Authors Note: All properties are the rights of their respective owners, 20th Century Fox, Nintendo, etc.
Avalon GX: Hopefully this is where that promise pays off. As for that other thing, you're going to have to wait a little bit longer.
Here's to everyone who survived 2022, see you all next year.
The Aagtekerke Incident
Chapter 3: Run Through the Jungle
Arm Cannon at the ready, Samus Aran swept through the next compartment, "Clear," intoned The Bounty Hunter, not seeing any sign of the alien creatures lurking about. The three remaining Colonial Marines entered behind her, weapons similarly up and eyes alert, the memory of what happened to their fourth man fresh in their minds. Yet since Santiago had been taken by the large Xenomorph, there had been no contact with the endoparasitoids.
Despite that, the Federation Bounty Hunter looked over her shoulder, knowing that the creatures were undoubtedly near, shadowing the group, stalking them. There had been no suggestion to split up again from anyone since the Sharpshooter had been taken. The only other woman present, Sergeant Dao, looked around before gesturing towards a bulkhead. "The mess is through there; stack up Marines."
Despite not being one, Samus joined the two men that took up position beside the door as the Sergeant prepared to open the door. "Go!" called the Sergeant as she strained and pulled the door open, allowing the others to rush through and into the Mess Hall. Flashlight beams cut through murky darkness, revealing a vast space, littered with a mix of tables, some long and rectangular and others circular. Some even still had chairs placed neatly around them, while others were scattered, strewn about, and as Samus' light panned over the room, she saw some tables that were wrecked.
"Motion tracker's clean," announced Dao as the group settled into a tight formation, covering all angles. "Our exit is over there," informed the Sergeant, hand gesturing to a far corner of the room, "Advance… slowly."
"Rah," answered the two male Marines before Tiny moved forward, hefting his massive weapon. Samus and Sandy covered his flanks while Dao brought up the rear, and the group moved through the hall, the flashlights revealing more of it with each step. Broken tables soon appeared, some covered in pools of thick red blood, others pockmarked with holes as the metal and plastic had been eaten through by the Xenomorph's acidic blood. Despite the carnage, there were no bodies of any description left, though the red smears on the floor suggested that any bodies there might have been had been dragged away.
The middle of the room seemed to be the epicenter of the carnage, severed remains of limbs lay mixed in with the ruins of tables and chairs. Inside her helmet, Samus Aran pursed her lips, put off by the bloodbath that seemed to soak through the ship; it was unlike anything caused by Space Pirates or even her encounter with a Metroid. Taking a peek behind her at these Colonial Marines, Samus found their faces inscrutable, but the experienced Bounty Hunter noticed slight tells, such as the way that their hands fidgeted on their weapons, that indicated the slightly frayed nerves.
Inside the Arm Cannon, Samus adjusted her own grip on the weapon's mechanism.
As her helmet light passed over more destruction, Samus saw something unusual, a lime green reflection that reflected her light, the oddly colored splotches were set under a rounded dome that remained black under the intense glare of the Power Suits illuminator. The smooth curve was only broken up by a pair of horn like protrusions on the front as Samus immediately realized what this was and killed her helmet light, getting the attention of the others and causing them to come to an abrupt halt. "Sam?" asked Dao, shining her light right at Aran, causing the Power Suits visor to polarize, "What's wrong?"
"Contact," replied Samus lowly, "Xenomorph, unknown type." The Bounty Hunter nodded out towards the creature she had seen. "There were green blisters beneath its head, possible mutation, unknown capabilities."
"Fuckin' A," rumbled the big man in front of the group.
The Sergeant in the back was looking down at her Motion Tracker, the device beeping in its same rhythmic cadence, not the high pitched ping that indicated a contact. "Whatever's out there, it isn't moving. Let's hope it stays that way. Move it out Marines, keep those lights tight. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast."
"Rah," answered the other two as Samus turned her light back on, making a point to not shine it at the Alien creature as the group got moving again. Meters passed by, along with more ruined tables, some looked like there had been whole segments that were melted away and holes the size of Samus' gauntleted fist bored through the surface.
"There's the far wall," whispered Sandy, "What door are we going to?" he asked before a high pitched ping took everyone's attention. At once, all four lights swung in one direction just long enough to spot the distinct barbed tail swing through the air as the creature it was attached to crawled into a vent, away from the group. Sandy said what Samus was thinking, "Reckon he's going to tell his buddies where we are?"
"Fuck if I know, can these things even communicate?" asked Dao before silence filled the mess hall and Samus saw the Marines were all looking at her. The Bounty Hunter shrugged, the data packet on the creatures not detailing their level of intelligence. "I don't want to be here when we find out. Our exit is the kitchens, get moving."
There was no need to reply, as the whole group moved with a newfound urgency towards that far wall, the Marines panning their flashlights along it while Samus kept watch, Arm Cannon sweeping across the room. "Door," whispered Sandy, the Grenadier tapping a button and leveling his rifle before stepping inside, the rest of the Marines following him before Aran stepped backwards through the threshold and watched the door close.
"What's that smell?" rumbled the biggest Marine as he coughed slightly.
