CHAPTER TWO

The heavy bass blasting out of the speakers was rivaled only by the patter of rainfall outside the bar. The room was hot and stifling; reeking of sweat, beer and cigarette smoke. The sensations were proving too much for Reuben, despite the dampeners he wore. He groaned quietly, rubbing circles around his eyes with his fingers, while swirling the concoction in his glass around. He noticed the stares thrown at him by the barkeep, who probably thought he was being surreptitious.

"Got something to say?" he asked, aware of the man's eavesdropping.

The barkeep finished wiping his glass and threw the rag over his shoulder. "It's not my place to ask…" he began.

"You're right. It's not."

"…but you've been here for hours and you've barely touched your drink. You've been staring at your watch and the door. If you're running from something, this isn't the place."

"I'm waiting for someone," Reuben replied, pulled down his nose mask and took a sip of the drink. The heightened flavour assaulted his tongue, burning all the way down to his stomach, as did the scent. His eyes watered and his head immediately felt hot and heavy. "Gah. I said you should dilute it!" he snapped at the barkeep, dropping the glass and groaning.

"You're an Enhanced!" the barkeep exclaimed, before reaching out quickly and taking the half full glass. "What's your kind doing in a place like this?"

"I'm waiting for someone," Reuben repeated, before replacing his mask and wiping away a line of tear that slipped beneath his dark eye glasses.

"Hmph. You better not be trouble," the man grunted as he turned and returned to his back cellar.

"Fucking hell," Reuben muttered, manually increasing the dampening effect of his ear buds, at the same time that his wrist watch beeped a 10:00 pm alarm.

The door swung open with a crash, and a rain-soaked figure stepped inside, followed by the howling storm. Reuben and the few occupants of the bar turned to the stranger.

The stranger closed the door and shook their head, dislodging water droplets. They took off their sodden trench coat and hung it on a hook by the door, before approaching the bar. Their soaked boots made squelching sounds on the concrete floor, leaving watery footprints.

The stranger was a woman with black, undercut hair, dressed in a buttoned up white shirt tucked into black shorts. She wore socks, rubber gloves and a pair of baseball boots. She also wore a complimentary black, long tie. A semi-automatic pistol was strapped to her belt. Her face was covered by a nose mask and dark glasses.

By the time she got to the bar, the other customers had lost interest in her. She took an empty seat beside Reuben and fixed a glare at the reappeared barkeep.

"I'll be going," the man said and vanished once again into his cellar.

"You kept to time," Reuben said after a moment.

"Not a minute early or late. I'm meticulous," Richard replied, turning to look at Reuben. She was slightly shorter and had to tilt her head a little.

"They seem to know you here," Reuben nodded to a table of customers who were openly talking about Richard.

"I'm a universal sensation, Reuben. We can keep up this sorry excuse for small talk, or you can tell me why I'm here."

Reuben sighed and adjusted himself on the seat, not meeting Richard's eyes. "I have a problem."

"Don't we all?"

"I hit a wall on a job and I need your help."

Richard sniggered. "What kind of wall?"

"Can you be serious?" Reuben said.

"No," Richard replied, wagging her index finger before his face. "This is a 'performance issue' kind of problem, is it not?"

Reuben harrumphed.

"Fine, then. You got me off my bed, the least you can do is allow me a little fun at your expense. Don't you think I deserve it?"

"You have as much fun as you desire without me, thank you."

"Don't get all weepy. I'm simply better than you, and hence, in more demand. Didn't Dalton say something about use and disuse?"

"That's beside the point in many ways," Reuben replied, before pulling out a paper map from his pocket and unfolding it before Richard. He pointed to the location of Greenhill Park, circled in red ink. "That's where the alien was last spotted. It killed and ate a family of four, yesterday." He explained.

Richard arched her eyebrows at him.

"I know what I'm saying. I might need your help, but I'm no rookie."

"These aliens feed on blood, not flesh."

