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Infinity Verse Spotlight
Lucy: Most Dangerous Game part 2
Just when Lucy assumed the universe might be done making her life an emotional punching bag, something like this happens.
The Diclonius Queen was normally use to the feeling of being alone. Since she had been abandoned by her parents, it was nearly all she ever knew aside from killing. But this time was different. Here she was, by herself in the middle of the woods, continuing to put distance between her and her captors, now with the knowledge that the only person she ever cared for was dead. [1]
The second she thought back to that moment, she ceased her walking and nearly collapsed onto the ground once again, this time holding onto a tree for support. Afterward, she sat down next to the tree, the tears starting to flow for what felt like the hundredth time now. It was always a cruel cycle. She gets close to someone and one of two outcomes happens. One, that person ends up betraying her trust, like that one bitch from the orphanage, or two, they end up dead, like Aiko, and now Kouta.
"Is this...Is this what you want from me?" she questioned as she looked up at the skies above, likely asking this to her 'divine creator.' "Am I just some sick joke to you?! Why the hell didn't you just let me die?!"
As she burried her face into her knees, quietly sobbing, Lucy mentally questioned what exactly her purpose was going on like this, hoping that damn voice in her head wouldn't answer that question with the same tired response. 'It's because you are destined to eradicate humanity so that we may take this Earth,' it would say. There was a time when she would carry that task out without even a second guess. But not anymore. She was tired. Tired of the constant running. Tired of the never-ending battle scars. Tired of the emotional turmoil that plagued her life day after day.
The Diclonius thought back once more to that moment in Kamakura that put her in a coma for four months. The same question she asked her creator came to her once more. Why couldn't she have just died then? Why couldn't the pain just end already? These thoughts ran rampant through her mind as she continued to quietly shed her tears.
Then, she started to hear something.
A clicking noise that almost sounded like an animal snarling.
The sound clearly came from above the tree tops, so the Diclonius Queen shifted her head upward to try and find who would foolishly try to stalk her like this. She naturally assumed, at first, that it was likely an operative of the facility she had recently escaped from trying to re-capture her. Brave of them...yet foolish at the same time.
However, moments later, something caught her eye. She quickly caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure jumping from branch to branch, and instantly knew that whoever this was, it was no human. It appeared to be about twice the height of an adult male and seemed to be digitigrade given the apparent shape of its feet.
The clicking continued on as Lucy tried once more to find what was watching her from the trees above. It was at that moment that another sound came about. This time a garbled recording that at first seemed like incoherant nonsense, until the noise started to manifest into something else. Something that shook the mutant to the very core and nearly made her heart stop.
It was her voice.
Or rather, the voice of her younger self...from THAT fateful day.
"N-Now I'm goin-ing to k-k-kill-you...st-stupid-id girl..."
At that moment, Lucy wasn't content with just tearing this stalker to pieces and being done with it. No. Now she was going to make this individual scream for reminding her of that moment in her life.
She continued searching the trees for any sign of the cloaked figure and suddenly saw it leaping to a branch to her right.
"There you are," she muttered under her breath.
In an instant, she shot her vectors towards the figure, tearing the trees around it apart and forcing the cloaked stalker to fall towards the ground in front of her. She heard the sound of its feet landing roughly on the ground and prepared her invisible weapons once more to finish the job. She stopped, however, when the stalker slowly began to de-cloak itself as it approached its target, revealing quite the surprise for the Diclonius Queen.
Her second assumption was correct. This thing indeed was not human. What she wasn't expecting was just how far from human it truly was. The eleven foot tall stalker was revealed to be a charcoal-grey skinned creature with a gauntlet on its right arm and a head unlike anything Lucy had ever seen, with dreadlock-like appendages for hair and arthropod-like mandibles for a mouth. The Diclonius quickly shook off her initial shock rather quickly though. She didn't care what this thing looked like at the moment.
All she cared about was making this ugly motherfucker suffer before she killed it.
Without hesitation, once the creature was within two meters of Lucy, she shot her vectors out once more, aiming to slice the Yautja's arms off first. However, the alien hunter swiftly reacted by having his metallic exo-skeletal skin deploy before doing something that caused Lucy's jaw to practically drop.
