About a hundred xenomorphs in there, protecting the Queen from Alex's clutch. All hissing with acid shooting forwards. Their hive was so reminiscent of the infected bits of Manhattan that it was a blatant invitation for Alex to give them hell and more.
And so he did.
The alien numbers rapidly dropped when Alex shot forwards to seize their Queen. They were still a lot but that was good, Alex needed to raise his reserves somehow and he could really use the exercise. Was never keen on getting lazy or slacking in power.
So he leapt at the first one, bringing his Blade down on it, splitting the fiend in two. Three others joined the shit fest just to be sliced in half with the same slash and rapidly consumed like all the others.
One of the grunts came and yet it didn't even have time to raise it's fists when Alex rammed his Shield into him like a speeding truck and then brought it down on the alien's neck, instantly beheading it.
When a bunch of praetors came running to him, Alex formed his Whipfist and let it soar through the air. Instead of slamming into his prey, they reached for the ceiling, the act followed by Alex pulling it down hard and causing a minor cave in that smashed several aliens.
The next thing the aliens saw Alex come up with was a large boulder. They couldn't begin to move in time when the living virus seized the massive boulder and with fingers digging into the stone, he threw it forwards, reducing their front lines to acid paste.
But as fun as the whole feast was, it didn't take Alex's attention away from the Queen. He narrowed his eyes at her as he sunk his claws into a foolish drone's heart and pulled it off viciously with his eyes still on the bigger prey.
With his sight set on the true target, Alex charged and unleashed one of his Devastators, taking a large amount of the xenomorphs down and clearing the path towards the Queen.
He ran to her with his claws and talons coiling but then something caught his attention. Something loud and hard.
One of the walls exploded violently, reducing rocks everywhere to dust scattered all around. Alex could make four figures out of the dust cloud, which he quickly identified as Dutch, Lynn, the Warrior and the Hunter.
"I'm back!" Dutch happily reminded him while blasting the incoming xenomorphs to pieces with his grenade launcher alongside his team.
They had gotten to the meeting point and were now handing out the charges meant to be placed, meaning that Alex had to work this out in record time before they actually blew up the area. But he smiled.
No problem at all.
With his claws drawn, he shot forwards and slammed them down hard into the growling Queen. Both of them were propelled straight through a wall as a result. The left a large sized hole in there, formed by their combined mass.
His claws and talons fiercely dug into the Queen's husk and drew acidic blood before he was shoved back wildly. The Queen wasn't like the average xenomorph, she was harder and sturdier, making it more difficult for him to cut through and consume normally.
Before the smoke had cleared, Alex had to react to a savage tail strike from the Queen. He caught the alien's limb between his hands and began crushing it, then used it to to spin her around and launch her away at high speed, her back slamming hard against the concrete and stone to the point of cracking it.
But that wouldn't hurt her enough and Alex knew it, prompting him to snarl and follow with a ruthless speed tackle that shoved the pair back to where they started.
Alex saw himself forced to parry and deflect a claw strike from the Queen. He responded by forming his Hammerfists and then it became a close quarter combat. It was game over for the bitch.
The others stayed back, knowing that Alex had the situation under control and began planting their charges. He parried and countered a few slashes before he decided to put a Hammerfist through the alien's torso and then tackled it off it's feet.
Now to get to the fun part.
The Queen's hard claws tried to dig into the runner's mass but he would have none of that shit. Because he was sneaky as he was slick. It was like the Queen couldn't even possibly get a grip on him as his hands dug into her chest and broke it apart to begin the consumption process.
The tendrils sprouted and dug in, giving Alex all he needed to get as he moved into the vanishing form of the Queen. That pile of gore was absorbed into his being and with it, valuable information.
The pieces to complete that little puzzle of his.
He ripped out the charges from his biomass and took them, carefully planting them in place. All the charges together would set off a chain reaction that would vaporize and bury the whole underground, Alex knew that. Wasting no time, he prepared for the big exit after setting the timer.
The predators prepared their evacuation too. Having planted their charges, they ran alongside Dutch and Lynn towards the improvised exit hole that Alex had made. Dutch grabbed Lynn and shot his bionic arm's grappling mod, propelling them out while the Warrior and the Hunter did so by leaping several stories far through the exit.
The countdown was almost over so Alex stretched his legs and went out in a thunderous jump, leaving a sonic boom as he obliterated the extended stone ceiling above him in a matter of a millisecond. He soared dozens of meters high into the air and touched the ground just an instant later.
He left a crater under his feet as usual, then he ran wild alongside his squad to get away from the blast. They did so successfully and watched the fire rise and the streets shake violently, crumbling down and destroying all the creatures below them in an expanded radius.
That was hell of a view for Alex, one that reminded him of the nuke that would have went off in Manhattan had he not stopped it.
Felt good for some reason.
Then they all ran without looking back, to avoid the
quake forming right under their feet. It was shaking several city block and causing many streets to come down and crumble to dust. Everyone moved fast towards a safe distance and then watched the event play out.
Alex' men met with the rest of the group not too long after, in an area that hadn't gotten obliterated or buried in rubble from the nearby buildings.
From the looks of it they had been gunning down a few more foes. The area was officially clear but that was only one stage of the job.
"Enjoying the view?" Alex joked about the extermination process they had witnessed. Hugh chuckled.
