Disclaimer: I don't own the Predator or Alien franchise, just this story.

Author's note: Alright! Chapter 2! Yes! This one will be a good deal longer than the last one. My first chapters are always short as a rule, with only one exception (my story "Unrequited"). Guess what? As a special treat, we get to learn the Exile's real name in this chapter! Alright then, here we go!

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It was almost time. It had been a day since the Council had made its decision. The young, recently exiled warrior was getting ready. The Council had decided that they wouldn't be sending him to Earth unarmed. He was allowed to take his weapons with him. Although, they had joked about this. "After all," they had said, "You're against hunting the game on Earth anyway."

The young Yautja snorted at the memory. Stuck up Council members, so steeped in their stupid traditions. He heard someone behind him.

"What is it, Ka'yel?" he asked.

"I just wanted to wish you luck," said the other Yautja. "I think that the Council made an unfair decision."

"Thank you for feeling that way, friend," said the exiled one.

"Better watch out for that one," said a third voice. "Never know when he'll attack." The two friends turned to see a slightly older Yautja. He smirked at the look on their faces.

"Leave us alone," said Ka'yel, "Let me say my goodbyes to-"

"The Exile," said the older hunter. "Remember, we can't use his name anymore."

"I would rather be an Exile than a Lou-dte Kalei like you, Na'daku," said the Exile. The older hunter growled fiercly. "What's wrong? Did I hit a nerve?"

"You have quite a mouth on you, pup," said Na'daku. "The Council made the right decision when they banished you." He turned away and stormed out of the room.

Exile smirked as he left. He turned back to Ka'yel. He looked sad, and angry at the same time. "If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be in this situation," he growled.

"Na'daku," said Exile, "Isn't worth my time anymore. All he's good for is getting warriors banished for standing up for their beliefs." Exile turned back to his weapons. He put his wrist-blades on. He had two sets, on for his left hand and one for his right. He extended each to make sure they were functional.

"You're one of the only warriors I know that uses two of those," said Ka'yel. Exile retracted the blades.

"More effective that way," said Exile. He took out his Combat staff, extended it, and spun it around for a bit. He then shortened it and put it on his back. He took out a few shuriken, extended the blades to make sure they were working, and then put them back.

"You're taking enough weapons to hunt a Kainde Amedha," said Ka'yel. "If you're not planning on hunting humans, why do you need them?"

"You never know," said Exile, checking a Smart Disk. "I might run into a situation where I must defend myself." Ka'yel nodded in agreement.

"That is true," said Ka'yel. Exile finished checking his gear, checking his cloaking device and shoulder cannon at the very end. He took off his helmet after checking the cannon. "Ty'g- I mean, Exile." Exile looked at Ka'yel. Ka'yel gave him a warrior's salute. "I will say a Kantra for you, Yeyinde." Exile saluted him back.

"As will I for you, Yeyinde" said Exile. They saluted each other for a moment, then both rushed forward. They grabbed each others' right hand, and then pulled each other into an embrace. They had always been together, for everything. Now, they would probably be separated forever. Certainly hugging wasn't something that hunters did with each other, unless it involved back pounding, but they didn't care. This would be the comrades' final moment with each other.

"I'm going to miss you," said Ka'yel, tears slowly appearing in his eyes.

"I'm going to miss you too," said Exile, the same happening to him. They pulled themselves together and put on their helmets. It was time for Exile to go.

888

The girl arrived home, picking the last few blades of grass out of her long blonde hair. She opened the back door and stepped inside.

"Lauren?" asked a voice. "You home?"

"Yes dad!" she called. She went to the fridge and got herself a soda. She sat down took a few sips. She sighed. Over the last few days, she'd been getting this strange feeling. It felt as though something was going to happen, something big. All through the day, the feeling had been getting stronger and stronger. She had been sure that whatever was going to happen, was going to happen that day. But, here it was, about 10 at night and nothing had happened. She felt a bit disappointed.

"Hey Lauren," said her dad, walking into the kitchen. "Did you hear about what happened over in Colorado?" Lauren shook her head.

"What happened?" she asked.

"They're not sure," said her dad. "They said some small town got totally destroyed. They think that the power plant blew up or something." Lauren raised an eyebrow.

"That's stupid," said Lauren. "Even if a power plant exploded, it wouldn't be enough to destroy an entire town."

"I know," said her dad. "That's why I mention it. The government is keeping something from us, I'm sure of it." Lauren grinned.

"Have you been reading tabloids again?" she asked.

