"Again Dr. Kirchoff," Julianne droned at him in the same monotone voice that he had come to hate.

"What? Are you serious?" He asked incredulously. "We've been doing this experiment for 5 hours, my original test was only for 30 minutes!"

"Yes, and I was instructed to recreate this experiment over a longer timeframe," she replied blankly. The 'experiment' that she was referring to was based on a bogus report that Kirchoff had conducted, where he had supposedly alternated using positive and negative stimuli to images that Kirchoff showed Valen. It was the sort of classic conditioning experiment that would have made Ivan Pavlov proud, assuming that instead of dogs he used giant alien alpha predators that liked to munch down on people's guts.

The biggest difference however was that no matter what Valen tried, Kirchoff was supposed to shock Valen. This was supposedly to test Valen's memory and conditioning from the original experiment, but Kirchoff felt like it was an experiment to test his patience with Julianne.

"Well I think it's been going on for long enough. I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I have to take a leak," Kirchoff stood up and stalked to the door, opened it and gestured extravagantly for her to leave. "We're done for the day."

Julianne made no comment, but fortunately for him she stood up and walked out of the door. Kirchoff slammed the door shut behind her and let out a huge sigh of relief. Ordinarily when he asked her to leave, she didn't listen until whatever time she was supposed to be with him had passed.

Julianne was wearing them both down to the bone. Day after day for almost the past month she had shown up before Kirchoff woke up, and left long after he went to bed. Not only that, she had started 'requesting' that he demonstrate certain types of procedures that he used in his previous experiments with some 'additions'. What this really meant was that Kirchoff had to replicate his experiments, only with the added 'bonus' of inflicting pain on Valen.

Please tell me that you've come up with a way to get rid of her. Valen hissed as he hobbled back to his usual corner after Julianne had left the room.

"I'm trying Valen," Kirchoff slumped next to Valen on the wall. "But I can't think of a way without raising some serious red flags."

Valen winced as he curled himself up in the corner next to Kirchoff. It had been a particularly nasty day. Julianne had showed up nice and early, waiting for him like she always did to begin the next mandated 'experiment' from 'Dr. Nigel'. Although it barely seemed likely now that she was here on Dr. Nigel's behalf. Kirchoff hadn't heard from her since Julianne showed up and he and Valen suspected somebody else was either pulling her strings, or she had been replaced entirely, neither of which were good news for himself or Kirchoff.

"I'm sorry," Kirchoff said. Valen could feel the shame and guilt Kirchoff was was feeling

It's fine, Valen reassured him. I know that you're not really the one doing it.

"Yeah, but it doesn't make me feel less shitty about pushing the button," He said with his head in his hands. "It's not exactly fun to be forced to torture your best friend."

Even though Valen was the one of the receiving end of said torture, he felt even worse for Kirchoff. Valen was used to having pain inflicted on him, that had been most of his life up until then. What he couldn't stand was the toll it was taking on Kirchoff's mental state. With every day that passed, he could feel Kirchoff's mind slipping a little further towards breaking. It wasn't a feeling he could accurately describe, but he had a feeling that Kirchoff would end up cracking before he did.

Look, Kirchoff. I don't think either of us can handle this much longer, He said, leaning up against the thick, reinforced glass. We need to get rid of her as soon as possible.

"I've been trying," Kirchoff exclaimed. "But no matter what I say or do, she doesn't react, and she's here like 95% of the time!"

React… That word stuck in Valen's head. React… hmmmm.

Kirchoff, I think I might have the beginning of an idea.

"Oh? Care to tell me what it is?"

No, Valen said, a trace of his usual snark returning to his voice, I just told you because I don't intend on sharing it at all.

That got a laugh out of Kirchoff and a pleasant feeling that Valen had rarely felt from him recently.

The whole reason that she's here is to try and get me to react differently to all of the tests that I supposedly was subjected to before, right?

"Yeah, that's the vibe I've been getting from her."

What if I stop reacting all together?

"What do you mean?"

I mean what if I stop reacting how she wants to all of these asinine experiments? I've just been following your advice on how to react to them and playing along so far, Valen elaborated. But if I were to stop reacting at all, then maybe she'll see that the experiments aren't working anymore. Or maybe she'll be satisfied at seeing me acting defeated and leave.

"Hmmmm," Kirchoff scratched his chin, thinking hard. "Maybe, but she could also just conclude that you're dying and not useful, and then you could get killed. That's too big of a risk."

Well what if I just don't react the way she wants? Valen asked.

"I guess that could also work, but then that could call my past 'experiments' into question," he said.

Well that's no good.

"But," Kirchoff continued. "We could try meeting in the middle."

That piqued Valen's interest. Care to explain?

