Chapter 20
Uncharted Territory
The group ran from the warehouse. Their asses had been decidedly kicked. Four of them went up against the lone hunter, and they had lost. It hadn't even been a contest. No surprise to Adrien; but he hoped the fact that they were laughably outmatched by it was sinking in for everyone else.
As they approached the train, Alexei became visible, pacing in front of the cars. Adrien was honestly shocked that he had waited for them. "Alexei, get the train moving!" Adrien shouted. The boy thankfully complied. For once.
Petrov and Zaitsev were first on board, followed by Adrien. He noticed Katja purposely held back, and he knew her mentality. She was first into fray and last out of it; everyone else came first. Still, he held his hand out to yank her onboard as the train slowly gained momentum.
Adrien was about to speak when he caught something moving behind her. The hunter, splattered in red blood. Lots of it.
Well, clearly it had made short work of those Weyland guys Adrien had seen rappelling in through the roof as they'd retreated from the warehouse.
Katja must've sensed its presence, too, because she spun around and lifted her rifle.
The hunter slowed, and then came to a full stop on the train platform, with Katja's weapon sighted on him. It was clear his focus was intently on her, and the train was still moving slowly enough for him to jump aboard, which was worrisome.
"Shoot 'em, Katja," Adrien ordered more than loud enough for all present to hear. The wimpy Russian 5x45 rounds probably wouldn't penetrate his armor and therefore anything vital, but she could still cripple him by capping his knees, or something. Maybe the serpents would then finish him off.
Wait, why wasn't he hearing gunfire yet? Preferably liberal gunfire? "What are you waiting for, shoot him!" Adrien pressed. He watched her bring the butt of the rifle in tighter to her shoulder, as though she was going to fire; but never did. He swore he heard her whisper 'Give me a reason'.
The alien stayed put, and the train picked up speed. Soon, he was out of sight. "What the hell?" Adrien turned to her.
"Malfunction of some kind," Katja offered calmly.
"Bull; Russian AKs don't malfunction," Adrien accused as he ripped the weapon from her. He ejected the round in the chamber and looked at it. There was a primer strike on the bullet, but it never fired. A bad round.
He didn't believe for a second, she hadn't somehow manufactured this; though how, he wasn't sure. Either way, she'd had plenty of time to clear the bad round and fire at the hunter.
"Bad round?" she asked and visibly braced, like she knew what was coming. He shoved the rifle back into her arms and tossed the bad bullet off the car before stalking further inside the train without another word.
In the cabin, he saw Petrov and Zaitsev had taken a seat at a table. They looked pained and exhausted. "Thanks for coming back, guys," Adrien offered.
"Of course, but you owe me a new pistol," Zaitsev wheezed heavily, referencing the gun Adrien had stolen to shoot the hunter with.
"No one gets left behind. Isn't that the American military motto?" Petrov asked between similar labored breathing. It reminded Adrien of the pain he was beginning to feel in his own cracked ribs as adrenaline faded away.
"Still…" Adrien trailed off as he sat down with some effort.
"Hey, why don't you guys go check each other over. Make sure nothing is broken," Katja suggested to her men, taking a seat at the table beside Adrien.
As far as excuses to talk in private went, that was pretty lame. Regardless, Petrov and Zaitsev nodded and left the car.
"Adrien," Katja began. Oh boy, here it was. "How long have you been with the CIA?"
"A year or so," he answered. He tried to recall how she'd figured it out, where he'd slipped up, but nothing was coming to mind. Maybe it was a lucky guess. Either way, it didn't matter anymore.
"That was… easier than I expected," Katja stated, somewhat surprised.
"Why shouldn't it be? Not like I have any loyalty to them now. I just got burned." Adrien sat back and rubbed his forehead. He foresaw a terrible headache coming.
"So, you don't mind answering some questions, then," Katja tested.
She had just saved his life. She'd earned it. "Go ahead, where do you want to start?" Adrien replied.
"The beginning," Katja said. "If you don't mind."
Adrien looked at her and scowled. Even if he owed her, it was gonna be a long train ride to a Russian prison.