"No!" her dad exclaimed. He looked at the ground. "... Yes. But that doesn't mean they aren't on to something." Lauren stifled a laugh. Her dad had been into that kind of stuff for as long as she could remember. Government conspiracies, extra-terrestrials, Area 51, stuff like that. She was into it a bit too, but she drew the line at tabloid newspapers. If one thing good had come out of it, it was that Lauren and her father both had a larger acceptance of the strange and unusual.

"Right," said Lauren, "And what does the Enquirer say?"

"They say that the Army was trying to cover up something big, and they nuked the town," answered Dad. Lauren had a skeptical look on her face. However, before their conversation could continue, they heard a noise coming from outside.

"What was that?" asked Lauren.

"Sounded like the barn door opening," said Dad. "I'm gonna go check it out."

"I'm coming with you," said Lauren. Dad nodded. he went to go get his shotgun. You never could tell who was wandering around at night.

888

Exile got up and shook his head. 'Rough landing,' he thought to himself. He looked around at the forest he'd landed in, and at the small ship he'd arrived in. It was half-buried in the ground. Luckily, he hadn't hit anything except the ground. He'd have to destroy it though, lest it be found by a human. He set the self destruct mechanism on the ship to go off in exactly 60 seconds. He cleared away from the area, trying not to look back at the last Yautja ship he might ever see again.

He remembered his very last moment with Ka'yel. "I'll try and come visit you," Ka'yel had said.

"I doubt they'll let you," Exile had said. "But, promise me something Ka'yel."

"Anything."

"If you ever do come to Earth, for any reason, please don't come hunting for humans." Ka'yel smiled.

"What kind of friend would I be if I did that?" Ka'yel had asked. "I'll do better than that. I'll try and continue your work. See if I can't get others to see that you were right."

Exile smiled at the memory. Ka'yel. His friend through thick and thin. He moved to wipe away what may have been a tear, but laughed when he realized his helmet was still on. The ship behind him exploded. It was a small, self-contained explosion. All it did was cause the ship to disintegrate. It caused no damage other than that.

Exile kept moving. He wasn't quite sure where he could go. Wether he defended them or not, he knew he couldn't go right to the humans. He knew they wouldn't accept him. At least not right away. He kept telling himself that a day would come when humans and Yautja could peacefully co-exist. He hoped to be the one to prove it.

It wasn't long before he came to a clearing, where he saw a large structure. He couldn't detect any heat sources inside. He looked around the area, and saw a smaller structure. If his research had been correct, this was a standard human dwelling. A house, or something like that. He knew there would be humans inside the house, but he was sure the larger structure was empty.

'I can stay there tonight,' he thought, 'And figure out what to do tomorrow.' He activated his stealth and moved quietly towards he large structure. Once he got there, he had a hard time finding the entrance. It was a bit cool out, and his thermal scanners weren't picking up the entrance very well. He thought he'd found handles, but he wasn't sure. He went through a few visual settings, trying to find one that would help him see better. He eventually hit a setting he'd added himself. Visible light. He'd added this in order to see as humans did.

It didn't do him much good, as it was fairly dark out. However, he could see well enough to know that he had found door handles. He grabbed them, and carefully opened the door. Unfortunately, no amount of stealth and silence is a match for rusty door hinges. The door creaked open, and the young Yautja grimaced. 'If the humans heard that, I might be in trouble.' He went inside the structure quickly, and looked for a particularly shadowed area to hide. Sure, he had stealth on, but he knew from past stories and certain experiences that Yautja stealth technology only worked so well, and that if someone was looking hard enough they could find him even while it was on.

He found a corner, and ran to it. It was full of what was clearly some kind of dried plant. A bit like the grass outside, only longer and rounder. He hid amongst the shadows and the plants, hid his medical kit and pack of extra weapons in the pile, and tried not to move. He switched back to his thermal vision, knowing it was his best chance of seeing in the dark.

888

"Shh," Dad cautioned. "Remember, we have no idea who's in there. It might be anything from a stray dog, to a hobo, to a knife wielding maniac. So keep behind me and let me do the talking." Lauren nodded, and then rolled her eyes. Her father had a shot-gun, and she knew how to use a gun too. She doubted there could be anything in the barn that her father or herself couldn't handle. After all, what could stand up to a shotgun?

They crept into the barn, eyes alert. They didn't see anything at first, which meant that whoever or whatever was in the barn was hiding. They looked around a few seconds more, and then Lauren's dad called out. "Alright! Whoever's in here, you'd better come out now!" There was silence.

