MAU - Monster's Night | BigCloset TopShelf

Synopsis:
A trio of roommates who find an alien transformation device which allows you to change into anything you want and play with it. A ruthless criminal who wants to use the device for his own shady goals. Two government agents on a desperate race to stop the device's hapless users from making a mistake they'll regret for the rest of their lives. All of them want to gain control of the device, and all of them will be in for a night they'll never forget - they'll be in for Monster's Night.

Thanks @ ElrodW for checking the story beforehand and confirming that it's not violating any of the MAU universe's rules! :)

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MAU - Monster's Night

clancy688

Susan entered the club's dance floor, grinning and even becoming a little bit aroused. She bathed in the other guests' stares, letting her hands roam over her body while she moved to the beat. All of them. All six.

This is the best thing ever! she thought, loving the sensations these six hands were giving her. I think I have to thank Martin for discovering this strange device again. And again!

Susan giggled. Martin had found the device two weeks ago, ironically right in this club, the X-Club. From time to time, he was enhancing his meager college student income by working for a moving company. Back then, they'd taken the job of carrying the furniture and stuff of a club which had formerly been located in another state to its new location over here.

There'd been rumors that the club actually was a money-laundering place for a drug-dealing biker-gang, led by the club's owner, and that he was moving town because the police was homing in on his former location. Susan was rather inclined to think that those rumors were exaggerations.

But when Martin and his team had off-loaded their cargo at the new club's location, the X-club's staff had suddenly realized that the new building didn't offer as much space for storing stuff as the old one. Therefore, the staff had begun sorting out unnecessary pieces which were to be discarded. Among these pieces, there'd also been a peculiar metal box with strange marks upon it. Michael had taken the thing for some reason unbeknownst, and then simply forgotten it in the trunk of his car.

Until he'd rediscovered it two days ago. When he'd inspected the shiny box in the apartment he shared with Susan and his fellow student Michael, he'd suddenly discovered its secret - it was some sort of magic box, it could spread out to phone-booth size! And not only that, it had turned out that the thing could actually transform your body! You just had to put your hand on some kind of ruby plate and think about the body you wanted to have, and then an image of it would appear on the plate's screen. Then you had to touch a purple knot on one of the booth's sides, to "open" a door. That is, by vanishing it! And if you stepped inside and touched a purple knot on the interior, the door would 'close' and the change would happen. It was a fool-proof system, and Susan couldn't stop grinning inwardly at Martin's excitement for this, quote, 'most ingenious human-machine interface ever designed'.

So after they'd discovered what the machine could do, they'd started to have fun with it. First they'd changed into celebrities, movie stars and so on. Initially in their own gender, but then they had started to "cross over". It had been hilarious. Susan just couldn't get the image of Martin and her standing in front of their mirror out of her mind, she in the body of Richard Gere, Martin in the body of Julia Roberts in her slutty costume from Pretty Woman, both recreating the famous movie poster.

But then, they'd become more daring. And tried out strange changes. Martin had even become a dog once, and then, Susan had tried to procreate one of her fantasies. Having six arms. The experience had been incredible. She'd stepped out of the machine and raised her hands, first her upper pair, then her middle pair, and then her lowest pair. Unbelievingly, she'd moved all six hands' fingers, ecstatic at how easy it was. She'd immediately excused herself from her bemused roommates and started one of the longest masturbation session in the history of the human race.

But the experience had been somehow incomplete. She had wanted to be seen in her sexy, new body, with all those arms, and after a nearly hour-long discussion with Michael and Martin, who had thought of this being too risky, she'd gotten her way. She'd to compromise by transforming into a six-armed body which didn't look like her, but that was okay.

And it's great! she thought exhilarated. There is no risk! All those people simply think that I'm some sort of extremely cool birth defect.

This analysis was soon confirmed when one of the wide-eyed patrons managed to muster the courage to talk to her.

"Excuse me..." the young man said, looking at her in awe. "But... are those real?" he pointed to Susan's six arms.

"Are those real?" she purred. "Are you kidding me? Look for yourself!" grinning, she crossed her middle arm-pair, while she put her upper hands on his shoulders and her lower ones on his hips.

"Do those arms look fake?" she asked him and uncrossed her middle pair, moving one finger down his chest, and touching his chin softly with the other hand.

The young man watched breathlessly. "But... how can this be...?" he asked, and Susan smiled. "I've been born this way. I have very rare birth defect. But I like it. I can't even fathom how it would be not to have my six arms..."

Now other people began to crowd her, and Susan grinned, loving the attention the was receiving. Several people even took out their phones and began taking pictures, so Susan started to pose.

She didn't notice the bouncer who was eyeing the unnatural, six-armed figure, his brows furrowing in intent speculation.

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"You're for real?" the impressive figure standing behind the large desk asked her opponent. She was heavily muscled, standing nearly seven feet tall, with an impressive bosom and short cropped blonde hair. She could easily have starred in any Amazon movie, depicting an awe-inspiring Amazon Queen. Her clothing was heavily ornamented leather of the kind bikers were wearing, with thick boots at her feet.

The other person in the room, this one a male, looked comparatively tiny compared to her, although he also had a stature which implied large physical strength, and stood over six feet tall as well.

"Until now it's only speculation, Boss." he said and shrugged. "But for me it's pretty damn conclusive. That-" he jabbed a finger at one of many monitors showing security footage from the club's floor where at the moment a six-armed figure was dancing "-is NO birth defect. There is no birth defect which would leave that kind of symmetry. No, I'd say, whoever that is, she's found something similar to our cursed box."

With a thump, the woman let her heavy body plunge into the chair. It croaked pitifully, but somehow decided not to snap under the Amazon's weight.

"Okay..." she said now after several seconds of silence. "I want that bitch to be tailed, I want to know where she's hiding the box, and then I want you to bring it to ME! You understand me, Dan? And don't make any mistakes either, because when you do, you'll wish that you've never been born!"

The man she'd addressed as Dan nodded courteously and exited the office. Stupid, damn bitch! he thought acidly. If Mark hadn't spotted the girl and told me about it, you wouldn't even have this chance, so go fuck yourself instead of issuing fucking threads which accomplish exactly nothing!

He grinned evily. Alex Morgan, head of the biker-gang Road-Devils, owner of X-Club and also chief of the largest drug-ring in the vicinity of 500 miles, was perhaps the most vicious bitch this side of the country, but certainly not the brightest. That was what she had her lieutenant Dan Sloane for. In fact, Alex was only the gang's figurehead, to impress the members with her impressive physical stature and vicious personality. You always needed an alpha male (or female, in this specific case) to keep such a pack of brainless muscle together.

But all the gang's criminal businesses were actually managed by Dan. He was the grey eminence behind the biker gang's leader. If something went wrong, he could shuffle all the blame off onto Alex and either go into hiding or make a deal with the authorities, offering them Alex head on a silver platter - whatever option appeared to be more prudent then.

The arrangement had downsides, of course. For the scheme to work, everybody, especially Alex and his gang members, had to believe that Alex was the boss, and not her second-in-command Dan. This was especially frustrating when Alex had one of her macho phases and decided to reprimand her subordinate for becoming uppity. Being scolded in front of all of his subordinates by his own marionette who was too fucking stupid to realize that she was a marionette wasn't something Dan could endure readily. More than once he had been really close at getting the stupid moron assassinated, but until now, sanity had prevailed in the end. Well, everything in life had downsides, he simply had to live with it.

And there was another peculiar thing about Alex Morgan. Until two years ago, she had been a man. Until one of his gang's members had stumbled upon this damn transformation box. Alex had been exuberant, playing with the box' power. Why he'd actually transformed himself into a big-breasted Amazon goddess, nobody knew (and wasn't prepared to comment on, at least not when Alex was in hearing range). All that mattered was that the stupid fuck had transformed himself into a woman exactly at that moment when the box had decided to stop working. He'd thrown an epic rage for three days until even he, now she, had to realize that this wouldn't impress the box to work again. So she'd bitterly accepted the reality, tried to demolish the device and, when she'd failed in doing so, flung the thing into her cellar, to rot.

Which was still a better fate than that of at least a dozen other gang-members, mostly junior ones, who had been in the shapes of all sorts of sexy women when the box had stopped working. Of course, Alex, deeply grieving for her own fate, had understood their devastation upon the revelation that they'd be stuck in these bodies, probably for the rest of their lives. So, in her magnificent generosity, she'd made sure to provide all of them with a new life and a job. By creating a new brothel and using them as the main attraction.

That was the type of human Alex was. Dan himself wasn't a saint. And capable of utter ruthlessness, if necessary. Yet there were vicious streaks in Alex' personality which appalled even him. Unfortunately, she was currently the biggest game in town, so Dan had to make due. Well, nobody had ever promised that life would be fair and easy.

So now his boss had the prospect of becoming a man again? Good for her. Or him. And if Dan managed to provide the tools for this, he'd raise enormously in her trust. And perhaps she'd be less prone to temper tantrums, something Alex had developed after the transformation episode. The second possibility, Dan decided, had a certain appeal. Whistling he walked down the hall. Now only to acquire the transformation device...

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"Hey."

"Hm?" agent D asked and looked up from the magazine he was studying. His partner, Agent C, was looking on his computer's monitor.

"Brace yourself." he said, grinning. "I think our awesome web crawler finally got something."

D raised an eyebrow. "You're shitting me. That thing is USELESS, I tell you!" he threw his hands up in exasperation. "It's supposed to look for 'abnormal' human images, humans with three breasts and so on. But get this: Every decent porn site has such images, and virtually all of them are photoshopped! So the first time we switched it on, we got half a million results in the first two seconds. And counting. And what decided ITD to do? Simply filter out all the porn-sites, that's what they did. Effectively shutting out half of the internet and something on the scale of 99,9999% of the sites where people WOULD post the crazy things they use a device for."

C endured his older colleagues rant unfazed. "You finished?" he asked and got a dark stare as a response.

"Good, because whatever the Crawler is not searching, it is still looking on Facebook. So now get this:"

He moved his monitor so that D, who suddenly looked thoughtful, could view it. And the image of a six-armed woman dancing in some club.

"I checked the image." C said. "There's a 95% chance that it is NOT, I say again, NOT, photoshopped. So this could be the real deal."

"And you've found this on Facebook?" D asked, still not fully convinced.

"Yep." C confirmed. "And it's not only one. There are at least four different accounts posting images of this girl. And all of them are texting that they've seen her in some club where she was dancing, apparently babbling about her 'birth defect'".

Crookedly C grinned at D. "You know that we keep a database of birth defects, to filter out possible false alarm. I checked. How many girls with six functioning arms are there on the planet, what do you think?"

"Zero, I guess?"

"You got it." C's grin was feral now. "What do you say, think we should pay this girl a visit?"

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Susan opened the apartment door. She'd danced and conversed for hours, therefore she was tired now, but girl, that had been fun! Grinning, she removed her coat and stretched all six arms, four of which she had to keep close to her body on her way back since the coat had only two sleeves.

Admiringly, she eyed her six arms again, playing with all fingers, moving them differently - it was like a fairy-tale gone true! Silently she walked to her room, but after a couple of steps she realized that this caution wasn't necessary. Out of Michael's bedroom, she heard loud, rhythmic moaning, one male and one female voice.

Susan grinned. Those two rascals... she thought. I was wondering when they'd try this out. I wonder who the girl is. Michael? Or Martin? Well... I can ask them tomorrow...

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Dan eyed the apartment house the girl had entered. Now he knew where she lived. The lights she'd powered on had even betrayed her exact apartment to him. So now there was only to decide when to get the device. Tomorrow before noon, he determined. Most of the people would be at work, and with a little luck the girl would be as well.

"Don't take your eyes off the entrance!" he told both of his goons who would keep watch from their car. "When she's leaving the building or when something, ANYTHING, unusual happens, PHONE me. You got it?"

Both guards nodded and he knocked the drivers shoulders. "Well then, good night."

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D came back from the airport's administrative building, making a face. "Damn the governor to hell." he muttered. "The idiot took the government jet for his private holidays in the Rockies. My tax money at work... now there's nothing left to get us to the girl. First commercial flight won't fly before six a.m.."

Cursing, C punched his knuckles together. "Fuck! And I thought that maybe this time we could be fast enough to keep some poor people from getting stuck in whatever crazy form they turned themselves into."

"If it would be only that..." D added, and C eyed him warily.

"I know this tone. What do you mean?"

D sighed. "You know how I'm sometimes having a 'bad feeling' before we're traveling to a device's emergence?"

"Yeeees...?" C answered. "You mean, like this sophomore party three years ago in Colorado?"

"Yep... and the rat fuck in Puerto Rico when you were still green behind the ears."

C closed his eyes. "Oh, Lord. Please don't remember me of Puerto Rico. I'm still having nightmares. But you were saying? Please DON'T tell me now that you have your ominous feeling again?"

D shook his head. "I'm sorry. But I do. And it's more like Puerto Rico than like Colorado."

Exasperatedly, C eyed his colleague. "So you're saying that we should make use of the time we have until our flight leaves to, I don't know, perhaps visit the armory? Equip ourselves with a couple of 'force multipliers'?"

"Yes... yes, I think that would be a prudent action."

"Fabulous."

To this, D had nothing to add.

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Susan stood in the kitchen, making coffee. Having six hands really helped her with the task, she reflected pleased. It was already past 11 a.m., for because of the exhausting night, she'd slept until an hour ago. Thanks to her occupation as a student, she could allow herself to take a day off now and then. Not that anyone would miss her between two hundred other students.

"Good morning, that's smelling nice." suddenly a female voice said and Susan turned, whistling appreciatively as she spotted the voice's owner. It was an absolute terrific looking woman, with large breasts, an hourglass figure, long blond hair and large, kissable lips. She was dressed in some kind of office outfit, a blouse which's upper buttons where open, revealing a perfect look on her round boobs, a short pencil skirt barely covering more than half of her thighs, dark stockings and five inch heels.

"Wow." Susan exclaimed. "You looking great... Michael, Martin?" she eyed the woman quizzical, who laughed now.

"Oh, I'm Martin." she said and began walking sexily towards Susan, heels clicking on the floor. "This is, apparently, one of Michael's fantasy, the hot secretary."

"Hmm..." Susan looked at Martin. "And, how is it?"

"How is what?" Martin asked.

"Oh, come on!" Susan laughed. "I've heard you tonight. Obviously you tried out sex as a woman. How is it, compared to a man?"

"Oh!" Martin's beautiful face became red and Susan giggled. "Well, you're right. At first it was strange, sleeping with my best friend, even when he's in the body of a woman, or even stranger, sleeping with my best friend when I have the body of a woman. But then... it was great! Totally different. And... I like a woman's orgasm more."

"Of course." Susan looked miffed. "There are more of them."

"There's that!" Martin laughed. "Well, we liked it, and so we're trying out more today."

"Speaking of which, where's Michael?" Susan asked.

"Oh, he's gone fetching rolls. And when he comes back, you have to leave the kitchen."

"Why is that?" Susan inquired and Martin laughed again.

Mischievously she looked at Susan. "Michael told me that once he's back he'd, quote, 'ravage my sexy body on the kitchen table, fucking my brains out'."

Both girls laughed, and would one of them have looked out of the window now, they'd have discovered two black vans with tinted windows entering the apartment building's parking space.

