Chapter 17 #2
Leila aimed right at Blue’s face, the fine mist coating part of Grayson’s forearm. It stung slightly, but he’d experienced worse sunburns.
On the other hand, Blue reacted as if set on fire, jerking so hard Grayson’s chokehold loosened and the alien slipped free.
Leila squeaked and sprayed again as Blue lunged in her direction.
Grayson tackled the alien and took him to the ground hard.
Unnecessary, as it turned out, because Blue went into convulsions so violent Grayson got tossed.
He bounced to his feet and stood in front of Leila, who growled, “I can’t see.
” She peeked around him, and he allowed it because Blue no longer posed a danger.
The alien’s face, where she’d first sprayed, had melted, as had the clawed paws she’d misted when it dove at her.
The damage, though, didn’t stay contained to those two areas.
The poison spread, from face to head to neck, shoulders, and arms. In less than a minute, just a gross pile of goo remained on the floor.
“It worked,” she whispered.
“No shit it did.” And even faster than he would have expected. Grayson whirled to grab Leila and gave her a hard kiss. “Good job.”
“I didn’t do anything. I would have never even thought to use Lake Natron’s waters if it weren’t for the inactive meteor in that area.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re the one who’s been risking herself testing and the one who’s gonna come up with the recipe to make the alien poison in bulk, giving us the advantage in this war.”
“I’m going to help save the world.” Said on a wondering note.
“We should tell Aries the good news.”
“Agreed, but first…” She turned from Grayson to chide Asterion. “Stop toying with the aliens.”
“Do I have to? I think they’re having fun.”
More like getting frustrated. The mini-Blues kept throwing themselves at Asterion, who batted them aside, sending them flying and hitting the wall with audible smacks. Not that they seemed bothered, since they immediately rose and ran at Asterion again.
“Fine. But be sure none of them escape when you’re done. Grayson and I are off to report our success to Aries.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure they stay in the box.” Punt. A tiny Blue soared.
Grayson and Leila exited the glass section holding Big Blue’s remains, the exit sealing soon as they were clear. Big Blue didn’t so much as twitch. Was it truly dead?
“Tower, could you dump a gallon of simian blood on the corpse?”
“Surely it can’t come back from that?” A dubious Grayson eyed the puddle of gunk that lacked any kind of shape—or bones. Wild shit.
“Pretty sure it won’t rejuvenate this time, but a good scientist never assumes.”
Asterion finally emerged, grinning. “Feisty buggers,” he declared.
“I wonder if they’ll react to Big Blue’s death,” she murmured. “Tower, remove the partition.”
The smaller aliens scampered around their containment but skirted the poisoned corpse as if they understood it posed a danger.
On their way through the lab, she stopped by a machine and punched at a screen, which caused a printer to whir and spit out a sheet of paper.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Chemical composition of the lake water. The analysis finished overnight, meaning we now have a poison recipe,” she added with a wink.
Together, they headed down to Aries’ office and entered to find him cradling his baby.
A single brow rose as Aries said, “Judging by your faces, you have some good news for me.”
“The water worked,” Leila crowed. “And quickly, too. We tested it on a waist-high alien subject. The death was almost instantaneous.”
“That is excellent news!” Aries’ excitement had the baby stirring, and he resumed patting a diaper-clad bottom.
“Don’t get too excited yet. We drenched the remains in blood to see if it revives.
Could be it takes longer to recover from a catastrophic injury.
I will also note I sprayed it in the face, which might have allowed the poison easier penetration than, say, if it had been splashed on its back or chest.
Grayson cleared his throat. “The hands you spritzed melted right away.”
“Because of the actual spraying of water, or the fact it was already compromised?” she countered.
“Never thought of that,” he murmured.
“Because you’re not a scientist used to having their results challenged. But if it helps, I do believe Lake Natron’s water is so toxic it won’t matter where it touches. Nor does it seem to require much.”
“She sprayed it with a little bottle like a cat,” Grayson confided to Aries, who’d been listening quietly to their exchange.
“This sounds more than promising. How soon could I start arming the warriors with this spray?”
“Soon as we can either figure out a way to load up some cannisters with Lake Natron’s water, or we find a place that can make this recipe en masse.” She handed over the printout. “This is the ratio of chemicals that worked.”
“Let me make a few calls,” Aries offered. “I might know someone who can help with mass production.”
“In the meantime, I’ll run those extra tests and see if we run into any issues or limitations,” Leila stated, and Grayson could already see her mind whirring and planning. Beautiful, smart, and with a work ethic he admired.
“This is the best news I’ve had since we started fighting these things,” Aries declared, waving the sheet of paper. “Good work. If you discover anything with those additional tests, no need to waste time coming down; just send me a message. I doubt I’ll be straying far from the office today.”
They wasted no time returning to the lab. Grayson, along with Asterion, assisted Leila the rest of that day, growing the aliens, separating them, seeing what happened if they got sprayed on the foot.
Death.
Subjected to a single drop.
Death.
If an alien touched the poisoned corpse of another.
Also death.
And none of them came back to life.
Leila fired off her findings in a message to Aries, who replied with Thanks for letting me know. In even better news, I found a company that can mass produce the poison, and in a stroke of luck, they’re only a few hours outside of Toronto, meaning we can truck it in soon as it’s ready.
Grayson ended up sending a note of his own asking, What do you want me doing, boss?
The reply? Given your hectic start to the brotherhood, take a load off and relax. Soon as we have enough of the poison manufactured, we’ll be flooding the Toronto sewers and tunnels. It will likely flush some stragglers and the warriors will need to be nearby to handle them.
While some would have rejoiced at the order to relax, Grayson had never been one to be idle. He could have hit the training room, but he had a better idea.
“Oh, Leila,” he crooned, interrupting her typing.
“What?”
“Time to call it a day.”
To his surprise, she didn’t argue. “You might have a point.” She rose and stretched. “There’s really not much else to do, seeing as how every test shows the composition kills on contact.”