I'm back my loyal friends. Tell me in the comments who you think the individual at the end of the chapter is. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.

"Hey, slow down would you, Predator?" Ava called to Predator, who could be found walking back to the bunks after his completion of the training course. After his display against Nova and Iron Fist, she wanted to talk to him. Something was bothering him after Nova had beaten him, and she wanted to know what it was.

"I'm not in the mood to talk, Ava." Predator growled.

"I don't care if you're in the mood or not," Ava began before pausing to take a breath. "We need to discuss what happened back there."

"What's there to discuss?" Predator asked in a dead tone.

"Can you please stop, Predator? I'm your field handler, and I'm worried about you," Ava said.

Predator stopped walking, and with a sigh, turned to face his field handler.

"Why are you so worried about me?" Predator questioned her. It had been a long time since someone was worried about him.

"What's bothering you?" Ava asked, surprising Predator. That was not what he was expecting.

"Nothing," Predator replied quickly.

"You're lying, Predator." Ava scowled at him.

"Oh, gee. What makes you say that?" Predator said in a sarcastic tone.

"Very funny, wise guy. I think we both know you're lying," Ava said angrily.

"Alright, alright," Predator said, raising his hands in surrender. "I shouldn't have lost that fight back there."

This was weird—she hadn't expected this sort of answer. "What makes you say that?"

"I had the armor advantage, and the weapons advantage. I feel like that alone should have given me the victory." Predator said.

"It was only a training session. It doesn't matter if you win or lose, Predator," Ava answered.

"I treat everything as if it's an actual mission," Predator replied.

Before Ava could respond, the firm voice of Director Fury came on the overhead system. "White Tiger, report to deck two for an emergency mission!" he boomed.

"I've got to go," said Ava. She turned and ran back down the hallway.

"See ya later." Predator mumbled, watching her receding back. He turned back to the crew quarters. "Maybe now I can catch some rest."


'Good, place is empty,' Predator though as he walked into the sleeping quarters. Although it was very early afternoon, he felt exhausted. Then again, who wouldn't feel just a bit fatigued after fighting S.H.I.E.L.D. killer robots, yet alone Iron Fist and Nova? He spotted his bunk in the corner and made a beeline for it.

Once he reached it, he pressed a hidden button that resided on his neck, and his helmet contracted with a mechanical hiss. Predator let the cool air hit his exposed face, and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. Before he lay down, he typed a command into his left gauntlet, and the armor opened up and allowed him to step out of it. Predator now stood in his civilian attire: faded t-shirt, blue jeans, and a small electronic watch that allowed him control over the armor even when he wasn't wearing it. All in all, the moment almost wouldn't be out of place in Fallout 4.

Predator made to get on his bunk, but then paused. "Almost forgot," he said out loud with a small laugh. He pressed one of the buttons on his watch. The armor responded to the command and closed back up, and the helmet reformed. The armor now stood there, still looking intimidating despite having no driver present. Predator just sat down at the edge of his bunk and stared into the now empty eyeholes. Somehow, they seemed to stare right back at him, making him shudder. It was almost like the armor was whispering, 'You and I are one; we cannot live without each other.'

Predator shook his head to chase that particular thought from his mind. "No we're not," he spat out. Suddenly he realized that he had forgotten something. Pressing another button on his watch, a compartment on the left arm of his armor opened up.

Predator stood up and retrieved the contents that he desired: two silver dog tags, each bearing names engraved into them. The first one read, "Andrew Steele: Predator: Unit 312."

The second one read, "Cynthia Burns: Aegis: Unit 259." Grasping both in his right hand, Predator climbed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

Predator awoke with a start, cold sweat matting down his light brown hair, and dripping down his face. His sleep had once again been plagued by nightmares, and visions he just could not explain, but for the life of him, he couldn't begin to remember a single one of his strange, prophetic dreams. He closed his right hand in an attempt to hold closely some of the happier memories he possessed. His right hand closed on thin air. "What the-?" he sputtered as he frantically searched his bunk for what he had lost

"Are you looking for these?" An unknown female voice asked.

Predator swallowed thickly in surprise, head snapping round to find the bent form of a girl draped backwards over one of the bunks. Her long legs were propped against the wall, resting the ankles across the metal-wrought side of her bed. Her shoulders dropped off the bed, but her head was propped upwards, and Predator could see round cheeks, hazel eyes with dark arrows pointing above and below the dark eyes. Her short hair, scraped back into a low ponytail, hung off the bed as her eyes stared upwards.

