A Remarkable Creature

The response drew a silence from the monarch, consideration of what was said- a more far-off look drawn into a confused and conflicted expression. Collective memory, ironically enough, wasn’t exactly ringing any bells for her. Yet the hybrid spoke of it as if it were common knowledge, so casual, doubting in process yet confident in the existence of something to work with.

The only thing that came to mind was the fall of the Matriarch… Not being in her hive at the time, yet knowing how her mother was struck down by the human military. The fire, the pain, the sudden cut back to her own mind before an explosion, and- and then… Suddenly everything seemed over, for a brief moment, like her little warrior world had just ended- no, because it had ended, in a sick way.

A soft, strained wheeze slipped through clenched jaws- over the mental connection, instead, it felt like a silent scream. There were whole factors about her own damn species she didn’t know- it was more than freedom they took apparently. It turned into an internal matter struggling to keep to just her mind, upsetting, yet nonetheless honest words oozing out.

`“… Hex, while I appreciate the sentiment… I just.. I think I’m missing a lot of pieces..? There’s things like this, I have no idea about them- and I’m fairly certain I know why, but I still can’t do a damn thing about it.”`

Hex was so distracted with her own train of thoughts that she didn’t realise the other was visibly and physically uncomfortable with the conversation until she made a gentle wheezing noise.

“Oh.”

Was her quiet reply, pushing herself up off her knees and back up standing. She glanced up at Six.

“I’m sorry Six. I uh, don’t really have much experience with...other Xenomorphs. I don’t really know what’s common, what’s not and what isn’t...normal in my case.”

She started, wincing slightly at her wording (she wasn’t really a true Xenomorph was she?). She chuckled humorlessly, running a hand up and through her hair.

“Well, I suppose there’s nothing really normal about either of our situations is there?”

She shrugged helplessly, her attention drawn to one of the corridors leading away from the main chamber. There in the gloom she could see a few of her Xenomorphs, scarred and disfigured, slowly making their way towards them. A small smile curled the corner of her mouth upward.

Unbind Me: I’ll write a drabble about your character freeing mine, or the other way around, or something among the lines

How Hex had ended up in a tangle of barbed and fencing wire wasn’t important (the fact that she’d attempted to scale the fence without realising nothing was secured down, subsequently falling and becoming trapped was probably not a good look at all). What was important was the fact that she was trapped, and Lenny was standing in front of her laughing, the maniac.

Hex let out something bordering between a huff and a growl, scowling at the blonde.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

The scowl only deepened as the blonde did exactly that before setting to work attempting to free her from the mess while simultaneously avoiding the acid blood that made everything so much better . It took the better part of an hour, but eventually after much swearing from Hex and much chucking from Lenny, Hex was freed.

Hex has quite a lot of scars. Quite a few of them are on her limbs from her many years of fights. While Hex is indeed difficult to kill because of the speed at which she heals, it doesn’t mean she heals perfectly.

The best example of this is her biggest scar. It starts by running parallel and a few inches below her collarbones, connecting in the centre of her chest. From there it runs straight down the middle of her body, stopping just below her naval. Someone once described it as looking like an injury one would sustain during an autopsy.

That’s because that is exactly what it is.

Depending on what scientific body is asked, Xenomorphs either have a heart that beats so quickly it’s nearly impossible to determine the individual beats, or they don’t have a beating heart at all. Regardless of which is true, Hex’s transformation into a Xenomorph Hybrid caused her then-human heart to develop an odd murmur, beating so irregularly it was impossible to develop a pattern (in the later years as her DNA settled into it’s new form a pattern was developed, although she was left with an incredibly irregular heartbeat because of it).

In the first few weeks, Hex’s heart had a tendency to stop beating for long periods of time. At one point it stopped for almost an hour and a half, and it caused Weyland-Yutani to consider her dead (as that was what happened to all previous specimens). In order to understand what happened to her, they ordered an autopsy to be performed on her body.

They got as far as attempting to peel her skin back after the initial cut.

It was something that should have been expected way more than it was- for one to question why her name was a human number. Yet it happened so rarely, the question still caught the Queen off guard some. There was no reason to not explain- but it felt a little strange nonetheless.

`“For the same reason I am putting out my own effort to fight the company, Hex- I was part of their experiments on the planet BG-386. Though the mark has since faded, I was branded with that number, known in the labs as Specimen 6. I always hated the specimen part- but when I escaped, I still needed a name… So the number stuck.”`

She lightly shrugged- while she didn’t ever like the thought of still having a label of sorts… It was better than not having anything to go by. That would make interacting with others notably more difficult- not that most understood her anyway though. Individuals like Hex were an odd case.

`“… Really, a lot of things stuck with me from that place and time. Like my sense of curiosity- I spent so long restrained in that tiny room, that when I finally got out I found I knew nothing about the outside world… And it was so thrilling and new, just seeing the rest of the facility- and seeing the actual outside, it felt like my world infinitely expanded then and there. I wanted to know about this new existence, and when I became a Queen, with enough capacity to understand planets and space-”`

Six took a deep breath, and then sighed. A brief moment of reliving the constant times of having her mind blown in memories, and then, the hunger for more. More knowledge, more adventure, more freedom… It was hard to be satisfied, knowing the glories of the universe were just waiting to be discovered.

Hex had assumed something similar had been the case with Six. While the name she currently went by was a mix of her human name and the name given to her by the Company, she understood why Six would keep the company name given to her.

“Well you could always try and relate your name to something else? If you wanted to. Like the planet you were born on ends in a six? Or you’ve got six...limbs.”

She finished with a frown, almost immediately realising she probably sounded like an idiot (as was her way, to make light of a heavier subject). She listened to the other Queen talk of her exploratory ways. Perhaps it was a trait of Queens, to be a curious bunch wanting to explore beyond the confines of their Hives. Hex had the luxury of both being able to travel freely and the ability to blend (mostly) seamlessly into any humanoid crowds. 

“It must be frustrating, to be confined here with such a desire to adventure out like you have.”

Hex said, brow creasing in thought.

“If you like, we would be more than happy to share our memories of our travels with you, and to bring you back new ones? I don’t know if it’s even possible but...”

Hex shifted, sitting up onto her knees. She pressed the knuckles of one hand to the side of her head, clearly attempting to remember something.