Juno decided to stay just a little longer. She began stalking the Marine squad within the shadows and blindspots, creeping within vents and crawling along walls, blindspots outside of the Marines' senses.

However, at some point in time, one of the Marines wearing light armor and carrying an assortment of gear pulled out a handheld device. At the same time, he and the others abruptly paused in their footsteps because of a rhythmic pulsing sound coming from the scout's motion-tracking device.

The scout immediately snapped his head northwest, 11'0 clock with his pulse rifle at the ready. The other Marines followed suit as they either pointed their guns in the same general direction or watched their flanks with rapt attention.

Juno, who was in the direction the scout was scrutinizing, paused in her tracks and remained completely motionless. After an excruciatingly long minute, the scout who held the motion tracker sighed as he turned to signal the Major everything was okay.

"Could it have been a rat?" asked another Marine at the front.

The scout shook his head and Major Rose motioned for the squad to continue forward. Out of instinct, Major Rose kept a close eye on the building that picked up movement on the motion tracker.

Despite this place being deserted and it being midday, the group felt suffocated in the silence and desolation of the facility grounds. It didn't help that for some reason, they all felt like they were being watched, stalked by something in the shadows. But they saw nothing, and their equipment picked up nothing too.

Juno sighed as she decided not to push her luck, and even though she felt she could pick them off one by one, doing so would only cause this place to attract more attention.

What if more Marines were sent down? What if they brought heavier firepower? Hell, what if they said "fuck it" and brought down the sun on this facility, or worse yet, the Hive. She didn't want to risk it, so she left the facility and swiftly returned to the Hive with the Predalien.

When the two returned, they both felt a telepathic probe enter their minds.

『Why have you returned?』 (Queen)

『There are humans with guns, Marines, investigating the facility. I believe they will arrive at the Hive soon.』 (Juno)

The Queen was silent for a moment then shrieked as it sent a wide-range telepathic message.

Those who were asleep were awoken and the ones that were outside were sent to ambush the marines that would come. Soon, the Hive became active and Juno was given a new order.

『You, go and capture the humans. Kill them if necessary.』 (Queen)

The Queen's command prompted Juno to immediately leave with a handful of warriors, but she resisted. For a long time now, she was vexed by the Queen's commands. And with the progress she made regarding her abilities, Juno's confidence and arrogance grew. She resisted the Queen's command and created a barrier around her mind.

Jun, who had approached from the side, glanced at his sister and felt her resisting the Queen. Without a second thought, he immediately rushed to the Queen and slashed at her neck with his claws. Despite being caught off guard, the Queen instinctively turned her head and evaded an injury that would have been lethal had it landed. The Queen screeched and sent a telepathic message to Jun.

『You-』 (Queen)

However, she was unable to finish what she was saying as Juno who had resisted the Queen's command also leaped from the ground and onto the Queen's neck, sending a powerful bite from her inner mouth to pierce the thick mesoskeleton. At the same time, she made sure to create a barrier around Jun's mind to block any mental commands from the Queen. Unfortunately, that was her limit, and she wasn't able to create another one for the Predalien.

The instant the Queen felt the injury on her neck, she marked the twins as rogues and ordered the surrounding aliens to attack and kill them.

『Kill these two rogues!』 the Queen especially sent a stronger command to the Predalien who was desperately struggling with itself, visibly trembling as it fought a mental battle caught between a rock and a hard place.

Should it obey the Queen's command or Juno's? It couldn't decide immediately, so the Queen was left helpless as the twins attacked her.

From the crevices and tunnels surrounding the chamber spawned drones and warriors who were initially gathered from the Queen's awakening call. 

They immediately rushed Jun who was the larger and more obvious target, jumping onto his figure and clawing at his armored flesh. He resisted all of their attacks easily with his armored body and crushed the drone's skulls with his bare hands. Blood splattered everywhere and painted the Hive a bright green, but when he tried to approach the Queen, he was pulled back by the warriors and blocked by the drones.

