A/N: What's this? An update? NO WAY! Well, yeah, I've been busy with work. Too many things happening, too many shifts that are long, so little time to commit to my stories as much as I'd like. Thankfully, managed to get them to be cut down but it's a slow going process. Fingers-crossed it gets put down to 9 hours as opposed to 12.

Anyways, here's the next chapter. So, see you all next time and you're all awesome.

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Chapter 38

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Something smelled positively delightful… She did not know what it was, but it begged her to find out what it was. She followed the siren song, biting and clawing at the obstruction in her way and once she was through, relief. Cold and frigid air that was neither clear nor stale… it was saturated with history. It was violence and death. There were other, familiar smells around it that comforted her. But how could that be?

She was missing something. Forgetting something important…

Who was she?

Her eyes opened, seeking an answer and found the source of an appealing scent… above her.

Joel.

How did she know that name? Why could she not recall her own? Did she have a name?

She unfolded from her cocoon, heavy bladed tail looping out to fully extend. Curious. Its existence seemed odd to her. She curled around, reaching as far as she could to take the appendage into her hands… and froze in shock. Somehow, these hands did not seem to be hers. They were… too large, too clawed and black. And numerous. She curled them in and then straightened them, the movements felt both natural and eerie. She gazed up her arm, finding it just as chitinous and sharp-edged and pointed as her hands. She straightened up higher and felt a sense of height. The kind of height of someone who is short standing on a chair to reach something above them, and feeling a sense of awkward level of: 'This is strange, but cool; damn I wish I was this tall…'

But she was this tall. She hadn't always been this tall, had she?

She turned her head and found something that prompted her teeth to bear in a warning hiss…

It arched his back and hissed back deeper than it and arguably as vicious as she had upon seeing it. It was monstrous and just a bit taller than she was… but thicker, more muscular and masculine than she was. She judged this on its hands, which, she assumed would dwarf her own if she took its hands in hers. Another part of her piqued up in interest.

Male. Interesting. Seductive. Thrilling. Challenge.

'Prove to me you are worthy.' The thought slithered down her mind and she arched her neck to look down upon its more submissive form. It was presenting itself to her for inspection.

She stepped closer and pressed her muzzle close as she dared to its nose and breathed in its scent. Yes. Very seductive. It seemed strong, too.

But would it impress her?

That seemed important. It was all well and good to be strong, but was it able to prove its worth? Was it worthy of her? Did it have the strength to back up what it claimed?

She stepped back, head cocking to the side to the left and right as she considered the male before her. Dissatisfied with just a frontal view, she began to prowl around it, taking note of its long, strong muscular legs and arms, the size and shape of its crown and its simple arrow-tipped tail. There were scars littered about its chest and the back of its thighs. One dorsal on it's back seemed to have been chewed off. It was a survivor, no doubt.

But had it been the one who triumphed, or the one that had run away to live another day?

Once she had completed a full circle, she stepped back ten paces and stilled.

Her neck rolled and her back arched back, arms spreading wide before…

Her roar was potent and challenging.

Its roar was… impressive.

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There was only one reaction the Aeglaeca had by this event.

"Shit."

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Clad entirely in black, Shra'na cut an impressive figure as stalked through the halls to her ship. Time was of the essence but it was wiser to be prepared for battle. She was stepping into the domain of the kainde amedha, a prey that was another predator, which made it all the more thrilling to hunt. To hunt a hunter and come out as the victor was an obsession all yautja were driven towards, as it showed they were the apex predator. Their entire culture and society was based around the hunt and so, all were able to fight. Shra'na had spent many years beside her mother learning to overcome her smaller stature and the time spent with the matriarch of her clan had given her an incredible skill set. Her mother was a highly skilled hunter, more so than her father could ever claim to be and the evidence lined the walls of the home she had grown up in.

She had not set foot on a ship until she was well past her maturity and the choice had become leave or stay and watch her mother's health decline. As fierce a hunter and survivor her mother was, there was nothing that could be done about old age and as the last child she would ever birth, Sai'la had doted on her, and so their bond was much stronger than most. She could not bear to watch her mother die in her deathbed, a fate considered worse than death itself. There was no honour in dying like that, but her mother's hunting days had come to an end long before she had even been born.

Most daughters would leave their mothers after their first menstrual cycle to find a worthy mate to bear children, the need an instinct deep in the blood that urged them to procreate. Their numbers were not as large as one would expect; too many males and far too few females. For whatever reason, the majority children born to their race were males. Any females born were precious to the clan and were often kept away from other males. Unfortunately there were more than a few cases of males taking females to forcibly breed them.

Shra'na had escaped that fate when Haimon had intervened to save her life. For that she was bound to his service until she had repaid that debt, which she had but had found his clan to be an honourable one and with a final talk goodbye with her mother, had remained in his service. Haimon had ensured no one would touch her, as she would never accept a mate as most other females her kind would. She desired what humans did, a connection with the one who would become the father of her children. Her friendship a human had made her envious of their easy affections. Humankind might be weaker than them, but they had a strong ability to feel emotions and the ability to empathise with others.