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"Okay, let's go." Dan told his team and pulled his ski mask down. He was eyeing his team's members warily, nothing more than normal goons. They didn't even know what was going on and he feared that this operation would overstrain their tiny bird brains. They were more the kind of guys to send to a rogue drug dealer, delivering a message by breaking his bones. Not the ones you'd hire for retrieving an invaluable, magical device. On the other hand, they were the best he had currently available. As depressing as this was.

It's an imperfect world, Dan. he thought. Deal with it.

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Both girls were still chatting when the front door disintegrated and Dan's shock team stormed through. The performance was, of course, pathetic compared to a professional SWAT team. But it was still overkill to overpower two surprised females.

Hm... there is the girl... and who is this? Dan asked himself, as he walked calmly amidst the wreckage, noticing his goons holding the six-armed woman and another, incredibly sexily and pleasingly clothed woman at gun point on the floor. Both ogled their assailants, shocked and totally unprepared for the sudden violence. Hm... that girl really IS hot. I wonder... is she a product of the device as well?

But then he spotted what he was looking for. In the living room, the large booth stood. Smiling, Dan walked towards it and then shrunk it. His goons gaped, but he ignored them and went to the terrified women.

"My Ladies, I'm sorry for all the excitement, but you have something which we want. Don't worry, we'll be gone soon."

He eyed the six-armed woman. "I'd like to let you change yourself back to normal before, but I'm afraid I can't do that. I really don't want to risk you doing stupid things while using the device, like giving you massive strength and trying to overpower us. Wouldn't work, of course, but it would be incredibly messy on the carpet. I hope you understand this, yes?"

Both girls looked at him shocked and fearfully and Dan smiled. "Oh, one last thing. Out of curiosity, where did you find it?"

"At... at X-Club!" the beautiful woman stammered and Dan stiffened.

"What did you say?" he asked sharply. "WHERE did you say did you find it?"

"At X-Club!" she repeated. "I was there, two weeks ago, the moving company, I was part of the team!"

Dan gestured the girl to go on. Well... so this nice butterfly was originally a man as well. Which means that my boss' isn't alone in his stupidity...

"And then they were sorting out old stuff, stuff they couldn't fit in anymore. This was part of it, and I took it!"

Dan stared at the terrified girl. That's preposterous... one part of his brain whispered. On the other hand, if this was really the device Alex had originally used two years ago, and those two had managed to reactivate it... his mind raced with the consequences. Then he made his decision.

"We take them with us!" he said and his goons grinned.

"Wha-" the six-armed girl managed to get out surprised before she, like her friend, was gagged and constrained. Then two of the guys put them over their shoulders and the team raced down the stairs towards the waiting vans.

Dan pulled his mobile phone out. "Stas? I need you to figure something out. You still know how the box looked the Boss had so much fun with two years ago? Yeah, exactly. Now go in the cellar and look for it..."

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White-faced, Michael sat behind his steering wheel, numbly looking at the vans rolling down from the parking space. He'd just arrived and parked his car, had wanted to get out when suddenly those... criminals or whatever they were had come darting out of the building, apparently kidnapping Martin and Susan and taking the machine with them. Michael trembled. What should he do? Calling the police, obviously... but... what then? Susan and Martin were not in their own bodies. They were in fantasy bodies, which they had no identity for!
So there was only one choice. Michael swallowed. Relying on the police would create even more problems. But there was no alternative. He therefore put his car into gear and started following the vans in a safe distance, starting to dial on his phone.

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"Just great." sceptically, Agent C eyed the battered pickup the guy from the rental car company had showed to his colleague. Normally, they would be taking a government vehicle, but today, Murphy's Law was having a field day. When their commercial plane had finally arrived after half an hour of delay and both agents had set out to cover the rest of the way via car, they had to discover that somewhere someone had entered a date wrongly, meaning that the car which should have been waiting for them would not arrive until tomorrow.

Therefore they had been forced to take a rental car. And as always in such instances, financial management had been a pain in the ass. If they had the sheer nerve to rent a car instead of using one of the government's own (which wasn't available, but that was of no concern to those bean-counters in financial management) they had to damn well take a cheap one.

They'd had neither the time, nor the inclintion to debate this imbecility, therefore they'd accepted it teeth-gnashingly. Which had probably been a mistake, C reflected now gloomily.

"Come on in!" D told him. "We're already running late."

C sighed. "I just hope this driving shitbox won't fall apart on the highway..."

"Oh, I don't think so..." D said, but there was uncertainty in his voice... "Anyway, why don't you do something useful instead of bitching and moaning?"

"And what SHOULD I do?" C asked, rolling his eyes.

"Just hear the damn police radio, perhaps a six-armed woman is molesting men, who knows?"

C snorted. "Yeah, right." but then he dutifully unwrapped his portable radio.

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Dan sat in the moving van, barely noticing the terrified, bound and gagged girls on the opposite seats. His goons, on the other hand, were busy making up for his indifference by covering the beautiful one with leering steers. His mind, on the other hand, was busy. Suddenly his phone vibrated, and he took it to his ear.

"Yes?" he asked. "So you've looked around...? And...? No trace of it...? Uh, yeah... No, don't worry, I just got it back... I think you better get the boss and send him, err, her, to the factory... Because I have a surprise for her."

Grinning, he eyed both women. "Who'd have thought this, you were actually telling the truth." Dan shook his head, amused. "Which is actually kind of bad for you. Because the transformation thing you were playing around with, you see, the thing is actually ours. Only that it wasn't working until recently. Until you stole it."

He looked at both of them without any trace of sympathy. "And I think the boss will be veeeery interested in how you managed this feat. And if he really, really wants to know something, he's pulling out all the stops. Without bothering for little details like the fact that you're women. Although..." he mused, while eyeing the busty one "...at least in your case, one could argue that, at least theoretically, you aren't."

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"Hey, get this!" C said, one ear pressed against a headphone. "The local police is in a frenzy. Apparently, someone kidnapped two people in broad daylight. This is a hillbilly police, they are not used to such shit..."

D's stomach clamped together. There it was again, the bad feeling. Oh no... "You know where the abduction took place?" he asked C.

"Yes. Why?"

"Look for security cameras. Images. Something. To see who got abducted."

C stared at his colleague. "You're kidding, right? Your feeling again?"

"Wish I were..."

Muttering curses, C opened his laptop and logged into the wireless. "At least they have good cellphone coverage out here!" he murmured. A few clicks opened a top secret program used by government agencies to connect to all security cams which had internet access countrywide.

"Okay... please, let there be some cams I can access..." he prayed. "Bingo!"

D waited, patiently driving while C was browsing through the images.

"I'll be damned."

"You got something?" D asked.

"You bet. Look at this." C circled the laptop so that D could look on the screen. There he could see the standing image of a parking space, and in the middle of the picture two vans. Several people where climbing in the van, apparently in haste, and two of them had constrained women on their shoulder. With one of these women not having one, but three pairs of hands bound together by plastic bands.

"I hate it when I'm right, you know?" D said, but C shook his head.

"That's not all. Look at that." he replied and jabbed a finger at a figure standing besides the van, pulling out a mobile phone with one hand and... holding a box under his other arm! A box both agents only knew to well.

"Shit!" D said heartily and this time, it was C who had nothing to add.

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Michael was still following the people who had kidnapped his roommates. They'd changed vehicles in a parking garage ten minutes ago, and Michael had nearly lost them then and there. But this occurence had confirmed him in his decision to follow the criminals who had taken Susan and Martin hostage. Because otherwise, the police would still be looking for vans, instead for suburbans.

Then abruptly, the suburbans swerved left, driving onto a side-road leading to an abandoned factory building. To not arouse attention, he passed the turnoff in normal speed, continued for a quarter mile and then parked his car. There he sat, pondering. What should he do now? Of course, calling the police and telling them where the kidnapper's hide was. But then? Wait until the police was here? No, he decided. He had to made sure that this was their final destination. And when the police would finally arrive, they wouldn't let him get even near the place. But he needed to be close, to have a chance to get the box back. Therefore...

Michael reached into his car's front shelf and pulled his Beretta out. He'd been in the army before he'd begun his life as a student, and he'd even done a combat tour in Iraq. Therefore he was sufficiently trained in gun-handling. He only kept the gun closeby for emergency situations, but if this didn't qualify, then what else?

He took his phone out again and began dialing for the police, describing where the kidnappers had taken Susan and Martin to. Then Michael assured the woman on the other hand of the line that he'd obediently wait for the cavalry to arrive, hung up, opened his door and stepped out. Tentatively, he started hiking through the woods towards the abandoned factory.

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"Uh oh..." C muttered and looked over to D, taking off his headphones. "Now the shit's hitting the fan."

"Meaning what?" D asked.

"Meaning that one equally gutsy and insane guy apparently tracked the kidnappers to an abandoned factory just outside the town's outskirts. And informed the police."

D swore softly. "Jesus. These are criminals and they have a device. When the police storms the building and one of these buggers decides to get creative with it, there's going to be a bloodbath!"

C nodded, lips pressed firmly together. Such a thing had happened several years ago. They'd located a still active device an especially clever criminal had used to produce drugs. Unfortunately, the police had been a little faster in locating the new drug dealer than the agency. And even more unfortunately, additionally to being a notorious criminal, the drug dealer had also had an animal transformation fetish. Later on, the agents had found a camera tripod in his apartment, the memory containing photos of all kinds of animals the drug dealer apparently had used the machine to transform himself into. So when the SWAT team had been storming through his door, they'd had the misfortune of startling him during exactly the moment when he'd just transformed himself into a fully grown Siberian Tiger, jumping right into the charging officers. They'd pumped the beast-turned man with bullets, but a 500 lbs animal charged to the hilt with adrenaline isn't that easy to stop. Before he'd perished, he'd ripped out two officer's throats and injured three more, two of which had lost limbs in the savage and desperate attack. The scene of carnage C and D had stepped into then had been incredible. Bodies, parts of bodies, and the dead tiger on top, the walls riddled with bullets and sprayed with blood and gore - this wasn't something any of them needed to experience again. And since this incident, special instructions had been given to all agents in the field in case such a situation would arise again. Therefore, D took out his phone and began dialing.

"I need to talk to P." he said in a hard voice. "We're having a situation here. I need her to cancel an ongoing police deployment in..."

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Nervously, Michael crouched on the little ridge in front of the abandoned factory. Except for the small access path, the factory was entirely surrounded by forest. By now, the sun was setting and there was still no sign of the damn police!

What the hell's those idiots keeping from doing their fucking job? Michael thought scathingly. Hell, I've phoned them hours ago. And still nothing...

He glowered at his phone. Which, quite unimpressed by its user's antics, kept showing the black, lifeless screen indicating an empty battery. And by now, the bad guys had gotten impressive reinforcements. Additionally to the half dozen or so men who had organized the kidnapping, now an entire pulk of bikers had arrived. Thankfully, most of them were staying in the open, resting and chatting. But there'd still been several who had entered what looked like a former administrative building, led by a woman of impressive stature.

That had been nearly three hours ago. So by now he was getting more than antsy. At least he thought he'd figured out where they were keeping Susan and Martin - on the administrative building's last floor, there was apparently a large conference room or something similar. Over the time, he'd spotted movement there and now, with night approaching, there were lights being turned on. Best of all, there was a fire escape staircase leading up to the conference room, with its exit only a couple of dozen yards away from Michaels current position and the building being directly between it and most of the bikers. Therefore it would be absolutely no problem for Michael to climb up the stairs to the room's door unseen.

And there was another plus to the emergency staircase - the administrative building had some kind of side wings, stretching out rectangular from the main body and reaching out until they connected to large warehouses. That meant that everyone who wanted to follow them into the woods after an escape had to either walk around the entire complex - which would take up to 10 minutes - or needed to go through the administrative building. Therefore all those goons sitting in front of the complex wouldn't be able to cut off his escape route.

And that's what I'll do. he decided coldly, gripping his gun tighter. If the cops were too stupid to do their job properly, then he'd need to free his friends. Who knew what those animals were doing to them right now?

I'll wait until it's completely dark, shouldn't take more than half an hour. And then I'll try to get my friends back!

Unbeknownst to him, barely three hundred meters away from his position, two more grim-faced people eyed the complex.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Dan was standing in front of the large office which had once housed this factory's director and now had the dubious pleasure to have become Alex Morgan's drug-dealing-ring's main office. And he was not a happy man.

Members of their gang had discovered the abandoned factory several years ago, and when the police began crowding in on Alex' criminal enterprise in the other state, Dan had had the idea to simply change location and set up shop in a new town. Only this time by separating night club and drug-laboratory. Even if the lame excuse for a police in this state managed to get its lazy ass up and examined the X-Club, they wouldn't be able to find any law infractions - besides the criminally bad adulterated beer, that is.

So when the neat little smash-and-grab operation had escalated into a kidnapping, Dan had changed the plan on the fly and, instead of bringing the box directly to his boss, rather played safe than sorry and made for their secret lair. Of course, Alex had been immensely irritated. In fact, she'd been outright furious.

The asshole spent two fucking years as a bitch, one could have thought that another extra hour won't carry any weight! he thought scathingly. But of course it had been unacceptable for Alex. And she'd pissed and moaned and yelled and it wasn't until Dan's little revelation that this was actually Alex' box, mysteriously working again, that she'd stopped. And that she'd finally been able to change her female shape for his original male body again had done additional wonders to his mood.

Dan's plan of operation from thereon would've been grilling the girl, or transformed boy, however one wanted to regard her situation, for which trick she'd used in order to make the box work again.

Alex' plan of operation from thereon had been a little different. It had started with an joyous exclamation that he'd finally been reunited with his cock and therefore needed to properly celebrate occasion and ended with him dragging the busty girl in his office, raping her until he was tired. Which, considering that she had been the first girl he'd been able to ravage with his cock since two years, had taken quite some time.

Dan was practically fuming. During the first minutes, he'd still heard the girl's screams through the door. But for the last 10 minutes, there'd been utter silence - besides Alex' grunting of course.

I don't care if this imbecile asshole is raping a stupid cunt, but what if she totally shuts in after the rape? Then we'll NEVER get to know the trick she used. If he'd at least had the decency of first probing her for information and THEN raping her, but no...

Then the door opened and Alex stepped out, now a mountain of man, certainly not less impressive than his female form. And this had been his birth form!

Nature had, Dan decided, definitely done something wrong when it had designed him. Too much muscle, too less brains.

"I had nearly forgotten how god it feels to ram your cock into a tight cunt!" Alex boomed and grinned. "I'm finished with her." he said and jabbed his thumb in direction of the door behind him. "You can get her and make her tell us what she did to reactivate the box."

"If she's still responding after you raped her, that is." Dan responded darkly, and Alex laughed.

"So what? If she doesn't want to talk, torture her. That'll make her sing."

Dan sighed. It would do no good to try to explain his boss why emotional scars inflicted by rape could even make those measures ineffectual. Instead, he hoped for the best and entered the office.

The girl was lying in a corner of the room, clutching her torn clothing and trying to cover her body which already began shining in the red and blue of recent bruises.

He silently examined the wreck of a woman, then took a blanket and went to her. "Here's something to cover yourself." he said and threw it over to her. "Now cover your body and then... we'll talk."

He made a step closer and suddenly, the woman's eyes sparkled with fire. "DON'T YOU DARE TO COME NEAR ME, YOU ANIMAL!" she screamed and Dan started smiling

Well, good. She's still there. If she'd gone silent, no chance. But a rape victim who's still alive, still kicking... that I can work with.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

C and D lay on a ridge similar to that of Michael's. Both were sporting large binoculars and had changed their suits and ties for utilitarian khaki.

