Disclaimer: Not my characters. Idea stems from AvP creators and plot.
A/N: Heh heh, oh yeah, the aliens really don't have eyes. Forgot about that.
-grins- Kool. An Austrian and a Russian reviewer. -grins wider- I don't often have reviewers who tell me their nationalities. It's just... awesome. I hope my story isn't too hard for you to read. Enjoy.
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Before: Scar defeated small Alien. Found out Lex had gun. Got mad. Chased her down.
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The Predator's breath seemed harsh in her ears. And it didn't help any that they were less than a hands width apart.
Lex probably would've felt better if she wasn't being held at least a whole foot off the ground. The distance was just enough to bring her eye level with the Yautja, and then some.
She also would've felt better if she wasn't nearly pissed-in-her-pants scared. Nearly. Soiled clothing would be the least of her problems if the Predator was going to kill her.
Scar glared fiercely at the soft meat before him, his grip on the front of her parka tightening, half-strangling her in the process. He sniffed, then gave a disgruntled snort. She wasn't nearly as frightened as she should be. Maybe she needed some incentive.
Ripping off his mask, the Predator easily pulled her closer and roared loudly, his mandibles outstretched in reflex.
His amber eyes seemed a bit sunken in, giving him a hard, skeletal look about him. His skin was a pasty yellow mottled with brown spots nearing the edges of his face. Short lengths of wiry hair bristled out near his temples, the longer strands having been pulled and twisted back into the dreadlocks she was accustomed to seeing. But what mostly drew her attention was his mouth. If you could call it a mouth, that is.
Four crab-like mandibles adorned the four corners, his skin stretched over each base. Sharp teeth gleamed in the center, filling two rows just like humans with one exception. The Yautja did not possess any lips.
Lex flinched, unsure whether or not the ugliness of the Hunter's face was a good thing. On one hand, it was a monster. And on the other hand, it would STILL be a monster even with a pretty face. So then it didn't matter that the creature's face was ugly. Well, now that that was settled, Lex resumed staring at Scar with abject terror.
Scar trilled, tilting his head a bit to the side as he studied his captive objectively. Why wasn't the pitiful soft meat screaming in terror? She was not armed. She could not possibly have been a warrior of her people. Not that she would have been near enough a challenge for him if she was. The Predator growled at the mere thought. How could he possibly call himself a fully blooded warrior if he defeated the hard meats, only to be overtaken by this Ooman before him?
A growl rumbled in the chest of the Yautja warrior as he raised the soft meat higher. What use was she to him? Unless he wanted to skin her cowardly hide, which he wouldn't even dare consider. Instead, he readied his spear, wondering what it would be like to impale the Ooman. But the instant the thought blipped through his mind, his hand stilled. Such acts were dishonorable.
She was unarmed.
AND she was female.
Scar was unsure what exactly the values were of Ooman males and warriors, but to the Yautja, the life of a female was a treasured thing indeed. Without them, life would not be birthed. Without them, young Unblooded warriors like himself would have never been born to fulfill their worth during the Hunt.
With a defeated huff, the Predator placed the Ooman back on her two feet. When she remained staring at him, the Predator cocked his head to the side and trilled again in curiosity. He had expected her to have run by now.
Little did he know her feet were planted more by fear than with what little courage she had left.
Movement over the Hunter's shoulder caught Lex's attention. It could've been a rat. Hell, in this darkness, anything that moved could be 'seen' as a rat. A really huge one. But this one was slimy. And there was no way a huge, furless, slimy rat could move that fast.
Lex screamed.
With unusual cat-like grace for a humanoid creature his size, the Predator pivoted, drew back his arm, and hurled the spear-like form of the Combistick. All in one fluid movement. With a sickening 'SPLURCH', the alien froze mid-stride. The Combistick had effectively skewered it from thickened skull to thinly muscled leg. In mere moments, the now dead husk toppled to the ground, jerking in post-death spasms.
Raptor-like shrieks echoed through the tunnel. It sounded like there were a lot more Aliens coming. And the hard meats were headed straight towards them.
