Chapter 9

Priority Shift

Adrien consciously reminded himself to relax his shoulders for about the 30th time since the last skirmish.

Seeing that thing, uncloaked, in all its primal fierceness… it was Afghanistan, all over again.

He wished he'd brought a bottle of that drink he'd had at the cottage. The only reason, the only reason they'd escaped alive was the unexpected appearance of the… what had Alexei called it…? the Bagiennik.

And even then, not all of them had made it. Yahontov's last moments couldn't have been pleasant.

Wait, since when was he referring to himself as part of 'them'?

In any case, there was also the problem of Katja's base ahead of him (quite literally). She was going to be debriefed by her superiors, and find out Adrien and his team were absolutely not authorized to be in Russia. After that, he'd be lucky if he spent the rest of his life in a gulag, or whatever the modern equivalent was called.

He'd been so caught up in getting Viper help, he hadn't thought far enough ahead about the consequences. Well, that's what he got for getting soft.

Somehow, he still had to get Katja on their evac out of Siberia. Or he was screwed.

If he ever made it stateside again, the first thing he was going to do was get on a plane and go home to give his daughter a hug. After that, he'd tell his wife how sorry he was.

Maybe there was a way to convince Katja's team to help him extract her?

Adrien was in formation alongside Petrov at the moment, who seemed to be deliberately ignoring him. Instead, the man kept subtly glancing anxiously back at Katja. Probably because she was beside Alexei, whom the hunter had designated as a target for… some reason. In Adrien's mind, the hunter could have the kid if it meant breathing space.

Wait, that gave him an idea…

"You know, you're a pretty observant guy, Petrov," Adrien said quietly. During this hike, they (aside from Alexei) had all been speaking in near whispers, afraid of summoning the hunter or more Bagiennik."I wouldn't have noticed the hunter was after Alexei." He just hoped this method was roundabout enough to avoid suspension. He was really struggling not to sound condescending, but it wasn't easy. This guy had a huge stick up his rear, at least where Adrien was concerned.

Looking at him askance, Petrov said, "Thanks," without elaboration.

"You always been in the Spetsnaz?"

"Yes."

What a lively conversationalist, this man. "So, when are you getting promoted? Clever dude like you, I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet."

This only seemed to make Petrov even more suspicious. "When they decide I am ready."

"Yeah, but if Katja left the military, you'd probably be first in line for her job." Hint, hint.

Face creasing into a scowl, Petrov said, "I don't want her job. I want–" Catching himself, he finished, "to serve my country. That's all."

So, their… whatever was going on between them wasn't about Petrov getting ahead in his career. The Lieutenant actually liked the girl (though god knew why; she was obstinate as hell and twice as pushy). Well… crap. That was going to complicate things.

"Uh, good for you, buddy," Adrien said. "Nice talk."

Maybe he had a better chance with Zaitsev or Preobrazhensky, though he doubted it. Katja seemed to inspire loyalty. Hell, even he had fallen under her spell, in a way. If anything, Katja's men were going to be more of a deterrent than a help when it came time to… escort… her from the country. He was most likely wasting his time with this angle.

"Are we done?" Petrov asked hopefully.

"Umm... Yes?"

"Good," the man responded flatly.

Behind them, Adrien heard Katja call softly, "Petrov? Switch with Alexei for a moment. I need a word with you, please."

Adrien smirked at Petrov. "Uh-oh, someone's in the doghouse," he teased. "Good luck."

Though Katja had deliberately kept Alexei by her side so she would be first in the line of fire should the hunter attack him again (more as a method to protect her soldiers than Alexei himself), she noticed something odd happening ahead of her.

Adrien was talking to Petrov, who seemed to be getting more and more agitated. Time to break it up.

Calling Petrov over to her, she sent Alexei up to Adrien. Though the boy was reluctant to leave her side, he seemed to realize how precarious his standing was within the group, and shuffled up to the American without complaint.

"Captain," Petrov acknowledged as he joined her. "What can I do for you?"

She slowed slightly, both to let Adrien move further ahead, and to ease the continual ache in her back. "I was wondering what the American wanted," she said in Russian.

Allowing a bit of disgust to reflect on his face, Petrov said, "He was… complimenting me… or trying to. On my work. It was strange and somewhat disgusting. I feel like I need a shower now."

