Venus POV
We waited for a bit as they answer and as I say to them, "Great, you're both there. We have some things to show you." They nod as Angie plays them the video. At the end they looked either shocked or confused as I then say, "So assuming that the figures in the hazmat suits are of average height, then this structure here must be about four to five meters tall." Booth then asks, "Why is the ground glowing?" "The light seems to be emitting from a spilled liquid." Booth suggests, "U.F.O. fuel." Temp says, "Uh... What are those two humanoid shapes there... between the hazmat-suited humans and the craft?" Angie then says, "Well, look, I'm gonna keep working on this footage, but you guys have to admit that this makes the hairs on your arm stand on end, right?" Temp then says, "The hairs on my arm are not reacting in any way. But thanks, Angela, Ven." I give them a little salute as Temp ends the call.
I go back with Hodgins as my test results should be done by now. I see what we got as he and I go over to the platform with Cam as he starts, "So the swab from the victim's damaged patellas... showed traces of sediment, but it's not cement." Cam asks, "So what hit her knees wasn't cinder block?" I shake my head, "No, the sediment is gypsum, dating back to the Pleistocene and Holocene eras. It's probably from the Tularosa or Estancia Basins." "Mexico?" I nod as Hodgins says, "Yeah. Northern Mexico is the closest occurrence of this rock. Now, here's an interesting conjunction possibility." I add, "The insecticide that she was soaked in, it's called Tres Pasitos. It's not available in the United States." "Is it available in Mexico?" Hodgins answers, "Readily." "Excellent." We go back down the platform as I say, "Now I am off back to Angie as she has some results with the information Wendell had provided her."
I make it to Angies workspace as she says to Wendell, "So I took the information that you gave me, and it looks as though the projectiles first impacted next to the juncture... between the frontal and parietal bones." She shows a representation on the glass screen as I then say, "So the bearings entered beneath her chin, then ricocheted around in her skull." They look at me as Angie says, "Yeah. That seems to make the most sense." Wendell then says, "But I've never heard of any projectiles that would enter at that range... and not fracture the skull." I nod trying to think of a possible explanation as Angie suggests, "Well, what about, like, slow-moving projectiles? Maybe a paintball gun?" I shake my head, "A little more powerful than that, but not much." I then see Wendell look at his watch as he smiles, "Time for lunch." I nod as Angie asks, "Is it to prove that you and Hodgins are all fine?" He nods as I say, "I'll meet you at the front." He nods leaving to put his lab coat away as we watch him leave. Once gone I sigh as Angie looks at me, "What's wrong?" "Wendell thinks that everything is fine with the two since Hodgins says so." "Ooh. Let me guess, you don't think it is?" I shake my head, "Nope. I know it isn't until Hodgins gets a bit of pay back. Well you know Hodgins." She nods, "I do... I wish you luck." I smile at her, "Thanks."
We are at the Diner eating with Hodgins who is sitting across from us. He looks at the both of us as I know that look all to well as he has come up with something as he then says, "You guys can hold hands if you want. Eat off each other's plates. I mean, any and all of that kind of gooey romanticism is completely fine by me." I nod, "We know, Hodgins." Wendell then says, "I'm not really the public display kind of guy." I nod adding, "I'm not one either, since you know how easily embarrassed, I get." "I'm just saying you don't need to be afraid or-" But he was quickly cut off and I was surprised as Wendell goes and kisses me in front of Hodgins. I don't mind his kisses but for some reason this felt more different. It just felt like he was trying to prove a point to Hodgins or doing it out of irritation. He kisses me for a bit longer as to make a statement and not out of love. He then moves back as I sit there not knowing what to say or think. Hodgins then says, "There. See? My head did not explode." It takes me a moment to gather my thoughts as I then say, "Um... I'm not really okay with being kissed when it's about me." Wendell looks at me, "Sorry. Panicked, but everything's fine, right? Everything's fine." We then see Sweets comes up to us noticing my displeasure as he says, "Everything's not fine." We look at him as he continues, "This is a fraught situation." He looks at Wendell and Hodgins, "It's important to face these things head-on. And involving her into it won't help whatever situation you two are in."