Juno was thus left to fight the Queen on her own. However, the latter was still attached to her egg sac and suspended in the air, proving it rather difficult to avoid Juno's attacks, and could only helplessly sustain injuries upon injuries.

The Queen shrieked and tried to forcefully command Juno to stop, but something blocked its mental command. So, it turned its attention back to the Predalien who was motionless since the beginning. The Queen forcefully tore through whatever it was that was causing the Predalien to resist her commands and finally managed to give it the order to attack and kill Juno.

Juno ignored the Queen's screams of fury and pain and continued to attack as she crawled onto the back of the Queen where it was difficult for her to see. The Queen used its tail to whip Juno off of its body and send her flying. Her body hit the wall with a thud and fell onto the ground, right beside the Predalien.

Just as Juno was about to be swarmed by a group of drones, the Predalien that was standing to the side came to its senses and shoved aside a drone that leaped toward Juno. When Juno was about to sigh in relief, she felt danger from the Predalien as it slashed her face.

『Stop!』 Juno tried to order, but her attempt fell on deaf ears as the Predalien threw a heavy hook to her jaw, stunning her and knocking her back a few feet.

Juno's jaw stung with pain and hung loosely on her face. She took the time to readjust her dislocated jaw and managed to put it back together but was met with a tackle from the Predalien as it shoved her to the ground and started rapidly slashing her chest, tearing pieces of her flesh away and spilling blood everywhere.

『Juno!』 (Jun)

『I-I'm okay... but the Queen!』 (Juno)

The Predalien in its flurry of attacks was ignorant of the tail looming behind its head. The spear-tipped tail shot forward, but the Predalien somehow avoided the attack. Nonetheless, Juno maneuvered her tail to wrap around the Predaliens' neck and pulled it off of her, and sent it flying a few meters back. 

In this short moment, the Queen managed to free herself from the Hive resin holding her and the egg sac, which was a painful process and only fueled her anger. Then, it immediately rushed Jun and grabbed his head, bringing it closer to her face as her inner mouth sprung forth with power.

Jun's hardened skull cracked under the forceful bite of the Queen's inner mouth.

『Jun!』 Juno screeched as she got up from the ground and leaped onto the Queen's back and slashed the Queen's face with her claws.

The Queen shrieked again and tried to throw Juno off but was tackled by Jun to the ground. He ignored the drones and warriors attacking him and threw a punch to the Queen's jaw. The Queen's jaw was completely separated from her face as her inner mouth was exposed and squirmed in the air with a tiny shriek.

Juno reached from behind the Queen and ruthlessly pulled on the inner mouth. Jun then shoved her head to the ground and brought his face closer, his inner mouth piercing the side of the Queen's skull killing her.

However, there was one more enemy, the Predalien.

The Predalien returned from its staggered state and jumped onto its feet as it roared to intimidate the twins. Jun roared back with a more threatening hiss which affected the Predalien a little.

The two leaped forward as their heads butted against each other, the Predaliens skull no match for Juno's hardened crown and showing visible cracks on it. Blood seeped from these cracks and dripped down its face, but the Predalien did not give him and threw a punch at Jun, who returned in kind with a right hook. The Predalien stumbled and was about to follow up with another attack but suddenly found its chest pierced through by a spear-tipped tail. Its body was lifted into the air and brought to the face of the owner, Juno, who gripped his skull and pierced its brain with her inner mouth. The Predalien's body fell limply as it hung on her tail.

The twins roared in triumph with Juno sending a new mental command to the Hive. The xenomorphs stopped what they were doing and hesitated for a moment, then acknowledged Juno as their new Queen.

Before Juno issued further commands, she and Jun dug into the Queen's and Predaliens' flesh and devoured both their entire bodies in a matter of minutes, leaving nothing behind.

After their meal, their bodies began to pulse as changes occurred within their bodies; they were undergoing a stage advancement.