"Well, Adrien's not wrong. You are good at your job," Katja pointed out frankly. "If I didn't have you here, we'd be in a lot more trouble than we are."

"Ah – Thank you, Ma'am. But it doesn't seem in character for the American."

It was true; the two men hadn't exactly been friendly with one another. "You still think he's up to something?"

"I think he has been since he found us," Petrov said, sounding frustrated. "He could have gone to our base by himself, if he was really that desperate for help for his men. We could have just pointed him in the right direction. But, instead, he was willing to walk right into the hunter's turf just to stick with us, when it's clear he's scared of the things. I can't figure it out, and it's really bothering me."

Disturbed, Katja realized he was right. "That is… odd. We'll continue to keep an eye on him. I'm glad you caught that."

"You're the one who taught me to think things through independently, Ma'am," said Petrov. "But there's a lot that guy isn't telling us, I promise that much."

He fell silent then, but she had the feeling he had more on his mind. Something he was having difficulty bringing up with her.

"What else do you have for me, Lieutenant?" Katja invited calmly.

Again, Petrov hesitated.

Less formally, she added, "You know you can always talk to me."

Taking a breath, he said, "Captain, back there… that alien was just seconds from killing you. You were almost dead. And I th– I was… terr–"

"Hey, Captain!" Zaitsev suddenly called from the front of the formation. "There's some more bodies up here. But something's wrong."

As they all gathered around, it quickly became apparent what was wrong. The bodies weren't Russian or American forces; actually, they weren't even military.

"Shit," Adrien murmured. The corpses sported grey-white jackets, a variety of camouflage, and solid-colored cargo pants. The big yellow 'W' logos on the jackets were the dead giveaway who these assholes were. This was possibly going to become yet another complication.

"Why is SAR out in the middle of nowhere and armed?" Zaitsev ventured. The guy was way off base; these corpses were not Russian Search and Rescue, but maybe he was just trying to get the ball rolling. Adrien had noticed Katja allowed her guys a lot of chatter; perhaps it was normal for them.

"These guys aren't SAR," Katja stated as she got on her haunches for a better look.

"Who are they?" Preobrazhensky asked.

"Private military contractors – 'Iron Bears' – a child company to Weyland-Yutani," Katja said. Her voice was strained, though she was trying to hide it. She grabbed a contractor's ID card to pass around, just to prove it.

Oh, so she knew who these guys were. Now, that was interesting to Adrien. He also noticed how Petrov visibly cringed in – sympathy, maybe? – and offered her a hand. When she took it, he helped her to her feet as she struggled to rise in her gear.

"What the hell are Weyland mercenaries doing in Siberia? More of yours, American?" Zaitsev asked sarcastically.

"Heh, I'd never associate myself with these assholes. I can venture a guess why they're here, though," Adrien said with distaste. Katja motioned him to continue. "They want the creatures – likely for profiteering reasons – and they know about them because of an incident on Bouvetøyen island."

"You never mentioned them before," Katja subtly accused. "And what happened at Bouvetøyen island? That's a no-man's land with no strategic value or resources. Why would serpents be there?"

"Eh, it's a long story. I want to know how Weyland figured out that the creatures would be here," he said as nonchalantly as possible, trying to deflect the fact he had just blurted information he should absolutely not have. He gave his chin a scratch, feeling that he already needed a shave. "Believe me, I didn't tip them off."

"You think we did?" Katja challenged, closing the gap between them. Good, he had successfully distracted her.

"Maybe not you, but your government," Adrien shrugged. "Hmm? Maybe someone in your ministry of defense wanted a little extra pocket change? Communism doesn't pay too well, after all." He knew very well Russia hadn't officially been communist since the fall of the Soviet Union, but wanted to see what she'd say.

"Russia is no longer communist; read a history book. Besides, there's no way you can say big business isn't at all in bed with the US government," Katja shot back.

Ok, that was fair. Amazon, Google, Disney, and Facebook were pretty big and evil, and it wasn't a secret that his government was protecting them from being broken up into smaller businesses. Weyland certainly could be included in that batch.

"How much, exactly, are we dealing with? Because between the serpents with an inner mouth, an alien hunter that looks like he benchpresses cars just for fun, and dwindling supplies, I was better off calling in sick for this op," Preobrazhensky broke in, clearly unloading some stress.

