Family from Beyond the Stars, Ch. 3 (Patreon)

CH. 3Nowhere you can HideThe hammering upon Kenny's door startled him awake.  He sat up in alarm, glasses hanging from around his neck.  The cubs spilled off the top of him and curled up against him on instinct, eyes wide, ears folded back, and hunched down.  He met their faces as the door continued to rattle in its frame as the battering continued.  They looked into his eyes."Hide," he whispered frantically at them.  "No matter what happens, stay hidden."  They didn't like that.  Phoebe yowled.  Chandler's fur was standing on end, his eyes huge and wide.  Joey kept waving his tail agitatedly, flexing his claws.  They could feel the mounting terror that he was sure he couldn't help but be putting out.  Their lights had changed to an array of yellows, reds, oranges, and those neon pinks over and over.  "Please kids!" he begged them.As one, their faces torn between fear and irritation at his orders, they vanished from sight.  The depressions their bodies had left in the bed vanished as they stole off back into their customary hiding spot in the bathroom.Struggling up out of his bed, he peered at the windows.  There were a lot of shadows seeming to flit back and forth past the blinds, combined with a  strobing of blues and red flashing lights.  His blood ran cold and he began to shiver.  The knocking still had not stopped, insistent, angry, and loud."Who's there?" he called, voice quavering, feigning ignorance.The knocking finally ceased.  "Police, open up!" declared a gruff, angry man from behind the door.Kenny felt frozen to the spot.  All of his worst nightmares over the last four days had started to come tumbling down upon him all at once.  For some reason, his nervous brain accelerated to ludicrous speed, eyes practically seeing plaid as he stammered out, "N-no thanks!"  He smacked himself in the forehead.  Why in God's name had he said that?!"We have a warrant!  You can open the door or we take it down," the man snarled, obviously not amused.  "You have till the count of five to comply!"His blood was like ice, his heart hammering so fast that his arrhythmia was starting to act up.  His chest was tight, constricting his breathing, and his vision was slightly wavering.  He was about to have a full-blown panic attack.  There were no other ways out of the apartment.  He was just standing there in his boxers and his t-shirt, glasses still around his neck."One!" shouted the officer from outside.He jammed his glasses onto his face.  Could they make a break for it?  Could they somehow get past all those armed men and women outside?  No.  They'd be gunned down in an instant.  He had no idea if the cubs were bullet-proof but he had no wish to see if they were or not.  He knew he certainly wasn't, but at that instant, he was ready to sell his life if it meant the cubs might get away."Two!"Time was slowing to a crawl, every single second pronounced with the weight of doom descending closer and closer with each number the officer counted down.  He looked around frantically.  He had no weapons, nothing that would help.  He was trapped, the cubs were trapped.  What the hell was he supposed to do?!"Three!"'God, if you're there,' he prayed.  'Please get us out of this.  These kids are good, they're innocent!  I'll do whatever I have to to protect them but I can't just let the police take them!'  He stared, imploringly, at the ceiling, waiting for a miracle."Four!" was all that came.  He heard the men outside getting ready to smash down his door."Okay!" he shouted, voice shrill and afraid.  "I'm...I'm not dressed!  Please give me a minute!""You will open this door or I will take it down!  You will be treated as hostile unless you comply!"Kenny was already shoving his legs into his work coveralls and coat, zipping it up and hopping up and down to try and pull a sock onto his gangly, long foot.  "I'm coming, I'm coming!" he called, actually getting annoyed.  He had only one sock on as he tapped at the door to let them know he was there.  "I'm opening the door," he announced.There was some indistinct chatter from outside but he heard multiple pairs of boots backing up.  He took a deep breath to prepare himself and then unlocked the main bolt.  He left the chain still on as the door slowly swung inwards.  The chain caught at the top and he looked hesitantly outside.  The bright light of the sun briefly blinded him, and when his vision returned, his eyes were greeted with a field of bright blue and red strobelights.  At least four police cruisers were parked haphazardly in front of his apartment.  Over ten officers had their firearms pulled and aimed at him.A stern, bulky man with a shaved face and a scar on his chin glared down at him.  Even with Kenny being so short, the Officer was huge.  "Are you Kenneth Sissom?" he demanded.He thought about denying it but there was no point.  "Y-yes officer, that's me," he replied, trying to sound casual and friendly.  "M-my friends all call me Kenny.  Is there s-something I can help you with?""You're wanted for questioning concerning the crashed satellite at Cadence Park four nights ago.  Your worklogs at O'Reilly's Sanitation Company show that you were the attending worker assigned to that area that night."  The man reached behind his back and pulled out a ziplock bag.  Inside was a small, yellow flashlight.  His own name was taped to the side of it.  "This was found next to the crashsite.""O-oh!" he stammered, shivering uncontrollably as his tremors took over his entire body.  "I-I-I...""Sir, were you at Cadence Park, four nights ago?" the officer demanded angrily."Y-yes," he admitted.  He thought hard, desperately, to try and possibly come up with a plausible excuse.  "O-oh!" he stammered a second later.  "Y-yeah!  I was...I was there that night.  I got m-mugged and I was cleaning and then there was this big...explosion!"  He mimed it with his hands to try and sell it.  "A-and so I...I ran home.  So it really was a s-satellite?  That's so weird!"The officer did not look convinced of his act.  "Sir, we need you to open the door so we can search your house.""B-but why?" he countered.  "I just c-came home that night and I wasn't f-feeling well so I called in the last few days to work."  He faked a cough, which was only slightly aided by his full-body tremors that helped sell it a bit.  "S-see?  I'm still really sick."The man looked angry and annoyed.  "Sir, you can comply or be taken into custody.  We have reason to suspect that you took something from the crash site.  All downed satellites are property of the government in which they land in, and salvaging from one is punishable by federal law; it is therefore illegal to tamper with or confiscate, for any reason, parts of a downed spacecraft.""But I didn't!" declared Kenny lamely.The officer and his compatriots rolled their eyes.  "Sure sir," he drawled.  "I'm sure you're completely innocent.  Open the door and we will search your premises.  Or do I need to show you the warrant, signed off on by a judge and the local Chief of Police?"Kenny was trapped and he knew it.  His hands shakily lifted and undid the chain.  He backed up from the door as the officer ducked under the low-hanging doorframe to come inside.  His gun was holstered but his fellows weren't."Get down onto your knees and keep your hands on your head," barked the lead officer.  Kenny complied, shivering hard and clenching his eyes and mouth shut tight as the police began to mill about his crappy apartment.  "Search the whole house!" the man demanded.  "Leave nothing unturned."The next few minutes proceeded like Kenny was suspected of having three thousand pounds of drugs stashed somewhere.  They tore apart his laundry, opened and rummaged through every cupboard and drawer.  It was when they reached his bathroom he started to hyperventilate.  He heard the officer push the door open forcefully as it had been closed.  The light clicked on and Kenny looked over his shoulder nervously.  He heard the clattering of doors, something fell and broke, and then the shower curtain was thrown wide open.  He half expected to hear a scream of terror and gunshots.'Please cubs,' he prayed desperately.  'Don't move!  Don't come out of hiding!'Instead, the officer emerged again, looking confused.  "Sir, there's nothing.  The entire place is clean."The man in charge looked equally startled by this information.  "You're sure?"The other man nodded.  "Yes sir, Captain.  Nothing but dirty laundry, towels, medication, and trash.  I thought I did see something in the shower but it was just a trick of the light.  This place is a crap-heap but it's empty."The Captain looked down at an obviously relieved Kenny.  He furrowed his brows in confusion and anger, then turned over his shoulder.  "Sir!" he barked.  "The place is empty."Kenny looked up as another shadow passed through his doorframe.  His eyes went wide and his tremors started up again with a vengeance.  Agent Kris sniffed distastefully as he stalked slowly through the apartment.  The police gave him a wide birth, looking unhappy to see him but stowing their firearms and avoiding making direct eye contact with him.  The one who had been watching over Kenny even relaxed a bit, although Kenny himself did not."Hello again, Mr. Sissom," Kris stated flatly, looking all-too pleased with himself.  He grinned but there was no warmth behind his eyes or his smile.  Kenny did not try to smile back.  He was too scared and nervous.  His hands trembled against his skull where he had them interlocked.Nearby, Kenny heard one of the officers mutter under his breath, “Wow, Matrix much?”The short, well-dressed man clicked his sunglasses closed and stowing them in his jacket pocket as before, seemingly ignoring the mushed chuckles this comment caused.  He pulled on a pair of slick, black gloves and then began feeling down a bunch of things.  Everyone watched him, puzzled, as he peered behind things like the TV, the couch, even opening cupboards and drawers.  He looked increasingly annoyed by his findings all amounted to nothing.  As he finished his circuit around the living room, something creaked in the hall leading to the bathroom.  Everyone whirled around.  Kenny's breathing caught.Agent Kris narrowed his eyes.  He looked back at Kenny.  "Up," he commanded, and the officer beside Kenny forced him to stand up again.  Kris waved his hand and the three of them squeezed their way down the hall.  Kenny kept his hands raised and open to not invite any potential harm, although it was plain to see from everyone that his fingers were shaking horribly.  They arrived at the bathroom.  The light was still on.  Kenny's medicine cabinet was wide open.  Bottles were strewn everywhere, the one place he tried to keep most orderly now a jumbled mess.  A broken drink cup lay shattered on the floor.All three men eyed the vacant shower, curtain hanging haphazardly from the pole by half of its hooks.  It appeared completely empty and Kenny tried not to give a sigh in relief.  He was almost certain he was looking right into one of the cub's eyes and he gave the tiniest smile to try and make them feel better.  