Zero

:) Thanks Winter Wolf for reviewing! I love feed-back even when it's just short & sweet.
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Chapter 2

It wasn’t long, and Hicks was coming back to check on Vasquez who is still staring at her in the room. The latina tells him she’s coming to, and they can see her roll off the bed onto the floor trying to stand and just lays a second before getting up on her elbows and then to her feet. She was uncoordinated from the drugs, but awake, and so she was trying to figure out where to run.
They had put a heavy bag of misc items and put it up on the vent so she couldn’t open it, and had welded the others around the floor closed so she has no way out. She’s just now finding that out. Her tail reaching up pushing at the vent in the ceiling, and she gets aggitated with it and moves to another one. They had made sure there was no way out, and she was realizing that. Her hands rake back through her hair and her hand rubs the back of her neck.

“Almost acts human dosn’t it?” Hudson says. “I let Burke & Bishop know, they’re on their way from the lab. Rippley and the kid too.” He steps closer to the glass noticing her notice them. “Do you speak English?” He says loudly and there’s a look, she tilts her head down and is looking up at him and the tail strikes against he glass making him jump back.

“The glass is sound-proof. She won’t be able to hear you.” Bishop tells him, “The com is right there.” 

Her attention moves past Hudson to Vasquez, and then to Newt & Rippley. She looked coldly at the child with a questioning look, and then gives her head a nod in direction of the bag that remained unopened on a chair. Then there’s another jerk of her head so Newt moves over and opens the bag. Inside were whatever food she found, stale doritos she stole from the cafeteria; an unopened bottle of pop she also stole from the cafeteria, and a brown bear that would be better to cuddle than the plastic head she has to comfort her.
Her eyes move around them. Rakes over Hudson once and seems to wrinke her nose at him. Then to Vasquez, Bishop, and there is a tilt in her head. Her eyes pass over Rippley, and Newt once more before her eyes fall on Hicks.

Hudson begins giggling. “I think she likes you.”

Hicks even found it amusing a little to see the tail move side to side, but not in a menacing maner. He leans over and presses the com.

“I’m corporal Dwayne Hicks, do you speak English?”

What she does next surprises them. She reaches up and presses the button for the com.

“My English is just fine. You,” She looks at Hudson, “Are an asshole.” They all laugh, but Hudson dosn’t find it funny. “Now I’ll give you a two choices, you can either let me out and I won’t kill you, or I can start screaming and draw them to us and let them kill you.” Her attention moves past them to the door that slides open, and Burke walks in asking where everyone had gone and if she was up yet, and her calm demeanor changes instantly.

It was the only thing that she hadn’t tried, and so she tape the panel for the door to open. When it dosn’t she taps on it harder, and it still dosnt’ open. She goes to the glass, leans back on her tail and uses both her feet kicking the glass making it rattle. She does it again, but it dosn’t even crack so she slides the spear of her tail down the glass scratching it but it wasn’t enough to help break it with another kick.

“I don’t think she likes you very much.” Newt says. “I don’t like you either.” 

“What is she doing?” Vasquez gets up from her seat and looks around at her in the doorway, she punches the panel and then slides the spear of her tail over her hand and touches it to the wires causing them to sizzle and the door opens. “Holy shit!”

In mere seconds she’s got ahold of Burke, picking him up and slams him against the wall. Burke screaming when she grabs him with her bloody hand and she shakes her hand at him spraying the acidedic blood on him.

“Stop her!” Burke yells, “Someone stop her!”

They had gotton a glimpse of her teeth. Perfectly alligned, white as pearls with a silver tint to them, and long K9’s.

“Even think about it and I’ll rip you in half droid.” She snaps and was about to hit Burke again, but he’s unconscious so she stops.

“Why’d you stop?” Rippley questions.

“He wouldn’t feel it.” She replies and reaches down yanking the vest off his fraim and uses it to wipe her hand with; her other hand goes back and knocks Bishop in the nose. “Don’t shoot me again, ever. Am I coming in clear?”

Bishop nods. “I meant you no harm.”

“That’s what they all say.” She tosses the vest against the wall, and opens a drawer picking up a rolled up piece of gawz and holds it in her hand.

