A'luet kept distance behind Ricky and Jessie at first until she slowed her pace, falling into step with him; after a brief moment Ricky did too.

"What is it like?" She broke the silence. "On your planet?"

He didn't answer right away, focusing on his steps around the massive boulders. "Hot and dry. It is a little bit like here, cities and smaller developed areas."

"Are there many of you?"

"As many as there of you." He glanced at her. "Oomans are not the only ones in the universe, as they like to think I've been told."

"Obviously." Ricky muttered, he turned sheepish. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Yes."

The teenager's startled reaction was almost amusing. "You have?"

Jessie watched the predator closely. "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. I don't regret it. Killed to protect family."

"How'd you do it?" Ricky asked, hushed.

"Beheaded." A'luet slowed by the river bank. "Honestly, I wish I could have made it more painful… but self-control is what separates me from a mindless, killing machine."

"It's normal." Jessie was still watching him. "Normal to do what you need to do for family, it's called love."

"It's called weakness in my world."

"Why? You have females right? Don't you join together, make families? That's built on affection isn't it?"

The predator considered her, his biomask tilting slightly. "For the good of evolution more like it."

"That's it? Just biology and procreation in its most direct form?"

"Basically… except for what seems like only me and my mate, and my aunt." He added as if an afterthought.

"You have someone?" The question came out odd and she knew it the moment it was out. She coughed. "Something's bugging my lungs." She waved the air and moved away, leaving Ricky to stare at A'luet. The awkwardness getting to him, he followed her. "Sorry…" She whispered. "That came out weirder than intended. What's her name?"

A'luet hesitated, an automatic protectiveness arising as the conversation steered towards the first most important person in his life. It was funny to him how the level of importance changed once he met her. For ten years his mother was most important, then his father, now it was the yautja woman waiting for him back home. Would he ever get a chance to see her again? With no ship in his or P'sy's possession the answer seemed bleak, but they were going to get the ship back, if it was the last thing he'd do.

"K'iera." He answered softly. "It takes a hardship for two to truly know if they're meant to be together. She and I have had our fair share."

A small smile lit Jessie's face, reaching down she clasped her hand within Ricky's. "I think a night of outrunning metallic aliens, joining forces with two other aliens and surviving a nuclear blast is good enough for us… right?"

Ricky grinned. "Yeah." He glanced at the babbling river. "Wanna go for a swim before we go back?"

"The water isn't radiated?"

"We've all been exposed by now." A'luet looked up at the tree canopies above them. "No point in holding back."

She made a face. "True."

A snap grabbed the predator's attention, a simple twig breaking most likely an innocent trod from a forest animal, but he couldn't shake the suspicion. "Wait a minute."

"What's wrong?" Jessie asked, immediately picking up on his change in attitude. "A'luet?"

A'luet switched his biomask to infrared, scanning the surroundings. Nothing. The forest fell quiet before there was a shrill bird call. A burst of crows sprung out of a nearby tree, their frantic wings flapping concerning. They weren't alone and whatever the danger was, he couldn't see it, that bothered him more than anything else. Nothing was supposed to be hidden from a biomask, not even another predator's cloaking.

"We need to go back, now."

"Ok." Unease wormed across Jessie's face as she watched him for direction. She didn't like how stiff he had become.

Muffled shots rang out, pitting a tree next to the teenagers' heads, startled they squealed, ducking.

"C'jit!" A'luet hissed. "Get up!" He didn't wait for them to listen and grabbed them by the upper arms, yanking them ahead of him.

Stumbling, they broke out into a run while he covered them. More shots punched various trunks and rocks, missing them barely. With a growl, A'luet spun around aiming his caster, shooting. Choked screams told him he didn't miss.

Idiots.

Ahead Jessie squeaked as the ground disappeared under her feet, unable to stop herself she tumbled down the embankment, landing with a bone crunching thud next to Ricky who also missed the deep contours of the forest floor.

"Ow. Are you okay?" She reached out to him.

"Yeah-" Ricky coughed in pain. "You?"

She bobbed her head, looking back. "Where's A'luet?"

Feet dropped behind them, A'luet's landing a hundred times more graceful than theirs.

"How did you do that?"

A'luet barely spared Ricky a glance. "I'm not a clunky ooman, no offense."

Ricky groaned, pulling to his feet slowly before reaching for Jessie. "None taken." He straightened painfully. "Did we lose them?"

"Whoever them is." A'luet nodded. "I think so…. We should go back now. We need to leave the cabin, it's not safe here."

Ricky gestured dramatically. "Lead the way." He groaned again. "I'm going to feel that for a week."

