Phase 1 – Deadfall

 

                                                                                    He said pick a card/

                                                                                    Shape the con (before it shapes you)

                                                                                                -Snot, Deadfall

Research facility

3:53 PM

 

            Deep in a hidden lab, a man huddled in fear of his life, ever since that thing had been resurrected. Alex Rose is (or, rather, was) an intern helping the doctors step up the dead man’s revival unit, he had watched the man break free of his restraints and kill his friend, Dr. Berens. Being one of the last to escape the emergency chamber containment system he heard the scream of the doctor whose leg was crushed under the door.. Alex had ran until stumbling into one of the alien hybrid labs, and locking himself in a storage container.

 

            Taking stock of his situation, Alex realized that if the man decided to come this way, he was meat. Slowly opening the door, he crept out of the unit. Shortly after taking a good look around him, however, he thought that he must have done something to really piss God off. Sealed in each of the tube was a creature neither human nor xeno, but some sort of misguided attempt at assembling the two into a single organism, with the result causing the poor man to loose his lunch in a most unpleasant way. Staggering back, he heard the door open and close.

 

“Ha-ha-ha, nice try dad, but it looks like I found you.” The man-thing said. Instead of the beat-up uniform it had on earlier, it now had a top of the line HECU suit on, as well as a rather large gun in it’s hands, although one of it’s hands looked bent in an odd shape. Gazing at the floor, it began to grin. “I don’t think mom’s gunna clean that up, you know.” Still grinning, it raised the gun and sprayed the room, shattering the glass cylinders. Taking a bullet in the gut, Alex crumpled to the ground, covered in the strange liquid that contained the hybrids. Darkness wrapped itself around him.

 

 

 

                                    *            *            *            *            *

 

            UVX watched the man (his dad) fall to the ground. He wanted the man’s brain, but stopped after getting a whiff of the chemicals covering him. Deciding he didn’t want to eat anything covered in that gunk, he walked out of the room, stopping only to discharge the energy gathered within him, not noticing the effect it had on the room. ‘Oh well, there are plenty more around here to kill.’ The dead man walked down the corridor looking for others to vent his rage on.

 

                                    *            *            *            *            *

 

            Sometime later, a figure moved in the flash-fried mass. “ Uhhhhnnnnngggghhhhh…” Alex stood up, attempting to get a sense of what just happened. The last thing he remembered was getting shot. Panic taking over, he put his hand over the wound, only to discover some sort of scab covering it. Still very out of it, he failed to notice the movement to his right until the thing jumped at him. Moving at a speed that surprised even himself, he crouched down, grabbed a shard of glass, and stabbed it in the neck. It went down with a gurgle, but Alex wasn’t done yet. He bent over and shoved the shiv into its misshapen head. All this happened within half a second of its attack. “Holy mother of god, where did that come from?”

 

Me. I just saved your life, son.

 

            Quite confused about the voice, he wondered of he had a concussion

 

.Nope.

 

What Has Happened?

 

Who are you?

 

“Where are you guys? I’ve got a head injury, I think. I’m hearing a voice.”

 

I repeat.  What is Unit’s Status?

 

Yeah. Where is my body anyway? I’ve got to help my squad. They’re trapped in a warehouse with black ops.

 

What are you talking about? Where’s my office? I’ve got warn everybody about this thing that came through the cascade. Hello?

 

Inconclusive.  Must report findings to section 34794-afd controller. Unable to find Neural net uplink.

 

            Unable to cope the three voices in his head, Alex sat down and tried to gather his thoughts. The first voice sounded/felt organized, like the guards that the general kept around the base. Voice 2 sounded/felt like his father, only much older. The third one scared him, because it felt so alien.

 

Uh, can I say something?

 

What do you want, kid?

 

Yes?

 

State your information.

 

I think this is that man’s fault. (Pause) This is bad. I’m talking on a party line in my head.

 

YOUR!?! This is my head, dirt bag.

 

No, it belongs to me, I’m afraid.

 

Error. Unable to move.

 

Sorry. Anyway, my name is Alex Rose.

 

Sgt.  Jackson ‘Deus Mortem’ Depenhale, USMC.

 

Dr. Kevin Fargo, nice to meet you Alex.

 

Unit’s Designation is Antebios.

 

Mr. Rose, you mentioned a man as the cause of this. Can you explain what you meant?

 

Uh, Alex is fine Sgt. Depenhale. I don’t know, but he might have done this.

 

I don’t like this.

 

Unit will terminate subject. Accessing memory.

 

            Alex could feel Antebios looking through his memories. It was one of the oddest sensations, because he could see its thoughts also.

 

            Alex/Antebios found himself/itself walking towards a teleporter in Xen. He/it passed through, and found himself/itself in some sort of office complex. Hearing a noise,  he/it turned around to stare down a barrel of a shotgun, and the marine holding it. The blast blew his/it’s head off. He/it’s head landing near a sink, he/it saw his’/it’s reflection in a mirror. The head of a xen grunt stared back.

 

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

 

Error.  Unit unable to calculate thought parameters.

 

Alex? Antebios?

 

Calm down, son. What happened?

 

I don’t know. I’m  getting out of here.

 

            Alex got to his feet again, and ran out of the room. Remembering the emergency escape plan, he ran to the gateway room. Unfortunately,  The room was trashed. Most the gates were broken, except for one. Running over, he punched in the code for the train station, failing to notice the chunk of the panel dented inward. Alex activated the gate, and ran at it, just as the panel shorted out, scrambling the destination code.