"And I'm telling you that this one stripped them to bare bones!" Reuben defended, his voice rising.

The occupants of the closest table turned and gave them a look which was a mix of suspicion and wariness.

Richard smiled. "You're still too sensitive, Reuben. Ok, let's say you're right, I still don't see what you need me for… unless, you're afraid to confront such a creature on your own…"

"I'm not…!"

"No hard feelings. I'd be wary too."

Reuben banged his fist on the table. "Damn you! I can't track it. It attacked and just vanished. Even Shifters leave traces, but it masked it's scent too."

"Hmm. The last job I took had an alien displaying a mutation too. What do you need?"

"I need your better senses," Reuben grumbled.

"I heard of another UFO sighted in orbit around Mars. We might be looking at a new species." Richard thought aloud to herself.

"I hope not."

"Me too. So, how much percent will I be taking?"

"15%"

"That – I'm sure – will not even cover my groceries," Richard replied with a smile as she slid off the stool.

"That's a fair offer," Reuben grumbled.

"We both know that's not true. 40% and I'll see it done," Richard replied, turning away from Reuben and starting for the door.

"30% and we do it together," Reuben countered.

Richard paused and gave him a sidelong glance, "Why?"

He shrugged.

"Deal. Settle your business and meet me outside,"

"We're leaving now?" Reuben asked, looking outside at the unrelenting rain through the frosted, glass windows.

"What did you expect? Don't keep me waiting."

#

By the time they got to Greenhill Park, the rain had ebbed to a drizzle and the stars were finally becoming visible. They both parked their rides before the WEIS patrol, who were guarding the deserted park. Reuben stepped away from his car and approached one of the officers, flashing a little square card before him.

The officer's scowl did not lift as he nodded to his mates to let Reuben through. Richard made to follow but was blocked by the officer. He scowled down at her.

"She's with me," Reuben called to the officer.

"Only one of you was hired to investigate," the officer growled.

"That's right, but nobody said I couldn't bring my partner," Reuben said, turning back and coming to stand beside Richard, who was being uncharacteristically non-verbal.

"This was supposed to be kept a secret," the officer barked his reply. He was immediately joined by the other two officers, whose hands were creeping towards their guns.

Richard sighed.

"I kept the vow of secrecy, officer. But, like I said, she's my partner and I must let her in on the job if we're to take it at all. So, unless you wish to give your captain an excuse for losing two of the people who could solve your case easily, stand out of our way," Reuben said, his eyes darting between the officers.

The officer smirked and stepped aside, "Take your time then."

Richard breezed past him, followed by Reuben who was increasing his pace to keep up. The officers followed them into the darkness with their eyes and malicious smirks.

"Strange, the way you're acting, Richard," Reuben said softly as he caught up to her.

"I don't like those officers," Richard replied sullenly. "Were they the same officers you met earlier? The ones who assigned the case to you?"

"No."

"They know something we don't." Richard said seriously.

"What are you thinking?" Reuben asked in a whisper, stepping closer to Richard, subconsciously.

Richard looked around at the surrounding darkness, and pulled off her glasses.

"I think it's dark enough to take off your glasses. As for the officers, that's a conversation for later. Hopefully."

"Well, since you said so," Reuben replied glumly as he took off his glasses and blinked twice before his vision adjusted. The little amount of light in the area that would ordinarily be irrelevant to the normal human eye, was enough to paint his environment as though it were sunset. He wondered slightly how Richard perceived it.

"Isn't it a little too bright for you?" he asked.

"Joanne sleeps with the lights on," Richard answered.

"And…?"

"And that's that. Everytime I open my eyes, I'm assaulted by brightness. So, this isn't nearly bright enough."

"Since when did you settle down with one?" Reuben asked curiously.

"I haven't. She's a sex worker – Less problems that way."

"Most assassins present a weak outlook."

"Don't let my generic paranoia rub off on you, Reuben. You'll never get out of bed again, if it does," Richard said, glancing sideways at him.

