Ngh… again with the long waits. Sorry; I've been focused on an MLP fanfic I've just finished more so than this one. I know some people will hate me for that, but I've just been getting a lot more feedback, which has motivated me to keep going on it. Anyways, sorry about my rambling! It's the chapter you want, so here it is!
Kira, Aster, Kai, and Sugarcube all quickly rushed for the room that held the virtual replica of the Virax supercomputer.
"Let's hope we can still make it before those two find out we've stolen the Superkey!" Kai said.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. They opened the door to the supercomputer room… only to find Meyers waiting for them, a pistol in his hand.
"Ha!" Meyers said. "We outsmarted you this time!"
"Ngh… let's go!" Aster said, about to run back the other way.
The four turned around… only to find Baldwin blocking their path with his own gun. They were effectively surrounded. Even though any injuries they would receive would be a virtual projection… they were not going to take any chances, since there was no telling what sort of damage could be done to their real brains.
"So, this is where the sidewalk ends, children!" Meyers said.
"That's right!" Baldwin added. "It's time for you all to learn how to show some respect for your elders!"
"So… this whole thing, this virtual world trap and everything… it was all your idea, wasn't it?" Kira asked to Meyers.
To everyone's surprise… he could actually hear her.
"Yes... I helped Weyland to build the supercomputer and create the virtual world of Virax as part of experimenting with the Xenomorph specimens to see how they would adapt to particular environments." Meyers said.
"But why did you bring us into Virax in the first place!?" Kai demanded.
"Well… let's just say, this system… has the ability to transfer intelligence and memories! We've been using it to transfer and trade the consciousness of Xenomorph specimens into different bodies!" Meyers said.
"Wait..." Sugarcube began. "...so, you're trying to take control of our bodies?"
"Precisely." Meyers said. "Well, two, in particular, VX-429… yours and SR-724's!"
"WHAT!?" Aster said.
"That's right! I shall take your body as my own, and leave all four of you trapped in this virtual limbo forever upon deactivating the system!" Meyers said.
"And… I guess I'm gonna have to end up takin' the female Xeno's body." Baldwin said. "Not my first choice… but better than bein' human, at least!"
The four heroes were all in utter shock at the idea of Meyers trapping them in the system and doing God-knows-what with their real bodies.
"So," Kai began. "what was the deal with everyone in Virax saying a bunch of nonsense and random, weird things happening?"
"To jeopardize the system in an effort to render you unable to escape, I injected a virus into the supercomputer. It is of my own creation; the Manticore Virus." Meyers explained.
"A virus..." Kira said.
"Looks like my theory was correct, then." Kai added.
"Very good, Mr. Ripley." Meyers said, sarcastically. "And from the looks of it, the virus has affected the forms of your digital avatars! It seems your virtual species genes have been swapped!"
"Also, WHY were there some government agents who came to my house and nearly ARRESTED me!? I have the feeling YOU had something to do with it, Meyers!" Kira said in pure anger.
Meyers smirked.
"I used the Virax supercomputer to hack into that government defense mainframe to get some information about nuclear weaponry I could get my hands on! The lead back to you was entirely unintentional; the com-synth had relayed your personal information to the wrong sector. I went back and altered all records of your phone number in order to cover my tracks. And before I did so, I had the digital clone of you take care of those government agents, all so I could give you a proper punishment for what you did to me... prison has broken me!" he explained.
"Like you weren't already broken!" Kira said. "And what's all this about getting nuclear weaponry!?"
"Well, quite simple..." Meyers began. "...I was experimenting with genetics, and playing God… to become God! I was raising that Queen you slaughtered, and trained her in secret, so I could command an entire hive to slaughter the police and military forces of the world, and put the rest of the population under my control through fear-compliance! And since you have done all you could to take that away from me, I am now going to do everything in my power to destroy everything!"
The four heroes all stared at the crazy former doctor, their jaws hanging in pure, utter horror at what he had just described.
"But… why!?" Sugarcube asked.
"Because… this world… it has treated me like complete bullshit! Back when I was a kid, I had no friends, I had a mother who left me behind with my alcoholic father, and he physically and emotionally abused me constantly, accompanied by living a very Lower-Class lifestyle! If that's not bad enough, the school I went to treated me like a leper! I was bullied by nearly every student, and the instructors never stepped in to intervene! Plus... there was Muriel... she was an absolute angel, I loved her dearly... and WHAT DOES SHE DO? She fucking TOSSES ME ASIDE, like everyone else! It's THIS WORLD that drove me to this! They all deserve to be punished!" Meyers stated.
