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Mass Effect owned by BioWare.

Aliens vs Predator owned by 20th Century Fox.

Zivos Station

The Queen was agitated. Her children were, too; they all felt the deaths of their Kin, the casualties they had accumulated from skirmishes with the Armed Prey. Fatalities against the station's defenders had mostly been negligible; it was when the three Hunters had arrived on the space station that the Hive had started to take noteworthy losses.

This was unacceptable.

The Hive would have to alter its tactics; pure swarm tactics wouldn't work as well anymore.

XXX

Specimen Three pressed itself low, stealthily slinking through the air duct the Xenomorph and two of its Kin were currently inhabiting. The drone could feel the presence of three more of its Kin close by, preparing their own ambush.

Below the group of Xenomorphs stood a relatively large squad of the Armed Prey. Three halted its advance, its Kin coming to a stop moments later. There was another scent among the Armed Prey, one that made 3 curl its lip in what passed for disgust. The Fleshless. Two of them. They offered nothing of value to the Hive; no Kin could be spawned from them. The only way they could contribute to the Hive's success was through their own deaths.

No matter. It was time to launch their ambush.

Specimen Three kicked downwards, dislodging the grille and sending it tumbling into the midst of the startled Armed Prey. Three followed it down, lancing its tail through the skull of a Fleshless. The Armed Prey were quick to react. The corridor was filled with gunfire as the Armed Prey confronted the sudden appearance of their foes.

"They're in the vents! They're in the fu-"

The mercenary's expletive was never completed, the censorship arriving in the form of a Xenomorph bursting through a floor panel and slashing his throat, the second group of Kin joining the fray.

Surrounded on both sides, the mercenaries plus android could only try their best to repel the lightning-fast attackers. The following minute was a whirlwind of frenzied close-quarters combat, tracer fire, and ear-piercing shrieks.

A mercenary was tackled to the ground, but before he was ripped apart he was able to blow the offending Xenomorph's brains out with his Carnifex. The unintended consequences of his actions consisted of the Drone's corpse collapsing and pinning him to the ground, and its acidic blood melting through his armor. Specimen 3 brought a swift end to the merc's suffering.

Another of its Kin was shredded by the combined fire of two mercs and the remaining android. Three snarled, enraged at the deaths of two of its Kin. The other three Xenomorphs shared Three's sentiment.

Three and its Kin launched themselves at the four remaining Armed Prey. Specimen Three raked its claws across the chestplate of one of the mercenaries in an upward slash, cutting through his glowing Outer Skin and sending him flying into the opposing bulkhead. The android was ripped to shreds by the vengeful Xenomorphs, the last two Blue Suns troopers meeting the same fate moments later.

Three threw up its head, the victorious screeching of the Drone and its Kin after their minute-long battle could be heard throughout the level.

XXX

Shepard's team had split into two groups of three, Miranda leading one, while the other was commanded by Shepard herself. There had been no "welcoming committee" to greet the Normandy crewmembers, something that Shepard had noted with worry. She had become used to having to fight for her life as soon as she stepped off the shuttle. She and her team would have to be wary.

Shepard signaled for the shuttle's pilot to take off; the Kodiak would be called back when one of the squads brought back some of the surviving staff members.

The sounds of distant gunfire and inhuman screeching greeted the Normandy's away team upon exiting the hangar. The group divided into their respective squads and went their separate ways, searching for Zivos' staff one level at a time.

XXX

The squad consisting of Shepard, Samara and Grunt made their way through the empty hallways, weapons drawn and at the ready. The tank-bred Krogan was perturbed; the faint sound of combat from other areas on the level was tantalizing for Grunt, and he was starting to fidget. He was craving a good fight.

He wasn't alone in his anxiousness. Shepard was constantly scanning the environment, preparing herself for an ambush whenever her squad encountered a diverging pathway.

Samara was the only one who didn't radiate anxiety; she appeared perfectly calm and collected.

Shepard came to an abrupt stop, her squadmates halting right behind her. The Spectre brought a finger up to her lips in a "Shh" gesture. Voices could be heard up ahead, the sound of words filtered through helmet speakers wafting from around the corner. These people could potentially be the ones Shepard and her team were looking for. If nothing else, perhaps they could shed some light on the nature of the station's infestation.

That was another thought that troubled her. She had yet to actually lay eyes on the things causing so much chaos. She couldn't shake the feeling that whatever it was that was loose on the research station was watching her and her squad.

Shepard shook her head, clearing her mind. Thinking things like that would only drive her insane, and where would that lead them?

