Who's the real Monster?

Taking even more time to sift through his memories I saw and felt severe repressed rage that almost matches my own. Ignoring all of it I saw that the helicopter was headed to an air force base in Hawaii, I dug deeper to find other secrets.

I could hear a woman speak with a strong voice Colonel, I hand selected you based on both you and your father's experience. I imagine he went into detail with you about what happened during the Vietnam war. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. Will you take it?

What do you need me to do? Armstrong asked.

From this point onward you will be in a special black ops task force that will be in charge of hunting down and detaining the beings known as 'Spawn'. They are what we have labeled the people who were affected by the Extra Terrestrial known as 'Project Omega'.

Yes ma'am.

The Spawn will be implanted with a bomb at the base of their skull and all of them will be collard. The collars will block their abilities. If the Spawn try to use their abilities while collared they will be shocked.

Very well ma'am.

You will be working closely with Director Anderson.

Understood ma'am.

Aside from the Spawn you will also be detaining Project Omega. I trust there won't be any objections.

No ma'am.

Enough with the formalities Colonel. You are one of the few who may call me Ripley.

Ripley? I know I've heard that name before.

Trying to dig deeper I kept seeing the same scene playing over and over again. Looks like Armstrong has created mental blocks incase something like this would happen. Let me help Nightmare suggested. Not yet, you might kill him I reply. Hearing Nightmare grunt I slowly began to pull away from Armstrong's mind.

Opening my eyes to see a dazed look in Armstrong's eyes. Probably did some minor damage with that stunt. Unsure if I feel enough for him as a human being to care if he'll recover or not I moved him to the side.

Taking a better look at the ship I yelled, "Who's the captain?!"

A man's voice replied, "I am Commanding Officer Alberto Gonzalez and who are you?"

"My name is Z, I'll be keeping the Colonel here."

"Not going to happen" Captain Gonzalez replied.

"You're welcome to try and take him from me."

"My orders are to take everyone off this island that's human. Which includes The Colonel."

Staring directly into the Captain's eyes as I replied "Then you're shit out of luck. We already have Director Anderson thanks to the Colonel here. So it's only natural I keep him as well."

"..." I could practically hear his teeth grind from here.

With a smirk I respond "You can contact Ripley and let her know yourself."

Captain Gonzalez glared daggers at me.

Ed let out a low growl from behind me. "Don't worry" I told them reassuringly.

Captain Gonzalez said something too low for me to hear. Turning Armstrong to face me I sent a thought to Eric Keep Hannah hidden. Taking a long look into Armstrong's eyes I felt cold in the pit of my stomach. Don't let me him know Nightmare told me. Taking in a steady breathe I asked "Any last words for your daughter?"

Removing the tendril from his mouth Armstrong didn't even think before replying "I have no daughter. My son died a long time ago."

There was a barely audible noise from the tree line. Keeping my eyes on Armstrong I felt the tendril tighten around him. I'm going to rip his heart out Nightmare roared. I can do one better than that I replied. Flicking my right index finger to transform it into a claw I used my left thumb to pull the bottom part of Armstrong's right eyelid down. As my finger got closer I told him "I'm going to make your life so miserable that death will be a blessing and Hell will feel like home."

Thanks to Nurse Ratchet I now knew that one of the most painful areas in the human body is the duct for the eyes. Slowly digging my claw in I told Nightmare Make it look like he's dead. Nightmare replied with a sadist joy With pleasure.

Armstrong's body went rigid. He tried glaring at me until his right eye went completely black while his other rolled to the back of his head. I could feel Nightmare seep into Armstrong. I'm leaving a parasite inside his brain. He's ours now Nightmare said.

Before I could stop myself from thinking 'good job' Nightmare heard it. A feeling of someone holding me from behind was followed by a sense of warmth in my chest. For a brief moment I felt peace.

Opening my eyes with a startled grasp I found Armstrong still in my grasp. Seeing no sign of life in Armstrong I let him fall to the sand.

Looking back up to the ship I met the Captain's eyes, he had just watched everything. "As you can see Colonel Armstrong is dead now, so I'll be keeping him" I told Captain Gonzalez.