"Where are you going, Shra?" a smiling voice caused her to stop and turning to face her friend, a human woman by the name of Jessica.

With eyes of periwinkle blue and long curly hair, she had already found love in another human who Shra'na had grudgingly given her acceptance to his status as her friends husband. An honour she frequently reminded him she only allowed him to continue so long as he never hurt or betrayed Jessica. At her hip was little Ar'lisa, a little girl bestowed a yautja name meaning gift. Jessica had a condition making it almost impossible for her to be pregnant, but against all the odds the little girl had been born and was spoilt rotten by her parents.

And admittedly, Shra'na was amongst the most doting of 'godmothers' a child would have. And the most protective. She had already decapitated three males who had dared try harming her. The rest had learned quickly.

"Vayuh'ta has gotten himself into trouble and I must help him," she told her the short story, coming closer to Ar'lisa as she held out her little hands as they reached for her, and carefully slipped her finger in the child's delicate, fragile hands. Lisa giggled, babbling words understood only to her as she gleefully held Shra'na's finger tight. Vayuh'ta was one of the small few Shra'na did not have to worry about around little Lisa. For a male of her species, he could be incredibly gentle and was the best friend of Jessica's husband, which was another reason she had not threatened to disembowel him for getting too close to the little human.

Shra'na was incredibly possessive and protective of Jessica and Ar'lisa. Any who dared harm then would be met with the sharp end of her blades. Many times.

"I would say be careful, but you always are," Jessica chuckled, but her eyes showed her worry. It warmed Shra'na to know she was cared about enough to be missed by someone. "Take Nicholas with you. Don't give me that look," she chuckled at Shra'na's glare at the thought, "he's a good shot and you know it. You're a skilled huntress, but you're going down into bug territory. It wouldn't hurt to have another pair of eyes."

"If you insist, I shall take him and I will bring him back to you," she promised and gently retook her finger from little Lisa.

"Come back, sister," Jessica smiled and stepped back to allow her to pass.

Shra'na nodded and continued on, finding her ship easily at the dock. Fashioned after human and yautja designs, it was sleek and beautiful. It behoved her to admit that Nicholas had designed and built it for her. He was an intelligent male and incredibly loyal to his mate. That had made her efforts to rid him from her life much harder, as eventually she had come to think of him as a friend as well. Not as close to her as Jessica, who was like a sister to her, but someone she could hold a conversation with and actually enjoy it.

She found him already geared up in his hunter's armour and waiting for her. "What took you so long? I almost fired her up to go and get V myself."

She snorted. "You would have died the minute you stepped outside," she told him matter-of-factly as she brushed past, making a point to gently push him aside and he had to struggle to remain standing.

"Only if I had to fight them hand-to-hand," he admitted as he followed after her, punching the button to close the doors. "I'm a sniper, Shra. I kill from a distance."

She only smirked at him in reply and handed him what Haimon had given her. "Use this and stay on the ship. Prepare to harness a Queen and dispatch a King."

Nick blanched. "Of course you go for the biggest fucking targets. Why is it never simple with you? I had to design this baby from scratch for you to like me…"

"I like a challenge, human. And what can I say? I'm hard to please. Now let's go. Time is of the essence."

Nicholas shook his head. Marrying Jessica had given him a bitch for a sister, but damned if she wasn't the most badass sister-in-law a guy could have.

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Scythe could not believe how much Joy had changed. She looked nothing like she had before. Even her scent had changed, familiar but different enough that his nostrils flared with the warning of danger. She was dangerous now. His little sister, the one everyone had flocked to protect from harm when they could regardless of the danger. In this form, she was fully capable of killing them all. Queens were the most dangerous members of the species. Not just because of their size and strength, but because they were arguably more intelligent than their offspring. A Queen in search of a mate was a creature not even he would dare contend with, and it seemed his sister was very interested in this male that stood before her.

He blanched. If had to watch his little sister get laid, he was going to need a lot of bleach to scrub his brain out… Yeah, they had to move. Distract Joy or the King, but how would she react? The King would kill them without a doubt. But Joy? This was not Joy. This was a stranger in the body that had once belonged to his sister. He did not know this person, this creature. The sentience was… alien. He could not predict what could happen.

'Alright. Keep out of sight. Don't engage,' Scythe warned his siblings.

'Are we not going to talk about this?' Shadow demanded, sounding angry. 'We are NOT letting Joy get pregnant.'

'Vayuh'ta mentioned something about another yautja arriving that would help with that,' Scythe added in. 'Letting Joy get pregnant is not what we're going to do, but we don't want to hurt her, now do we? They've got a drug that will knock her out and put that King out of commission, to give us time to get us and her out of here alive. This place is going to get blown up soon. We need to get to the evac site, or we're dead.'

'That's good. I have no interest in witnessing what will…' Shadow's thought derailed when the King launched an attack on Joy. 'The hell?!'