He grabbed two of her vectors.
Unbeknownst to the mutant, the Yautja's now built-in infra-red vision was able to detect the normally invisible vectors and grab them before they could reach him. He was sparred his hands being sliced in half as well thanks to his now practically unbreakable metal skin.
Lucy then made an attempt to go for the alien's legs, hoping to find some sort of weak spot or, at the very least, trip him, but it seemed as though the hunter saw this as well and pulled the vectors he had grabbed with such force that the Queen Diclonius was sent flying towards him. She was quick to react, managing to use her two free vectors to launch herself up and above the Yautja just before he managed to headbutt her. But once she landed behind him and prepared to attack him once more, the intergalactic huntsman sprung a blade from his gauntlet and quickly turned to face her once more, swinging the blade towards Lucy's neck while he did so.
Thankfully, the Diclonius was able to block the attempt on her life with her vectors before using them to land a punch on the Yautja's face. The force of the impact caused him to stumble backwards a bit and Lucy saw this as her chance to try and go back on the offensive, failing to notice three red dots aimed at her forehead. She did, however, notice the plasma cannon on the alien hunter's shoulder begining to charge up and instantly shielded herself utilizing her invisible appendages. The cannon fired a powerful plasma bolt that exploded upon making contact with the queen's vectors. Lucy was spared being blown to pieces, but the force of the explosion was enough to send her flying back into a tree.
As she struggled to get back on her feet, she could practically feel something start to claw its way through the depths of her mind. She instantly knew what, or rather, who, this was and clutched her forhead in pain.
"Ugh...damn it, not now," she said.
She didn't have much time to further chastize her much more inneffective personality, Nyu, as she suddenly heard the Yautja roaring directly at her. She turned to face him once more to see him activate a device in his gauntlet that shot out the blade he had previously attempted to use to decapitate the Diclonius. Lucy was able to act at the very last second and use her vectors to grab the blade as it was mere inches away from her torso. She then charged directly towards her opponent and threw the blade at him, only for the Yautja to knock it aside as he started to charge towards his prey.
The alien stopped, however, seemingly out of nowhere once he was two meters away. He was then suddenly hurled into a group of trees by Lucy's vectors. The invisible appendages still held onto their victim as Lucy directed them to swing the Yautja into a second group of trees before launching him upward. The Diclonius Queen responded by launching herself up as well, intent on delivering a strike that would send the alien plumetting to the ground bellow. However, once she reached the air, she let out a gasp of shock upon seeing that the Yautja was gone.
She knew at that moment that the hunter had cloaked himself and, rather than taking a huge risk and just guessing where he was, quickly used her vectors to pull herself into the leaves of one of the forest's trees, right before her target de-cloaked and was able to grab her by the neck. Her strategy was simple: as much as she hated to do so, she needed to try and hide to give herself the time to try and formulate some kind of plan to defeat this monster. Any hope of doing so were quickly dashed though when she just barely spotted three dots dash by her arm in a heartbeat.
"Th-There you-you a-a-are," a recording of Lucy suddenly said, causing her blood red eyes to widen.
"Shit!" she cursed as she instantly dashed out of the tree she was hiding in the second before a plasma bolt set it ablaze.
The Diclonius landed roughly on the ground, which had also been set on fire thanks to the prior explosion, but luckily, she had missed the flames by about a foot. She was able to get on her knees when she noticed the Yautja standing about a good fifteen feet away, staring right at her. Lucy readied her vectors for another attack, but then the beast started to walk away, apparently not even noticing her at all.
'...What is it doing?' Lucy thought to herself, just barely noticing a spark eminating from the alien's right eye. She then started to attempt to piece this together, naturally assuming that this creature had some sort of enhancements to his eyes that allowed him to see both her and her vectors no matter where she was. So, when she had punched him in the face earlier,
she must have been able to damage it.
Her thoughts were cut short, however, when she felt a sharp pain eminating from her forehead. She had to restrain herself from grunting, as no doubt the alien hunter would hear her.
'No, you idiot!' she thought. 'If you come out now, it'll be the death of both of us!'
'And to think, just a few moments ago you were begging for such bliss, weren't you?' asked not Nyu, but a third voice in the Diclonius Queen's head.