Neither Kris nor the officer behind him seemed to notice.  Then the Agent stalked inside.  He raised a hand and reached into the shower.Kenny twitched forward in alarm and the officer grabbed him, holding him still.  Kris kneeled, patting down the interior of the shower floor.  His face was completely still, his eyes flitting back and forth.  He looked up the walls, blinking several times, and cocked his head to the side.  He looked up to the ceiling, then back down.  Then Kris growled and glared furiously over at Kenny, who tried to keep his relieved smile off his face.The Agent looked at the officer and rolled his eyes, waving his finger in a small circle beside his head, meaning obviously to wrap it up.  The officer released his crushing grip on Kenny and stepped back.  He tromped past the tiny man, shaking his head.  "Let's get going," he commanded.  "Nothing here."  Everyone sounded confused, annoyed, and bewildered but moved to do as he said.Kenny turned back around only to find Agent Kris shoving his face up towards his aggressively and he stumbled back against the wall.  Kris was glaring with pure venom up at Kenny.  "I will find out the truth," he hissed in a whisper.  "I know you're hiding something.  Your life is now under constant, 24-hour surveillance.  Sooner or later, you'll slip up and I'll catch you.  When that happens...you'll be going away for a long time.  You're trash; you've probably been trash your whole life.  Look at yourself.  A moment of fame and glory yours for the taking, and you couldn't help yourself..."  He wrinkled his face as he no doubt smelled Kenny.  "You disgust me, Mr. Sissom, and stomping on cockroaches like you brings me no small amount of pleasure."It was all Kenny could to do to keep calm as Kris whispered that vitriol up at him.  It was a test, meant to startle or scare or anger him into doing something dumb.  "You d-don't s-scare me," he snarled softly back."Don't I?" demanded the Agent smugly.  "I've read your file.  A do-nothing, achieve-nothing loser, that's all you've ever been.  I spoke to a Mr. Derrick Hedge and I know that they're here, whatever they are.  You can't keep them hidden forever."Closing his eyes and counting to ten, Kenny somehow maintained his composure.  "P-please leave my house."Kris took a step back.  "This isn't a house," he commented.  "It's a rat's nest; a pig wouldn't even grace it to call it a sty.  But then again, you're probably used to living in those.  After all, I've seen your family history.  Your father didn't do much better than this his whole life either, did he?"Kenny's stomach dropped.  "Don't...don't talk about my father that way!" he snarled, gritting his teeth."A shame he got so sick..." Kris drawled.  "But then again, live like a rat...die like a rat."Kenny lunged.  He couldn't take it anymore.  He reached for Agent Kris in a fury.  "Don't talk about him ever again!"  He knew it was a mistake.  Even before Agent Kris' well-trained fist clocked him right in the solar plexis, doubling him over, and then even when he was being tackled to the ground.  He knew.A gun was pushed hard against his temple.  "Call them out!" snarled Kris.  "Go on!""No!" Kenny gasped, choking for air.The gun cocked.  His eyes flew open wide.  The muzzle was tickling his hair.  "Do it!" Kris demanded.  "Do it now, or I'll splatter your brains all over the floor!  I'll call it self-defense, no one here is going to stop me!"  His smile was sadistic.  "I'll even count to three!  You seem to respond well to that!"Kenny screwed his eyes shut then looked into the bathroom, where he knew the cubs were watching in horror.  'Don't,' he mouthed.  'Don't move.  Please.'  Something creaked behind Agent Kris as he licked his lips excitedly."One!"Kenny shook his head, trying to lay perfectly still.  It was all for them.  If he had to die to keep them safe, he would do it happily.  He wanted to do one meaningful thing just once in his miserable life.  He had only known them for a few nights, but he loved them.  They were his kids.  He actually smiled, a tear leaking out of his eye."Two!"'Thank you, God,' he breathed silently.  'It may not have been for long, but you gave me a family.  A real family.  Just please keep them safe.'"Thr~!" Kris started to say.  A yowl from behind them made the Agent whirl around, gun still pointing at Kenny.  He couldn't see all that well, but he knew he saw Kris' eyes go huge and wide.  His mouth fell open.  "Holy..." he breathed.Kenny's head whipped back to face the bathroom.  "No!" he cried desperately.  "No!  I told you to stay hidden!"  Phoebe's terrified, tear-streaked face stared at him from the bathroom.  Joey and Chandler emerged from their cloak as well.  Kris stumbled back a step in complete shock.  Kenny tried desperately to think.  "Run!" he demanded of the cubs.  They mewled and growled desperately, chittering loud and ringing around the tiled room.  "Please, kids, just run!"Kris still hadn't moved.  The gun lifted to point desperately at them instead.  "What...in God's name...?" he spoke finally, his eyes flickering between each of the three large, feline alien creatures snarling desperately at him.Kenny's eyes streamed with tears, his glasses pushing hard into his nose and the carpet from the angle which Kris had him pinned in.  "Please," he begged of the Agent atop of him.  "Please don't hurt them, they're just kids!""Kids?" asked Kris in bewilderment.At that exact moment, the Captain returned.  "Sir, we've gotten everything packed up and we're...good God what the hell are those?!"  