"What do you think?" D asked now, putting his binocular down.

"Well... I think we've evaded the bullet - so far." C replied. "No sign of any strange changes which would pose a problem for normal police operations."

D nodded. His partner was right. So far it was indeed looking as if they'd been lucky. After he'd informed his boss, P, of the evolving situation, she'd called the governor, whistling back the police assault on the abandoned factory. Of course the local police chief had been furious. Not only had he been ordered NOT to help two of his citizens in danger, no, the order had come from obviously somewhere out of the intelligence community - and yet nobody had had the slightest inclination to either tell him the reason WHY, or even tell him WHICH agency had issued the stop.

By now, he was livid, and P had informed D an hour ago that she would be able to restrain him for the rest of the day, but NOT for longer. Actually, she COULD restrain him, she had the power to do so, but if she'd overuse it, there'd be all kinds of nasty questions popping up. The last thing any agency of which's existence not even the President was informed of wanted.

Therefore the confirmation that this time there weren't any Siberian Tigers - or worse - running around should have been a relief. An endorsement that it would be possible to release the police from its leash and let it do its job. And yet...

Yet my feeling's getting worse... D thought gloomily. "Let's wait another hour to make sure, okay?" he asked his partner.

C wanted to reply with an approval, when suddenly he froze, pressing his binoculars to his face.

"What's happening?" D inquired while C muttered an obscenity.

"At nine o'clock, the administrative building, fire stairs." he added, and D took his own binoculars to his face. His face tightened as he saw a man with a gun climbing up the stairs, judging from his clothing probably NOT a member of the biker gang which had commandeered the compound.

"Dear Lord, that is a roommate of those two people who have been abducted!" D suddenly realized.

"WHAT?" C blurted out startled. "Are you sure?"

D nodded. "Very sure... I've looked at the victim's data on the laptop before we hiked up here, and there were photos of all three roommates. The photos of the other two didn't fit to the images of the girl which were actually taken captive, but that's be expected when they have been using the device. But this boy down there... that's him, all right."

"And what the hell is he DOING there?" C hissed.

"I guess he has decided to take justice into his own hands, since the police apparently failed to deploy..." D groaned. "He's trying to free his friends and, probably, get the device back."

"But that's INSANE!" C was baffled by so much chutzpah. Going in alone against up to 40 hardcore bikers. Yup, sounded like a fair fight.

"Who knows?" D whispered. "So far he's doing it clever. Taking the backdoor. If he somehow manages to silently knock out the guards - if there are any - he may pull it off without those clowns down there-" he jabbed a finger at the squatting bikers "realizing what's going on."

C gasped. "You're not serious! The chances are still incredibly slim."

"Yes, they are." D said calmly and stood up, taking out his weapon and cocking it. "And that's why we'll cover his back."

Now C could do nothing more than gaping.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Slowly, Michael peered up through the window. It was indeed some kind of old conference room. He looked around and couldn't believe his luck. There was no guard to be seen! And there was the transformation booth, standing right in front of the entrance!

Michael opened the door and stalked into the room, scanning for threats. Suddenly, he heard a muffle from the left and turned. His eyes became wide as he looked directly at Susan, sitting bound and gagged beneath one window. No wonder he hadn't seen her! She'd always been below the windows, shackled to a heater!

He put a finger to his lips and then began removing Susan's shackles.

"Damn." he muttered wryly "Why did you have to make yourself six-armed? That's tripling the time needed to free you!"

As soon as Susan's first arm-pair was unbound, she used it to remove the gag. "You should have heard my captors!" she said huskily. "They said practically the same about shackling me in the first place!"

Then her last bound fell, and Susan threw all six arms around Michael.

"Oh, Michael..." she cried. "You have no idea how relieved I'm to see you. I was SO scared!"

"Dear, dear..." he comforted her. "I know, I know... but tell me, what do these guys want from you? And where's Martin? And where's the machine?"

Teary-eyed, Susan looked at him. "I don't know!" she sobbed. "They were saying that this was their machine. And somehow, they want Martin to explain how he activated it. That's why he isn't here. Their boss, I think, took him with him before. But he was still in his secretary body. The guy watched him like some piece of flesh!"

Again she sobbed. "I fear he's done... bad things to him... we have to find and help him!"

An icy trickly ran down Michael's spine as he contemplated his friends predicament. "We will!" he assured Susan, but inside, he wasn't so sure about what to do now... furiously, Michael kept thinking. He could escape with Susan, but then Martin would still be at the kidnapper's mercy. Then what could he...

All his thoughts became moot when suddenly the door opened one of the bikers came in. "Hey, freak!" he sneered. "Dan wants to see..." his speech abruptly stopped as he saw Michael and Susan crouching there. Understanding flashed in his eyes, and his hand darted inside his jacket. Unfortunately for him, Michael already had his gun drawn. And therefore managed to fire before the biker got his own weapon out.

The shots boomed loudly inside the abandoned building and the man's body flew back in a spray of blood, three crimson flowers blooming on his chest.

Michael darted to the door just in time to see another startled biker coming around the corner. Four more shots terminated this menace, but now all hell was breaking loose. More bikers began to appear around the corner and Michael again fired in their direction, but now they were starting to be cautious and this time, nobody was hit by his shots. Even worse, he was nearly out of ammo!

Counter-fire began to flow back and Michael looked desperately around, searching for a way out. Taking the stairs was out of the question now. They'd never be able to get down and cross over into the forest until the bikers would enter the conference room from which they'd have a perfect line of fire.

There has to be a way! he thought frantically and then his gaze fell upon the transformation booth. And suddenly, he had an idea.

Oh, my... he thought numbly. That's crazy. Absolutely crazy... but maybe, just maybe it works. And even if not, it should buy enough time for Susan to escape.

"Susan!" he shouted, bending his gun around the corner and firing his last shots. For a moment, the enemy fire faltered, and he used this pause to dart towards the machine. As soon as he was there, he touched the interface, concentrating hard on the body he wanted to change into.

"What? What are you doing there?" Susan cried, huddling in the corner near the fire stairs.

"I'll buy us time!" he shouted back. "I'll transform into something which will be able to keep them busy long enough for you to escape. And then I'll escape with the booth!"

Incomprehensible, Susan stared at Michael, but he was already focused again on the task at hand.

"He's out of ammo!" someone shouted outside on the floor. "Go get him!"

Shit, out of time. Michael thought as he heard boots lumbering down towards the conference room's doors. I hope to God that I got all the details right!

The booth's door disappeared and Michael darted into the machine.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

As Michael had started touching the interface plate, the Gamalfi Corporation's Morphic Adaption Unit, Mark 5's quantum computer had begun analyzing the data which had been flowing over the user's mind link into its temporary memory.
The computer noted that this time, while the user had specified a sufficiently detailed outer shape, the desired target body was lacking important information regarding its physiology, metabolism and sensory capabilities. Therefore it began interpolating data. The Unit triggered its wireless access and started looking for clues in this world's primitive datanet. It took nearly 1.5 seconds for it to discover an essay about the user-specified form, providing most of the missing information.

Satisfied, the computer added this interpolated information to the data block containing the transformation's details and signaled readyness to proceed.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The first biker appeared just in the door frame as Michael exploded out of the box. The man didn't have time any time to react, he didn't even have any time to process the new threat. His eyes were just starting to widen in the beginning of a surprise as Michael's body, all 325 lbs of it, slammed into him, the impact brutally crushing his thorax and face.

Except for the dirty crunch of his pulverized bones, the man didn't utter a peep as he flew back in a spray of blood. Michael was perceiving every detail of this in trenchant clarity, but he was already fixated on his second victim. The biker who had followed on the first man's heels didn't stand a chance either. He was still gaping at the broken shape of his companion as Michael struck him right in the face with a clawed hand. Clutching at his mutilated front, this man went down as well, blood sprouting from his neck's torn arteries.

The third biker had more time, he even managed to raise his shotgun a few inches to get a shot at the apparition which had suddenly wreaked havoc, but 'more time' was, at least in this instance, not the same as 'enough time'. He was still aiming when Michael's bladed tail whipped around, cleanly taking his head off. The dead man's fingers clenched at the trigger and the load roared harmlessly into the floor, then the headless body crumbled and Michael found himself standing amidst all the carnage he'd wrought.

He was kind of horrified of himself. He had been that panicked that he'd let his body's instincts do the driving after he had emerged, and it had worked. The speed, ferocity and overall easiness with which he had not simply killed but destroyed three human beings frankly terrified him. And the worst was - he had enjoyed it.

Slowly, he moved his clawed hands and his long, bladed tail. Inside his mouth, his other mouth was twitching in anticipation as chemoreceptors at his feet sampled the human smells in this room. He was viewing nearly the whole room in undreamt-of clarity - light, radiation, even shapes - it felt as if a high definition video image was overlayed by a radar and thermovision image, supplanted by smells.

His boosted hearing relayed a fearful whimper from the other side of the room to his mind, and his head snapped around, focusing on Susan's terrified form. He could see her pupils widening, could see her cervical artery beating faster, could feel her heart-beat increasing as his stare focused upon her, and worst of all, he smelled her fear. Of him.

Can't really fault her for that... he thought numbly. I guess I would react similarly when I'd suddenly be confronted by a Xenomorph who's just ripped three humans apart in a matter of seconds.

Because that was the body he was currently inhabiting - the body of a 7 feet tall Xenomorph, 325 lbs of muscles and claws, packed into a hideous, dog-like shape with insectoid skin. It had been the first 'biological weapon', a body suitable of fighting with its own weapons, which had popped up in his mind. And given the bikers' onslaught, there hadn't been any time for thinking of a second possibility.

He wanted to shout at Susan that she should get her ass in motion and disappear through the fire staircase already, but instead, his mouth only produced an evil hiss, his inner jaws extending a little bit. Frightened, Susan huddled her shivering shape deeper into the corner and Michael scolded himself.

Yeah, nicely done, asshole. Of course she's frightened and of course you can't speak in this body.

So for his next try, he simply raised his hands (well, claws, actually) in a non-threatening gesture and motioned towards the staircase. Wide-eyed, she stared at his nightmarish shape, swallowing.

"Michael... is that... you?" she asked and he nodded vigorously. "Are you all right in there...?" she inquired breathlessly, and impatiently, he made a claw-up gesture with one hand while doing a shooing motion with the other. His heightened senses could already hear more enemies approaching the door and soon the staircase would be in the line of fire again.

Susan followed his lead now, sprinting towards the staircase. She looked back a last time and swallowed. "Don't get hurt!" she said and then she disappeared. It was exactly the right moment, because now the next bulk of bikers darted around the corner. Only that these ones didn't have guns, as Michael noticed pleased.

The four men slid to a halt and gaped at him. Slowly, Michael extended his inner jaws, hissing viciously and flexing his claws and tail.

You assholes have hurt my friends. he thought venomously. I'll make you pay.

And then, he darted forwards.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Come to the agency, they said." C muttered weepy while he and D sneaked towards the erupting gunfight. "It'll be a nice office job with occasional field work, they said. There was no mention of this shit in the damn job description!"

"Shut up." D hissed and studied the fire staircase. No point in following the lunatic up there, they'd decided. No, they would wait down here and provide him with fire support if he came back out again, blood-thirsty gunmen on his heels. If he came out. If not, at least they'd tried.

"At least he managed to stay alive until now..." D grunted and C raised his eyebrow at the older agent.

"How do you know this?"

"You hearing the shots?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think they'll shoot at a corpse?"

"Point taken..."

But D wasn't listening anymore. Up at the emergency staircases exit door, there was movement.

"Is this...?" C asked and D nodded.

"Yeah... looks like your six-armed girl... give me cover!"

C grunted an acknowledgement and D darted forwards. The girl seemed to be in a shocked daze, she simply staggered down the stairs, nearly tumbling several times. After she cleared the staircase, she ran for the forest and crashed directly into D who came out to meet her.

Startled, the girl raised all her fists in panic, hammering down at the agent who tried his best to block her frenzied attack without hurting her.

"Miss, Miss!" he shouted desperately. "I'm one of the good guys, please! I'm working for the government, I'm here to get you out!"

This seemed to help because she stopped her assault and stared at him open-mouthed. "You're the government?" she asked with a squawking voice. "You're here to help us?"

D nodded. "Yeah, so follow me, it's not sa-"

"Where the fuck have you been!" she blurted out, not letting him finish. "And where the hell's the rest of you guys?" her eyes filled with tears now. "Damn you, why couldn't you have come sooner?"

"There have been issues." he evaded. "Please come with me now, it's for your own safety!"

The girl was still upset, but at least she seemed to slowly snap out of her shock.

"And what's with Martin and Michael? They are still in there!" she asked while following him.

"Martin is the one who freed you? And Michael is the girl who was abducted with you?"

"No, it's the other way around... I don't know where Martin is, they took her... him... oh God, I hope he's okay..." her eyes filled with tears again and D cursed.

"Hey, what's up?" C asked the girl, eyeing her six-armed body appreciatively and D had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes.

"Bring her to the car." he commanded instead. "I'll wait here for her friends to arrive." If they manage to get out there alive. he added silently.

C immediately understood. "How long?" he asked.

"I'll follow in ten minutes. If not, get out."

The younger agent nodded and then gently took one of the frightened girl's elbows. "Please come with me." he said while nudging her towards the car and D looked back towards the administrative building where the gunfight was still going on.

You have ten minutes. he thought stone-faced. Please, be here in ten minutes.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

He had made a terrible mistake, Michael realized chagrined. His desire for vengeance coupled with his new body's instincts had driven him too far in pursuit of the bikers. He had slaughtered all four of them, but in the process of doing so, he'd brought the staircase between himself and the box.

And more reinforcements had found their way to the fight by now, some of them even sporting assault rifles. He didn't have to look around the corner to see them crouching there, rifles at the ready. His radar, or rather sonar, sense was providing him the images just fine. Plus the automatic salvos hammering into the door frame behind which he had sought cover were a fairly obvious clue on what was waiting for him if he tried breaking through.

Even with a Xenomorph's body he wouldn't be able to overcome that kind of firepower and so he couldn't do more than waiting for the bikers to come closer and closer and snarl in helpless fury.

At least I've managed to free Susan... he contemplated. That's something...

He was still thinking when his sonar informed him of one of the men in the floor making a peculiar move with his arm. It almost looked like...

All his thoughts slid to an abrupt halt as a small, metallic thing bounced into the room, rolling to a stop in front of him. For maybe a micro-second he stared at the egg-like shape, then his Marine-drill kicked in, supplemented by his new body.

Instinctively, he jumped away, with a power he hadn't thought possible. He was still in the air when the grenade detonated, the shock wave hitting him in mid flight and catapulting his body right through a large window. The explosion knocked him out for a moment and then he crashed down, bits and pieces of glass raining down on him.

Would he still have possessed eyes, he would have blinked. Slowly, he got up. His body was hurting all over, but a quick inspection of all of his limbs showed him that nothing was broken. Which was astounding, actually. Unbelievingly, Michael sampled his surroundings. His sonar sense was shot to hell for the moment, thanks to the grenade, but the rest were working fine. And a thermovision image was all he currently needed.

He was standing next to the administrative building, apparently unhurt after being thrown out of the fourth storey by a grenade's explosion.

Wow... he thought dazed. Xenomorphs are some tough shit... no wonder the Marines in the Alien movies always got their asses roamed...

