Chapter Text
The asset was sedated, kept in a standard humanoid containment and research facility. Though until mere hours ago, the scientist didn't know such a thing even existed, because it was super-secret government stuff, the 'civilian found out about it and disappeared mysteriously' kind of secret.
Thankfully, the badge she now carried around her neck proved she wasn't a civilian.
Dr. Casey Brackett was many things, she was a professor at a prestigious university, she was a dreamer and an animal and space lover to her family, and now to the people of the CIA's Stargazer Project too because of that letter she sent to the president as a child; but no one should let themselves be fooled by the childish writing of her naive, child self, because she was no longer a child. She was an apex in her field, the best of the best, as arrogant as it might sound– it wasn't her word, but her coworkers and employers' through the years, and she would live up to the title. She'd set high expectations for herself since two months after she turned six years old when her father took her to the dermatologist to get a lumpy mole checked, and as she sat in the waiting room, she got her hands on a magazine about space that mentioned the existence of alien bacteria that might have been the origin of all life on Earth.
The word Evolution didn't inhabit her vocabulary back then, but after that day, it was on every documentary title, every book cover, and every conversation Casey had. The life of a future evolutionary biologist was a harsh one. When you are graced with a never-ending hunger for knowledge that can't be sated no matter how many books she got her hands on or how many specimens she was allowed to cut open in science class at school, there's not much time left for friends or relationships, especially not when you're trying to fight your way into a full Harvard scholarship. Many times people, especially her family whenever one of her cousins announced a marriage or pregnancy, questioned if it'd been worth it.
Now, as she stood before the sedated reptilian humanoid on the examination table, Casey could say beyond the shadow of a doubt that it'd been worth each lonely night, each frustrated attempt, and every single cent.
It wasn't the first one of its kind to come to Earth, but it was the first one they'd managed to catch alive– or at all, because if the state of the objects Will Traeger —the head of Project Stargazer— had shown her before introducing her to their extraterrestrial 'guest', and the pictures of the sites where previous encounters had taken place were anything to go by, then these creatures seemed to have a predisposition to blowing themselves up when met with potential captivity. Something which this one, thankfully, failed to do before being caught.
Then there was Sean Keyes, a man of few words and awkward mannerism but whose presence comforted Casey since the moment he treated her like she was some kind of celebrated writer for her previous research papers, and gave her a sympathetic look when she pointed out that the behavior Traeger spoke of didn't describe a predator, but a being that hunted for sport, only to be ignored when he asked for the others' opinion and they all agreed that Predator was a 'cooler' name.
Nature didn't care about how cool something was, and neither did Casey, so she would stay with the accurate name.
Hunter. That would be the name she would use for the specimen —who the testosterone levels proved was male— for as long as she was allowed to study it. Hunter's genes were like nothing she'd ever seen before– yes, Casey had gotten to study mixed genes before, but it had been the blood of terrestrial animals: a mule's, even a liger's, never a humanoid extraterrestrial; and unlike her previous test subjects, the presence of foreign DNA in his blood wasn't the result of breeding, but of modification, whether consensual or not, through artificial means.
She pulled back from watching the alien cells through the objective lenses, turned her back to the microscope, and walked over to the still unconscious specimen. Its chest rose and fell at a steady pace, indicating that it was still under the effects of the sedative.
Casey briefly wondered what such a creature could do while awake. But it only took one look at the sharp teeth just barely hidden behind four mandibles that ended in four large tusks, down his muscular form, and to the sharp claws on each of his fingers, to get an idea of just how much of a threat it could be; it also made her realize that there was something under his claws: blood. It had lost its glowing properties, but the dark green color indicated that it didn't belong to a human or any terrestrial being. It was just like the asset's and yet at the same time, it was different. Casey's gaze went from the dark spot under the creature's claws to its injury; it'd long since dried and scabbed over, but it had yet to adopt a coloration as dark as that of the blood under its claws. So it had to be older- and he wasnt hurt anywhere else. There was a chance it wasn't his.
"Dr. Keyes," she called, getting the man's attention. "Was there blood from his wound on his hands when he was caught?"
The man pulled away from his microscope, seeming caught off guard by her referring to the specimen as he instead of it, but focusing on her question when the curious and determined look in Casey's eyes didn't change.
"He didn't have any when he got here, and as far as the reports tell, no," Keyes hummed thoughtfully. "However, he was covered in human blood. Why, did you find something?"
Maybe, Casey wanted to say. But she didn't. Sean had been nothing but welcoming and kind so far, but her research had been stolen enough times by men with kind smiles and PhDs for Casey to not trust that easily. The world of scientific discoveries was a cruel world where the rule of the survival of the most cunning was absolute, and that included being the best when it came to hiding information.
"I'm just making sure the samples I was given weren't taken from his injury," she said instead. A small, innocent smile pulled at her lips. "I once had a genetic mutation I discovered in a cow discredited because the blood samples I received were contaminated by fertilizer."
Sean made a face that told her he knew the experience all too well. "Happens to all of us, it seems."
They shared a sympathetic chuckle before she turned on her heel to once again face the creature, the sympathetic look disappearing quickly as she focused back on her discovery.
If the blood under his claws wasn't his, then whose was it?
Casey was going to find out.