"Weyland hires criminals, military-dropouts; any killer they can get their hands on, really. They give them big paychecks and even bigger guns, then send them out to play soldier for the top bidder. Usually, though, that's just a cover for whatever illegal activity Weyland is up to in the occupied country. That sound about right?" Adrien said, looking at Katja for confirmation.

She looked away; lost in either a thought or, given her reaction earlier, a memory. Finally, she said, "Pretty much." Then, coming to grips with whatever was troubling her, she addressed her men. "And they won't hesitate to fire at us, so if the moment comes, be ready to do what you have to do. Not losing anyone else today."

Damn. Aggressive. Who knew the Kitty Kat's claws were so unsheathed when it came to the Iron Bears?

"Yes, Ma'am," her soldiers chorused.

"See if they have any supplies," she ordered. "Specifically, ammo, on the off chance it's compatible, or food. We are still a while from base, and we didn't have much of a breakfast."

At the mention of food, even the squeamish Alexei began digging through the packs and pockets of the bodies. Not trusting the weasel one bit, Adrien decided to watch him.

Sure enough, the boy discovered a protein bar in a vest pocket, and tried to sneakily stuff it up his sleeve.

"Hey!" Adrien barked. "Alexei! I saw that. You took something. Gonna share it with the rest of us?"

"Oh, Captain, can I hold the kid upside down and shake him? See what falls out?" asked Zaitsev, eagerly advancing on Alexei.

"Jekaterina, Jekaterina, pomoshch!" Alexei cried as he began moving around bodies.

"Zaitsev, don't chase him. Alexei, share what you found," said Katja as she shook out the contents of a backpack. Her tone was approximately the same one Adrien's wife used on their daughter when she was misbehaving.

Eventually, they came up with a handful of granola bars, a few packages of nuts, and a bag of pork rinds.

"There is a God!" Adrien suddenly stated. He had found a small bag of Lay's sour cream and onion chips on one of the guys. Wasting no time, he ripped the bag open, took a few, and passed them along.

It was a meager, impromptu, and very late lunch; but everyone's spirits seemed to lift just slightly afterwards regardless.

As they continued their march, Adrien ran some scenarios through his mind of how to steal Katja away without the rest of them noticing. None of them were feasible. At least, not any non-violent ones, and he really didn't want to kill these guys. They had saved him at the river.

"Let me guess, this isn't your first run-in with Weyland-Yutani or the Iron Bears?" Adrien asked once he had rotated to Katja's side.

Ahead of them, Alexei was walking with Zaitsev, keeping as far of a distance as he dared. Probably feared another beating.

"Doesn't sound like it's yours, either," Katja deflected, picking her way through some half-frozen mud.

"US government hired them in Afghanistan to guard supply convoys. Two weeks later, Weyland announces the 'acquisition' of a lithium mine in, you guessed it, Afghanistan. No doubt they killed people for that. I'm sure for their robotics research and development. Also, pretty sure they were selling opium on the side," Adrien answered.

"Where does Bouvetøyen island come into all of this?" Katja continued. Man, she was persistent with that.

Adrien hesitated; but really, what was the harm in sharing some classified information? Might as well try to get in all the goodwill he could before he had to 'escort' her to the evac site. "I was briefed that their CEO made an archeological discovery there. That was Weyland Corps' first encounter with the serpents, or Alexei's 'Bagiennik'. It's probably why they are here now. That expedition ended with the death of their CEO, as well as all their crew; save one."

"Well, good riddance to the lot of them, then. It's strange, though. Reports said the CEO was killed by an environmentalist protester; I forget her name. Nothing about an expedition," Katja mused.

"What do you expect? It was classified by the government, and they cooked up a story. The woman you're talking about, though, the one they burned, was actually Weyland's guide and the sole survivor of the incident," Adrien scoffed.

"What was her name?" Katja asked.

"Alexa Woods," Adrien answered.

"Did you ever meet her?" Katja pressed.

"No; I'm just a Marine, remember? Maybe a Marine who has an unhealthy obsession with digging up anything related to the hunters, but still. Even if I wanted to, she disappeared from the face of the Earth shortly after the government questioned her; probably because she was labeled a murderer. If you ever find her though, let me know," Adrien said.

"Why?" Katja asked.

"Well for one, I have questions for her the government never asked; and two… I have a gag gift to give her." Adrien answered.

