Chapter 3: Awakening of the Beast

Alexa spent the night resting in Scar's private quarters granted to her by none other than Elder Zechaot himself. She found herself looking at all the strange objects that Scar had in his room because they were so alien to her and she wanted to know more about these Yautja hunters. Clearly they were a civilized and technologically advanced species far beyond humanity; but some aspects of their culture just felt so...different to put it bluntly. There was no other word that Alexa could've used to describe Yautja culture when comparing it to humans. They were obviously not savages and they welcomed her warmly aboard the Shadow Hunter clan mothership and into their bloodline because of the Mark of Honor of which Alexa bared. She eventually realized that having such a symbol engraved into her skin meant total admiration from most Yautja since respect must be earned before it can be given, no matter what culture of sentient life it belongs to. It all started to make sense why the clan members whom he had already met treated her just like one of their own; with Cage of course being the one and only exception. Alexa remembered that Wolf told her the true reason why Cage hated the human species was because of a failed hunt he partook in over 100 years ago where he was almost killed by a human. The only thing however, she had no idea if it was even possible for a human to kill a Yautja. They were clearly much stronger than human beings and she was lucky that Scar chose to spare her life and instead form an alliance with her back on the pyramid. But then again, she thought it would be impossible to kill the Xenomorphs as well but Scar and her own survival instincts proved her wrong. The truth was that if something bleeds, then it is in fact possible for it to be killed. Scar could've died back there, but he didn't. Alexa still didn't know if that was pure luck that Scar still lived or if all Yautja could survive a wound of that size. Whatever the case, she was glad to know that he wasn't going to die anytime soon and that feeling helped her sleep well that night. The bed inside Scar's quarters was quite soft and warm as the blankets seemed to have been made out of animal hide just like the fabric in the loincloth that Alexa found herself wearing when she first woke aboard the mothership. She had no idea how to remove the wrist blades despite being able to successfully take off all the other articles of Yautja clothing she was wearing that day, so she opted to just sleep with them still on anyway. Thankfully, she did not activate them by total accident while sleeping.

She was awoken the next morning with the feeling that someone or something was stroking her face. Whoever it was that was doing this was clearly being gentle as each caress was handled with a gentle touch. Alexa figured that it was another one of the Yautja, since she was the only human being aboard this vessel; which she was entirely correct. She slowly opened her eyes as her blurred vision soon came into focus, revealing the figure that was tenderly touching her unconscious face. Alexa quickly widened her eyes and sat up right in the bed as she saw the Yautja kneeling by the bedside. This Yautja looked quite familiar to her, as evident by the massive blemish present on his chest. By no doubt, it was Scar. "S-Scar? What are you doing here?" She questioned the Yautja, confused by his actions and why he wasn't in the ship infirmary anymore. "Fully…recovered." Scar said in response. Alexa then realized that unlike Elder Zechaot, Wolf and Gua'ytaan; Scar could not speak her language fluently. He had to pause frequently whenever speaking to Alexa in her native tongue but she couldn't blame him since it looked extremely hard to speak a language such as English with jaws like a Yautja. They were clearly not designed for speaking a dialect like this, yet they were able to do so anyway. "I honestly didn't think you were going to survive, Scar. If I had taken that wound like you, I would be dead meat for sure." Said Alexa, addressing her earlier concerns about his chances for survival. "Heard that…from… Gua'ytaan. Said you…watched over me…with worry." Replied Scar. He had already been told by the female Yautja healer Gua'ytaan that Alexa had been watching over his unconscious body for several hours and she also seemed to be extremely anxious about something. Neither Scar nor Gua'ytaan could tell if it was because she wanted him to live or if she had some questions to ask him; but the truth was that I involved both. "I did. I was scared that you would die and I had some things I needed to say to you." Alexa said in response. Scar seemed to be interested in whatever Alexa had to tell him or rather ask him in this case, so he opted to listen on her behalf. "What…is it?" He questioned her with curiosity.