Joy's reaction was swift, she head-butted the King's head and with a keening cry, he stumbled back. It seemed his cranium was softer than hers, because she did not even look shaken up by the hit. Hell, the rest of the Aeglaeca had felt that hit. It had echoed with the sound of thunder. She stepped forward, massive leg rising up as she leapt into the air and then came down with her tail aimed to hit the King right between the eyes. Alas, he rolled back just in time to avoid being sawn in half and he grabbed onto her arm and launched her away…

The resulting thud had the ground team dispersing, taking great pains to keep out of the King's sight. It did not notice them, however, too focused on charging at the downed Queen. She performed an agile twisted of her body, landing neatly on her large clawed feet and hissed in what could only be disappointment. She seemed to be mocking the King, daring him to try better. She leapt to the side from his charge, her bladed tail swinging to plant a rib-bruising blow against his right flank and the King screeched in anger as he tripped face-first into the dirt.

'Ah hell, we need some popcorn!' Myra's amused laughter danced in their minds. 'She's totally kicking his ass!'

'For now,' Damien tacked on, green eyes focused on Joy as this time, she charged toward the King as he found his feet. 'She was trained by all of us in her former body; this one… She's not used to it yet,' he pointed out as her charge missed as she went head first into the wall, screeching in frustration. The King took the chance to bounce on her back, but she managed to leverage her legs to manoeuvre her tail to stab him in the side. It didn't deter him, but it did distract him long enough to get her head out of the wall. She twisted, her second-jawed tongue lashing at his face and the resulting screech told them she landed a painful blow. 'She's running on instinct right now,' the scientifically-minded hybrid continued as he signalled the team on the ceiling to head for the exit. 'At the very least, she can keep the King distracted while we get our wounded out of here. Then we can focus on getting her out.'

'Agreed,' Scythe nodded, his intense gaze concentrated on Ciara before the team disappeared into the density of the shadows. 'Any ideas on how to get her attention?'

'Piss her off?'

'Pissing xenomorphs off always works,' Myra jumped in, approaching her brothers as she kept an eye on the battle. Joy had managed to shift the fight to the other side of the room. 'But first we have to get that fight to move towards the exit. It seems this is a battle tailored towards the King impressing his potential mate. I doubt it's going to be quick. They can fight for days without tiring. Anyone got any dynamite?'

'What's going on in that head of yours?' Tiger sighed as she folded her arms, leaning against the edge of the exit. She was ensuring no smaller xenomorphs surprised them. Myra was not always the planner, but when she did have a plan it was generally a good one. Regardless of sarcasm and fiery temper, she had cool head on her shoulders and was incredibly good at adapting to situations and presenting a solution. It might be messy, but it would work. Having to deal with Star on a daily basis, and her messes, had given her plenty of time to hone this skill. Not that Star was that hopeless, but if her memory was any worse, she could plan her own surprise party.

'We have to close the other exits, and get their attention. There are three tunnels. Weed to plant some dynamite to close them off, leaving our exit open. Make noise and get them chasing after us.'

'And get both of them on our tails? Are you kidding me? They'll eat us alive.'

'For some reason, I don't believe Joy will hurt us… to the point of death, at least. I just don't believe she's forgotten us. Joy is still in that new body.'

Scythe nodded before Tiger could put forth a pessimistic opinion. 'Let's do it. Dmitri… Hand them over. I know you have some.'

He did not so much as reply as groan heavily over the mental link, the dislike for having to share his dynamite translating clear. 'Fine.'

As Dmitri handed out his dynamite to certain individuals, Scythe explained to Scar what was going on and he told the group that was coming to help.

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Hsan blinked at Vayuh'ta as he finished relaying the message. "Glad Scythe got Dmitri to get rid of it. He'll hoard that stuff like chipmunks storing nuts for winter. And with how much he loves fire, he'd set off an explosion and destroy an entire building just for kicks." Shaking his head, he folded his arms and focused his gaze down the tunnel. "Even so… King's can tunnel into walls of rock like it's sand. We'll have to ensure they're drawn this way just in case they decide not to go in the direction we want."

Raz straightened from the ground, his body tense and taut as a bowstring in the anticipation of release. "I can draw them this way.

"Ah, yes," Hsan eyes widened in realisation… "You're not technically related to Joy… You can emit your scent and a mental prod as a challenge neither can ignore…"

The black-and-red hybrid's dorsal spines began to vibrate, allowing drool to pool in his mouth. He had a gland he could turn his spit more acidic and insert another chemical to create a scent that would attract a female, and set a challenge to another male. Hsan had learned he was capable of this when Dunstan had found another King, a rather amazing and rare discovery. Raz had immediately set forth a challenge, and instinct he had not been able to deny. Male xenomorphs were extremely territorial and did not tolerate other males. Hsan had arrived to intervene, and had he been any later, he would have died in that fight. However, this time, Raz was stronger and smarter and more confident. He did not have the size of a King, but he could outsmart them. King's weren't as smart as Queens. They relied more on brute force than their intelligence. It put the odds a bit more in his favour, so long as he was able to outsmart the larger male.

But that wasn't his goal here. He wanted to draw them towards him….

Vayuh'ta blinked at the pair, but decided not to ask. He passed the message along to Shra'na, and was relieved that she was almost in position.

The quicker this was done, the better. He had no intention of dying, thank you.