Grace of An Elder

Chapter 59

O'kaor was being rolled away into a new area of the facility but when they did so he realized that the lab in which he had previously been held had been warm compared to the rest of the facility; the temperature of the rest of the building was much lower than what his body could safely tolerate. The humans began shouting at one another and draping some sort of metallic blankets over his body before trying to drag him into a vat of strange liquid. He tried to resist and fight the squishy creatures, but he still had limited mobility due to the amount of drugs they'd pumped into his body.

The Oomans managed to him into the tank and the female with familiar grey eyes stepped forward to press different controls on the tank. He tried to call out to her, to demand that she release him, but she did not answer. Soon he felt a heavy sleep overtake his senses and the last thing he saw was Dhadtoudi looking up at him with those sparkling grey eyes.
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O'kaor woke to an annoying sound that was warped by the liquid in the tank. His amber eyes opened to see Dhadtoudi sitting across the room staring at some sort of primitive monitor. She was wearing minimal clothing, and he growled a warning for her to cease the abuse on his auditory senses. She turned at the sound of his voice, frowning as she leaned forward in her chair.

It was then that he realized this female was not Dhadtoudi. Her tresses were too short, they were not twisted as Dhadtoudi always kept hers, her skin was too light, and her muscle mass was insufficient. But those eyes...how did she have the same eyes?

"I don't want to hear you complain. If I have to suffer through the heat so you can be comfortable, then the least you can do is tolerate my music. You don't have to like it, but I don't want to hear you bitch about it..!"

"Biiitch." The female's eyes widened at his broken Ooman speech.

"Do that again..." she was rolling forward in her seat now, waiting. He reasoned she was wanting to revel in his advanced capabilities.

"Nooo..." she sat back with a huff, her brow furrowing in irritation as she seemed to catch on to what he was doing...waging mental and emotional war on his captor.

The door to the makeshift lab slid open to reveal the one known as Brooks standing there. He opened his mouth to speak and then the delightful warmth hit him like a brick wall. "Jesus Christ, Brielle! It's like the Sahara in here!" The man reluctantly stepped inside the room and removed his suit jacket. "I'll have maintenance look at your heating system on Monday."

"The system is fine, Gregory." She gestured in front of her to O'kaor who was floating in the vat and now had his eyes trained on the human male. "Our friend here needs a warm environment to stay alive. He almost crashed twice before he was in the pod."

"That's weird, it was just fine before we brought it in here. Are you sure it's not just allergic to something in here?"

She shook her head, her hair damp with sweat at the end of her ponytail. "No, it's likely something to do with the equipment it was wearing. Probably some kind of thermal-regulation system...keep your clothes on!" She scolded the blue eyed man for unbuttoning his white shirt, and he looked at her with an accusatory expression that O'kaor had seen Dhadtoudi make when she was arguing with T'ahrou.

"You're half naked!"

"IT'S MY LAB!!"

"That doesn't mean you get to-" O'kaor roared a demand for the smaller male to stop talking as his voice was causing a splitting headache for the great warrior. Brooks jumped and cried out in surprise, but the female only flinched at the sheer volume of the roar.

A moment later, a single word was heard in the vast room. "Bitch." The female stifled a chuckle as the male's face reddened from something more than the heat.

"What the fuck did it say?!"

"Whaaat the fuuuck did it saaay?" Brooks looked as though he might explode at any moment and the female laughed harder.

"Mimicry, what a spectacle. It's like a parrot." The creature moved its focus to her once more as she offered a scape goat.

"Bitch." She frowned at the word, but Brooks only draped his jacket over his shoulder before turning back toward the exit.

"Yes, a clever display, but I don't want to know if it can copy speech...I want to know what makes it tick, Miss Ronaldi. Given your history with our assets in the past, I expect excellent results."

Brooks gave one last glance at the creature before stepping into the hall to the cooled air. As soon as the door slid shut behind him, Brielle heard a voice from the center of the room. "I want to knooow what maaakes it tiiick..."
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The Yautja wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the female was dripping sweat and she stood before pulling her bulky clothing on over her head.

"Alright Ghost, I'm heading home for the night. I always lock my lab when I'm away, so I'll be the only one who can get in. You'd better not cause any trouble while I'm gone, because if the facility calls me and I have to come back up here before my shift tomorrow, I swear to God I'll play the most annoying song I can find and I'll put the speakers right next to your tank!" The warrior said nothing, and she moved toward the exit with some sort of keycard in her hand. "I mean it, be on your best behavior, got it? I promise, I don't like it here any more than you do."

With that said, the brunette keyed herself out of the room and dimmed the lights before stepping into the brisk air of the corridor and sealed the automated door behind her. O'kaor clicked in irritation as he looked around the dimly lit room. "Dhadtoudi will never let me live this down if she finds out..."