"Dare I ask?" Katja groaned.

"The book 'All My Friends Are Dead'," Adrien grinned. Katja rolled her eyes. "Speaking of obsessions, what's your interest in Weyland? You would've been too young to care about all of this when it happened in the early two-thousands."

Katja began playing with the ends of her braid. Nervous habit? Either way, the question had made her close off to him. "I'm not that much younger than you, I'm guessing. Anyway, I've recently searched back into the history of that company for… personal reasons. And you didn't tell me how the hunters came into play there," she said defensively.

"I never implied they did," Adrien shot back.

"Yes, but you said they like to hunt the serpents more than us – which implies they were there," Katja pointed out. "No smoke without fire, isn't that a saying?"

Crap, he did say that. Damn her memory and her Sherlock Holmes routine. He had already revealed much more information to her than he'd planned over the course of the day. This girl was alarmingly wily. Would've made a great spy, really. Maybe he could suggest a spot for her in the CIA when they arrived in America.

Bob would be very angry if he knew Adrien had slipped this much; but it gave Adrien a dark pleasure to picture Bob's irritating face turning purple and red with anger. Maybe he'd end up giving himself a stroke or heart attack.

"It's a long story, and one I will tell you later, I promise. But right now, it seems more relevant to ask about the mercs," Adrien tried to sidetrack her.

"Them?" Katja circled her shoulders, perhaps trying to loosen them. "Only thing you should be asking yourself is if you knew when you were in over your head."

"I think I found out last night when we were jumped," Adrien snorted.

Looking up, he saw the predator drone was circling them. Obviously, Bob found it more interesting to follow him around, instead of his men.

With a frown, a thought came to Adrien. That drone was seeing everything he was, and more. Why wasn't Bob calling in support? A good chunk of the world, if not all of it, was at stake.

"You ok?" Katja asked.

Adrien shook himself loose and dropped his head before she could follow his line of sight upward. Because being her, she would. "Sorry, lost in thought. I'm fine. Let's go, Little Red Riding Hood."

"How am I Little Red Riding Hood?" Katja asked, clearly thoroughly irritated with his constant nicknames.

"Because, your hair is red," he began, holding up her braid and winding it loosely around a finger, "And you went into the woods despite warnings, and met with the Big Bad Wolf. Emphasis on 'big'. Then, the attractive and brave Woodsman – that's me – had to save you. The end." Adrien smirked.

She tilted her head back, freeing her hair from his grip. "Your line of reasoning is inane, you know that? And you hardly saved me."

"Sticks and stones, Red," Adrien shot back.

"And here I thought 'Kat' was bad enough. Enough with the nicknames, already."

A brief silence settled between them before Adrien remembered the coming issues that would arrive when they reached her base. It was now or never.

"So, where exactly is this base of yours? It's starting to get dark," said Adrien, glancing at the sun's position.

"Really close," Katja assured him. In fact, she was not sure why they hadn't already arrived. They'd been walking for hours since finding the mercenaries, and according to the map, they were right on top of it. But she couldn't hear anything; not the sound of motors, generators – nothing.

"I'll try them on the radio," she said thoughtfully. "It'd be wise to let them know we're arriving with a passenger, anyway." Tossing a look at Adrien, she added, "Would hate to have you shot on sight after coming this far."

"Cute," Adrien said, but there was no humor in his tone. In fact, she noticed his hand twitch slightly, as if part of him wanted to grab his gun.

"Hey, relax. I won't actually let them shoot you," Katja said, more than a bit bewildered by his overreaction. "But it would be a good idea to call. Give me a second, and I'll–"

She mentally recoiled as she suddenly remembered, a wave of fresh pain hitting her. "No, I can't. The radio was on Yahontov."

Alexei shrugged. "So, the American gets shot? Not a big loss."

Zaitsev looked at him sidelong. "Maybe I should translate that for him, you little slime. Maybe he'd prefer to go out taking you with him."

Adrien, who had logically only been able to follow the conversation since Katja's last statement in English, merely darted a look deeper into the forest. "Well, if we can't call, we can't call. I remember the map. I'm pretty sure it's this way."

Katja might not have known exactly where the base was hiding, but she was sure Adrien had just suggested the wrong direction. Not only that, but she was also certain he was good with directions – being in MARSOC, he'd have to be – and purposely picked the wrong way. "It's not."

