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Chapter 26: Finesse
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Haimon and Raz were, for a lack of a better term: in a bit of a pickle. Raz dimly wondered where he had even hard that term, before casting it away and engaging the fight with... whatever it was that was fighting him. It was a relative, and of that he was sure of, but only that. The thing that was trying to impale him was startlingly very similar to him... except not as attractive. Call him cocky or arrogant, but it was the truth. He knew he wasn't beautiful by pure human standard, but by his own, well... he was the handsomest thing around.
Of course, considering his opposition, he'd win hands down.
There was nothing remotely beautiful about this... brother of his (and he used the term lightly). It was absolutely hideous. It had a warped body that as both Yautja and Xenomorph, but it was uglier and disgusting. It had a disfigured head that didn't seem to know whether to be a Yautja head, or a Xenomorph head. It came out looking like a demented watermelon that was trying to be oval, but squashed at four corners. It didn't have a mouth! All it had was a gaping hole at the bottom of its... snout, if it could be called that. And a tongue dangled as if it had been pinned and forgotten there on its... nose?
Haimon's opponent wasn't exactly any prettier. It had five too many legs and was doing nothing for itself by moving. It kept tripping over its own limbs and the only reason it hadn't been beheaded yet was because its skin was tough as nails despite its appearance. Haimon stepped back for a moment, looking at it blankly even as his eye twitched. "This creature is annoying!" he decided and fired up his shoulder cannon.
One blast... and it didn't get back up.
Now only Raz and his opponent were left moving in the room that had suddenly become drenched in... other monsters.
Raz forced the creature back, taking a swipe at the creature's head and slicing its eye. It retreated a few steps, roaring in anger and pain. He didn't give it time to recover. He leapt into the air, tail swinging around as he landed on its shoulders, forcing it to the ground. With a disgusting squelch, his tail sliced through the creature's forehead and into the cerebral and neo cortex. Instant death. Well, he double and triple checked by taking apart the body and throwing the individual pieces into different corners of the room.
Overkill? Maybe. But he was a cautious killer. Never leave an area without making absolutely sure that anything he had fought was truly completely and utterly dead. Paranoid? Meh. Paranoia had long since kept him alive. Particularly when the scientists put him into The Arena. Though, come to think of it: he was never left in there for long...
"Excellent work, Raz," Haimon complimented, his mandibles lifted, but not in aggression. Completely the opposite. Raz shifted his stance, appearing embarrassed by the compliment. However, he instantly hardened up and strutted past the Elder towards the control room. Haimon spared an amused glance around the room before skipping after the hybrid he'd come to adore; almost as much as Scar, except Raz was his Grandson – and a rather destructive one at that.
Excellent!
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When Joel saw Ciara leap into the fray, he was relieved. However, that relief would have to go on hold – a horde of fifteen bloody bugs were trying to impale him at once. He was just lucky that Lily liked him enough, to save his ass. He fired at any bug he could: left and right and front and back and up above. Down was a real problem, though. The amount of times that he had almost accidentally stepped in acidic blood was a cause for worry. In fact, he only had a small round bit of dirt to... hobble on. The rest was like a stream of green-yellow stream that sizzled at the ground beneath it.
He was for all intents and purposes, well and truly: trapped and fucked!
"What's the matter with Joy?" Joel asked Lily as she grabbed a hold on one of the bugs, only to throw it into another – sending them flying backwards into about three others.
Joel had to drop back down to the floor as Ciara threw two bugs over his head. The tails grazed mere inches away from his head.
Lily grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt and pulled him up. He took the message and secured a hold on her neck as she relocated them to an unbloodied area.
"Joy is usually not so... violent," she began as she placed Joel on the ground. "But, there are times when her survival instincts kick in. The effect is what you see. She becomes a blood-lusting warmonger. The only one, who can pull her out of it, is Ciara. However, there have been a few close calls where even she couldn't bring Joy back."
Joel could only gape in disbelief – until Lily saved his neck, quite literally, from a bug.
He nodded his thanks, and continued firing at as many annoying bugs as he could, without hitting the hybrids.
