Thank you so much for reading and commenting and sorry that you had to wait a little longer than usually for the next chapter.
katz579: Questions that even i can't answer yet for sure. And thank you for sending me that pic, it's awesome. xD
GreenAlpaca: That's a train i would take too, but i think that Lex probably has a stronger conscience than us. xP
SC Girl: A dating service!! That's the best idea i've heard. XD I wonder what Stealth would say if Lex suggested that to him.
shadowglove: You have a funny friend. :D
Taladarkiejj: I agree with you. I'll have to arrange a girlfriend to him somehow. ;)
Elunara: Well... can't really say if Scar's gonna be alright... at least he'll probably be traumatized. xp Heh, i can't imagine Stealth being the type to give presents. He just takes what he wants.
Fire Orb: Others have said the same. Stealth desperately needs a girlfriend. :D
The same familiar feeling. Darkness and silence, incoherent thoughts. This time, however, Scar knew for the most part what was going on. He didn't even try to move, but remained still, waiting for his senses to become clearer. If he played his cards right, the humans wouldn't get away with just a scare this time.
A bright light lit up, shining through the warrior's closed eyelids. He didn't react to it. There was no need to let them know he was awake. Scar lay down, resisting the urge to move his numb limbs and waited to hear any kind of sign of the humans' presence.
When nothing happened, the impatient hunter soon got bored of waiting. He didn't have all day to lie around. If the prey didn't come to him, he would have to go to the prey. And maybe try to find Lex while at it.
That thought settled it. Scar wanted to see that the woman was alright. Maybe she was being held captive in the same place as him. He didn't dare to think what they might had done to her. Anger rose from the warrior's gut as his imagination ran wild, showing him all the worst-case scenarios.
Torturing himself with frightening images had given Scar new energy and determination. He would raise hell if he found out that they had as much as even scratched her. When he had come to, he had started to observe the sensations around him and could already tell that things weren't exactly to his liking. He felt cold metal pressing on his wrists, ankles and chest, but it was what he couldn't feel that worried him more. Without having to open his eyes the predator knew that all of his equipment and armour had been taken away.
Oh, how Stealth would have laughed, if he had seen him right then.
Scar opened his other eye a little, in case there were humans nearby after all. At first glimpse he only saw the blinding light coming from above. Turning his head slightly to the left he could distinguish a wooden chair and a couple of white desks completely covered with well-organized papers and folders. No humans. On the other side there was only another chair and a window that revealed a somewhat similar room.
Scar couldn't see the door so he assumed that it was somewhere behind him. As he had thought, there were no humans in sight. He could move freely. Or at least as freely as the thick metal bars that were restraining him allowed. The predator opened his eyes entirely and lifted his head to see what they had done to him.
A hollow growl echoed from the hunter's throat when he noted the several needles and wires going from his body into a machine next to the table he was laying on. Only his loincloth and wiremesh were left, everything else the humans had taken. Perhaps he should have just thought positively, at least they had left him something. An impish grin flashed on the predator's face as he briefly tried to imagine Lex's reaction if he all of a sudden appeared in front of her, in all of his naked magnificence.
Scar took a closer look at the machine he hadn't even noticed at first. Incomprehensible lines and numbers were dancing on the screen and the predator soon got tired of watching it. He didn't care what it was meant for; it wouldn't matter after he would free himself, tear the wires off and stomp the device until it would be in countless pieces. The same he would do to any puny human that crossed his path.
The bloodthirsty warrior tensed his muscles against the unbending metal, suddenly at the brink of rage. How dared they?! He would go through every one of them slowly and painfully. He would break their every fragile bone one by one, enjoying the agonized cries and not stopping even if they begged for the relief of death. Finally he would watch their futile struggle while squeezing the rest of their lives out of them.
Thinking of the upcoming slaughter made the excited hunter's blood boil with anticipation. He was absorbed deeper into the gory fantasy, forgetting reality and hearing the screams in his mind and…
Peep peep… peep peep…
Scar blinked repeatedly, surprised by not only the sound, but also the intensity of his rage. It felt like he had just awaken from a dream. His skin was tingling all over and his heart was racing like there was no tomorrow. What had gotten into him? Lex would never again come anywhere near him if she saw him like that.
A sudden noise alerted the predator. He closed his eyes and lay motionless as someone stepped into the room.
"Well, well, look who's awake at last. Judging from that reaction just now we are starting to get results."
Scar opened his eyes again, pondering what the human had said. So the whole time they had known that he was conscious. A familiar-looking man walked to the predator, followed by two other humans, one man and the other woman. The other man went over to the desks to examine the papers while the woman a little hesitantly came closer to the warrior to get a look at the device.
Scar stared grimly at the man who had spoken to him and was probably in charge. Then he recognized him to be the other human that had attacked Stealth. The man didn't try to hide the hostile look on his face and even grimaced disgusted when observing the predator more closely.
"I noticed that you didn't like Antonio much. I can promise you that you're not going to like me either."
Scar believed that. For a moment the two engaged in a stare down, both sizing the other up. Neither of them gave up, not even when the predator suddenly flared his mandibles in a fierce growl. It was enough to give the woman a startle, but the man only glared at the warrior irritated and turned his back to him.
"You can continue behaving like that, though it won't do any good. Try to break free if you want to. I guarantee that it's impossible. This thing was designed to keep your kind under control."
Vincent went to get some papers from the other man and nodded contentedly. Then he grabbed a chair and carried it next to Scar. Casually he sat on it, throwing his feet on the table just far enough so that the predator couldn't reach him. Vincent leaned back in his chair, looking more like he was getting ready to watch his favourite show from the TV.
"Could you go get the supplies, Annie?"
