Welcome back, as we continue Drake's story…and the serious situation in which he's found himself lately! Anyway, time for another nice helping of act-shun.

As you may have guessed, this chapter's title (and Drake's newest opponents) come from the Concrete Jungle videogame.

Yautja, Predator and all related characters and trademarks are © 20th Century Fox.

THE MONSTER SQUAD

The scientist was looking over the blueprints and computer screens, as he looked up to an old man enter the room. The old man had short, white hair and a distinct beard.

"Graves," He said, "I need to talk to you about one of our recent projects."

"Sure," the scientist answered. He had short, black hair and glasses and was wearing a standard white lab coat.

"About the latest Exosuit upgrade. The one that just got shipped."

"Well…it's the newest upgrade. We just shipped it along with some other Prometheus tech weapons. Nice machine…cyber-enhanced claw grip, missiles, rotating machine gun, armour-penetrating bullets…why? Misplace it?"

"It seems there was a…problem with the shipment. What I want to know is, how many were we shipping out?"

Graves thought back for a moment. "Three. Why?"

"We found one of them in the holds. Piloted by a gang leader. Dead. And the Exosuit was heavily damaged."

"And the other two?"

"Gone. And we have no idea who took them. They'll need tracking down. Those machines are…dangerous."

"So how do we find it?"

"Well, first things first. A hidden camera in the holds showed someone attacking the Exosuit. And we recognised the weapons."

"Rival corporation?"

"…Something like that." The old man turned to walk out of the room. "Thank you for the information Graves."

The old man was quickly met by a man in his late forties, who had faded brown hair and slightly wrinkled features.

"We were right," The old man, said, "There are indeed two more of those Exosuits missing. And to make things worse, we have a Yautja on our hands."

"So…what do we do?"

"We have the procedure. The Weyland-Yutani Corporation doesn't take such matters as this lightly. Prepare the Monster Squad."

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"How you doing?" Adam looked up from his work as Drake arrived late, as usual. After a few minutes being yammered at by Mrs. French, he'd made it to his desk.

"Not bad," He sighed. "You?"

Adam shook his head. "I hate this stuff…'x-b+ or – the square root of b plus 4 times c-a-b or whatever'…why would we ever need to know this?"

"To get the Iron Bitch off our backs?" Drake shrugged. "Anyway, I'm going on vacation soon."

"Cool. Where are you going?"

"Just visiting family." Drake knew it was best that no one found out that he was actually going to be fighting murderous aliens in a little under a month.

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Drake quickly blocked Scarface's blow and, as his mentor leapt at him, ducked and kicked Scarface in the chest. Scarface hit the ground and leapt up, striking forth with his foot, but Drake leaned to the side and grabbed Scarface's leg, hurling him to the ground. Even as Scarface struck, Drake leapt back.

Scarface leapt forward again, but Drake rolled across the ground and brought his fist up, stopping it an inch from Scarface's face.

"Not bad," Scarface smiled. Drake brought his foot down and they each bowed.

"Only a few weeks to go," Drake sighed, "Let's hope I'm ready by then."

"The test will be difficult," Scarface answered as he leaned against the wall, "Possibly the most difficult thing you'll have ever done."

Drake shrugged. "Well, I'm going to get showered. Is it OK if I go out for a quick hunt?"

"OK," Scarface answered, "Just don't be long."

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Drake stood in the cooling midnight breeze, on the edge of the roof. He looked out over the rooftops and basked in the autumn night. Trees below him were now beautiful combinations of red and gold.

He wasn't even out here to hunt- just to cool off. For the last four days, when he wasn't eating or sleeping, he'd been sparring with Scarface. All in preparation for the Kiande Amedha trial.

Are those things really all Scarface said they are? Drake thought, I've sure as hell heard back things about them…

He took a few minutes to reflect on those tales…stories, legends and rumours of monsters that breed inside the living and kill at birth. Fanged, acid-blooded monstrosities.

It dawned on him that dwelling on those stories probably wouldn't help him. Still, he'd rather be taking on a Xenomorph than living his life lately.

True, his grades were up a little, and he'd managed to go a full day without getting into a fight, but he was still exhausted every morning and night, he still had that Yautja trial looming ever closer, and Rebecca still knew who he was.

And he still had no idea what to do about that.

At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something glowing in the alley beneath him. Some kind of green glow…

Drake lithely dodged, jumping down into the alley and barely avoiding the searing blast. He hit the ground hard, ending up in a small puddle. In a burst of electric sparks, his Stealth gear shorted out as another blast swept toward him. He ducked, narrowly dodging the beam.