"The hunters have been coming here for some time. They advanced our civilization and in turn, we were 'cattle' for them," Adrien began.
"Cattle in what aspect?" Katja cut in. "The hunters don't… eat us, do they?"
"I don't know if they eat us, but I meant cattle for the serpents. They need hosts to reproduce in. We are those hosts," Adrien answered.
"I thought they hated those things. You're telling me they breed them purposely?" Katja demanded.
"I'm getting there, I'm getting there," Adrien hushed her. "Anyway, they used our planet as a sort of manhood ritual for their young men. The rite of passage to be accepted into their society is killing a serpent, we think," he continued, emphasizing the end part.
"Huh. That's funny; all of us would qualify, if you think about it. But go on," Katja gestured. She slid her pack off her back and dropped it on the floor beside her chair, rubbing absently at her shoulder.
"I can only speculate why we stopped openly seeing these creatures we revered as gods, but we did. So, these manhood trials continued, but in secret; and humanity forgot about their existence. Maybe they even eradicated themselves from our history, for whatever reason," Adrien explained.
"Maybe as the population grew, they thought it was too risky for extinction. After all, who wants invasive species killing off the game? I presume they were hunting us even then," Katja speculated. She reached into her bag and took out a cloth and… was that antibacterial ointment?
"Whatever the reason, we were no longer on speaking terms… or whatever. Skip ahead to the first documented instance of them popping up. Guatemala, 1987," Adrien continued.
"There was a Soviet-backed incursion staged there during that time," Katja said thoughtfully, removing her gloves.
"You know your history. The reason it never happened was the US sent in a spec ops team and a CIA liaison to stop it. It worked, but those men never left the jungle," Adrien said.
"A hunter," Katja guessed. She lifted the cloth and made a movement towards Adrien's face. He jerked backwards in his chair.
"Relax," she scolded. "He clawed your face, and you've got blood all over. Let me help, unless you want to go back to your wife looking like we ran over you with a lawn mower."
He snorted, knowing very well she was teasing. "I'll bet you'd love to actually do that."
"Run you over with a lawnmower? Sometimes." Grabbing his chin to hold him still, she began gently swiping at his face. It mildly stung, but that was all. The hunter must not have been at the correct angle to really sink the claws deep.
Adrien watched her face as she worked in concentration, the very end of her tongue stuck out just a little. It was annoyingly endearing. A moment later, she confirmed his earlier thought. "It's just superficial. Shouldn't be any scarring. You'll be making the Weyland ladies swoon again in no time."
"Actually, I think that woman was more into Petrov," he taunted as she put some of the antiseptic on her finger.
He received a not-so-kind jab to his face with the finger as she applied the medicine. "If so, then that's his concern," she said stiffly. "Not mine. Can we go back to what we were talking about? The men in the jungle. Killed by a hunter, right?"
As amusing as it might have been to call her out on her serious case of denial, Adrien decided to let her off the hook. "Correct. It picked them off one at a time until it was just the leader, a Major, left. It was theorized he was able to hide from its infrared vision using cold mud, and finally killed it with primitive traps. To hide its existence, it activated a low yield tactical nuke of some sort," Adrien affirmed.
"I assume the nuke killed the Major, too? Also, the hunters see in heat? You could've mentioned that. There are plenty of ways to beat thermal," Katja complained, tossing her tube of ointment back into her bag.
She always asked so many questions, right in a row. "No, the nuke didn't kill him. But it was meant to. After his debrief, however, he went missing. But the CIA didn't take to kindly to an alien hunter killing one of their own; and so, the Other Worldly Life Forms branch was opened," Adrien answered the first query.
"Moving on, the next event was 1997 Los Angeles, at the height of the drug wars. To summarize, a cop was trying to find a killer. Turned out, it was one of them all along. He, with the assistance of the CIA alien hunting task force – OWLF – managed to kill it and prevent the city from getting nuked," Adrien continued.
"Let me guess; the cop disappeared, too?" Katja jumped in.
"No, he's retired and wouldn't speak to me," Adrien laughed again.