"Sure."
The woman disappeared from Scar's view for about ten seconds before returning with a small trolley.
"Leave it here", the man said crossing his arms over his chest. "You may leave."
For a moment the woman looked like she was about to say something. She glanced at the predator quickly, almost like apologizing, but left the room with the other man.
The door slammed shut after them, leaving behind an eerie silence. Vincent sat quietly letting the warrior look at the equipment the woman had brought. Scar knew without telling that they were meant to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible. It didn't matter what the humans wanted of him, he wouldn't give in despite any amount of torture.
"Tell me", the man started with a cold voice. "Are you the one responsible for the disappearances in this area?"
The predator raised his eyes and saw that the two humans were now in the next room, sitting in front of some kind of computers, making notes in their papers. The man was clearly waiting for an answer and Scar realized that he must've heard him warning Lex at the caves. So they knew he could speak in their language.
Vincent put his feet on the floor and bent closer as the predator opened his mouth.
And let out a long yawn.
Scar found it absolutely amusing how a small vein popped on the man's forehead when he clenched his teeth.
"Very funny", the man stated, though his expression didn't quite match the words.
"Let's make a couple of things clear right now. I know you can talk so no use pretending you don't understand."
Vincent paused to recall something else he had heard at the caves.
"Scar, wasn't it?"
He knew he had remembered correctly when he saw the predator's surprised look. He leaned forward again, as close as it was safe to be and nearly spat the words out of his mouth.
"Alright, Scar. My name is Vincent Keyes. 15 years ago one of your kinds emerged into Los Angeles and started to slay people like cattle. My father was the head of a federal task force back then, on a mission to stop the killing and capture the creature. He was, however, killed too as well as many other good men with families."
The anger caused by the old grudge projected from the man's eyes.
"The other thing I'm making clear: if you weren't valuable research material, you would be dead already. I won't show any pity towards you and I won't think twice of hurting you when necessary."
Scar could see that the man's determination was on the edge of insanity. He didn't know whether to pity or admire it. Vincent sat straight again, forcing himself to calm down.
"You're so far only the second we've managed to caught. The first one died during the experiments, but we still got a lot of useful information. Enough to develop 'the beacon'."
Scar didn't say anything, even though the thought of the death of an honourable fellow hunter in the hands of scientists made him angry. Curiosity was stronger than the anger at east for now. The man continued his monologue.
"Simply explained your computers tell you where the best hunting grounds are and our beacon disturbs them, making any area we want to appear as the best option. That's why you're here now and not for example in some big city."
The oddly remote location had actually made Scar and probably Stealth too, wonder at first, but since it was their first human hunt he hadn't questioned anything. The predator had to give a little credit for the humans' inventiveness. That was what made them such an interesting prey.
"Without that woman things wouldn't have gone this smoothly. I would have never, however, believed any human to betray their own to defend a cold-blooded killer like you."
Vincent snorted contemptfully.
"But then again who can figure out what women are thinking. Over-emotional and easily controllable beings."
If the metal bars had been even slightly thinner, he would have been up in an instant, shaking the man until he would have told him what had happened to Lex. Since unfortunately that wasn't the case, he settled on asking.
"Where is Lex?"
Now it was Vincent's turn to look surprised. He hadn't expected him to actually talk, let alone ask something like that.
"What do you care about that?"
"Where?" Scar repeated persistently as always.
A brief annoyance could be seen on the man's face, but it soon changed to a sadistic grin. He lightly grabbed one of the needles sticking out of the warrior's arm, watching seemingly deep in thought as the translucent liquid flowed through it. Slowly he started to push it deeper into the thick skin.
"I will ask the questions here."
Gratified to see the predator's mandibles twitch from the unpleasant feeling the man twisted the needle sideways at the same time talking.
"But if you want to know so badly, she's probably still in the woods where I knocked her out. I wouldn't have let her off so easily, but apparently Antonio still has some feelings for her."
Scar felt the waves of incandescent rage and bloodlust spreading inside him the same way he had felt before the man had entered the room. He would hang that bastard on the wall with his own needles.
Vincent pulled away from the roaring and raging warrior and turned his attention to the device. The readings had gone up drastically.
"Great", he was practically rubbing his hands with joy. "We're improving. Let's see what happens when we go a little bit further."
"Keyes!"
Vincent looked at the walkie-talkie on his waist like it was a badly trained puppy that had just taken a piss on his shoes. He was extremely bothered by the interruption, but answered the call anyway.
"What?"
"Are we expecting company? Someone just activated the warehouse elevator without notifying us."
Scar had somehow managed to get his fit of rage under control when he had heard the strange voice. Suddenly he had a bad feeling.
"Has anyone seen our mystery guest yet?"
"No. And we can't contact the guard we left up. How should we handle this?"
Vincent pondered for a while and seemed to get an idea. He watched the predator's face closely as he gave his instructions.
"If our guest happens to be a dark-skinned woman, bring her to me. And no need to mention this to Antonio, understood?"
"Perfectly."
The man didn't even have to look at the machine that had started to peep rapidly to know that he had found the right nerve.
"If it really is her, try not to hurt her too badly. Of course if she resists, do what you have to do."
Scar was almost choking on his fury as the man calmly put the walkie-talkie away and stood up.
"If we're lucky, we might get the chance to find out just how much she means to you."
The malicious grin made the warrior want to rip the man's face off with his bare hands. But why did it feel like his whole body was on fire.
Vincent turned to leave, but before he did, he pushed a few buttons on the device. The burning seemed to get worse every second and Scar was having trouble forming thoughts.
"There", the man stated and walked to the door, talking more to himself than to the anguished predator.
"Increasing the dose should make things a little more interesting."