He quickly analysed the situation: Jumping into the alley had definitely been a bad move. His Stealth wasn't working now. He was at the back of the alley, cornered. Walls close-by on all sides. And whoever this guy was, he was heavily armed. Drake leapt forward into the air, barely in time to dodge another searing blast. However, something else suddenly hit him in the back, surrounding him and binding his arms to his sides.

Drake struggled as the net kept him pinned down. Finally, they emerged from the shadows.

The two of them were garbed in fully black suits, moving swiftly and silently. Black masks concealed their faces and they each carried a massive cannon. One of them nodded to the other, who immediately readied his weapon.

Drake managed to grab his Smart Disc and swept it up, cutting through the net. As the laser fired, Drake jumped up onto the side of a fire escape and fired two shots from his Speargun. His attackers immediately dodged, and one of them fired again. Drake jumped down toward them, whipping out his Glaive. However, they rolled to the side again, but Drake fired a second time. This time the spear caught one of them in the back- but all it did was stagger!

The other one suddenly leapt forward, stabbing something into Drake's back. Drake gritted his teeth in pain and swung the Glaive round, even as his attacker rolled away.

I recognise these guys… Drake thought, Scarface told me about them…the monster squad…

As one of them leapt toward him, Drake tried to lift his arm- but the movement was slow, almost as if his arm was unwilling.

The Monster Squad member struck Drake in the chest, knocking him back into the wall.

Drake's limbs felt like they were made of rubber as he tried to stand up.

C'jit… He thought, what did that bastard stab me with? Can barely feel me arms…

One of them fired again, striking Drake in the chest. He roared in anger until the beam stopped and he slumped to the ground.

Can't move…hurts to even breathe…come on…have to get up…

Finally, he leapt forward, spear extended. This managed to take one of them by surprise. The spear hit its mark, cutting straight through him. Drake pulled it out…and the guy hit him right back! Despite the should-have-been-fatal wound, he raised the gun again and fired.

Drake tried to dodge, only to hit an invisible wall of pain. The beam sent him hurtling back into a dumpster.

Drake's two attackers began walking quickly toward him. Despite the agony it caused, and the pain of the raw, bleeding wound on his chest, Drake pulled himself up.

The two Monster Squad soldiers raised their weapons again.

Desperately, Drake managed to grab something out of his belt. Shielding his eyes, he hurled the Sonic Trap forward into the bath of the beams. It exploded in a blinding flash and unbelievable noise. Drake leapt away with what little strength he had left, only to find that they kept firing!

Oh, come on! Doesn't anything work on these guys?

Drake hurled something else behind him this time. It hit one of them in the chest, exploding in a burst of fire.

Yes!

With the last of his strength, Drake pulled away a nearby manhole and slipped down into the sewers.

Have to keep moving… He thought, just don't black out…

His head was swimming. Whatever he'd been stabbed with, it was seriously powerful.

He wasn't sure how far he'd gotten before he heard the footsteps coming from behind him. He wearily turned round to see the two soldiers still moving toward him, one of them badly burned, its mask charred away.

Beneath the mask, it was hideous- pale white flesh and torn-off skin attacked systematically to meshes of wires and systems.

Drake hurled the Smart Disc at them again, only for them each to dodge both times and fire at him again. Drake spun round in an effort to dodge, but the blasts hit him in the back. He cried out in pain and went flying forward, facedown in the sewage.

No…come on…have to get up…can't go down like this…not like this…

He managed to pull himself up, only for both of his attackers to suddenly start pummelling him. After a few seconds, Drake collapsed again.

He didn't get up.

Drake's chest slowly raised and fell as the Monster Squad soldiers approached him.

However, as one of them leaned, down, a shimmering object leaped down and kicked one of them away. It hit the sewage and, in a burst of lightening, was revealed.

The Yautja roared angrily at the two of them. It was eight feet tall, with pale yellow-brown skin and mandibles on its mouth. Definitely Yautja.

However, most notably, instead of a left eye, it had a large, grey scar.

Scarface whipped out his spear and leapt at the two soldiers…

Man, what a cliffhanger! Scarface Vs. The Monster Squad! Drake is unconscious!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Ever since my friend Joe Hartwell and I came up with Drake, we've thought about pitting him against the Monster Squad. Hope you enjoyed that confrontation!

Oh, and bad news, Xeno fans- the Xenomorph chapter has been delayed again. Sorry about that.