He drew his gun and trained it on the three cowering and agitated cubs.  "Backup!" he roared over his shoulder.  "I need backup!  Weapons drawn and prepare to fire!"  It might as well have been magic for how quickly three more armed Police Officers were suddenly there on the scene, guns ready to shoot.Kenny struggled in vain against Kris' surprisingly overpowering strength but he was cut off from pleading or screaming by the Agent doing it for him.  "Belay that!" he shouted.  "We have no idea what will happen if we do..."  He reached down and handcuffed Kenny's hands behind his back, then leaned back and started dragging Kenny with him.  "You're coming with me..." came the snake-like hiss in his ear.The cubs yowled and snarled to see their Daddy being dragged away and they began to stalk forwards.  Their jowls lifted, showing their double rows of teeth, their eyes starting to striate in alternating bands of hypnotizing black and white patterns.  Phoebe's tentacles came out, extruding their claw hooks from the tips, and their whole bodies rippled angrily.  Their lights were all flashing pink and red now, training their eyes solely on the Agent.  Multiple guns cocked, ready to fire at any moment.Kenny looked at them in pleading terror.  "No!" he shouted as Joey prepared himself to leap.  The cubs paused.  So did Agent Kris, the Captain, and the Officers crowding the door.  Everyone was looking down at him but he only had eyes for his kids.  "Don't," he shook his head frantically.  "Please don't do it."  He looked up at the Agent, whose eyes were wide and calculating.  "Please don't hurt them!  They're just cubs, they're scared and alone!  I'll do anything!"  Tears leaked down his cheeks.Agent Kris looked from him to the agitated alien creatures and back.  He nodded, very slowly, licking his dry lips.  "G-get in the truck," he commanded.  He pointed his gun deliberately at Kenny, making the cubs snarl again.  "T-tell them to get in with you."Kenny scowled in fury.  "They can understand you!" he stated angrily.  He looked back to the kids, desperately looking for any miracle at all that might get his children out of this.  He didn't care what happened to him, but he had no answers.  It was hopeless.  He sobbed and hung his head.  "Promise you won't hurt them!" he whimpered out."I promise I won't order these Officers to open fire on these creatures here and now if you agree to comply," stated Kris with venom, obviously angry at being given orders from a prisoner.  He then undid the handcuffs with a key and backed up a step, gun still trained on Kenny.  He nodded his head out the door.  "The truck.  Outside.  These things follow you.  No funny business.  One twitch wrong, one shout, and all of you go down."Kenny tried to look up at the Officers, trying to appeal to their humanity, but none of them looked able to even understand what they were looking at.  They looked at him as he too were an alien.  Their guns never wavered, keeping steady aim on the trio of enraged and frightened creatures.  Multiple hands tightened on the handles of their firearms, their eyes twitched, and drops of sweat had stained several of their brows.There was no other option.  Kenny stood slowly, rubbing at his wrists.  He reached for something and Kris shoved the gun against his cheek.  "Nuh-uh-uh," the man rasped.  "What were you reaching for?"Kenny pointed.  "C-can I at l-least get them some food?  Prisoner's last request?"  He looked into the man's cold, implacable eyes.  "They h-haven't eaten today.  They're always more compliant when they have food."Kris looked from him to the aliens, then back again.  He nodded, holding up a finger.  "One thing, then you go."Kenny reached down and grabbed up a single extra-large-sized protein bar.  He had bought several more since the cubs liked them so much.  He shoved it into his coverall's pocket.  Standing back up, he turned to face the door.  The cops moved out of his way and he slowly began to walk out, looking over his shoulder as he reached the doorway.  "C-come on kids," he said, voice trembling.  He held out a hand behind him.  "Follow daddy..."There were scoffs of disbelief that transformed into open mouth gaping stares from everyone besides Kris as his cubs followed after him warily.  They matched eyes with each and every Human they passed, angrily snarling and flexing.  They kept looking at him imploring, wanting to fight, to defend him.  He shook his head.  They obeyed."Target and assets are leaving the building," said Kris from behind him into presumably an earpiece.He looked outside, squinting from the bright sunlight.  He at least had his phone in his pocket, they hadn't checked him for anything.  He saw a massive armored truck had backed up nearly to his doorstep.  The doors swung open and a pair of SWAT armored men with shotguns stepped down.  Their eyes went wide behind their goggles and they took several steps back.Across the street, a massive crowd of people were barely visible.  He looked desperately in their direction.  All of them gasped as they caught small glimpses of the creatures trailing after him.  Their shouts and murmurs rang in his ears but he didn't care.  He saw who he knew was going to be there.  Derrick met his eyes only once before the large, bearded man looked away.Kenny had arrived in front of the truck.  He reached up with a trembling hand and took a hold of the steel handle beside the doors.  He used it to lever himself up, planting his foot on the bumper, then climbed slowly, angrily, inside.  