Now, how best to introduce ourselves t-

Screaming and gunfire simultaneously rang out, the unmistakable sound of discharging weapons filling the air along with shrill, high-pitched wailing and hissing. Prior to this explosion of noise, Shepard reckoned she heard something metal clatter to the floor.

"They're in the vents! They're in the fu-"

Whatever that person was about to say was replaced with a wet gurgle, another crash of metal appearing before the speaker "lost his voice." Shepard

Shouted cursing, more gunfire, and piercing screams immediately followed the speaker's demise, with a faint sizzling providing another layer to the cacophony.

A figure was thrown from the connecting hallway in front of Shepard's group directly into an adjacent bulkhead. He slid down the wall and crumpled in a heap on the floor. Shepard's eyes widened as the man's uniform registered in her mind. He was wearing Blue Suns armor.

A keening wail started up from the unknown assailants. The entire exchange had lasted a little over a minute, Shepard and her squad paralyzed in shock at what just happened. It only lasted for a moment, though.

Then the monsters crawled out from around the corner.

XXX

Specimen Three cut off its victory cry, slowly lowering its head as it dawned on the Xenomorph that the Armed Prey it had launched across the hallway was still alive. Wounded, but still very much living. Three snarled. It would have to correct its failure.

XXX

There were four of them in total. Nightmarish creatures with black carapaces slinked forth, closing in on the incapacitated mercenary. One of the beasts, a noticeably thinner and more wiry member of the small group of creatures, closed in more quickly than its fellows.

"Samara, quickly!"

The Asari justicar acknowledged Shepard's order by casting out her hand, fingers splayed.

A mass effect field appeared in the center of the aliens, the Singularity catching all of the creatures in its gravity and pulling them into the air. The monsters were caught by surprise, so focused were they on their prey. They flailed in the air, tails whipping back and forth as they desperately tried to right themselves.

Grunt took aim at the chitinous mass of eye-less creatures, the loud roar of his shotgun drowning out the surprised and angry hissing being emitted from them. As soon as the Krogan brought up his weapon, one of the creatures grabbed hold of one of its brethren, putting it in the line of fire and shielding itself. The blast from Grunt's weapon tore into the nightmare's meat shield, the force behind it enough to push the creature and the fresh corpse out of the Singularity's reach. Shepard and Samara finished off the two remaining beasts still caught within the gravity field.

The alien slid across the floor, kicking its meat shield's corpse away and digging its claws into the deck. It hissed at the Spectre and her squad before turning and scampering the opposite direction, disappearing around another corner.

From the brief glimpse she caught of the creature that had escaped, Shepard could swear she saw the number "3" branded on its forehead.

XXX

Loriik Tivhosk slowly and steadily sat up, the pain in his chest wound suffered by the abomination flaring up. Still, he had to count himself lucky. If his Tech Armor had been absent, he might have been cloven in half. He'd seen that happen to plenty of friends of his while on this accursed station. The Batarian opened his four eyes, gazing on the sight before him. He frowned.

Right in front of him were the corpses of two Xenomorphs, their blood burning into the floor. Over to his left, another one was lying dead in a crumpled heap. That wasn't the strangest part. No, what was really strange was who had presumably saved him from the cruel fate his comrades had suffered. There was a human clad in black N7 armor conversing with a hulking Krogan and an Asari wearing a read bodysuit. How it protected her on the battlefield, he didn't know.

The human looked over to him.

"Ah, good," she said. "You're alive."

Loriik tried to stand up, but ended up collapsing back down, the pain in his chest too much to bear. The extra layer of armor had kept him from dying, but it failed to block out the entire attack.

The human approached him, administering some Medi-Gel to his wound. Almost instantly, the pain subsided and the Batarian could stand. He shakily got to his feet.

"Heh, never thought I'd be saying this to someone I just met, but thanks for saving my life," he said.

Before the red-haired woman could reply, a low, highly mechanical voice rang out.

"Intruders detected. Eliminating."

Loriik stared down the pathway the frantic skirmish had taken place to see a lone Combat Android marching steadily until it was right where the paths combined, skeletal face gazing down the scope of its rifle. It was aiming at the Asari.

Quickly, the mercenary unholstered his M-3 Predator and loosed a shot. The bullet wedged itself right between the android's eyes, causing it to crumple into a heap. The human looked at the dead android, then back to the Batarian.

"Well now," she said. "I suppose I should be thanking you now."

Then the electromagnetic pulse exploded from the android's corpse, momentarily shorting out all electric signals in its vicinity. And revealing the Hunter standing like a sentinel behind the android's body.