Okay, guys, before I continue with my other stories, I was just having this urge to begin writing this magnificent idea that Dragonlord Rynn gave me. A crossover between Prototype and Alien. Originally, it was just that but then I had a good look at the classic Alien vs Predator arcade game by Capcom, which I found to be amazing and terrific, if only the movies could have been more like it. I mean, in case you didn't know, that isn't a movie tie-in, it came like 8 years before and it's full blown awesomeness. I just thought it would be great to base most of the story on that game, it had a lot of potential. I think Mercer fits in just fine. I'd like to point out that this takes place in 2016 but in an alternate timeline where the xenomorph were discovered and encountered long before they originally were, while some of them are even hiding in earth, waiting to be awakened (like in the crossovers with Batman and Superman and Tarzan). But enough talk from me, you came here for a story so here you go, hope you enjoy, review and follow but I can settle for a view honestly.
Survival of the deadliest.
Chapter 1
Starting the fire.
The year was 2018. The new world's governments had gone through many expenses to step up their game in the weapon and radical experiment sectors. Events like the Manhattan outbreak had been deemed by the general public as mankind's first experience with the superhuman. Reports coming out of the place were unbelievable and unforgettable too. The official version was a chewed up and distorted cover up for the real happening in order to make it easier for the outside world to cope with it and disregard it as an infortunate event.
There was barely any talk on the involvement of high ranking officers and scientists under their command in the origin and rise of the blacklight virus, or the brutal and questionable tactics of Blackwatch. Most of their dirty secrets were burned down with he creatures or buried carefully behind the scenes.
But the truth was that the infection wasn't the first encounter that mankind had with the inhuman or an irregular species. Decades ago, in 1987, a taskforce of veteran soldiers and specialist had been assigned to a mission in the jungle, supposedly to combat a guerrilla group csusing them trouble. What they found was something else entirely. A hunter, from out of this world, set on getting a worthy hunt out of human warriors. It preyed on them, took them out one by one until the last one managed to fight him on his own game and so the hunter was defeated and slain accordingly, leaving only two survivors behind.
But the hunt didn't cease there, that wasn't even the first time they came across the hunters. Later on, in 1991, a new hunter came in a ship to start a new, more ambitious and extensive hunt, through a city this time. The specialists and secret services tried to get a better hold of it this time and capture the specimen if possible. It didn't turn out well, but once again, the hunter met his end at the hands of a supposed prey, gutted with his very own weapon. The elders of his species came to pick up the corpse and destroy the ship in order to erase the evidence and leave their weapons outside of man's was no evidence left to be collected and the officers managed to keep the hunt from coming out to public light, pulling their strings to cover it up.
The hunting sprees kept going for a long while, the functionaries and authority figures learning and getting more technology or left overs from the outsiders with each time. All these acquired assets were distributed carefully to be applied to weaponry and technologic advances, going as far as to start space missions and programs that were kept undercover but moved whenever they saw fit. They even established communication with the predator species, learning of their culture and then began exchanging offers with the now named Yautja. The next hunts didn't happen by chance nor did they take the authority by surprise, on the contrary, they were now partaking in them. They had arranged the main events and organized what the Yautja deemed as traditional games, letting them abduct convicts, outcasts, mercenaries and other individuals that were considered accountable by the government, in exchange for weapons and resourceful knowledge from the Yautja.
This eventually led the humans to the discovery of another alien species, one more dangerous, completely unreasonable and way more ruthless. The organisms, known as the xenomorph, were capable of reproducing by getting their hatches, called facehuggers, to violate their way through a host and then leaving the newly created specimen to violent erupt through the chest of the victim and quickly grow into an adult organism, retaining qualities from the host, spawning many variants in appearance.