Her forehead crinkled. "Interesting, that a hunter would pick such a large, dense city when they're trying to stay hidden from us. Anyway, that must bring us to 2004, Bouvetøyen island," Katja deduced.
"Yes; Weyland, through thermal satellite imaging, detected a pyramid below the ice on the island. Very Stargate-style stuff."
"Star-what?" Katja cocked her head.
"How have you not heard of Stargate?" Adrien demanded. "If we ever get back to civilization, I am sitting you down and making you watch movies. Lots of movies. Starting with the greatest Bill Paxton movie ever, Twister."
"Moving on," Katja huffed.
"Right. Well, their CEO was dying at this point, and dumps tons of money into equipment and teams to stake a claim," Adrien explained.
"They get there, and the pyramid is the one from ancient times, when we worshiped them as gods," Katja guessed. Damn, she was good.
"Yes, but it turns out, these pyramids are… prisons, of sorts. They house a queen to breed the serpents; in turn, the serpents are hunted for rite of passage," Adrien elaborated further.
"…The hunters lured the people there. To infest. Didn't they?" Katja practically gasped.
"You're very sharp, Katja; I'll give you that," Adrien complimented. He'd had to pore over all the information many times to figure it out, and here she was jumping six steps ahead.
"Flattery is not getting you out of this. Continue," Katja ordered, resting her chin on her hand.
"It goes how you imagine. The expedition team is killed by hunters, or killed/impregnated by the spiders/serpents until it's down to two survivors. Now, they have the hunter's advanced range weapons with them," Adrien said.
"The blue lightshow weapons?" Katja clarified.
"Yeah, they have this crazy idea to just give it to their stalkers," Adrien said.
"Seems risky, but the world would be at stake if those things reached the surface," Katja hedged.
"You sound just like her," Adrien laughed.
"Who?" Katja furrowed her brow.
"Alexa Woods," Adrien answered.
"A few days ago, I thought you said you never spoke to her," Katja said.
"No, that part of what I said was true. It was before my time. She's in hiding now. I think. But I did watch her interview on tape," Adrien clarified.
"Well, she lived, and the world wasn't overrun. What happened?" Katja prompted.
"They jumped a chasm, and the footing beneath her gave away. Her male companion came back and saved her life before being dragged off and ultimately killed by impregnation," Adrien said.
"Brave guy," Katja stated soberly.
"He was an idiot. I would've let her drop," Adrien said.
"Uh-huh." Katja rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. Just like you let me die on that roof. How did she do it, then? How did she escape and kill the serpents?"
Adrien hesitated. This is the part he hadn't wanted to tell her. "She… asked the remaining hunter for help. They escaped the pyramid, activating his bomb on their way out. They also killed the queen."
Katja stood and exhaled with exasperation. "And you didn't think to share this with me, why?" she demanded.
"Because I knew you'd get delusions of grandeur? The hunter that helped Alexa Woods was a kid for chrissakes, Katja. The one we're dealing with is clearly an older veteran, with less idealism or whatever, "Adrien argued.
It was like fighting with his wife all over again.
"But there is a precedent, regardless. You didn't have the right to withhold the fact they are willing to work with us when the serpents are concerned. You should've told me, and we could've made more informed decisions," Katja wiped her face in frustration.
"Even if I did, what were you going to do? Walk up to it and just ask? We are armed, and therefore worthy of hunting. It would've killed us like those Weyland men we found in the woods," Adrien pushed back.
"Did it ever occur to your thick marine skull maybe that's why it was in my room that night? Or why it was willing to bargain back in the warehouse?" Katja posed.
Adrien stopped. He hadn't considered that. It would explain many things. Maybe. Still, he refused to back down.
"What's done is done either way, Kat. We and the hunters are enemies, and that isn't about to change anytime soon," Adrien stated definitively.
She still seemed unconvinced. "Katja, let's assume the best. We team up with this thing and save the world. Then what? It can't let us live. They keep their race and their technology secret," Adrien said more quietly.
"What about Alexa Woods? And her aside, it's not important; we are trying to save a planet here. Our fate doesn't matter," Katja countered.