Hodgins then says, "Sweets, there's nothing to face, okay? Him and Angela made out once. But we're all fine." I think for a bit knowing that whatever these two are trying to prove where going to put me right in the middle. I then see Sweets looking at me to see if I was fine as I say, "I... I'm..." I just give him a nod. But I could tell Sweets notice my discomfort as he then tells the two, "Alright. If that's what you think. But I am going to need Venus, Booth says she has somethings to discuss with me about the case your guys solving." He looks at me as I catch on what he is trying to do as I nod, "Oh, right. I almost forgot about that, thanks for reminding me." I look at the boys, "Sorry, but I need to go." They nod as Wendell says, "That's fine. I'll see you back at the lab later." I nod, "Yeah. See you both later." I then grab my things and leave with Sweets as he grabs his order. We are outside walking on the sidewalk as he says, "So, tell me what's going on with the two? And how are you feeling?" I look at him, "I'm not sure what I'm feeling... but when Wendell kissed me it felt different..." "Different?" I nod, "It felt as if there was no love in that kiss, just a need to prove something. It felt more like I was being used in there..." He nods, "And that's not okay. He shouldn't do things that would make you feel uncomfortable." I nod listening to him as he then asks, "Would you be able to tell me how things turned out to that?" I nod and begin to tell him what has happened.
I am back at the lab as Angie called over Hodgins, Cam, and I as we go to her workspace as she sees us and begin to explain, "So the footage was pretty rough, as you saw. So I ran an application to counteract the motion of the camera with opposite movement. Then I translated each pixel of the infrared spectrum... into a pixel of the visible color spectrum." I nod as Cam says, "Okay. Let's see it." We watch as the blurry video goes through the program clearing the image up more as we then see people in hazmat suits with tanks of trucks dumping something out as Cam says, "Well, that's a lot more terrestrial than I expected." I nod, "Two tanker trucks." Hodgins adds, "Some sort of digger." We watch them spraying the green glowing liquid out as I say, "And this is a hose. What do you think three inches? That's the source of the glowing liquid." Angie then asks, "What about the alien things?" I then say, "Fremontodendron mexicanum." Hodgins adds, "It's Mexican flannelbush." Cam then says, "Weird glowing liquid in the Mexican desert. Hazmat suits." We then see someone walking towards the camera as Hodgins says, "Oh! They must've been dumping chemicals illegally." We notice the camera going down as I say, "Oop. She fell. That must have been where she fractured her knees." Hodgins adds, "Yeah, but she still managed to get away. You guys see what happened? She was out looking for U.F.O.'s, but found this instead. These guys killed her." Angie then says, "I think I liked this all better when it was aliens."
Hodgins and I were in his workspace with Cam as we were able to narrow down what the liquid was as I begin to explain, "So we were able to clarify the chemiluminescent signature... of materials being dumped in the video." Hodgins pops up the results as he says, "Manganese and sodium borohydride. Used in the manufacture of batteries." Cam then asks, "Can you two get a specific manufacturer from that?" I smile, "We were way ahead and got that already." Hodgins pops the image, "Innatron." I then ask, "Mexican flannelbush is on the verge of extinction, right? Innatron has a plant located smack-dab... in the middle of the last remaining flannelbush population- here in Juarez- and they use manganese and sodium borohydride." Cam says, "Wow." We nod as Cam walks away. I then look at Hodgins, "Alright Hodgins. I see what your playing towards and I'm telling you to go see Sweets." "What?" I nod, "You reacting this way because of something that happened once is no good for either of us. So go see Sweets." He chuckles, "I don't need to see Sweets..." "I cut him off, "You are. As your Boss, you must go speak with him." "That's not fair, you're pulling out your sorority card..." "Either take that or you're going to deal with revengeful me later." He quickly nods tacking off his gloves, "I'll go see Sweets right now." I smile nodding watching him leave.