Lily kept by his side, pummelling each and every bug that came too near.
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Shadow was having the time of her life. It was like she was back in the Arena again – but this time, with her siblings alongside her. They were very few happy memories for Shadow, but one in particular had always stood forefront in her mind. It had been a day when the scientists had been bored. They had put all the females into one half of the Arena, and the males in the other. They had no idea what was happening to either side however, the prey had been easy pickings. Each had broken off into a different area, cutting down any that crossed into their invisible fighting ring.
It had been a fun day, considering it had only been a test. Of course she had lost the challenge to kill the most Xenos without getting hurt or bloodied, but it had been removed the boredom. However, upon consideration, perhaps this occurrence wasn't the same. But she was fighting alongside Ciara again. That hadn't happened for a very, very long time. It was cause enough for Shadow to enjoy herself. It had been far too long...
However, the fact Joy could be lost to them was a sobering thought. She had no desire for that to happen, so she upped the anty. She was going to give these bastards a taste of hell!
Out of the corner of her eye, Ciara flew past her as she followed behind Joy – who had tripped and fallen beneath fifteen attacking Xenos. Shadow lunged at one of the closest praetorian sneaking up behind Ciara by the tail, and swung it into six attempting to take her sisters' heads off. "Oh, no, you don't you ugly motherfucker! Get your ugly bitchface over here, you warped misshapen cretin, so I can rip out your teeth!"
The praetorian roared and charged along with its fellow fallers. Shadow grinned crookedly, baring her fangs before whipping out two daggers she'd hidden in her shirt. Her chitinous skin showed from the rips and tears she had received during the fight, then her muscles flexed as she plunged the first dagger straight in the neck of her first combatant. Keeping a grip on the dagger, she lifted her torso into a handstand to avoid impalement. She felt the xeno shudder as it screeched in pain as the dagger twisted in its neck. She vaulted over its back, back-flipping to onto the ground – grabbing its tail and launching it to smash into a xeno behind her.
"Hurry up, Ciara," Shadow whispered, casting a glance after her oldest sister. "We can't lose Joy now, not when we're so close to being free."
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Ash, Taisto and Scythe battled a few nice-sized Kainde Amedha. They had only just recently become Drones, large enough for the Queen to send out to fight. Most likely that meant she had used the other scientists and marines. However, that didn't mean they were any less dangerous than their predecessor, older and experienced siblings; especially those larger ones that had bathed the floor in blood. Damien leapt from a level above them, taking two Kainde Amedha with him on the way down. He crushed them beneath his feet, crushing their necks before dusting his shoulders off and stepping off them.
Scythe shook his head at Damien's theatrics. "About time you got here," he drawled.
Damien snarled, but his crystal green eyes shone with amusement. "You're just jealous that I can make an entrance," he retorted.
Scythe smirked. Damien was rarely like this and so he would savour it. "Well let's see who finishes this with... finesse," he said with his pokerface on.
"Gladly," Damien replied, eyes gleaming mischievously.
Scythe nodded and together, back to back, they fought and killed every Kainde Amedha that approached them. Taisto and Ash stared at them, bewildered by the ease in which the two worked together to kill their opponents. They glanced at each other, but Taisto snorted and rushed into a fray of Kainde Amedha. Ash shook his head, mandibles bouncing slightly.
"You can fight with us if you want," Damien offered. "All you have to do is attack the ones that aren't attacking us."
Ash did his best Yautja smile (not that they could see it behind his mask).
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Amber, Raoul, Fang, Claw and Raptor were spread out in a (if you looked at them from above) star formation. Ciara had couched them in this technique. They would stand a certain distance apart, far enough not to interfere with each other's battle and style, but close enough to assist any one of them that became overwhelmed. It had become a mighty popular practise amongst the Aeglaeca. It was the reason they were using it now.
"A little help here!" Amber called out; and Raoul was instantly at her side, pushing a gun against a Xenos head, firing until it dropped to the floor. He whacked another way with the depleted gun and shoved it down an advancing one's throat. "Thanks bro!" Amber gasped, leaping to her feet and took over his spot in the formation. Raoul sent a wordless reply to her through their twin link. He felt her reply and smirked before re-engaging with renewed vigour. No one hurt his sister without dying... or receiving a mutilated limb... or whichever came first, he wasn't picky.
