Chapter 39
Two Deceptions
Vai'dqouulth checked his wrist gauntlet. The cannons were still cooling, and therefore, still offline.
Pulling out one of his human-modified arrows, he anchored the string and took aim. A hard meat was running near a group of drones, so he released the arrow, priming the explosive device at the same time. The arrow found its mark. A few seconds later, the primitive explosive went off, killing a batch of the wretched things.
The mutant hard meat, the quadrupedal one from when the humans were still his enemy, was back. The queen had another one in reserve, which he and the marine had suspected and accounted for. But the lack of firepower had not been accounted for.
Using the other explosive arrow, he sank that into the monster. The explosion did make it stumble, but didn't do the damage he had hoped for.
Pulling his combistick, he extended it to its full length before throwing it with great force. It penetrated the charger's head, but was not a killing blow.
He saw Adrien and Petrov scrambling in the chaos, trying to orient themselves. The weapon fire from the hill was concerning, but he was fully confident in Katja's abilities.
For now, he would have to kill that mutant. It turned to him with a screeching bellow. He responded with a roar, but more to get it focused on him.
They both ran at each other; but at the last minute, Vai'dqouulth stepped right, spun, and shot his wrist blades out, stabbing them into the mutant and letting it run the blades across its entire body length.
Had he been human, his arm would've been ripped from his torso.
Having skidded to a halt, and kicking up earth, snow, and debris in the process, it turned back to him and bellowed again, this time in pain and rage. Vai'dqouulth stood firm and ready.
It charged again and so did he. His reaction to its ploy was too late, however. A regular drone jumped over the top of it and crashed into him.
He managed to kill it fairly quickly, but was floored by the mutant a second later.
Vai'dqouulth had only been hit hard enough to be dazed perhaps twice in his life previously. This hit was definitely the worst one of the three.
The creature came to loom over his prone form. It meant to stomp and crush him into the earth.
It never got the chance, as something impacted and penetrated it all the way through, leaving a gaping hole left in its side. It lumbered, and collapsed.
Looking over, he saw a human vehicle with an elongated barrel pointed at the remains of the beast. The heat signature suggested the weapon had just been utilized. Although destroyed and immobile, the machine was clearly functional enough to fire.
Adrien and Petrov emerged from the top hatch of the vehicle moments later, firing at the drones as they approached him. They needn't have worried; the queen was recalling them – likely into the nest, for a final stand.
"Help me get him up, Petrov," Adrien said as they reached him.
"Right," Petrov answered. Then, to Blue, he said, "Come on, friend."
They had taken down a worthy beast together, so equal honor could be shared. Pity the trophy was ruined by whatever projectile that had hit it. Clearly, it had explosives packed in it. His intent had been to gift the skull to Katja. Perhaps he could still give her something better.
"It's a good thing you're not a big heavy guy, or this would be really difficult," Adrien complained as he and the other one struggled to lift him up.
Having recovered from the blow, Vai'dqouulth leapt up, taking the two humans attached to his arms with him.
"Ahh," Petrov said as he released his limb. The tone suggested uncomfortable; over what, he couldn't guess, and where Petrov was concerned, he didn't care.
"Queen's in retreat. That must've been her last ace," Adrien said, wiping some grime and perspiration off his face.
Poker references. Ace of spades was a very good card. The queen lost her ace. Yes, an apt comparison.
"Where's Katja?" Petrov suddenly asked.
They all looked over to the incline and saw her, as well as the runt, making their way over to them.
Finding it more and more difficult to control his reactions every time she did something commendable, Vai'dqouulth nevertheless nodded when she was visually close enough to see it.
"Time for the big prize," Adrien declared.
Vai'dqouulth could not agree more.
Katja watched as the serpents backed off the attack and began to retreat down the hill. Still, she and Alexei didn't immediately move.
Even over both their heavy breathing, she could hear the sounds of the battle dying down. That, coupled with the serpents turning tail suggested the humans – and alien – had won. This battle, anyway.