"Sure about that? I mean, you didn't get us lost, did you?" Adrien asked archly, using an overhanging branch to lift himself over a log.

Katja stretched up and pinched him below his armpit, making him yelp and drop to the ground. "Don't start with me," she warned. "Keep going. Same direction as before."

"Yeah, yeah," said Adrien, picking himself up.

They moved on, yet the American still seemed jumpy.

"What if we split up? You know, in the interests of finding the place sooner," Adrien suggested. "Kat, you and I can go–"

"Oh, now you want to split up?" Petrov asked icily. "How interesting."

"What's the problem?" Adrien shot back. "I thought you were an officer; afraid you can't lead the others on your own?"

To Katja's great relief, Petrov didn't respond to the taunt. Instead, he pulled back a needle-filled cluster of pine branches and gestured to what they had been hiding – a flat stretch of gravel, man-made. "There's the road. We go due east of here now."

Zaitsev perked up. "Oh yeah, I recognize this spot. There's a big pothole right around the corner. We thought we'd lose a tire on one of the trucks when we ran over it on the way up the mountain. Base is only about half a kilometer now."

"Yes!" Alexei hissed, then chanted, "Hot shower, hot shower, hot shower."

Nobody paid the slightest attention to him, though Katja couldn't deny she understood the sentiment. Before she got her own shower, though, she was facing several hours of debriefs and probably paperwork. And the dressing down of her life. Maybe even a demotion.

First, however, they had to actually make it to the base. "Okay, we'll use the road," Katja said, seeing no reason not to. Everyone followed her through the trees onto the gravel. It crunched under their feet as they moved along, and they turned the first corner cautiously.

"We're pretty exposed out here," Adrien pointed out. His voice was edged with tension. Strange. He'd seemed okay on the last leg of their trip, up until a few minutes ago. "And this is practically a game trail. Maybe we should cut through the forest instead."

"Well, it should just be right around the second bend up there. There's really no point. Plus, Alexei is the only one in danger anyway," Katja joked.

Alexei just whimpered nervously before tripping into the previously mentioned pothole and losing his glasses… again.

"How have you even survived this long?" Adrien stated, hoisting the boy up and getting his glasses once more.

"I'll have you know, I read many books on camping and outdoor survival before coming here! I know how to survive out here!" Alexei spat.

"What did the hunted say?" Adrien requested. Katja repeated it, and Adrien scowled before digging in his pack. He produced a nondescript pamphlet of some sort.

"Here, educate yourself, caveboy." Adrien shoved the paper into Alexei's chest. Now Katja saw the front of it. US Military Survival Manual.

"I. Am. The. Smartest. Person. In. The. Forest!" Alexei screamed and Katja translated reflexively.

"Really? Must be an empty forest." Adrien smirked. That elicited a lot of laughs from everyone, though they kept it down.

"And I'm being insulted and called the Neanderthal by the brute!" Alexei continued. Katja thoughtlessly repeated what Alexei said, and immediately regretted it. He looked horrified, and Adrien looked pissed. She wondered if it was the American's turn to use the kid as a punching bag.

Behind them, she saw Petrov rubbing his temples and sighing. She could barely hear him mumble, "I have a headache."

"I'm a 'dumb brute', huh?" Adrien said, stalking toward Alexei and forcibly putting a grenade in his hands. "Is this a nonlethal grenade? I don't know, I'm just a dumb brute who can't read," snarled the American before pulling the pin and walking away. Alexei stood there, a look of horror on his face before it detonated… and then a billow of smoke emitted from the grenade.

"Oh, smoke grenade…" Alexei said before collapsing in relief. He let the cylindrical marker go, and it rolled onto the road with a few remaining wisps of smoke sputtering forth from it.

"You deserved that. Also, for the last time, keep your voice down; or the aliens will find you. And this time, I'm not gonna do a thing to stop them," Katja stated before continuing down the road.

Preobrazhensky and Zaitsev were in an uproar of laughter, trying to keep quiet, but failing. Even Petrov gave Adrien a congratulatory shoulder slug as he passed. Whatever, it was Alexei's skull. Quite literally.

"There it is!" Zaitsev suddenly cried.

But as the base came more in view, it was clear something was wrong. There were destroyed vehicles everywhere, bodies littered the field, and the base itself looked trashed.

