"Alicia, Alicia, come in! Come on, tell me you're still there!" Taylor's voice crackled urgently over the radio.
The blonde-haired marine snatched it up from beside the security console and quickly responded back.
"Yeah Taylor, do you copy? What's your position?" Alicia huffed into her com set.
"I just showed up at residential complex D. The door's locked and my bypass module can't crack the damn thing because someone sealed the door from the inside. I'm guessing that was you," Taylor replied.
She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. "Affirmative; I had to keep myself bunkered down here good and tight after I got the power back on. Couldn't risk any of the bugs getting in here," she said.
"Roger that. But, if you don't mind, I'd prefer to have this door open soon before any unwelcome guests come knocking."
"Oh shit yeah, sorry," Alicia mumbled, quickly scanning her eyes over the security console.
She fiddled with a few buttons and looked up at the wall of security cams in front of her. To the far left, a black and white video feed of a single marine impatiently waiting by a metal door into the building was seen.
"Alright I've got eyes on you. Someone down there looks a little nervous," she chuckled into her radio, staring at the security cam.
"Gee, you think? As much as I'd like to admire the beautiful exterior of this building a little longer I think I'd rather be indoors now. Like now now would be preferable," Taylor grunted back.
"Alright, alright, stand by. I'm unsealing the door. Be ready," she said to him.
She tapped away at the center keyboard of the console, occasionally looking back at security cam for any signs of trouble. On the cam, Taylor had his back pressed against the metal door as he was warily directing the beam of his flashlight in every direction of the barren street. Alicia typed in the final verification code into the console and with a loud pinging noise, the security system temporarily deactivated.
"Ok, the system is down for a few moments. Start the bypass and that door should open," said Alicia.
"Ugh great," Taylor sighed into the radio. "Watch my back while I do this would you?"
"I've got a fix on you. Just get that door open ASAP."
Taylor hooked up his electronic bypass module to the door mechanism. He diligently began splicing together red wires from his module to green wires on the door mechanism as Alicia intently watched him on the security cam. Halfway through the process, both Taylor and Alicia jerked up in their respective locations as the screech of a terrifying xenomorph rang through the street adjacent to Taylor.
"Speed it up Private, that's an order," Alicia chided into the radio.
"Almost done, almost done!" Taylor grumbled back urgently as he spliced the last few wires together. After that, he typed in several codes on his module. Finally, the metal door drew open as the screeches of the xenomorphs grew louder.
"Get inside quick, I'm sealing the door!" Alicia urged, already beginning to type in the code that would bring the security network back online.
Taylor scrambled to gather his module and stow it away back into the satchel slung over his shoulder. He then practically dove in through the doors, moving to manually close them behind him. As the doors slammed shut, a clicking noise was heard as Alicia reactivated the locks from the security room.
"Alright I'm in. What's your position?" he asked her.
"Third floor, security room 4," she replied. "There's a stairwell straight ahead that can take you to the third floor. From there, make a left, a sharp right, another right, and then go straight to the end of the hall."
Taylor took a deep breath and moved through the cold, desolate corridors of the building, guiding his way with the handy flashlight as he went. All the while, Alicia watched each of the cams carefully, looking for even the faintest sign of movement.
"So...were there a lot of xenos in this building when you came in?" Taylor asked into the radio as quietly as he could.
"No, not very many. Rodrigo and Pyle got snatched up by the xenos outside before I got to this building. I only had to kill a few xenos once I got in here and then I was mostly home free," she responded.
"Mostly?" Taylor asked as he reached the stairwell.
Alicia bit her lip as she thought about the unprecedented encounter that she had had not a half hour ago. She initially felt inclined to mention what had happened between her and the mysterious humanoid alien, but eventually decided against it. Taylor didn't need to be informed about the other species and he definitely didn't need to know about what Alicia had done with one of them.
"Umm yeah, mostly. There were a few xenos in the security center when I showed up but I wasted them so it was no issue," Alicia replied hesitantly.