She grabbed a swab of cotton from the metal table nearby, holding it between two gloved fingers as her other hand turned the specimen's hand so his palm was facing upwards. Casey pressed the cotton down onto the inside of the claw that seemed to have collected the most blood, taking the seconds as she waited for it to absorb the sample to admire the creature before her. His scales varied in color, from dark brown at the legs and back of the arms, to cream over the torso, neck, and face, to a reddish-brown where cream met dark brown on his large forehead, and small, dark, shockingly symmetrical specks forming an upside-down, triangular shape that started an inch above the space between his eyebrows and ended by blending into the darker part at the top of his head. Truly a magnificent creature.
Casey placed the now bloody cotton in a small plastic bag for safekeeping, prayed to whoever was listening for it to not be too contaminated. The chances someone touched the creature's hands were minimal; but just in case it had happened, Casey would ignore any traces of human DNA found in the sample.
She hoped that wouldn't be all there was to it.
Her heart hammered with newfound euphoria as she pretended to be doing something else with the asset to not make the fact she was standing beside him and messing with his hands suspicious.
She grabbed a small flashlight, managing to get its eye to open and pointing the light at it. Unlike Earth reptiles, this one's pupils weren't slits, but round like those of a human. Casey wondered if that was the species' default or one of the effects of the human DNA present in this individual. Casey checked the other eye, realizing that they were different: one eye was yellow, the other was green; a clear case of heterochromia, yet another thing that was usually reserved for mammals.
To find such a mutation in not just a reptile, but an extraterrestrial one, was a groundbreaking discovery, and yet, her gut told her it was nothing compared to that blood-drenched cotton swab in her pocket.
Casey walked around the examination table, tempted to go up the short stairs skipping steps to get up faster, but having to force herself to keep her composure because going to the stairs like that would show enthusiasm that wouldn't make sense given her previous statement of not finding anything of interest.
Returning to the microscope, Casey positioned herself in a way that had her body block the cameras' view of the table. She reached for the curved forceps, almost knocking them to the ground in her desperation to get a hold of them, but catching them before they could fully tip off the table. She held them tightly, forcing herself to take a deep breath and calm down before carefully removing a bit of the bloody swab of cotton, just a small piece, Casey wanted to preserve as much of the unique sample as she could, and placing it between two slides under the lenses before securing the rest of the cotton back in the bag, which she sealed and shoved in her pocket in an almost protective manner.
She was no spy. So she was counting herself lucky that nobody saw her. Then again, the alien displayed in the middle of the room, ironically, like a trophy was probably ten times more eye-catching than the awkwardness of her movements.
Casey wasn't sure what she was expecting when she leaned in to assess her possible discovery, but it wasn't this.
Her breath caught in her throat at the sight that greeted her. It was a myriad of oval-shaped cells, each with a nucleus containing what —upon changing to a more powerful lens— she could only describe as a kaleidoscope of spiraling strands of DNA. Their multiplication was accelerated, it was faster than anything Casey had ever seen, and faster than any cell in a drying drop of blood should be. Although, that wasn't what shocked her the most. Unlike any other multicellular organism she'd ever encountered, including the one currently sedated and strapped to the examination table, this one's cells were not exact copies. Some were different, contrasting in color and —to a lesser degree— in shape and size; they were attacking one another.
Never in all her years of investigating specimens had she seen such a severe case of phagocytosis between the cells of a single organism. It was an endless, microscopic massacre, and yet, this creature lived– or at least it was alive before the one that had been caught made it bleed. Perhaps it was because, from what she was witnessing, each kind of cell multiplied faster than the others could kill them.
Casey pulled back from the microscope, having to remind herself to breathe because if her sudden dizziness was anything to go by, she'd been holding her breath since she started looking. But who could blame her? This was like finding the holy grail of evolutionary biology, the Excalibur of possible future human advancement, proof that genetic enhancement, despite not being at all perfect, was possible in some form. To be able to see it with her own eyes was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
But it wasn't enough. She needed more.
Her gaze wandered to the vial storage rack that held half a dozen transparent vials storing a strange substance. It showed the same bioluminescence as the blood samples, but it wasn't as dense and had more of a see-through quality to it; Casey approached intending to grab one when a hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping her about an inch away from the samples. Casey met the gaze of the man that has stopped her, yanking her hand away from his grip. She recognized him as the man that kept following Traeger like his shadow, holding Traeger's tablet for him; she guessed him to be either an assistant, perhaps a well-paid intern.
Either way, he left it clear with his glare that those vials were off-limits for her before turning back to his work.
Casey didn't let it deter her, not when Keyes approached her once more.
"What's in those vials?" she questioned. "I tried to take one and was rudely stopped." Traeger's assistant rushed past her, almost knocking into her. "He stopped me, didn't even say a word."
Being called out for his behavior didn't stop the man from reaching Traeger, talking about something that was quickly nearing the facility.
"How close is it?" she asked, and she got an answer right away.
Her heart threatened to leap straight out of her chest as red lights started flashing dimly while an alarm went off somewhere just outside the laboratory. Casey's attention turned to Keyes, who moved closer with as much confusion in his eyes as she did.
"What's happening?" she asked, but her question was ignored even by herself when someone else had something much more serious to say.
"It's awake!" someone shouted, and panic broke out in the laboratory.
Casey realized that the 'once-in-a-lifetime' part of her previous internal monologue might be truer than she anticipated.