Katja's heart jumped into her throat. No, it couldn't be. Yet…

There were so many bodies. Hundreds, probably. She had been in battles before today; lost men. But nothing like this. This was her whole world, lying in destruction before her.

Her unit… her entire unit had returned here last night… Volkov. So young. She had sent him back here not but hours ago.

She had to reach out and place a hand on a nearby tree trunk, because her legs suddenly began to inexplicably weaken, and she feared she might not be able to hold herself upright.

"Hold!" Adrien commanded, in lieu of Katja's lack of orders.

"Hey! You're not giving orders here, American," Petrov barked. Apparently, their brief solidarity was over.

"He's right, we need to assess the situation," Katja stepped in. Somehow her voice sounded normal. Authoritative and in control. It felt like someone else was talking, taking over while she broke down inside.

Taking position on the ridge, Adrien began scanning through his rifle's LPVO scope.

"They took out T-90 tanks and BTRs," Adrien observed, passing the rifle for Katja to look through. She was wishing Preobrazhensky hadn't left his SVD Dragunov sniper rifle back at base now; but at the time, it seemed unnecessary to haul around an excessively long rifle in favor of a more maneuverable carbine.

"How?" Preobrazhensky demanded, obviously not really believing it. "How could they possibly have damaged the tanks that much?"

"Probably just threw bodies at them until the acid blood ate away the armor, exposing the center of the tootsie pop," Adrien guessed.

Katja thought she might vomit. Those were her men he was talking about so cavalierly, the men who had depended on her.

"Licks!" Alexei exclaimed in English, giddy to hear another western reference.

Rationally, Katja realized that Adrien's theory didn't make sense. How could the serpents know to do that? He was describing planned tactics; no matter how primitive. These were supposed to be animals.

"Adrien, that is strategic, intelligent collaboration; not something animals do," Katja pointed out.

"I dunno, ever see a pod of killer whales toss seals around to each other for fun on a nature show?"

Her nausea returned.

"Anyway, whatever. My point is, dolphins are pretty smart. I've heard types of birds can count. My wife is crazy for this YouTube cat who's been trained to communicate with buttons. Some dinosaurs were thought to be intelligent – according to the movies, anyway. It's an alien animal organism; it doesn't have to play by Earth rules. Maybe they didn't even know they were doing it, they were just wild to get to the men within," Adrien reasoned.

"Jurassic Park," Alexei threw in with his broken English. This kid could understand the language, but only speak it with regards to western pop culture… and he called everyone else the idiot.

That's when Katja remembered an even worse possibility. "The civilians!" She swung the scope to the landing pad. The baby… the baby she'd held in her arms yesterday. Had he been killed, too?

"Relax, choppers are gone. They got out. Looks like our hunter 'friend' ensured that," Adrien answered.

"What? You said this thing liked to hunt humans! Which is it?" Petrov said angrily. Katja could tell he, too, was affected by the scene in front of them.

"Probably just saw a horde of serpents and wanted to get his rocks off," Adrien brushed the comment off.

"How are you so sure this thing is male?" Katja quizzed. More than anything she wanted him to trip up. Based on the build, she, too, was pretty sure the hunter was male.

"I'm sure," Adrien answered cryptically. The look he gave suggested he knew what she had been trying to do.

"Ok, so it was just coincidence; he didn't consciously help the civilians," Katja clarified.

"That would be my guess," Adrien agreed.

She chewed the inside of her lip, thinking. Maybe there was another way to deal with the hunter, via the shared enemy that was the Bagiennik – the serpents. "Just so I'm not starting an intergalactic war, I want to clarify - there is no reason to believe these guys would ever be friendly to us humans in any way, correct?" Katja asked.

She was so focused on scanning the base, it took a moment to realize Adrien never replied.

Before she could press for an answer, Alexei jumped in. "Look! Movement!" He pointed. Katja used the scope.

It was the serpents. They had bodies; alive or dead, she couldn't tell. But they were dragging them toward the base. Some were humans, some were animals; perhaps being collected for… eating? Maybe they were unconscious for impregnating? It was hard to say.

Either way, she couldn't watch any more.

"Here, let me see." Adrien took the rifle back and scanned around. After a moment, he turned to the scientist. "Alexei, nest?" Adrien pointed at the base. Alexei shifted his head back and forth, looking up in thought.