"That hunter was killed, and his people let her go. I think that's one in a trillion," Adrien stated honestly.
"But possible," Katja argued.
"Katja," Adrien groaned in exasperation.
"Fine, continue anyway," she waved irritably.
"There's not much more to tell. Shortly after the incident at Bouvetøyen, there was a serpent outbreak in the town of Gunnison, Colorado. The CIA thinks the events are linked, but there is no evidence. There were only a handful of survivors, which–
"Who," Katja corrected, and Adrien snorted.
"Anyway, they all died of radiation sickness before they could be fully interviewed; so details are sparse. All we know is there was a hunter involved in the outbreak," Adrien said.
"Hunter nuked that town, too?" Katja guessed.
"No, the US government did, and covered it up," Adrien corrected.
Even after everything, she seemed stunned by the idea. "Good god. Their own country? Just a regular civilian town?"
"Collateral damage," Adrien said heavily. "You know how it is. Military has to think about containment first."
Katja shook her head. "Any other appearances by the hunters?" she asked.
"Beyond missing persons cases, most notably in 2010? No. There was a fake report in 2018, but it was just a rebranded OWFL calling themselves 'Stargazer', trying to embezzle government funding with ridiculous lies. Total cash grab. OWFL/Stargazer, or whatever they were calling themselves, was dissolved as a result, and SAAD was created in its place."
"Don't you mean SAD?" Katja asked.
"Oh man, I wish. SAAD stands for Special Alien Activities Division. As you can imagine, I'm taken very seriously," Adrien chuckled, and Katja joined in after a moment.
"Anyway, because of that embezzling incident, SAAD doesn't get funded or staffed well. It was pretty much just me and my-peach-of-an-ex-boss," Adrien explained.
"What about your guys?" Katja asked.
"They pulled them from GRS, not regulars of SAAD," Adrien answered.
"GRS?" Katja asked.
"Global Response Staff," Adrien clarified.
"Ah."
"I think one of the missing people in 2010 was Spetsnaz, Nikolai something or other. Know him?" Adrien wrapped up with the question.
"No idea, sorry." Katja shrugged. "I was barely eighteen and only going through basic then."
Damn, she was young. Relatively, anyway. Sometimes, he forgot. In 2010, he'd already taken part in several combat situations, been married a few years, and was planning for his first kid. "I figured you didn't, no big deal. But these are only the documented stories, Katja. The things we know. There could be many more we aren't even aware of," Adrien said.
"But what about you? Where do you come into play?" Katja asked.
"You know my story, Katja. I encountered my hunter in 2019. Then joined up with SAAD and not the marines like I originally said. Right now, we are writing the next chapter of this strange legacy," Adrien said.
"Not all of it. What did Slater mean when he said to ask you what happened after you incapacitated the hunter?" Katja asked.
Again, Adrien hesitated. She would probably think a lot less of him. "The hunter… survived. It crawled about. It could barely move because of injuries to its leg. The bones were reduced to powder. Flesh was the only thing keeping them attached. Its computer arm was also completely mangled and it couldn't activate its bomb," Adrien rubbed his eyes.
"And?" Katja prompted.
"I made it hurt. Made it roar out in pain. And when I had my fill, I killed it," Adrien answered truthfully.
"Oh," Katja stated in surprise. He could tell right away she was disturbed, and he couldn't blame her.
"Sorry." Adrien said awkwardly. She no doubt now thought he was a complete sociopath.
"No, I get it. I do. It killed your men, and you wanted revenge," Katja said. Her face was unreadable, and she seemed to be thinking deeply.
Well, she'd have to keep thinking. Because now that he'd told her everything, it was time for her to finally answer some questions.
Katja was processing all the information Adrien had just revealed to her when he cut back into her thoughts.
"Ok, I told you what you wanted to hear. Even the bad stuff. All on the table. It's your turn, now."
She looked at him. Her early assumption was now proven correct. He was a hunter. A CIA alien assassin of sorts. And he liked what he did.