Cautiously, she crept forward, prepared for anything. The camp was now in more shambles than before. The sniper rifle was still intact, but knocked over.
Looking down the hill, she could see the serpents in full retreat. Petrov and Adrien seemed to be trying to help a prone Blue up.
"It's safe, Alexei. C'mon, let's go," Katja informed him. It wasn't safe, not even a little. But there was no way the kid would move otherwise.
"And I didn't even lose my cool," Alexei came swaggering out.
Rolling her eyes, but letting it go, Katja led the way as the two of them began a descent down the hill. As she approached, Blue gave her a respectful nod. They were all grouped together now, sweaty and breathing hard, but nobody spoke.
"Time for the big prize," Adrien declared, finally breaking the silence. That was enough for everyone, and they all walked to the hospital entrance.
Kajta noted the roof had partially collapsed from the rhino serpent charge, leaving the entrance a bit cluttered; but it looked like nothing that couldn't be worked around.
"Petrov, Katja, outside. Blue, myself, and Alexei will get the queen," Adrien said as he began pulling gun parts out of his pack and assembling them. Was that Alexander's rifle?
Wait, the hell she was going to stay outside! "I'm going in, Adrien," Katja announced crisply.
"No, I need people out here in case the queen launches a surprise counterattack. One commanding officer out here, and one in there," Adrien said without looking at her.
How convenient. "Then you and Petrov stay. I'll go with Blue," Katja countered. Adrien loaded the rifle and flipped the barrels closed.
"Stay here and cover us," Adrien reiterated dispassionately. "It's been my plan so far, and we aren't dead yet, so let me finish it. Let's go, Alexei," he continued, pushing the whining kid into the hospital.
Now, it was just the three of them. Blue looked at her as if deciding what to say. "Stay," the alien finally added before joining Adrien. One of the first things he had ever asked of her since they'd first met.
Did everyone know something she didn't?
"C'mon Katyusha," Petrov gently urged. "Help me keep watch out here. It's just as important to cover their retreat, if they need it."
She knew he was right, even if his attempts to make her happy about it somewhat irritated her.
They watched their surroundings in silence for a few minutes, until Katja happened to glance over at him and noticed a cut on his chin.
"How did that happen?" she asked.
Petrov's attention was pulled away from the landscape to her. "How did what happen?"
She gestured at her own chin. "You're bleeding."
"I am?" He wiped at the spot with the back of his heavy glove, then pulled it away to inspect the red stain left behind. "I don't know how it happened. During the fight, I suppose."
After a quick check around them, assuring herself that no enemies were close, she reached out to him and lifted her arms to pull his beanie cap down over his ears. "I still don't like that you don't have your helmet."
Petrov nodded. "I know, but the battle's over. We won." He looked back at the hospital, as if suddenly doubting himself. "For now."
Letting her gaze move around the battlefield, at the broken vehicles and bodies of her people, Katja couldn't suppress a sudden shiver.
"What happens when we get home, Katja?" Petrov sighed. "How do we forget all this? Our men?"
"I don't think I can," Katja admitted. "Ever."
"How do we keep it from happening again?"
Taking off the sunglasses, she looked at him, eye to eye. "I don't know, yet." She wished she had all the answers for him. A good leader would. Right now, though, she just felt human and very, very tired.
He suddenly ducked under the brim of her helmet and kissed her cheek. "We will figure it out."
With that, they both lapsed into silence.
Katja stood around, feeling fidgety. It had only been a few minutes, but her instincts were telling her something went wrong for Adrien and Blue. There were no sounds of battle. No surprise of the counterattack that Adrien had seemed certain was coming. It was all wrong.
"This is John Slater of the Iron Bears. We know you are there. Step away from the building entrance with your hands above you," a voice boomed from the hill where she had been stationed during the fight.
Katja stopped. How had Weyland snuck up on them? Better yet, how did they know they were here?
Jade. There was no other option. Petrov would not have sold them out; and even if he had been willing to, there had been no opportunity since Jade's offer. Someone had been with him every moment since them.
"You have twenty seconds, or I am sending down forty men for you," Slater's voice shouted.
Forty men? That was too many for just the two of them. She didn't relish becoming a hostage, but there wasn't another option. Blue and Adrien could still save them.
"Maksim, lay your weapons down. We'll have to trust our allies," Katja ordered. Petrov looked at her. Neither of them wanted to comply with Weyland, but what other option did they have?
Thinking fast, Katja opened the doors to the hospital and dumped her gear in the lobby. Hopefully that would tip the others off. She kept her knife, though, tucked up her sleeve, right above the cuff.
As she walked away from the building, hands up high, Katja could see it hadn't been a bluff. There were forty men waiting for them, having finally emerged from the tree line. No Jade, though.
Slater stalked down the hill, waiting to speak again until he was right in front of her and Petrov. "Where are the rest of them?" Slater demanded, clearly annoyed. His empty, inhuman eyes shifted back and forth between her and her lieutenant.
"Deep in the nest. Go get them yourself, if you have the balls," Katja spat back.
"The nest? Oh, you haven't figured it out, yet?" Slater asked.
"Figure 'what' out?" Katja demanded. What did Slater know? What were her people walking into?
"Never mind, you'll find out soon enough. For now, let's wait here for Pierce, you and I." Slater grinned eerily.
Katja snorted. "Are you sure you want that? I'd put my money on him over you, any day."
Slater smiled again, barely, a condescending flash of teeth. "You have too much faith in him."
"I don't think so."
"Huh," Slater mused, folding his arms. "You really think Bob Lang assigned him this mission because he thought he was right for the job? You're a fool. He picked him specifically to fail. To break. Pierce is not going to save you here."
"I think you're going to be disappointed," Petrov told Slater, stepping forward just slightly.
"The only thing I am disappointed in is you. You should have taken my deal," Slater said, voice dry.
Petrov squared his shoulders. "Maybe I would have, if you weren't so full of shit," he taunted, and Katja's hand shot forward to grab his wrist. If Petrov was trying to distract him, there were better ways to do it.
"We will see. Let's wait for Pierce together."
The nest was quiet. It shouldn't be. He had been here once before, and it had been like the very walls were alive once they had alerted the creatures to their presence.
So far, this was not the case.
Alexei, to his credit and for once, was being silent. Amazing what the little punk would do when his life was on the line.
They continued searching, hitting up every room, even the ones they had searched the first time here. Nothing, not a goddamn thing.
Blue gave a loud chirp, and Adrien turned to see the big guy pointing out a big hole in the floor. That must be it.
They backtracked to the maintenance room and grabbed a ladder. Adrien knew Blue could easily super-leap out of that hole, but Alexei and himself couldn't.
Once below, they crept along, checking everywhere for serpents. The creatures tended to blend in with the terraforming resin they secreted. Blue didn't seem concerned, and Adrien was certain the hunter's helmet had a vision mode to detect them specifically.
The tunnel widened ahead of them. That had to be it; a big chamber for her royal pain in the ass. "Sit tight, your highness; jesters are on the way," Adrien mumbled.
They took cover just before the chamber. Adrien counted down using his fingers from three. On three, they jumped out to… nothing.
"What the hell?" Adrien asked.
Walking forward, he saw just a very small hole in the wall. Alexei maybe could fit in there with a belly crawl, but clearly, they were using it as a highway between locations.
"I don't get it," Adrien said, turning to Blue. The hunter just looked back at him for the longest time.
"Its purpose never changed. Even conquered," Blue finally spoke.
Randomly, a quote from 'Art of War' came to mind. All warfare is based on deception.
Damn, how could he be so stupid? Blue was right. It was a Forward Operating Base. Shored up defenses, perfect for garrisoning troops. The queen knew military tactics, outdated or not. She wanted the base as it was, not as a nesting palace.
Now the question was where she was, and how many troops she still had in reserve. The actual nest might be even more well defended.
Turning, he looked over at Alexei. The kid knew. And he was gonna talk. Now. They were finally going to finish the conversation they'd started on the train.
Striding over, Adrien turned the kid around and ripped the gun from his hands. "Where's the queen, Alexei? Where is the government keeping it?" Adrien demanded, as he slammed him against the wall.
Blue calmly walked over. "I don't know, they never told me!" he translated for the boy.
"Bullshit! You knew, you knew she wasn't here and you still didn't say anything!" Adrien yelled.
"They'll kill me!" Blue translated a moment after Alexei's outburst.
"Clearly, they expected you to die out here anyway, and if you didn't notice, I'm gonna kill you!" Adrien shouted.
Alexei cringed, and Adrien forced himself to lower his voice. "Tell me where she is, and I promise you full immunity in America," he said. "And Blue won't skin you," he finished as an afterthought.
For emphasis, Blue shot out his wrist blades, eliciting a whimper from Alexei. Thank God he and the alien were on the same wavelength.
"Ok. I'll tell you," Blue translated.
"Not here, in front of Katja," Adrien said.
Blue grunted in agreement, and they began their backtrack to disappoint and reinvigorate Katja all in the span of a few seconds.
Leading the way, Adrien watched Blue leap out ahead of them. "Always gotta be better," Adrien complained to himself. He and Alexei followed shortly after.
Coming around a corner, the American Captain found his alien ally with his fist up. The military hand signal to hold.
Dropping down, he waited for Blue to give the next signal. He twirled his finger in a sort of helicopter fashion. Regroup on me.
Coming forward, but still on alert, Adrien crouched next to Blue, who pointed on the ground.
Katja's weapons were laying right inside the main doors.
Something was wrong. Slowly, they moved to the semi-destroyed hospital entrance.
A human voice shouted from outside, reverberating through the lobby. "Pierce, we know you're in there. We know you aren't alone. Throw down your weapons and we won't kill your companions."
Slater. That was bad.
"You're completely surrounded," he added.
Ducking behind a piece of the collapsed roof and looking through the cracks in the concrete walls, Adrien could see tons of Weyland mercenaries. Petrov and Katja were in front of Slater, hands behind their backs.
Katja stood there in defiance, with her lieutenant doing much the same.
"Alright, go in and get them, but don't kill or damage the asset too much," Slater ordered the handful of his goons who were nearest to him. The 'asset' must've been Blue.
They nodded and began to move in tactical formation toward the structure. A moment later, there was screaming and gunfire.
"Annie, Annie, over!" Adrien's voice echoed, and a moment later, the bloodied skulls of the men came flying over the hospital wall.
"Thirty-six men left, Slater, but who's counting?" Katja sneered vengefully.
"Alright, kill them all," Slater ordered through clenched teeth.
Several more thugs moved in, this time, from different angles. Again, there was screaming and gunfire.
"I could do this all day, Slater, even alone!" Adrien shouted from somewhere in the hospital. Katja smiled inwardly.
"Order them out here," Slater told Katja as he stepped right in front of her face, staring down at her with twisted, furious features.
"Go to hell," she responded. He grabbed her face and pushed her to the ground. With her hands tied, there was no way to cushion the fall, and she landed on her face in the dirty snow.
"Asshole! Leave her alone!" Petrov roared.
Katja turned her head in time to see Slater pull a sidearm and put it to Petrov's head. Maksim didn't even flinch at the action. Spetsnaz could not be intimidated so easily.
"I won't ask again, call them off," Slater ordered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Even those in the hospital.
She almost did too, but stopped herself when Adrien's words rang in her head. You just created a ladder, and communicated Petrov is clearly at the top. You have hurt everyone.
"What's it going to be, Mikhailov?" Slater asked.
Her options were clear. Maksim, or everyone else.
Sometimes there is no right choice. You can go left, you can go right, it doesn't matter. But you have to be prepared to send men to their death. I'm not saying waste their lives, but there may be times when you aren't left with a choice. That's why you should never get too attached to your people. Adrien's words from their night in the apartment rattled around her head again.
But she had been attached to Maksim long before Adrien came along. Long before Blue and Alexei.
She couldn't just let them all die, though. Neither could she let go of Maksim.
"Don't give him a goddamn thing Captain," Petrov told her, before she could say a word to Slater.
At that, an ear-shattering clap echoed across the battlefield, and something hot and wet splattered across Katja's face.
Her stunned mind took several more beats to register what had happened. Slater had pulled the trigger.
Petrov ragdoll-fell into a pile of snow, strings cut. A scream built inside Katja, but no air remained in her lungs to produce it. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't…
Maksim's head wound was mercifully blocked from most of her view, but she saw enough to know. He was gone. Gone.
"You see that, Pierce? Next one I kill you may actually give a shit about," Slater challenged, then unexpectedly reached down to where Katja lay and freed her hands.
Stupid move on his part.
"Here she is, Pierce. How badly do you want her?"
Shakily, Katja tottered to her feet. Maksim's murderer. She was going to kill him. Armed or not. Mission or not. The world or not.
But not a second later, Adrien came walking out, his gun in one hand and hers in the other, arms spread high and wide in a surrender position. It gave her a pause. What was he doing?
"This is a good start. Where are the rest of them?" Slater demanded as Adrien got closer.
"The kid? Dead. Trust me, I did you a favor. He'll talk and annoy you to death," Adrien answered, like Petrov hadn't just been executed much in the same manner as her brother.
"The alien, Pierce," Slater clarified with annoyance.
"Look around you Slater; there's aliens everywhere, you dumbass," Adrien rotated left and right for emphasis.
"The alien hunter, Pierce. Any more games, and Mikhailov dies," Slater threatened, clearly at the end of his patience.
"Not before I kill you first, bastard," Katja thought, fingers clenching and unclenching. Just a little closer, and he'd be near enough that she could bury the knife Petrov had given her deep in his jugular.
"Promises, promises," Adrien chuckled.
"And what is so funny to you?" Slater asked.
"Well for one, you thinking that you can just kill Katja. Trust me, many things out here, much deadlier than you, have tried and failed," Adrien answered.
Slater began to drift further away from Katja, instead of closer. Her hands shook with unbridled frustration and rage.
"And for the second?" Slater questioned, but without really any interest; he seemed to be scanning around.
"That all of you so easily focused on my surrender and seemed to forget I wasn't alone," Adrien finished with a more venomous tone. Then, the familiar sound of the DsHK machine gun ripped through the air once more, as did Blue's cannons, vaporizing Weyland personnel liberally.
Adrien tossed Katja's AK-105 to her and began firing his own. She quickly joined in killing Weyland members. For the first time in her life, she took her shots at sentient targets without remorse.
As she fired, Katja searched desperately for Slater, but he had disappeared and blended in with his men like a chameleon at the first sound of gunfire.
No matter. She would kill him. No matter how long it took, no matter how she had to do it, Slater would die.
The rest of the firefight was still raging on around her. With Blue's full cloak activated, the only thing Weyland could see of the hunter was muzzle flashes from his weapons. Even with their thermal scopes, they still had a limited field of view to acquire their target.
"Let's go!" Adrien urged her, but Katja didn't budge, her eyes tracking the moving Weyland bodies for her target.
Adrien finally pushed her in the direction Blue was waiting. Alexei came running out from behind the walls of the FOB, screaming like a lunatic as he did.
They were able to bid a hasty retreat to Sokolov's truck. It was clear that Weyland was in chaos after the attack. After piling in the vehicle, the American ripped out of there as fast as possible. Where he was going was only known to him.
At this point, Katja cared very little.
...So depending on who you were shipping Katja with, we have either some good news or some bad news...:(