Fang and Claw were running back and forth between their two points, using each other as a point-of-leap as they crash-tackled opponents to the floor. Once they had fallen, Raptor impaled them with his tail. "There are far too many to keep this up for long," Raptor told them, his voice as calm as ever even as he panted, out of breathe. "We need to conserve our energy."
"I'll say!" Raoul drawled, almost panting heavily. "I've saved Amber here, six times now!"
"And I've saved yours nine!" Amber retorted, catching a Xeno by the throat, pushing it back to avoid its jawed, second tongue.
"Details, details!" Raoul growled out, punching on under the jaw. He watched its head fly into the air and get thrown back a few feet, landing awkwardly on the spines on its back. "Hey!" he exclaimed before twirling to the side to avoid getting pinned by another. "I didn't know I could do that!"
"You've got quite the arm there, bro," Amber grinned, holding a smaller-sized xeno up in the air, one-handed.
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Silver and Dagger stood back to back, using only their daggers to deflect their enemy. When one slashed the neck of one, the other was slashing at the ankles. They worked in unison, each knowing what the other was going to do. They were a force not to be reckoned with. Any that stood before them, who fell, never rose again.
Andre fought near them, keeping some space between then and the Xenos he was fighting by himself. He was using a hastily fashioned spear made from the tail of a dead Xenomorph (unaware Scar had fashioned Lex just like it). He launched when there was an opening and his aim was always true. His system was like this: step this way, step that way, block, block, parry, parry, block, duck, jump, wham into, duck, block, parry, impale, punch off attacking xeno, pull tail – and repeat with appropriate adjustments.
Dmitri was opposite Andre. He held a similar, but unlike Andre: he was tearing off limbs and heads. He would jump at his opponents; force his weight upon until they were on the ground. His legs were strong enough to keep them pinned while he tore off the head or inner jaws. All of this would happen in a matter of minutes, and he would be up and at his next opponent...
Hunter, however, simply waltzed through the bodies of Xenos. He ducked and swerved through the masses, cutting through their ribcages until he came to the human, Ethan. Ethan had become separated from the group; and pinned to the wall, unable to move. He held the Xeno away, using his depleted gun as a barrier that grew less and less with every inch the xeno made, pushing closer to its prey. Hunter smirked as he leapt upon its back, grabbing a hold of either side of its jaw – and pulled back.
The Xeno screeched its pain, but it was unable to avoid the inevitable... with a sickening sound, its head as torn clean off. Ethan stared at Hunter in amazement, and then down at the still half-hanging head... "Remind me to never get on your bad side," he said, accepting Hunter's offered hand to pull him up.
Hunter spared him a shrug. "Keep a watch over yourself," he said, turning away. "I'm only saving you because you're friends with certain siblings of mine."
Ethan nodded, responding dryly with: "That was the plan."
Ethan thought he saw Hunter smile, but played it as trick of the imagination and accepted Hunter's offered weapon. "Well then... You better come up with a Plan B, to ensure you do."
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Kyle, the android, watched from the sidelines. Seeing as he was not human and thus, unable to host the Queen's young, he'd been left alone. So, he was the only one who saw the Queen – before he was hit by her tail and thrown across the cavern. He blinked, unseeing as he fell into what humans called: unconsciousness.
Tiger and Myra were back to back, striking down any xeno that tried to gain advantage and kill them. Star and Sky were doing the same. "Sky!" Star yelled, rushing towards her and with a simple manoeuvre, Sky flung her sister at three xenos. She dropped on them, choking two and head butting the one in the middle. "OW!"
Suddenly, Tiger paused in her attack, staring open-mouthed as the Queen entered the cavern. The others were too busy to notice, which was something that didn't last long.
Instantly, there was a hush as if someone had decided to hit pause. Everyone froze, mid-attack, and remained unmoving.
Then, the Queen screeched...
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"Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other."
John Steinbeck