"Da," he finally agreed with a nod.

"Nest? What does that mean?" Zaitsev asked.

"It means, that the queen has made her home in there. The source of the scourge," Adrien mused aloud.

"The source? Let's just go take it!" Preobrazhensky said, smashing his fist into his palm.

"Hold up there, sputnik; no need to launch into orbit. If that is the queen's nest, we'd never get within three hundred yards. My understanding is she keeps plenty of drones around," Adrien warned, holding the man back by his shoulder.

"Metric system!" Petrov hissed.

"Thank you," Zaitsev chimed in.

"Screw the metric system! It's a tool of the devil and frankly, un-American!" Adrien hissed back. Though to Katja, it sounded like he was playing a stereotype just to bug her Lieutenant.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do," Katja began, and everyone gathered around. "We'll pillage the outlying area for supplies, in groups of two. One covers, one searches. Check bodies, vehicles, whatever. We're gonna regroup at that BTR, because it looks to be in one piece." She pointed out the vehicle for Alexei's sake. "And we're going to drive out of the hot zone, and hook up with Adrien's men," Katja concluded.

The BTR-82 was an armored personnel carrier, and she prayed it was in good enough condition and had enough fuel for them to drive out of here.

"Good, yes. We'll regroup with my men in the abandoned town, and I'll call us an evac out of here," Adrien said, and began walking away as Katja and Petrov exchanged a puzzled look.

"Wait, Adrien, take Alexei - and maybe Zaitsev – with you," she called after the American. Even though she'd originally decided on groups of two, it occurred to her that whoever got Alexei would be at a huge disadvantage in a partner.

"I'll take big Z. But the kid can go with someone else. I've had enough of him for the day. And possibly the rest of my life," Adrien said, without even turning around.

Without being asked, Preobrazhensky reluctantly volunteered, "I'll take Alexei if you'd like, Captain. He can at least… carry some supplies."

Katja gave a nod. "All right, but stay on the very outskirts. Zaitsev, go with Adrien."

As the two groups moved away towards the base, she heard Preobrazhensky whisper to Alexei, "Don't make me regret this."

When the four men were out of earshot, Katja turned to Petrov. "So… you noticed that, didn't you?"

"That the American has had an evacuation plan this whole time, and still followed us all the way here, putting both his life and the life of his injured man – assuming he's even being honest about that – in unnecessary danger? Yeah, I noticed," Petrov replied darkly. They both spoke in low voices, not wanting to alert the aliens.

Weighing her thoughts, Katja motioned for him to follow her. Snow was beginning to fall; just a light sprinkling, but she knew just how deadly it could become if it worsened. They couldn't spend much time here.

She and Petrov moved from body, to vehicle, to body as they continued the conversation, eyeing the distant serpents warily.

"Why would he do that?" she asked.

"Because we have something he wants. Or needs." Petrov carefully eased open the front door of a truck as noiselessly as possible, and began searching the cab.

Picking up some magazines off the ground, Katja tried to keep her skepticism from showing. "I don't see what that would be. Maybe…"

Then, it hit her. "Alexei. Adrien seems to know quite a bit about the hunters, but the serpents – not so much. But Alexei's been studying them. Maybe the United States wants to interrogate the kid." She flashed back to something that had occurred earlier, seeing the situation with new eyes. "Come to think of it, Adrien wouldn't even use his grenade launcher back on that hill with the aliens until Alexei was clear. He said it was because he didn't want to take out Yahontov, but…"

Emerging from the truck with several MREs, Petrov began tucking the food into his pack. "I don't think so. He literally just refused to partner up with Alexei. He has zero interest in the kid's welfare."

Katja was once again stumped. It was back to square one, then. She stared at the back of the enormous truck. "I suppose that's true. Maksim, come here and give me a boost."

He joined her at the rear of the truck, and knitted his hands together for her to use as a step. She lifted her foot, but then lowered it. "Your hand. I'll hurt you."

"It'll be all right."

"No, forget the boost. Just lift me up a bit, and I'll do the rest," Katja said, and sprang up towards the truck bed.

He caught her around the waist and gave her a heave through the cloth canopy, with an accompanying, "Up you go."

She didn't quite make it, however. Her hips got caught on the tailgate with a painful jolt, and she was half-in and half-out of the truck when she suddenly heard the American's voice somewhere behind her.

