I HOLD NO CLAIMS TO ANY MEMBER OF THIS STORY. Only Riley and Jack are mine!
Chapter Eight
All for a Child
"We're not crazy, right?"
"You are, I'm not."
"Oh yeah? You're the reason we're doing this in the first place."
Ripley paused in loading her gun and looked up at her sister. Riley had already loaded her gun and was sitting there, hands clasped together as the alarms rang in their ears as the elevator continued to lower them into the processing station. She knew that either Jack or her sister was going to go with her when she went to go save Newt; and she was really glad that it was her sister. Since all of this started, Ripley hadn't been able to spend time with Riley like she used to. No, scratch that. It all changed since she and Jack got married. There was no more sister nights or anything like that. Sure they worked together but it just wasn't the same.
"Thanks for coming with me, Riley."
The other woman lifted her head to her sister as the elevator came to a stop. "Like I said last time, Ellen. You're stuck with me following you, no matter what you do."
Ripley gave a smile to her sister, nodding her head as she stood up, readying her gun. "Right."
Cautious as they stepped off the elevator, Riley let Ripley lead the way with the tracker that she had grabbed from Hicks. She stayed behind, keeping her eyes open for anything and everything that moved around them. Fire. Electricity. Steam. Stepping over the flares that her sister began to drop as she moved through the paths, Riley felt her heartbeat grow faster and faster. It seemed to grow in tune with the tracker beeps and that got worse the further they moved into the nest.
She was positive that the Xenomorphs were going to pop up and attack them but they didn't. She didn't see any of them anywhere, not even hiding in the walls like she was sure that they would. What were they all doing?
And that was when they found it. The tracker was lying on the ground, left behind. Ripley began to cry and Riley held her. Riley wanted to tell her sister to stop crying so loud, she might grab the Xenomorphs attention but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She and Jack had lost their daughter so of course Ripley was going to attach herself to Newt more than any of them. She had been wanting to save the child and take her back to Earth with them but now she couldn't. They had lost all chances of trying to find Newt now because they had a little less than ten minutes to look for her. They should just head back to the ship and get out of here while they still had time. It pained Riley, thinking about what that child was probably about to go through but there was one, good side to her fate, no matter how dark and gruesome it was. The entire planet was about to explode into nothing so she wasn't going to have to endure it for too long. She might not even have to deal with the baby bursting out of her chest like Kane and the other colonists had t-
Newt's screams reached them and the two women took off without a second thought. It was motherly instinct in Ripley and an auntie one in Riley. Newt had been mounted on the wall like they had seen the colonists and the egg had just begun to hatch, revealing the Facehugger getting ready to pounce on the face of its prey. Ripley quickly sent the creature to hell and Riley moved past her, ripping the girl from the wall as her sister took care of the other aliens that decided to pop up at the sound of their younger brother being shot.
"Riley! Ripley!" Newt sounded so relieved, tears pouring down her face.
"It's all right," Riley told her. "We're here. We got you."
"Grab onto me," Ripley to the child as she picked her up. "Hold on." She glanced at her sister. "You got it, right?"
Riley pulled her gun back into her hands, signaling she was ready. "Just hang onto the kid, Ellen."
As they began to move their way through the Processing Station, the explosions began to go off, making more fire sprout out around them. They had to hurry back to the ship but as the path with the flares exploded, Riley led them through another path that turned out to be a really, really bad decision.
"Ellen, stay very quiet."
Ripley looked at her sister in confusion for a moment as her sister froze. This was not the time to be stopping. They had to- that's when she saw what her sister had. Dozens and dozens of those eggs littered the ground at their feet. And that wasn't all, either.
A squishing sound grabbed Riley's attention and she turned her face down to see an ovipositor laying more of those eggs. Following the sack up to the creature, she felt her knees shake. They were in the Queen's egg chamber, and the mother was not happy.
"We were right…" Riley couldn't move, she just stared up at the large creature before them. "She is big."
"She's huge." Ripley agree.
The Queen was ten times the size of the other Xenomorphs, if not more, and if Riley was scared out of her mind and about t piss herself she would have been amazed at the sight of it, but now wasn't the time for that. The Queen was taking deep breaths and it raised its head, taking in the three forms before it. Her head was lowered from its shell, slime and drool dripping from it as it hissed at them, daring them to try anything.