Thin, elegant fingers held something dangling in the air above her, the sleek metal brushing the tip of her twitching nose. His jaw slackened as the glint of sunlight bounced off it and her head dropped down to look at him, the box fringe she sported swaying slightly. "Who's Andrew Steele, a friend of yours or something? And Cynthia. Who's that?"

"Give those back." Predator spat. In the space of two seconds, he activated his armor and stepped inside it. When he next spoke, the Predator suit added a furious mechanical snarl. "Those are mine, kid," he said, trying to scare the girl.

The girl scoffed and pushed off her heels, flipping down off the top bunk. A flash of brown… fuzziness assaulted Predator's vision, making him step back in shock. Starting from behind the girl's hips, a thick and long bushy tail swiped against the ground. Her eyes never strayed from the twirling dog tags, and she placed a hand on her hip. She only spared him a glance before tapping a sharpened fingernail against the necklaces. "Yeah, but seriously. Whose are they?"

"They're no concern of yours, and you should return them. Right now," Predator bit down on the anger that was scratching his throat to ribbons and stepped closer, only to have the girl retreat with a bright smile on her face. She tucked the dog tags away at the base of her back. Frustration flared in Predator's chest, and he spat out, "Who the hell are you, anyways?"

The girls' eyes brightened and she bounced in place, chittering and giggling. "I'm the fan-tabulous Squirrel Girl at your service, of course! You can call me SG if that works for you. It works for me!" She threw her arms out wide in a flourish, and Predator flinched as the dog tags jangled painfully against one another. The girl bowed at the waist and crossed one leg in front, her smile lighting up her cheeks. "What's yours?" She asked.

Predator made no movements towards her or to answer her question. Instead, he held out his hand, silently asking for the dog tags. Squirrel Girl raised her eyebrows, taunting him like an annoying little sister. Predator swallowed his anger. "Predator. Now give me those," he demanded bluntly.

Squirrel Girl chittered in the back of her throat and reluctantly lowered the dog tags into his waiting hand. As soon as Predator felt the metal in his hand, he snapped it shut and snatched the dog tags out of her grasp. He tucked them away and turned to leave the room, but the hyperactive ball of fur clambered skillfully across the bunks to land in front of him, arms out-spread. "Hey, whoa, hey bud. Where you going?" The annoyingly chipper Squirrel Girl asked. "Don't skip out on me now, I just want to know whose they are, that's all."

Predator bit his tongue to keep from screaming and shouldered Squirrel Girl aside, but before he could take another step, long fingers snatched his elbow and pulled him back. SG's brows were turned down in confusion, only to shoot behind her hairline when Predator lost his cool. "Gosh, would you stop, girl? You have no right to ask me about Aegis, so leave it alone!"

Predator's chest heaved as he stared down at her, expecting the girl to either burst into tears or mumble an apology, but she did neither. Her face hardened with unexpected anger, and her eyes speared him with a glare so hot it seemed to cut right through his armor. Squirrel Girl flexed her fingers, showing off her powerful and sharpened fingernails. Despite her size and lack of either weaponry or any obvious powers, Predator felt a chill run down his spine. "Listen here, metal mouth, I know I don't have the right to ask, but I thought - since you're joining the academy and all - that you'd want to talk. Here, we're a family. We know stuff about each other that no one else knows. I thought you'd know that and you'd open up a bit," Squirrel Girl lectured.

Beneath his mask, Predator scowled. "I don't need a family. I'm much better on my own, thank you."

Squirrel girl made a sound at the back of her throat, not unlike a squirrel's soft cry. "Well, too bad. You got one now. I was just trying to be nice, and I thought you'd be more open since you did go to bed without your armor on, and out in an open-"

"Of course I went to- Wait. You watched me while I slept!?" Predator sputtered.

"No, I just wanted to look at the tags. By the way, nice bed head, metal mouth, and it's not nice to shout in a bedroom." Squirrel Girl scolded, lifting a hand to point a sharped fingertip towards Predator's black visor. Behind the visor, she could have sworn she saw an eyebrow lift, which caused her to smile. "Point is, I was just trying to be a friend, ya big, angry tin can. I'm sorry I took your tags without permission."