After molting their mesoskeletons, Juno's body remained slim like a drone but a pair of tusks extended from the sides of her head below her curved horns. She also grew dreadlocks similar to a Predaliens'. With the addition of the dreadlocks, her senses were further sharpened and heightened. Her height also grew from 10 feet to 14 ft as her appearance resembled a Palatine, a caste of Elite Guards that usually protected the Queen. But the greatest change was in Juno's mind; her mental energy and telepathic ability jumped a level and were stronger than ever, rivaling the Queen's.

Jun's appearance remained relatively the same with four new mandibles much like the Predaliens' with the new embryo implantation ability, and a more pronounced crown.

Both of their strength increased to another level.

Almost immediately after molting their mesoskeletons and establishing dominion over the Hive, Juno instructed the drones to begin the construction of the Hive Node post-haste. The warriors along with the variant xenomorphs were sent outside of the Hive to ambush and stop the Marines from approaching and stall for time.

『I should also go and stop them. I don't think any normal firearm will even affect me now.』 Jun said with apparent pride in his defenses.

『Well... alright then, but be careful okay?』 (Juno)

Jun nodded and left the Queen's chamber alongside a horde of warriors.

Their strangely excited hisses echoed in the tunnels.

Almost at the same time that Jun exited the Hive, a squad of heavily armed soldiers raised the muzzles of their guns and pointed them at Jun's large pale figure.

"F-fire!!!" screamed the Major.

Brrrratatata!

Ting, ting, ting, ting~

A hail of metal bullets fell on Jun's body, ricocheting off of his armored flesh and only grazing the softer parts like his joints, abdomen, and neck.

"Shit! What the fuck is this thing?!" shouted one of the marines.

The squad professionally handled the situation as those at the front backed off slowly, firing nonstop at any approaching drone or warrior and carefully watching the pale giant.

Meanwhile, the ones at the back hurriedly retreated while occasionally providing cover fire. Major Rose was among them and called the USS Verruckt, asking for assistance as they surely needed it.

As the hordes of xenomorphs drove the Marines back and fell one by one, Jun watched with cold indifference and only acted as a shield to the Hive.

『How long will it take to make the gate?』 Jun asked his sister telepathically.

『It'll take at least an hour. Can you hold them off until then?』 (Juno)

『No problem.』 (Jun)

A couple of minutes passed when the Marines realized the pale giant wasn't budging an inch, but remained where it was, as if it was protecting something, and only stood there as it watched them with its cold grin.

"Something's wrong. Just what is that thing planning?" (Major Rose)

"Who cares? Let's just bomb the damn Hive and be done with it all." (Marine A)

The Major, who quickly understood that it would take some serious firepower to even damage that pale giant monster, agreed with the Marine and said it would take at least a few minutes until the drop ship arrived.

The team continued to fire their guns, covering for each other, and retreating a fair distance away. However, some of them weren't lucky and were picked off by a variant Xenomorph, the macaque type who leaped from tree to tree with ease.

Now, they had distanced themselves some 100 meters from the Hive's entrance, appearing as vague figures within Jun's exceptional senses.

At this moment, Jun raised his head and saw an approaching ship. Jun felt a little threatened by the approaching dropship and decided to take the initiative to attack, lest he is bombarded by heavy artillery.

As the dropship appeared, the pilot saw a rapidly approaching behemoth and hurriedly activated its weapons system. Rockets and missiles extended from the sides as they all were locked onto the Hive behind Jun, only the rotary cannon was aimed at Jun.

In the next instant, the missiles were fired from the drop ship and exploded as a barrage on the surface of the Hive.

『Shit!』 (Jun)

It was too late for Jun to slow down and return to shield the Hive from the missiles so he could only continue with his plan. He used the tall trees as a cover and evaded a storm of bullets whenever he could. When he was revealed in a clearing in the forest, Jun raised his arm to defend his face and used it and his armored crown to resist the armor-piercing rounds of the six-barrelled rotary cannon with difficulty. His armored flesh cracked and bled with the majority of them piercing through his thick armor but stopped just short of damaging his brain and was lodged into his flesh.