He took a seat on a steel bench inside and looked out of the doors.  His children climbed easily up and they curled up against him immediately.  They were trembling hard.  He held onto them as the doors slammed shut.  Their world was abruptly thrown into darkness, briefly lit up by the flashes of bioluminescence coming from the cubs' mood-lights.They whimpered and mewled against him, chittering every now and then.  He held onto them all as tears coursed down his cheeks.  "It's going to be okay!" he told them, over and over.  He knew it was a lie.  He knew they probably did too.  The truck rumbled to life and started to move.  There were no windows.  There was nothing but the blank steel walls.  Nothing but his kids.  He crushed them against himself, tears dripping from his cheeks and his lip quivering.  "It's going to be okay..."***Down the Highway***"Yes sir!" proclaimed Agent Stanzee Kris excitedly into his mobile phone.  His chief supervisor was on the line.  "Yes sir, we have the assets secured.  There is the matter of the fugitive that they are bonded to.""Well dispose of him at the facility and bring the assets directly here," commanded his superior.  "This is a big day, Agent Kris.""Yes sir," the FBI agent stated.  "Very big.  I'll see you shortly."  The phone disconnected and he tucked it into his pocket.  He crossed his arms, unable to stop his racing heart.  He looked back, opening a sliding panel of one-sided glass to look at the huddle of aliens clinging to the pitiful cockroach in the back of the truck.  This was a very big day.  He could see promotions, accolades, interviews...He was the first FBI agent to actually find real live aliens.The driver, an SWAT uniformed man with his facemask still on, glanced at him as he continued to look back at them every five seconds or so.  Kris couldn't help that his face was as gleeful as a child on Christmas.  "W-what are those things, Sir?" the officer asked."None of your business," snapped Kris.  He turned his eyes back onto the road.  "Just keep driving.  When are we supposed to get there?"The driver checked his phone’s GPS.  "The convoy should arrive at the facility in a few minutes.  Just a stretch of highway at our speed, Sir, and we'll be there in no time.""Excellent," crowed Kris smugly.  He looked up, linking his hands behind his head and stretching out his feet as much as he could.  "Last day I'll ever be having to do grunt work like this, mark my words.  I see big things in the future for me.""Are they really aliens?  Like...real science-fiction aliens?"  The man looked also excited."Bit above your paygrade, aren't they?" he drawled.  "Just keep your eyes on the road..."  He turned his own forward once more.  A storm was rolling in on the horizon.  Flashes of lightning and dark clouds billowed at an alarming speed.  Still, it wouldn't stop them.  A shower of rain quickly overtook their windows, the wipers working at full speed.  Then the truck abruptly sputtered.  "What's the matter?" he snarled at the driver."I don't know sir!" the man stated in confusion.  "It's like the engine is stalling."  He put his foot down harder but the wheel was jiggling about in his grasp as if he were about to lose control.  "It's...not...wanting to respond..." he growled through gritted teeth.  Then another massive wave of flat-line rain and wind that hammered the truck.The engine cut out completely, the wheels of the truck slowing to a stop after a long, drawn-out pause.  The smell of ozone washed over both men as the engine clicked slower and slower until it faded completely to silence.  There was nothing visible or audible now but the rain and wind."Get this damn truck going again!" Kris snarled.  He whirled around and looked back at the occupants they were transporting.  Kenny Sissom's eyes met his even though he wouldn't be able to see through the glass slot.  He slammed it shut again, watching in increasingly rising anger and irritation as the officer kept trying the key.  "I'm calling for another transport," stated Kris, pulling his phone back out.  He opened it.  Nothing but a black screen greeted his eyes.  He pressed the power button again, and again.  Nothing.  "What the hell is going on?" he demanded.The rain abruptly cleared as suddenly as it had come.  Bright sunlight pierced the clouds, but a shadow lingered in the sky up above.  Kris peered up at it, half-blinded by the sun looming just behind it.  It had no distinct shape at all.  It was just a cloud, completely separate from the others from which the storm had brought with it.  The cloud didn't even move, just hovering there despite the wind that still gusted about.  Kris noticed then that the entire convoy, two police cruisers, were also stalled and pulled over on the side of the highway.  A glance at the rearview mirrors revealed the same of the ones following behind."Sir!" squawked the driver suddenly.  Kris whirled back to face him, only to see him pointing.  He looked up, following the gloved finger.  The clouds had begun to part.  Flashes of light shone through them, alternating bands of technicolor patterns and rhythms.  Then, to Kris' absolute shock, the sharpened prow of a vessel parted the clouds.  As they dispersed, the dark hovering shroud revealed an impossible sight.It was a ship.  An alien ship.  There was no other way to describe it.  Shaped oddly like a sword blade, and easily as long as a pair of 747's end to end, as well as side by side, the vehicle hummed audibly in the sky up above them all even from being several hundred feet in the air.  