What, exactly, did he want her to reveal? She wasn't hiding anything from him. "I'm not sure there's much I can tell you, Adrien. I have no experience with any of this," Katja answered.
"Maybe, maybe not. Your father, he clearly knew something about this. At least enough that he wanted you out of here. What did he do in the KGB?" Adrien asked.
"I don't know. All I can say is that even though he was officially 'retired', and the KGB was gone by the time I was born…well, throughout my childhood he still advised the new government; off the record. He was gone for long periods, and not allowed to speak of his work," Katja answered truthfully. "And he's never exactly been open with me to begin with."
"C'mon Kat. There must've been something hinting at this?" Adrien pushed.
She began sifting through memories, and one did stand out…
Karik walked into her father's office, where papers were scattered about the floor, and Katja jumped in fear at his appearance.
"I'm sorry! Mama asked me to clean up, and I knocked them over!" Katja rashly defended herself.
"Hey, it's fine, Katja. I'll help you clean this up, and nobody will be the wiser, ok?" her brother offered, bopping the end of her nose with his finger. Katja nodded, and they began trying to mate the papers back up. Most of it had black ink over the lines of type. The stuff that didn't, didn't make sense to Katja at all. Maybe, once she went to the fancy school next year, she would learn more words.
"See? That was easy. How about we go play with your dolls?" Karik said once they finished.
"I can't, I still have chores to do," Katja sagged.
"Let's do them together, and then play," Karik winked.
Later that day, when Katja was putting away her dolls, she heard raised voices in the living room, where her family had been having tea. Mama had stopped letting her come to tea after she spilled once.
Curious, she sneaked from her room to listen.
"She's not your servant, mother! Stop treating her like one!" Karik yelled.
"Don't you raise your voice to me!" Olga stated.
"You can assure me she just spilled them?" Fedor asked more calmly.
"I spilled them helping her clean, father," Karik said defiantly.
"Yes, of course Karik. Those may be old, but they are sensitive. Any potential breach means I have to report it, and that means a full investigation and sweep from the government," Fedor said.
"It's fine. I spilled them," Karik answered coolly. "And what government secrets could a five-year-old possibly give away? If she saw anything, it wouldn't mean anything to her."
"What will her punishment be, Fedor?" Olga demanded.
"You mean my punishment. And I guess I'll just have to take Katja's chores for the year," Karik answered.
"Sounds fair, Karik," Fedor agreed.
Mama didn't look pleased.
Katja came back, her memory grasping at fragments of those papers.
"Bagiennik," Katja thought aloud.
"Alexei said that was the Russian name of the serpents, right?" Adrien said.
"Yes, it was on some of my father's papers that I saw when I was young," Katja confirmed.
"So, Roscosmos and the KGB were working together on at least one alien species. Not much different than what I was doing in the CIA, perhaps," Adrien deduced.
"Your point?" Katja asked.
"He calls the CIA, trades your life for specimens of the serpents. He said even if the meteor didn't have them, he could still give them to us," Adrien continued.
"What are you implying?" Katja asked.
"It kept bothering me how fast the queen gestated. According to reports, she gets big. But what if she was already here? What if Roscosmos and the KGB had a weapons lab somewhere in Siberia?"
"You're saying my father would release these on the world?" Katja demanded indignantly. Wait, why did she care what Adrien said about Fedor? Her father wasn't any saint.
"It was the Cold War, Katja; both sides were trying to develop stealth WMDs. I'm not singling him out. I'm sure the US. would've done the same. And clearly, he didn't actually go through with weaponizing them on a global scale. Maybe he even stopped it from happening," Adrien suggested.
"That's all great, and I'll be sure to ask him. But how is this relevant?" Katja asked. Before, Adrien had tied things together with the past encounters of these two aliens. She was failing to see the relevance now.
"A few things. First of all, this could answer the question of why the hunter is after you. Maybe your father knows something or has something, evidence of their existence. It wants you as leverage or to show him where it is," Adrien stated.
"But we don't know that for sure. Alexei didn't even know the hunters existed. Maybe that organization doesn't know either. Too many variables to be fact," Katja told him.
