Author's note: I recently spent the last of the money I'd been saving for two months to buy Predator 2 for the sole purpose of hearing the Predator say 'Motherfucker'. That's how dork I am. Worth every dollar, I regret nothing. And we switch you now to Scar again.
Warning: Alien gore, and mild terror. Also, it's hard to write a serious AVP fic while listening to Aha~ KARA, I think I deserve some sort of metal
Disclaimer: I can dream, but the moment I act I've got aliens and predators on my back. And I don't mean the cool ones from the movies.
Haven
The alien struggled as Scar approached, he drove his Combi-stick into its skull. The creature hissed and fell still. Scar gripped his shoulder where the Kainde Amedha had punctured it with its tail, bright emerald blood drippedto the floor. Scar growled at the serpent, mocking it for its weakness. This was the second one he'd killed since he and Lex had been separated. Calculating how many humans he had seen and how many he and his comrades had killed he figured that there couldn't be that many left.
He turned and was entering a hall when he heard another noise from the hall opposite the one he was in. Instinctively he cloaked, with the aid of the shadows he was invisible to anything that would want to kill him. He held perfectly still as he saw her approach. The Queen. She made a mournful growl as she nudged her dead offspring. For a moment Scar almost felt sorry for her, but she was Kainde Amedha, prey, he should feel nothing towards her.
Two more of the small serpents crawled out of the darkness next to their mother and dead sibling, probably the last of them. They too, gave mourning howls. The Queen lifted her head and roared in rage. She knew he was here. She could smell his blood. Scar stood still, he was cloaked, and in the shadows, the sent of his blood was everywhere, as long as he didn't draw attention to himself she probably wouldn't find him. For an extra measure he didn't dare take a breath until the Queen turned away back the way she had come, her children following after her.
Scar waited until he couldn't even hear their footsteps before he continued his search for Lex. He didn't have time to waste; they were no longer the only ones looking for the exit to the surface.
When he reached a fork in the halls, the young Predator stopped to check his computer for the time. There were only a few minutes until the pyramid shifted again. Scar sat down, he'd hoped to find his friend before the maze changed, that way he would still know how to get out, but no. He pulled his sat-com out again, this time he pulled up a list of ooman word that he'd programmed into it.
It was required of all the young hunters sent to this planet to learn some of the language used by the ooman. He hadn't understood why so he'd just downloaded the basics of the languages, greetings, farewells and commonly used terms. He glimpsed through the lists, trying to figure out which of the many languages on this planet Lex spoke.
Finally he recognized the word friend in the category labeled 'English'. It was used in a human phrase, "My friends are my family', Scar quickly looked to see if he had those definitions and translated what the phrase meant. He then looked for greetings he could attempt when he found Lex. It was actually kind of fun, the hunter almost felt disheartened when he heard the uncanny rumbling of the alteration of the labyrinth begin.
He stood and waited. The corridor to he left closed, and so did the one behind him, leaving him with only the right hall to go. A few minutes paused in this particularly long hallway before he was faced with another fork in his path. The hunter looked between the two passages, feeling blind as he knew his map was broken and could no longer help him. Scar bristled and gave a frustrated growl. Suddenly he heard something from the left passage. Footsteps?
He ducked behind the wall, waiting for the noise to come closer before he struck. The sound was getting closer; Scar gripped his weapon and leapt out into the hall ready to thrust it down upon the unsuspecting prey. He stopped himself just in time. The ooman gave a surprised yelp.
"Lhrueckz!" He sighed in relief, then realizing his camouflage was still activated, made himself visible for her.
"Scar!" She gasped, "You scared me!" she said raising her weapons.
The larger warrior put a hand on her shoulder and shook it in greeting, then attempted the English he'd practiced, "H…-ha-hal'lo."
Lex cocked her head, "Hello?"
Scar nodded, "Hello?" this time he used the animal loop to perfectly mimic her word back to her.
She seemed to smile, and reached up to put her hand on his shoulder, shaking it as best she could with their size and strength difference, "Hello Scar." she said, then suddenly she turned away from him, he chirped intuitively, "Its okay, Sebastian, its Scar!" she shouted.
Scar was about to look back at his Sat-com language guide to look for definitions of those words when he saw movement. Immediately he reached out his Combi-stick defensively. The figure was another ooman, who gave a frightened shout when the spear was pushed in front of him. Lex dived for it, pushing it down.
"No! No,nono," she hissed, "This is Sebastian, he's a friend. He's a friend!" she told him.
Scar glanced between the two humans, "He's a friend" He mimicked with the loop, "Sub-oshton?"
"That's right," she whispered. She pointed to the other human, "Sebastian." She waved between the three of them "Friend."
"Friend" he mimicked again.
Under his mask Scar rolled his eyes as he looked Sebastian over. This ooman was taller then Lex, and bore no mark, a fine fuzz covered its lower jaw, its hair was short as compared to Lex's, its eyes were wide with freight, and it trembled. Scar noted how it stood, favoring one leg. He leaned down to examine. This ooman was injured.
Scar straitened with a snort. Sebastian would only slow them down. He didn't want to have it hanging around them as they tried to escape the maze they were trapped in, but if it was important to Lex he'd try to deal, he'd grown quite attached to her in their short time together.
Sebastian limped over to Lex with a smile, "I still can't believe it Lex. You actually befriended him." Hearing Sebastian speak, Scar could finally determine the other ooman's gender. Sebastian was male. An unmarked male. He turned back with a furious snarl. How dare he speak to Lex, a marked warrior!?