"No, I just told you because I'm not going to explain it."

Valen shook his head and chuckled. Smartass.

"What can I say? You're a bad influence on me."

"What I'm thinking is that you only react hostilely towards Julianne whenever she is in the room, and behave normally that her mere presence is disrupting the experimental conditions now," He explained. "Then I might be able to convince her or Dr. Nigel, or whoever she's working for, that she's compromising my work and that she needs to leave."

That does sound like a good idea, Valen said. But what if that doesn't work and she just sticks around?

"What other choice do we have?" He asked, turning to face Valen. "Like you said, I don't think we're going to last much longer if Julianne keeps making me do this shit, and we have to try something. We've just been sitting around for a month hoping that she'll go away, and that's clearly not going to happen."

Valen gave it some thought for a long time, weighing the risks against the possible benefits. As much as I would like a better plan, I can't think of one. That and your plan is significantly better than the alternative.

"Alright then," Kirchoff clapped his hands together. "It's a plan."

Kirchoff didn't sleep well that night. Come to think of it, he hadn't been sleeping well for a while now. The combination of nerves from stress and anticipation made it difficult for him to get sleep on a good night, and on this night Kirchoff spent more time tossing and turning than actually resting. He was incredibly anxious about their plan, and what could happen if it went wrong. By the time 0600 hours rolled around, Kirchoff was already out of bed and well into his third cup of coffee. He knew that coffee was probably the worst thing that he could do for his nerves, but it was the only way that he could force himself to stay sharp for what was to come.

Kirchoff, she's here, Valen told him. Kirchoff got up from his table, which was about as far as he could go into his apartment and still be able to hear Valen, and trudged into the lab.

Julianne was standing in her usual spot, waiting for him like always. "Good morning Dr. Kirchoff."

Kirchoff just grunted in response and slumped into his chair. It was then he noticed Valen, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Valen was standing up to his full height and towering over them, his mouth extended and drooling, his claws scraping the wall just above Julianne's head.

I take it that I'm doing a good job of looking hostile, Valen said, sounding unbelievably proud of himself.

I think I just had a tiny heart attack, he said, trying to breathe slowly and slow his racing heartbeat.

I'll take that as a good sign, he chuckled, and then turned his attention back to being as terrifying as possible, which wasn't all that hard.

Julianne however appeared not to notice the horrifying Xenomorph staring daggers at her. "Are you ready to begin, Dr. Kirchoff?" she asked in her usual bland monotone.

"Sure thing. What does the good Dr. Nigel have in store for me today?" he asked, mentally putting air quotes around "Dr. Nigel".

"Today she wants you to revisit your water jet experiment," she told him.

"Which one? I've done several of those."

"She wants you to start with the first one, the experiment you conducted where you attempted to gauge VS-223's reaction to water at varying water pressure levels."

"Really?" That was an odd choice of experiment to recreate, since he had first conducted that one when he first started working with Valen. Still, he didn't think Valen would mind too much if he just hosed him down a bit.

"Yes." she replied, not giving anything away with her tone or expression.

Alright, he told Valen. This one shouldn't be too bad, and it'll be easy for you to act hostile towards her as the experiment goes on.

Understood, Valen replied.

"Yes, we can start with some basic stimulation with the water jets," he muttered. This was a nice break for once.

"Very well," she said. However, instead of waiting for Kirchoff to find the necessary paperwork, read it, and start the experiment, she pushed him aside and leaned over the control panel.

"Hey!" Kirchoff yelled. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Julianne ignored him and turned a dial marked 'Water Pressure' all the way to the right and pressed a button.

"Wait, not that much!" Kirchoff shouted as jets of water powerful enough to punch through reinforced steel blasted from holes lining the side of the wall. One of these jets slammed directly into Valen's chest, making him scream in pain and surprise. The jet forced him off balance and caused him to fall directly onto his back in the center of the room, where the jets were on the other side of the wall.

Kirchoff ran up to Julianne and shoved her as hard as he could. Apparently not expecting his attack, she stumbled on her feet and let go of the button she was pressing. The water cut off immediately, leaving a very angry Valen flailing and screeching in the center of the room.

"Valen! Are you okay?" Kirchoff shouted.

I just got hit by a water blast that almost ripped my limbs off, do you think I'm okay you idiot?! Valen snapped back. He tried to stand up, but collapsed to the ground in agony whenever he tried to put weight on his legs.

Kirchoff whirled around to face his 'assistant' who had moved to sit, blank faced in front of the control panel.

"What the hell did you do that for? I wanted to do basic stimulation, not blast him to bits!" he yelled at her. She stared at Valen, unresponsive.

"Hey, I asked you a question!" Kirchoff shoved her again. "Why did you do that?"