'If I'm going to die, I'd rather not end up having my skull be this freak's trophy,' Lucy shot back.
The truth was that Lucy had a minnimal understanding of just what she was up against. During her time in the GJN facility's bio-lab, she noticed two files nearby the Antarctica Lifeform's tube. One was titled 'Guatemala - 1987,' while the other was titled 'Los Angeles - 1997.' Prior to noticing the Antarctica Lifeform, she briefly looked over the Guatemala file, which were interviews of two individuals, Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer and Anna Gonsalves, that were conducted after their encounter with a similar creature. She wasn't able to get much, but she did notice that statements made by Dutch suggested that these aliens hunted what they considered worthy prey and took their skulls and spinal cords as trophies.
'Either way, you know that I can't allow that to happen,' the voice continued. 'You still have a missi-'
'Not. Another. Word,' Lucy retaliated. 'I don't want to hear about that goddamned 'destiny' of mine. At least not until we deal with this thing first. So, unless you have any ideas, I'd strongly suggest shutting the hell up right now.'
'Fortunately, I believe I may have one. I might have enough power to slay this creature if you allow me to take over.'
The Diclonius Queen had to refrain herself from sighing. She knew that voice was probably going to suggest that. Unfortunately, as she silently mulled it over, she realized that she doesn't have many other options.
"[Where are you?]" the Yautja asked in his native tongue as he continued searching through the inferno.
'I promise that this will only be temporary,' the voice stated.
Lucy continued to think this through, trying to find some other way to kill this thing, but alas, it was clear that it was a fruitless endevor as she finally made her decision.
'Fine,' she replied, almost in disgust.
Then, the very next second, an onslaught of pain and aggony rushed through her head as she felt her horns starting to move. She proceeded to clutch both of them before finally screaming out, unable to surpress it any longer. The Yautja easily heard this and turned to the source of the scream.
"There-ere y-you a-ou are."
The alien hunter's plasma cannon charged up once more, fully intent on finishing this fight, before firing at its target, a massive explosion resulting from the impact. Thinking that he was about to claim his prize, the upgraded Yautja let out a victorious roar into the skies above before slowly making his way to the roaring flames.
Only to then be met with a now visible vector to the head.
The impact was different this time, and the hunter knew it, as the fist practically detonated right on his face, sending him flying against a tree. The Yautja shook off the pain and stood to see his prey advancing towards him, but there was something different. Of course, her vectors were now visible to the naked eye, but also, her horns had grown to about triple their normal length and gone was the normally cold, emotionless expression of the Diclonius Queen. Replaced, instead, by a sadistic smirk on her face.
"Come on..." she said as she advanced further towards her opponent. "Kill me."
The Yautja responded be slowly getting back on his feet.
"I'm here. Do it."
He picked up his still detatched wrist blade and reattatched it to his gauntlet.
"Come on! I'm right here! Do it now!"
He roared once more, this time with pure rage and a desire to kill.
"KILL ME!"
Upon hearing those words, the Yautja charged towards his target, swinging his wrist blade towards her neck once he was close enough, only for a vector to swing back at his arm. Not only did it shove it away from her, but, shockingly, the alien heard the sounds of crumpled metal and shattered bones. As the pain started to kick in in his right arm, he turned to see that it was completely broken and the metal of his exo-skeleton was starting to tear. The Yautja yelled out and grabbed his now broken arm as he started to back away from Lucy.
He attempted to utilize his plasma cannon once more, only for another vector to grab it, tear it off of his back and crush it. While she tossed the now useless ball of scrap aside, she finally noticed the light green blood starting to flow out of both the wounds on his arm and on his back.
"Good," she said. "You DO bleed. I CAN kill you."
The Yautja snarled in contempt in responde.
"G-go-o-going to-to kill-ill...st-st-st-stupid-id girl-rl."
He then pulled the wrist blade out of his gauntlet in an attempt to stab her in the gut, only for one of her vectors to pull it out of his hand and toss it aside. Another vector proceeded to grab his already broken arm and pull on it, tearing it right out of his body. The extraterrestrial huntsman roared out in agony before he was suddenly lifted into the air, upside down. Two of Lucy's extra appendeges started to punch him in the face repeatedly, each impact creating a small explosion and denting the Yautja's exo-skeleton further and further. After about fifteen seconds, she ceased, only to then tear off his left leg and slam him roughly into the ground.