"You're mad…!" Aster said.
Meyers scowled. "Watch your mouth, SR-724!"
"I'm not watching anything except your slow, painful demise… which will be of great delight to me!" Aster responded.
Kira shook her head in astonishment. "I can't believe this… all this just because you had a bad childhood?"
Meyers folded his arms.
"What was that now, Ms. Sykes…?" he asked, sternly.
"I'm just saying..." Kira began. "...MILLIONS of children are bullied and/or abused, as well as suffer from unrequited love, but THEY don't all go on to become sociopathic mass-killers! It's not about your life before then… you just need to look to the future and stay positive! Hurting others won't solve anything!"
Meyers narrowed his eyes in pure anger. "Oh, yes it will… yes it will..."
"Why?" Kai asked.
"Because… I did nothing to deserve all the torment I was given… and now it's time for others who did nothing to have the same done to them! They all get to have a good, carefree life, getting whatever they want, while I had to suffer all my life! It's the only way justice will prevail! It's only fair, given what this world is devolving into!" Meyers said.
"And it's gonna serve you little shits right for what you did to my son, Aster!" Baldwin said.
"Well, it's been a couple of days now, which means it's only a matter of time before we are retrieved by WY security, and you are apprehended!" Kai said.
"Oh, that will not be the case. Hardly an hour has passed in realtime... since this virtual environment has the ability to manipulate one's perception of timeflow!" Meyers said.
"Manipulate timeflow perception?" Kai asked. "Damn... you really spent a long time working on this fancy supercomputer, haven't you?"
"That's correct, Mr. Ripley. And I intended to make good use of it in making our Xenomorph specimens adapt to our world so they will know exactly how to counter the security measures implemented by the world governments! But now... I will have to take drastic measures since I've been cut out of the project! I will eliminate mankind and Xenomorphs alike!" Meyers said.
Kira hissed in anger. "What good will that do!? There are TONS of people who have had it worse than you! Plus, the Xenomorphs were never asked to be brought to a world they are not native to!"
"Everyone knows Xenomorphs are monsters!" Meyers said. "Unlike me, they were born into violence and killing! That therefore renders our projects on them justified, as they are nothing more than a scourge of the galaxy!"
"That's not true!" Kira said."Xenomorphs are NOT all monsters! The ones you created are just as smart and emotional as actual PEOPLE! I love Aster! It took me almost LOSING HIM to realize it!"
"But, fairly soon, it will not matter..." Meyers said, walking over to a laptop mounted onto one of the supercomputer modules. "...because both my colleague here and I will be outside of Virax, and in new, better bodies that no human will be capable of keeping up with in terms of abilities!"
He began to input lines of code into a script writing program.
"What do you think you're doing!?" Sugarcube asked.
"I'm manually inputting the system information needed to transfer consciousness in the real world!" Meyers said.
He finished the lines of code, and began to compile them. It was fairly slow, though, only filling by one percent every two seconds.
"Subject SR-724... prepare to lose your body! For it is now mine!" Dr. Meyers shouted.
"Not a chance, Doctor Dumbass!" Aster said.
With that, the humanized Xeno rushed at Meyers, attempting to punch him in the face, but Meyers dodged, and swiftly drew his handgun. He leveled it on Aster, but kept his finger off the trigger.
"Now, I'd advise you to step away from the mainframe... if either of us damages it, we'll remain trapped in the Virax system until outside forces intervene." Meyers said.
Aster held up his hands, but Kira and Kai, with their heightened instincts, managed to achieve the precognition required for them to be able to make a counterattack. Kai rushed for Baldwin, whipping the gun out of his hand with his tail, and Kira rushed for Meyers, who was not quick enough to turn around before getting his hand struck by the blunt side of her tail.
Kira attempted to restrain Meyers, but then ended up getting elbowed in the stomach by him, which stunned her. Aster tried to counter by making his way over and crouching on all fours... but then he realized that his instinct did not match up with his current muscle memory. Meyers took advantage of this and darted at him, forcing Aster to jump aside.
Ngh... forgot; no tail. Aster thought.
Sugarcube and Kai decided to take action; the former apprehended Baldwin by tackling him to the ground and pinning him. He was fairly large and clumsy, so she had the advantage. Kai, meanwhile, ripped a thick cable off of the wall, and used it to bind Baldwin's arms to his torso while Sugarcube stepped aside once he took over.
Kira and Aster were both able to quickly take down Meyers; Kira used her tail to trip him as he attempted to dodge a swift kick from Aster, and once they had him on the ground, they were able to do the same thing Kai did to Baldwin. Kira ripped another thick cable off the wall and wrapped Meyers up.
