Work Text:
Tuesday, 20/12/2174 11:46:32
J sighed. They just made their way to the seventh minus level and saw cardboard that said: Level off-limits for staff without a permit!
J got their radio speaker on, “J here, what’s up with level seven?” they knew the scientists were containing something again, but even with all the xenomorphs they never put sighs for off-limit access. The radio chatter stopped and Commander Spear’s voice came through, “Sorry J, the level won’t be available for a while, over.” the commander of the guards confirmed J’s suspicion. “It’s fine, I just hope they can stay in their toxic waste for that while.” Giggling and laughter were heard from the radio after the comment.
The janitor just continued according to schedule. The next level had quite the damage from the containment breach the other day, so J got to work.
Most of the damage was from scratches in the walls and surprisingly there was a lot less from acid. Getting to work J took a bucket and started mixing the ingredients for filling the walls. Slowly, but steadily making their way from the entrance to the insides of the level J filled the holes and neutralized the acid holes when they saw them, those needed to wait for tomorrow.
Usually, J had their walkman with them, so they could listen to music, but today they forgot it by accident at their apartment. J was disappointed when they didn’t see the walkman in their backpack this morning, but it happens and if they didn’t forget it they wouldn’t have heard the scientists above them. Looking up J sighed, the acid on their level was little because the level above had taken the most of the damage.
The scientists went on to use the level anyways, which was stupid by its self, but even more so when they covered the holes from the acid with wooden planks and cardboards. “That is a big safety hazard you know,” J yelled from underneath, a great shriek was heard from above, J sighed again.
“J-J was that you?” a female voice asked. “Yes, ma’am” the scientists above giggled and laughed, “Thank goodness! You scared us! Please continue with your duties we’ve taken care of everything here!” J rolled their eyes “If you say so…”
The janitor continued their work not minding the noise above them after that.
--- 16:02:54---
J got up from the floor from the last one whole they could find, the acid made its way into the 10th minus level and it took a while for J to locate the holes there, but they could turn into a problem later on, so it was better to take care of them sooner than later. Stretching like a cat and letting their bones crack J looked at their watch, their shift was over. Not in a particular rush to go home J slowly gathered their gear and instruments and walked towards the elevator. Making a stop at level eight again to check on the holes there, they had a suspicion the material didn’t dry correctly on one of the walls.
The elevator took them to the eighth level and right as the doors of the elevator opened, J knew there was a breach. The alarm didn’t sound which was a red flag right away. The hallway in front had blood coming from above. J just pushed the button for the ground level, their shift was over and it was not their problem.
The elevator started going up again, but it stopped on the seventh level. J thought it was probably someone from the staff trying to escape, well you can imagine the shock on their face when they didn’t see a colleague, but two and a half meters tall reptile-like alien.
“Well, shit.”
The creature roared in aggression when it saw J. Quickly the janitor put their hands up “Easy there, I’m just the janitor and my shift is over.” they explained not sure if the alien could understand them. The reptile seemed to calm down after that, J didn’t want to take any chances and exited the elevator, “All yours, I will use the stairs,” walking behind the corner to the stairs J saw that the stairs were blocked off. The janitor sighed.
Looks like the scientists and the guards knew there could be a containment breach and blocked off the staircase and by the bodies near it, it was a stupid decision.
With no other choice, J returned to the elevator. The creature had its leg across the doors and its arms crossed, was it waiting for me?
“Looks like we are stuck together,” J sighed. The alien clicked its mandibles continuously, almost like a laughter. The alien walked backwards making space for J, the janitor walked in and the doors closed.
“Where to?” J asked, staying at the control panel of the elevator. The creature gestured with a hand over its face, the janitor didn’t get it and tilted their head. The alien continued by gesturing to their wrists and J again didn’t get it, the alien let out a low growl and then made a finger gun with one of their hands.
“Oh, the armory, so second level it is” J pushed the button and they started going up. It was quite an awkward trip and when the elevator got to their stop J relaxed. The alien exited the elevator, going straight for the armory.
J went on the ground level and when the doors opened all the guards had their guns pointed at them. J almost got a heart attack. “Get your weapons down!” Commander Spears yelled, “J didn’t you hear the alarm?!”. J tilted their head “There was no alarm,” everyone turned their head towards Alex the new guy “You were told to sound the alarm!”
While the guards scolded the boy J walked out of the elevator with their gear. “J where are you going?” one of the guards asked, “To fill my incident report?”
“Wait did you see the predator? Where was is it?” the Commander spoke again, “In the armory” gasps and chatter came from the guards, “And you didn’t stop it?!”
J raised an eyebrow “You didn’t just ask me that, did you, Commander?” the commander was left speechless “N-no, that is not what I meant!”, “Good.” was the only thing J said as they walked to the locker rooms to change. It was an interesting day with a new alien for J to see. They were sorry for the guards that -Predator?- looked quite deadly.
But it wasn’t J’s problem, their shift was over.