Focusing his gaze on the Combistick protruding from the dead husk of the Alien, Scar knew he didn't have time to pry the weapon from the cold body. It was useless to him. With a sharp growl, he whipped around, his braids arcing gracefully in his swift movement.
Lex froze as she noted the dead pan gaze directed at her, her breath stilling in her lungs. She knew what he wanted. And the Yautja wouldn't mind ripping her arm off to get it.
Another cry from the oncoming danger jerked the female into action. With hands trembling with fear and adrenaline, Lex shrugged off the bag and fumbled with the zipper.
His hardened gaze on the Ooman crouched before him, the warrior flexed his fist as he shifted his attention to the hard meats honing in on Lex and Scar. The Aliens bared their teeth maliciously, already tasting the blood of their prey. But that's not the way it would be. Scar was a Yautja. A born and bred Hunter. He would not sell his life so easily.
The Predator clicked in impatience, holding back the snarl that bubbled inside at the Ooman's slow retrieval, though he wondered why he didn't simply tear the thing from her. Even if her arms came off with it. He needed a weapon and he needed one NOW. Lex was fully aware of this and mumbled an apology even as her hands slipped inside the bag. It was not hard to find the gun. The moment her fingers touched the smooth, metallic surface, she knew she had found it. Trembling fingers wrapping around it, she jerked it quickly out of the bag.
But it was too late.
The first of the hard meats was upon them. Growling fiercely in the face of battle, Scar lunged forth. His face plate clattered, forgotten, on the stone floor beside Lex. Jumping at the loud sound, Lex found herself standing on her feet, the gun clutched to her chest. 'This is it,' she thought to herself, 'I'm gonna die.'
But death never came.
Instead, Lex was faced with the awesome sight before her of the Hunter holding his own against the first attacking Alien. They were tangled in what could almost be mistaken as a hug. If you counted in the fact that both were trying to rip the others' face off and decorate the hall with the others' blood.
Lex was busy gaping when she noticed the other three Aliens barreling towards them. Three? Three more Aliens? That would be too much for the big guy to handle. The one Alien he was fighting was bigger than the child he had faced earlier. He was doing well to keep up his own right now, but Lex wasn't so sure he would do so well against three more unwelcome opponents. Not to mention the fact that she would be as dead as he was if they didn't emerge as victors from this battle.
Raising the oddly heavy gun, Lex prayed that it would work. She barely noticed when a strange tingling ran up her arms, consequently charging through her whole body from the contact with the strange alloy. She was more focused on death incarnate running towards her in the form of three drones.
One of the oncoming Aliens spotted her and hissed in blood-filled anticipation. It would enjoy ripping her apart.
Hopelessness filled the brown-skinned woman. Thinking back to how she had agreed to lead the team onto the ice, she remembered how they had died, how Sebastian had slipped from her grasp. He was dead because of her, because he tried to save her. Now she was just going to throw that away? Lex felt the muscles in her jaw tighten, her brow wrinkling as she frowned. A sudden fire filled the black woman, and she snarled a split second before she held the gun higher, "Not if I can help it, motherfu-"
Her words were cut short at the sudden staggering force that pushed her back the same time an intense blue shot blasted out of the weapon. The bullet of energy filled the dark hallway with light, momentarily blinding the women and the three drones. She had just enough sight left to watch as the target Alien froze in its tracks, its lips pulled back in a surprised howl. Moments later its dead body was hurled down the passageway, blue electricity seeming to spark through his body even as smoke wafted from the huge hole where its face used to be.
Lex didn't know how and she didn't know why, since the gun lacked an actual trigger, but somehow the gun worked. And it had some kick to it.
"Alright," Lex breathed, feeling a surge of triumph as she realized the Alien she had shot was dead, "I can do this."
She aimed at a second Alien. One who was currently standing beside its recently killed companion. Bracing herself, Lex made the gun fire once more and was pleased as the second Alien, too, became toast.
This kind of power was addictive. And after being trapped in that pyramid for who knows how long, Lex found out that she liked this kind of power. She liked it VERY much.