"Phew..." Aster said. "...that was close!"
"They must be pretty desperate and overconfident to go two-against-four." Kira added.
"So... what are we gonna do with them?" Sugarcube asked.
"Grr..." Baldwin snarled.
"Take these ridiculous cables off of us RIGHT NOW!" Meyers said. "Or you will not be able to wake up in your proper bodies without us!"
"Why is that?" Kai asked.
Meyers smirked. "...Because I personally implemented a security measure that prevents you from awakening without a passcode that I and I alone know."
"...In that case, we've got nothing to lose by trying!" Kira said.
Despite the protests of the two men, the foursome made their way to the main interface of the Virax supercomputer virtual replica, and accessed it. Kai took the Superkey jumpdrive and plugged it into an available socket. Immediately, many windows with scrolling code began to open, one after another, on the screens.
"So... will this work?" Sugarcube asked.
"It should." Kai said. "If this jumpdrive represents an object in the Virax source code with commands implemented to carry out the function of exiting the virtual world, it should be able to allow us to awaken once we go into the mindlink chambers."
"But..." Kira began. "...what if Dr. Meyers really did lock out the computer to keep us from escaping?"
Kai monitored the screens, but shook his head.
"I think he was just bluffing; trying to scare us away from stopping him. Otherwise, the Superkey would not have worked." he said.
At that moment, all of the windows on the screens disappeared, and they went black with regular DOS text scrolling for a moment. Kai was able to recognize it as the virtual immersion script. At the bottom, after the compilation had finished, there was a single string of text:
...System Ready.
"I think that did it!" Kai said. "Now, let's just see if we can't find those mindlink machines, and plug ourselves in. We should awaken in the real world, back in our regular bodies once we do."
Kira sighed, hanging her head down. She was fairly uncertain about going through with this. Kai looked at her.
"Kira... what's wrong?" he asked.
"...Why would I want to go back?" Kira asked, looking at her hand. "This... this is my true form. As a human... I was nothing..."
"Kira..." Aster said. "...you know that's not true! You are everything! To me... to Star... to all of us..."
Hearing the name of her daughter, Kira tilted her head back up. She always wanted to be better than what she had currently been... but the cost of doing so, now that she thinks about it, will never be worth it. She wanted to hold her little Xeno girl in her arms again, especially so since she did not exist in Virax. Sure, she could be theoretically programmed in... but the real Star would be left behind for a mere program of her...
"...Okay. I'm ready to go home." Kira said. "But only as long as you all promise that you'll look at me no different than you do now in this digital universe."
"Kira... you are an amazing, person! Xeno or human, you'll be amazing, no matter what!" Aster said.
Kira smiled. "Thanks, Aster."
"Now... let's not wait around anymore!" Kai said. "Time for us to find those neural connection machines, and get the hell outta here! We need to figure out how to stop Meyers for good this time!"
Without saying much more, the four went to the directional sign at the entrance to the supercomputer room, and used it to locate the mindlink capsule room. The room had various tube-like machines that appeared to be made for people to lay inside of, with helm-like devices a little distance away from the platform that the head rests on.
It looked like there was another room for "Specimens" as the sign above the heavy door said. Peering through the thick glass, it looked like there were some that were modified for other alien beings... including Xenomorphs.
"Okay, so just pick a capsule, set the delay you want, and we'll all awaken within the same moment in our real bodies." Kai said.
So, Aster and Sugarcube took the first two machines designed for humans closest to them, while Kira and Kai both went into the ones modified for Xenomorphs. The procedure was identical for all of them: use the control panel to open the environment control capsule, set the delay for consciousness transfer, step inside, wait for the countdown to end, and the helm device slides into place over the user's head.
Kira sat anxiously, but grateful that they were about to be freed from this virtual prison that Meyers had trapped them in.
Time to finally get out of this hell... and make him pay the ultimate price for everything he has done to innocent Xenos... and what he plans to do to everyone else! She thought.
The transfer activated... and Kira, as well as the other three, had a sudden vision of passing through a energy-rich tunnel that was winding randomly, just before meeting a bright light at the end...
Well, it seems that they have escaped from the terrible fate that could've befallen them! So, that wraps up another chapter! I know these updates have been infrequent, but I am happy to announce that this will soon change! Now that I am done with Find Her, Stay With Her, I can allocate more time to work on this fic, and implement new ideas I've had for months now! So, just keep calm, and... keep holding on...