“So...what are you?” Bishop inquires. “You have a very unique DNA structure.”

“I’m an accident.” She replies, and opens the bottle of pop for Newt since she held it out to her; Newt holds the bottle & she uses her good hand to open it. “My mother was still carrying me when she was attacked by one of those face huggers. Few hours later, she dies, and they do an emerygency C-section and hello, there I am.” She says, but her humorous tone makes them all smile a little. “That bitch works for the company that swooped in and picked me up to be used as their guini pig.” She says looking at Burke, half his face now mangled from the acid blood that courses through her veins.

“Which explains the tattoo?” Hicks questions.

“Uh-huh. Zero as in the origional, and what they called me when I refused to inform them I have human speech.”

“It blew me away.” Hudson says.

“Just because something is different dosn’t mean it’s any less smart than yourself.” A small tilt in her head at Hudson. “Speak to me like I’m stupid again and I’ll hurt you.”

"You wanna go? I can take you."

The tail swips his feet out from under him. "Oh yeah, you can take me huh? You're inferior to me unless you've got a gun." She knocks it out of his hand with her tail. "I'm not out to hurt you, but keep it up and next time you're about to be attacked from behind, I won't bother." And drops the gun in his lap.

"You're one of them, arn't you?"

Her brow rises, "I'm not them. I'm my own breed, unaccepted by them, and put on a leash by the humans. Be lucky I'm smart enough not to completely hate the human race, just ones like him." Looks at Burke.

"If you're not one of 'em, why bother coming to the planet?" Vasquez says.

"I was looking to get off Earth after my escape from where-ever the fuck they were keeping me. Another colony, another planet, I figured I had good chances at freedom for a while untill someone noticed I'm not exactly human."

"Not exactly is an understatement." Hudson says and watches her flick the half burned gawz wrap at him. "Don't fling that shit at me! Your blood burns!"

She smiles, "I know. That's the point." She looks at Newt fighting with the bag to get it open, so she takes it and opens it for her. "When are you being picked up?"

"Why? You lookin' for a free ride?"

"If I could pilot I'd do it myself. I'm not staying here with those things. Given chances, and they've had several, to kill me. I'll pass on staying with them."

"You do know your chances of surviving getting off the planet, don't you?" Rippley tells her, "Even if Burke was dead we'd still have problems with his company. They'll be first looking for something like you."

She smirks, "Burke will get his. If he isn't dead already." Her tail gently nudges his arm. "As for his company, I'd like to see them try and catch me again since they failed horribly trying to before. Just as long as you're not landing at HQ, I'd be gone before you even knew it."

"Ha! I trust you like a vampire sucking my dick." 

Her nose wrinkles. "You should watch your mouth around a child. Don't make me smack you."

"Ohh..." Hudson says and looks at Rippley & Newt that was just looking disgusted at his comment.

"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that." Newt says making them smile, and again those pearly white silver tinted teeth are shown but it's completely harmless her smile. "So why not? If we're going to nuke?" She says looking up at Rippley. "I trust her."

Hudson makes a pfft noise. "Shut your cake hole." She tells Hudson and Vasquez & Hicks chuckle.

Vasquez eyes her, "You know, I thought you'd be like some illiterate mute."

Another smile. "I went through school thanks much, and graduated. I speak, read & write four other languages, not including English; and I've also been through the same training you have. I'm far from illiterate. Being mute just makes people underestimate me because they think I'm stupid. It makes it all the more easier to escape." She does a little thing with her fingers that makes them smile again.

"You've certainly got a personality." Rippley says. "Have...have you ever tried having it removed? The tail?" She asks her, "Get some contacts and you'd be able to blend."

"It's more than likely her tail is attatched to her spine. Severing it may paralyze her, or maybe even kill her." Bishop informs her and looks to the raven haired mix-breed. "Am I right?"

"Head on. I've already thought about that, and I'd rather just live with it. Eventually I'll find a doc good enough to do it, but till then I'll have to deal with it. It does have it's advantages though."

"Yeah, tripping people." Hudson grumbles.