That was when it clicked. Somewhere in the hollow corners of Predator's mind, he realized that even though this bouncy girl saw an intimidating and angry man - both human and predator -, she still tried to befriend him, even though she was possibly scared of him. The fight dripped out of him. He relaxed and said, "It's fine, SG."

Squirrel Girl's eyes went round. "You called me SG!" She said happily.

"Don't get used to it, because next time you take my tags, I won't be so -" Predator's threatening words were cut off by an angry blare from Squirrel Girl's wrist communicator. The screen on it lit up with a mission update.

Squirrel Girl read the message and began bouncing with excitement. "A mission, a mission! We've got a mission!" she sang happily. She looked back up at Predator, animosity gone. She snatched his wrist, seeming to be completely unafraid of the heavy iron gauntlet and its myriad weapons. "C'mon, Predator. We've got a job to do!"

"Don't drag me," Predator said, completely deadpan.

Squirrel Girl rolled her eyes, but complied, and skipped down the hall, chatting excitedly. Predator followed after her, nodding occasionally to her jabber, until one of her questions caught him by surprise. "Andrew, who's Aegis?"

He paused mid-step; it wasn't surprising that she'd figured out what his name was, but hearing that name again so soon beat on his chest. It hurt, sharp and brittle, just like every time he remembered her. The visor hid the sight of tears in his blue eyes like it was supposed to, and he continued on, shoulders set and stone-like. His voice cracked, betraying him when he answered. "She was no one you ever need to ask about again."


The mission had been a call to the New York Times Square. It was currently under attack from the Frightful Four—Wizard, Thundra, Trapster and Klaw. According to the mission report, they were demanding Spider-Man's presence, threatening to destroy the city block by block if he didn't respond. Unfortunately, there had been two factors that the team of villains forgot to take into account:

One: The people of New York City were very familiar with supervillain attacks. They had cleared the area of Times Square and several surrounding city blocks with an almost resigned, experience-born efficiency.

Two: Spider-Man couldn't respond to their call even if he wanted to. The web-slinger was currently on another mission halfway around the world.

And so, Predator found himself jumping out of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet as it hovered ten feet above the street, landing next to a collection of his fellow superheroes. As the group hit the ground, the purple-armored genius who called himself the Wizard scowled in annoyance. "We send out a call for Spider-Man to settle an old score… and all we get is this?"

Predator looked at his teammates. The group had been cobbled together from what heroes were on call, and consisted of himself, Squirrel Girl (he doubted he would or could ever be able to take that name seriously), Power Man, and a kid in a jacked-up Iron Man suit called Iron Spider.

"Well, I guess this is what you get when you go around smashing up streets in a super powered temper tantrum," Predator said, releasing his claws. "Ready for us to give you a nice, long nap, little boy?"

The Wizard snarled in response, and shot a pair of his gravity disks into the pavement. At his signal, the discs activated, tearing great chunks of concrete out of the ground and rising into the air. "I will have none of those ridiculous comments!" he said, and punched one of the concrete blocks hovering in the air. The concrete shot down the street towards Predator, propelled by the strength of Wizard's powered armor.

The rest of the team scattered, but Predator stood his ground. He simply grabbed the hunk of concrete out of the air, letting it push him back until its momentum was spent. When he released the rock, the gravity disc attached to it pulsed, and it simply floated in the air.

"Cool," said Predator. "Zero gravity." He hit the concrete mass with a roundhouse kick, sending it straight back at the Wizard, but the Wizard cut the power to the gravity disc, causing the concrete to drop out of the air. He watched it roll ineffectually to a stop at his feet, and looked back up with a smirk, only to see Predator standing a few feet away from him. "You really shouldn't get so caught up in what you're doing," said Predator as he swung his fist at the Wizard.

The Wizard ducked under Predator's punch and drifted several feet back, powering up his laser gauntlets. Predator sighed in annoyance—couldn't these people stand to put a few less lasers in their armor?—and began dodging and weaving as bolts of energy shot towards him.

Trapster, in the meantime, pointed his glue gun at Iron Spider. If he could take out the red-armored upstart, then the fight would be that much easier. Currently, Iron Spider was gunning for Klaw, perhaps hoping that his technological knowhow would help him against the villain's android body.

