A deal. 

That’s what Caleb wanted to do now? He was planning to make a risky deal with the devil. At least it was perceived as such by his team which was still in disbelief of what was going on right now.

“Yeah, a deal. You know what that is, right?”, Caleb asked the alien creature, his confidence over that little demon growing.

“Of course I know! … something something… human diplomacy…”

Number 3 muttered the last words as he was trying to not get patronized by the soldier.

“Good. I want you to leave my team alone. You won’t harm any of them and I’ll give you my weapon.”

The alien looked around, checking on every one of those young soldiers and sighed.

“Really? That red-haired looks so delicious though.”, he chuckled as he pointed at Arianna who visibly shirked back a bit at those words.

Caleb's gaze became more stern as he moved his blade closer to his chest.

“Ok, fine!”

Once again, to everyone’s surprise the creature gave in really fast to Caleb’s demands, but that wasn’t all of it.

“And I have another proposal.”, the general continued.

“Hm? What is it now? Getting greedy, aren’t we?”

Number 3 crossed his arms as he became even more attentive. That pose managed to also slowly lift the tension of the whole squad.

“You’re the first talking specimen we have encountered. So we have some questions…”

“Oh? You’re asking your enemy to cooperate now? How bold.”

Yeah, how bold! That’s what everyone else was thinking right now and of course no one would expect the murderous creature to cooperate with them so easily. However…

“I’ll offer you myself in return. I will let you do whatever you want with me.”, Caleb said as he finally had lost his last marble.

“General, that’s-”

“Cute.”, the alien responded, cutting off Harmony’s words.

“You really think you’re worth that much since I named you my favorite prey?”

“Am I not…?”

Caleb raised an eyebrow and after a moment of silence Number 3 gave in with a sigh. He looked around once more. It was such a pity.

“Also, as I see it you are at a disadvantage today. So you can agree to my deal and be free or my team will take you down. Just because you could jump on one careless member, doesn’t mean you can take them all.”

The alien loosened his arms again and seemed to give Caleb a deathglare.

“You wanna try me now, Caleb? You might’ve hit me once with a cheap trick, but don’t expect these people to be able to do it.”

“Don’t underestimate us, beast.”, Jake, one of the soldiers, said as he felt provoked by this arrogance. As if it was able to take them all out when they had the best gear humanity had ever invented.

“Hmph… fine. I will agree to your conditions, Caleb.”

Number 3 didn’t even glance at the young man, but instead kept his focus on the general in front of him.

“Though I wanna change it a bit.”

“Oh?”

“I wanna come with you humans to answer all your questions.”

“What?!”, the whole team gasped, their leader as well.

“What? Haven’t you noticed it? I’ve been stuck here, because I don’t have a connection to the hivemind. I am indeed not like the others… those mindless bugs. I have my own free will. And I don’t wanna play hide and seek in this boring cave anymore.”

Everyone went silent and the scientists gave each other a glance that said a thousand words.

“It actually sounds plausible… somehow.”, Noah said and now it was Caleb’s turn to cross his arms in front of his chest as he examined the alien further.

“Initially it was our mission to capture you and bring you back to the headquarters. As much as I would love to stab you in the back and take revenge for my previous team… I have my orders.”

Number 3 scoffed as he tried to hold back words he would certainly regret in that moment.

“If we take you now, we’ll have to restrict your movement. Special handcuffs and such… to make sure you won’t run amok in our base.”

“Whatever is necessary then… but mark my words…” 

Suddenly the alien came very close to Caleb, almost making him defend himself out of reflex.

“...if anyone tries to take me apart, you shall regret it.”

Caleb didn’t flinch at those words but instead seemed to try to see eyes behind the metal mask. He really wondered if there was more. He certainly knew that the other specimen didn’t have a normal face but maybe this one…

“It’s a deal then.”

Suddenly the general raised his hands and put them on the shoulderplates of the creature, turning it around in a smooth motion. Number 3 did indeed cooperate, which was still a spectacle of the ages for everyone to behold.

With a free handed motion Caleb indirectly asked Harmony to hand him the special handcuffs. Still scared of the monster she approached them with caution to hand him the tool he then put on the creature, binding his fancy claws behind his back and then actually putting his deactivated weapon into one of them.

While he was doing so the spiny tail started to become a hassle, slightly stroking his face with each swing.

“Can you like… stop that?”

“I can’t help it, Caleb~”, Number 3 chuckled, now accidentally slapping his face with it.

With a displeased grunt Caleb suddenly grabbed the alien by the root of his tail, making him become stiff in an instant.

“Uhm sir, that’s…”, Noah mumbled, slightly blushing and pushing his round glasses a bit higher while Harmony covered her eyes in embarrassment. Everyone else didn’t know what was going on.

“Oh, I think I know quite well what this is.”

The general grinned, not getting a reaction from the alien yet. Instead he tightened the grip on the root, suddenly leaning forward to where he assumed the monster’s ear would be.

“I know you’re full of bullshit, beast… You’re up to something and I will find out what it is.”, he whispered.

“And take this…”

His hand started smoothly gliding up the tail to its tip, having Number 3 twitch a few more times. He was trying so hard to keep his composure and cool in front of these weak humans. Caleb knew he was humiliating him right now.

“... as a sweet revenge for my comrades.”

…

Lastly he put some weight on the aliens feet so he wouldn’t be able to move as fast anymore.

Number 3 looked down, watching Caleb as he did that and started growling.

“It will be my pleasure to kill you one day, Caleb.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”, the general chuckled. He was indeed cockier now, knowing how he could tame this beast.

“So uh… Is that it now? Mission accomplished? We captured the alien?”, Arianna had to ask, still baffled by all of this.

“Well, this is half the job done. Let’s get moving now.”

As the team started moving out of the cave and into the tunnels again, Caleb made sure Number 3 would always walk in front of him and the rest of the team. The air around them seemed thick - a visible rivalry.

“Hey… nerd.”, Mikey approached Noah in a whispering tone.

“What happened there?”

“I wish I’d know.”, Noah mumbled, still baffled as well.

“About the general grabbing the tail, I mean. The alien was so quiet all of the sudden.”

“Oh… uhm…”

Noah once more pushed his glasses up as he answered quietly mumbling.

“That’s… their erogenous zone. At least for the other specimen… it seems to be the same case for this example.”

“Oh… ooooohhh! Sheesh. Does that mean our general fondled an alien?”

“Shut up, Mikey!”