Disclaimer: Once again... I do not own nor make money off of AvP's characters or concept.
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Before: Lex finds out Scar's name, as well as the fact he could say it in English. Scar gets a bit mad as he realized he forgot to collect trophies from his kills, unconsciously directing that anger at Lex. His cold behavior coupled with sudden guilt and doubt that linger in Lex's mind from her friends' deaths, make her doubt staying by his side. Scar was taken by surprise at her sudden disappearance. Lex is on the verge of regretting her decision. At the end, what they both realized was that she had his mask.
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"N-nice... Alien... monster." Lex breathed out shakily, her tone soft in an attempt to placate the blood thirsty creature before her.
Her hold was slipping. The rumbling of the entire pyramid wasn't helping things either.
Hissing louder by the moment, the Alien's thin, saliva-coated lips drew back in a vicious snarl. It had its prey cornered. Victory was assured. And the Queen was hissing encouragement and praise in his mind.
'Kill her.' The Queen commanded darkly.
The Alien was all too eager to comply. Unfortunately for it, the Alien was too eager for its own good. It wasn't until the moving slab beside it had gotten too close to dodge that the obsidian creature noticed. The slab was shooting out from the wall, intent on covering the newly formed ledge. The ledge it was currently crouched on. Snarling, it prepared to leap.
But it was too late.
Lex's eyes widened as she, too, noticed the unstoppable stone. If she remained as she was, her fingers would be smashed to oblivion. Gritting her teeth, she did what she had to.
She let go.
For a split second, her eyes met the unwavering face of the Alien. A frustrated, angry cry erupted from the hard meat's chest before there no longer was a chest to create it.
Lex turned her head as the insides of the creature burst out from the stone slab's hug of death. She turned her head and darkness met her gaze.
Her mouth formed a silent cry as she continued falling into the depths of the newly created crevice.
-o-o-o-
Scar snarled, brushing a thin layer of unsettled dust that had coated his shoulders.
The pyramid had finally paused in its shifting.
His hardened gaze met the unwavering wall before him. The wall hadn't been there before. Now he couldn't track the soft meat that had gone this way.
The Yautja's mandibles clicked in agitation. He had gained one edge to lose another. The Plasmacaster was a definite improvement to his current, mainly hand-to-hand type, weaponry. But the loss of the mask resulted in a decrease in his tracking abilities. Sure, compared to soft meats and most other predatory species, the Yautja had nicely heightened senses. But the Predators had prided themselves in empowering their senses even more with the technology their masks provided. Losing it hit Scar hard.
Perhaps he had relied on the utility too much?
The old ones were always warning them not to be too dependent on any one thing. To do so might cost one's life. Scar had always scoffed before at such ominous statements. After all, he could not possibly get too attached to something. Except that he had. His mask was gone and the Ooman had taken it.
A grave mistake.
He had been ready to leave her to her own devices as soon as he had collected his trophies. They were going to part ways. After all, why would Scar need the assistance of a soft meat?
But now, thing's have changed.
Brandishing a blade, the Yautja growled.
Things have changed indeed.
-o-o-o-
The silent scream ended at the abrupt end of her drop. Instinct took over then and she immediately sent herself into a forward roll, ensuring that her legs would remain unbroken and hopefully intact.
But that didn't prevent her head from crashing into a wall afterwards.
Sporting a painful bruise now at the top of her skull, Lex grimaced. Her legs were numb and she prayed to god that they hadn't snapped or anything that would physically hinder her. Tentatively, she reached out with her hands in the darkness and began rubbing them. It wasn't until she was sure there were no bones sticking out and that everything was in place that she let out a deep breath.
Besides the pins-and-needles prickling she was starting to feel in them, her legs seemed to be doing well.
Her heart, however, was not in the same boat.
Darkness pressed in from all sides, blinding her. Her heart beat a painful rhythm in her chest. She could just imagine all the horrible monsters awaiting a breath from her fingertips. The worst part about her dark imaginings was that the monsters were REAL.