Wait… Wait… There! Trapster grinned as Iron Spider rose up on his mechanical spider legs to get above Klaw, unwittingly opening himself up to an attack from behind, an opportunity which Trapster intended to take, but just as Trapster's finger tightened on the trigger, a hand slid under the barrel of his glue gun and slapped it up. The blast of glue shot harmlessly into the air, and landed on one of the advertisement screens surrounding the Town Square. Spiderman would've been proud if he'd seen it. The billboard had a certain enemy of his on it. Trapster snarled, "Who-" Before he could say anything, a fist tagged him upside the head, knocking him back.

"No cheap shots, please!" said a chirpy, female voice as Trapster stumbled and tried to regain his balance. "I'll take you on, glue man!"

Trapster looked up at the hero who had ruined his shot—she looked ridiculous. A brown jumpsuit, sharpened fingernails, a squirrel tail? "Just who are you supposed to be?" Trapster growled, hiding his disbelief.

The girl pouted. "Why, the fan-tabulous Squirrel Girl, of course!" Trapster sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Power Man and Thundra had paired off from the start, matching strength against strength. Now, they were trading punches in a flurry of indestructible fists, not bothering with defense at all. Why would they? With their superhuman durability, both Power Man and Thundra could take a semi-truck to the face and walk away. They had no need to guard themselves at all.

Suddenly, in the space of half a second, Power Man caught one of Thundra's punches and shoved her back. While Thundra was off balance, Power Man stepped forwards and caught her in the gut with a double-fisted uppercut. Thundra was blasted fifteen feet into the air, landing on top of an abandoned car. Power Man immediately crouched low to the ground, watching Thundra carefully. When around large, inanimate objects, she tended to—

Yup, there it was. Thundra, tired of trading punches with Power Man, had decided to trade projectiles instead. With a roar, she lifted the car that had served as her landing pad into the air, and tossed the two-ton machine at him. Power Man ducked under the flying car and ran towards Thundra, trying to bring the fight back to close quarters, but Thundra had been expecting this. With a knowing smirk, she waited until Power Man was too close to dodge, and then spun, lashing out with the chain wrapped around her forearm.

The chain smacked against the side of Power Man's head, knocking him backwards. He hit the ground in an uncontrolled tumble, sliding to a stop ten feet from Thundra. Thundra grinned and walked towards him.


"C'mon, Klaw. Hold still so I can immobilize your android body with a computer virus!" Amadeus Cho, a.k.a. the Iron Spider, said as he rushed forwards, keeping low to the ground, and lashed out with the golden spider-legs attached to his back.

The tip of each claw sparked with electricity, ready to deliver their viral payload should they connect with Klaw's body. Klaw leaped back, covering his retreat with a machine-gun burst of sonic bolts. Iron Spider used his mechanical legs to jump to the side, easily avoiding the sonic bursts.

Suddenly, he heard Predator cry out in pain, and turned to see him crouched on the ground, nursing an injured leg. Wizard hovered over him, readying a laser to finish him off. Iron Spider didn't hesitate. He fired a repulser blast at Wizard, knocking him off balance, but the distraction had given Klaw time to get a mark on him. The super villain gleefully opened fire with his sonic blaster.

Iron Spider ducked under the first blast, but the second caught him in the arm, sending him spinning to the ground. Klaw moved forwards, looking to get a better shot at his collapsed foe, but Iron Spider was playing possum. As soon as Klaw was within range, he unleashed twin blasts from his repulsers, knocking Klaw's feet out from under him, and launched himself towards Klaw's prone form, spider legs ready to strike. His aim was true as his mechanical legs struck his opponent in his chest, knocking him backwards.

Iron Spider then smiled underneath his armor once he saw that his viral payload he been delivered. Klaw now lay there twitching and shaking uncontrollably, Cho's virus having done its job. He then heard another cry, but this one belonged to Wizard. He turned his head just in time to see the villain go flying through the air and crash through a building window. Looking back to wear he had been standing he saw Predator sitting on the ground, holding his injured leg. "You alright, rookie?" Cho asked as he quickly made his way over to where Predator was sitting.

"First, don't call me rookie," Predator ordered with a snarl. "Secondly, I could have handled Wizard, as you just saw firsthand." he said while pointing at the giant hole in the wall where Wizard now resided.

Cho was surprised by the hostility he was receiving from Predator. He had just helped Predator, and instead of a thank you, he was getting chewed out. Before he could reply, they heard a very familiar female shriek. They both turned around and found that Squirrel Girl currently had her left arm glued to a building and Trapster seemed to be going in for the kill!