Scar roared as he took the beast's head within his two hands. This move made him vulnerable to any kind of attack possible. So he had to move quickly. The roar was to attract the hard meat's main attention to his face, giving the Alien no time to think about swiping at him with any of its deadly limbs. Having succeeded in that, the Hunter promptly twisted its head with a powerful surge of his arm muscles. The hard meat's strangled cry was abruptly cut off.
He heard the snap and sidestepped quickly to avoid its thrashing limbs along with any acidic blood.
The hard meat was dead. Merely another tally to add to the Hunter's growing list.
Scar whipped his head around, quick to survey his surroundings. With surprise, he noted that two hard meats were downed. None had been touched by him. So it truly had been the flash from his stolen Plasmacaster, then, that he had noted earlier.
One hard meat was left. And it was advancing towards the lone Ooman.
Lex gripped the gun harder. This Alien just would NOT hold still. It had sensed its companions die. It had sensed HOW they died. And somehow, the Alien had deduced that keeping still or going in a straight line was a bad idea. Then again, the Alien did have the Queen's voice ringing in its head, guiding it.
"Damn you," Lex growled, her hands trying to aim the weapon, "hold STILL."
She caught movement to her side and flicked her eyes that way, still keeping the Alien in her focus. It was the Hunter. He was standing with his hand outstretched, almost as if he was asking for something. Asking for what, though? For her to come over there? No, that wouldn't do either of them any good.
Lex's eyes widened slightly. He was asking for the gun? But that would... that would leave her defenseless. If she tossed the gun to the Hunter...
Her life would be in his hands.
'Not as if I'm doing any better right now,' She noted to herself, frowning. The Alien kept dodging. AND it was getting closer with each breath she took, gaining inch by life-saving inch as it sprung and leaped around.
Through clenched teeth, Lex let out a steady breath.
The Yautja cocked his head, his hand still outstretched, watching her.
What would the Ooman do?
The Alien stilled for a moment. Lex fired without hesitation. But the creature was fast. Too fast.
It dodged, getting away with a small burnt singe on its clawed foot, making it hiss with anger.
'Can he fire any better?' Lex wondered, before adding, 'Well, I'd hope so. This IS his weapon, after all.'
She had no choice.
Tensing, she tossed the gun at him as quickly as she could. The Alien had read her movements. Sensing its chance, the Alien sprung directly for the now unarmed soft meat.
All Lex could do was duck under its blind leap towards her, feeling the air of its passage rush centimeters from the top of her head.
Scar caught his gun and hastily affixed it to the perch on his shoulder armor. It took mere milliseconds to lock on to the hard meat. The gun had locked on the Alien even before it had jumped. But the Yautja had paused, wanting to see what the soft meat would do.
As the Alien landed heavily behind her, Lex risked a quick glance at the Hunter off to the side. She noted that the gun was latched onto the top of his shoulder. But why was he just standing there? Was he going to let her die?
Maybe he was. Maybe it was because she had taken the gun. It hadn't been HER decision to take the damn things! Either way, he was still just standing there. And she was still just about to be killed.
"Bastard." Lex hissed with piled venom.
Her hand caught the strap of her backpack. Her HEAVY backpack. And it was about the only weapon she had right now.
Fine. If the Hunter wasn't going to help her, she would just have to manage on her own.
Tightening her grip, Lex pivoted and rose quickly from her crouch, catching the surprised alien right on the face. It staggered a bit from the force of her blow and Lex found a pleased grin tugging at the edge of her face. Then she remembered this wasn't a game. This creature was going to kill her and all she had was a damn backpack to protect her. This realization was solidified as the Alien slowly turned back to face her, its upper lip twitching in vehemence as it hissed in rage.
Its clawed hand lashed out and-
A sudden, blinding charge whistled towards them. Lex had barely enough time to blink the spots from her vision as the wall to her right exploded from the Alien crashing into it. Flying into a defensive crouch, Lex unconsciously took a few steps back along with the invisible wave of force that pushed her from the point of impact.