Breathing rapidly and a tad too loud for her suddenly heightened hearing, Lex clutched at her hands nervously.
'Calm down.' The one tranquil thought in her mind fought through the panic, attempting to be heard. But it was like whispering in a hurricane and expecting a person five miles away to hear. And no, no telephones or any communicative device could be used in this imaginary scenario.
A handful of deep calming breaths later, Lex shuffled slowly forward. One part of her kept shouting that she should just stay where she was. What was the point of going anywhere if she was just going to end up killed anyway? Forcefully, Lex shook her head. It was thoughts like those that would ENSURE she'd be dead.
Her fingertips brushed against a lump on the ground. Her breath caught. What was it?
Even in the darkness, somehow light managed to reflect off of the object. Squinting her eyes, she traced the contours and blinked.
It was Scar's mask.
Carefully, she picked it up, focusing on the lights the smooth surface caught. It was the one thing she could see in the darkness and she wasn't about to look away. Lex did realize, however, that the repercussions resulting from her unintentional theft would be terrifying. It wasn't like she did it on purpose. But she highly doubted Scar would hold off from killing her long enough to listen. Assuming, of course, that he understood what she was saying. Understood or cared, that is.
Prompted by the image of being crushed when the pyramid shifts, which was in the next ten minutes, Lex shakily stood and walked. One hand trailed along the stone wall as she moved slowly, unsure whether the next step might bring her to a deep hole or a high step. The dark-skinned woman had been inside the dark depths of the pyramid for some time now and her eyes were somewhat adjusted to the lack of light. But down in this new hole the blackness seems to swallow any and all light.
She continued exploring blindly for a few more moments before her eyes caught something strange on the mask in her hand. Flipping it over, Lex frowned as she tried to discern what it was that had caught her attention. Lifting the mask higher, Lex didn't attempt to stifle the gasp of surprise at a sudden revelation. The eyes...
Through the eyes of the mask, she could actually SEE in the dark.
The mask had night vision!
Immediately she pressed the mask to her face, relief gushing out of her at the returning gift of sight in the darkness. She had just begun to look around, one hand keeping the mask in place, when she felt a strange sensation moving over her face. What was that strange vacuum noise?
Her eyes widened as the mask suddenly pressed against her face of its own accord. She couldn't breathe!
Panicking, her hands began scrabbling madly at the edges of the mask, attempting to pull it off. But it wouldn't come off! It wouldn't budge at all. She could see now, but that didn't matter if she couldn't breathe! She tried to suck in air through her mouth, but there was no oxygen to get from inside the confines of the mask. It was like it had melded to her face, forming a second skin. As if that wasn't bad enough, she doubled over as she suddenly had an intense headache, the sensation akin to a thousand flaming needles piercing her skull.
Lex was careening through a hallway now, stumbling into walls and staggering off as she continued her struggles with the mask.
'Breathe! I need to BREATHE!'
POP! A whoosh of air.
And all of a sudden, oxygen began filling her deprived lungs. Lex was down on her knees, a hand pressed to the floor as she focused on gulping in as much air as she could. Lex was on the verge of tears, never having been so grateful just to breathe in her entire life.
She had barely gotten her fill of air before she heard a clicking sound. Lex didn't know what surprised her more: The fact that she instantly perceived the sound as the voice of a Predator or...
Or that she understood what he was saying.
-o-o-o-
Scar flinched visibly. What was that odd sensation running through his head? Why did it feel like... something warm? It wasn't unpleasant. It was merely... strange. He had never felt this way before, not even when he had been held tenderly in his mother's arms for the first time. The Predator blanched at the thought. What was this feeling?
The Yautja tried to shake it off, knowing that if he lost concentration during the Hunt, there would be nothing to celebrate at its end besides his own funeral. And that would just not do.
The slightest sound. A scratch of stone.
Scar froze.
Half a breath later, the Yautja seemed to meld into the stones around him as he activated his camouflage. It may seem to only mask his presence from sight, but the cloaking device was also designed to dampen the senses of the hard meats themselves. This proved useful since the Aliens did not possess optical vision, relying instead on vibrations through the air, smell, and sound.