"Whatever food they had back here's gone bad," intoned Sandy, "At least I hope that's all it is." Seeing the three Marines struggling with the stench, and unaffected inside her helmet, Samus took the lead, slipping past the Marines and into the next room. "Guess we're all following Sam, then," said Clyde before the other Marines followed.
The Bounty Hunter pressed on, stepping into a pantry that was a ruin, items that had once been on shelves were now spilt across the floors, a door to some small compartment hung open, and a check with her Thermal Visor revealed it to be an icebox of some sort, the contents clearly now rotten. Closing it with her gloved hand and moving past the refrigerator, Samus was deactivating her Visor mode when she stepped through the next door.
A mass slammed into her side, catching the Bounty Hunter by surprise as the armored woman was rammed into the metal bulkhead, the echoing clang filling the tight confines of the space as blows rained down on her. The grating sound of claws scratching on her armor made Aran cringe at the Xenomorph kept trying to find purchase on the Chozo made plate. Swinging her Arm Cannon like a club, Samus sent the Alien reeling under the blow and gave herself enough of an opening to grab the red carapace of the creature with her gloved hand and pull its snapping jaws away from her face.
Heart racing, Aran reacted on instinct, swinging her Arm Cannon to dislodge the creature's legs from her thigh before hurling the Xenomorph back and raising her weapon to blast it when the chatter of a Marine Pulse Rifle hammered her ears in the tight confines. The creature writhed on the floor as it was blasted apart by the stream of fire from the Marine weapon.
When it stopped moving and the Marine stopped shooting, Samus turned and gave Clyde a nod, the muzzle of his weapon still smoking. Any sense of relief was shattered by the ping! that emanated from Dao's motion tracker. "They're coming from the mess hall! Looks like a dozen. Quick, find the serving area to give us a firing line, I don't want to be boxed in when they get here."
With the subsequent pings coming at ever shortening intervals urging the group onwards, past a room packed with cooking implements and into one that had a large open window looking towards the mess hall. Samus noted one other thing, and that was no apparent way out, the only other door in the room was closed. "Here, post up. Tiny, get your gun out that way, you too Sandy. I got your backs," rattled off the Sergeant as she gestured to the open window and moved to that door, "Damn, welded shut."
"And me?" asked Samus as she watched the two men shove stacked plates and utensils aside to clear firing lanes.
"Help them," instructed the Sergeant after a moment's pause, clearly not expecting the question. Dao then added, "And watch my back." Aran nodded before taking up a position in the window closest to the door the group had come in. Dao moved to that door and removed the large pack from her back and setting it on the ground. Pulling it open, she fiddled with the device before it beeped and began to hum, Dao stepping back and allowing Samus to get a look at the gadget. It was a brick like construction sitting atop a tripod, a barrel extending from the front of the brick and a red laser projected from the side as it rotated from left to right, traversing about 120 degrees before heading back the other direction. "A sentry gun," said the Sergeant in answer to Samus' unasked question. Dao then looked back at her Motion Tracker before calling out, "20 meters out. Got eyes on?"
"Negative!" called back Clyde, the two men's flashlights piercing the darkness as they searched the room they had just been in for any sign of the approaching Xenomorphs. "Are they still coming?" he asked as the Motion Tracker pinged again.
Dao shook her head, almost in disbelief, "They're just slinking around out there, 18 to 20 meters out."
Activating her Thermal Visor, the Federation Bounty Hunter scanned the mess hall and spied a few small splotches against the ceiling before switching it off and turning her helmet light to those spots, seeing the reflection off the green sacs under its head before a shrieking hissed filled the air. A trio of weapons swung towards the creature only for it to strike first, not with its claws but by opening its jaw and spitting out a glob of green acid that arced towards the open window.
Everyone instinctively ducked as the green blob flew through the window and came down on a countertop behind them, summarily chewing through the metal as smoke rose from the chemical reaction. "That's new!" exclaimed Sandy as everyone stood up and opened fire, muzzle flash lighting up the darkness as the creature withered and then disintegrated under the streams of fire.
When the guns fell silent, they were replaced by the shrieks and cries of the Xenomorphs as more balls of green acid came towards the window. Samus saw Tiny duck as she leveled her Arm Cannon at the source and fired, the blue plasma ball lighting up the darkened room, revealing more of the green accented creatures before slamming into one, causing it to drop from the ceiling with most of its head missing, green blood gushing onto the floor. A trio of the creatures appeared beside the fallen Alien, only for an explosion to go off in the midst of them, sending pieces of Xenomorph Spitter in every direction.
Despite those successes, another wave of green acid came in, causing the shooters to duck down. "We're still pinned!" shouted Clyde before the Marine popped up and unleashed a long burst from his rifle, "And it looks like they're getting closer!"
When he crouched back down, Samus stepped into the window and took aim, seeing several distant creatures clinging to the pillars and ceilings in the back, but then seeing others scampering along the floor towards the window. This latter group was comprised of creatures that had green cysts across the top of the elongated dome of their heads and on their bodies instead of along their necks. Targeting one of these different creatures and unleashing a shot from her Arm Cannon, the Bounty Hunter expected the creature to die when the blue ball struck it, but it did much more than that. The creature burst apart, spraying deadly acid onto the surrounding tables and floor as an entire group of the creatures charged forwards.