Clearly having won this fight and using up a great deal of her energy, the voice inside Lucy's head retreated back into the depths of her mind, her horns retracting back to their normal size as she did so. Now free from the voice's control, the Diclonius made her way to the writhing alien as he continued to bleed profusely. What was once practically a terrifying force of nature that Lucy could not out match was now a sorry, blood-soaked mess that had been beaten and humiliated to near death.
She looked down at the Yautja, glaring directly into his eyes. Rather than beg for his life like so many of Lucy's victims however, the alien hunter glared right back.
"Going...to kill...stupid girl," he snarled, no longer in his native language, as he turned to see, laying next to his left arm, his detatched right arm. More importantly, his gauntlet. He reached over to it with his only arm, planning to activate a self destruct sequence like so many of his kind had done before. If he was not to have his trophy, he would at the very least have the pleasure of taking the mutant with him. Lucy instinctively knew that, whatever this thing was intending to do, it couldn't possibly be good. So, she readied her vectors to make one final swipe at the alien's neck and finally finishing this fight.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a disk-like weapon flew right into the gauntlet, damaging it beyond repair. The upgraded Yautja's eyes widened, knowing exactly what this meant. The Diclonius, in turn, faced where the disk had come from to see, to her surprise, three more of the beast she had fought, abeit, smaller versions of it, decloaking. Unbeknownst to her, it was the Elder and two Arbitrators that had went after their dishonored brother. [2]
The three of them turned to get a good look at the one who had defeated this Bad Blood. Lucy, feeling yet another fight was about to occur, brought out her vectors in a defensive manner, fully expecting the three of them to make the first move.
Shockingly though, it never happened.
Rather than charge towards her, the Elder turned his head to the upgraded Bad Blood and pointed directly at him. The Arbitrators responded by dashing towards him and forcing him onto his one knee whilest holding onto him. The Elder Yautja turned once more to face Lucy and slowly unsheathed a sword from his back before tossing it in a non-hostile manner to the Diclonius Queen.
"Finish him," he instructed the second Lucy grabbed the sword.
Perplexed, but knowing what he meant, Lucy walked towards the one who had caused her so much trouble. She gazed down at him once more, noticing him weakly struggle in a despirate attempt to free himself. This wasn't how he invisioned this to end. Dying in a humiliating manner. Destined to be remembered as a criminal. A cheater.
Dishonorable.
Without even hesitating, Lucy swung the sword at the Yautja's neck, instantly decapitating him. The Arbitrators let go of their captive, allowing both his corpse and head to harshly land on the ground. The Diclonius Queen then heard the Elder order the two of them in their native language before they picked up the Bad Blood's body and head. As then made off into the woods, disappearing in the shadows, the Elder and Lucy faced each other once more, the Elder pointing at the sword.
"Keep it," he stated before cloaking himself and disappearing before the mutant's eyes.
As she heard the footsteps of the Elder leaving, Lucy looked down at the sword, noticing enscriptions that were no doubt in the aliens' language. Her thoughts, however, were at said extraterrestrials rather than her newly acquired weapon. It was quite clear that they had now considered her a worthy adversary.
And that they would be back.
But she wasn't fearful of their innevitable return and her now destined rematch with them. She had managed to defeat one of their strongest warriors. If they truly wanted to face her again, let them.
Their fates would likely not be any different.
Meanwhile, as the Elder Yautja's ship left Earth's atmosphere, he observed data collected from scouts he had sent earlier. He had figured that, while he was traveling here in pursuit of the Bad Blood, he might as well see if any worthy prey had cropped up over the years. And what the scouts had found was most interesting.
A teenage boy that was part-ghost, humanoid dragons, an interdimensional princess and several alien species that ranged from Gems and Kraang to Autobots and Dire Wraiths. One scout even reported that he may have spotted the notorious space pirate Ryoko Hakubi in Japan. It was at that moment that Lucy's assumption was proven to be right.
The Yaujta would indeed be back.
[1] - As seen in part 6 of The New Frontier
[2] - As seen in the previous Spotlight