The Yautja had been hunting the xenomorph as an unique prey whenever they had the chance. They were revered as the most dangerous species in the galaxy by them. Of course, knowing this, the humans thought of how these creatures could prove useful to them. The Yautja even gave them the coordinates to find some old ships that had crashed on earth hundreds of years ago in cold regions. They were full of a large amounts of contained xenomorphs and their eggs, frozen due to the temperature. How did the Yautja know? Because they sent most of them personally, in case they could find a good hunt there one day, not like it was still needed though.
After the discovery, the shipments fell under the possession of the Weyland Yutani corporation. All those little deadly horrors, moved over their secret labs and quarters and filed in for future experiments, leaving humanity under a great inminent danger. Mankind got a hold of something they couldn't control. That had happened before the Manhattan incident however, this led the corporation as well as the multinational military personnel that was in league with them, to considerate new methods and proceedures. That just had no chance of turning out well for earth.
[2018, 0600 hours. In a military base handled by the Weyland Yutani corp]
Two individuals were being transported in an armored truck headed towards a plane. In front of that plane stood patiently the man in charge of keeping the following operation under control. He stood with a power stance that projected authority and commanded respect amongst the men under his command or besides him. He, like other ones with his rank, wore unique prototype equipment compared to other team members. He wore a modular tactical vest, as well as a delta force-style helmet with night vision goggles, plus a neck guard. He notably carried more equipment than the rest of his brothers in arms, presumably because he had a tendency to lead ahead of the rest, given that he was a professional mercenary. The weapon he carried was a SCAR-H with a thermal scope.
From the truck came an imposing, well built vereran soldier, standing significantly taller than everyone else. His body not only was muscular but also enhanced with prosthetics such as a metallic arm and a metal brace around the neck area. He sported blond hair, not natural but dyed and wore a green tank top with matching pants and his dog tags visible. He wore only those basic combat clothes since the enhancements he received provided him with enough protection to withstand the heat of a battle. This man had been the survivor of the Vale Verde jungle hunter incident back at 1987, alongside a female prisoner he was carrying. When the rescue team arrived in a chopper to pick him up. He was quickly greeted by the corporal with a smile.
"Mr. Schaefer, pleasured to meet you. I am PMC. You may call me corporal Dunn, or just Dunn. The boys and I were looking forwards this meeting." Said the receiving man while offering his hand in a greeting. Dutch just replied by shaking it firmly with his organic but still enhanced hand, in a quick exchange of respect and strength. Surprisingly enough for him, Dunn was putting up a good grip too.
"The pleasure is mine. Quite grip there, corporal. The agency got you pushing too many pencils?" Dutch asked jokingly due to the man's position.
"I'm more of a runner, but I got around putting up some mass." He said with a smirk before breaking the shake. He then took a look at his robotic implant. "That's a good prosthetic. Must have been hard to get. Did the army do it?"
"I found my own way to get it. Some advanced robotics company used me as a test subject before trying it for other soldiers. Name was Cyberdyne." Dutch told him, thinking back at the proceedures that left him complete.
He then looked at the second individual accompanying Dutch. An asian woman, seemed to be an experienced soldier since her rank was of liutenant. She wore a combat attire, more so than Dutch due to her lack of major enhancements. She was armed with an executioner revolver with laser sight and a futuristic pistol known as the Killer 7 with a handful of magazines packed with high power ammo.
"You should have told us you would bring friends."
"She isn't just a friend. She's part of the deal, A partner." Dutch replied. Dunn then figured out who it was from the files.
"Liutenant Lynn Kurosawa, right?" He confirmed, earning a nod and response from the woman.
"Aye. I take it we will carry out the assignment now."
"Yeah. This way." Dunn then boarded their transport and showed them in. After he led Kurosawa and Schaefer into the plane, he went talk with the pilots, giving them the order to take off.
During the flight, they were all given a proper debriefing. The plane's crew included Dunn, his men and now both Schaefer and Kurosawa.
"As you may know by now, we have been deployed to California in hopes of containing a minor outbreak in the designated lab and deliver an undisclosed cargo, there in the secured crates. However, we haven't received word from our contacts meant to take the package in. We can only hope for the best but in such case, we will now have to HALO jump, land next to our destination and proceed to clear the area until the delivery is safe and possible. Any doubts?" Dunn said out loud to make himself audible as they flew to their destination.