A single shot rang out, the sharp pain blossoming across A'luet's right shoulder and throat. Flinching he reached up, his fingers closing around a small object protruding. He pulled it, the realization it was a stun dart coming too late.

Facing him, shock widening her eyes Jessie took a step forward. "A'luet-"

The world spun, he shut his eyes in effort to ignore the dizziness, struggling to remain upright. What the hell was he hit with? And who did it? His caster rose, detecting movement to his far right. He be damned if he wouldn't go out fighting, besides it wasn't just him in danger.

Ricky. Jessie.

In a last burst of effort, he turned to give his caster a straight shot but something tough and unforgiving hit him first.

"No!" Jessie tried to run to him but Ricky grabbed her back as the thick net closed around the young predator, trapping him.

In one blink the clearing went from only them to several military garbed soldiers appearing with big guns while a single SUV rolled into view.

"Load it up!" The leader barked. "Them too!"

"Who are you people?" Ricky demanded. His attention retracted to A'luet's prone form. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"Shut up!" A soldier grabbed him by the back of the neck, steering him forward roughly. "Get in the truck!"

A second vehicle appeared, braking next to the unconscious predator.

"What are you doing to him?" Jessie wasn't silenced so easily. "Answer me you asshole!"

A hard cuff knocked the breath out of her, prompting Ricky to struggle futilely. "None of your concern bitch, now shut up!" Before either could protest they were shoved into the back of the vehicle, sandwiched between two commandos they had no hope of fighting with.

"Where are you taking us?" Ricky snapped.

His answer came in the form of a hood yanked over his head, a squeak from Jessie told him the same was done to her.

The drive lasted forever, though maybe it only appeared that way because he was left to stare at the black confines of a hood over his head, that and the anticipation and the worry. There were two vehicles. A'luet was in the other. Were they bringing him to the same place? Were they going to kill him?

Too many questions, not enough answers.

A hard brake squealed the tires, throwing him forward. Doors opened and he was yanked out.

Alarms. Walking. More alarms. Indistinct chatter. More walking. Cursing. A hard yanking of his upper arm. A door.

The hood came off as a door slammed shut, the brightly lit room blinding him as he found himself staring at a mirror. He looked around. The room was sparsely furnished, the walls stark white.

No Jessie.

No A'luet.

Irritation clouded his thin face. Fucking assholes. He strode up to the mirror, pushing his fingertip against it. No gap in the reflection. A two-way mirror. Most likely someone was staring at him, probably several people discussing their next move.

He pounded the mirror with his fist. "I'm not standing in here all fucking day, so one of you low-life, shitbag commandos better get in here!" No response, not that he expected one. "Where's Jessie! Where is she!" He hit the mirror again. He refrained from yelling the same question about A'luet, feeling the less he said about the alien the better for everyone. But where was he? What were they doing to him? Why did they even want him?

A side door wrenched open, a man in a dark suit appearing carrying a folder. "Sit down." He barked.

Shooting the man and his buddy who followed him in the most vehement look he could muster Ricky threw himself into the chair.

"Now- let's start nice and easy. What's your name?"

"What's yours?"

The man barely made an expression. "Keep being smart kid. Let me put things into perspective for you. You're here, we're running the show, not you. So, I'm gonna ask questions and I expect you to fucking answer me, you got that?" He took a moment, shuffling papers together. "Where's the other alien?"

"What other alien?" Ricky didn't even bother feigning confusion, he didn't flinch when the agent slammed his fist down on the table. He had seen much worse with his step-dad. "Where is he?"

"Where's who?" The man snarled, Ricky's refusal to cooperate beginning to get old.

"Fucking Einstein, who do you think?" Ricky snapped sarcastically. "Our friend who you lassoed in your fucking net."

"Your friend?" The man laughed. "You're kidding me right? You gotta-your friend…" He abruptly stopped his choked laughter. "Let me tell you something about your friend moron…ever wonder what your friend is capable of…?"

That was when the pictures hit the table in front of him.

…...

POV of Jessie

I had to be wearing a tread in the floor by the time my white-wash prison opened, granting entrance to a man. My stomach flipped upon seeing him and only felt slightly better when I saw a woman slip in behind him, her thin face blank as she stared at me.

"Sit." The man ordered, slapping a folder down on the table. I resisted the urge to tell him to go fuck himself and sat in a huff. Maybe the sooner I cooperated the sooner I could see Ricky and A'luet.

My stomach flipped again.

I was being stupid and naïve. I had greater hope of seeing Ricky than A'luet. Who knew what these people were doing to him. And these assholes had the nerve to think of A'luet and P'sy as the monsters.

"What's your name girl?"

