Chapter 19

Adrien vs Predator

It had taken a considerable amount of energy expenditure, but Vai'dqouulth did manage to catch up to his prey. What was concerning was the fact that they were currently in a clear standoff with another set of humans - which by extension, put the computer at risk.

Given the number of humans in total, and that they'd all attack him on sight, Vai'dqouulth held his position and listened. If the computer was put in jeopardy, he would intervene. It seemed it was back with its owner. And the weakling pup appeared to be recording the scene with it.

Vai'dqouulth quickly deduced he didn't like the second set of humans. They were here to take serpent specimens. And Yautja specimens too, which obviously meant him. What shocked him, though, was that his group of humans refused to acknowledge his existence, as though they were trying to protect him.

He snorted at the thought and continued listening. His suspicions about the veteran Adrien were all but confirmed. The warrior had faced a Yautja and won.

But when a taller female from the new group grabbed the tiny male and held a blade to his throat, Vai'dqouulth knew it was time to intervene before the device was destroyed.

Katja had been trying to formulate a plan to save Alexei when one of the Weyland mercenaries took an arrow to the throat. It was quickly followed by a star-shaped object that flew through the air and decapitated another.

None of the attacks had come from her men.

Adrien seemingly wasn't fazed, however, as he cupped Alexei's forehead and slammed it back into a distracted Jade. She had been staring at the dying men in confusion, giving Adrien the opportunity to act. She dropped the knife and grasped her bleeding nose in pain.

"Contact!" one of the mercs shouted.

"Boyfriend's here. Time to go," Adrien said as he pushed Alexei past Katja.

Katja signaled Petrov and Zaitsev, then ran after the American, who was towing Alexei by the arm. To her relief, Weyland was much more interested in firing in random directions and screaming rather than giving chase.

They escaped, leaving Weyland to fend for themselves. "How far to the train station?" Zaitsev panted.

"Too far. Look!" Petrov pointed behind them.

Serpents, several of them, were rushing in their direction and closing fast. Clearly, they had been woken by the gunfire, and had taken it as a threat. Katja just hoped they'd go for Weyland, and not them.

Adrien had released Alexei, resulting in the kid falling behind. Now Alexei was beside her, hyperventilating. Katja barely noticed him. She was so focused on the serpents that she suddenly and inexplicably lost her footing and hit the ground, hard. Recovering, she looked down to find netting wrapped around her feet and legs.

Confused, Katja glanced up and saw the hunter de-cloak and approach her, a spear of some kind in hand.

She was aiming her rifle at him just as a bright orange-red ball went speeding by and smacked the extraterrestrial humanoid right in the chest.

Adrien cursed himself. He had loaded a flare round in the grenade launcher at the extraction zone to signal the helicopter, and never bothered to swap it out for an HE round. Stupid. A clear shot, and now the best he could hope for was giving the alien stalker a nice bruise.

The upside, though, it worked as a heat decoy. The hunter seemed to have trouble locating them. He held up his huge, clawed hand like a shield and approached more slowly, like his footing wasn't sure.

"C'mon!" Adrien heard Petrov say as he hoisted up Katja. Once the hunter was past the flare, it began to speed up again; but then the serpents started popping up, distracting it.

They went a short distance away before stopping. Petrov pulled out a knife and began sawing at the net wrapped around Katja's legs. Adrien was just grateful the net wasn't the razor kind that continued to tighten after it was fired. That would've made a gruesome end for the girl.

When Petrov pulled back, none of the fibers were cut, and his knife had actually lost material off the blade from the sawing. "What is this thing made of?!" Petrov shouted, tossing the now-useless tool aside.

"Forget it; just get to the train, all of you!" Katja yelled, watching the hunter battle the serpents.

Both Adrien and Petrov ignored her. Alexei was hovering yards away, eager to run again, but obviously had no idea which direction to take. Zaitsev covered them all anxiously as Petrov went back to the net. "Here," Adrien said, crouching down to help.

The hunter was still busy with the serpents, and so was Weyland.

Katja helped them take her boots off, and then they were able to work the netting off her legs from there. After that, they helped Zaitsev cover Katja while she donned her boots once more.

