Random and useless fact: It has become my personal opinion that Adele would have made a much stronger female lead than Lex. Not that I don't appreciate Lex, but I think, all in all, that Adele could have given both aliens and predators a better run for their money, so to speak. XD

IXI

Adele had not traveled far before she heard the voices. Rounding a corner, flashlight held aloft, she paused for a moment as the sound came to her muffled by the thick stone of the pyramid surrounding her. As soon as she realized the noises were coming from humans, she began to run, moving with a purpose and a hope that perhaps she just might make it out of this ordeal alive. Her footsteps echoed eerily in the stillness; from time to time she would halt, soften her breathing, and listen attentively. The voices seemed to be heading in a direction parallel to her own, and realizing that only a wall separated her from the others she sped forwards. She burst forth from the passage to find herself in a small circular room; startled shouts alerted her to the fact that she had been found.

She swiveled around to find Sebastian and Lex standing within the shadow of another passage, both staring at her with expressions of incredulousness. It was Lex that broke the stunned silence first, moving forward quickly to embrace Adele; as she stepped aside Sebastian appeared, clapping her hard on the back.

It was Lex who spoke first. "Rousseau – we thought everyone was dead …"

"There were some sort of –of creatures that attacked us," Sebastian added, his Italian accent thickened by apprehension. "They were humanoid-"

"I've seen them," Adele said heavily. "Nobody else made it besides the two of you?"

Lex had caught sight of the spear Adele carried, and her widening eyes moved from the weapon to the strange strand of hair dangling from her belt. In dawning comprehension she breathed, "Rousseau? Did you kill one of them?"

Having momentarily forgotten about her trophy, Adele glanced down and absently fingered it. She flashed them both a fierce grin, feeling much more confident and secure now that she knew that she wasn't the only human prowling these depths. "Yes."

"Incredible," Sebastian said, examining the spear she held out before them. "How …?"

"Several bullets through the head," Adele replied, letting Sebastian take the weapon from her. She asked again, "No one else survived?"

"No," Lex said, and her voice trembled. Adele could see, even in the dimness, the telltale glimmer of tears in her eyes. "Stafford and Boris … the humanoids killed them. And Weyland … he stayed behind to fight one of them so we could escape …"

Adele considered this grimly; Weyland was most certainly dead. Of the thirteen to enter this temple as part of the expedition, only three remained that they were aware of. They were outnumbered by the creatures … but the creatures had lost one of their number, as well, and Adele allowed herself for a moment to revel in satisfaction and pride at that fact. Her attention drew back to her two companions then, asking, "Are either of you armed?"

"No," Sebastian said, handing her back the spear. Lex echoed his answer with a shake of her head.

Adele set her newly acquired weapon down before withdrawing the Smith and Wesson, sliding out the magazine, and checking the rounds. There were only three left, but it would suffice. Reinserting the cartridge, she extended it grip first to Lex, who stared at it for only a moment before taking it in an awkward hold. Adele then slid one of the Brownings free of its holster and handed it to Sebastian; the manner in which he took it informed her he had some knowledge, however minor, in handling firearms.

"Keep the safety off," she instructed them, "And if we run into those things, aim low, midsection, where there's no armor." Watching to see that they acknowledged, she asked then, "Do you have any idea how to get out of here?"

"The pyramid reconfigures every ten minutes," Sebastian said, gesturing to the walls around them with a helpless flutter of his hand.

"I had a return bearing set," Lex lifted her wrist compass for emphasis, "But it's no good with the way this place moves around."

"Damnit." Adele sighed, picking up the spear and sliding it through a loop at her belt; Lex echoed her dismay with a disparaging sound.

"We can't remain here," Sebastian said after a momentary silence. "They'll find us eventually. We'll stand a better chance if we keep moving."

"Let's go, then," Adele replied, indicating the tunnel before them that both respective passages merged together to form. With a nod Sebastian began to walk, and as Adele made to follow Lex stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"I'm glad you made it, Rousseau," she said quietly.

Adele smiled; unlike the other hired muscle, she genuinely liked Alexa Woods. "Me too. Let's get out of here together, alright?"

As Lex moved past her, she could see the gleam of white teeth as the guide flashed an answering smile. "Deal."

Trailing then behind her newfound comrades, Adele felt buoyed by the reunion. One alone in these labyrinthine depths was most likely to die, but the three of them, armed and a team …

Adele's lips quirked slightly, feeling something strange and entirely out of place in these surroundings. A mixture of triumph and hope, yes, but there was something else overflowing both of those, a sort of excitement that made her feel more alive that she ever had before. The escape from this temple was inevitably going to be a trial, and she would have to pit all her survival skill and instinct against God-only-knew what tests in order to make it out of here alive. Proving herself thus, discovering once and for all what she was made of …

It was an almost intoxicating prospect.

IXI

Guided somewhat by Lex's compass, the three humans meandered through the eerie halls of the temple with as much stealth as they could muster. Each held their weapons at the ready, fingers laid lightly against the triggers in preparation to fire. The gloom before them was penetrated by all their flashlights, the beams roaming back and forth, from floor to ceiling, in an effort to discern that the path ahead was clear. Adele had at some point taken the lead as Sebastian fell back; it was a silent and unanimous decision by Sebastian and Lex to let Adele act as head of their party, for both were aware that the short haired woman was more accustomed to dangerous situations than they would ever be.