She whipped her head to him and stared him dead in the eyes. A shiver ran down his spine under her cold, blank stare.

"Why should you care?" She asked, "It's only a Xenomorph."

The question wasn't out of the ordinary, but Kirchoff could sense the meaning behind it. She's trying to get me in some kind of trouble.

"That is true, but he's also a valuable specimen," he said carefully, "I've made more progress in the field of Xenobiolology studying him than any other researcher has made in the past thirty years. There is still so much more research that I have to do."

"Such as?"

"Well, er…"

"You hesitated. Are you concealing information from me?" she asked. Suddenly, her tone wasn't bland and monotone, it was harsh and demanding. Faster than he could follow, she stood up to her full height and glowered down at Kirchoff.

Despite her intimidating stance, he refused to show weakness. Especially in front of Valen who was watching the scene from behind the transparent wall, "Okay, that's it. I'm sick of dealing with you. Get out of here. Now!" He gestured at the door.

The woman narrowed her eyes at him. When she spoke again her voice was filled with venom, "What did you just say to me?"

"I told you to get out, you are not suitable as an assistant," he said more forcefully than before.

"Are you questioning the authority of Dr. Nigel?" the woman asked. Her voice was filled with malice.

Kirchoff knew he had to be careful. If this woman was working for Dr. Nigel, or even worse, for someone else, and he had no reason to suspect her of lying, then he had to choose his next words carefully. "No, I respect her decision to appoint you as my assistant," he said slowly and deliberately, "However, since you are working with me, it is my decision to make whether or not you are suitable to work with me, and since you directly took control of my experiments and jeopardized the project I am conducting for Dr. Nigel, I have decided that you are no longer suitable. Now leave before I call security."

She showed no signs of moving, "You overestimate your authority."

"Do I?" he asked, doing his best to be intimidating.

"Yes, you do," Juliane said. As if a switch had been flicked, her voice had lost all of it's anger and had been replaced by the monotone blandness it had earlier. That scared Kirchoff. Far more than anything she had done so far.

"Good day Dr. Kirchoff," she said. She looked him in the eyes one last time, then bowed her head and left the room.

He stared after her for a few seconds, then turned his attention back to Valen. He had managed to stand up, but he was moving slowly, letting off hisses of pain every time he tried to move.

"How are you doing Valen?" he asked.

I already told you, you imbecile! Valen shouted. I'm in a lot of pain!

"You know what I mean," he replied. "Any injuries that I should be worried about?"

No, I'll heal, he curled up next to the fake wall near where Kirchoff stood at the control board.

"Did you hear what she said?" He asked him.

Yes, I heard most of it, Valen hissed in pain as he prodded himself where the water jets had hit him. That didn't sound ominous at all.

"I agree," he said. "That didn't sound vague and threatening in the least."

Dr. Nigel was sitting at her desk when she heard the light knock on her door.

"Come in," she called to the knocker. The door opened and Julianne stepped into her office. Perfectly on time, as always.

Julianne stepped into the room and stood in her usual spot.

Dr. Nigel looked up at her, not wanting to be the first one to speak. After a few minutes of awkward silence, it was clear that Julianne wasn't going to be the one to speak first.

"So I heard you nearly killed Valen today."

"Yes Ma'am"

Ma'am? She must really think she's in trouble.

"You do realize that Dr. Kirchoff was correct in reprimanding you. You nearly destroyed my research project, all because of Dr. Gavin's orders to try and evoke a strong, hostile emotional response in Valen, right?"

"It was the only way that I had yet to try."

"And you almost destroyed my project!" She shouted, slamming her hands on her desk. "You nearly destroyed all of my work because that nosy shithead thinks he can just shove his way into my project and twist it into something he can use!"

"I was merely following orders Ma'am."

"And now you are going to follow my orders," Dr. Nigel seethed between her teeth. "Get the hell out of my office! And if I even hear so much as a peep from Kirchoff that you returned to his lab, I will deactivate you myself! Do you understand?"

Julianne's expression remained the same. All she said was, "Yes ma'am," and walked out of her office.

Ursula flopped back into her chair and ran her hands through her hair. She had dealt with Dr. Gavin butting into her experiments and projects in the past, but this was utterly ridiculous. He was interfering to such a degree that he was threatening to compromise the entire project because of, what? His hatred of Xenomorphs? His desire to weaponize every project that crossed his desk? Sadism? She shuddered at the thought of that last option.

The worst part about the entire situation was that there was nothing that she could do about it. Dr. Gavin was the Research Director and had been for almost 10 years. It would be almost impossible to go over his head without evidence of some kind.

She buried her head in her hands and was contemplating getting a very stiff drink when the phone buried under her mountain of papers started to ring.