Meanwhile, Exile, who was hiding in the stack of hay in the corner, tried not to move. He saw that the larger of the two humans, a male by the look of it, was armed. Making any sudden moves might cause a confrontation that could easily turn fatal. For the human, at least. He wanted to avoid such a confrontation, especially since there was a second, unarmed human standing nearby.

"You'd better show yourself!" called Dad. "I know you're in here! Do yourself a favor and come out!" Still nothing.

Exile hadn't understood some of the words the human was speaking, but he got the message. The human knew there was an intruder, and was trying to bring them out of hiding. Exile had no intention of doing so, but, unfortunately, his cloaking device disagreed. Had Exile been paying more attention, he would have noticed that the power supply had been damaged when he had crashed. It was an easy fix, but it didn't matter at this point. His cloaking device began shorting out, and he was soon completely visible.

"What the..." said Dad, seeing the tall figure suddenly appear in the haystack. He aimed his gun. The guy looked big, but that wasn't gonna scare him. "Hold it right there!" Exile stiffened. The human could definitely see him.

"Who are you?" asked Dad. The figure didn't answer. Dad got a bit agitated. "I'm gonna ask again, and you'd better say something this time. Who are you?" Exile didn't know how to answer. He tried backing away.

"Hey!" exclaimed Dad. "I didn't say to move!" He kept his eyes on his target, saying to Lauren, "Get that flashlight hanging right there next to the door. Let's see who this joker is." Lauren grabbed the flashlight. She'd meant to get one before they left, but her father had wanted to get out to the barn right away. She turned the flashlight on and aimed it at the figure.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, seeing it lit up. It was so tall, with claws and pale, yellowish skin. It couldn't be human!

"Whoa!" exclaimed Dad, starting to pull the trigger. Exile was faster. Quick as a flash, he raised his arm and shot out a two-pronged dart. The dart hit the shotgun and knocked it from Dad's hands. It sent it into the barn door, slamming it shut. "Lauren run!" exclaimed Dad. "I'll hold it off!" Exile could sense the panic, and decided to try and communicate.

"Wwwait," he said, with some difficulty. He had gone to great lengths to understand humans, so he knew a good amount of words. He knew as many as some of the Elders. In fact, he knew more than most. Of course, he didn't know everything, but he knew enough to try and carry on a conversation.

"D-did it just talk?" asked Lauren. Exile shook his head.

"Mmnot heer to hurt yuu," Exile said, dragging out a few vowel sounds.

"Somehow I doubt that!" exclaimed Dad, pointing to his now useless gun.

"Mo understaand," said Exile. "Didn't wanna get shot. Hadda shoot first. Mo hurt yuu." Lauren looked carefully at Exile. His hands were in the air, as if he was trying to show them he wasn't armed. Or, at least, that he wasn't aiming anymore of those dart-things at them.

"W-what are you?" asked Lauren.

"Yautja," said Exile.

"What the hell is that?" asked Dad. Even though he was clearly in danger, he was still going to get right in this thing's face. Exile didn't know what 'hell' meant, but he could detect the aggression in the male's voice. This human was very brave. Exile pointed up. "Huh?"

"I-I think he means the sky," said Lauren. "That's what you mean, right?" Exile nodded.

"He's part of the sky?" asked Dad. "The hell's that supposed to mean?" Lauren thought about it for a second. Something in her mind clicked.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, forgetting her fear in her moment of discovery. "I get it! Dad, he's trying to say that he's from the sky! He's from space!" Dad blinked.

"I asked what he was, and he gave me where?" he asked.

"Maybe he doesn't know much English," suggested Lauren. "He could've thought you were asking where he was from. Or, maybe he didn't know how to explain it other than telling us he was from space." Exile nodded. Lauren looked back at him. Her fear of him was quickly diminishing. He didn't seem to want to hurt them, and because of her dad she was already more accepting of the strange. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" mimicked Exile. He was trying to work out exactly what the question was. Lauren seemed to understand that.

"Your name," said Lauren. "My name is Lauren. You?" Exile understood. She wanted his name. He was about to say 'Exile,' when he realized that it didn't matter. While the Yautja weren't supposed to use his name anymore, he was certainly allowed to. And so could they.

"Ty'ger," he said.