Following his 'disappearance', a hard meat appeared just around the corner, long obsidian head twisting this way and that. It let out a low, disappointed hiss. It could have sworn it had detected the presence of the hard meats' despised foes. The Alien felt the Queen's anger at the mere thought of the Yautja. It had been the Yautja that had slain her previous colony and forced her into a life of imprisonment. The Yautja were the most defiant prey the Queen and her Alien kind had ever encountered. Their history together was long and the knowledge of the hated and feared Yautja remained forever ingrained within the minds of the Queens themselves.
Hissing once more the sinuous black form sauntered into the hall, walking without pause even as it passed hand-widths away from Scar's crouched and cloaked form. The Predator followed the hard meat with his eyes, his blood rushing at the thought that he could just reach out and impale the Alien with his Wristblade. The act would, of course, require him to first retract the blades. But he was more than sure he had the speed adequate enough to-
No.
Scar forced the rebellious muscles in his arm to remain still. It was common knowledge that more often than not, hard meats would travel in packs. It was a method that was common practice even among the Yautja warriors. And if he was right then the other one should show up right-
The Predator's eyes flicked around the hall.
-about...-
Scar's attention became riveted to a corner opposite of where the first had emerged.
-...NOW.
Just as predicted, another hard meat appeared. At the sight of it, Scar resisted the urge to frown in puzzlement. This Alien was one of the larger kinds of its brethren. Certainly not the largest but big enough. Yet it wasn't the size that befuddled the Hunter, but rather the grid-like pattern across its body. The pattern was outlined by the hard meat's own acidic blood.
With a start, Scar realized that the Alien had undergone the harsher sides of a Netgun, though it apparently hadn't managed to squeeze the hard meat to death. The Predator stared rigidly at Grid, which he aptly named the Alien, as he tried to remember who in his team had chosen to bring a Netgun. Who had it been?
Rave.
It had been Rave. The biggest of the three Unblooded warriors sent on the Hunt. Rave and Scar had been childhood friends since the former had tried to beat the latter up. Rave had always been admired by many for his brute strength and size while Scar had been admired for his combination of mind and body to win battles. Scar couldn't quite remember how it happened, but Rave had been stirring trouble as usual when Scar had decided to stand up to the brute. Rave had instantly accepted the challenge and they had fought for days.
However, Scar's intelligence and Rave's lack of one had insured his victory. Much to his surprise, Scar found Rave was smart enough to realize they would make invaluable allies. A theory proven correct as they paired themselves together time and time again in the ruthless combat practice they were run through as pups and pre-teens. Though Scar had the brains, he didn't mind having Rave lead the Hunt. Not only had Rave proven his worth with his strength, but he had also shown a great improvement in intelligence due to his friendship with Scar.
The third member of their party had not been known well by either of the two. Vohnn had been the smallest of the three, though he hadn't been graced as Scar had been with immense skill or speed for lack of strength and size. In Scar's eyes, he viewed Vohnn as an overeager, underskilled Yautja. He hadn't thought Vohnn would be ready. And he was proven right as the smaller Yautja rushed into battle only to be speared from behind by a hard meat.
But Rave... Scar hadn't expected Rave to die so easily.
It had been Rave who had added a Netgun to his arsenal, for the bigger Yautja had always preferred to make his prey suffer as much as possible. If Grid had encountered the other Predator and lived to tell about it, it could only mean one of two things. Either the Alien had used every trick it knew in order to escape.
Or Grid had killed Rave.
In reflex, Scar clenched his fists tighter. His fellow warrior's death would not go in vain.
With murderous patience, Scar waited for the obsidian hard meat to stride ever closer. This Alien seemed a bit older than the first that had been used as a distraction. Grid also appeared to be wiser as it stopped immediately in its tracks a few feet away from Scar.