Flicking a control with her right hand, the next pull of the weapons trigger unleashing a missile that streaked towards the group before it impacted in their midst and exploded, setting off a chain reaction as one creature's explosive demise triggered that of the one next to it. The Arm Cannon cracked open, venting excess gas and heat as another missile was readied inside the weapon's mechanism. Any stragglers that were left soon fell prey to Tiny, the big Marine firing a series of short, controlled bursts from his colossal weapon, each one pulverizing a different Xenomorph in short order.
A flash of light at the backside of the room had Samus turn around and see Dao at the door, a device in her hand as she began to cut her way through the metal in a clear attempt to give the group a way out. The Bounty Hunter turned her attention back to the oncoming creatures, noting that the Xenomorphs weren't trying to drown the group with an overwhelming horde of numbers, instead were keeping their distance and trying to pick off the humans. Aran tried to pick out a target, but any of the Xenomorphs that appeared on it were summarily met with a burst from Tiny's Smart Gun, leaving Samus with little to do.
Between the shrieking bursts from the gun, Samus could hear the pings of the Motion Tracker, and the interval was much too short. "What is the range?" she asked, prompting Dao to stop cutting and look down at her Motion Tracker.
"5 Meters," answered the Sergeant.
"Can't be," called back Clyde, "That's in the goddamn room!"
Aran looked at the walls and saw the grate covering what she presumed was an air vent and jumped up onto the counter to peek inside. Turning her light on only for it to be reflected back at her off the green cysts on the top of the Xenomorph bursters crawling through the vents. Reaching out with her gloved hand, Samus grasped the grate and pulled with all her strength, yanking the covering off before shoving her Arm Cannon in the newly created gap and firing the weapon, ducking as acid flew out the opening and spattered across the floor. Instead of silence, the Motion Tracker pinged again as Samus readied a missile before pointing the Arm Cannon down the vent, seeing the way it curved, and waited until she saw a Xenomorph appear before pulling the trigger.
The missile tore down for the shaft for its short but final one-way trip, detonating on contact with the bend and blowing out the passage and wall behind it, opening it to the next room. Unable to use the vent to get into where the humans were, the Aliens spilled out of the shaft and into the previous room. Their shrieks were soon drowned out by the rhythmic chatter of the Sentry Gun as the automated weapon that cut loose. Samus rushed to the doorway only to watch as the Marine weapon ripped through every Alien creature with frightening efficiency. Turning back to the window, she saw that Tiny was crouched behind the counter, fiddling with his weapon while Sandy kept the creatures back, alternating between short bursts from his rifle and the occasional use of its attached explosives launcher whenever more of the green accented Aliens probed the main route. "Gun up!" called Tiny as Samus watched the big marine stand and level his weapon, which snarled as it spat bullets at a prodigious rate.
"Reloading!" shouted Sandy as the two men seamlessly switched positions, covering one another like a well-oiled machine that was only marginally less effective than the Auto Sentry covering their flank, a contrast to the lone Bounty Hunter. It seemed to Aran that there was little she could do to aid them except remain ready, but she didn't have to wait very long. It soon seemed that the Xenomorphs had given up, as the guns all fell silent and there was no sign of the creatures. While Samus kept her focus on the door and vent, she heard Sandy shout, "Woah, we got big fuckers, two of em!"
The Bounty Hunter dashed to the window and tried to pick out these new arrivals, but nothing was immediately apparent. "Where?" she asked, Arm Cannon scanning the main room.
"Hiding, behind those pillars," answered Clyde, his flashlight beam fixed on one column. Tiny's was fixed on a toppled table, their weapons similarly trained.
Inside the helmet of her Power Suit, the blonde's brow furrowed, "The others have not hidden."
"These don't look like none of the others," growled the Smart Gunner, perspiration on his brow illuminated by his flashlight.
Adding her own light to the mix, Samus swept the beam across the mess hall until she caught sight of a flicker of movement, it was the spike tipped, segmented tail of a Xenomorph, only this one was oddly colored, with alternating segments a pale gray instead of leathery black. Snapping a shot off, Samus watched as the Power Beam shot cast a blue hue on the dark room as it bore into a fallen table, bursting through but not striking the creature. "Shit…" muttered Tiny as Samus narrowed her eyes, activating her Thermal Visor to try and pick out the creature.
"Door's almost open!" called Dao before the torch lit up again, the backlight making the Mess Hall ahead of them seem even darker.
"Where'd that bastard go" asked Sandy, only for the Marine's question to be answered as the Sentry Gun burst to life, chattering for a brief second before falling silent. "Cover the window Tiny," snapped the Grenadier as Samus moved to the door and noticed that the Corporal was alongside her as they checked the adjacent room. "Where the fuck did it go?" asked the Marine, the two staring at an empty room as the Auto Sentry pivoted on its mount and Samus had the same question before the sound of the Smart Gun filled the room.
