the real world. Later, we'll enable the motion sensors around the building to alert us if they come back while we are sleeping."

Baldwin sighed. "Is there a TV around? I don't wanna get bored wasting so much time around here..."

"From my estimate..." Meyers said, looking at his custom armguard-style hologram-tablet. "...only seventy-six microseconds have passed in realtime. So, technically, we are not even wasting a moment."

Baldwin sighed again. "You really don't know how it's supposed to feel…"

Meyers looked out a large bay window at the front of the building.

"Soon enough… those brats will pay for the things they have taken from me! And for the things they have done to me! Once they return… they shall have hell to pay!"

Well now, this is quite the tricky situation, isn't it? I found it kinda funny to imagine these scenes playing out; could you imagine a Xenomorph driving a car or typing on a computer keyboard? XD Anyways, thank you for following the slow-but-surely progress of the story, and I will return with more! Keep holding on...

NOTE: I don't know what's been going on with the site, but I am currently unable to successfully upload any documents into the DM. Is anybody else having this problem? I had to cut-and-paste this chapter into a pre-existing document in my DM.