Xenomorphic

Chapter 9: A Case of Mistaken Identity?

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"If someone could tell me what the fuck just happened, that'd be great."

The deadly calm voice of Marian Janssen made the assorted scientists in front of her break out into a cold sweat, snakes slithering up their spines.

They weren't wearing their 'protective helmets,' they all had far more pressing concerns on their hands at the moment. Such as the small tremors that still crawled through the building. Or the fact that two of the lower levels had collapsed. Or the fact that there were currently twenty-three dead and/or missing scientists. Or the fact that a number of experiments were freaking out and the Erasers were having trouble keeping control. Or the fact that the second best group of experiments were mostly all in critical condition. Orthe fact that Subject 3 generated a level 7 earthquake that for some reason hadn't had any effect on the surrounding areas. In fact, it wasn't even on the news.

It had been a few days since the incident and Subject 3 was completely unresponsive. The white-coats managed to move her out of the observation atrium and back into her room, but anything else was shut-down. Because of her intense emotional state, S-3 had unleashed a new level of brutality upon those that agitated her further.

It had gotten to the point that the white-coats had stopped trying to send in cleanup crews for the bodies. If the girl wanted her corpses that badly, then she could stink herself up all she wanted.

"Subject 3 has apparently acquired geokinetic powers that include, but may not be limited to, earthquake generation on an unknown scale, but are at least capable of level 7 tremors."

The Director's eyes made Jeb gulp and look away, "A wonderful theory, Batchelder. But I want to know how she got that power, why she has that power, and what triggered that power."

It was the recovered Dr. Groves that answered, "The answer to why could be linked to her unique DNA strand. The answer to what triggered its awakening is most likely tied to her interaction with the avian hybrids. As for how she got that power...your guess is as good as mine, Madam Director."

"Her DNA...Jeb, the reason this whole mess was even created is because your initial analysis of the infant's DNA yielded intriguing results, is it not?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Please refresh my memory on what was so special about my baby girl."

Despite how disturbed he was with what his employer just called a near-genocidal child, Jeb did as he was told, "Perseus Jackson's DNA code was only half-created. Where there was adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine, the opposite nucleic acids were replaced by gold bars. When analyzed, those bars matched no known elements on the Periodic Table. In fact, DNA codes like this were not uncommon, but there was no traceable pattern. The only thing linking the unusual births, was that all the fathers were unknown."

Marian hummed, "Anything else?"

Jeb coughed into his fist, "After we abducted young Perseus, there was a massive surge in freak-weather phenomena. Earthquakes, thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tsunamis were reported all over the planet. Over three thousand were reported dead or missing, and 80% of those deaths were at sea. Also," Jeb finally took a breath, "After Perseus was brought here, the number of infants found with unusual DNA was reduced to zero."

The Director looked at him, "Zero?"

"In the past, there were usually twenty to thirty reported cases a year, from our various sources. After August 18, 1993, however, there were no more reported cases...anywhere," Jeb elaborated.