"Fair; but point number two: If Russia had a queen housed somewhere in Siberia, it explains how the serpents were able to mobilize so quickly against us. Hell, maybe the Soviet soldiers even ran drills against the things, and the queen learned our tactics. Might be a little dated, but still," Adrien explained.
That actually made sense to Katja. She just didn't want to believe her father had a hand in this. No matter how damaged their relationship was, he was still her father, and he always would be. It was scary to think that the queen was experienced; though, certainly it answered the question of why modern tactics had failed against the serpents so badly.
"Ok, go on," Katja prompted.
"I… actually only have the two points right now. Working on the others," Adrien admitted.
"Ah," Katja said as she leaned back. The conversation and reveals of information were exhausting. "I suppose I should tell you that Alexei all but confirmed that there is a lab somewhere here. But he said the queen broke containment and they were forced to kill everything."
Adrien nodded. "Maybe they lied. We should interrogate him about it further."
"Just… give me a few minutes to process all this," Katja replied; and it sounded exhausted, even to her. Again, he just nodded in sympathy. Maybe after the CIA onboarded him, it was the same thing. Information overload.
"Is Karik relevant to any of this?" Adrien prodded.
Hearing her brother's name spoken aloud gave Katja a jolt. "Excuse me?"
"Karik. The person whose dogtags you stole from your dad. Whoever he or she is, they must be very important to you and your family."
"I… I don't talk about him much," Katja protested. It was too difficult for her, even now.
The only person she'd ever confided in about it was Petrov, not long after Karik died. And even then, it had only been to explain why she was taking three weeks leave; though naturally, he'd been incredibly kind about it, even sending her flowers he probably couldn't afford for the family.
"Then maybe it's time you did," Adrien told her.
Katja allowed the clanking of the train running over the tracks to fill the air between them, until Adrien added, "At least tell me who he is. Boyfriend?"
"My brother," Katja allowed slowly. "Was, my brother. Half-brother," she added, for clarity's sake; and although biologically true, Karik had never seemed like half of anything to her. In fact, he was everything to her.
"Was?"
Katja looked around the dining car. It had been two years; why did it still hurt so much to merely say the words? "He's dead."
"I'm sorry." Adrien did not seem shocked, though she knew he wouldn't be. The tags said it all. His follow-up question, however, was not what she expected. Instead of asking what happened, Adrien asked, "You were closer to him than your parents, I take it?"
"He raised me," she said simply. "I'm not sure my father would have even kept me, if not for Karik. I certainly wouldn't be where or who I am today without him."
"So, he's the one who's responsible for the Krav Maga and the English," Adrien mused. "I get it. He was Spetsnaz too?"
"Yes. He reached Major before his death. Once he moved out, he wanted me out of the house, too, so I didn't have to be with our mother and father. He paid for my boarding school. It was a good school. The Krav Maga thing; well, he knew an ex-Israeli military guy who was willing to teach it to me." Katja laughed. "It was only supposed to be for self-defense. I don't think Karik ever expected or even wanted me to follow him into the Spetsnaz."
"But you did," said Adrien.
"I did. And once he got used to the idea, he was proud of me. Proud of how fast I advanced. He helped me whenever I had questions about the job, I helped him with his wedding and, afterwards, his divorce. His wife cheated on him during a tour about eight years ago."
"That sucks. He have any kids?"
Katja shook her head. "I wish, so I could spoil them, but no." She had nieces and nephews, from her other half-brothers; but rarely saw them. They were near her own age, anyway. She would have loved to have doted on and babysat for Karik's kids. But with the divorce and Karik's death, it was probably better that it had never happened.
Knitting her fingers together, Katja sighed. "Fast forward to 2019. He got deployed to Syria. He told me over the phone that a US base, Al-Tanf, had been attacked; and Russia was wrongly being blamed. He was investigating and trying to prove our innocence. His lead was Weyland."
"I heard; BS story that came out later that the civil war spilled over and Russia wasn't the culprit. I know Syria is rumored to house and use biochemical weapons as well as weapons of mass destruction. However, I could believe it was Weyland. Did he ever figure it out?"