The Alien's lip twitched, turning its head as it focused intently on the vibrations through the air. Something wasn't right. Something else was here in the hall. Something other than Grid and its other Alien companion. The Queen in its head hissed her annoyance. The sooner they rid themselves of the Yautja and captured the last soft meat prey, the better. After a moment of hesitation, the Alien hissed in compliance, resuming its way forward.
With each clawed step, it drew closer. With each breath, it came closer to its last.
Suddenly, Scar found he could wait no longer. The thought that Rave had died in the hands of this beast was unbearable. They had trained together. He knew how strong the bigger Yautja was and admired him fully for it. Of all three, Scar had expected the other Predator to be easily initiated as a fully blooded warrior.
He lunged, throwing a Disc before him as a distraction.
Grid blanched at the sudden appearance of a Yautja in its senses. Vibrations from an alarmingly sharp and high velocity object drew its attention, as the weapon would be the first to reach the hard meat. Dodging left, the Alien screeched in surprise as it found the body of the Predator hazardously close. Reflexively, the Alien swiped out with its claws, slashing the Predator square in the jaw.
With an angered growl, the Hunter whipped his head back to face the hard meat, its dreadlocks following the motion. He pulled back a fist and launched it forward in its rage.
Twisting out of the way, the hard meat lunged forward and clamped its jaws on Scar's forearm. Roaring out his pain, the Yautja lashed out with his metal-clad foot, catching Grid in the stomach and freeing Scar's arm. Snarling, the Alien staggered back, trying to regain its breath.
Scar growled as his retracted Wristblade swiped through the air, having every intent of spilling the hard meat's guts all over the corridor. However, the Alien had other plans. Shifting ever so slightly, the hard meat barely managed to dodge the deadly arc of the Hunter's weapon. Yet it had forgotten all about the Disc that had been launched earlier.
The vibrations of the flat flying weapon reached Grid's attention a split second too late. It flicked its tail in a vain attempt to avert the path of the serrated, clean-cutting weapon. The tip of Grid's tail had already been hacked off from its previous battle with Rave, but this time nearly half of it was sliced off, the Disc continuing to nick the side of its ribs as well.
Grid screeched out in pain, its balance temporarily nonexistent with the loss of half its tail. Not to mention the acidic blood pumping out of its gaping wound.
Deftly catching the Disc in one hand, Scar was quick to leap back and out of harm's way. His armor couldn't withstand such a large dose of the hard meat blood's destructive qualities. And though Scar's own blood prevented the Alien's from spreading like wildfire on contact with the Yautja's skin, it would still damage the nerves and layers it touched.
Watching with hardened eyes, Scar allowed the hard meat to run off. With the wound he had inflicted, the Yautja expected the Alien to come to a horribly slow and painful death. Nothing less than the Predator thought it deserved.
At that moment, the second Alien decided to try and attack him. But this one had been used as a distraction for a reason.
Clutching the Disc in his hand, Scar flipped onto his back as he saw the younger Alien leap at him. Hand held straight up, Scar sliced easily through the airborne hard meat. The Predator stood and turned in time to see the hard meat's guts and blood spew through the obscenely large slit down its middle before it touched the ground.
Scar stood there for a moment before scoffing and turning away. This one was too young. Too eager. The fight with it had not even lasted enough seconds to count with both hands.
An unworthy opponent.
The Yautja, instead, decided to follow the acidic trail Grid would be leaving behind. When it died, he would take the hard meat's head. For Rave, he would.
Yet even as he walked, a strange nagging feeling remained in his mind. What could it mean? It was at the edge of his mind, yet he couldn't grasp it.
-o-o-o-
(Scar?), The Predator repeated with a questioning trill.
Lex blinked, standing slowly as she turned to face the Hunter. Her eyes widened. Even as he sat up against the wall, she could tell this Predator was way bigger than the one she had met earlier.
The Yautja, in turn, widened his own eyes within his mask.
That was Scar's mask. Yet Scar wasn't the one wearing it.
(Who are you?), the Yautja growled angrily, (And what have you done with Scar?)
