Chapter 19: Struggle for Supremacy
Mac-11: I hath returned to bring you good news: the new chapter is up. Enjoy.
The Queen rose off its nest and readied itself to kill. The Merc'rk began clicking his mandibles with anticipation. All was silent and they stared into the eyes of the ones they had been destined to fight. This fight was their purpose and they intended to fulfill it. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a blade.
The queen stretched its massive wings and lifted of the ground and into the air. What was surprising to them was that the wings didn't make any sound as they lifted her into the air. Suddenly she flew away from them and disappeared into the darkness of the room. It was then that the predators saw that the queen could hide in the room from them with their thermal vision unusable. With their night vision the Predators could see up to fifty feet and the human's vision was worse then theirs. All they could really hear was her breathing and the light flapping of her wings. They could hear her breath, but couldn't pin-point exactly where she was.
Just then the dark figure flew over it prey and out of its mouth spewed raw plasma. It looked like a hot blue slush of water that could incinerate the toughest of materials. It flew over them and sprayed the hot slush at them in an attempt burn them alive. The humans and predators got behind nearby pillars for cover.
"What is this stuff?" asked Meagan as she bent down near the blue liquid and watched it burn a large hole into the ground.
"Don't touch it! Its raw plasma!" called Essra.
Shou'nk grabbed his shuriken and threw them in the direction the queen had disappeared to. They heard the blades hit something and then it was completely silent once again.
Suddenly Shou'nk's shuriken were spit back out of the darkness, only this time they were chewed up and completely destroyed.
"I am not liking this," Shou'nk said as he grabbed more.
It was as if the queen herself was stalking them. They were prey now and she was the predator... and she was enjoying it.
Merc'rk activated his fletchette and began firing in random directions. Suddenly the queen jumped out behind him and hung her jaws wide open. She going to attempt to bite his head off during the pass, but Merc'rk turn quickly enough to see her coming. When the queen swooped down her teeth sank into hard Yautja steel instead of the reptilian flesh. Her jaws, though extremely powerful, could not crush the clan leader's metal arm.
"You know, that worked the first time, but it won't work this time," said Merc'rk as he yanked his arm from her teeth. He then charged the energy in his weapon and let it build up instead of firing. He leaped into the air and wound his fist for a punch. His metallic fist connected with the alien's head, but not only was his fist causing pain, but the energy charged from his weapon also hit her hard.
The queen was knocked back a few feet and the spot where she was hit left a burn scar. This was little damage to her though. The amazing creature got back on its feet unfazed and looked at her prey. She swung her tail into Merc'rk and knocked him into the air. The poisonous barbs on her tail were strong enough to not only pierce his armor, but to cut through his tough thick flesh as well. The clan leader flew meters before finally hitting a pillar and coming to a complete stop.
The hunter felt the venom from the barbs almost immediately. The dizziness was effective enough to keep him down. The Queen leaped into the air once more to finish him off, but as soon as her feet left the ground she was met with a barrage of bullets. The humans had opened fire on her and were hitting her with everything they had. Jason fired his laser sniper and watch as it burned straight though her body and came out the other side.
The Queen collapsed on the ground and lie motionless with all her wounds leaking acid and plasma blood.
"Was that all?" said Meagan as she put her hand on her hip in disappointment.
"Too easy," said Steve with a smirk.
Richard said nothing, but pulled out a cup of coffee and took a sip.
Steve walked up to the alien and laughed.
"So much for you," he said, but it was then that he realized the queen's wounds were sealing themselves up. He turned around to yell to his team that she was alive, but didn't have the time. The queen lifted her claws and tore his body apart.
There was a long pause between time for the humans and the clan. Their friend had been killed in a very violent way right before their eyes. His limbs, blood, and organs lay far from the spot he once stood. All things they had been through with him and all the moments they had with him flashed before their minds.
They were brought back to reality by the victory roar of the queen. A rage built up with in them. It was a blinding rage that thirsted for blood, the queen's blood.
Essra set her spear gun to automatic and opened up on the queen. The explosive rounds combined with the sharp spears cause great pain. It would cut through her armored skin and explode inside her body. The Xenormorph quickly stalked away into the shadows and began to let her body heal.
Merc'rk finally got up as the dizziness had subsided. He and everyone else made a silent vow to avenge their fallen comrade's death.
Meanwhile...
Reco'de leaped towards his opponent, his blades drawn. He slashed at the creature, but it left only a tiny scratch. Netak followed in with his attack. His spear's plasma charged blade cut into the Predalien's metallic skin and left a mark that was glowing red from the intense heat his weapon made.
Both the wounds sealed up in an instant and the heat glow disappeared. The Metal creature formed its forearms into long jagged edged sythes. They extended passed his elbows and lengthened his forearms at least another foot. He pounced at Netak and attacked at him. The warrior was able block the first three strikes, but a fourth got his side. Netak ignored the pain, moved forward and gave a series of attacks. His enemy blocked or dodged every one of them. The Predator stepped back a few feet and clenched his deep wound as Neon green blood dripped from it.
"Not bad, Metal. That almost hurt," he said.
"'Metal'... I like it," smirked the creature as he found delight in his new name.