Lights cascaded all along its dark hull like some kind of rave.  Four, massive blade-like wings that could only be engines unfolded seamlessly from its shape, the air distorting around them as if from heatwaves.  Troopers were beginning to open their car doors, exiting their cruisers and staring up at the thing in increasing shock, alarm, and awe.  Kris heard the driver's door open and he saw the man starting to lean out too, intent on exiting the vehicle."Stay where you are!" he snapped and the man begrudgingly did as he was told.  Kris unbuckled his seatbelt and he opened his own door, climbing down.  He crossed in front of the armored truck, blinking rapidly and unable to believe what he was seeing.  The lights continued to flash on and off, the ship's engines thrumming in his ears even from here.  It was like a massive drone more than a rumble, a constant pressure that fluctuated every few seconds like the beat of a drum.Before their eyes, a beam of light pierced the bottom of that dark craft.  A pair of doors slid open, clockwise and seamless.  Artificial light streamed down from it, before it abruptly vanished and reappeared a second later.  A dark shape was now falling from the vessel.  Kris' first thought was it was a bomb, or a projectile, as it sailed, silently, down towards the earth.  It crashed onto the highway less than a hundred feet away from the lead squad car with a colossal impact, shattering the road and sending debris flying in all directions.  Smoke billowed up and around, obscuring everything from sight."Weapons out!" cried the Captain nearby.  Shotguns were loaded, pistols held by the shaking hands of the Officers, and Kris pulled out his revolver as well.  He licked his lips, unable to understand what was happening.A pair of glowing lights pierced the clouds of dust ahead.  They rose, slowly, higher and higher.  Then, to everyone's shock and horror, a mechanized hand extended from the smoke.  It was huge, multi-fingered, and strangely paw-like in shape.  No Human hand looked like that.  The arm it was attached to was massive, plated in odd, dark sections of armor that shifted in color every second or so that the Humans stared at it.  The figure stepped up and out of the impact crater.The thing, the Alien, was huge.  Over three meters in height and at least as wide across the shoulders as one of the traffic lanes, it strode on a pair of massive, digitrade and entirely inhuman feet.  They crunched and pulverized the ground beneath its mighty tread, leaving deep indentations in the asphalt.  The armored chassis was seamless but bulky, constantly lit up by small bursts of color.  Reds, yellows, pinks, and oranges cycled through and all across the bulk of the monster between the individual plates.Its head was covered in a helmet, sloped and featureless with no obvious visor o, just a blank dome of the same dark material, save for a pair of ear-like protrusions at the top, also armored.  Behind it, a spiked, flaring tentacle-like shape, recognizable as a tail, waved, armored plates seamlessly flowing with the movements, adding to the ominous, predatorary air it exuded.  The head scanned slowly back and forth, and Kris knew that it was looking right at him, at all of them.  Its head fixated at last on the armored truck.  It strode forwards with a purpose."O-open Fire!" called a voice.  Kris turned to shout a denial of the order, but it was too late.  Guns barked, shotguns roared, and projectiles whizzed through the air towards the slowly approaching titanic figure.  It didn't even slow down or pause.  The bullets bounced off of its plating, sizzling and melting away before their very eyes.  Each one caused a small, bright burst of light at the point of impact but left no mark at all.  There was no forcefield or energy stream.  The bullets simply just couldn't do anything to the creature.One of its bulky arms lifted very slowly as it continued to march forward.  A glowing tube on the bottom of its wrist, running the length of the arm, opened and began to rattle.  It transformed, like something out of a Micheal Bay movie, into what could only be a cannon.  Glowing pink and purple energy gathered at the mouth as that weapon moved in line with the foremost squad car.  It fired.There was no massive discharge or concussive force.  Not even a projectile.  There was only a burst of light and a sound, unlike anything Kris had ever heard in his life.  A second later, it was like a wall of wind and force hit the car broadside and sent it sailing through the air.  The two men that had been standing next to it were left unfazed but shocked.  The car flew through the air, spinning before it smashed down to earth hundreds of feet away.The Officers took one look at what it had just done, and, like morons, continued to fire desperately.  The monster actually looked annoyed.  Its hand flexed and the weapon reloaded, making a hissing sound before it moved to face the actual Humans firing upon it.  They had not learned their lesson.  There would be no second warning.  The cannon's tip opened again, emitting that awful, beautiful song-like note.The officers in front of it, all five of them, had no chance.  This time, however, there was no gust of wind.  There was simply that droning sound of its weapon firing, and then they were gone.  Kris had blinked and in that brief span of time, the men and women had vanished.  Smoldering ashes and black stains were all that was left.  There hadn't even been any screams.The Alien increased its speed, disassembling its firearm and now loping straight forward, right at the crowd of still firing Humans and towards the truck that was so obviously its goal.  