Lex grabbed his arm, "What are you doing?" she cried.
Scar stopped. His friend didn't appear to understand. She was a marked warrior; Sebastian was not, for him to speak to her without being addressed first was rude. He glared at Sebastian from under his mask. The man had ducked back when he snarled, and still trembled with fear "S'yuit-de." He mocked and turned angrily, disappearing into the darkness ahead.
He didn't like Sebastian. Not at all. He tried to convince himself Sebastian's behavior was the only reason he was angry.
Lex took a step closer to Sebastian, "What was that about?" she asked.
"I-I have no idea…" Sebastian stuttered, "It must be some cultural thing…Maybe- I know in some old civilization warriors had more authority then any one else- so maybe when I was talking to you, it was some sort of offense."
Lex smiled, not sure if this was some sort of joke or not, "They maybe were should get you marked." She teased as she took off after Scar.
Sebastian gave a half hearted laugh. He was lying. He had an inkling of what Scar's real problem was, but he didn't want to say it. Scar was a man, a warrior, he too was a man, but not a warrior. Lex was a warrior, but she was female. Perhaps he was considered unworthy to talk to her. Perhaps…It was some sort of courting custom in his culture that meant nothing to theirs.
"Lhrueckz! S'yuit-de!" Scar roared from deeper in the hall.
Sebastian limped forward, trying his best to keep up, but it became clear to Scar that his injury would only slow them down more and more. He stopped and reached for his medikit, and beckoned for Sebastian to sit. Lex walked over, Scar noticed for the first time she too, was limping, but not as bad.
Sebastian did as he was told Scar rolled up his pant leg to further examine the injury. Lex, it appeared had already done some work on it, but ooman medicine was so primitive, he'd need more help if they wanted to make good time. First Scar analyzed the wound, a broken bone. Normally he'd set it, give him a dose of sedatives and let him rest, but they didn't have time and he wasn't sure how the weaker human body would take to the Yautja medicine.
Scar decided to risk it. If the medicine worked things would be fine, if it killed him, they wouldn't have to worry about him slowing them down. Silently he hoped it would kill the ooman. Sebastian cried out and whimpered while Scar tried to help with his leg, making Scar roll his eyes again, and growl; occasionally he'd bonk Sebastian in the head trying to tell him to suck it up.
Finally he took out a syringe of orange liquid, not too gently and without warning he stabled it into Sebastian's thigh. The man cried out and his eyes widened in shock. As soon as the liquid was empty, Scar pulled the needle back out and waited. The man's eyes clouded over, and he gave a woozy smile and started talking, his words were slurred and even Lex seemed confused. Scar didn't know it, but he was speaking in drugged Italian.
Slightly disappointed, Scar turned away from Sebastian and motioned to Lex that it was her turn. The woman stared at him in horror for a moment, but made no move to disobey. She sat and he pulled up her pants leg like he had done with Sebastian and examined it. After removing layers or bandages he found that her leg was badly scratched up.
"Its fine." She said, "I took care of it."
'Fine' was one of the words he'd looked up earlier, and he could determine from the way she winced that Lex was not fine. However, this time he was sure that the medicine he had wouldn't cause any lasting damage so he reached back into his medikit for a certain item. He pulled out a capsule which when opened into a bowl lit a flame in the center. Scar crumpled some materials into in and mixed a blue liquid into it with a spoon-like object, turning the mixture into a gel.
He braced for her scream. He didn't think of her as weak as he'd thought of Sebastian, for the other ooman he'd just been setting a bone, but for Lex, he knew how much applying this gel hurt. Lex got quiet suddenly, Scar reached for her neck to feel for a pulse, there! She'd just passed out. He finished spreading it along her leg.
Then it was time treat his own wounds, they were minor enough, the gel alone would work. Grimacing he spread a spoonful of it onto his shoulder. He tried to keep from screaming, if the Kainde Amedha hadn't heard the other two, they'd most certainly hear him. He managed to bear it until the last moment when the shout made it out of his throat.
"Scar?" Lex had woken up, she looked at him with cloudy tired eyes, Sebastian giggled and sputtered what was probably non-sense even in his own language.
"Lhrueckz…" Scar hauled himself up, offering a hand to help Lex. Sebastian tried to get up on his own, but after his second failed attempt, Scar simply picked him up and slung him over his shoulder.
Retrieving their weapons, Lex and Scar waited when Sebastian's watch went off again. The wall opposite the one they'd been leaning against opened; the ground beneath them began to rise, the ceiling opened. Scar took hold of Lex's arm to ensure she wouldn't fall so they wouldn't become separated again.
When the shifting stopped, they were a level higher then they had been previously. Scar knew from instinct the direction they'd need to travel to reach the exit. He patted Lex's shoulder and pointed to the path ahead of them. They'd be out soon.
Author's end note: I know how easy it would be to turn Scar from a sexy ferocious Predator to a cuddly teddy bear, that's why I have it that he doesn't like Sebastian. He can't like every human he meets. Maybe he's just a ladies man? Ha. More next chapter, see ya!
Editor's note: Okay loves, every time you review a Predator pup is born, every time you flame, one of those pups dies, think of the Predators please leave nice reviews! And for the sake of anybody who doesn't do their AVP homework, here's a little bit of a dictionary of new words used in this chapter:
Lhrueckz - Scar's pronunciation of 'Lex' Note: This has been used before, but never defined because it should be obvious.
Sub-oshton - Scar's pronunciation of 'Sebastian'
S'yuit-de - Coward