"I want to know about the symbol you engraved into my cheek. Your people call it the Mark of Honor, but why did you give it to me?" Asked Alexa. It felt like a sweet release to finally let this question off her chest for what felt like an eternity in her mind. She waited for Scar to finally give her the answer to this question of which she desired for what almost felt like forever. Was it because he wanted to express his gratitude towards her for saving his life back on the pyramid, or was it bound to be something greater? The truth would soon be revealed. Scar clicked his mandibles once again before he replied to Alexa. "You…proved your worth…true Yautja…by blood. Thank you…for sparing…my life." Said Scar in response. Alexa was somewhat right in her prediction to why Scar had given her this strange alien symbol to bear on her flesh for the rest of her life, but also because of how she had supposedly demonstrated her worth to become a blooded warrior by Yautja law. What she did not know until now was that Scar equally owed his life to her. After all, the two of them had spared each other's lives and fought together against the Xenomorphs. "I just couldn't bear to see you die, Scar. Sure, you may be a monstrous alien in the eyes of a human like me; but something told me that you were more than that and didn't deserve to meet such a bitter fate." Replied Alexa. She wanted to be pure and honest with the Yautja hunter because the same reason why she didn't want to watch him die on the frozen Antarctic ground; a reason of which she did not know. It was very confusing especially with her becoming a member of the Shadow Hunter Yautja clan and the doubt she had if she would ever get to return back to planet Earth. Even if Alexa did get the chance to go back to the human home world, it was very likely that she would no longer be living a normal life after what she had experienced aboard the Yautja clan's mothership despite it not traumatizing her in any given way so far. "You…care for…fellow Yautja…brethren now?" Questioned Scar. He was under the impression that Alexa now cared about the lives of the Yautja hunters because of how she was technically considered one by law. "I'm not a Yautja, Scar. I'm a human being and that's all I'll ever be. But I do care about the lives of your clan members, Scar. Hell, I even felt bad for you before I even knew that I was part of the Shadow Hunter clan." Explained Alexa, stating that she was a human by blood yet she still stood among the members of the Shadow Hunter Yautja clan and she even felt sorrow for Scar; uncertain if he would truly recover or not. "But…Why? Aren't oomans…judgemental…in prejudice?" Scar questioned once more. "Yes, we are. But no two humans are the same. There is so much about humanity that you have yet to learn about, Scar." Replied Alexa as she climbed out of the bed and began to put her Yautja armor back on.

Scar took this statement in for a moment. He remembered being taught that Yautja were the purest and strongest race in the entire Milky Way Galaxy, superior to all other species out there; yet not weakened by such primitive faults like war. The human species, which the Yautja commonly referred to as 'oomans' and to a lesser extent an insult known as 'pyode amedha'; which when translated into English loosely meant 'soft meat'. The Yautja knew about the many wonders of the Milky Way Galaxy that humanity had yet to uncover themselves; such as massive alliances of various extra-terrestrial races of which the Yautja were not affiliated with in any sense and ancient artifacts that lingered in space as remnants of long-gone alien civilizations. Yet the Yautja knew only a limited knowledge of the human species. They knew that the ancient Mayan peoples from thousands of years ago on planet Earth once worshiped their kind as if they were Gods and that humanity at the current time was still considered to be "primitive" by galactic standards since their planet was still divided and they had yet to develop technology capable of granting humanity interstellar travel. But something about the humans was unique, their determination to discover the unknown and fight against the very weaknesses weighing them down. They seemed very interested in the idea about extra-terrestrial life; which would explain the expedition team that Weyland-Yutani had sent to the Antarctic Circle. However, they also feared extra-terrestrial life as well; considering how Alexa seemed to be afraid of Scar at first. It could not be denied that the humans were an interesting species and they had something great to truly offer the Milky Way Galaxy; but that time had not yet arrived. Scar wanted to know more, as something about this human female captivated him. She fought just as well as any Yautja on a hunt and she seemed to deeply care about Scar a lot, making her more than worthy enough to bare the Yautja Mark of Honor on her flesh. Before he even knew it, Alexa had already left his private quarters and he was now alone in this room.

Alexa had left the private quarters and was now heading towards the bathing chamber since she felt it was about time that she cleaned herself. From what she had heard, this Yautja bathing chamber was supposedly like one of those public bathhouses that existed in ancient Rome. At first she thought that having to share a bath with one or perhaps several of these Yautja wouldn't be a very comfortable experience; but she remembered that most of them treated her as an equal because of her Mark of Honor. The chances of one of them trying to take advantage of her or even look at her bleakly were very slim, so Alexa assumed that she had nothing to worry about. As she entered the bathing chamber, she was met with the night of a massive bath that appeared to be the size of a swimming pool. Several Yautja could already be seen inside, most of them being males and a few of them were females. They were all oblivious to Alexa entering the bathing chamber, as they just kept on bathing themselves in the steaming hot water. There were also some towels of some kind hanging on a rack near the bath. With them not paying any attention to Alexa, she began to strip down her Yautja clothing. She felt uncomfortable if there was any male in the presence of her while doing so, but she figured that most Yautja males weren't even sexually attracted to human females anyway so they probably wouldn't give her an unnerving stare. Once she was now naked, Alexa began to slowly tread into the water of the bath. The water itself felt so warm and relaxing, giving Alexa the feeling of solace. She couldn't help but give a slight moan out of how good the water felt on her body; which in turn caught the attention of the Yautja inside the bathing chamber with her. Their looks at her were brief, as they were simply nothing more than just quick glances over to see that the blooded human female was indeed bathing in the chamber with them. They didn't seem to care about her being there anyway, so it really didn't matter. Alexa just continued to immerse herself in the warm water as she thought about Earth, the likelihood that her family thought she was dead and the strangest out of all her thoughts of the moment being…Scar. She wasn't sure why she was thinking about Scar again, but it brought a convivial feeling to her and that was all that mattered at the moment. After all, Alexa needed something else to dwell on instead of if her true human family by blood was under the impression that she was killed on that Antarctic expedition. Staying positive in a time and place like this was a priority of her.