"Help SG. I'll take care of this glue gunning menace," Cho ordered as he rose up on his mechanical legs and shot a pair of repulser blasts at the villain, knocking him backwards. While Cho was busy distracting Trapster, Predator limped over to SG's trapped form as quickly as his injury would allow.

"What happened to your leg? I heard that your armor was so tough?" Squirrel Girl asked him as he stood there, evaluating the best way to free her from the glue restraints.

"He hit a joint in my leg armor." Predator replied with a sharp inhale of breath. "Don't move a muscle." Predator said while triggering the claws on his right gauntlet. SG did as he instructed. She even held her breath as he quickly struck the glue with his claws, freeing her arm from its sticky prison.

"Thanks for the assist," Squirrel Girl said with a smile.

"Don't mention it," was Predator's simple reply.

Suddenly, SG screamed at Predator, "Move!" She shrieked as she pushed Predator to the right, where he proceeded to lose his balance and fall on his face.

He heard a loud crash, followed by two pain filled groans. Turning to face the groans he saw now what SG had saved him from. Power Man, it seems, had been thrown at them both, and had crashed full speed into SG. Now they both laid there in a tumbled heap. He heard a taunting female laugh and turned to face the mocking laughter. Thundra walked almost casually towards the three injured heroes and continued her mocking laughter. "Why do you still stand, little hero?" She asked as she sized up the visibly injured hero.

"I won't let you hurt my teammates," Predator replied in a defiant tone as he triggered a pair of claws from his wrist gauntlets.

"Don't be a fool," Thundra began as she continued to walk towards him. "Lay down, and you won't be hurt... much," she said with an evil laugh.

That laugh was all it took to drive Predator over the edge. With the speed of a cheetah, he rushed at Thundra and threw a right hook at her. It was a surprise to Predator when she merely caught his wrist, thereby stopping the attack. She suddenly delivered a punishing power drive punch to his chest, sending him sailing back to where Squirrel Girl and Power Man were just beginning to stir.

"Damage report," Predator ordered the computer with a slight groan. His HUD showed a small holographic model of his armor. The chest portion of the armor was highlighted in bright red, signaling significant damage. He barely had enough time to take that in before Thundra was standing over his still form.

"Stay down, and I won't rip you apart," she ordered. Predator eyed his opponent trying to figure out his next move. Suddenly Thundra was hit in the side of the head from a blue repulser blast. Both Predator and Thundra turned towards the direction the blast emanated from, and they saw Iron Spider there, preparing his next move.

With a roar, Thundra started a cold sprint towards the red-armored upstart. "Tactical options available," the computer informed Predator as it listed several options for the scenario at hand. Looking at them all, Predator made a decision. Once the computer had confirmed, his order he took aim at the distracted form of Thundra.

It was a surprise to both Iron Spider and Thundra when a dark blue bolt of energy struck her in the back of the head, resulting in her falling to the ground. Iron Spider looked over to where the blast had emanated from. What he saw both surprised and confused him. Predator had a small blaster attached to his right shoulder that was currently spewing blue smoke. "Where did you get that?" He asked Predator as he walked over to his sitting form.

"I've always had the plasma cannon," Predator answered.

"Why didn't you think to use it sooner?" Cho asked in a semi-annoyed fashion.

"Two answers. Number one: It's damaged, so I have to use it sparingly until it's repaired. Number two: Thundra's punch temporarily disabled my HUD due to damage. I had to wait for it to reboot," Predator stated as he shakily got to his feet. "Where's Trapster?" Predator asked Iron Spider.

"Taken care of," Spider replied. Hearing groans, he turned his attention to SG and Power Man, who both were starting to rise from their injured states. Both Iron Spider and Predator nodded a silent agreement as they both hurried over to attend to their injured friends.


On a building overlooking the fight, a hooded being watched as Predator and Iron Spider tended to their injured comrades. Reaching to his ear, he tapped the button that turned on his ear piece, and spoke softly, despite the fact that the heroes he was watching wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't. "Sir we found him." A pause… "He's in New York City," and after another even longer pause, "Negative. Can't approach him at this moment. We'll have to wait…"

I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I now have a Beta-Reader who will eliminate those pesky spelling and grammar errors. This is my Beta-Reader...

Edited by Darkest Nightmare's Dread.

I recommend checking him out anytime you want a good story