"The other one's coming!" called Tiny as the others rushed back to the window and saw the creature crawl from the ceiling down the backside of a column before leaping out onto a table and let out a screeching roar. Its leathery black hide was white striped, and at the front of its domed head, illuminated by flashlights, was the unmistakable form of a human skull seemingly grafted to the creature's features. "Eat shit and die!" roared the big Marine as they all cut loose simultaneously, a hail of bullets and Power Beams ripped through the air and tore into the hide of the creature.
Yet the Xenomorph shrugged off the punishment as it lowered itself on all fours and pounced, clawed hands swiping through the window as the defenders retreated from the creature. There was another shrieking roar from the Xenomorph, the mouth of the skull open, giving Aran a perfect aiming point as she dashed towards the creature and rammed the muzzle of her Arm Cannon into the open maw of the monster before squeezing the trigger, firing a Power Beam right down its throat. The results were spectacular, the back of its head was blown out from the inside, blood spraying out as the creature toppled over.
"Door's open!" shouted Dao as soon as the creature's dying wails subsided, and the Marines moved towards the passage the Sergeant had opened with Samus about to follow when she heard the Auto Sentry roar to life in the next room. The Federation Bounty Hunter barely had enough time to turn towards the doorway to see the second monstrous creature as it came down on the Sentry Gun and ripped the weapon from its base, tossing it aside before it barreled towards Aran. Scampering on all fours, this mutation had the same skull faced visage as the previous one only with yellow accents instead of white, Samus only saw this detail as she dove away from the Xenomorph, but didn't quite get clear as the creature struck her legs and sent her spinning across the steel floor until she slammed head first into a cabinet.
Shaking off the impact, Samus tried to get to her feet only for her leg to be ripped out from under her and she crashed back to the deck, looking up at the towering from of the Xenomorph before she heard the snarling roar of the Marines weapons. The bullets tore off bits of the Alien's hide while its tail, still wrapped around Samus' leg, whipped the Bounty Hunter around, sending her careening towards the two men. Aran tried to do something to alter her path, but couldn't manage it in time as she crashed into one, feeling the weight of the Smart Gunner come down on her. Pinned under the man's bulk, Samus failed to bring her Arm Cannon to bear on the 8 foot tall Xenomorph as it settled back on its haunches and prepared to leap at them.
But then she saw a small grey orb pass over her head and roll along the ground, the device leaping up into the air just as the Alien did the same, and sent lightning arcing to the creature with a Zap! Squealing in pain, the creature fell onto its side, dazed, while the Humans got a brief moment to recover. "Get out!" someone shouted as Tiny was helped to his feet and Samus freed. Getting to her feet, Samus heard Clyde fire his pulse rifle right in her ear as he unloaded bullets into the slowly recovering Xenomorph to seemingly no affect until Samus saw the digital readout on the side of his gun read '00.'
"Fuck!" he snarled, Samus raised her Arm Cannon to try and put the creature down, only for the Marine to toss a striped cylinder towards the creature before grabbing her gloved hand and urging her towards the open door. For a moment, Samus felt the urge to resist, to put down this creature, but then she saw the cylinder explode with a white flash as it covered the Xenomorph in some pale colored powdery substance that spontaneously ignited, setting everything it touched aflame. As Samus strafed away from the spreading inferno, she watched the Alien writhe and thrash as it shrieked in agony. Passing through the door, the Bounty Hunter watched, mouth agape, as the Xenomorph staggered up onto its hind legs and shambled forwards, still burning fiercely.
"Close the door!" shouted Tiny as Samus complied, pulling with all her strength to yank the door closed even as she felt the Alien bash into it, trying to force it open even as she still heard its screams through the metal. Aran gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as she saw Dao's torch light up alongside her, rewelding the seam shut.
"That should hold that thing while it cooks," said the Sergeant after an agonizingly long fifteen seconds. "Come on, hope we don't see any more of those things."
"Now we're definitely fucking gonna," groused Clyde as the group took a breath and moved on, Samus relieved to be out of earshot of the still shrieking Xeno.
"No idea what's in this next room. Squad, stay frosty," warned Lieutenant O'Keefe as the squad covered Sergeant Dao, the Asian woman busying herself with rigging a bypass to a door control panel. Clyde, Garrison, and Samus all watched the hallway, noting that the lights in this part of the ship worked, and not the dim emergency lights that were on elsewhere on the Aagtekerke, but bright white fluorescent bulbs that bathed the hall and occupants in light.
Looking around, Sandy could see that they were all showing signs of fatigue. Tiny's face was drawn and Jacob could see the carbon buildup on the M56 Smart Gun, as well as the empty pouches on the big man's gear that had once been stuffed with ammunition. Looking down at his own ammo state, Clyde frowned, since he was down half of his Pulse Rifle mags and a similar portion of grenades for his underslung launcher. Even the imposing form of Samus wasn't immune from wear, the Bounty Hunter's monolithic armor was visibly dinged, dented, and scratched, bright paint peeling around each battle scar.
The soft whirring of the opening door prompted the group to rush inside before the door was promptly shut and locked behind them. Turning to the new room, which was reportedly some kind of workspace, the Colonial Marine Corporal was shocked to find an array of computer terminals, walls lined with displays, all seemingly powered on. Despite that, the room was notably cooler than the rest of the ship.