Swiftly, he surveyed the vicinity. No bikers, good. But it wouldn't take long until they'd enter the devastated room above and look out of the window. So he had to bail out. Fast...

Okay, Michael. he thought. Plan B. Nothing you can do here anymore. You won't get through those guys to the box and finding Martin is out of the question as well, so let's at least make sure that Susan escapes...

He didn't like it. Despite his body's obvious advantages, he didn't have any inclination of staying a monster longer than possible. And he wanted to leave Martin in those criminals' hands even less. But there was nothing else he could do for now... getting killed would help nobody, least of all Martin. But if he disappeared now and came back later, perhaps with the police's support, maybe he'd be able to get Martin and the box back.

So he started to scurry off. Unfortunately, he'd landed on the wrong side of the complex, with the warehouses and side-wings blocking his way to the forest.

The easy way is always mined, Michael. he reminded himself of Murphy's Laws of Combat while he moved his nightmarish shape silently through the darkness, looking for a way past the obstacles.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Lividly, Dan strode through the devastated floor, ears still ringing from the goddamn explosion. Stunned, he beheld the bloody wreckage of his men whose corpses were splattered all over the floor.

What the fucking hell has happened here? he fumed as he entered the room, encountering a headless body on his way. The six-armed girl was gone and the emergency exit was wide open, but at least the magic box was right here.

Purposefully, he strode towards a cluster of his men, who seemed to be as shocked as he felt.

"What... the fuck... happened here?" he asked through clenched teeth and fearfully, the goons turned towards him. Nobody really wanted to risk becoming a target of his anger, and suddenly all of them were busy trying to evade his merciless stare.

I don't have time for this shit. he thought. "Dawson!" he barked at the unlucky man whose name he coincidentally knew. "You tell me about this clusterfuck and you better tell me fast!"

Dawson swallowed hard. "Yes, Sir. Um... one guy entered through the emergency staircase over there and freed the freak-girl." he stammered and motioned towards the open exit, and Dan closed his eyes in momentary rage.

Fuck. he thought. I didn't think of the goddamn staircase. Should have posted a guard, but I wasn't concerned with anyone trying to free them, now was I?

"Only a single one?" he continued after he'd battled down his emotions. "A single intruder massacres nine of my men? Did he use a goddamn scythe or what?" the last sentence he nearly shouted, pointing at the grisly sight of a head lying in one corner of the room. "Show me his fucking corpse!"

Wide-eyed, Dawson shook his head. "We didn't get him..."

Dan blinked. "You didn't..." he started in a dangerous tone but Dawson was already babbling.

"I swear, he was not human! He used the box to become some-crazy shit monster! He slashed through the guys until we pinned him down in one of the offices. Then we threw a grenade inside and I think that threw him out of the windows. But there's no corpse down there on the tarmac! So he must have gotten away."

Dan closed his eyes again. Just fucking great. This is getting better and better... using the box to become a monster to fight, now that's creative... but he knew how to work the box - so he's probably a close friend of those two. Did he follow us?

Without further words, he walked over to the magic box, studying the display. He recognized the hideous creature displayed on it. Furiously, Dan pondered. There'd be hell to pay for this fiasco. The dead men were bad enough, but that the assaulter escaped together with the six-armed girl... Alex was probably already on his way to ask him what the hell happened. No, there was only one way to at least minimize the damage...

"Hey, what are you doing?" Dawson blurted wide-eyed as Dan stepped into the machine without touching the display.

"The best creature to hunt down a monster is another monster." he snarled at the man and reached for purple knob inside. "I'll follow this asshole and tear him to shreds for what he's done!"

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

D looked on his watch and sighed. Two minutes left.

Truth to tell, I never really thought that he'd make it. he thought, But at least he sold his life at a steep price.

Silently he looked at the smoking ruin of what had been one of the administrative building's offices once. After C had taken the girl with him, the shooting had continued for a couple of minutes, with automatic weapons to boot, only to culminate in an ear-shattering explosion. After that, there had been silence, so in the end the bad boys probably had gotten the guy.

Gotta tell P to give the the ATF a tip when this is over. he made a mental note to himself, Can't have garden-variety thugs running around with machine guns and explosives...

He wanted to turn to join his colleague and the rescued girl when he suddenly froze. He'd stayed focused on the administrative building's upper storey and the adjourning fire staircase, so the rest of his surroundings hadn't gotten that much attention. Which may have been a mistake.

An icy shiver went down D's spine as a dark, surreal shape crystallized out of the darkness. Large, deadly talons flashed in the moonlight, with a mighty tail twitching jittery. The creature had crept closer silently on four limbs, now it reared up on its hind legs, easily topping his head by another feet, baring gleaming teeth.

D gulped and slowly, very slowly, he put his gun to the ground, trying to appear as calm as possible to the nightmarish shape in front of him. He recognized it, of course. The Xenomorph, a fictional creature out of a science-fiction movie, therefore almost certainly a product of the transformation device.

So either it was a transformed biker. In that case, he was toast, and his lame excuse of a gun, designed to stop unarmored humans but not muscle- and talon-sporting biological weapons, would merely delay the inevitable by a few seconds. Or this was one of the girl's friends who had used the booth to become an effective fighter. Either case, if he used his gun, he was fucked. Truth to tell, in the first case he was fucked anyway, but maybe today was his lucky day.

Not that anything today has been what I'd call lucky! he thought and swallowed.

"Are you a friend of the six-armed girl?" he asked the apparition, using all the courage he could muster. The Xenomorph didn't respond, only kept its eyeless 'stare' fixated on him. But everything which didn't evolve any of its talons slashing into his flesh, D considered a good sign.

"I'm working for the government." he continued therefore cautiously. "We're tracking down the transformation devices you have been using. My partner has already brought your friend to safety, so I suggest you come with me as well. Is that all right with you?"

For a couple of seconds, the Xenomorph didn't react. Then, though, its head bobbed up and down in a jerky attempt of a nod and D inhaled sharply.

"Is there someone we need to wait for or are you alone?" he asked and the Xenomorph shook his head. Awkwardly, D turned, walking towards the waiting car, trying to ignore the anxiety coming from the knowledge that such a nightmarish creature was following close on his heels.

As they arrived at the small clearing where they'd parked their car, C already had the engine running, but all lights turned off. D saw his partner's eyes go wide as the younger man took in the monster trailing behind and couldn't suppress a small smile. It didn't happen often that he saw the normally confident lad speechless.

"The fucking hell is that?" he pressed out through clenched teeth, ogling the creature and his hand awfully close at his gun holster.

"A Xenomorph." D responded jovially. "Big, alien life form slash biological weapon, seven feet of talons and teeth, fairly deadly in close combat, I reckon. You haven't heard of 'em?"

C looked like he was close to tears now. "Why the hell do always the crazy guys get the transformation devices?" he asked resigning, "I mean, seriously, alien monsters? Couldn't we get someone who simply wants to transform into cute little bunnies now and then?"

D didn't answer, instead he watched the girl who walked towards the creature, eyeing the nightmarish form in the bright moonlight.

"Michael!" she blurted wide-eyed. "Why are you still this... monster? Where's the transformation box? You didn't get it?"

The monster uttered a frustrated snarl, shrugging its shoulders in a very human gesture.

"What?" C interjected, looking out of the car's window. "You wanted to escape with the box? And you left it there? With those guys?"

Angrily, the Xenomorph snarled in his direction and C flinched away instinctively.

"All right, all right, big guy." he muttered. "Bad day for you, I understand... not that mine has been any better, you know..."

He was still babbling when the Xenomorph's head suddenly swiveled around and the large monster went down to all four limbs, its inner jaws carting out of its snarling maw.

D's sight darted towards the forest's edge where the moonlight illuminated a large creature... a creature similar to the one standing in front of him.

"What? What's going on?" C shouted from the car and D swallowed, grabbing the six-armed girl at one of her wrists.

"Everybody in the car!" he said loudly, dragging the girl towards it and throwing her shocked body on the back seat. He jumped onto the front passenger seat and turned towards the Xenomorph.

"Stop that shit!" he shouted. "Get on the truck bed! Now! We're getting out of here!"

To his surprise, the monster obeyed his command, turning around and jumping on the bed in a giant leap. The battered truck groaned dangerously under the sudden stress, but thankfully, it didn't decide to break apart.

"The fuck's going on?" C screamed again.

"Get the fucking car moving!" D barked back, fumbling for his gun. "There's another Xenomorph out there and judging from our companion's reaction here, it's not a friend of him!"

C's face became paper-white, and wordlessly he stepped on the accelerator, the truck darting forwards with spinning wheels.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

As the booth's door opened again, all the men in the room backed off instinctively as the... thing came out.

Oh, my... Dan thought as he walked out of the box. This is certainly... interesting. The sudden influx of so much new sensory information awed him. He took in the sight of all of his men, gaping at his appearance, each human associated with a heat signature, a heartbeat, a kind of radar image and a specific chemo-print. He wiggled his talon-equipped hands and feet to get a feel for his new body and moved his tail in front of his head, marveling at the sleek lethality its blade seemed to radiate.

Slowly he opened his maw then, extending his inner jaws and letting those snap open and shut a couple of time. Having a second mouth on his tongue felt strange but not uncomfortable. Bemused by his men's horrified expression at his radically changed body he emitted a vicious hiss, inwardly laughing at their fearful faces. It felt good being feared... and in this body, he could actually smell their anxiety. With a rattling sound, he retracted his inner jaws and turned towards the fire exit. He walked a couple of steps on his hind-legs, but then went down on all fours. It felt... more natural. Almost automatically his body was sampling the room's odors now, practically 'smelling' with his hands and feet.

He detected dozens of traces belonging to different humans, some even weeks old! But almost all of them male... there were two which smelled female, though. He had no idea how he knew this difference, but it didn't matter. One of those female traces went into the building. The other one out through the door, onto the fire staircase. The six-armed girl's smell.

This is really convenient... Dan mused while he moved down the staircase on all four legs, claws clicking on the metal. I'm my own track hound. So let's see how far she's gotten.

In his mouth, he felt his second jaw twitch in anticipation, and his entire body seemed to burn with excitement for the impending hunt.

Easy, Dan. he calmed himself down. You don't want to kill her, do you? Just hunt her down and scare her a little bit, then she'll come back on her own...

He didn't took the whole staircase. Instead, at the level of the second storey, he simply flexed his muscles and jumped down to the ground, landing with cat-like grace. It had seemed like the right thing to do. The girl's smell trail was as strong as ever and he kept following it into the forest. Soon there was a second trail mixing in, a smell totally different from the human girl. But not unfamiliar to his body.

So... he thought. The intruder has picked up her trace as well? I guess I have to fight him when I find her?

But then, suddenly, he stopped, concentrating on the chemical imprint in consternation. In some ways, it was like 'watching' a CCTV's footage of the scene. He 'saw' now the girl stumbling into the forest, and tumbling right into a stranger's embrace. He took her to a second stranger, not far away, and this one vanished with the girl into the woods, while the first stayed. Shortly thereafter, actually less than five minutes ago, the intruder showed up, a Xenomorph just like him, and together he and the first stranger went into the direction of his companion.

What the...? Dan thought confused. He had help? But no, that didn't look as if they knew each other. Cops, then? No, if they'd have been cops they would have stormed the building with a SWAT team instead of letting one civilian go...

Furiously, Dan considered all possibilities. That's it... he concluded icily. Those must be from a rivaling gang or, even worse, drug cartel. God knows the town had its share of organized crime even before we set up shop. So he asked them for help and told them about the magic box. That may become... unpleasant.

Still, it didn't change anything of his current objective, and therefore he spurted through the forest on all four legs, as fast as he could go without losing the trail.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Step on it, step on it!" Michael heard the older of the two men screaming frenetically while the truck clattered over the gravel course which connected the clearing they'd used to hide from detection with the main road. But it was too late. The other Xenomorph, following the accelerating car in long leaps, came flying through the air, emitting a blood-curdling cry. The entire car lunged in the air as it impacted on the truck bed next to him.

Michael's body reacted before he could muster a rational thought himself. He slashed out with clawed hands, leaving deep gashes in the other's flesh. The creature howled in rage as green blood splashed from the wound and tried to fight back. Its tail leaped forwards, but Michael managed to evade and the blade crashed through the passenger compartment's roof instead, burying itself in the driver's seat, the wickedly gleaming tip coming to rest only inches away from the wide-eyed driver's face.

Ruthlessly, Michael exploited the opening and let his own blade come slashing down, neatly cutting the stuck tail off. The creature screeched in agony and tried bringing its maw in position, but Michael interposed his own tail. Which was the moment when something strange happened. There was a... transfer, for lack of words, from the other Xenomorph. Call it a package, a combination of pheromones and electrical impulses. It was utterly alien - and yet it had a clear meaning.

<You asshole, I'll kill you!> the message ranted, and instinctively Michael responded in kind.

<Fuck you!> he sent back, <I'll not let you kill my friend!>

This seemed to surprise the other one, because he stopped in his attacks for a quarter of a second. It was exactly the time Michael needed. With a loud crunch, the driver threw the car into a violent turn, sliding onto the main road, and the resulting forces shifted both Xenomorphs towards the truck bed's rim.

Michael threw his entire body's weight onto the assailant and it staggered back, over the edge. Had it still possessed its tail, it probably would have managed to keep its balance. But without it, it tumbled off the speeding car, crashing onto the hard tarmac with a furious snarl.

The Xenomorph rolled several times and then, apart from the gashes and its missing tail apparently unhurt, ran after the moving car. But now, the driver had a proper road at his disposal and he floored the accelerator. The car darted forwards, the speed topping sixty miles in a matter of seconds.

The creature screamed a frustrated, disappointed snarl which Michael answered with a victorious screech of its own, and then the pursuer vanished in the darkness behind them.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Jesus!" C exclaimed as the hurt Xenomorph fell behind until it was gone. "Did we get the right one? Is the Xenomorph still on the car the good one or the bad one???"

Heavily panting, D shed a glance to the passenger on the truck's bed.

"The good one, I think."

"You sure?"

"He isn't trying to kill us, what does this indicate to you?"

C mumbled something unintelligible and the Xenomorph growled approval as well. Then D looked at the back seats where the terrified girl had huddled herself into a corner during the fight, face sheltered by all three pairs of hands. He sighed.

"Okay... I think we'll drive for a another ten miles or so and then we're looking for a nice place to rest where we can discuss all the details- wait, what's this smell?"

There was a peculiar unpleasant smell in the air, the odor stung in his eyes and throat, almost like...

"Oh fuck damn!" he exclaimed, eyes wide. "Acid!"

"What?" C flexed his head, looking at his colleague.

"Aliens!" D hissed. "They do have acid for blood. And right now the tail's dripping acid all over our car!"

He turned towards the Xenomorph, motioning at the limp tail.

"Quick, get that thing out of here! And if you find any acid spots on the car, clean them up as well!"

The Xenomorph nodded in its jerky way, then grabbed the stuck tail and removed it with a violent jolt. He spent the next couple of minutes trying to clean the truck from his opponent's blood and D used the time to think. At least they were lucky that this was a rarely frequented rural road, they didn't encounter a single other car. The sight of a live Xenomorph on a truck's bed would probably have disconcerted most drivers.

He grinned at the thought as C pulled the car over at another gravel course branching from the main road. He drove a couple of hundred yards into the forest and then stopped the engine.

