Disclaimer: No. No AvP still isn't owned by me. -sighs-

A/N: -grins- Haha, I was wondering if people would catch the whole 'Lex using the gun' thing. Don't worry, there's an explanation.

-smiles gratefully- I love all the constructive criticism and some of the reviews just make my day. I am glad both the Russian and Austrian fan enjoyed the story enough to continue reading it, even if English is not their first language. -grins- Thanks, guys, I really admire how you are able to understand more than one language and I have to say I just might be a little jealous.

-winks- Enjoy the story, all.

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Before: Scar starts to go after Lex, wanting his mask back. But the pyramid reconfigures itself. Lex falls into a pitch black hole. Scar faces off with an inexperienced hard meat and Grid, whom Scar realizes must've killed Rave, one of his Yautja companions. After a short battle, Scar allows Grid to escape with a large gushing wound on its significantly reduced tail. The Predator slowly stalks his prey. Meanwhile Lex finds out one of the mask's useful qualities: its Night Vision. Unfortunately, when she presses the mask against her face, it seems to have melded with her, cutting off her air supply. Somehow she begins breathing again, though not too soon afterwards a voice draws her attention. The voice of another Predator. And the really strange thing is she could understand him.

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(Who are you? And what have you done with Scar!)

Lex blinked, still trying to get over the fact that she had almost died a second ago from lack of oxygen. And now... now she had to cope with facing another one of those Predators, except this one was larger. Much larger.

"I... I..." Lex floundered with her words, her eyes traveling fearfully over the Hunter's body. Even sitting as he was, he was eye level with her. The human's nerves tingled with adrenaline, her body trembling slightly. The moment it looked as if he was attempting to stand would be her cue to bolt out of there.

Due to his incredible size, he was twice as muscled as Scar. Un-flexed, his biceps were bigger than her own head. His skin was a darker shade of yellow, leaning more towards greenish-brown with mottled spots of black. He, like Scar, was adorned in strange netting that spanned across most of his exposed skin. Yet unlike Scar, this Yautja seemed to have less armor protecting his body, almost as if he was purposefully showing off his physical prowess.

At her lack of words, the Predator growled, moving his hand to grasp a wickedly curved dagger.

That's when Lex saw it. A large gaping wound had been covered by his large fist a moment before, with some sort of bluish substance stuffed into it. The gooey substance wasn't his blood, that much she knew. She had seen the first, smaller Yautja get speared through the chest by an Alien. Of course, by smaller she meant smaller by Predator standards from what she's observed. The small one had been at least seven feet tall. But anyway, the point was that his blood had been neon green. And Lex would bet anything the same went for this big guy's blood as well.

Before she realized what she was saying, the words left her mouth, "You're... you're hurt." Leading teams to trek and survey vast expanses of dangerous ground had been her expertise for years, which had only served as a foundation for her motherly instincts. However, if you had brought the damage idiotically upon yourself, you would soon realize Lex had a mother's cold discipline and indifference to match.

Until that moment, Lex hadn't realized those rules could apply to extraterrestrial life forms bent on killing as well.

The big Predator's brow ridge rose, though Lex couldn't see it underneath his mask. Had the... soft meat sounded... concerned?

(It's nothing.) He growled, head turning reflexively towards the wound on his chest before jerking his head back up to her, his dreadlocks snapping with the anger in his voice, (Now... what have you done with Scar?)

"I... I haven't done anything with him." Lex replied slowly, her attention fixated upon the rather large dent on his mask. It looked as if... as if something had attempted to ram a weapon through the top of it. And from the looks of him, it seemed whoever had done the deed had left him for dead.

The Hunter fixed her with a hard glare, free arm flexing as he imagined tearing her head from the rest of her body. Did she believe she could FOOL him? He snarled in reply, (You lie. That's HIS mask you wear.)

"His mas..." Lex trailed off, her hand reaching up to where her face should have been. The soft skin she had been seeking was replaced with the metallic coldness of the mask over it. She felt her breath catch, remembering the inability to fill her lungs with oxygen the few moments before. Suddenly scrabbling at the edges once more, Lex demanded in a slightly panicked tone, "How do you get this thing off!?"

Tilting his head a bit to the side, his metal-banded hair clinking to form a menacing curtain around his face, the giant Yautja growled, (You should never have put it on in the first place.)