"If he did, he never got a chance to tell me. But I have my suspicions. Because a week later he was murdered, execution style, by Weyland."
Adrien sucked in a breath. "Damn. Really?"
"Yes. The Russian army investigated, and when they confronted Weyland about it, they claimed he had fired on them first. A complete lie, according to witnesses. Verified witnesses say he was killed execution-style by Iron Bears mercenaries – who were in uniform – and the body dumped in the river. We never got it back. But somehow, Weyland bought or lawyered their way out of legal trouble."
Katja swiped at her suddenly burning eyes. The old feelings of injustice were stirring, as always, like shards of glass working their way through her insides; slowly and invisibly cutting her apart. "You want to talk about making someone hurt, suffer, until you can't even think anymore? Then throwing what's left of them in a hole to die? Adrien, if I knew exactly who did it, if I had a name… you wouldn't be the only one with redactions in their file."
Adrien's lips tightened as he considered her. "Hmm. I feel bad for the poor fool who did it. You're more relentless than the hunters."
Katja twisted her braid. "The thing is, I still don't know why they killed him, or what he stumbled into that would make them want to silence him. Even our father looked into it and couldn't figure it out. I just… I suppose it was smuggling, or gun or drug running. Something worthless like that. But I'll never know why he had to die. And that makes me angry. So angry, sometimes in my head I don't even recognize myself."
Adrien reached out and placed a hand over hers. "You really want to live like that, Kat? Because I promise you, it ain't fun."
Katja suddenly realized she had told him too much, letting it become too personal. "Yeah, well. It's not like you need to worry about me anymore. In a couple days, you'll be on your way home to your daughter." She pulled her hand away from his. "Hopefully the story at least proves Karik had no relevance to the aliens. Can we please stop talking about him now?"
Though Adrien seemed uncertain, he gave her a nod. "Yes. But I have something else to ask you. And you're not going to like it any better."
At this point, Katja couldn't have felt any worse. "Go ahead."
"Why didn't you fire on the hunter at the depot? You had both the time to fix your round, and get a clean shot."
Katja picked up her gloves from the table and looked at them, thinking back on the moment. Why hadn't she, really?
There were several reasons. Most of them were logical: for one thing, if her government was unwilling to eradicate Weyland and the serpents, the hunter was the only other being who might have had a chance. From what Adrien described, the creature was a natural counterbalance to the serpents. A predator. For another, he had made no move to board the train, or attack her or her men. Why needlessly provoke him when they were in the process of their escape?
But neither of those arguments were why she hadn't fixed her gun and shot at the hunter. Somewhere, deep within her psyche or intuition, something had told her it was the right course of action to take. The correct way to handle the situation. It had been so strong at the time she hadn't questioned it. "There was no reason to start another firefight. We didn't have the resources to finish one. We're clear, we're alive. We're getting home. Let it go."
Adrien made a small, dissatisfied noise.
"You know," Katja added, "most Spetsnaz commanders would have shot you immediately back at that cabin, where we first met. You were a foreign invader from a nation that could be considered hostile to us. But I made a call. The same way I made one at the depot. If it was the wrong choice, I'll have to live with it; the same way I'll have to live with the deaths of all my men. But questioning it at this point doesn't change anything."
Rubbing at his eyes, Adrien sighed. "I suppose you're right–"
"Captain!" Katja heard Zaitsev call from the next car over. "We – you have to follow me. We found something in one of the cars…"
Katja, with Adrien close behind her, let Zaitsev lead her through several connected cars. Eventually, they left the passenger cars behind them and came to the unfurnished storage shippers.
"What are we looking for?" asked Katja.
"Not there yet. Believe me, you'll know it when you see it."
Katja exchanged a look with Adrien. Zaitsev seemed tense, even angry. Whatever he was trying to show them, it couldn't have been good.
At last, they came to a car with a lock on its door. It had been broken open, probably by Zaitsev or Petrov.
Wrenching the door open, Zaitsev let Katja and Adrien pass by him into the car. Katja could see Petrov waiting for them inside, his arms folded.