"Don't get pinned down, let's move to the train station!" Adrien called out to the group, and they all broke into a run.

They had only been running for a few seconds when, over the noise of the battles, Adrien heard engines revving.

Bursting off the road into the thinning forest, Weyland-marked Humvees came barreling towards them, their .50 cal machine guns locked onto the small group. Before they could open fire, though, several green globs came flying by, hitting the trucks and personnel.

The Weyland men screamed in agony as their faces and bodies began to melt along with their vehicles. It was acid. But from where–?

Adrien turned and saw a peculiar-looking serpent. For the most part, it appeared normal. The green-glowing sacks on the side of its head were the off-putting part. It screeched, and suddenly 'spit' another glob of the acid.

"No time to gawk; let's move!" Katja ordered before they got hit. Adrien knew what she was thinking. The same thing he was. They had very little ammo left, and shots had to be absolute.

Amazingly, they made it to the train station with no more encounters. They had slipped through a crack, so to speak. Based on the gunfire and screams, though, Weyland was having a tougher go of it.

They were all panting heavily. The sweat buildup was now starting to crystallize from the cold air, chilling them. "Where's the train?" Adrien asked.

"There," Katja pointed.

"Of course, other end of the station. Because it can never be easy," Adrien rolled his eyes.

They moved through the train yard, checking for threats as they passed parked train cars and the station's warehouse, but it seemed nothing had caught up or gotten ahead of them. They reached the train without incident.

"How long until we get going?" Zaitsev shifted nervously.

"Several minutes, depending on the model? I don't know, my head was just used as a bludgeon!" Alexei groaned. "And I saw a man decapitated right next to me. I just need a second."

"What did he say?" Adrien requested.

"It could be a few minutes; it could be several. And that you used his head as a weapon," Katja translated in exasperation.

"Damn right I did," Adrien stated. "Might as well be useful for something."

"We don't have a few minutes–!" Petrov hissed, but was cut off.

"Shut up a sec. You hear that?" Adrien asked. Everyone stopped and listened.

"I hear nothing but the ambiance," Zaitsev answered.

Katja understood what that meant. The sounds of serpents screeching, gunfire from Weyland, all of it gone. Only silence.

"…Who do you think won?" Petrov whispered. A roar ripped across the mountain air. One inviting challenge.

"Three guesses," Adrien grumbled.

"What happened to the serpents?" Katja asked aloud.

"Queen pulled them back in hopes her two enemy species would kill each other?" Petrov suggested.

"Told ya, cuts both ways," Adrien joked to Katja, to which she responded with a glare.

"What do we do?" Zaitsev asked.

Adrien mulled the question personally while everyone else seemed lost in thought. "Someone is going to have to make the hard call here," Adrien proposed.

Squaring her narrow shoulders, Katja lifted her chin. "I'll stay back. It has to be me. Like Alexei said, it seems to want me anyway. Give me your grenade launcher, Adrien, and I'll keep it distracted until you can go."

"Captain–" began Petrov.

She gave him a warning look and then reached into a pouch on her vest, pulling out a single dogtag, not on a chain. From the way she looked at it and lovingly ran a finger along the edge of it, Adrien knew it wasn't her own.

"Give this to my father, Fedor Mikhailov," Katja instructed Adrien. "He's in Moscow. Tell him it's Karik's, and that I gave it to you. Tell him I'm sorry I stole it from his desk. I was selfish and thought I deserved it more. Tell him I'm giving it back now in exchange for your passage home, Adrien. Don't lose it. Please? It's important."

All of his prior (and probably unjustified) anger with her earlier vanished. Adrien didn't know who Karik was; but he did know that if anyone was staying behind to face the monster, he was going to make damn sure it wasn't going to be her. "Put that away, Katja. You guys get out of here. Get help before the world is lost," Adrien ordered.

Katja blinked, startled at his words. "Don't be a martyr, Adrien. Think of your daughter. It needs to be me," she insisted.

"I'm sorry, has anyone else here faced one down and lived to tell about it? Have they researched prior encounters with these things? I am the logical choice here. I'm without a country and have the experience. I will buy you the time," Adrien argued.