While most of the Yautja inside the bathing chamber did not seem to care that Alexa was in there with them, there was the rancorous Yautja Cage present; who Alexa knew thanks to Gua'ytaan for having a strong grudge against her species. He stood at the opposite end of the bath from where Alexa was situated and just glared at her. Cage also had the overpowering urge to lash out on her due to his extreme detestation for humans; but he knew that if he tried to attack Alexa in the presence of other Yautja he could possibly be tried for treason among the Shadow Hunter clan. He didn't even bother to consider the possibility that Alexa might be just as strong as the other Yautja claimed because Cage was too caught up in his own close-minded approach that humans as a species were vile and worth nothing more than hunting game for Yautja. With all that set in mind, Cage knew that it was his best bet to wait until the other Yautja had left the bathing chamber, leaving only him and Alexa inside. Given how these other Yautja had been bathing for a quite some time and Alexa only recently came in; there was a chance that his window would arrive soon. He figured that Alexa hadn't even noticed him in there, so all he had to do now was keep a low profile and wait. I'll show you who belongs in this clan's bloodline, you filthy ooman. Cage morbidly thought to himself. He didn't care if this was a violation of the sacred Yautja Honor Code because didn't even consider Alexa to be a Yautja warrior despite her bearing the Mark of Honor on her cheek, proving that she was indeed blooded. To him, it would have been no different if the Yautja Mark of Honor was given to an animal. Words could not describe how much Cage wanted to slaughter her; but he also feared that Scar might discover this once he had received the word that he was fully healed and out of the ship's infirmary as he at moment was not aware of this. Cage was much older than Scar and therefore had been blooded for a much longer period of time, so he thought of Scar's choice to brand a human female with the Yautja Mark of Honor to be grave mistake abusing the righteousness and purity of the sacred Honor Code. He simply thought Scar was nothing but a foolish Youngblood.

After a few minutes had passed, the other Yautja inside the bathing chamber decided that they had enough of their own time cleansing themselves, so they climbed out of the bath and left. Now only Alexa and Cage remained in the ship's bathing chamber with Alexa still remaining from top to bottom unaware about the bitter and blemished Yautja hunter glaring right at her. His mind was fueled by anger and his eyes were full of a desire to spill Alexa's blood in the name of the Yautja Goddess Paya herself. Cage clicked his mandibles as he slowly began to tread through the bath's water towards Alexa. Though he had removed his wrist blades along with all his other clothing before entering the tub, he still had them all placed in a pile near the water's edge. He reached a hand over to the pile of his Yautja attire and pulled out a shiny dagger. This was a dagger that he always kept with him, engraved with words of the Yautja language reading out "payas leitjin-de Hma'mi'de" which loosely meant "remember the Gods' practice" when translated into English. To him, the practice of the Gods was to uphold honor in the name of justice; despite him not being a Yautja Enforcer. He still thought that Scar had made the imprudent choice to give this human female the Yautja Mark of Honor since he considered their kind to be a lesser species. If Elder Zechoat or any other of his fellow Yautja brethren couldn't see past the scar on Alexa's face; then Cage was determined to kill her. "Come to me, my prey." He spoke to Alexa in his own tongue as he couldn't speak her language because he thought learning to convey it would be nothing but a waste of time. Alexa opened up her eyes upon hearing the sounds of a Yautja's mandibles clicking; which she knew at this point was how their kind normally talked. She looked over and froze when she saw a Yautja face that looked all too familiar but in no good way at all. This face had darker coloured skin than the other Yautja she remembered, a missing mandible and one of his eyes was entirely white with a nasty lash across its face. She knew exactly who this Yautja was, Cage. When he pulled out his dagger from underneath the water and flashed her a morbid look in his eyes, Alexa quickly backed herself out of the bath only for her to be pressed up against the wall with Cage holding a dagger against her throat.