"You seem to trust her."

"I don't trust anybody. I simply respect and enjoy her company. Now can we focus on this task?"

"It's only fitting," Reuben shrugged.

The two of them walked in silence for the next few minutes until they got to the murder scene. Richard reached for her ear buds and manually turned the knob to five. She closed her eyes In silent agony as the sounds around her increased immediately to 10× their original decibel. Turning slowly to Reuben, she raised her index finger to her lips.

Reuben silently obeyed; folded his arms across his chest and watched as Reuben listened. Her face was screwed up in concentration and pain as she moved her head from side to side, while examining the bones of the dead family. Hazarding a guess as to how much information her brain was dealing with, he winced. Without their ear buds, he and all other enhanced could hear the drop of a pin in a rowdy area, but the woman's hearing was said to be 10× that.

"Fuck," he muttered into his nose mask which was pressed against the bend of his elbow. The sound seemed non-existent to him, who had his ear buds turned on, but Richard's head whipped around so fast that she grabbed it and doubled over.

Her hand went immediately to the dial and turned it up to 15. When she opened her eyes, Reuben raised his hand gently in placation, mouthing the words, "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't you, exactly," Richard said, standing up. She pointed behind her into the more woody section of the park. "There's a heartbeat coming from a place not too far from here in that direction. It's loud."

"You think that's it?"

"Let's find out."

They traveled a few minutes through the dense vegetation and came to stand around a badly concealed man-hole. The ground around it had been dug and trampled, and the grated cover was not perfectly fitted.

"Reeks of blood, ammonia and… formalin?" Reuben said, sniffing with his nose mask down.

"Alien saliva," Richard added, bending over the grate and rubbing off some thick liquid stains off it's edges.

"It's definitely down there."

"Yes, it is."

"Ladies first?" Reuben challenged, raising an eyebrow at Richard.

"No matter. Perhaps seeing me do it will reduce the chance of you shitting yourself," Richard said, then moved the cover and dropped down into the hole.

Reuben followed after a moment. He landed on bent knees beside her and quickly whipped out his gun. "Where fled your usual cheerfulness? You're not scared of this creature, are you?" he asked, smiling at Richard's long face.

"I knew a man who jumped blindly into a sewer and was never seen again,"

"Word has it that 'that man' wasn't alone in the ordeal."

"I believe you read the wrong article."

"Eh…pretty sure I didn't."

They continued following the scent of the alien through the labyrinthian passages until they got to a circular room. The walls of the room were lined with unhatched eggs, numbering hundreds. They were all held in place by sticky, semi-fluid substances that reeked of alien humour. Reuben gagged, before quickly pulling up his nose mask.

"They're breeding," he said, incredulously.

"It is," Richard corrected, pointing to a far corner of the room where the mother alien lay facing them, with its eyes closed.

"Fuck me," Reuben gasped.

The alien was easily 2× the size of its predecessors. The deep rumble of its snore and beating heart, resonated through the eggs which were still connected to its abdomen by the connective tissue. Unlike its more common siblings, it had a combination of both Sniffer and Berserker morphology. Its horned head had a very wide jaw, filled with sharp teeth. Its forelimbs were close in appearance to a Shifter's, because of its tentacle-like form which it ended in three sharp prongs, each about the size of a human fist. Its hind limbs and tail were like a Berserker's.

"This is no mutation," Richard whispered to herself.

"We've got to leave, now," Reuben replied, backing up a little, and at the same time, the creature's eyelids drew open lazily. It exhaled a thick fog through its nostrils.

Richard and Reuben froze mid-step, gazing up at the towering creature as it rose lazily unto its hind limbs. Its tail swung forward and easily severed the connective tissue. They both gaped as the wound in its abdomen started sealing itself.

The alien spread its mouth wide in a toothy yawn, revealing rows and columns of sharp teeth enclosing a thick, slender tongue. Its vertical pupils moved and came to settle on the intruders.