"Like hell we are." He replied with the other three giggling.
Lynn turned to the Warrior and the Hunter for more instructions regarding the whole mass extermination plan they had been cooking up.
"So what's the next step of your master plan?" She questioned.
The Warrior raised his view towards the weather and time it had become. It was night, dark and lovely but also dangerous for their next moves of approach.
"You sit and wait. These hunting conditions aren't good for all of you." He lectured as the murk fell upon them, slowing their progress a bit. "You have fought well but you shouldn't risk yourselves too much. Do not strain."
"Hate to burst your bubble, Predator Prime but I'm still alive and kicking and full of gas." Alex quipped in, reminding his alien acquaitance that he did not need as much as rest to have his energy at max for the rest of the night.
"Yeah, sir. Why so?" The Hunter argued too. The Warrior snorted.
"You two can venture through the dread of night if you want, but it wouldn't be wise at all to stalk the prey with these settings. I take no chances with them." The Warrior spoke up once again in a moment of pure combat wisdom. Alex furrowed his eyebrows and then looked back at his fighting force.
They were fine but somewhat tired. He knew they could probably keep going but there were way more xenomorphs to worry about during the hunt. It got him to think.
He wasn't Blackwatch nor the damn government. He would not hold the people around him as accountable or risk them for petty reasons. Granted that they could make it as they did in the underground, there was a difference out there.
The xenomorphs in further areas to explore would be of a deadlier breed, he was sure of it and could bet on it thanks to what he got from the Queen. Enough intel to make the fight half won, but still a half left to win.
He was tapping into the hivemind and sensing the brain patterns of the fiends to come. He could go for it and jump into the fight, but the others? He felt like they were better off taking the night, he owed them some of that. Some of them did have families. So did many of the men he killed and consumed but Alex' mind went back to Dana. He would feel like a hypocrite unworthy of her help if he only thought of his and none other's closest ones.
With a deep sigh, he came back to the reality and joined back the talk.
"You heard him, the guy is right. All of you should stay here until it's time." He chose and stated out loud for the others to process. As pumped as his men were to keep the fight up and as bummed as they may have been, they got the message and knew deep inside it was probably right.
Added to that there was the fact that the whole crew had gotten close to no rest for a long time now. It would do them no harm, quite the opposite actually.
What set them apart from Blackwatch operatives and other fools was that they wouldn't jump into a sure death for petty reasons if there was nothing to be won.
"Understood, sir." Said Bill in a serious tone as he and the others nodded.
"So what will you be up to?" Lynn asked Alex, getting a quick response.
"My duty. I'll be isolating the area and consuming as much as I can get." He explained. "There are some other hives that I have to bust too and I'm working on a time limit. If my guess is right, there'll be a bombing tomorrow and we need to get this over with before that."
"Then I'll be joining too. I won't miss the hunt." The Hunter voiced, joining the discussion. He then turned to the Warrior. "Are you going to stay here?"
The older and bigger predator nodded.
"You've learned well, now this is your chance of proving yourself." He stated. The Hunter chuckled.
"Good. Try not to die, everyone." He said.
"We'll be seeing soon, take care." Alex told the rest. And so he left and ventured deeper into the jungle of a city with the Hunter, planning to raise up the kill count.
The Warrior sighed and then dropped in what looked like a meditation stance. They had made a small campfire out there with whatever they could find and craft. It was warm.
Dutch looked at the Warrior for a moment. Since there wasn't much else to do and Alex' taskforce was dead silent, he decided to inquire a little and start a talk.
A bunch of office men in coats and badges had congregated in their headquarters, all attent and ready to oversee the experiment they had planned for who knows how long. Things had to go down smoothly and precisely as they were indicated.
It had been a long while since they had set the whole operation in the nearby city and placed the factors necessary to unleash the outbreak. The xenomorphs had proven to be valuable specimens as seen by their role in the Yautja's hunt and their potential as weapons was incredible.
So after properly evacuating their people from the town and leaving the civilians to their luck, they began watching over their newest progress in the biological area.
Entire xenomorphs were shaped and amassed in the labs, giving birth to sub-species and different types that were never seen before. All of this thanks to their exchanges with the Yautja, which revealed to them plenty of secrets that would be exploited to their fullest.
Now that step one, the outbreak was finished, it was only a matter of going through the next steps of their master plan and seeing how they played out.
With their focus on the alien creatures, their top scientists and investigators began wondering what could be achieved by mixing their very own biological weapons with the ones they were acquiring. In a moment of clarity, they realized that maybe the key to the next stage of the evolution of their viral projects was in making good use of the alien creatures and their bodies as carriers of their newest infections. After all, their tests with humans had been finished already but new methods were always welcome.
Dr. Randolph supervised the new project and got plenty of scientist from Gentek and other companies to begin a brainstorm, finding a definite solution for all of the involved.
It was no news that the world's governments were still developing weapons. If Manhattan taught them anything it was to be more careful but not stop. They couldn't have runners like Greene or Mercer going crazy and making a mess so they focused on the basics, which meant making a virus compatible with their xenomorph guests.
The Yautja tech provided to them was fully operational and gave them more ideas on what to do.
The sleeper had awakened. It was an unpleasant sleep that he had but it was long over. It picked up the pace and analyzed his surroundings, getting a good grasp of where it was and it's possible targets.