He was surrounded by a horror show. Cages, tables with restraints, and surgical instruments littered the car.
"Holy hell," Adrien said.
"Oh, my god," Katja whispered as she took it all in, covering her mouth.
"Welcome to Alexei's 'research'," Zaitsev said grimly. "Charming, isn't it? I really like the cages, myself. You can tell they were going for the most humane option."
Shakily, Katja walked to a metal tray and picked up a scalpel, wincing at how it reflected in the light.
It was one thing to know the government was testing them against the serpents in battle. It was something else entirely to see they had been planning to deliberately let spiders implant in them and then slice them up like fish.
"Well, that's just… sick," Adrien commented. "Did they really think they could use this stuff to control the serpents?"
"No. They thought they could control us," said Petrov, then turned and stalked from the car.
Katja gave herself a few seconds for composure, then looked at Adrien and Zaitsev. "I'm going to go talk to him. I'll be back. Zaitev… I'm sorry. I swear, I didn't know."
"I know," he said bleakly.
Leaving the macabre scene, Katja went in search of her lieutenant.
She found him sitting on the floor of a lounge car, his back against the wall. He didn't look up as she approached. He had his elbow propped against his knee, and the side of his face resting against his fist.
She walked over and sat right beside him. "Maksim?"
He didn't answer, so she took his hand. He was still wearing the gloves she'd found for him.
"That room, it could have been our men they used in there," Petrov said, his fingers curling around hers. "It could have been you."
"I know."
"I'm not going to let them cover it up."
Katja examined the profile of his face, hoping to observe some clue as to how she should reply; but knew there really was nothing she could say or do to make it better. Not this.
She noticed some dirt on his cheek, and automatically lifted her thumb and brushed it away. "I don't expect you to. Our men deserve better than just getting swept under the rug."
"I just don't know where to start." Staring ahead blankly, he continued, "Maybe I can leak the files in the kid's tablet. It would be…something."
Katja tensed. She knew there was only one way that course of action would end. "You'd end up in prison, Maksim. Or worse. You know they'd never let you see daylight again."
"Maybe it'd be worth it."
"Yeah, well, not to me!" she blurted. Too loudly. He looked at her, then down at their joined hands.
"We'll figure something out. Our men will get justice. But we need to do it the right way. The smart way, not recklessly. Or these people will outmaneuver us. They've been doing this covert crap a lot longer than we have. Please, just trust me a little longer," she pleaded.
Petrov considered her, then finally nodded. "I will."
"Typical Russian arrogance. They really thought they could contain these things in flimsy cages?" Adrien walked around, looking disgustedly at the Frankenstein lab.
"Pot, meet kettle," Zaitsev shot back.
"I'm just saying, big Z. I was tasked to bring a specimen back. I would never think to bring something alive back, let alone purposely contaminate a human being and bring them back. A dead spider would've been enough for me," Adrien stated, testing the strength of the bars on a cage. As he'd suspected, just iron. The serpent acid would take care of it in seconds.
"Then you are more humane than my government," Zaitsev mumbled.
It was kinda heartbreaking to see the Russians witness how little their government valued their lives. Not that the US wouldn't do something similar, if given the opportunity. They'd been known to test on military members in the past.
Adrien needed answers, and Zaitsev needed cheering up. By coincidence, Adrien also needed a translator.
"I could use your help," Adrien requested.
"With?" Zaitsev raised a brow.
"Some translation. Katja doesn't have a heavy enough hand. And sometimes that's a good thing, but not now." Adrien began stalking to the front of the train.
Zaitsev rushed behind him to catch up. On the way, they passed Katja and Petrov, who were sitting on the floor of a car.
"What's going on?" Katja asked, puzzled by his haste.
"We've done it your way long enough. It's my turn now," Adrien snapped. It must've clicked into place, because she shot up to her feet.
"Adrien, no! He's our only way out of here!" Katja protested.
"I won't kill him, but it's high time he answered some questions."
"No permanent damage!" she shouted after him.
No attempt was made to fix or integrate 'The Predator' from 2018 into this.
The reasons why should go without saying.