It crossed the seventy or so remaining feet in barely a few heartbeats, armored feet kicking up pieces of asphalt like pebbles on a gravel road.  A man hammered at it with a shotgun from up close and it didn't even stop or pause.  Mid-stride, it lifted its opposite arm, its left, and its six-fingered paw made a pumping motion before it swung.  A similar tube, this one mounted along the forearm, opened and split apart.  A pair of glowing, orange-and-red energy blades emerged, as long as the vehicle it now swung at as if swatting a fly.The car was sheared in half in one stroke, as was the Human who had been standing in front of it.  The remaining pieces quickly disintegrated into ashes, both car and person alike.  Another man was just gone, albeit this one with a last, startled cry of terror before he was incinerated into ash and spare particles.  There was no fighting something like this!  It just strode through the melee, batting Humans out of its way with casual flicks of the huge wrists, kicking them aside like toys.Then the SWAT team burst out of their transport vehicle and swarmed forward, intercepting the alien’s path.  Their heavier armaments flared to life, deafening the police officers around them.  Shotguns roared, pistols barked, and one even primed a flash grenade, tossing it expertly.  It detonated with perfect timing, right at the head level.  That seemed to deter the creature, causing it to stagger for a single, solitary moment of hope.The sword-arm swung again, this time in a savage arc even as the wielder stumbled back a step, blinded.  The sizzling blades cut a deep gash into the highway, obliterating the entire squad at once.  The Captain himself had acquired a fully automatic and modified M4 and was roaring as he opened fire at point-blank range, aiming up at the still recovering enemy.  The magazine clicked on empty.  He looked in puzzlement down at the useless weapon, a second before the Alien, just having finished clearing its senses from the grenade, as if shaking off a light daze, casually incinerated him with a similar, off-hand swipe of the blade.Agent Kris stumbled back, falling onto the ground as the ashes of the Captain blasted across his face.  He watched, horrid and numb, as the driver of his truck screamed, firing his pistol from the truck itself even as the Alien stomped close to it. Ignoring the bullets, as it had everything else, it disengaged the blade weapon and then shoved its arm through the driver-side door.  It pulled the contents, the man inside, and half of the truck's interior out, crushing the metal and electronics in a single grasp before flinging them to the side.  The man screamed in terror as he went sailing through the air and out of sight.  That scream cut off abruptly a moment or so later.Peering through the wreckage of the now barely half of a truck front, the Alien snarled.  A glowing series of vents opened on its throat and a chittering, snarling, radio-white-noise sound emitted from its helmet.  It looked back at the trailer.  The left arm lifted and plunged its clawed fingers of its mecha fist through the steel siding before ripping up and out, as easily as if it were opening a letter.  The helmet leaned down to look inside the rear of the armored truck.***Inside the truck***Kenny clung to the children as they and he cried out in terror at the sounds that were coming from outside.  They were unlike anything Kenny had ever heard.  It was as if they had suddenly entered a warzone.  Screaming voices, the rapid gunfire of frantic, desperate people, and bizarre humming bursts of both heat and sound.  The smell of ozone hung heavily in the air.The truck shuddered as something slammed into it, a scream of some doomed, tormented soul emitting before suddenly and rapidly fading away into the distance.  A second later, there was another thunderous impact but this time, light poured into the darkened interior of the truck.  Kenny looked up and screamed to see a massive fist had punched a hole into the sidewalls before taking a grip on the torn siding and ripping the roof unevenly off in one jagged piece.The darkened slope of a featureless helmet peered in at him and the cubs.  Joey snarled and his fur bristled, Chandler hid behind him, and Phoebe lashed her tentacles in fear and alarm.  The helmet reflected their faces down at them, cocking slowly to the side.  The ridged, ear-like shapes on top swiveled fully forwards.  A long, slow chittering round came from somewhere in that metal monstrosity, although it was many times louder, echoing in Kenny's ears and even inside of his fluttering chest.  The hand lifted again, reaching for the cubs.Kenny moved without thinking.  He flung himself in front of that huge armored fist, putting himself between the kids and the monster.  "No!" he pleaded, voice as shrill and loud as it ever had been.  "Please don't hurt them!"The mechanized creature paused, almost looking confused.  Then it roared.  The thrumming, radio static sound filled the air, nearly deafening him.  He sank to his knees, hands clapping over his ears.  A second later, the cubs piled on top of him.  He opened his streaming eyes to see them all hovering protectively over him, snarling and yowling and chattering wildly up at the creature who towered above them all.  The hand paused again, having been reaching now directly for him to squash or fling him away.The hand retracted, only to burst into the siding of the truck again and rip now the entire side of the vehicle apart.  