"What kind of outbreak are we talking about? Like the blacklight incident?" Asked liutenant Kurosawa.
"Way different to that." The corporal then threw her a folder containing all the necessary intel on the matter.
When she read it, she tried her best to keep her cool though the pictures and details she observed were almost unbelievable and truly terrifying. The hostiles weren't any infected humans like in Manhattan. The creatures, now classified as xenomorphs were far from human. They didn't belong to this world. According to the report, they were an alien species that had come to earth A long time ago in an attempt to "colonize" part of it. There were many variants of them to be found but the ones encountered in the artic a few years ago were fully grown already. They had been frozen and moved to labs for future research. Lynn shook her head at this. Mankind, trying to grasp and seize forces that they shouldn't even know in the first place, as usual. It was no surprise that things went like they did and now they had to clean the mess, sending her and Dutch to take out the specimens before they took over the city and required a nuke to be put down.
"Sir, we're almost at the drop point. The altitude is right, shall we commence the jumps, sir?" Asked one of Dunn's men, private Hugh as he approached the corporal. He put a hand on his shoulder and replied.
"Yes, it is time." He then turned his attention to his field soldiers, which were Schaefer, Kurosawa and a few others. "Get your equipment ready and say your prayers, we're going down."
Dunn couldn't have been more right than that. Just as they began to take positions for the jump, something struck the plane, causing an explosion in the back. He quickly turned to see that the back of his plane was catching fire. There was no time to waste in planning now, everybody got up but the turbulence shaking the plane made it hard to stand still, causing Dutch and Lynn to fall backwards.
Dutch wrapped his arms around Lynn, trying to protect her from the fire. His new molded body could take it so he used himself as a shield for her when the fire rose.
As they shook, Dunn grabbed private Hugh and yelled for the crew to follow his instructions.
"Everybody jump! Now! I'll handle the crates and get the others!" Private Hugh did as told and so did the pilots after exiting their cabin. The other soldiers soon followed but when Dutch and Lynn came out of the fire, there was a problem.
"Our chutes got burned down!" Lynn told Dunn. He quickly annalyzed the situation and grasped the solution. He removed the parachute he was using and handed it to Lynn.
"Share this one!" He exclaimed.
"But what about you?" Dutch asked out of concern.
"Just go!" He said impatiently. Dutch had no other option than grabbing Lynn and jumping out despite her complaints and pleas to help Dunn.
As the two fell to safety, Dunn rushed at the crates and dragged them with him from a rope attached to them before going back to the exit while the fire engulfed the plane.
Dutch opened the chute he was given while still holding Lynn. They began gliding down just to see the plane explode right away on their helpless watch. The impact and shockwave shook their fall a little, causing them to land on other street.
Dutch and Lynn looked around for a moment, hoping to see where the wreckage of the plane and the other soldiers came down. Lynn then pointed at where the package and possibly Dunn's body must have landed together.
"Over there." Said Lynn as she began walking carefully towards the crash site.
"Wait up, liutenant! Be careful, we don't know how many beasts have spread over the site already." Dutch said, pulling out his assault rifle and giving quick chase to support his partner.
They ran a few blocks until they came across some hostiles on the way. The xenomorph. Just what they were expecting. Their terrifying and threatening figures were all over the place, lurking in alleys, hanging from light poles and standing tall on top of cars. This was where the perimeter got set.
Both Dutch and Lynn realized the danger they were in as the alien creatures began congregating in front of them but they also noticed that the plane's wreckage was right past the xenomorph swarm.
Lynn didn't take her eyes off the enemy, neither did Dutch. They just backed away a couple of feet, aiming their weapons and ready to fire at the first sign of trouble while the xenomorphs just keot examining them afar.
"Have you got this, Dutch?" She asked her partner.
"You can bet I do."