"I... I didn't mean to-" Lex pried her fingers at the edges of the unwelcome metal. In one part of her mind, she realized demanding answers from an incredibly large Predator, was an extremely bad idea. But the other part that feared retaliation from the inanimate mask even more. Still, her tone lowered "How do you take it off?"

(Where is Scar?) The Hunter countered, bicep rippling as he clenched and unclenched his fist.

"He-", The woman started to say, but then paused. How was she supposed to know where the hell that other creature was? She didn't even know where she herself was. Grumbling, she continued, "…oh, I don't know. We got separated." Lex was still finding it hard to believe she was talking to one of them. And was she taking a tone with him?

The Predator bristled. Was this Ooman taking a tone? Towards HIM?

Before he could even begin to growl back, Lex saw his head snap to the side, his focus on something further down the hall. With dread, Lex slowly turned as well, praying with each breath it wasn't what she thought it was.

Her eyes caught the obsidian slickness of the creature's head.

Lex tensed.

"...shit." She exhaled shakily.

Tail thrashing behind it, the Alien took a step forward, a hiss escaping slowly through its slime covered lips. A split second longer than it should have taken, the Hunter attempted to rise to his feet. In that same instant he remembered he couldn't and cursed loudly as he ended back up on the floor. From an outsider's point of view, it would have seemed as if the big brute had halted his ascent as he rammed against some unknown barrier, rebounding back to the ground in the process.

Wondering what was going on, Lex jerked her gaze back towards the Predator. Then she saw what was stopping him. It must have been during the last time the pyramid reconfigured. But no matter how long ago it happened, it still didn't change the simple fact of the matter.

The Hunter's arm was pinned. Under an entire wall.

The fact that it was still intact spoke wonders about the Predator armor and his muscled forearm itself. But now wasn't the time to be thinking of those things.

Simultaneously, Lex snapped her attention back to the Alien as it lunged forward.

Seeing as how the larger prey was trapped, the hard meat turned to attack the one still standing. It would kill her. Or at least get her out of the picture.

Lex stood, idiotically rooted to the spot by fear as the Alien suddenly pivoted a few steps before her. It took her mind too long to register what this meant in order to get her body moving. It wasn't until she was flying through the air, her chest blossoming in pain, that the black woman even realized she had been struck with its whip-like tail.

Crashing into the far wall of the dark room she had emerged from, Lex took a moment to catch her breath so she could groan in pain. Her vision was filled with stars and splotches momentarily before she could register what was happening.

No... the Alien was NOT attacking her. She was, in fact, alone in the room.

Despite the pain it stimulated, Lex forced her body to crawl forward on hands and knees. She wanted to know what was happening. But at the same time, she wanted to run away.

'Run away to where?' Lex frowned, 'These Aliens are crawling everywhere. And this room is a dead end. Should I just wait here and rot? Rot away in a self made prison?'

Lex didn't have to answer that thought. She knew the answer deep down inside.

Biting her lip to stop any further arguments with herself, Lex struggled to her feet and peered slowly into the hall.

The Alien was circling the trapped Hunter, trying to find an opening in the trapped prey's defenses. The Yautja snarled. If his arm was free, this would not even BE a battle. He couldn't just throw a Disc. They took too long to load and by the time it was thrown, the hard meat would have struck. He couldn't go on the offensive with any of the weapons he had, not with the way he was pinned down. He could only guard with the personalized blade held in his huge palm. His last defense would be the Wristblade. IF he had enough time to draw it.

Hissing, the hard meat thrust its jaws forward. The Predator immediately swiped with the blade, nicking the creature on the side of the head as it drew back. The Hunter couldn't help the pleased grimace on his face as he spotted the Alien's yellowish blood trickle down the side of its face.

(You're going to have to try harder than that.) The Yautja growled, his grip on the hilt of the blade tightening.

The Alien drew back its black lips, an impatient snarl emanating from its bony throat. The Predator, in the meantime, swung his armored foot. The blow connected with the hard meat's oblong head, throwing the creature off its feet from the mere force alone.

Once it had scrambled back upright, the Alien came back with a vengeance. In the blink of an eye, its tail blade whipped forth and impaled the Hunter's free arm to the stone wall behind him. Snarling his pain, the Predator didn't have time to retaliate before the Alien sprang forward. It landed with clawed feet over the Yautja's knees, its resulting hold and weight rendering the Hunter's legs effectively useless.