I am in Angies workspace now with Cam as we watch the video again trying to see if there's anything we could use to help us out more. Cam then says, "There is nothing in this video that indicates what kind of weapon was used to kill the victim." Angie nods, "Yeah. It's true. It doesn't look like anybody's armed. Now, I was able to salvage some of the audio track." We listen hearing static as I say, "That's just white noise." "Yeah, I know. But I scrubbed the background and separated the different frequencies, and then I amplified the resulting file." She plays the audio again as we then hear a woman speak saying, "Estoy encargada. Y si no lo terminas antes del amanecer, te arrepentiras." I then say, "That's Spanish." Angie nods, "Yeah, I know. We're gonna have to get a translator." I then say, "No need. I am here. I speak Spanish could you play that back?" Angie nods as she plays the recodring, "Estoy encargada. Y si no lo terminas antes del amanecer, te arrepentiras." I nod, "She's saying that she's in charge. And if you don't get this done before sunrise, you'll regret it.' But what's more interesting is that she's not from Mexico though." Angie asks, "You can tell that?" I nod, "The way she says, 'estoy' and 'arrepentiras' is not from a native pronunciation. I had practiced so many times to get the pronunciation right." Cam the says, "So you think that-" I nod, "Yeah. The speaker's definitely American." Next thing I know is Hodgins coming in and grabbing me pulling me out saying, "I'm going to need her."
We had finished getting everything as we explain to Cam and Angie as Hodgins says, "So we put together a range of weapons which might fire ball bearings... at a velocity congruent with the damage done to the inside of our victim's skull." Wendell then begins to explain the weapons that we have, "Okay, we have a paintball gun, an air rifle, a BB gun, and a P.V.C. pipe zip gun, each modified to fire six 17.5-millimeter ball bearings." We see the set up of melons with the each of their faces but mine including wigs on them as Angie and Cam looks at them weirdly as I whisper to them, "I didn't come up with the faces and hairs..." They nod as Wendell then says, "Melons lined with paraffin and filled with dense agar gelatin... which mimics skull and brain matter." Cam then asks the boys, "What's with the faces?" Angie nods, "Uh, yeah." Hodgins then says looking at Wendell and I, "We..." We give him the face saying it was not our idea as he continues, "Um- Well, I guess... I kind of got inspired." Cam says, "Inspired." I nod as I then say, "All right, goggles, everyone." We all put ours on as the two guys went behind the glass screen of their heads as Cam, Angie, and I just step back farther to watch. Wendell grabs the trigger for Hodgins melon as Hodgins says, "Ready?" Wendell presses the trigger as we watch the paintball gun bearing didn't go through.
Hodgins then says, "Alright. So the paintball gun ball bearing didn't have enough force to get through my skull." Angie then says, "That's too bad." Cam and I chuckle quietly as Wendell says, "I'm next." But before he presses the trigger Hodgins stops him, "Ah-ah. I'll shoot you." He presses the trigger as we watch as Wendell's head explodes as my eyes widen a bit as Hodgins says, "Whoa! That was way too much damage. That blew your head clear off." Cam then says to Angie and I, "I don't know if anyone should enjoy their work this much." We nod agreeing as Wendell then says, "Angela and Dr. Saroyan are still in the running." Wendell was about to press the trigger as Hodgins says, "Uh, I got it." He presses it as twice as it shoots Cam and another at Angie. We go up to it once they were over as I grab Cams Melon head checking the bottom seeing the ball bearing stuck there, but not through, "Hmm. It's not enough force to kill Melon Cam." Wendell grabs Melon Angie as he shakes it hearing it rattle inside as he says, "Whoa! Angela, the balls are rattling, but your head is still intact." "Call that thing by my name one more time- I dare you." He loses his smile as I then say, "It was a zip gun. A perfect, untraceable cheap weapon. Easily homemade." Hodgins then says, "That was fun." Angie looks at Cam and I, "Boys." Cam nods, "You got that right." I then say, "I'm usually with them... but I have to agree with just this one..." They nod as we leave.