Shivering, Clyde's eyes saw a board and the Marine shivered again, on it were pictures, the subjects of which were unmistakably the same Aliens they had been fighting on the ship. "The actual fuck…" rumbled Tiny as all eyes were locked on the board, and the header that read 'Experimentation and Analysis of Extraterrestrial Species XX121.' "Wey-Yu sonsofbitches."
Staring dumbstruck at the notes that filled the space not occupied by gruesome pictures of the Xenomorphs, Sandy could only mutter, "Yeah," his eyes then turned to the terminals and tried one. Finding it wasn't locked, the Marine saw a list of files, all labeled with simple three digit number codes starting from '001' and ascending. At random, Clyde picked '006' and skimmed through the text before seeing a picture. "Holy shit!" Sandy exclaimed, drawing the eyes of the others, "Check this Sarge."
Stepping back, Clyde let Dao read what he just had before the woman breathed out, "Holy shit." She then turned to the others, "Tear through every terminal, get everything you can off them," ordered the Squad Leader before turning to Samus. "Cover us," Dao said, and the Bounty Hunter nodded.
Half an hour later, with whatever data secured that they could the group had a better picture of their foe, and how the situation came about. Weyland-Yutani had recovered some examples of a species they called XX121, its origins were redacted, the corporation had started experimenting with them, studying them before deciding to breed the creatures, at first using the livestock the Marines had found in the cargo bay. More recently, the company had moved onto human trials, and even had been supposedly introducing changes to the creatures they bred. The results had included '006' and '011,' which had comments in their reports noting their increased size, resilience, and intelligence compared to the normal 'drone' type Xenomorphs.
Dao had taken all the drives the data had been copied to and stuffed them in a bag that went where her recently lost Auto Sentry had been. "We gotta pass this stuff up the chain when we get back, the company has to pay for this shit. Using people as fucking incubators for these things? Fucking hell…."
Before that conversation could continue, Dao's Motion Tracker emanated the same dreadful ping that it always did when the Alien creatures drew near. As soon as the Corporal turned around, the device sounded again, "This one's coming fast!" warned the Sergeant.
"Shouldn't be able to get through the doors though," offered Sandy, but the Marine swept the muzzle of his M41A1 across the wall, looking for any sort of air vent or other entrance the Aliens could use. There were some that could fit the smaller creatures, but the grates were miniscule and would never enable the bigger Xenomorphs to get inside the room, the only way those monsters could get inside was through the trio of sliding doors, and all those had control panels that displayed red, indicating the doors were locked.
Until every light in the room went out at once.
"The hell?" growled Tiny as flashlights came on and swept the room, Dao's Motion Tracker still beeping out its warnings.
"Jesus, those things must've cut the power. They're coming towards the doors," alerted the Sergeant, "Each of you cover one of them!" Complying reflexively, the Corporal looked to his comrades and after exchanging head nods with Tiny, and seeing Samus simply level the Arm Cannon at the door closest to the Bounty Hunter, Sandy focused his attention on the only remaining entrance and noticed just how tight the confines of this lab space were.
Slinging his Pulse Rifle over his shoulder, Clyde readied his other weapon, the hefty but formidable M1216C semi-automatic shotgun. The action did not go unnoticed, and the electronically manipulated voice of Samus asked, "What is that for?"
"This?" said Sandy as he held up the weapon and got a nod back from the Bounty Hunter. "I keep it handy for close encounters," answered the Corporal before he tugged the bolt handle and chambered the first of sixteen rounds of double-ought buckshot. "This is my boomstick."
Curling his finger around the trigger of the scattergun, Clyde shouldered the weapon and pointe it at the door just as something slammed against it. There was then clawing from each of the doors, a wild scratching before Clyde saw two pairs of claw tipped leathery black fingers slip through the crease of the door and begin to pry it open. Incredibly, the Xenomorphs managed to pry the passageway open and one of the 7-foot-tall Drone type warriors stuck its head through the door and roared, only for Sandy's shotgun to roar back. The thunderous report of Sandy's boomstick echoing in the tight quarters as it blew the head of the intruding Alien to bits, acidic green blood spattering across the floor as the creature fell dead, its corpse jamming the door open.
While another Xenomorph crawled over the corpse on the floor, the other doors were pried open as more of the Alien creatures tried to break into the small room. Over his shoulder, Sandy heard the Smart Gun snarl as it spat out short bursts of 10x28mm caseless and then the Bounty Hunter's Arm Cannon let off its distinct snap-hiss report.
The fighting was furious, with Sandy forced to grit his teeth and trust the others to watch his back as he watched two Aliens slither into room. Taking aim at the first one, Clyde pulled the trigger again, hearing the creature screech as it staggered from the hit and the Marine fired again. Bucking in his hand, the M1216C spat out two more blasts in quick succession, stopping the Xenomorph dead in its tracks. This wasn't before the third Xenomorph had crawled inside and was alongside the felled one and the tube lined up with the shotgun's chamber was empty. Seeing the third Alien settle back on its haunches and prepare to pounce, Clyde went through a set of smoothly practiced motions. Reaching to the front of his gun, Sandy depressed the button at the end and then twisted his wrist, cranking the four-tube magazine over to rotate the next tube into place before pulling the trigger just as the Xenomorph leapt.