Twisting her head around, she saw him passing by with Zaitsev on their way to the next scavenging spot.

"Boy, it's a shame you have to sit on something so pretty," Adrien commented to her, eying her posterior with obvious amusement at her predicament.

"You're feeling flirty? Out here? In the middle of all of this?" Katja asked incredulously.

"Not in the least. Just trying to get under your skin. Like a sibling," he responded as he moved on.

She was going to point out to him that siblings didn't catcall one another when her breath caught at the word 'sibling'.

Suddenly, she was falling forward, and sprawling awkwardly on her stomach in the bed of the truck with a sting in her elbow from where it had hit the aluminum box. Stupid, she had been so distracted by one word.

"You ok?" Petrov called, apparently more worried about her than getting her honor back from the American. He really was a sweetheart.

"I'm fine," she replied shortly, trying to hold back the lump in her throat. Getting to her feet, she realized she was centimeters away from a spider victim with a bloody, open chest. She even recognized the guy; a young sergeant from a different unit.

Shuddering, she backed away and popped her head out of the back of the truck, needing a distraction from the carnage. And her brother.

Thankfully, Adrien was no longer nearby.

"Maybe we missed our calling as pairs skaters. We have the throw jumps down," Katja said to Petrov, who was waiting outside the vehicle, keeping watch. She didn't know why she made the silly joke. She just knew if she didn't, she might start screaming.

He glanced up at her and offered a tired smile, blue eyes crinkling at the corners. "Maybe I missed my calling. I think you need to work on your landings."

She quirked her mouth, somewhat surprised at his commentary on her faceplant into the truck bed. As far as she could recall, he'd never really engaged in banter with her. Maybe he needed a distraction, too.

"You know what?" she told him, "You just…" Noticing an empty bullet casing at her feet, she scooped it up and threw it at his chest. "…You just stay there and let me search."

Activating her light in the darkened, covered bed of the truck, Katja began to explore. There were some boxes at the front, near the cab, and she kneeled and opened them. To her great delight, inside were a few sets of night vision goggles. How those would've helped last night.

There would be enough pairs for everyone but Alexei, and Adrien, who had his own set anyway.

Thinking of Adrien made her remember her conversation with Petrov. They hadn't exactly finished it. "Anyway, about Adrien?" Katja half-whispered in Petrov's direction. "Maybe he wanted access to our base, and thought we were the way to do it."

There was a slight pause before she heard his voice. "For what purpose? I know Alexei said the train was full of research material, but the base itself? We both know ninety percent of its purpose was civilian processing and transfer. There was nothing of strategic importance or value here. No, it's something about our group specifically."

Seeing nothing else of use in the truck, Katja tucked the goggles in her pack and pushed her way through the canopy, avoiding the body of the sergeant.

When he noticed her, Petrov raised his arms, and she leaned on his shoulders to jump the long distance to the ground, landing softly on her feet.

"But, Captain," Petrov said, forehead wrinkling thoughtfully. "If what you're saying is true, and Adrien was holding his fire – and it wasn't for Alexei or Yahontov's sake – well, there was only one other person at the bottom of that hill."

Before she could even understand what he was suggesting, a pale, scorpion-like shape flew across the air, jumping towards Petrov's face.

The parasite-impregnator.

Katja swiped desperately in its direction, and somehow managed to grab ahold of its tail in midair before it could touch him.

Not wanting it to turn its attack to her, she used its momentum to swing it in a circle like a discus, slammed its body into the side of the truck as hard as she could, and then dropped it as her hand went to her gun.

The spider, now on the ground, was upside down with its legs wiggling pitifully in the air. But she guessed it would quickly recover.

Katja's hand closed around her pistol, but – no, she couldn't use it. It was too loud. They'd be swarmed by the serpents in seconds.

She went for her knife instead, jumping on the spider and stabbing it over and over again, until its blood disintegrated her knife up to the grip. "Stay – off – my – Lieu-ten-ant!" she snarled a syllable with every rise and fall of the weapon.

"Captain, Captain, come on," Petrov said, pulling her to her feet. "We have to get to the BTR, now! I think one of those things spotted us!"

Iron Bears Mercenaries from Aliens versus Predator 2 2001 the PC game are introduced... I like that game
Ironically, the mercs in that game are Russian based.