"Gwen." I lied. Gwendolyn was my middle name, a tribute to my dead maternal great-grandmother.

"Gwen what?"

I decided I wouldn't be too helpful. "Gwen it's-none-of-your-fucking-business. Where am I? Where are my friends?"

"You mean friend, right? Friend-singular, not plural?"

"You heard me right the first time." I growled.

The man sat back, a patronizing smile I wanted to take off his face leered at me. "That's cute really. Friend…" He glanced at the woman, sharing a knowing smile with her.

"Allow me." The woman had an accent, a confirmation she was not Asian-American. "Gwen, is it? Your friend is no friend to you I can assure you. These-predators are quite possibly the most dangerous adversary mankind has ever faced-" Her usage of the word predator reminded me of P'sy when he talked about his species. Probably only hours ago, it felt like years since that conversation.

"We call ourselves yautja, your species calls us Predators… we've been here since about the dawn of mankind. Choose the most worthy of oomans to challenge. Some fail, some prove their worth to us and we respect them for it. The developed countries, North America, the United Kingdom, some African nations, Asia, their governments all know of our existence."

"They kill, hunt us to hone their violent natures. Every year there is more of them who are better, stronger, more advanced, in their skill as they hunt us like prey. Your friend is a master manipulator, use us as so-called allies before discarding us like trash for the greater gain of themselves. They invade our airspace, hunt hidden from the naked eye on our planet and they are dangerous." It amazed me she took a breath. "You can help Gwen, be part of the future."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

An almost crazed gleam lit her eyes. "Never have we caught one so young and to think we wouldn't have caught it at all without you and your boyfriend-"

"He." I interrupted, not caring about my rude tone. 'And what my other friend and I are, is none of your concern."

She smiled down at me like I was a stupid child, it made me want to cave her face in. "Dear… I don't think you understand." A thin finger speared the folder by the man's hand and pushed the folder towards me. "Go ahead Gwen… take a look. Guatemala, 1987"

I didn't want to do what she was asking, but then I whipped the folder open with as much attitude as I could display. Carnage met my eyes. Death and visceral carnage. So abstract were the colors and twisted bodies I could barely figure out what I was looking at.

"You see it?" Her voice was inappropriately excited. "Skinned… hanging upside down from the branch or this one…" She pulled out another picture, a man impaled by a large sharp disc with wicked looking points. Like the one P'sy almost hit me with in the hospital by accident before A'luet saved me. "These weapons, this skill, these results are spectacular."

"These results?" I echoed. "How do I know these aren't some sicko fetish of yours, downloading torture porn bullshit off the internet and trying to blame it on others? What results are you talking about lady?"

The woman straightened, staring down her nose at me. "Like I said, this one is young…it'll take some time, maybe even years but they live forever compared to us. Some studying. Maybe some experimenting. Lots of paperwork…but in the end, it'll be worth it. America needs fresh ideas for combat, a new plan for keeping world order. Russia tried their damnedest to beat us in the Space race during the 60's. China, a worthy opponent for the global world market… to think the envy that will come when they ALL find we have something they don't and something they never will."

A faint realization my mouth was hanging open dawned but I couldn't do much to fix it, finally I drew in a breath wishing it wasn't so shaky. I rose from my chair. "You're going to use him as a weapon?"

"A most effective killer. It won't be agreeable at first, even I'm not so stupid to believe otherwise, but it's amazing what the absence of bare necessities will accomplish. Give it a few days to ponder. Wonder when it's next meal may be… and if its anything like the self-serving creature that killed these men, it'll become agreeable rather quickly. Survival of the fittest. These aliens learned that a long time ago, a most worthy lesson for us."

….

POV of A'luet

I could feel the tranquilizer beginning to fade as my body metabolized the shit. Whatever the oomans hit me with as a downer was lame in comparison to what yautja had at their disposal but made up with the paralytic component. My senses returning I curled my fingers into a fist stiffly. The table I was laying on was cold, while all around me there were oomans.

I could smell them.

I jerked my wrists, the restraints stronger than I hoped. Nearby a female glanced over as I clicked, as every second my annoyance climbed to anger. Who did these useless ants think they were?

Idiot ants.

Across the way my biomask sat on a table in some kind of containment device.

Idiots.

If they thought I was going to roll over for them they were sadly mistaken, if they thought P'sy wouldn't come for me they were even more mistaken.

I paused. Maybe that's what they were banking on.

My gaze returned to the helmet. The moment we didn't return he'd be able to track our location to where ever the hell we were. We. Our. Jessie and Ricky.