D inhaled sharply and then looked at his passengers, the fearful Xenomorph and the six-armed girl which now seemed to slowly gain back her composure.

"Okay, folks." he said. "I guess now you better tell us everything, from the moment you've found the transformation box until now. And since your partner here momentarily lacks the proper voice apparatus-" he forced himself to smile at the Xenomorph's short, angry hiss, "-it means that you'll do most of the talking, Miss."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Furiously, Dan moved through the room on all four legs, his green, acidic blood dripping on the carpet and fizzling large holes into the fabric. His whole body was hurting like hell from the fight and the fall, and the pain from his missing tail was disconcerting to say the least.

He ignored his men who backed off to make way for his evil form, even ignored Alex who was standing next to the magic box, taking in his form with wide-eyes. Instead, there was only rage in his mind. He'd nearly had them, and then the other Xenomorph had not only beaten him, but humiliated him. He would pay!

Silently, he moved up to the box, staying on all fours and instead extending his inner jaw until it touched the display. After his original body appeared, he walked in, to reappear in his unhurt, human appearance moments later.

Alex seemed to hover on the brink of a tantrum. "Dan!" he started in a dangerously low voice. "What the fucking hell is-"

"Shut the fuck up." Dan barked and Alex' face took a bright shade of red.

"What did you just-" he boomed but Dan simply cut him off.

"That was one of the guys who stole our box. He was not alone. I think he got help from one of the gangs we haven't found time yet to crush them. They probably think that with the box they'll have a perfect chance to reclaim their business."

Alex seemed torn between outrage at Dan's lack of deference and concern over what he'd said.

"You-" he jabbed a fleshy finger on Dan's chest. "-will not talk with me that way, is that clear?"

For a moment, Dan simply wanted to spit his brainless asshole of a boss right in the face. But then he battled his bubbling anger back under control.

"Yes, boss." he therefore simply said and Alex kept glowering at him. Then the big man nodded reluctantly.

"Okay..." he said. "So what do you think will happen next?"

Dan gave him a malevolent glance. "They'll come back with reinforcements, I think. To take back the other girl and the box."

Alex grunted, more in chagrin than in surprise. "Should we simply take the box and run, then?"

Dan shook his head. "No... they may have put ambushes into place at the road. No, it's more secure to stay here and fight on our own property. We only have to endure for the night, if we're calling for reinforcements now, they'll be here tomorrow.

Again, Alex grunted. "You think we'll manage? That the boys are up to the task?"

Dan snorted in contempt. "After the clusterfuck before where they lost nine men and wrecked an entire storey to get one man, unsuccessfully, I have to add, I wouldn't trust them taking out a fucking a kindergarten."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Dan saw the men's faces become hard with suppressed anger and humiliation. Good. He'd meant what he's said, and sometimes you had to utilize every psychological lever you could find.

So they fucked up and failed miserably... with guns... so I think I'll have to let them fight a different way, something which's more fit to their macho-personas. So let's see what Alex says to my little brainstorm.

"But I have an idea on how we could improve our 'fighting potential'." he continued loudly. "I think the enemy will most probably advance through the forest again. Therefore we should post guards in the forest who will intercept those fuckers then. And I think I'll just give those guards some 'upgrades' to make them more effective."

Interested, Alex cocked an eyebrow at Dan who went to the magic box and worked on the display. After a few seconds, he looked up towards the men until he found a suitable victim. That is, the first one his gaze fell upon whose name he knew.

"Dawson!" he ordered. "Put your gun down and get your ass over here into the box."

Gingerly, Dawson obeyed, walking towards the box and peering on the display. He gasped as he saw the image on it.

"But... Dan!" he protested, swallowing. "That... you can't be serious!"

Dan smiled at him humorlessly. "I'm not repeating this." he said pleasantly. "Get in the box. Or do you want to resign your job here and now?" he patted his holstered gun with his hand and Dawson swallowed again.

"Okay..." he said fearfully and slowly stepped into the box. The door disappeared for a couple of seconds and then a in green and brown scales mottled leg moved out of the box, the large middle claw of its three-toed foot scraping on the bottom.

Dan grinned as he watched his creation exiting the box awkwardly while the other men behind him were gasping.

"What the...?" Alex asked and stepped closer in fascination as he took in the giant lizard which now stood in front of the box and craned its head wondrously. "Is that a..."

"...a Velociraptor, yes." Dan finished his boss's sentence. "I thought if the enemy's using Hollywood-style monsters to attack us, then we'll do the same to defend us. Just imagine what will happen to a human if Dawson attacks him with those sickle-like claws of him, or his mouth."

He eyed the Velociraptor's head again, the lipless snout displaying a long row of interlocking, spiked teeth.

"That's certainly impressive." Alex acknowledged. "But why didn't you make him a Xenomorph like you were before?"

"The enemy has one Xenomorph." Dan retorted unfazed. "If we'd have Xenomorphs as well he could easily sneak in. Therefore we need something different." That and the fact that I don't want to give any of those brainless goons the power of a Xenomorph. he added silently. No, that power is mine alone...

Dan cleared his throat and looked pleasantly at the large Velociraptor. "Dawson, if you'd be as nice and store yourself away next to the exit?"

The Raptor opened its maw to respond something, but only an animalistic screech came out. Startled, it closed its maw with an audible click and nodded, prowling over to the assigned location, the gaping men making room for the monster.

Dan coughed again to refocus the attention on his person. "I figure that we need at least a dozen Raptors to decimate the enemy when he's coming. Don't worry, we'll turn you back once it's over. So... volunteers?"

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Are you telling me-" P asked icily out of the phone's speaker, "-that if we hadn't stopped the police before, they'd have encountered no device-spawned opposition? But that they will now most certainly encounter device-created monsters, such as frigging Xenomorphs?"

D winced at his superiors tone. The worst was that he could fully understand her anger.

"This is essentially correct." he replied with the firmest voice he could muster. "The regulations worked... poorly in this specific case and I'm sure there'll be enough time afterwards to analyze exactly what went wrong and why and if the regulations are in need of adjustments. But that doesn't change the current situation, and we somehow have to react to this threat. As you're well aware, there's a time component involved."

For a moment, there was silence on the line. Then, to D's relief, P sighed. "You're right of course." she huffed. "How much time do we have?"

D shed a glance towards the six-armed girl, Susan, and the massive Xenomorph, Michael, who were both sitting in front of C. "Not as much as I'd like to have." he said unhappily. "The two device-users we rescued haven't activated the device themselves, but both claim that their friend who did, and who's still captured by this biker gang, started using it three days ago, actually four, we're already well into the next day. The earliest use of one of the two was around 11 a.m., so that's the best case scenario."

"But you don't believe so?"

He sighed. "No, Ma'am. I don't. 'Hope for the best but plan for the worst'. I think the device will stop working well before 9 a.m. this morning."

"Which would leave us with a six-armed girl and a Xenomorph. Not to mention whatever the bad guys decide to turn into. The girl is no big deal, we have experience with squirreling away device-victims with deformations similar to hers. The Xenomorph, though..." P let her voice trail off and D didn't respond. He didn't have to, really.

"Okay." P's voice came hard over the ether. "I'll rescind the block on the SWAT teams. I'll send them to your location where you'll coordinate with them. You are fully authorized to brief the police leader about the possible hazards, but I expect you to exercise your own discretion on the amount of information you're handing out. The less the better. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" D responded firmly.

"All right. I therefore order you to try to retrieve the device and change all the victims back before the deadline is over. Good luck." with a click, the line went dead and slowly D put the phone back into his pocket again. That had gone better than he'd expected... still, there had been one bit of information he'd withheld.

The girl's claim, or rather her captor's claim that they'd somehow managed to reactivate a device sounded too far-fetched to be true. It simply had to be a freak occurrence with one group of humans encountering a device twice. With one exception, no device had ever been reactivated, and said exception clearly didn't apply here.

But whatever the answer to this particular mystery, first he had to break the unpleasant news to the rescued pair.

The girl turned towards him with a hopeful glance as he approached, and the Xenomorph moved its head into his direction as well.

"I have good news." he told them. "My boss has authorized me to get the box - and your friend - back. There'll be police assault teams arriving soon and they'll storm the compound." the girls eyes lit up, but his next sentence squelched her joy. "You two will accompany us during the assault."

"WHAT?" the girl blurted out startled. "Why? I mean... can't we just wait until you have liberated Martin and the box and brought the stuff back?"

D shook his head. "Sadly not. There is one aspect of the device you have been using we haven't told you - yet. We don't know where these things comes from and we don't know how they do what they do. But each time someone finds such a device and uses it, the same thing happens. After exactly four days, the device stops working. Permanently."

The girl's eyes flew wide and the Xenomorph emitted a shocked snarl. "You mean...?"

D nodded grimly. "Yes. If we don't change you back in the next few hours or so, the device will stop working. And you'll be stuck."

For a moment, the girl simply stared at him. Then her face turned a shade of green and she stumbled to the side, retching. C went to her side to support her. Her companion, on the other hand, simply stood there motionlessly, and D could imagine only too well what was going on in his head. If we don't succeed in getting back the box soon I'll stay a hideous monster for the rest of my life!

"Since every second is precious and we don't know the exact moment when the device will stop working, you'll have to attend the assault in order to use the device as soon as possible." he continued. "But let me tell you this-" and he looked at them with grim determination, "-I'll do everything humanly possible to make sure that you'll get your real bodies back!"

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"There, at the branch. Do you think that's our contact?" the driver said and pointed at the figure which was waving at the approaching convoy.

"Can't think of anybody else who'd be standing in the middle of nowhere at 3 a.m. in the morning and waving at armored police cars." Police Captain Maurice Gyles growled. He was royally pissed at the half a day long delay. He and his boys had been ready to storm the criminals' hide the evening before, but then an inexplicable halting order had been issued. That nobody could explain to him who had issued the order, much less why, hadn't raised his spirits in the slightest. And so he'd spent the last few hours by cursing the invisible assholes who'd put his units on the leash.

"You think we'll get an explanation for all this madness now?" his assistant Lieutenant Trevor Cromer put in cheerfully and Gyles' face darkened dangerously.

"I sure hope so." he barked moodily. As he'd finally gotten his moving orders, those had been odd to say the least. He'd been denied any usual support whatsoever. Apart from half a dozen ambulances the powers that were had graciously allowed him to keep, his SWAT teams were alone. No fire brigade to help cordoning off the premises. No press officers to talk to the media. Nothing.

Only the ambulances and his armed to the teeth men. As if someone expected his teams to encounter the North Korean Army, but wanted to make sure that nobody witnessed it. He had a very bad feeling about all of this.

Still grumpily, he exited the vehicle and walked towards the man who had been waiting for them. "I'm Captain Gyles. Are you my contact?"

The man smiled slightly. "Yes." he said, offering him a hand which Gyles took warily. "I'm D. Good to see you and your men, Captain."

"D? Simply D? You shitting me, what authority are you working for? Who's running this show? I want answers, man."

The man who'd introduced himself as 'D' smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Captain." he said. "But I can't answer your question. If you want proof of my authority, here's my ID. I suggest you check it with your patrol car's computers."

Wordlessly, the Captain grabbed the offered card and stalked off. It looked totally nondescript, and besides the man's photo, the initial 'D' and several rows of numbers, there was nothing distinctive. He'd never seen such an ID before! Unfortunately for him, the computer had.

-Representative of the government with highest authority - provide all necessary support- it spit out and Gyles ogled at the sentence for a couple of seconds until he returned to the man, cursing loudly.

"Okay, Sir." he said through clenched teeth. "It's your show. Tell me what you want."

The man, 'D', nodded courteously. "All right." he said in a pleasant voice. "Why don't we continue our meeting in your command truck then?"

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Okay." the Captain told D. "We have to free a hostage and retrieve a valuable piece of equipment. To do this, we need to assault up to 30 criminals, many of them armed, who are camping at this abandoned factory." he motioned at the large map. "A direct approach isn't advisable since the road leading to the premises passes over a narrow bridge. This leaves an approach through the forest. We'll enter the building over the fire staircase here and roll up the bad guys from behind. Piece of cake for my guys. But of course it isn't all."

D eyed the Captain curiously. Of course he knew what was coming now. The police man seemed to be a sharp cookie. Still, there had to be appearances maintained.

"It isn't all?" he asked therefore with a cocked eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

The Lieutenant next to the Captain grinned and the senior office harrumphed.

"Don't take me for a fool, D. There's something extraordinary involving this operation. And given all the firepower you guys asked for I think it's got something to do with the opposition we'll face. It won't be thirty thugs with guns, will it?"

D sighed. All right. Time to play with open cards. "You're essentially correct, Captain." he informed him. "There was the possibility of an unusual threat which could have jeopardized your operation if you'd have assaulted unprepared. That's why we halted your deployment. To evaluate the threat."

"And...?" Gyles asked.

"And the threat has been confirmed. You will not be up against thugs with guns, probably. Or let's say not only against thugs with guns."

"Probably? What do you mean, 'probably'? What will my men be up against?"

D shrugged helplessly. "That's the problem. We don't know. Could be everything."

Gyles ogled him. "Everything?" he repeated, "What do you mean, everything?"

"What I said. You could be up against the Easter Hare, unicorns or little green guys from planet Mars. We simply don't know."

"Little green guy from planet Mars." Gyles chuckled. "Good joke."

The agent simply stared at him. Gyles' smile disappeared.

"You're not joking? The fucking hell?"

Slowly, D rose up. "I think it would be better to demonstrate. If you'd come with me, please."

The two police officers looked at each other, but then obeyed. D led them out of the command trailer, further into the woods until they arrived at a battered looking truck which was guarded by C.

"Gentlemen." he said, motioning to a girl which exited the truck awkwardly, "meet Susan."

"What the...?" Gyles muttered under his breath while Cromer whistled silently. "She got six arms? Why the hell does she have six arms?"

D smiled again. "The same reason why you could be encountering little green guys from planet Mars. It's classified, of course."

"Hm..." Gyles took the sight of the strange woman in. "Okay... that's... weird, really. But I guess we can cope with this." he grinned. "We'll need more shackles, though, if all the bad guys are in the same shape."

"That's the problem." D put in. "They probably aren't. In fact, they may be something entirely else. Therefore I want you to meet Susan's friend Michael as well..."

Oh, boys... he thought gleefully, You're in for a big surprise!

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Michael felt acutely uncomfortable as he towered in front of the gaping police men. That he was able to perceive their faster than normal beating carotid arteries, to feel their heartbeat and smell their fear didn't make things easier. He tried to appear as unthreatening as possible, but while his current body was capable of many feats (most of them involving either mayhem or destruction or both), being 'unthreatening' certainly wasn't one. At least he'd managed to stop drooling!

The older of the two was the first who regained his composure.

"So..." he said, "...a Xenomorph? The fucking hell? Is that thing... tame?"

"The 'thing' is sentient, Captain." C put in frostily. "His name is Michael and he's as intelligent as any of your men. Isn't that right, Michael?"

Michael nodded acknowledging and the Captain's jaw muscles clenched.

"Does that mean that the enemy has also Xenomorphs? And that their Xenomorphs are intelligent as well?"

"They possibly have Xenomorphs." D put in, stressing the adverb. "To be fair, we've seen only one of them so far. And yes, their creatures are just as intelligent."

"I thought so." the Captain mustered Michael darkly. "I won't do it." he said then and D raised his eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I won't do the assault. You telling me we're up against Xenomorphs and shit? Well, get the goddamn army then! But not my men! That's way too risky!"