Pumping all four rounds into the flying Alien, Clyde watched the creature spasm with each impact, the shot ripping into the creature as it fell limp in flight. When it hit the deck and slid alongside Sandy, the Marine could see the way the four shells had perforated the Xenomorph, leaving its guts exposed. Twisting the next tube into place, Sandy looked up and saw it was clear ahead of him and heard relative quiet behind him. "Clear!" he called out.
"Clear," rumbled Tiny, Smart Gun muzzle smoking.
There was the grating screech of a Xenomorph abruptly cut off distinct report of the Bounty Hunter's Arm Cannon. "Clear," chorused Samus, voice filtered by the helmet.
The Motion Tracker 'blipped' instead of 'pinged' on the next beat, and Clyde let out a breath. "Clear," confirmed Dao, "Everyone reload and prepare to move. We need to get to the reactor." A minute later and everyone had swapped magazines for their weapons and was ready to go, with Dao pointing towards the doorway Samus had been covering. "That's our route. Move it out."
"'Rah," replied the Marines, with the Bounty Hunter silently stepping forward, taking point as the group moved through the nearly pitch black corridor. Reflexively, each Marine covered a side, Clyde and Dao watching the left and right respectively while Tiny brought up the rear.
"Left up here," instructed Dao, and Samus cleared the next hall before the armored Bounty Hunter starting down it and the Marines followed suit. Coming up to another junction, Clyde felt like he was being watched, but couldn't make out anything in the darkness. After taking a quick look down each hall, Samus moved forwards, followed shortly by Dao, and then Sandy.
Just as the Corporal moved, he heard the sound of shearing metal and turned to witness the darkness covered form of an Alien burst from a grate in the floor with startling speed. Before Clyde could bring his Pulse Rifle to bear, he was on his ass as his weapon clattered to the floor. Something wrapped around his leg in an iron grip as he was dragged away from the M41A1 and frantically trying to wrench himself free to no avail while the Xeno sprinted down the hall and around the corner, away from the shouting and shooting group of humans. The beam of his flashlight passed over his attacker and revealed not smooth and shiny skin, but crusted, wrinkled, and peeling flesh, a distinct smell of burnt meat, and odd discoloration in a striped pattern.
Desperate, Clyde rolled onto his side, bringing up his arms to prevent his face from getting bashed into the next corner the Alien rounded before reaching back and bringing his freshly reloaded Scattergun to bear. Aiming by instinct in the darkness, Clyde aimed the gun at the monsters legs and pulled the trigger, hearing a scream through ears left ringing by the shotgun before he fired again, and he felt the Xenomorph slow down, pumping two more shots into the beast's legs before it toppled to the ground. Cranking the magazine around, Clyde roared as he did a sit up and rammed the muzzle right into the Alien's shoulder before firing, blowing the joint away and eliciting another scream as he scampered back.
He'd only managed to get to a crouch when he saw the Alien about to come back at him, "Die motherfucker!" Three rapid shots emptied the second tube and sent the Xenomorph screeching backwards, Clyde preparing the next four shot salvo as he searched for a way to kill this Xeno. But the Alien wasn't about to give up, and the Marine had to roll away as a spike tipped tail tried to impale him and missed by a scant few inches. Sandy fired wildly, snarling as he pulled the trigger, buckshot tearing through the burnt hide of the creature, blowing its remaining arm off at the elbow, but not killing it. Cranking the last four shells into place, Clyde saw a chink in the Xenomorph's natural defenses, green colored soft looking tissue glowed under his light and that was where Sandy took aim. "WHY. WON'T. YOU. DIE!?" he shouted with each trigger pull until the mag was dry, but the burnt, bloody remains of the Xenomorph lay still on the floor.
More flashlights bathed the corpse as Clyde was forced to shield his eyes from the blinding beams. "Shit man, you scared us," rumbled Tiny as Sandy ambled towards the others, breathing heavily. "You good?"
"Good enough," he answered wearily, swapping out the spent magazine on his M1216C before the group retraced Clyde's path. The Corporal retrieved his Pulse Rifle and took up station walking alongside the Smart Gunner. "Tiny?" asked Jacob, getting a grunt back, "I want you to promise me that you won't let those things take me alive. Promise me, brother."
There was a tense silence before Clyde saw the man's head move up and down ever so slightly. "Only if you promise to do the same for me."
Clyde's answer was instant. "Oorah to ashes."
"Down the stairs, five meters and then take a left. The reactor should be right there," informed Lieutenant O'Keefe over the radio as the group slowly squeezed down the narrow stairs with only emergency illumination showing the way.
Descending a stairwell, Clyde saw the sign pointing towards the reactor and peered around the corner, seeing a large set of imposing doors about twenty meters down emblazoned with the black and yellow radioactive symbol on them. "Don't like this," rumbled Tiny, "Nowhere to run," and Sandy couldn't help but agree as the squad moved down the monolithic hallway until they arrived at the door.