The truck tipped then, dumping all four of them onto the grass of the highway.  They looked up at the monstrous figure as it picked up the shredded truck as if it were a dented aluminum can and hurled it away from itself.  It thudded to earth in a massive crash before exploding as the gas lines caught alight.  The inferno highlighted the thing from behind, casting its monstrous form in even more hellish detail.It lifted a hand and flexed its fingers, then tapped something on its opposite wrist.  A slot opened at the front and it aimed it right at their huddled and terrified forms.  A glowing orb leaped forth, yellow and blue, expanding around them before completely enveloping them as well.  It shrank rapidly, more and more until it had touched and then conformed to their bodies.  It was hot and felt strangely wet, sticking to Kenny's skin and clothes.  He gagged at the scent and taste as he unwisely had kept his shocked mouth open."It's in my mouth, it's in my mouth!" he cried, spitting but finding himself unable to do so.  The cubs all likewise were alarmed and unenthused by the substance that now coated them.  Sputtering still, he looked back up at the creature.  It looked straight up at the sky as a shadow passed over them.  Kenny looked up as well, and again he screamed like a little girl.  A massive spaceship loomed above them.A section of paneling opened and a beam of light extended down.  As it hit the glowing, yellow goo that coated him and the cubs, their bodies suddenly became weightless.  They were lifted into the air and rapidly began to ascend, higher and higher, up into the waiting maw of the alien vessel.  Kenny had one last look at the rapidly receding surface of the Earth before the doors shut tight and he and the cubs were once again locked away in the darkness.Things had just gone from bad to worst.***Back on Earth***The alien creature watched the children rapidly ascend into the sky before disappearing inside the warship.  It nodded in satisfaction, trying to curb its annoyance at the Earthling that they had for some reason tried to protect.  Questions for another time.  It turned one last time and pressed a button again on its opposite wrist.  A complex series of sounds and hisses came and the bulky top arms split in half.  The two huge limbs became four, each paw-hand with its own six flexible fingers, tipped with claws.  The armored suit had suffered no damage from the small weapons fire it had sustained.  Not many weapons on this 'Earth' could do so much as scuff the plates anyway.A pair of tentacles, similar in shape but not bulk to its tail, extended from panels on its back, just along the shoulder plates.  One of them opened and another orb of yellow-blue transference gel enveloped its armored bulk.  It had never been fond of the substance, but it was the only way the tractor beam would be able to lift it.  Otherwise, the beam would fry whatever it was trying to lift like microwave radiation.  Most of the gel would be evaporated in the process.A click at its side alerted it to the last remaining Human.  He was small, his hair messed up, and his once-grand suit looking ruined and muddy.  Ashes of his comrades clung to him and his revolver shook his grasp.  "Y-you aren't...going to take...my big break!" he snarled.  He squeezed the trigger.  Bullets bounced off of the helmet and visor, sizzling into slag before they even touched the ground.The Alien rolled its eyes beneath the helmet.  If it wasn't for the noise that gun produced, unnecessarily loud, just like everything on this miserable planet, it wouldn't have paid him any mind.  Its eyes focused on the man's face as he emptied the chamber and started to reload, obviously not having learned his lesson.  The internal scanners went to work.  It saw rank, name, position.  FBI.  Whatever that meant.  It saw the children's faces, angry, afraid, staring back at the man through his own eyes.  His gun was pointed at them, at the strange Human they had protected.Its eyes narrowed as the scanners clicked off.  The cannon whirled to life, sensors reading ready to fire.  It leveled the weapon straight into the man's face.  It saw his expression turn from exasperation and anger to fear.  The cannon pulsed.  His blackened ashes sprayed out across the broken highway, coating the grass and torn metal railing behind where he had been standing.It looked back up at the ship up above.  A single command and the ship's tractor beam opened once again.  The world's weak gravity fell away instantly and it sailed up and into the interior of its ship.  Climbing up into the cockpit, its six upper limbs, arms, and tentacles, rapidly clicked, whirled, and took firm holds on the controls.  The pawed feet pressed the pressure pads underneath.  The gyroscopic engine whirled to life and the stealth warship hummed back to full power.  The thrusters roared, the ship pulled a sharp 90-degree turn, pointing its nose up at the sky, and then, a second later, it was gone, roaring away at full speed.  It left Earth's atmosphere in the space of a breath, hurtling out into the cosmos once again.Mission successful.  All that was left was to recharge the solar-power banks on this system's star and then slip back away into the folds.  The eyes narrowed and the visor hissed as the armor's protective systems powered down.  Only one more bit of business left to take care of.  Its prime directive had not changed now that the Children had been recovered.  There was no place for stowaways on this ship.