"Holy shit," Riley couldn't tear her eyes away from the large creature. It was…amazing.
(I know it's weird, but I totally want a Xenomorph as a pet. I think it would be cool as shit! Until it killed me, lol)
The hissing had brought more of the aliens into the chamber and they were ready to strike. Ripley let Newt slide to the ground and tok a better grip oon her gun. The blast of fire knocked Riley out of her daze as the Queen's screeching hurt her ears and she grabbed her own weapon, mocking her sister's movements before they pointed their guns at the eggs.
The Queen got the point, clearly, as her hissing shoved the other aliens to back off of the trio.
"Let's get the fuck out of here and back to this ship," Riley told her sister as they pinned the child between them as they backed away.
"Not yet," Ripley told her. "Just one more second."
Riley saw her sister's hand grip tighter on the trigger to the flamethrower. "Ellen, they're gonna be blown up anyway. We should just go."
Ripley was silent, just staring at the Queen for a moment longer before turning to face her sister. "For the others, Anora."
"The others…"
"For Kane and the others. For Dallas."
Riley felt like she wanted to cry but she shoved it back and gave a firm nod, grabbing her own trigger. "For Dallas."
They began to fire together, the flames ripping through the eggs and burning the Xenomorphs inside it alive. The Queen began to screech again, her arms flailing in horror at the sight of her children being destroyed. Some Adult Xenomorphs were crawling along the wall towards them but they were easily taken care of by Riley as Ripley began to fire off grenades into the eggs and the ovipositor.
"Let's go!" Newt cried.
Riley led the way, taking care of the aliens that tried to attack them in the path as Ripley continued to fire all that she could into the egg chamber, killing as much as she could herself before the exploding base took care of the rest of it.
As the force of the grenades went off, knocking the group to the floor for a while, the alarm still ringing through the halls.
"We gotta move!" The Queen' screeches made the sister move faster the moment they found the flare trail again and to the elevators they went as the base got worse and worse. There was four minutes left for them to make it out of there alive.
"Come on you damn thing!" Riley beat on the door. "We gotta go!"
"Riley, you're not gonna make it come faster," Ripley was going to save something else but the sound of the Queen's screams hit them again.
"Is that bitch following us?" Riley turned, looking behind them in horror.
It was apparent that Ripley didn't want to find out and began banging on the button herself now.
"The ladder!" Riley jumped onto it and began to climb but her sister's hand grabbed her foot. "What?" She turned to look down at her but a form caught the corner of her eye. The Queen had followed them. She had ripped free of what was left of her egg sack after Ripley's goodbye and she looked pissed. Riley slid down at the Queen hissed at them again and pulled up her gun, firing off a few shots of what she had left.
"It's here!" Ripley grabbed her shirt and pulled her into the elevator behind her and the child. As she slammed against the back of the gate she slid to her butt and continued to fire at the Alien as she tried to make it into the elevator behind them. Ripley grabbed her flamethrower and joined in until the gate shut and took them to the top floor.
"Oh God, oh god, oh god oh god oh god," Riley found herself breathing hard, trying to calm herself down. "Okay. We're right there. We're good. We're safe."
Newt stared between the two sisters. "You came after me."
"Of course we did," Riley reached over and rubbed her hair. "We couldn't just leave you behind, right?"
Newt crashed into her, giving her a huge squeeze. The sister's shared a silent look and smile before both faces returned to the serious one as the explosions continued. The alarm told them they had two minutes to get out of there and as the doors opened, Riley rushed out, ready to board the ship but they found nothing.
"You have got to be kidding me!" She roared, staring at the empty platform.
"No." Ripley cried. "Bishop. God damn you!"
"I guess you can't really blame him," Riley kicked at the platform as her sister gathered the child into her arms. "I wouldn't want to die, either. I would have left too." She tossed her head back. "At least Jack and Hicks are safe."
"Riley," Ripley's voice grabbed her sister. The other woman was staring down the other elevator shaft. Joining her, Riley let out a curse.
"You have got to be kidding me!" She hissed again, backing away. "These damn things are much too smart for my liking!" Seeing that her gun was empty, Ripley tossed it away. Riley's rifle was gone too but her flamethrower was still working. "We're gonna burn either way," She gave a sigh and tossed it away as well, watching as the elevator greeted them. "At least we'll take this bitch down with us."