Reaching the door, the group turned and looked back up the hallway, all except Dao, who was busy examining the control panel alongside the door. "Lord give me strength," she whispered as Clyde turned to face her. "This door's going to be tougher to bypass than the others, might take longer, probably will set off an alarm. There's some serious anti-tampering tech on this lock."
"Marvelous," muttered Sandy, sarcasm dripping off every syllable. "Tiny, you're our main gun, stay in the middle, anything moves down that hallway and you blow it away. Samus, you and I are going to take up the slack when the Smart Gun is cooling or reloading. Got it?"
"'Rah," answered Tiny as he leveled the massive M56, with the armored Bounty Hunter giving a silent nod.
"Okay, here we go," informed Dao as the Sergeant set to work and the others focused their attention down the only path of approach. Predictably, things soon began to go wrong, with a Mandarin curse from the Sergeant preceding the screeching wail of an alarm echoed through the corridor. While the Sergeant furiously worked on the electrical circuits, the others buckled down, with their nerves only fraying more when the alarm died, though flashing red warning lights still emanated from behind the defenders.
The sounds replacing the alarm churned Sandy's stomach, the scratching, slithering, and hissing of approaching Xenomorph's punctuated by the ping of the Motion Tracker until Clyde noticed the muzzle of the Smart Gun seem to sluice around on its own and hold steady. "Contact!" called Tiny, the big man's finger poised on the trigger.
"Light 'em up!" shouted Sandy, and his friend's M56 roared to life, sending a steam of lead down the corridor illuminated by its muzzle flash. Clyde crouched, keeping the Pulse Rifle's stock tight to his shoulder, adjusting his aim whenever the M56 spat another deadly burst to illuminate him; between the bursts of gunfire and the alien screams filling the hallway, there was almost no time to think. Sandy could only see the smaller, pitch-black examples of the Alien species coming at them, and they went down almost as quickly as the Smart Gun turned its lethal attention to them, but they didn't stop coming at the humans.
Then the Smart Gun went quiet. "Gun down!" called Tiny as he flipped the top cover open and went about loading a fresh belt of ammunition. While he did, it fell to Samus and Sandy to hold back the onslaught rolling down the hall like a tidal wave filled with teeth, claws, and spiked tails.
Adrenaline coursing through his veins, Clyde snarled, "Eat lead motherfuckers!" before pulling the trigger, loosing a long burst that cut down three Xenomorphs in quick succession, their dead bodies crumpling to the floor. Samus took aim at the creatures crawling along the walls and ceiling, causing bodies to literally rain down, smoldering holes left in them by the blue blasts of energy that came from the Bounty Hunter's Arm Cannon.
After firing another series of short bursts from his Pulse Rifle, Clyde turned his gun over to check the LED ammo counter when the deep, guttural roar of a larger Xenomorph echoed through the hallway, the floors shaking ever so slightly. "Tiny!" shouted Clyde as he saw the looming form of a Xeno Warrior hove into view. But the Smart Gunner was still fiddling with his weapon while the Alien charged forwards, bullishly knocking its smaller companions aside until something came charging back from the humans towards it. A missile from Samus rocketed straight into the charging Xenomorph, resulting in the creature being blown apart in a spectacular conglomeration of orange fire and green gore.
Wincing from the heat, Clyde then heard Garrison shout, "Gun up!" before the M56 began sweeping the hallway clean of any Aliens and giving the group some breathing room, and the Xenomorph swarm faltered. Taking advantage of the respite, Sandy slammed a fresh magazine into the well of his M41A1, and not a moment too soon. "Bursters!" shouted the Smart Gunner, and when the Corporal looked up, he saw the distinct green glow of the exploding Xenomorphs scuttling towards them.
Snapping his weapon up, Clyde launched a 30mm grenade right into the center of the group, setting off a chain reaction as the whole bunch went up. Any stragglers were quickly mopped up by the chattering Smart Gun, but they weren't the last, and the final bursts from the M56 illuminated the oncoming forms of multiple Xenomorph warriors coming along the floor, walls, and ceiling. "Sarge!" shouted Sandy, clutching his rifle tightly.
"2 minutes!" she shouted back, her voice wavering as she fought to keep calm in the midst of the chaos.
"Fuck!" was all Clyde could shout in return as he turned his rifle upwards, firing long bursts at the creatures on the ceiling that might be able to slip past the sensors on the Smart Gun. Beside him, every gun pointed down the hallway fired in concert, raking every surface and Alien with deadly fire. But while the first few Warriors fell, more kept coming, and they appeared just as the 99 round magazine on Sandy's Pulse Rifle ran dry, the bigger Aliens soaking up more bullets before going down. Ripping the empty mag out and letting it clatter to the floor, Clyde went for a fresh one when he heard the Smart Gun next to him abruptly cease firing and his heart sank.
When he looked up and saw a pair of Xeno Warriors poised to leap forwards, Clyde's heart leapt all the way from the pit of his stomach right up to the base of his throat and he made a split-second reaction, diving forwards and watching the pair of Aliens soar over his head. Rolling up into a crouch, the Marine drew his Shotgun and leveled the muzzle at the back of one Xeno before pulling the trigger, planting a pair of meatshots right into the creatures center of mass. The second Warrior was staggering from a blast delivered by the Bounty Hunter's Arm Cannon. Samus then dropped down and kicked the legs out from under the Xeno before planting a second shot into its head, splattering it across the floor, dead alongside the Drone that had come at Clyde.