"I know you can't understand what I say; ooman, but I'll tell you regardless. You do not belong here as a member of the Shadow Hunter Yautja clan and you do not deserve to bear the Yautja Mark of Honor on your skin, tarei hsan." He spoke to her in a very threatening tone, calling her unworthy and not fit to live among the Shadow Hunter Yautja clan. Alexa could feel her skin starting to crawl and chills going down her spine with every syllable of his words despite all of it remaining entirely incomprehensible to her. Cage was simply that terrifying, especially since he looked like a misshapen horror compared to the likes of the other Yautja in this clan who admittingly weren't exactly the best looking aliens Alexa could possibly have imagined of. He kept on clamping the dagger against Alexa's neck, forcing more dread onto her. "Get the fuck off me!" Alexa blurted out in anger. Cage clicked his mandibles in response, which in Yautja body language meant laughter. "You have some nerve for a lou-dte kale of your kind." He said, thinking her to be less than him not just because she was a human but also because she was a female. Alexa still didn't know what he was even saying to her, but she figured that whatever it was must have been an insult directed towards her. "I don't care what shit is going on inside your head, but you'll never get away with killing me." Alexa said in response. She knew that he could understand her, but she couldn't understand him; so that clouded what the true meaning to what he said to her was. However, Alexa knew clear and well that Cage wanted to kill her and spill her blood. She was not willing to let a Xenomorph Queen do that to her back on Antarctica, and she certainly wasn't going to let Cage commit a grave crime against the sacred Honor Code. Alexa decided to strike Cage with a blow against his face with her fist, hoping to get the Yautja to reconsider his thoughts about trying to slaughter her. Unfortunately, that's not how it turned out. Punching Cage in the face only seemed to get him angrier at Alexa and he in turn punched her harder in the gut with a force far stronger than the one she just gave him, causing her to fall the floor groaning in pain. She landed on the ground with a loud thud. "This is exactly why we should never let low-life creatures like you oomans to be branded with the Yautja Mark of Honor!" Cage screamed at her in his native language, flaring out his mandibles out of pure malice with the dagger still within his grasp. He then clamped down his foot onto her back, pressing down with extreme pressure. Alexa could only scream in pain as Cage had her pinned down on the ground, asserting his dominance over her. It seemed like this was how Alexa was going to meet her bitter end, being gutted alive by a resentful Yautja with an extreme hatred for her species. Somehow this felt even worse than dying from hypothermia out in the cold Antarctic wind.

Scar was traversing the corridors of the mothership, looking for Alexa. He checked just about every part of the ship where he'd assume Alexa had taken herself to, except for the bathing chamber that is. It was only a matter of time before he would search this room in addition to all the other areas of the Shadow Hunter clan's mothership, so he headed there anyway. When Scar arrived at the door of the ship's bathing chamber however, he heard what he could only assume was Alexa screaming out in pain. His eyes widened out of shock, fearing that Alexa might have accidentally injured herself using the Yautja equipment from the gauntlets. She had a hard time figuring out how to work those gauntlets when she first met up with Scar aboard the mothership; so Scar had a good reason to suspect this was the case. He quickly ran inside, only to be met with a horrifying sight. He saw Cage declaring his dominance over Alexa as he continued to step on her back with a dagger in his hands and both of them were completely naked. Cage was about to run the blade of the knife across Alexa's face where the Mark of Honor stood, when he looked up and saw Scar gazing at them out of total surprise and anger simultaneously. Scar narrowed his eyes and growled at Cage, before launching at the other Yautja with a charge tackle. He pushed Cage off of Alexa's back, relieving her of the pressure and pain he was inflicting upon her as Cage was slammed up hard against the wall of the bathing chamber loud enough to create a metallic bashing noise. "Get your filthy claws off of Alexa! This is your one and only warning, Cage!" Scar screamed at Cage in his native language, his voice so full of rage he could not control himself. He then slammed his fist against Cage's head, causing him to collapse onto the floor while groaning in agony, leaving behind a little bit of his lime-green blood on the chamber's wall. Scar then looked over at Alexa, lying on the ground not too far from Cage and she as well looked like she was in a great deal of pain. His eyes went from being filled to the brim with ire to worry in such a short amount of time, as this was something that troubled him deeply. Seeing Alexa in such pain gave Scar a feeling of uneasiness and he was determined to step in and aid her because of the words she said earlier. She may not have been a Yautja, but she still cared about them now that she was part of their clan. Scar grabbed a nearby towel of the rack in the chamber and made his way over to the lone wounded human female.