I wasn't so ignorant of ooman ways that I didn't have some inkling of the way our arrival had already started to go. Two teenager humans had just been found with an alien, me, an alien until now having been supposedly incinerated in the Gunnison blast. I wasn't stupid. I knew these people were the same ones who initiated the strike. PAUK.

Frustration won. I jerked my arm again, wishing I could break through the metal cuffs holding my wrists immobile. Loud voices erupted, all overlapping, as it was realized the alien in the room was awake.

Would it be terrible to kill them all?

….

Three hours previously

If P'sy thought the kids' inability to show up on time was a red flag, his gauntlet and biomask lit up in distress firstas A'luet left the surroundings at about sixty miles an hour. Yaujta were a lot of things but fast speeds without a plane was impossible.

"What the hell?"

"What's wrong?" Kelly looked up from drying what few dishes were in the cabin.

P'sy turned his attention to out the window, disgust at himself rearing up. He had a feeling, just a feeling; he never should have let the kids leave.

He focused on the information his biomask was giving him. A'luet's vitals had spiked before dropping to a low, the usual heart rate for his kind was near 70, A'luet's was in the 30's. He was tranquilized. P'sy's next thoughts turned to the government. It had been too convenient to believe he and A'luet were forgotten. But what had even given them the inkling he and his student were still alive?

"The kids were caught by your government."

"What?" Kelly stunned, could only turn to Dallas as he and Molly entered the cabin. "How do you know this?"

"I told you, the computer system in this-" He gestured agitated to his biomask. "-is connected to A'luet and his heart rate just dropped to 36."

"They darted him."

"What's going on?" Dallas demanded.

"Do you know where they are? Where they're going?" Kelly ignored the question, already categorizing her next moves. How bad was it she was more concerned for A'luet than she was for Jessie and Ricky.

They're human, she thought. He is not.

"Agents caught the kids."

"They have Ricky?" Dallas's voice rose an octave higher. "Where are they?"

"Dallas," Kelly snapped. "Forget them, they'll be fine. The more important thing to worry about is the fact A'luet is with them."

Silence.

"I can't sit here." P'sy picked up his gauntlet from a corner table, taking in the damaged screen. Just when he was thinking of taking the afternoon to fix the fucking thing.

It closed around his wrist, the familiar micro needles piercing his skin. He wondered…..

The sudden shoot out of two wicked twin blades startled the humans back a step. At least that still worked.

"P'sy wait a minute." Kelly blocked his exit, her mannerisms no longer apprehensive or afraid of his half-a-head taller stature. "You're still healing, it's barely been 48 hours since you almost died in that room. You can't leave with no plan."

"Get out of my way."

Her chest puffed a little. "No." Her stare almost dared him to shove her out of the way. If his irritation rose enough, he may just oblige. "I can't morally allow it."

"Morally?" Maybe he would forcibly remove her from the doorway. "Let me tell you something lady, that kid has been through more shit in his short life than any of you, probably including me, could ever dream to comprehend. He's now in the hands of oomans who don't give a shit he's a living sentient being, who knows what the fuck they'll do to him, if they haven't already."

"Which is why you can't just go running over there, where ever there is!" She shot back. "Remember you saved us, took us on as useless, annoying baggage that you specifically wanted no part of? We owe you. Without you, we'd be dead, obliterated. The least I can fucking do, is return the favor. That's what friends do. They help each other, no matter the cost."

He took half a step back, knowing she was right but not wanting to acknowledge it. He could barely move without pain pounding throughout his torso. He could put up one hell of a fight, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be eventually overpowered, unlike if he were in better physical shape.

A strange emotion swirled inside him, one he could barely understand. In his five-hundred years of living, he never consummated. For a very brief time he shared a relation with the Prime tribunal leader's niece, Noni, until they both realized it felt too weird; after all T'sey-s had taken him on as a charge when he was a D'jilk, Noni was practically a sister to him. Now he had inherited this kid from his dead best friend, a kid who was wise beyond his years, attentive, smart and not a smug piece of shit like most in his age group. If he ever had a kid, A'luet would be the best choice.

He turned back to Kelly, still standing uneased by his silence in front of him.

"I know to you this is going to sound incredibly nasty." He stepped in towards her. "A'luet is to me like that child is you. If we find him in any different shape than when he left here and it could have been prevented by not dicking around, there will be retaliation and the collateral damage will include you."

She held his gaze, seemingly unfazed by his straight forward threat. "That's why we're not going to dick around. You know where they are and we're going to get them back. But I understand what you mean…I'd feel the same way."

"Besides," Dallas added. "They got my brother. I'm right there with you."

After a moment of silence P'sy jerked his head. "Get moving, I'm not waiting long."