"Run," Richard said, before turning and dashing for the entrance they'd used recently. Reuben didn't need to be convinced. He was hot on Richard's heels. The screech and crashing sounds of the creature's pursuit, gave more enthusiasm to their flight.

Running directionlessly, they hit a dead end and turned to see the alien approaching them casually. Its posture and movement suggested it was relaxed in its pursuit.

"Bloody hell!" Reuben exclaimed, pointing his pistol at the alien.

"Really, Reuben? You really believe that'll work?"

"I'm not fucking dying without a fight!"

"You'll die an idiot if you don't put that gun away!"

"Why? You're gonna reason with it?"

The alien stopped at the tinier part of the hallway, sealing off any chance of escape. Its eyes fell on Reuben and his gun.

"The bloody thing's intelligent," Reuben muttered.

"'Course it is. It's an advanced breed" Richard replied, pulling out her own gun too.

"What's your plan, then?"

"Fuck all."

"What's in that pack of yours, anyway? No secret gadget or something?"

Richard gave him a sidelong glance. "Aim for its eyes."

"To what fucking end?"

"Bloody do it!"

Reuben fired twice. The first shot missed its mark, but the second, hit the right eye. The alien roared and lashed out with its tentacles. Richard bodychecked Reuben out of the way, while firing into the alien's snarling maw. Two of her shots met their mark, splitting the alien's lower jaw, but doing no further damage.

They landed in a heap in front of the thrashing alien.

"Now it's mad," Reuben observed, scrambling to his feet.

"Wouldn't you be?" Richard barked, as she unslung and unzipped her backpack.

"There's something in your pack, after all?"

"What do you take me for?" Richard asked as she pulled out a small cylinder, before handing it to Reuben.

"Is that a…?" Reuben asked, looking at the device in awe.

"Yes, it's a disruptor. I'll distract it while you aim for its mouth. And aim right."

Reuben took the disruptor and clicked the dial, changing its structure to that of a gun, then pointed it at the alien.

"What's your signal?" he called to Richard, who was already firing at the alien.

"It'll come to you," she answered.

"Come to…wait, NO!"

The alien roared and charged Richard.

"Now!" she cried, running towards Reuben. She didn't make it. The alien's tentacles lashed out and sent her flying.

Reuben stood his ground even as the creature bore down on him. He took careful aim and squeezed the trigger.

#

"Richard!" Reuben cried, after freeing himself from beneath the creature's mangled carcass. He was covered and dripping with gore.

"I'm alive. Bring me my pack, will you?" Richard replied weakly. Reuben grabbed the pack and came to kneel beside her. "How bad is it?"

"Mild concussion," she answered, snatching the pack and digging inside for a vial.

"What are you looking for?"

"Something."

"Suit yourself."

"We need to be miles away from here," Richard said as she pulled out a small plastic bottle, unstoppered it and swallowed the contents with a grimace.

"Why, the creature's dead."

"Yes, but not it's creators," Richard said, discarding the empty container and pulling out a high yield grenade. "It had a tag on its neck. Guess what it read," she added, handing the grenade to Reuben, who took it uncertainly.

"I don't know,"

"PB-26," Richard answered, struggling to her feet.

"You mean…?"

"Yes. I told you I don't trust those officers. We have to blow up that breeding room and be gone from here like yesterday. You can be sure they'll want to keep this secret."

"Hell and damnation!" hissed Reuben.

"Shh," Richard said and frowned, listening. The sound of boots echoed down the halls accompanied by very bright flashlight, that forced the two of them to put on their glasses quickly. Richard turned to Reuben, "Hide, quick."

Reuben was just hiding beneath the carcass, with his hand holding tightly to his pistol, when the officers rounded the corner and spotted Richard.

"Where's your partner, freak?" the chief officer grunted, palming his holster, while flashing his light directly at Richard. The other two officers stepped fully into the room, pistols drawn.

Richard smirked.

• *. *