"Alexa…" She heard a family raspy voice say, one that sounded like it was deeply concerned about her. Alexa looked up and there stood Scar, a look in his eyes present that Alexa could've sworn meant he was on the verge of tears if that was even biologically possible for Yautja for all she knew. He held a towel in his hands, to which he wrapped around her when she sat up straight. It felt good for Alexa to be swathed in something so soft in warm after being thrashed by the virulent Yautja Cage. She also noticed that Scar didn't stare at her like he wanted to take her, but because he genuinely cared about her. "Scar…Thank you." She said in response to his generous actions. "What happen…Cage…try to…rape you?" Questioned Scar, assuming that was the case since both of them were naked when he walked into the bathing chamber. "No. I don't think Cage was aroused by me one bit. He was trying to kill me." Replied Alexa, revealing the truth to Scar. Alexa was in so much agony and couldn't accept the fact that one of these alien hunters tried to kill her just one day after being inducted into their clan's bloodline, so she started to tear up. She didn't care if it made her look weak in front of the bruiting Yautja before her because she just could not control it. Tears were soon flowing down her face as she wrapped her arms around Scar in a tight embrace, desperately trying to comfort herself. Scar was surprised by her action, but he let her do so. He was surprisingly touched by the feeling of Alexa sobbing into his scared, muscular chest; mainly because this was something that no female of any species had done to him ever before. Scar returned the favor as he too also brought Alexa into a tight embrace. It was a feeling he never had before and wanted to cherish it while it would last for Paya knows how long. Alexa then lifted her head from Scar's chest and looked at him directly into his eyes. "Do not worry…Alexa…will protect you…won't let Cage… kiande amedha…or other ooman…hurt you." Scar said to Alexa, stating that he would do his best to ensure that nothing like this would ever happen again. Alexa had to admit it; she was indeed touched by these words he spoke. Now she knew that there was a reason why she still thought about the look he gave her; there was so much more to this alien that she could've imagined. He looked like a beast on the exterior, but inside lied someone who cared about her and would do whatever it meant necessary to keep her safe from the hands of the wicked. It brought joy to her heart, almost like she had found an angel inside Hell. "Scar…" Alexa said in response.

Cage's head was buzzing with pain, making it a struggle for him to get back up on his own two feet. He felt dizzy and light-headed, which meant that Scar must have hit him on the head pretty damn hard. Cage clicked his mandibles as he brought one of his claws up to his face. The pain was on par with a throbbing c'nlip hangover; excruciating to the mind as it could possibly be. Some of his lime-green blood was now on his claws, indicating how hard Scar must've lashed him; enough to draw blood apparently. He saw that Scar was on the ground with Alexa, clearly going soft for this human female in Cage's mind and this gave him the opportunity to quickly bail out of the bathing chamber. Cage knew the window was short, so he had to move swiftly. However, as he came closer to the blast door, Cage felt something sharp and pointy poking the bad of his head. It was clearly a bladed weapon, most likely the Wrist Blades from Scar's gauntlets. He turned around to be met with Alexa and Scar, both of them glaring at him angrily as Scar kept his Wrist Blades pointed directly at him. Cage knew that he didn't have the endurance to continue fighting; especially not after Scar bashed his head against the wall. "You're not going anywhere, traitor." Scar spoke to him in their native language. "Elder Zechaot will make you pay for what you've done." Stated Alexa. Cage then realized what he had done. Attempting to murder another Yautja was one of the worst possible crimes that a Yautja could commit against the jurisdictions of the sacred Honor Code; which Cage technically just committed since Alexa was blooded under Yautja law and now a decorated member of the Shadow Hunter clan. Cage's actions just cost him his position as a Yautja hunter, labeling him as a fiend for trying to slaughter Alexa in cold blood. He was now a Bad Blood.


Author's note: Hey everyone, Cosmic Sword11 here with another chapter of Predator and Prey coming right at you! I hope you enjoy this new chapter because there will be another one coming out eventually. But that is not all, my friends. I promise you that I will give you another fanfiction set in the same continuity as this story on Christmas Day this year. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but it involves an Enforcer Yautja teaming up with a certain Asari Justicar that I'm sure most of us know. Does that sound enticing? If so, then tune in on Christmas Day to receive a bonus gift from Cosmic Sword11 this holiday season. I wish you all happy holidays and a happy new year, so peace out until next chapter.