After checking to see that the Alien was incapacitated, Lex took a few more steps back and tried to calm her heart and collect her thoughts. What... the FUCK... just happened?
Obviously the Alien was lifeless. It had crashed into the wall with a giant hole smoldering in its chest. Lex frowned, trying to get her shell-shocked brain to work. Why was there a hole in its chest? Feeling like she was explaining herself to a two year old, she found her numb mind running through the obvious steps. Well... the blinding light, obviously shot from the gun, had blasted the Alien INTO the wall. An Alien which was now dead. And dead Aliens killed nobody.
Okay. Now that that was all cleared up, Lex slowly inhaled a shaky breath.
She had actually started to relax until she heard a footstep behind her.
In a flash, she remembered. The Predator.
'Duh, who fired the gun? HOW could she have forgotten about him!' Lex, fighting the muscles that threatened to freeze over in terror, slowly turned around, her gaze lowered.
Was he going to kill her now? Had she survived this whole time only to be killed by this hellhole's guard?
The Yautja studied the soft meat. She had killed two hard meats this day. The third had almost killed her. Or, at least, it looked like it had been about to kill her. Battles could shift in the slightest of moments. So he could be wrong.
She refused to meet his eyes. If he followed her gaze, he could actually see her sight was fixed on a spot on the ground directly before him.
Was she angered he had stolen her kill? If so, why was she not challenging him right there in the spot?
Scar cocked his head. He trilled his curiosity out loud, his purr sounding distorted, yet it had a calming effect.
She had been about to run. She had wanted to run. But to where? Her mind had asked, 'where would I run to? Into the mouth of another of those Aliens? Run to my death?'
At the sound of his trill, his odd voice, Lex paused. What did it want? She had never heard anything from these monsters that sounded anywhere close to the tone that was sounded now. It was almost… peaceful. Knowing the big brute could kill her anytime, Lex decided giving it a fraction of her time now wouldn't make a difference either way. Her tense muscles eased slightly and she couldn't help it as her gaze wandered upwards from the ground. Her eyes locked onto his deep amber ones as her breath caught in her throat.
How could a humanoid beast that had killed so viciously... how could he possess such eyes? She was expecting eyes brimming with hatred and psychotic tendencies. Those of a murderer. But… no. His eyes had a depth that spoke volumes of his intelligence. He was sentient. As sentient as she. Except where she was trained to climb and lead expeditions he, on the other hand was... more trained and bred to kill.
'I killed.' Lex thought to herself, her eyes half-lidded as she remembered.
She couldn't help it. Down here, in the pyramid, you either killed or you died.
"The law of the jungle." Lex suddenly found her voice falling from her lips, followed by an incredulous snort. She didn't know why. What was there to be funny about this situation? Still, she continued, her voice soft as she searched his eyes, "Kill or be killed. Are you..."
She took in a shaky breath. A supposedly calming breath. But her eyes never left his. Their gazes were locked as she continued, "... gonna kill me?"
The Yautja blinked.
Bending his head forward, Scar reached for a pad on his forearm. It almost looked like some sort of technical device. The movement itself made Lex tense, but when she saw he wasn't reaching for a weapon, she stilled once more. Amber eyes scanning the recorded piece, the Yautja highlighted the chosen part on the data pad and played it back aloud.
Lex's voice rang back out at her in the silent hall, "Are you... gonna kill me?"
For a moment, the silence stretched on.
Amber eyes, smirking almost, locked onto brown eyes for a moment. A single brow ridge was raised, as he looked at her with a 'what do you think?' expression.
Stunned at the sound of her voice coming back at her, her brain still not quite functioning, Lex pointed at herself, "Who… me?"
Blinking, the Yautja snorted, not sure whether he should be amused or insulted. Sure, she had killed, but to face a trained Yautja warrior of his race and caliber?
The human woman suddenly realized the implications of her words, horrified, and she imagined herself picking up a rock and trying to pulverize the colossal humanoid with it. From the look on her face, the Predator couldn't help what he did next. Rumbling deep from within his throat, trilling laughter pierced the darkness. Lex couldn't help but to nervously follow.