The Hunter was helpless. This time his growl was one of frustration.

Was this how his Hunt would end? Him, pinned to the wall, his wounds and the pyramid working against him as he is slaughtered by one measly hard meat? A dozen, maybe. Two dozen, perhaps. But ONE single hard meat. The Predator was baffled by the absurdity of it all.

Through the mask, his sage-colored eyes were glaring death in the face, literally. He would remain defiant to the end. His mandibles flexed as he prepared to utter his last, deafening roar.

And a deafening sound it was.

It echoed clear through the stone structure, bouncing off walls only to continue down another passage before dying down in volume. The roar was loud enough to give even the Alien pause. But the moment it ended the hard meat opened its own jaws, preparing to send its second jaw straight through the huge Yautja's skull.

But the end never came.

Out of the side of his vision, he spotted movement. The soft meat was a brown and red blur as she crashed headlong into the Alien. The Predator's bafflement was interrupted by the sudden explosion of pain in his arm as the tail blade was forcefully yanked out. But even through the pain, the Yautja forced himself to continue watching the surprising battle unfolding before him.

Both human and hard meat skidded to the far end of the hall, where the corridor grew into a cavernous room. Unfortunately for Lex, it took that long for her mind to catch up with her actions.

'What the hell am I doing!' Her mind screamed at her. She had gone through this maze from hell, watching her team die. Watching every damn human around her fall. Why had she acted now? To save some humanoid alien who was probably, even now, plotting her eminent demise?

The Alien didn't wonder what she was doing. It was too busy struggling to get to its feet. Though... if it hadn't been mad before, there was no mistaking it was pissed off NOW.

When all her mind continued doing was shouting at her, Lex promptly tuned it out. She had done it just in time as she saw the tail arcing down to impale her. Reacting instinctively, she rolled, cringing as she felt the impact on the ground beside her head. She felt dust and pebbles showering over her features, but she forced her attention back to the ebony-armored beast before her.

The Alien crouched over her, its skeletal chest a few hands-breadth from her. It was close. Too close.

Jaws reared back and lunged for her face. A panicked breath escaped her mouth as she twisted her head out of the way, only to have to dodge the other way from another lunge. If she stayed where she was, she soon wasn't going to have a head TO move.

Through the edge of her vision, Lex spotted a large wall on the other side of the room. The Alien hissed and clawed at her, catching her just beneath the jaw line. Gagging, the black woman tuned into her thoughts for a split second. One word filled her mind.

'MOVE.'

Clenching her teeth, Lex steeled herself before bashing her mask-covered forehead against the Alien's face. With a screech, it stumbled back, unintentionally giving Lex her mobility back. Leaping onto her feet, Lex ignored a bout of dizziness as she delivered a swift kick before sprinting for the wall. A satisfying 'thunk' of the Alien's head snapping from her hit trailed in her wake. However, the thing's chitin armor was strong and the Alien itself was fast. Lex could only hope she'd even the odds once they were on the wall face.

Grimacing from multiple wounds, the Yautja found he couldn't pry his eyes from the scene. The soft meat was running again. Perhaps she had regretted intervening? Oddly, the Predator did not find himself filled with outrage at the disruption. It had been a unfair battle, if it could have been called such, and she had thrust herself into the thick of it. The Predator blinked. The Ooman was a female. Of that he was sure. And yet she fought...?

If his arm had been free, he knew he would've just torn her apart for the simple outrage of wearing a Yautja mask. For, as usual, he was a Yautja known to act before he could wait for his thought processing to catch up. He'd be the male Yautja standing with a bloodied knife in his hand BEFORE he realized the other guy had just been joking.

But, having his first reaction restrained by physical obstacles, the young Predator found himself actually considering his thought processing, for once.

It was a rare occasion where a Yautja's life would be saved from a dishonorable death. It was rarer still when the person who saved that Yautja's life turned out to be an Ooman. They were usually the ones attempting to fight the proud race during their hunts. Still, when such instances did occur, there was an immediate life debt laid out on the table. Grumbling darkly, Rave realized this was one of those times.

(She is weak... but I will not leave a life debt unpaid.) The thoughts slipped through the Hunter's mandibles without meaning to.