D shook his head courteously. "I fear that is no option. As I've told you, time is essential. We can't wait even one more minute. You will do this assault."

"The fuck I will!" angrily, the Captain stared at D and the agent sighed. Then he dig into his pocket and took his ID out again.

"Do you know what this is, Captain?" he asked politely.

"A fucking ID I've never seen before in my life?" the officer snorted derisively.

"Not quite." D replied with a hard face. "It's my 'I get what I fucking want card'." apparently, the agent had decided to switch over to the Captain's language.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that one call by me and you'll be relieved of command, Captain. And I swear to God that I will play this card as often as I need until I find somebody to command the damn assault, even if it's a lowly Sergeant. So you have two possibilities now - either you're doing as I say or I'll find myself someone else who will - sadly this someone will obviously lack your skills and experience, but one can't have everything."

He locked eyes with the furious officer.

"What will it be, Captain?"

Fuming, he stared at D. Then he started cursing and ranting for half a minute. "You son of bitch." he pressed out between clenched teeth. "I'll do it. Not to give you what you want, you asshole, but to protect my men. You get this?"

"I wouldn't expect anything else." D agreed courteously and put his ID away. "After we've clarified this, what do we do next?"

"Next?" the Captain uttered a grim chuckle and looked at Michael. "Next we'll show your companion here to the boys. To prepare them for what may be waiting for them. And afterwards... we'll go monster hunting."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

From his vantage point at the administrative building's upper storey, Dan looked down towards the moonlit forest where he could see four of his Velociraptor turned goons roaming the edge of the forest. The other fourteen Raptors were somewhere in the forest, waiting to intercept the attack.

Dan's lips twitched at the thought of his creations tearing the merely human assailants to shreds. This is- he contemplated -one of my better ideas. Most of my men have a predator's mindset anyway, so turning them into real predators is probably making them more effective than arming them to the teeth.

He was waiting anxiously for the attack which he was actually looking forward to. Because when the enemy gang would begin its assault, he'd once again change into his magnificent Xenomorph body and join his men... respectively Raptors in their fight. He couldn't await testing out that body's strength against normal humans. Until then, though...

Dan shed a glance to the living bruise which had been a shapely woman only hours ago, lying bound and gagged next to the magic box. After Alex had raped the girl, Dan had probed her for information. Adding additional bruises here and there in the process. You couldn't make a proper omelette without being hard on a couple of eggs, after all. At least he hadn't raped her again. There was no way in hell he'd stick his dick into something which had already been used by Alex! But aside from a lot of useless blabber, his rigorous questioning hadn't unveiled any new information regarding the wondrous reactivation of the box. So either the girl was tougher than he thought, or she really didn't have any clue.

Well... he thought, Doesn't really matter, actually. The box works again and that's all that counts. The main thing to concentrate on now is making sure that the box stays in our possession.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Under normal circumstances, a commander had no business whatsoever attaching himself to his unit's vanguard. But tonight, or rather this morning, since the horizon was already showing a faint glimmer of the rising sun, normal circumstances most certainly didn't apply.

And therefore, Captain Gyles was leading his men's assault from the front. After all, he was the one who had ordered them to advance into the claws and talons of whatever creatures would form their opposition. The least he could do was standing between them and their darkest nightmares. And at least he had support.

He glanced to his left where the older agent was keeping pace effortlessly. The younger one, together with the six-armed girl, followed in the main body trailing a couple of hundred yards behind. He had no idea why she had to attend the assault, in his opinion this was way too risky. But D had decided that she would come with them, and Gyles had had other problems than to argue the point.

On the other hand... he looked at the other outsider who had attached himself to his vanguard. And he was actually damn well glad for his attendance! The Xenomorph, 'Michael' (there was still some getting used to involved in thinking of the monster as an intelligent, sentient being) followed on all fours, moving his large large shape with an astonishing noiselessness. He had a red scarf tied to his hip, to help them distinguish between the enemy and 'their' Xenomorph. The garb made him look even more evil.

Some of the boys where still shedding nervous glances to the nightmarish creature so close to their backs, but just as their CO, they were probably relieved to have him with them. After all, he had the biological equivalent of a futuristic sensor suite. According to him (the agents had organized a tablet PC with touch panel to let Michael communicate, and seeing the monster using such a device and writing in clear English on it had flabbergasted not a small part of his troops, including himself), he was capable of detecting any living thing in a radius of a couple of hundred yards, and for human-sized beings this increased up to a quarter mile.

Which meant that they probably had the most effective scout on the whole planet at their disposal. With the little refinement that the other side probably had just the same type of scout available. Which gave the ancient wisdom "If the enemy is in range, so are you" a depressingly new meaning. They'd be able to recognize any mayhem heading for them early on, but unfortunately, the mayhem in question would know that there'd be prey waiting as well.

Gyles was still thinking about all the things which could go wrong as Michael suddenly emitted a quiet but pervasive hiss. At once, the men stopped advancing and went down into a defensive semi-circle.

"What's wrong?" Gyles whispered. "You picking up something?"

Michael nodded and put up four clawed fingers. A quarter mile away. So something big. Just great.

"Another Xenomorph?" he asked him and to Gyles relief, Michael shook his large head. "So it's a human?"

Again Michael shook his head and the Captain cursed. "Great... something else. How many?"

This time, only one claw rose up and Gyles furrowed his brows. "Only one? Hmm... I'd love to know what we're up against."

He grinned at the Xenomorph. "Do you think you'd be able to... try and catch that gentleman for us?"

Michael hissed acknowledging, extending his inner jaws for a moment. The sight of the drooling monster was eerie and a shiver went down Gyles' back, but in the next moment, the Xenomorph darted forwards, jumping over the startled line of SWAT members and disappeared in the night.

"Nothing wrong with his motivation, I think..." Gyles murmured and then looked at D. "Do you think he'll be able to catch whatever is waiting there for us?"

D chuckled. "Oh, absolutely. If you want to worry about something then rather worry about whether Michael will leave the poor fellow in one piece."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Dawson was torn, really. On one hand, he was horrified by what the crazy bastard Dan had forced him to change into. On the other hand... it simply felt awesome being a nine foot tall dinosaur.

Right now, he was prowling the forest, three-toed legs silently moving his scaly body through the undergrowth. His new field of vision required some getting used to - spherical vision was gone, but instead he enjoyed an unprecedented viewing angle, being able to see almost around his whole body! His nose was something else, as well. All those new odors and smells!

In fact, he was currently playing with this sense, using this to follow a quite... nice smelling animal track. Suddenly his eyes sensed movement, and from a bush in front of him, a startled fox darted out. Dawson reacted immediately, following the little creature with large, powerful strides.

Run, little fox. he thought evilly, Let's see who is faster!

The fox was sidestepping desperately now, but Dawson's body was too maneuverable to be shaken off by such moves. Instead, his incomparably larger stride length brought him close the animal in moments, and purely by instincts, he slashed down on it with a foot. He felt his great, sickle-like middle-talon slice through flesh as through butter and the fox went flying, almost in two pieces.

Surprised, Dawson stopped and eyed his motionless... prey? Actually, he hadn't wanted to kill it, it had simply happened. And the speed, ferocity and lethality of his own attack had startled him.

That was... awesome! he thought and eyed the dead creature with one slit eye. There was another craving he felt now, and then he realized what it was.

Hunger? Dawson thought taken aback, My body really wants to eat my prey... but...

Unsure, he eyed his fang. It took him a couple of minutes during which his body's craving for the readily available food only became stronger until he made his decision.

Well... why the hell not? he thought, I'm currently in the body of a predatory animal, so... it's kind of natural, I guess.

Slowly, he bend his neck down, opening his large maw. Gingerly he closed it over a tenderly looking piece of meat and with a yank he tore it off. Warm fluid flowed down his throat and the meat followed. It didn't taste bad. It didn't taste good, either. In fact, it didn't taste at all. But still... there was something satisfying in eating, and therefore he continued.

Less than five minutes later, the fox's carcass was stripped to the bones.

That was... interesting. Dawson contemplated, and had he possessed lips, he would have grinned. Instead, he only hissed contentedly. But my body isn't full... yet. he thought. Let's see what else I can hunt...

He spent the next two hours hunting and eating numerous small animals, taking a perverse pleasure in using his Velociraptor body's weapons to run down the small, helpless creatures. He was so immersed in his hunting play that he didn't realize how far he had strayed from the gang's hide.

Dawson was just in the process of devouring another fox, as the attack came. At one moment, he was ripping flesh from his meal. The next moment, a large, black shape propelled itself at him.

He had only a millisecond to process the impossible. What? But I didn't smell it com-

His train of thoughts was abruptly cut short when the creature crashed into him with the force of a speeding semi. Dawson felt his body flying through the air and impacting at a tree. With a shocked hiss, he came to rest at its root, trying to stand up again. But the other creature didn't give him any time. Suddenly, there was a large weight on him, pinning down his powerful legs and pitiful arms.

A mighty tail coiled itself around his flexible neck, the tail's sharp tip pressing itself into his jaw's unprotected underside. It didn't penetrate his scales, not entirely at least. Though he had no doubts at all that the tail's owner would have no problems whatsoever in applying enough pressure to force the tip through his jaw right into his brain. That he wasn't doing this only led to one conclusion, and Dawson stopped struggling.

The Xenomorph sitting on top of him regarded his surrender with a pleased hiss and then bowed its eyeless head down. The creature's lips parted, with saliva flowing down its cheeks in large streams, revealing gleaming teeth. Slowly, the impressive jaw parted and its inner jaw extended, until it was only inches away from one of his reptilian eyes.

Terrified, Dawson, watched the small tongue-mouth snapping open and shut and then, with rattling sound, the Xenomorph retracted it again. The creature glowered at him mercilessly and Dawson understood the message. He managed the tiniest hint of a nod and then forced his body to relax all muscles. He'd just been taken prisoner by a Xenomorph.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Sweet Lord." Captain Gyles whistled while looking down at the green-brown mottled lizard, "What the hell is THIS?"

After the vanguard had arrived, the SWAT team had shackled the creature with duct tape, they'd needed nearly half a roll to fixate its legs, arms and snout. Now it was lying on the forest ground like a giant turkey and stared sullenly at its captors.

"A Velociraptor, I think." his assistance put in helpfully, "Have you never seen Jurassic Park, Sir?"

Gyles snorted. "Do I look like some film buff? What was it doing out here, anyway? We're not even close to the compound yet."

"Hunting, I guess." a third voice said and the two police officers turned their heads towards agent D who was studying the bloody remains of a small animal. "I'd say he didn't pay attention to his surroundings and strayed away from his assigned guard zone. Lucky for us."

"Lucky? In what respect?"

The agent smiled thinly. "Now we know what we're up against. Velociraptors. Do you think your boys can stand up against those?"

"Hm..." the Captain stroked his thin pensively, then studied the animal, "I think so. After you told me that we'd be up against... monsters, I equipped my men with more body armor and shotguns than normally. I don't think that those claws would penetrate our armor. If the beasts are going for the throats this won't help, but our shotguns should help us to keep them on distance."

D nodded. "That's what I thought as well. I think I'll probe the 'prisoner' for information then..."

Gyles watched on as the agent went down next to the bound dinosaur. D was deliberately speaking in a low voice so that he couldn't understand a thing. But somehow, his words put the Velociraptor in great distress and suddenly the creature was answering the the agent's questions eagerly, nodding and shaking his reptilian head.

After five minutes, D raised himself up again.

"Okay. I can tell you now what you're up again." he told the police officer. "There are 18 Raptors, now only seventeen, and all of them are in the forest, between us and the target. There's a dozen more armed men, all of them in the target. And there'll probably be only one Xenomorph."

"At least something..." Gyles muttered relieved. Seventeen Raptors and one Xenomorph were one hell of an opposition, but frankly, he'd feared worse. "And our objectives?"

"The captured girl is in the upper storey of the administrative building, as we thought. And the device we need to secure is there as well."

The Captain smiled thinly. "The device which's responsible for all this craziness?" he asked while waving at the Raptor.

D simply smiled back. "That's classified. Is it of concern to your operation?"

"No, I don't think so." Gyles sighed. He hadn't expected an answer anyways. Then he looked at his men and took out his radio. "Time to tell my teams the odds..."

"Don't forget to tell them again that all of those creatures are sentient." D warned him, "Their own safety has highest priority, but they have to give the Raptors the possibility of surrender. Is this understood?"

Gyles nodded grumpily. "Thank God we brought a month's supply of duct tape with us..." he murmured.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Dan had fallen half asleep while waiting for the assault as suddenly distant pops jolted him awake. His eyes flew open and he looked over to the forest. Of course he couldn't see a thing, but the sound of gunfire spoke for itself.

His lips curled into a sinister smile. So they decided to attack, after all? he thought and went over towards the magic box. He put his hand on the display and concentrated, and within seconds, he was greeted by the sight of the terrifying Xenomorph. Without hesitation he stepped into the booth.

As he emerged again, the sudden influx of his new senses was as awe-inspiring as the first time he'd changed into a Xenomorph. Dan registered a muffled scream from the side of the room and gazed over towards the shackled girl which was conscious again, wide-eyed staring at his body. Hm... he thought, There should always be time for a little bit of fun...

Swiftly, he strode over to the girl on all four legs, positioning his smooth, eyeless head only inches away from her terrified face. Slowly, he parted his lips, revealing his salivating maw, his drool dripping on her body. He felt how the girls heartbeat picked up speed rapidly and he smelled her fear. Boy, how good that felt! Let's see if I can terrify her even more... Dan thought viciously and extended his inner jaw, letting it hiss evilly and rubbing it against the girl's cheek. His tongue-mouth tasted her tears now which were streaking down her face and he relished in the girl's fear for another moment until he retracted his jaws again. He gave her a final, loud hiss and then hurried out of the room.

One shouldn't eat the dessert before the main course... Dan reminded himself amused while scurrying into the forest. But then he stopped. Something wasn't right! He had expected to see chaos and rout, the enemy gang's members fleeing headless from the carnage his Raptors had wrought. Instead... the advancing humans which he could pick up with his heartbeat sense didn't seem to be in any inclination to panic. On the contrary, they were advancing orderly in a fashion which seemed way to organized for typical gang thugs and it was his Raptors which were fleeing in panic. What the hell...

Directly in front of him, the undergrowth parted and a dinosaur emerged, limping from a large bullet wound to its thigh. Furiously, Dan snarled at the creature. <You shall fight, dammit!> but of course his transformed man didn't understand him. Instead, he tried evade the interposing Xenomorph.

In that moment, something in Dan's mind snapped. Enraged, he let his tail flash out at the cowardly Raptor and with a startled hiss, the creature, suddenly missing its right leg, went to the ground in a spray of dirt and blood. Its fearful cries vanished into a deep gurgle as a second strike by Dan's tail slashed its throat and satisfied, he watched the Raptor's death struggle. Deserves him right. he thought venomously. I didn't change him into a Raptor so that he could flee faster!

But the time he'd spent on killing the Raptor had brought its pursuers closer and he was already picking up muffled voices uttering commands. There were only two possible choices now, retreat or attack, and Dan hadn't changed into a Xenomorph to retreat! Therefore, he pushed his body forwards, sprinting through the dense growth on all four legs. His senses told him exactly where the six attackers were, and with a blood-curdling scream, he launched himself at the group.