"Yeah," Ripley nodded as Newt wrapped her arms and legs around her. She turned to Riley. "See you on the other side?"
The other nodded. "Right." That's was a joke that she and Ripley always said when they went into cryogenic sleep before a mission, in case they never woke up. "On the other side."
As the base began to explode and fall around them, Ripley held onto her sister's hand as the child held on to her, crying in fear. The elevator began to open and all three of them turned to watch at the Queen's head slowly exited the darkness, it's body beginning to pull out of the elevator.
"Close your eyes, baby!" Ripley cried.
Riley went to open her mouth, to say something to her sister, but Newt's cry of 'Look' beat her and made her whip around.
"Bishop!" She cried out in shock.
The ship was behind them, the platform out and ready for them to jump onto. She could just see Bishop's head looking down at them from the window. She blew him a kiss as Ripley shoved Newt onto the ship and followed right after her.
"Come on, Anora!"
Riley turned and grabbed her sister's hand, letting her help her on the ship. Relief washed over her as the ship took off. There were a couple of rocky shakes in the process but as time went on and the ship didn't blow up with the colony, she let out a huge sigh of relief and fell to her knees, trying to hold back her tears.
"It's okay." Bishop's voice reached them. "We're okay."
"Robot or not, I love you!" Riley called up to the front of the ship. "And when we get back home I'm going to kiss your feet and do things to you that I can't say in front of a child!"
"And I thought you were a freak before." Turning her head at the voice, Riley gave a sigh of relief at the sight if Jack grinning at her. "Glad to see you got back safely."
"Yeah. Got the girl too."
"I saw," Jack gave a silent sigh, hanging his head. "Thanks for going with her."
"I would have gone even if you had too," Riley told him, leaning back against one of the empty seats. "We got a hell of a story for you, but I'll leave it to your wife to cover."
"Good. I love it when she talks dirty to me."
"God, Jack," Riley leaned her head back and glanced at Hicks. The man was out, bandages around his face and body. Jack had them too, telling her that Bishop had done it while waiting on them.
It didn't take long for them to reach the Sulaco again and as Ripley kissed and greeted her husband, Riley turned to Bishop as he joined them and gave a huge hug.
"I love you," She told him again.
"I appreciate the thought," He gave her a smile. "I'm glad that you guys got back safely."
"So am I," Riley turned her head to the only man that hadn't been talking. "Is Hicks alright?"
"He's going to be all right," Bishop told them. "Jack will be too."
"I know I will be," The said man replied, glancing at his wife. "Those damn creatures can't get the best of me, you know?"
"Coming from a man that can't walk," Bishop grinned. Jack hissed at the robot whom then turned to Ripley and Riley. "We'll need a stretched to carry them to Medical."
"I can walk just find," Jack went to stand but Bishop put his hand on the rack he was trying to open to let himself stand.
"Just in case. The acid could have hit a nerve and walking on it any more could make things worse."
"Just listen, Jack," Ripley told her husband. "Let us go grab a stretcher and we'll get you out of here fast, all right?"
"Fine," Jack huffed and crossed his arms.
"I'm sorry if I scared you," Bishop began as he led Ripley and Newt out of the ship. "That platform was becoming too unstable."
"Hey, Riley," Jack caught his sister-in-law and she turned back to him. He pointed at the floor. "Could you hand me that bottle. I dropped it during the explosion."
"Is it water?" She reached for it.
"Yeah. The damn robot wouldn't give me alcohol like I wanted." Jack frowned.
"Good. That's the last thing you need right no-"
Her words were cut off by one of Newt's screams and she turned for the stairs without a second thought. She only had moments to tak in the scene before her mouth dropped open in horror. The Alien Queen was here. She, from the looks of it, had stowed away on the dropship's landing gear. Bishop had been impaled by her tail and Riley was there in time to see the Alien rip the synthetic into two pieces and toss him aside like a ragdoll,
Riley watched as Ripley told Newt to hide and kept the Queen's attention in herself. When her sister ran off, Riley ran back onto the ship, cursing their fate.
"All for a damn child!"
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