The group was crossing the breadth of a small rectangular chamber when Sebastian's watch timer went off, the beeping piercing the eerie stillness of their surroundings. He fumbled to shut it off, swearing softly in his native tongue, and at that moment the pyramid around them began to rumble and move. Simultaneously the three humans moved closer to each other, standing back to back to ensure all areas were covered. It was Lex's whispered exclamation of utter dismay that jerked Adele around; from a newly formed entrance she could see the hulking silhouette of one of the humanoid creatures.

"Aim low," Adele said thickly as the creature strode confidently forth and ducked to avoid the low entrance overhang. As it crossed the threshold of the chamber, she brought her Browning up firmly in both hands and sighted; movement caught from the corner of her eye informed her that her companions were following suit. The creature stared at them a long moment, growling; Adele could almost feel the disdain, the hatred, emanating from behind that reflective visor. As it lunged forward suddenly, wrist blades appearing with a metallic hiss, Adele pulled the trigger. The creature had moved so quickly her shot merely grazed the beast's arm. With a bellow it crashed into their midst; a swing of its arm had Lex airborne, and it caught hold of Sebastian by the shoulder an instant later and flung him savagely into the corner. Adele, circling it swiftly, fired again as it whirled to face her; a spray of vividly green blood burst forth from the lower left side of its abdomen.

It snarled then, a fearsome sound, and made to grab for her when abruptly it halted. Adele stared at the massive form from behind the sights of her semiautomatic, finger quivering over the trigger, breath bated. A low groan from a different area of the room informed her that at least one of her companions was alive, but she dare not peel her eyes away from her target, her prey …

The creature tilted its head, rumbling, and Adele realized what it was looking at –the lock of hair swinging free at her waist.

"That's right," she said with as much belligerence as she could muster, her French accent sharper in light of her tension and fear. "I killed your friend."

"Rousseau!" Cried a faint voice –Lex. The creature's attention was drawn towards the sound, and it growled before beginning to move-

Something large, something black, something fast dropped from the ceiling to drape itself over the creature, hissing-

Adele stood absolutely still for a moment, mind desperately trying to comprehend what it was she was seeing. This new beast was a tangle of limbs, large oblong head, thrashing tail and gleaming white needle teeth; the humanoid went down beneath its unanticipated weight, roaring. Coming to her senses, Adele shouted to Sebastian and Lex; the two staggered forth to her side, skirting the monstrous opponents and guns held ready.

"This way!" Adele cried, pushing Lex through the only entrance in the room –the one the humanoid had come from. Sebastian followed quickly, and Adele backed out, Browning still trained on the writhing forms before her. As Sebastian tugged frantically on her arm she whirled and began to run, following her comrades as they fled headlong down yet another long, dark passage. When finally Lex, in the lead, came to a stumbling halt before doubling over to catch her breath, long minutes had passed. Sebastian sank to his knees, gasping, and Adele leaned back heavily against the wall and tried to calm the wild beating of her heart.

When finally she could speak, she said, "That was fun."

Sebastian glanced at her with the ghost of a mirthless smile, "Understatement." His expression sobered, and wincing he felt tenderly at his side.

"You alright?" Adele asked, eyes moving to Lex who had straightened and was wiping at a line of blood that had trickled down from her forehead.

"Just bruised," Sebastian grunted, and Lex nodded her affirmation that she, too, was okay. Adele sighed, rubbing at her eyes with her free hand, letting the other that held the Browning fall to her side.

"We'll rest here a moment," she said.

"What happened back there?" Lex wondered aloud after a moment, pacing the length of the small room they now stood in and nervously running her index finger over the barrel of the Smith and Wesson.

Adele opened her mouth to say she didn't know when Sebastian, crouched and examining the floor, made a sudden, startled noise. "What is it?" Adele asked.

"The answer to Lex's question," he said. He beckoned the women closer, and they knelt at his side. "This," he gestured to the whole expanse of the carved, decorated floor they stood on, "explains everything. Explains the reason behind this temple and those creatures back there. Listen."

And they did, rapt, as he deciphered the ancient text, as he detailed the arrival of a hunting race, a predatory race, upon Earth a millennia ago. He spoke of the ultimate hunt these beings lived for, a hunt that could not take place without humans, for they were needed to breed the deadliest and strongest of prey. In her mind Adele allotted the monsters she'd seen to the roles they played in the hieroglyphs before her – the humanoids as the predators, and the ebony, many- legged creature as their prey.

"Jesus," she breathed as Sebastian's voice died away, attempting to wrap her mind around the sheer magnitude of their current situation.

"They lured us here," Lex said with a slight tremble in her voice. "They needed us to breed those –those things …"

"And we walked right into it," Sebastian spat, slapping the ground in disgust.

"We need to get out of here," Adele said, and her own voice was uneven in light of all they'd just discovered. This was a galactic struggle, a clash of titans, and they were merely three humans, caught in the crossfire …

Suddenly, their survival seemed a lot less likely than she'd originally hoped.

IXI