"Good." She said with a smirk, but just before she got to pull the trigger against the creatures, she saw something out of normal.
The creatures all turned around, taking a close look at something strange going on between their numbers. Before they knew it, one of them got it's head ripped off, spine still sttached to it. Green acidic blood was dripping all around. The body and then the head hit the ground with a thud and then a barrage of bullets found it's way through another xenomorph's head, fired with extreme precission.
"Is that...?" Asked Dutch in shock before getting interrupted with the answer.
"Yeah, it's Dunn." Said Lynn, surprised to see him in one piece after the explosion of the plane. Not only was he surprisingly alive and kicking, but he had close to no scratches whatsoever or any sign of broken or injured bones. That and he was displaying and incredible strength as he tackled a pair of xenomorphs against a truck and slammed their heads together until they broke.
More xenomorphs went running at him in an attempt to overwhelm him, prompting him to take a different course of action.
"Hmm, no reason to play quiet anymore." He mused to himself before something unbelievable happened.
His appearance, as well as his attire, started changing, morphing as if he was molding his own body down to it's features and his clothes as if they were part of him. He quickly reverted to a different and more casual appearance as he punched and kicked the incoming creatures away with his super strength.
Regardless of what was happening, Dutch and Lynn regained their focus and aided him by shooting all the nearby aliens that were surrounding him. Their combined fire managed to bring down a dozen of enemies with well placed headshots.
More xenomorphs stood high on the rooftops, snarling before jumping down to fight. Lynn reacted quickly and pin pointed them, blasting them out of the air and leaving their crooked dead bodies to rain down on the street.
"Good aim." Dutch complimented before turning his attention at their ally, who was being assaulted by many xenomorphs jumping on his back.
Seeing this, Dutch rushed at a light pole across the street and using his bionic arm, he ripped the whole thing clean off the ground and shifted his grip to swing it like a bat against the horde of xenorphs preying on "Dunn", swinging them away like they weighed nothing. He got close and shoved his metal fist through a pesky xenomorph's chest and ripped it's chest open and pulling out it's spine.
Dutch made the mental note to avoid touching their blood when fighting them since it's acidic properties damaged his metal parts slightly. Hended up back to back with the man he used know as Dunn.
"Care to explain some things now?" Dutch questioned, looking around alert for the xenomorphs surrounding them.
"There's plenty of time for that later, right now I'm more concerned about these ugly bastards. Just call me Zeus." He replied. Despite the change in his appearance, his voice remained the same but he spoke with a lower pitch and more grimm vibe now.
"Sounds about right." Dutch said, relentlessly punching away and shooting any xenomorph who dared get close to them.
Zeus thought likewise, morphing his hands into elongated and fierce looking claws. With them he impaled two xenomorphs with a single thrust but he inmediately felt the consequences when their acidic blood began eating apart his claw. With a strong kick, he sent them crashing away into another group of them, pushing them into some nearby cars.
Before Zeus and Dutch got any closer to keep their attack going, a grenade fell down on the surprised xenomorphs, thrown by Lynn. When it went off it blew up the cars, causing a large explosion that caught the aliens in the middle and blasted them apart.
Dutch and Zeus raised their arms and stepped back to protect themselves from the shockwave of the blast. They lowered them slowly as the fire and smoke cleared, looking over to see the aftermath of the explosion.
The whole area was cleared of xenomorphs for now. They watched as Lynn walked through the roasted xenomorph bodies, reloading her gun and approaching them.
"Are you alright?" She asked as she got close.
"Yes, for now." Dutch replied, before turning back to face Zeus. "I think you owe us both an explaination."
"Yeah, so it seems." He told them.
Dutch and Lynn watched as his hands regained their human shape while some tendrils and small tentacles sprouted from him, flashing from his back to close some cuts on the hoodie he was wearing.
"But before that I need you to keep silent about this, if you are interrogated, remember that this conversation never took place."
"If that's your game, then rest assured. We're only here to wipe out the creatures." Lynn told him in all honesty. Dutch just nodded.