The humans did only have time for a short, surprised shout, then he erupted into their midst, tail and talons flashing left and right. He felt his claws penetrating soft flesh and two men went down in a spray of blood, but he'd already landed on a third, pinning him down on the bottom. The man's eyes were going large as he took in the salivating monster sitting on him, but then Dan pushed his inner jaw forward, penetrating the man's skull like an eggshell. He retracted it immediately, his tongue's maw gripping bits and pieces of the man's brains and his victim below him went still.

But the other three men were already reacting. Two didn't have a clear line of fire, but the third one was bringing up his shotgun. With an angry snarl, Dan jabbed his tail's blade at his chest and the man flew backwards, crashing into the other two surviving gunmen. He wasn't dead, though, Dan's tail hadn't been able to penetrate his body armor. The entire fight had only taken a few seconds until now, and everything had been a blur, but now Dan had the time to take in his opponent's appearance and an icy shiver run down his back as he recognized them not as the criminal thugs he had awaited, but as a SWAT team.

That's a police assault! he thought numbly, Damn, were those two strangers really cops? But why didn't they wait so long until they attacked then? That doesn't make any sense...
But the three surviving men were already getting up again and he had to cut off his racing stream of thoughts. He could still have killed all of them, but it wouldn't matter in the end. If this was a police assault, everything changed. He'd probably be able to kill many of the attackers, but in the end, they would get him. I need to change back and run... he thought therefore, turning on his heels, And I need to do it as fast as possible, before the police has surrounded our hide.

With a giant leap he retreated from the battlefield, followed by shouts and bullets which only hit empty air. But the police was moving faster than he'd have liked, and two more groups were already interposing themselves between him and the building. He considered shortly if he should try to break through, but then rejected the thought for being too risky.

Cursing inwardly, he changed his course to go around the complex and enter from the other side. This would mean one hell of a detour, but there was nothing he could do now. And there were still over half a dozen gang members with guns perched in the building, after all. Hopefully, they were too stupid to do the smart thing, which would be surrendering, and instead decided to fire on the cops. From all he knew of his men, he didn't have to worry there.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

D saw the Captain's face become hard as the officer took in another status report via radio, and he immediately knew that, ultimately, something had gone wrong. Actually, he had been waiting for this, after all, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, and so far, the operation had gone miraculously well. Thanks to Michael, they had known exactly where the enemy Raptors were, and they had used this information ruthlessly.

Until now, they had fourteen of them accounted for - four had been killed outright and six had been taken 'prisoner', seven including the one Michael had originally captured, only two of those unwounded. There were two more wounded, but their injuries were that grave that they probably wouldn't come through the next hour. Another two had escaped, and the four Raptors which were unaccounted for had probably turned tail as soon as they had realized what had happened to their fellows. For all intents and purposes, the Raptor opposition between them and their target had been annihilated.

In exchange for this victory, the SWAT teams had only suffered half a dozen casualties, most of these superficial flesh wounds. Their body armor had done wonders to stop the Raptor's sickle-claws. But now their luck seemed to have run out, given the Captain's pained expression. He spoke a few commands in the radio, waited for confirmation, went off the air and then started cursing wildly.

"Has something happened?" D asked Gyles and the Captain eyed him darkly.

"You could say so." he cursed. "One of my teams found the Xenomorph, or rather the Xenomorph found them."

"Casualties?" D asked immediately and Gyles nodded sadly.

"Three men down, one of them fatal, the other two in serious condition. Goddamn it!" he clenched his fist. "I knew the victim! Sergeant Tomaso, he had a wife and a three-year old daughter!"

Jesus, that's what I wanted to prevent. D thought, Fuck, fuck, FUCK! he closed his eyes tried to calm down his whirling emotions. Afterwards, there would be enough time for mourning and self-accusations. Right now, he had to concentrate on other things.

"And the Xenomorph?" he asked therefore. The Captain stared at him darkly, and for a moment D feared that the man would fly at him for his feigned indifference. But then the officer sighed.

"That's the silver lining, actually. Although it's strange as hell. Fact is, the Xenomorph erupted into my team like a cluster bomb and took three men down before they could react. According to them, there was absolutely no doubt that it could have taken out the rest as well, but instead it retreated. And it evaded all other teams as well. What do you make of this?"

D considered this information. "Maybe the kind of opposition startled him?" he asked, "Most of the Raptors which surrendered seemed taken aback by the fact that they were up against the police? But then again, what else would they be expecting?"

Gyles shrugged. "I have no idea." then he looked at the rising sun and snorted. "And I don't really care. If the beast is refusing battle, I won't complain. So now that there's probably only human opposition left, let's end this bug hunt by doing the one thing we are really good in - freeing hostages."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

A SWAT officer appeared at the uppermost exit of the fire escape staircase, signaling that this storey had been secured as well. Michael felt agent D next to him exhale a sigh of relief, and he'd have done the same if his Xenomorph body would have been physically capable of sighing. But since he was 'breathing' over the long, bony extensions on his back, it wasn't. Over the last ten minutes, the SWAT unit had assaulted the administrative building. Maybe half of the bikers who had barricaded themselves inside had decided to throw in the towel. The rest hadn't been as smart.

Enraged by their fellow officer's death, the SWAT members had unloaded nearly every flash grenade they had into the building and then stormed. It had been a short, thrilling and incredibly messy affair for the stubborn bikers, and only two had survived long enough to realize their mistake and surrender. But all of this didn't matter, because they'd done it.

Susan and me are only minutes away from getting our real bodies back! Michael rejoiced, And if we're really lucky, the police has also found Martin!

As if on cue, the Captain's radio came to life and he listened to what the assault team's leader was saying. The Captain's face lit up and smiling, he looked at his companions. By now, C, together with the six-armed girl, had joined them as well.

"They have found your friend. She's alive." he said smiling, "And it appears as if they've secured the device as well." Behind him, Susan threw her hands in the air, all six of them, and cried out in delight, but apparently, the leader hadn't been finished with his report. Another sentence garbled out of the radio, and just as the Captain's face had lit up before, it became dark now.

"And, um... he wants paramedics for her. And he's insisting on female ones..."

Susan, in her joy that Martin had been freed finally, didn't get the meaning of this. But Michael did. And almost involuntarily, he started hissing angrily, his mind clouding with rage until he suddenly felt a warm hand on his chitinous shoulder.

Agent D shook his head. "They will pay for what they have done,-" he said quietly, "-but now we need to turn you back. To turn all of you back. Time is running."

Michael wanted to nod, but then his head went up abruptly. Because he was feeling a known presence. And ignoring the agent's startled cry, he jumped forwards, towards the building. Because he was feeling the other Xenomorph creeping closer. It was already inside the building! And it would pay for what it had done to Martin.

There was only one place it would want to go to, and Michael leaped up the fire staircase, ignoring the police officer at the entrance, ignoring the officers securing the room, ignoring even the device inside the room. He didn't slow down while he darted through the room, but all of his concentration was focused upon Martin who was surrounded by several officers who tried to soothe her, but who were intent on keeping a considerable distance to her at the same time.

He took in her beaten, bruised shape, her torn clothing with all the merciless clarity his enhanced senses offered him, and then, in his thoughts there was only room left for the enemy.

"Hey, there's still possible opposition behind this do-" a SWAT officer who was securing the entrance to the hallway exclaimed startled, but Michael simply propelled himself through. His senses perceived only one human after this point, and he had barricaded himself in an office at the other side of the hall. No, the one which Michael was waiting for hurdled himself up the stairs right now.

<Hello, asshole.> he transmitted, using his strange communication ability he had discovered during his first fight with the other Xenomorph, <I've waited for you. Our last fight has been cut short, unfortunately.>

The Xenomorph which emerged at the staircase looked at him startled, then bared its teeth.

<Yeah?> he received, <If I remember correctly, you were running like hell and only escaped because you had a car and I didn't?>

<Then you also remember that I kicked your ass?> Michael sent back unperturbed and in response, the other Xenomorph snarled angrily.

<Let me through.> it replied instead, choosing to ignore the taunt. Michael only laughed, a choppy snarl produced by his maw.

<Why should I?> he asked back, <You've done enough evil with the box, I won't let you.>

Now the other Xenomorph went down to all fours, carting out its hissing inner jaw. Big streams of saliva streamed onto the carpet, forming a large puddle in front of its feet.

Michael laughed again and then went down on all four legs as well.

<This game can be played by two. Don't forget that you're not the only Xenomorph here.> he replied venomously and let his own inner jaw rattle out of his drooling maw. Right now, Michael didn't felt human at all. Instead, he felt all the power being a Xenomorph gave him, his talons and blades and teeth, and he would unleash that power upon this abomination which had violated his best friend. <You want to get to the transformation box? Then you'll have to go through me first, bastard!>

The two monsters examined each other, both hissing and snarling viciously, and then, as one they hurled themselves at each other.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"What the fuck is going on? Where the hell is Michael?" agent D screamed as he dashed into the room, Susan and C following close on his heels. Almost all of the SWAT officers had formed a defensive circle around the room's other opening, and the noises which came through it didn't sound human at all. Instead it sounded as if two packs of wild animals were tearing each other apart.

"Michael's fighting with the enemy Xenomorph!" a wide-eyed police man cried back, but he didn't took his eyes from the door. Or his finger from his rifle's trigger.

Cursing, D ran over to the huddle. "Then why the hell are you not helping him?" he asked, but in the same moment, he realized the reason.

"Because we don't have a clear line of fire, that's why!" the officer exclaimed, and stunned, D looked at the sight which was offered to him. The two Xenomorphs were hacking and slaying at each other with all they got, and since they were fighting in a small hallway, there was no way for the officers to shoot one of them without hitting the other.

Both creatures were already sporting multiple injuries and the whole hallway was plastered by green, acidic blood splashes which were slowly etching big holes in walls and floors. There was nothing human at all in the fight. These were two wild animals, tearing away at each other.

D shook his head. Then he looked back to C. "Susan!" he ordered the six-armed girl who had hurried towards her violated friend and now looked up with tears in her eyes, "You go to the device and change back NOW! Then you'll change Martin back and finally, you'll dial in Michael's normal form, clear?" the girl stared at him with big eyes. "IS THAT CLEAR?" he barked again, and frightened, the girl hurried over the transformation device.

Then, D looked at officer who seemed to be in charge. "And you're not taking your eyes off those two, you understand?"

"Whatever you say, Captain Obvious!" the man cried back frustrated. D decided to let the offence pass.

Damn it... he thought, We don't have time for this shit! How do I get Michael to abort this fight so that he can change-

"D!" his train of thought was abruptly aborted by C's loud cry. The younger agent pointed at the display and suddenly, D felt a big lump growing in his stomach.

"What is...?" the girl asked while pointing at the display, and D bumped her to the side, staring at the alien device. On it, there was Susan's real body projected. But there were also crazy-looking symbols flowing over the screen.

"Oh no..." D cursed. "We're too late."

"What? What do you mean?" Susan asked and D shook his head.

"This is what happens before the device stop's working. Before the last change, there are symbols displayed on the display... the last change..." suddenly, he was thoughtful. Before the last change... so there's exactly ONE change left. But then...

He looked at the raped girl in the corner of the room who was actually a transformed man and his face became like stone. Then he looked at the six-armed girl in front of him, clenching his teeth. If there was only one change left, it was painfully clear who would get it.

"Nobody touches the device." he said way more calmly then he felt. "We have only one change left. Michael will use that change."

"What?" Susan asked shocked. "But then Martin will stay a woman? And I will stay six-armed...?"

"There's no other choice." D said, regretting every word. "But we do have only one change left. Martin may be a woman, but fifty percent of the world's population is female. He'll, she'll deal with it. Somehow. You have six-arms, but that can be described by some kind of birth defect. But Michael? How will he live as a Xenomorph? Tell me?"

Susan's lower lip trembled, but finally, she nodded. "I guess you're right." she said, shoulders sagging. "I think then I should..." she reached for the display again and D slapped her arm away violently.

"NOBODY TOUCH IT, I SAID!" he barked, and Susan stared at him incomprehensibly.

"But... I just wanted to set up the box to change him into his original body!" she protested, but D shook his head.

"No. We can't risk it. We don't know if that's taking away the device's last change. He'll have to take his odds with what's already dialed in."

"But then he'll become me!" Susan exclaimed shocked and D nodded slowly.

"Yes. He'll become you. He'll have to live with it. It's in any case better than being a Xenomorph."

The agent turned and raced over to the door again. The two Xenomorphs were still fighting each other, oblivious to the drama which had unfolded next room, and D waited for the right moment.

It didn't take long. The two beasts slashed and punched at each other and then parted, the enemy Xenomorph landing on the other side of the floor, Michael, still recognizable by his red scarf, on D's side of the room. He was already making himself ready for the next assault, when D shouted with all his might.

"MICHAEL! THERE'S ONLY ONE CHANGE LEFT! THAT'S FOR YOU, COME BACK NOW!"

Both Xenomorphs froze as they heard the message, and Michael turned and dashed back through the hallway. With a desperate snarl, the other Xenomorph hurled itself after him, but Michael had too much of a head start.

"Keep Aim! Keep Aim!" the police officer commanded his men and then, Michael jumped, basically flying over the human barricade. The other Xenomorph realized the danger in the last second and frantically threw itself to the side right into an office.

"FIRE!" the officer bellowed even as Michael's dark body was passing over him, and all the guns which were trained on the door erupted in furious thunder, the police men unloading everything they got into the hallway.

"Keep it down, keep it down, don't let it get a millimeter out of this office!" D screamed and motioned Michael towards the device. "Get in and press the knob, you know the drill!"

He jumped to the side as the massive creature crashed into the booth and the door disappeared. A moment later, a confused girl stumbled out of the device.

"What the... why am I...?" she blurted out and stared at her breasts, but C was already grabbing her and pulling her out of the room towards the fire staircase. D raced to the other edge of the room and scooped up Martin. The raped girl cried out in shock, punching and tearing at his face, but he didn't care.

"Everybody out, EVERYBODY OUT!" he screamed instead, an order which the SWAT leader was only too willing to give.

"You heard him!" the man cried. "Get out, get out! And I want EVERY flash bang you still have in this hallway, you get me?"

Under a cacophony of detonating shock grenades and automatic fire, the entire team, the agents and Michael, Susan and Martin retreated down the staircase in a desperate rout, leaving a smoking hell behind.

Half a minute later, the Xenomorph limped slowly into the room, scanning for threats. Its assaulted biological sensor suite was still stunned by all those flash grenades, but it only cared for its immediate vicinity right now. The beast slumped towards the transformation booth and put its claw on the display. Nothing happened.

Back down at the bottom, the escaped humans turned around as the Xenomorph's inhuman, despaired snarl pierced marrow and bone. D closed his eyes. He didn't like it when people became stuck in strange bodies thanks to the device, no matter what evil they had used it for. And being changed into a Xenomorph for the rest of your life was a fate he wouldn't even wish upon his worst enemy.

I'm sorry. he thought, and he really meant it. But you brought this upon yourself. Now you have to live with the consequences.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Numbly, Dan strode through the ruin of the building. He was stuck. Cursed to be a Xenomorph for the rest of his life. To be a hideous monster, an evil creature. He had loved the power, had loved to be feared, but he hadn't wanted to become one for life. And now it had happened.

Gradually, madness crept in his mind. This was not fair! Why should he suffer for the mistakes of others? Dan found himself standing in front of a locked door. Pathetic. A mighty stroke by his tail and it was gone. Slowly, he paced through, eyeless stare focused on the anxious person who had huddled itself behind the giant desk.