"Tiger?" asked Lauren. She looked closely at him, her flash-light beam running up and down his body. His skin actually had a lot of stripes, so the name seemed fitting. The exile thought about the way she'd said it. It wasn't quite the right pronunciation, but he liked the word. It had a nice feel about it. Tiger. He seemed to remember learning something about an Earth animal called a 'tiger.' It was supposed to be a dangerous hunter. He could live with that. Tiger, he decided, was a good name.

"Tiger," repeated the young Yautja.

"Now hold on," said Dad, finally interrupting. "Just a few seconds ago, this guy nearly took my hand off with that thing he shot at me. Now we're exchanging names with him!?"

"Dad," said Lauren, "Look at him. I know he's an alien, but he's not trying to hurt us. He only shot at you because you were going to shoot him." Tiger nodded.

"How do you know he's telling the truth?" asked Dad. As an answer, Tiger walked right over to them. He reached past them and grabbed the gun that had been pinned to the wall. He yanked out the dart and handed the gun back to Dad.

"Telling the truth," mimicked Tiger. Dad looked at his gun. It wasn't too messed up. He could shoot Tiger right now, point blank if he wanted too. But, he was sure that Tiger knew that and had handed him the gun anyway.

"See?" said Lauren. "I think we can trust him." Dad looked at Tiger, then at Lauren. He sighed. It was probably his fault. He had brought Lauren up by himself after his wife had died. In doing so, she'd gotten his weird-side. Now, here she was, defending a big scary alien guy. He turned back to the big scary alien guy in question.

"You're lucky you got caught in my barn," he said, getting right up in Tiger's masked face. "If I wasn't so open-minded, I'd blow your head off." Tiger seemed to understand, nodding slowly. "Now, what is it you want?" Tiger thought for a moment, trying to find the right words.

"Nneeed a place tuu staay," he said, trying to pronounce everything correctly.

"Maybe he could stay in the barn," suggested Lauren.

"What!?" exclaimed Dad. "You're seriously thinking about letting him stay? We don't even really know what he is! On top of that, if he were a human, I still wouldn't let him stay! We just met him! We know nothing about him!"

"Dad," said Lauren, "Where else could he go? He's a six-and-a-half to seven-foot alien, and we're the only people around for a hundred miles that aren't going to shoot him on sight. Besides, if he really wanted to hurt us he would have done it by now. He could have done it before we even saw him."

"Why can't he go back to his ship?" asked Dad. Before Tiger could answer, Lauren spoke again.

"If he could, he probably wouldn't be wandering around looking for a place to stay," she said. Tiger nodded. He was going to say that he'd blown his ship up as part of the standard procedure, but he felt he didn't need to now. Dad sighed again. This whole situation was nuts. But, he decided, it might turn out to be a dream tomorrow, so it couldn't hurt.

"Alright," said Dad. "I suppose he can stay here for tonight. But tomorrow, we're gonna half to sort all this out and decide what to do next." Lauren smiled.

"Thanks Dad," she said. She turned to Tiger. "You can stay here tonight. You understand?" Tiger nodded.

"Understand," he repeated. Lauren got the feeling that she could trust him.

"Okay then," she said. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Toomorrow," nodded Tiger. Lauren and her dad left the barn, shutting the door behind them. Tiger looked around, trying to find a place to sleep. What had just happened was crazy, but he would deal with it in the morning. He chalked the encounter up as proof that humans and Yautja could work out problems without violence. Or, rather, without anyone sustaining an injury or dying. Besides, he was tired from his trip and rough landing. He needed sleep.

He went over to the haystack where he had hidden earlier. He decided to lie down, thinking that it could serve as a temporary bed. He was soon asleep.

888

Lauren was laying in bed as well, running over the events that had just taken place. An actual alien was sleeping in their barn! That was so cool! She went to sleep, hoping it wouldn't end up being a dream.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Wow! Weird chapter, huh? Oh well. I did the best I could and pretty much got the results I wanted. There's going to be a good deal of comedy over the next few chapters, but it'll eventually get serious. I hope you all stick around long enough to see it.

So yeah. Exile went through three names in this chapter: Exile, Ty'ger, and Tiger. He'll be staying Tiger from now on, unless another Predator shows up, which may or may not happen. not sure yet. And Lauren's dad is gonna stay as Dad. There isn't much reason to change his name (or rather give him an actual name) just yet.

Stay tuned!

Translations, for those that don't know, are as follows:

Lou-dte Kalei: woman(literally "child-maker") used as an insult.

Kantra: prayer

Yeyinde: Brave One

Mo: No (I figured it was similar enough that Lauren and her dad could understand it)