Alexei suddenly cried something out to Katja. Adrien didn't even need translation; he could guess what the little brat said. "C'mon Katja, let Captain America do it if he wants to. I just want to get out of here!" Or something like that.

"No, Alexei!" Katja stated furiously.

"Called it," Adrien congratulated himself as he began rummaging through his pack and produced the last five magazines for his rifle. .50 Beowulf armor piercing tracer rounds. He had been saving them specifically for the tough hide the hunters had.

"What?" Katja turned to him in confusion.

"Never mind; point is, I'm going, so get your asses out of here," Adrien stated defiantly.

"You can't beat it, Adrien," Katja warned.

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," Adrien retorted.

Petrov stepped forward. "At least let me stay and help you, Pierce. Three people is plenty to deliver a message. Maybe together, you and I have a chance."

"Don't get soft on me now, Petrov. Go back to your parents. Sounds like they need you. And Katja, if I can slow it long enough for you guys to escape, then I've already won," Adrien shot back.

And with that, he walked away from them, so there was no more room for argument.

Coming to the edge of his cover, Adrien peered around the corner.

Now, if things were reversed, he would be hiding from a vantage point, waiting for the target to come to him. He needed cover to move to the warehouse. There wouldn't be any way to snipe in there.

Loading one of his last few grenade launcher rounds, Adrien aimed for a fuel tanker car, a memory of Afghanistan surfaced. It was just before he lured in that hunter. A simple, bitter phrase he had muttered to himself.

"If you want war. I'll give you war…"

And with that, Adrien fired.

Vai'dqouulth was startled out of his mask's zoomed-in mode by a sudden explosion. One of the fuel vessels, on what he presumed was a human transport, had erupted. It was then that he realized this was probably a distraction of some kind.

He readied his bow and zoomed in with his mask. The heat was too intense to see through – a perfect shield for activity, he deduced. He switched over to the trichromatic spectrum, but the black smoke from the fire still made it hard to see. Very clever.

A flicker of movement caught his eye, and Vai'dqouulth shifted his vision over. Between cracks in the parked vehicles, he could make out the veteran, calmly walking. What an insult. Their arrogance knew no bounds; though admittedly that flaw wasn't uniquely human, either.

Scanning ahead, Vai'dqouulth saw the human – Adrien, was it? – was approaching open ground. What was his goal? Vai'dqouulth wasn't in that direction, surely the human knew that. Regardless, he pulled the drawstring back, prepared to release an arrow.

He released the arrow, but it was far too late. Adrien, from behind the vehicle, had started sprinting. Vai'dqouulth quickly loaded another arrow and released. Too much lead. Loading once more, he took careful aim. He released, and the arrow was just a fraction behind the human this time. But now, the male was inside a large building.

Computer forgotten, Vai'dqouulth activated his wrist blades and extended them to full length before cloaking.

"Bare your fangs, human. Hunt well, die honorably," Vai'dqouulth recited.

The large warehouse was perfect. It was close quarters, so the hunter's most lethal ranged weapons would be out of the question; but not so close Adrien himself would be forced into a melee.

The shipping containers made for a great maze, as well. He hoped it would make thermal tracking for the hunter difficult. Leading him on a merry chase would be the best time waster, too. But what he needed now, was cover.

Looking up, he saw the warehouse skylights, covered over with snow. Perfect.

Pulling his pistol, he lay on the floor directly under one and fired. The glass broke and fell on him, but his helmet and heavy gear protected him from the shards. In addition, the accumulated piles of snow dropped on top of him – which had been his purpose. It would hide him from the infrared vision. At least, he sincerely hoped. The hard part would be detecting when the beast was close enough to spring the ambush.

It wasn't much later that he could hear the faint crunch of snow. The hunter must've been curious about the random snow pile in the building. Maybe he heard the gunshot and was trying to figure this out.

When the crunching moved about where he wanted it to, Adrien popped out from his snow cover and began firing in earnest.

Two rounds splashed off the armor, and the hunter dashed around the corner of a shipping container. