Dark Blood

Chapter 20

Now, many things happened as expected.

Once released, the Xenomorph aggressively scuttled its way across the floor and hurled itself at Kara.

Kara welcomed the devil with open arms, waiting for it to dig its claws into her so she could get a good grip on the fucker.

Stephens fought and screamed furiously, barely restrained by Dr. Bedford's lab rats.

Dr. Bedford watched with a sick eagerness only shown by a man willing to do anything to get what he needed, and in this case, he needed to know what fueled this Xeno. Revenge? Blind animalistic rage? Perhaps something else? He had his suspicions, but patience is a virtue and he must wait to see what transpires. Turns out, he'd get exactly what he wanted. The unexpected.

Once the Xeno had scrambled onto her lap, she saw it duck down and lunge at her chest. Fucker's going for the throat. Kara waited for that needle-like sting of its teeth sinking into the flesh of her jugular, hands suspended, ready. Oh, I'm gonna take you with me! But instead, all she felt was the cold, smooth shell of its dome pressing against the underside of her chin. Its hands grappled at her shoulders, pulling itself closer as it tucked in its feet and curled its tail in her lap. The only thing that broke the stunned silence of the room was a soft sound emitted from the Xeno's throat; some mixture between a hiss, a whine, and a breathy purr.

Kara was frozen; her grand scheme, her rage, all of the ways she had planned to kill it slowly, to make it suffer, everything was forgotten. Her brain had done a full pause and a reset as it tried to register what the fuck this thing was doing. Stephens looked like he was going through the same state of shock, as were all of the scientists in the room. Well, everyone except for Dr. Bedford.

"Ha, I thought so." Casually, he walked over and placed the tool in its spot, smiling to himself as he turned back to the others. "See, as I told you, Marine. I had everything under control. I had a suspicion that the creature would not harm Miss Morgan. A strong suspicion," he corrected himself as Stephens turned wild eyes upon him. He pointed at Kara, returning everyone's' gaze back to her and the Xeno trying to tuck itself into her hair.

"This Xenomorph has been without that which it needs to survive: a leader, a guiding figure, a mother, call it what you will. It cannot function without someone to tell it what to do and give it a purpose. Because of the events that took place in that hive at the time of its birth, the Xenomorph was left physically and mentally abandoned."

He began to pace around the empty tank, gesturing with his hands as he continued with his revelations.

"Hence, I thought it was broken; damned to an empty, pitiful, meaningless existence. Then Kara came and suddenly, bam! It's alive, active, and functioning. It's attached to her. Somehow, someway it created a bond with her, but we didn't know until now because the two had yet to meet...well, after the fact. I have a few ideas, but I can't give you a true reason. Maybe a lingering connection obtained from its host, seeing as it was birthed from a blood relative. Maybe the maternal command of the hive is passed on like a heritage; whoever is next in line or whoever kills the Queen takes control, whichever comes first. I can't say for sure, but this..."

Bedford ceased his pacing, looking down at Kara with something akin to awe. "This is absolutely groundbreaking."

"So you're saying that she's in control of that thing?" Stephens asked incredulously.

"No, not entirely," the doctor said as he tapped his finger to his chin. "We can assume that the connection between a Xenomorph and its Queen, and a Xenomorph and a human, are not identical. Similar, but not identical. Humans are independent creatures by nature, Xenomorphs are not. Seeing as this one lacks any of its typical nature besides a desire for a maternal figurehead, it's obviously taken on some of our traits. Their connection is not telekinetic, but there is some small signal that attaches their minds. I predict that it will be loyal to her for as long as it lives, and that she will be able to mentally give it suggestions, not orders. It will most likely listen to her a majority of the time, but seeing as it might have adapted our stubborn independence, it might act like a dog. Knows exactly what you want it to do, but it just doesn't feel like doing it."