The Captain was going to reply when someone whispered into his ear. Noticing the tension in his body the Captain ordered as he left "All hands take aim. If she takes a step shoot to kill!" There was a barrage of "Yes, Sir!" following that order.

Lifting an eyebrow in annoyance I shrugged my shoulders. Who isn't trying to kill me these days. Bang! The shot fired barely missing my arm. Eyeing the crew slowly I used the tendril to lift Armstrong "You'll have to go through the Colonel here if you want to get me."

Sitting down on the sand I maneuvered Armstrong horizontally to keep most of me covered. Unless the Navy started hiring snipers non of them will dare shoot now.

~ Project Director Ripley

Why am I not surprised that today of all days would go bad so quickly. First I get a call saying that Colonel Armstrong and Director Anderson initiated a Scorched Earth procedure. Now I'm getting an alert on my phone. Things just keep getting worse today.

I was and still am in desperate need for a long vacation. I had planned to take a three day weekend for the time being. Now all of this is happening while I'm barely on my second cup of espresso.

Answering the phone I entered my code on the keypad. When the line connected someone asked "Project Director Ripley?"

"This is she. Who am I speaking with?"

"This is Master Chief Petty Officer John Halo speaking ma'am", he sounded like a man barely younger than myself.

"What is the situation Halo?" I asked with a light bite in my tone.

"Ma'am things have gone from bad to worse."

"Well spill it soldier!"

"One of our VIPs has been captured and the other is MIA as of this point."

"Tell your superior to contact me right now!" I cut the line immediately.

Marching to my study I was practically fuming with rage. I needed and deserved this vacation now more than ever. Armstrong had finally caught the first documented Spawn. She'd been in hiding for over a decade. It's nothing short of dumb luck that Armstrong's men finally caught her. I should've ordered her to be fed to Project Omega instead of letting her live.

While the intercom was booting up I resent this Spawn more than ever. I should be on my way to be pampered like a queen. Instead I'm at my desk getting a secured line ready to talk with a navy captain.

Within a minute the intercom was secured and ready to be used. Waiting for Halo's superior didn't take long. A man in his late forties to early fifties came on the line.

"I am Commanding Officer Alberto Gonzalez."

"You already know who I am Captain. Care to explain to me what happened to Colonel Armstrong and Director Anderson?"

"Colonel Armstrong is dead and Director Anderson is MIA", he used a cold calculating tone.

Starting with the obvious question "Who killed the Colonel?"

"One of the Spawns, I'm not sure which one."

"How do you not know?"

"My men and I didn't recognize her."

"Her?"

"Yes ma'am, she called herself Z."

"What were her abilities?"

"She could control tendrils, black ones."

Thinking of all the Spawns being detained there, I couldn't recall any of them being able to control tendrils. Much less a young woman. Taking a long shot I asked "Was she wearing sunglasses?"

"No ma'am. From what I could see of her face, she didn't have normal eyes."

"Explain."

"Her eyes had no white or color in them. Just black."

Inmate Zero. It has to be. "Captain what is the statues of the employees on the island?"

"All the civilians and some of the scientists are safely on board."

"What do you mean by some of the scientists?"

"A helicopter was supposed to take the top scientists to the base in Hawaii. It crash landed in the sea."

"Were there any survivors?"

"Yes and they are currently on board as well."

"What of the guards?"

He took a moment to think before speaking "Non of them made it to the ship."

Taking a moment myself I asked "Have you even attempted to look for Director Anderson?"

"No ma'am, we didn't get the chance."

"What do you mean by that?"

"My men retreated after witnessing Spawns uncollared. They were headed towards us."

Squeezing the bridge of my nose I knew the Marines should've been deployed with the Navy. "Are you sure that Colonel Armstrong is dead?" I asked.

"No ma'am, I just watched him die. The Spawn won't let us get close enough to check for a pulse."

Letting out a heavily frustrated sigh I ordered "Captain, I want you and your men to retreat with the passengers you have onboard now."

"Very well ma'am."