It was then that Netak realized the attack he had been struck with itself was weak, but it was the weapon that made the wound sting so bad.
His spear and all other Yautja bladed weapons needed to be sharpened in order to cut, but Metal could just form his limbs into whatever weapon he chose and however sharp he wanted it, and indeed he made them sharp.
Reco'de jumped as high as he could in the air and on his way down he slashed his opponent's body. The cut had torn right through his skin and his upper body split into five parts. Reco'de watched in amazement as the Predalien's body sealed itself up. Metal jerked around and slashed at him twice. Reco'de blocked both attacks with his wrist blades and gave one of his own. The Predalien dodged it and formed the tip of his tail into a spiked ball. He used it as a battering ram against the hunter's chest and knocked him across the room and into the statue of an alien.
Reco'de's chest armor had saved his life from the spikes, but had given its own. He ripped off the shredded metal and got back into a fighting stance.
Netak threw his disc at it and watched as it cut straight through the creature's body, but did no damage. Its body just healed back up. The metal creature laughed at how pathetic they were.
Just then a massive plasma blot struck him in the back. The metallic skin on his back glowed red from the heat and the damage could clearly be seen, but it quickly cooled down and sealed back up. The laughing had stopped. Both Predators charged him at the same time and began assaulting him from both sides.
The steel Xenomorph stood sideways and use his right scythe to hold off Netak and his left to hold off Reco'de. He blocked every attack they made with little effort. His left arm transformed into a spiked shield and blocked Reco'de's next attack. Suddenly the shield launched forward and stabbed the Predator while shoving him away. Reco'de crossed his wrist blades over his chest to help protect himself as he felt the impact. He was knocked yards away and finally smashed into the wall.
Metal formed his arms back into scythes and the tip of its tail into a spiked ball again and swung it at Netak, who blocked it effectively and kicked his opponent away as hard as he could.
Just then Netak got an idea. The only organ the Predalien had left was its brain. If he could destroy that the creature would die. Netak swiftly lunged forward and stabbed his metal alien's head. The predator saw his spear come out of the back end of his cranium. Netak pressed it in further and watched as his plasma charged spear heated the metal around his head.
All was still and all was silent...
Suddenly both of Metal's arms converted into large spiked hammers. He aimed them at Netak and they launched forward, knocking Netak across the room and ripping the spear out of it head.
"How the hell?" asked the hunter as he smashed into a statue.
Once he got back on his feet he noticed Metal's smirking expression.
"I have no bones. I can move my brain any where in my body that chose," said Metal.
Just then he demonstrated by moving his brain into his hand. The shape was clearly his brain. He quickly retracted it into his body.
A voice suddenly came in on his Walkie-Talkie inside his mask.
"Hey, Netak! I know how to kill him," said the voice. It was Reco'de. The Predator then noticed that his clan mate had disappeared from sight.
"How?" asked Netak.
"I'm going to grab him from behind. When I do I want you to stab him with your spear at his center, but keep it in him and whatever you do, don't pull it out," he said.
Netak Decided to go along with it see what happens. He had no idea how Reco'de was going to get behind him and close enough to grab him though.
Just then the statue behind Metal jump off its stand and grabbed him in a holding position that restrained his arms. He also stepped on his tail to keep it from moving too.
"Now!" screamed Reco'de.
Netak sprinted forward and stabbed Metal directly in his stomach. He left the spearhead inside him and watched as it began to heat up the creature's whole body. Metal gave a loud roar of agony as he realized what was going on. In an attempt to get Reco'de of himself he formed three inch spikes on his back. Reco'de, having lost his chest armor, felt the full force of the spikes, but he just held on tighter.
Metal tried frantically to get away, but it was to no avail. His whole body was now glowing red from the heat and his brain, where ever it was, was getting cooked. Suddenly all the metal just turned into a liquid form and Metal died.
There was a long silence when suddenly Reco'de collapsed on the ground too. His neon green blood was oozing everywhere. He was hardly breathing.
"Netak, nice work," he said, his voice getting weaker with each word. "It was an honor to hunt a worthy opponent with you at my side and please tell the legend of me to my young ones," he said.
Reco'de's death was coming very quickly. Netak began thinking frantically of a way to keep him alive while he watched his comrade's eyes slowly close.
Just then it him. Reco'de would live for coffee and coffee gave him strength. He still had the two frappachino on his belt, but hadn't used them. Netak thought of himself as a more capable hunter and able to defeat tough opponents with out the use of some "earthy beverage."
The Predator quickly grabbed a frappachino off his belt. He activated his wrist blades and sliced off the top. The smell of the beverage instantly hit the room. He poured a little on his clan mate's face and waited. Not a second later, as if the life in his body was instantly revived, Reco'de's eyes snapped open and land directly on what was in Netak's hand.
"Coffee!" he shouted and snatched it out of Netak's hands and began to slug it down.
Netak watched in amazement. "What the hell do oomans make this stuff out of?" he yelled and began inspecting the other bottle he left.
"Are you gonna drink that!" asked a new and refreshed Reco'de. His voice was no longer weak and now he was talking FAST. Netak simply handed him the bottle.
Mac-11: That's all for now. I'm getting a lot of work from my school. The teachers are merciless cold-hearted free time slaughterer's Remember to review.