His green eyes blinked in bafflement at a sudden realization. Was he... was he hoping the soft meat would win?

Adrenaline pumped through her as she felt the slightest tingling in the hairs at the back of her neck. Swerving in her path, she cursed as she felt the Alien skid past her, crouching as it tried to correct its headings. Surprisingly, the mask did not hinder her breathing in the least. The wall was close. Unfortunately, Lex could feel the Alien hot on her heels in pursuit. Lex pumped her arms as she ran faster, dust kicking up behind her as she blazed across the floor.

She didn't have time to start a slow ascent. She couldn't stop without the thing ripping her apart.

Gritting her teeth, Lex counted her steps on her speedy approach. On the third bound she leaped forth with all the strength she had. All the years of training and climbing added extra energy. In one swift motion, her leg muscles coiled and unleashed the raw power she had trained within them. An eternity passed as she hung in the air, arms stretched out for the rough catch.

With a loud expelled breath, Lex slammed into the wall some twenty or thirty feet in the air. Hands and feet scrambling for a good hold on the rough surface, Lex risked a glance towards the ground. Since WHEN had she been able to jump so high?

Lex decided that now was not the time to be arguing about illogical happenings when her life was on the line. The hard meat, in the meantime, was staring up at her, prowling on the ground. For a moment Lex wondered if maybe the thing couldn't climb. Later she would undoubtedly agree that had been one of the most idiotic things to ever cross her mind.

A screech and a loud 'THUD' later, Lex found the thing had landed a couple of feet below her, urging her to find hand and foot holds even faster.

In its mind, the Alien heard the Queen hissing her fury. He was to kill the Yautja. The Hunter's death was ALWAYS priority. Half its mind was struggling to obey her, but the other half was too intoxicated by the smell of the prey's fear. When the enraged Queen calmed enough to realize she would not be reaching her drone anytime soon, she reluctantly conceded. This Alien could take care of the soft meat. But she would send another to ensure the Hunter's death.

'Another will come.' She hissed to appease her own anger, 'Soon.'

-o-o-o-

Scar crouched on his heels, one clawed hand tracing the grooves on the floor. His quarry's pace had altered.

It was on the run.

But why now?

The tingling feeling in the back of his head persisted. Throughout the whole pursuit, his thoughts kept trailing back to that same, insistent feeling. He was starting to get annoyed now. He was annoyed that he could not figure out what the sensation meant, even though it was at the tip of his tongue. And he was annoyed that he was annoyed in the first place. There was no room on the Hunt for something so... distracting.

And the fact that he was still maddened by the fact that the Ooman had been able to take his mask away did not help his mood at all. It was infuriating. The masks were specially made for each individual Yautja. Some had theirs made by master craftsmen while others had the skill enough to create their own. Scar was one of those few whose brawn had not overcome his brain and creativity.

He had MADE his mask.

The masks were meant to follow a Yautja warrior through life. If it scarred, the damage would remain to be proudly displayed. If it broke down too much for wear, the remains were melted into scrap in order to create a new one. But having one's mask break down so much was highly discouraged, for then the true marking created to prove one's fully blooded status would melt with it, leaving only an artificial mark afterwards to take its place on the new mask.

But to lose one's mask in its entirety... Scar may as well have lost an entire limb.

Not only did the mask contain five different optical sensors, but it also regulated breathing in difficult atmosphere and was the prime reticule targeting system for his Plasmacaster.

He was just lucky this planet's atmosphere was tolerable, otherwise he would have had to use the spare breathing apparatus inside his med kit. And without the thermal netting he wore beneath and across his skin, the weather was made slightly bearable as well.

He just couldn't believe... HOW had she used the gun? And HOW had he allowed her to take his mask!

Suddenly an earth-shattering roar filled the entire hall for a few breaths. Scar's amber eyes widened. That roar. It belonged to a fellow Yautja. And not just any Yautja.

(Rave...) Scar uttered in disbelief.

Raking his claw beside the hard meat's tracks, Scar pushed off into a fast sprint, his direction leading him towards the origin of the roar. He hadn't mistaken the sound and pitch of the cry. It had been one of defiance and finality. A roar that would only be sounded in the face of death itself.

His fist clenching, Scar quickened his pace.