"Good. It's hard to trust people these days, but I'll have to conform. I ask for complete radio silence on this." Said Zeus as he neared to pick up the assault rifle he had dropped before while fighting the horde. "Dunn was just an alias, a fake identity, I think you figured that out. Now, you may have some questions but the truth is..."
"Alex Mercer, the bioterrorist and runner from Manhattan." Lynn stated, interrupting the man. "I know about you."
"Huh, so you did your homework. Nice, saves me all the exposition about the incident." Mercer said with a smirk.
"How are you alive? You were pronounced dead after the nuke went off." Dutch inquired. Mercer waved his index finger at him.
"Don't get me wrong, the blast really tore me apart, it turned me into mush. But I had patience, and when the birds came around, I got to consume just enough mass to regain my original shape. I couldn't just show my face around after that, though, could I? Being declared dead was an advantage."
"So you made up a new ID." Dutch presumed.
"That's right, but I didn't stop at one. I needed a way to keep myself informed, well aware of the government's next moves. What you think you know from what the high ranks told you is irrelevant once you have the facts. And the facts are, the military and their underlings were responsible for blacklight. There were other runners before, things and monsters they wanted to keep from becoming public for their own sake, like your little tangle with the jungle hunter back at Vale Verde."
Mercer's words held true, Dutch knew that much. As hard as it was to admit, his government had been playing them for long. Mercer was a known bioterrorist but it was likely that the military had used him as a scapegoat for their true intentions with the virus. Biological weapons, that was so typical of them.
"And then they send in the Blackwatch to clean the scene and cover up their involvement." Lynn guessed.
"Bingo." Mercer said, almost with an eerie grin. "I might be a monster but you can bet that my makers are worse, and so are the guys who made this whole mess. Those things we were sent to kill didn't just break free by chance, and the plan didn't just catch fire all of a sudden by accident. I don't know what's going on but I plan to find out just like I did in Manhattan. You're free to help or stand aside."
Dutch and Lynn stared at him shortly before giving him a response.
"Okay, let's say we trust you, are we going to keep going with your original plan?" Lynn asked him, choosing to follow his lead.
"Yes. You'll be reporting to your superiors and giving them some words every now and then, make them think we are playing along while we cut through the ugly bastards and locate my men but behind the scenes, I will be digging into them, checking what they're up to and closing this hell hole for good. Can't have another Manhattan happening." Mercer explained to the two carefully, sharing with them his plan.
"Well, technically you're still in charge of the operation. Orders are orders." Dutch said in agreement.
"Good. You know the drill." Mercer then reloaded his rifle. "To the core, I suggest you stay behind me for cover unless you want to be live bait."
Mercer had discovered that the xenomorph didn't show up in the thermal scope, apparently because they were cold blooded creatures. They also had the advantage of having acidic blood, so Mercer would have to watch his step and refrain from touching their insides. This would prove a good challenge for him and the soldiers, but they were up to it.
The trio ran some blocks, with Mercer slowing down his pace just enough for the other two to keep up. They came across a few xenomorphs on the way, most of them scattered, separated from larger groups. They were dispatched quick and efficiently. Their movement had to stop at some points to check for survivors, they hadn't gotten lucky with that for the following five minutes.
After covering a considerable distance, Mercer signaled Dutch and Lynn to stay still and keep quiet since his radio had just received some signals, coming from the men under his command.
"Corporal Dunn, do you copy? I repeat, corporal Dunn, do you copy?"
It was private Hugh. Dutch and Lynn just watched silently as Mercer picked up and answered the call to reassure his men.
"Affirmative, Hugh. I'm with Schaefer and Kurosawa. We are not too far from your position. What's the situation?" He asked.
"A shitty one, chief. The specimens are surrounding us. We can hold up but not for long."
"Understood." He then motioned towards his two companions to follow him. "Let's roll, we've goot work to do." Lynn and Dutch nodded at his.