"D-Dan?" the giant man asked the Xenomorph which was coming closer, a handgun gripped tightly in his fist. "I-Is that you? What the hell's going on? Why is the police out there?"

Dan didn't answer. Fearfully, Alex raised his gun. A short flick by his tail and the hand gripping the gun went flying. Crying in pain and fear, Alex clutched his blood-spurting stump and tumbled back. Two more flicks by his tail severed his tendons and the giant biker slumped down.

"Dan! What...! Why...? Please! Don't do this!" Alex was crying now, tears streaking over his face.

How odd... Dan thought while he opened his salivating maw, slowly extending his hissing inner jaw, I've never realized how pitiful Alex really is. Well... all the more to enjoy this.

Sobbing, Alex stared saucer-eyed at the monster's tongue which crept closer and closer to his face.

<Hello Alex.> Dan said in his Xenomorph voice. Alex wouldn't be able to understand it, which was a pity, but he didn't actually care. <Thanks to you, I'm stuck in this shape. Therefore I thought that I should give a first-hand impression of my new body.>

And with that, he let the Xenomorph take over.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*Epilogue*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

D knocked at the sturdy looking house's door. It was sitting in the forest, a few miles away from the nearest town, and this was exactly the reason why the agency had purchased it in the first place. Its residents should have all the peace they needed to cope with their situation.

The door opened and D smiled at the young, attractive girl which was standing in the doorway.

"Hello, Michelle." he said, mustering her. "I see that you're adapting quite well. You look stunning in that dress, if you allow me the remark."

The girl, who had been a young man named Michael nearly a year ago, blushed. "Well, fifty percent of the world's population is female, so I'll manage, too." she mumbled. Then she looked at D's companions. "Hi, C." she said and eyed the incredibly attractive woman standing next to him. "And...?"

"I'm Trisha." the woman smiled, "C's wife."

"Ah!" Michelle beamed at her and then shook her hands, "I'm please to meet you! Your husband has saved my life!"

Trisha twinkled. "Yes, he does that now and then." she said with just a whiff of mystery, "He's saved mine as well."

Now Michelle looked at her in speculation, but then decided not to pursue the matter. "Susan!" she called instead loudly into the house, "It's the agents, come down!"

A muffled voice answered and then the four people could hear someone trampling down the stairs.

"So..." Michelle inquired, eyeing D, "Is this an official visit, or is this simply a friendly get-together?"

D smiled. "It's both, actually. C and me, we really wanted to see how you're doing, but it's also a routine check-up. Hi, Susan!" he greeted the six-armed girl who had appeared next to Michelle now and introduced her to Trish as well.

"So there's only one missing..." he mused, "How's Martina doing?"

Michelle and Susan looked at each other uncomfortably, and then Michelle sighed. "She's doing better, but that's a purely relative term, of course. She's still very skittish around males and she still has nightmares. Not surprisingly, considering what she's experienced. Right now, she's at her favorite spot on the veranda, but I'm not sure how she'll react to visitors..."

She didn't add the qualifier 'male', but nonetheless D and C understood what she was actually saying. C sighed.

"Actually," he said, "That's why I brought Trisha with me. Let's just say there are some things both of them have... experienced." his face looked almost enraged now and Trisha was staring at an imaginative point somewhere behind the two girls. "I thought maybe the two of them could... talk? Maybe this would help her, what do you think?"

Susan and Michelle looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure," Susan said, "It's worth a try."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Fifteen minutes later, Susan, Michelle and the two agents were sitting in the house's comfortable living room, sipping their coffee. Trisha and Martina were both outside, and frankly, they wanted to give both of them privacy.

"So I've decided to resume my college courses." Susan said now. D raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he asked, looking at her six-armed appearance, "I would have thought that there are other, easier ways to make a living with your assets."

Susan snorted annoyed. "Don't tell me. It's actually quite funny. I changed into this body because I wanted to have six arms, to be the center of attention. But now that I have them... can you imagine how often I get invitations by strip clubs or, even worse, porn companies? It's totally annoying. Don't understand me wrong, I still like my six arms-" she hugged herself with all her limbs to drive the point home "-but I don't want to become some kind of circus freak."

C nodded satisfied. "I'm delighted to hear this. Many who get stuck with such... dramatic changes like you tend to end up in the erotic business, despite all the support we're giving. I'm really happy that both of you managed to resume your normal lives."

"Oh please!" Susan laughed, "'Dramatic changes' - I'm a dramatic change? What's with those Raptors, then? THAT'S dramatic, I reckon." she shook her head, "Being stuck as an animal for my whole life? Brrr..."

D smiled. "Well, they are adapting quite good as well."

Of the 18 Raptors, only nine had survived. Seven had been captured during the assault, six had been killed by the SWAT teams and another by the Xenomorph, for whatever reasons. Of the remaining four, two had been killed days later and two had been taken captive. The agency had taken hold of all nine of them and, after quite a bit of discussion about what the hell they were supposed to do with honest to God dinosaurs, they had relocated them to an uninhabited island in the pacific where they could live undisturbed.

"In fact,-" he continued juicily, "-they are adapting that well that they even have established a small colony. They have already produced offspring!"

D and C grinned as Michelle sputtered the coffee she had been drinking back into her coffee pot. "Offspring?" she blurted out astonished, "How is THAT possible? Have there been female bikers?"

C laughed. "No, all transformed bikers had been male. But apparently, they had been designed as Jurassic Park Velociraptors, not as real historical Velociraptors."

Susan stared at them with a blank face. "I still don't get it." she admitted.

"I don't blame you." D twinkled. "Anyway, we don't really know how the device is changing people, but it's changing them with incredible detail. For example, your Xenomorph body, Michelle. You thought 'Xenomorph' and you emerged as a real Xenomorph, down to the tiniest detail. Details you probably didn't even know about. Then how did the device know about those?"

From Michelle's face, D could see that she had never really thought about this. "It's the same with changes into celebrities, actually. When people want to change into, let's say, Megan Fox, they emerge as a Megan Fox twin. But where does all the information come from which allows the device to shape a body which is a Megan Fox twin? Frankly, we don't know, but there must be some way the device can tap into our world and retrieve all the necessary information practically instantaneously. But to come back to our Raptors:"

D coughed slightly and then continued. "The man who created the change thought of Jurassic Park raptors. And there are two peculiarities about Jurassic Park Raptors. First, according to the novel and the film, they are all female. They are genetically engineered this way by the fictional company which made them."

"Oh my!" Michelle exclaimed gleefully, "All those scary bikers got basically changed into women and they didn't realize? Wow, that's hilarious!"

"Yeah, that it is." D acknowledged. "But there's still the second peculiarity: They were designed that way to prevent breeding. No males, no breeding. But in the fictional story, amphibious DNA was used to patch holes in the recovered Raptor DNA. The DNA they took for this feat came from amphibians which have the ability to change sexes when there is a shortage of males or females. And the Jurassic Park Raptors inherited the same ability. That is how, in the novel and the film, the Raptors still managed to reproduce."

"Does that mean...?" Susan asked wide-eyed and D chuckled.

"Yes. This happened to three of our nine Raptors as well. They suddenly changed into male Raptors. And given the fact that they don't have cable TV or internet on their island..." he twinkled and all four of them broke out into loud laughter.

"Oh boy..." Michelle gasped after she had caught herself, "Didn't the females, um, object?"

"That's actually the interesting part." C chimed in. "They didn't. In fact, all of them appear to be quite happy. They are hunting, caring for their young... they are still intelligent and sentient and from time to time we're sending psychologists to give them someone to speak to, but they are quite satisfied with the current state of things. Our docs postulate that this may be due to the fact that they already had a more or less 'predatory' mindset when they had still been humans. Which had been one of the reasons why they ended as a biker gang's muscle. So the change into real predators only made them what they couldn't be as humans."

Amazed, Michelle nodded in understanding. Although she couldn't quite grasp this concept. She had been a predator for several hours, and while it had been a real rush, she had been quite glad when she had become a human again. Even if that had meant that she had changed sex. Speaking of which...

"And what's with the... other predator?" she asked and D's face darkened.

"Actually, I have to visit him as well. And it's not a visit I'm looking forward to..."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

D entered the underground prison. It had been a cold war bunker before and had been specifically tailored to hold one single prisoner. He nodded courtly to the two soldiers who were guarding the vault's door. Both were equipped with AA-12 automatic shotguns, and their drum magazines contained explosive rounds. If the prisoner managed to escape, nothing below this caliber would be able to stop him.

Inside the vault, he walked towards a small office where a white coat greeted him. The doctor was in his fifties, with bald head and D shook his hand.

"Hello, Dr. Kersey." he said. "How's he doing today?"

The psychologist sighed. "He's not showing any signs of improvement. In fact, he's become even more feral. We're sure that he's suffering of some kind of mental disorder, either an incompatibility of his human mind with his altered body, although this would be a first for a device-changed human, or his mind has always been on the edge and this simply pushed him over it. Either way," he smiled sadly, "We obviously can't treat him because we can't approach him without endangering our lives."

D nodded in understanding. Privately, he thought that the prisoner deserved death. He had clearly murdered several people, and one of these victims had been a police officer, that alone would earn him the death sentence. Unfortunately, there were laws to uphold. The agency couldn't go around murdering prisoners, so for justice to be done, he had to be sentenced by a proper court. But to be tried, he had to be mentally sane, and that he most definitely wasn't.

After the assault, they had found him in one of the upper storey's offices, sitting atop an eviscerated carcass. The body had been that gruesomely maimed that only DNA testing had revealed it to be Alex Morgan, the biker gang's head. The Xenomorph had not resisted detention, but even so, transporting him had been a nightmare in itself. After they'd stored him away in this cell, though, his mental state had deteriorated rapidly.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Aimlessly, the warrior strode through its cell. It knew each angle, each corner. Why hadn't it resisted when the prey had confined it to this space? It didn't know. This didn't make any sense. It had been prey, not more. There had been no reason not to kill it. And even less, to comply. Why had the warrior reacted that irrationally? Again, it didn't know.

It's visual receptors perceived a movement and its head swiveled towards the opening in its cage. There was one of the prey which had taken it captive. The warrior's inner jaw twitched in anticipation. Slowly it opened its salivating maw.

A croaking voice sounded, apparently the prey's. The warrior didn't understand its meaning, didn't want to understand it's meaning. It was prey, after all. What could it have to say, really? Beg for it's life?

The warrior crouched and jumped forwards, talons outstretched and inner jaw carted out. Like every time, the invisible barrier between itself and the prey didn't budge and the warrior snarled in frustration as it was stopped only inches from its target.

Furiously, it clawed at the invisible wand, screeching and splattering it with its saliva. This was not fair! This was not how the world was supposed to work! It was the hunter, and the prey was the prey. So why couldn't it reach its prey? Why? WHY?

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Sighing, D let go of the talk button and eyed the furious animal which tried to claw itself through the armored glass. And there was no doubt that this was an animal. He had talked to the Raptors. They looked like animals and they lived like animals, but they were still intelligent, sentient people you could talk to. This one, though... there was no sign of humanity left. D just hadn't wanted to believe the fact, that's why he had visited today. Instead, he had been brutally confronted by reality. It was hopeless.

No, he decided, He has fully descended into madness. And his mind will never become human again, I just can't see it happen. So he'll stay down here for the rest of his life... however long that will be for a Xenomorph.

D shivered at the thought. He couldn't imagine a worse fate. Being confined in a monstrous body was bad enough... but being confined in an animalistic mind, condemned to be a caged beast until the end of your life? The thought utterly terrified him.

He shed a last glance at the drooling beast which had been a human named Dan Sloane once. Nobody deserves such a fate. Not even him. D thought appalled and then he turned, fleeing the living nightmare behind the glass.

Kudos

Comments

Well...

We've seen superheroes, Star Wars, Star Trek, and even Buffy. I guess it was time for Alien. It was a darker story with very little of the usual MAU humor, but then again so was its source material. For what Alex did a bullet to the head would be far too kind. Poor Martin will have to live with those memories for the rest of her life.

hugs
Grover

Well, ElrodW did a (short)

Well, ElrodW did a (short) Predator change in one of his own MAU stories... but I can't remember which one. :)

And you're right: I was waiting and waiting for a Xenomorph MAU story - and it just didn't happen. And then finally I thought I'll do one myself. ^^

Bad choices

Very good story, it was thoroughly enjoyable. Your story showed the depths that some would fall to if given the chance of finding power. Dan and Alex were two such creatures as they were not what we would want to claim as human, but sadly must. The three friends would have been better off if Susan had never left the apartment. Hope you get more responses on your story, I enjoy all the MAU stories that I can read it is a great platform to use to write a transformation story with as the background is already provided. Maybe I will make a try at one someday myself, but I doubt I would come close to doing it so well.

Thank you. :) Yeah, the use

Thank you. :)

Yeah, the use of an established universe basically removes a lot of brainpower you otherwise have to invest when creating an entirely independent story.

This is especially true for short stories - you have to create some kind of coherent universe, but at the same time you need to compress it into a few paragraphs because there'd be no point in writing a story where the description of the world and the trigger take up more space than the plot itself.

Using a pre-defined universe simplifies this enormously since you can basically start with your plot at once, without need to explain any rules.

That being said, while I'm a big fan of MAU stories, I don't have that much inclination for actually writing in this universe. The problem is that I absolutely hate the concept of people being stuck in their changed bodies.

I want them to explore new shapes, to explore being a female, or to explore being an animal, but only temporary, with the possibility to change back whenever they want. One could say that most transformation (and tg) fiction is about becoming (as in one-way street) a different shape (a man changes into a woman and becomes a woman). I, on the other hand, like fiction where they only experience (as in omnidirectional street) being in a different shape. There's a difference, imho.

MAU stories offer exactly this possibility of curious exploration - "Hm, I've always been a heterosexual male in my life, but why don't I try out how it is to be a sexy woman for once?" - four the first four days. Then the terrible catch happens. And it's basically impossible to write a concluded MAU story with a satisfying ending without incorporating the four-day catch. The story would be simply incomplete.

I mainly wrote this MAU story out of two reasons:

1) This was basically the only platform which offered me a 'real', temporary Xenomorph transformation without resorting to a deus ex machina overkill ("Abracadabra, become a Xenomorph!" *poof*)
2) I always thought that agents C and D were the hidden heroes of the MAU universe. They appeared in so many stories, but mostly as featureless government officials. They were always that hardworking to keep the MAU's from harming the population and they almost never succeeded. I simply wanted to give them their own story, where they get a face and personality, and where they at least win a small victory.

But because of my primary preferences (that is, voluntary AND temporary transformations out of curiosity, WITHOUT being stuck), I'll probably either use the Trust Machines universe or something of my own for any future stories.

I know that there's an unwritten rule in the tg community to never change a transformee back, but that's simply not what I like. ;)

Oh, Jeez... that response became way bigger than I intended...

Chilling

Funny how uncomfortable we get when we recognize the derivative animal instincts we inherited from 'lower' life forms. We try to deny it by saying we are intelligent and spiritual beings but it all comes down to motivation we get from being biological and basic drives: reproduction, fear - leading to need to dominate indiscriminately, physical survival. And what happens if we devolve to be ruled purely by those drives.

MAU - Monster's Night

Comments

Well...

Well, ElrodW did a (short)

Bad choices

Thank you. :) Yeah, the use

Chilling

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