I am in my office finishing some paperwork as I get a call. I answer, "Hello? Dr. Venus Brennan." "Ven." "Oh, hey Temp." "No. Ven, it's not me. It's Booth." "Huh? Ranger, you're voice is much higher than usual... did something happened?" I then hear Booth's voice, "No, I'm fine. But listen. Could we just focus on the ball bearings?" "Sure thing, what do you want to know?" "Could you trace them to Innatron?" "No, not possible." Temp asks, "Well, how can you be so sure?" "It's because they're obsolete. They were manufactured in the '40s and the '50s." Booth asks, "For what?" "Roller skates, fishing reels, yo-yos, turntables." Temp asks, "Toys?" I nod, "Yup, definitely." I hear silence for a few seconds as I then say, "You both figured it out didn't you?" Temp says, "Yes. We believe so." I nod, "Alright. Go get them." They hang up as I smile a bit. I get out of my seat and out of my office walking around the Jeffersonian a bit. I then get an idea as I quickly go to the lab as I look around finding the person I'm looking for. I quickly go over to him tapping his shoulder as he turns to me and smiles, "There you are Doll. I was wondering where you've been." "I was doing some paperwork but I came to find you right now because I want to go somewhere." He looks at me curiously, "And where would that be?" "Somewhere with a very nice view when it's dark out." He looks at me for a few seconds, "Alright. You got me intrigued." I smile widely, "Perfect. But we need to stop by my place and get Jupiter before we go." He nods as we finish work for the day and head out.
Next thing Wendell knows is that we arrived at New Mexico as we walk around the desert as I check my GPS with Jupiter by my side as he says, "You wanted to come all the way to New Mexico to see the stars?" I nod, "Yup, nice surprise right?" He nods, "I would have never expected coming here for just a night." "Which is exactly why it's an amazing surprise. You never expected it." He nods, "You're totally right." We then see a car up front as I say, "We are here." "Who's that car?" "That's Rangers and Temps car. Let's go greet them." "Do they even know that we are here?" I shake my head, "Nope, it will be a surprise for them as well." He just nods as I take his hand and we all sneaked over to them as Booth tells Temp, "Quite the show, huh?" "But shouldn't we be going him?" "Come on, Bones. How many times do you get a chance to check out a desert sky?" "Well, I've been in the desert many times." I then pop up next to them, "Though usually you're digging in the ground, not looking up." They both jump in fright not expecting me there as Booth then says, "God, Blueberry. You scared us." I chuckle as Temp asks, "What are you doing here?" "Well, I did say that I was coming, but I didn't get to see you arrest the suspect. Plus I came here with Jupiter and Wendell. I wanted to see the stars with them as well." Booth then says, "So you came all the way here just to see the stars...?"
I nod as Wendell comes next to me with Jupiter, "That's what I said." I shrug, "I say it's worth it. I mean, look up." We all look up at the sky looking at the beautiful night sky with stars shining down at us as Wendell says, "You know. It is worth the trip." I nod as I lean my head on his shoulder as he lean his head on mine. Temp then says, "But it's ridiculous to think that there's anything on this planet worth seeing... which merits crossing what are literally astronomical distances." I chuckle at her, "That could be true." Booth then says, "Maybe aliens are anthropologists. Maybe they just wanna study our religion and sex... and... love and our funny languages and line dancing?" I then say, "Oooh, Ranger has an excellent point Temp." She nods, "That's an interesting possibility I hadn't considered." Booth nods, "Well, living creatures, they like to reach out, Bones." "Living creatures like to reach out and eat each other." "Oh, so what are you saying? That the aliens just wanna come down here and drink our spinal fluid?" Wendell then says, "I rather not think about that." Temp says, "Well, if the aliens are advance enough to fly faster than light, then they can probably make spinal fluid." Wendell then says, "I think Dr. Brennan just said that aliens are nice." Booth nods, "I heard that too." Temp says, "I did not." I say, "Temp, you just basically said that aliens are nice anthropologists." She chuckles, "I don't think so." Booth then says, "You think that aliens are you"
She chuckles, "You got me. You know, I-I'm one of them. I was sent down as an advance scout." "I knew it. No probing." We all laugh as Temp says, "Hey, probing is a valuable way to gather information." "We know how you people like to probe. Right." We laugh as Booth then says, "Did you guys here that?" We all stop listening quietly as Temp asks, "What was it?" We look around as Jupiter howled.
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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN "BONES". IT IS OWNED BY JOSEPHSON ENTERTAINMENT, BY HART HANSON. I ONLY CLAIM MY CHARACTER VENUS BRENNAN. I ALSO DON'T OWN ANY OF THE IMAGES. THANK YOU.