Looking towards his companions, Jacob saw Samus move with surprising speed considering the bulk of the armor the Bounty Hunter wore. Samus was upon Sandy, armored hand grabbing him by the collar of his armor and heaving back towards the door. After tumbling through the air, coming back to the ground, and losing his feet, Clyde fell to the deck as he heard the sound of Alien claws scratching on metal and saw Samus slugging it out hand to hand with a third Xenomorph Drone, blocking a slash with his cannon before throwing a punch right into the Xenomorph's gut. The Bounty Hunter then pressed the muzzle of his Arm Cannon to the Alien's jaw and fired, blowing the front half of the creature's head clean off, but as the dead Xeno slumped to the floor, a pair of glowing green bursters shrieked and self destructed mere feet from the Bounty Hunter.
Hearing another blaring siren and the sound of grinding metal behind him, Clyde turned to see the reactor doors opening and shouted, "Dao! Man down!" The Sergeant reacted by racing with Sandy to the fallen Bounty Hunter, the Power Suit quickly being eaten by the acid that covered it, other pieces blown off completely to reveal some sort of blue undersuit beneath. "Covering fire!"
Tiny obliged, stepping forward, the Big Marine hosed down the renewed swarm of Xeno's that smelled blood in the water while Clyde and Dao dragged the fallen Samus to the safety of the reactor room's opening doors, the Corporal ducking as a ball of green acid soared overhead. "Spitters!" he called out, but Tiny was too preoccupied with the oncoming Runners to be able to direct his fire to the rafters on which the ranged Xeno's were perched. Tucking the stock of his M1216C under his arm, Jacob fired two rounds from the hip, the hail of buckshot striking one and causing it to scream as it fell to the floor with a sickening crunch.
Clyde and Dao dragged Samus, disintegrating Power Suit and all, through the door and into the reactor spaces while Garrison slowly backpedaled, Smart Gun still chattering. "Come on Tiny! Outta there!" shouted Clyde as he reloaded his Pulse Rifle and prepared to cover the retreat of his friend. Chambering the first explosive tipped, light armor piercing cartridge, Sandy looked up to see Garrison's gun run dry as the big Marine turned to sprint for the door, a swarm of Runners charging down the hall after him. Clyde fired, loosing short bursts at the creatures on the walls when he saw a flicker of movement in his peripheral vision and saw a salvo of green acid balls sail through the air and rain down on Tiny.
Screaming in agony, the Smart Gunner crumpled to the floor, writhing in pain as he desperately tried to get his armor off as the acid ate through it, sending up a trail of smoke. Instantly, Clyde was at his feet and took a step forward, but before he could even cover half the distance to Lawerence, the oncoming Xenomorph swarm was upon him, Runner's claws were tearing into the screaming Marine as he tried to fight them off. Stopped short, Curtis watched as the battered and bloody form of Tiny reached out to him, but all Sandy could do was shoulder his rifle and fire a burst into his friend, killing him instantly.
As one, all the Xenomorphs that were atop the still Marine turned towards Sandy and took off after him. Turning and sprinting back towards the closing set of Reactor Bay doors bathed in the blinking warning lights that flooded the hallway, Clyde was able to sense the Aliens quickly gaining on him. Sandy fumbled with a grenade on his vest, pulling the pin on the M91 fragmentation grenade before dropping it and diving through the doors, rolling away as Dao dumped a burst at the oncoming Aliens before the grenade exploded, sending shrapnel and guts in every direction peppering the walls and doors.
With a metallic clang that sounded with reverberating finality, the doors shut and locked, sealing the three remaining humans inside the reactor bays, but as Sandy cast a look at the Bounty Hunter, it seemed that they might soon lose another. Samus was propped up against the wall, a good chunk of the right half of the Power Suit blown off, and acid was quickly devouring what remained of the orange and yellow armor. While Dao focused on sealing the door, Clyde scrambled over to the stricken Bunty Hunter and made to try and strip off the rest of the disintegrating armor, but couldn't figure out where to even start.
Looking at the green visor, he could see eyes on the other side begin to flutter open, Samus starting to recover from the brutal attack. "Sam! Sam, you with me?" he asked, tapping the side of the pockmarked helmet. The eyes snapped wide and stared straight at him, "Sam, walk me through getting you out of this!"
It was then that something remarkable happened, in a display beyond anything else Sandy had seen from the Federation Bounty Hunter to this point, a bright yellow light enveloped Samus from head to toe. Squinting from the glow, Sandy saw the armor seem to disintegrate to reveal the blue bodysuit underneath, Samus slumping down on the floor when the armor disappeared completely.
Staring at the Bounty Hunter, both Marines were left with mouths agape as Clyde said, "No fucking way."
Closing Notes: Lots of Alien encounters here, tried to have some fun and mix up the Alien types, using some from Fireteam Elite. One main chapter and an epilogue left, so I'll see y'all for the first chapter of 2023.
Stay Frosty, Misfit Delta out.