Chapter 22 Betrayal

                           _ _3rd Person Pov_ _

"They should be arriving any moment now." Connor muttered, his calm yet stern voice lingered in the air as he leant against a nearby wall.

"I still hate it." Ashley hissed with a pissed off look on her face as she glared outwards at the alien world outside.

They were currently on the top level of a multi-story building overlooking their current objective, an objective that they could see through a rather large crumbling opening in the corner of the room they found themselves within. In fact a section of the wall had somehow broken off and fell downwards into the streets below. Anyway, the two of them were not alone here however, in fact there were also three others with them at this moment in time, they had actually just met up with them a while ago.

Connor simply narrowed his eyes at her after hearing that, she may have been a marine but he wasn't the type to be intimidated by that kind of thing. "Our queen has given us an order, we must follow it no matter what." 

"But those bastards shouldn't be following her, they don't deserve to follow someone as great as her majesty!"

"Are you saying that she is wrong in her decision? She can use anyone she so desires in her plans, and besides we have no right to argue with anything she chooses to do." He stated causing her to flinch slightly and glance away in annoyance.

"Damn it..." She growled under her breath as she turned her attention to the three who were currently monitoring the situation outside.

Out of the three of them only one was truly notable, the two who weren't of note were just scientists that had been driven a little too crazy by Carmen's indoctrination. Their crazed mentality was unfortunately some kind of side effect, a mental disorder that sadly ends up appearing when she is far too forceful with her take over of someone's mind.

Anyway, the third was a rather tall man in a dark gray marine body suit that covered most of his form, additionally he had a rather interesting looking sniper rifle strapped to his lower back. His face and head were also mostly covered by an advanced looking helmet, however it was rather obvious by his overall body structure that he was a male. The guy in question didn't seem to talk all that much, he hadn't spoken more than a few words since their first meeting and because he didn't say his name Ashley had nicknamed him Red because of the colour of his helmet's visor.

"It seems that our guests have arrived." One of the scientists suddenly spoke up in delight. "How truly marvelous."

"About fucking time." Ashley sighed in slight annoyance as she moved over to see what was going on.

"Let me see." Connor hummed as he moved forward closer to the opening.

Red, who was sitting with his legs crossed, took this moment to toss Connor a pair of advanced looking binoculars. "Here..."

"Thanks." He hummed as he took a look and immediately saw what it was that he needed to see.

The first thing he saw was a group of seven individuals making their way out from one of the nearby buildings off in the distance, however once out in the light they seemed to pause for a moment as if waiting for something. It didn't take all that long for him to see what that something was however, in fact just then several dark violet xenomorphs could be clearly seen clawing their way out of the shadows, they then began following behind the group of humans without much care at all. Strangely the two species didn't attack each other and instead both groups peacefully made their way into another building opposite to the one that they all appeared from.

For a moment afterwards there was complete silence, everything just stilled as if time had slowed down to a crawl. Unsurprisingly though that silence honestly didn't last all that long, mostly because soon after is when all of the screaming began, the screams of fear, confusion and rage. A moment later the group of thugs and xenomorphs returned, they were also dragging several struggling people along with them while completely ignoring all of the please and curses sent their way.

"Beautiful...they're beautiful..."

"How lucky they all are..." The two scientists were currently mesmerized and muttering softly to themselves like a bunch of lunatics.

"Enough, we have a mission." This comment by Connor seemed to snap them out of their trance as they nodded somewhat in understanding. "Start recording."

"And keep your damn mouths shut." Ashley hissed not wanting these fools to mess up her queen's plans.

"Understood"

                          _ _Carmen Pov_ _

As I watched the scene unfold I couldn't help but slowly breathe out, after all there was no going back now.(Once they find a way to show that to the higher ups  things will get...) 

[Complicated?] Goldy finished that sentence for me and I could only nod my head in agreement 

(Yeah...thankfully it should give me enough time to deal with my opposition and gather my forces.) I mused as I cut the link and turned my attention elsewhere. (Unfortunately, it will paint a target on my back the moment they find out about this little incident, as such I need to get ready before everything goes to shit.)

[Oooooo drama, I can't wait.] He chuckled, causing me to roll my head in annoyance.

(You really need a hobby.)

[Annoying and mocking people like you is my hobby, you should try it some time, after all it's very relaxing and therapeutic if I do say so myself.] 

(Oh shut up you damn troll.) I hissed in irritation at his constant and unending bullshit.

Turning away from that line of conversation I got us back on track. (Anyway, there is still a problem that will probably affect me in the future if nothing is done about it...)

I was somewhat hesitant to continue speaking, a fact that immediately got Goldy's curiosity. [Oh? What would that be I wonder?] 

(Is there any way for me to upgrade my Hive Dominance Gift?)

If I could take control of more people it would mean that I could spread my influence even further, put spies in places where they could cause major problems for my enemies and gather information for me when I actually need it. I had one hundred slots already, sure, however the more that I could get the better it would be for me in the end. And yes, you could say that I was being greedy, and honestly you'd be completely correct by saying such a thing, but the point is that I'd rather be greedy and more confident in my own safety then the complete opposite. 

Of course there was one problem in all this, it was the reason I was hesitant to ask in the first place. [Oooooh! You want to increase its rank? You want MY help to increase its rank?] I knew, I knew that Goldy would be a portentous asshole about it if I asked.

(Yes...) I sighed in irritation, I could practically feel his shit eating grin in the back of my head.

[Normally you would need Warped Ether, a kind of special energy that you currently can't access at the moment, however since this is a trial and I do have some control over the rules I can do it for you.] Here comes the "but" in this sentence. [But in exchange I will add a new variable into the mix.]

(What do you mean by that?) I asked somewhat nervously.

[To put it simply, I'll add a new variable into the story, a variable that you will have to deal with down the line. If you manage to deal with it in a satisfactory way I will upgrade a Gift of your choosing as a reward, however do note that this is a one time thing.] Goldy explained happily before quickly continuing. [Of course you would have to agree to it first.]

(And what exactly would this "new variable" entail?)

[I'm not allowed to tell you what it is, until you encounter it anyway.] He hummed and I had the feeling that I'd heard this somewhere before. [Well, I could tell you now but where is the fun in that.] Yeah, I've heard that line before as well.

(At least let me ask you a question first, depending on the answer my decision may end up changing somewhat.)

[Go ahead.]

(If I become an Alternative what happens to my hive?) That was the main reason for hesitating to accept or not.

[You're gonna have to elaborate more than that.]

(What will happen to my thralls and xenos once I finish this trial or whatever you want to call it?) The problem was that I had no idea what would happen to them, would they just disappear or would they stay with me somehow.

Goldy paused for a moment and thought about it before answering. [I can't give you a full answer to that, however I will say this, anything that is fully acknowledged to be yours will have a chance to stay yours once this is all over.]

(A chance?)

[That's all I can give you, and it's not because I'm trolling you this time, I literally couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. Just know this, not everything you take ownership of will stay yours, however depending on certain factors and your own decisions later on the amount you can keep may increase.] He explained and I was still somewhat skeptical, although I did end up moving on once I realized something.

(You said anything will have a chance to stay mine so long as it is acknowledged that I own it...) I paused at that, and in that moment a rather crazy idea popped into my head, an idea that at first I thought was stupid but thinking on everything that had happened up until now I decided to just ask. (Even something...something like a city or a whole planet?)

[Who knows~]