An explosion sounded from behind Jun as he felt the shockwave, causing him to momentarily pause in his steps.

『Juno, are you okay? How's the Hive?』 (Jun)

『The Hive's fine, but another attack and we're done for.』 (Juno)

Jun grunted in response and turned his head to the pilot. The pilot's eyes narrowed as he gulped at the still standing alien, shocked that it could even survive such heavy firepower, but there was no time to cry and complain to someone as the pale giant broke into another sprint.

The pilot panicked and tried to pull the drop ship back but was too slow as Jun leaped from the ground and landed on the front of the ship. The force and weight of Jun's jump transferred to the dropship as it tilted and began falling to the ground.

Jun forcefully smashed the tempered windscreen of the dropship with his tail and tore it off, revealing the stunned pilot below. He then reached forward and crushed the pilot into meat paste and blood as he jumped from the ship back to the ground.

Without the pilot, the dropship naturally fell to the earth below and blew up in a fiery explosion behind Jun who appeared in an imposing manner.

The Marines were appalled by this and momentarily forgot to keep firing, causing two more of their men to die at the hands of the horde of aliens; their numbers dwindled from their initial dozen to half that.

If they were any closer, they would notice the pale giants' armored flesh rippling like water.

What ensued next was nothing short of a massacre. Jun, who was essentially a biological, walking tank, killed the remaining Marines without much suspense.

Major Rose, who was the last woman standing, was held in Jun's hands and raised to his face as he prepared to kill her with a bite. But this woman who refused to give up until the end and fought bitterly, pulled the pin of a grenade and shoved it in Jun's mouth.

Jun suffered a great deal of pain with his inner mouth being badly mangled from the grenade's explosion.

In his anger, he made sure the Major's death was slow and painful as he squeezed her ribcage. Major Rose kicked and thrashed as she coughed up blood. Her eyes turned bloodshot and her wails screamed of terror and pain, but Jun ignored them as he continued to torture the woman.

Her ribcage fractured and the bones punctured her lungs, causing her to suffocate and drown in her own blood. Major Rose coughed out mouthfuls of blood and when she thought she couldn't suffer anymore, her skull was crushed until it burst from the force of Jun's bite.

There wasn't much to be gained from eating her, so Jun tossed the Major's corpse aside and glanced at the skies.

He guessed that sooner than later, another team would be sent down or at worst, an artillery bombardment or nuclear warhead.

When Jun returned to the Hive, the xenomorphs who followed him joined the construction of the Hive Node, increasing the production rate by several times.

Half an hour later, it was completed, and Juno who had been waiting gave a command to create a Void Gate.

Another half an hour later, the Void Gate was constructed which emitted a low humming sound as it resonated with the Hive and the Hivemind's subconscious. Fortunately, they barely had enough members in the Hive to create a stable pathway.

At the same time the Void Gate was created, Jun looked above the Hive as she registered something dangerous rapidly descending from the skies.

『Crap!』 (Juno)

『What? What's wrong?』 (Jun)

Just as Juno had feared, the Marines had sent a nuclear warhead to wipe them out.

『Quickly, enter the gate!』 Juno shouted.

Unfortunately, it was too late for the other xenomorphs to enter, and only the twins were able to make it in time.

They leaped into the Void Gate and disappeared from the world. They had a feeling if they were just a second slower, they would have died and their adventure would have ended there; the Hive they were once tasked to protect was now reduced to ash and dust.

Within the void, there was no concept of time, of nothing really, yet they were there and it felt strange.

Time passed in an instant while also feeling like a very long time. An odd and scary experience... until finally, after an unknown amount of time passed, the twins fell from a tear in space into a familiar yet unfamiliar world.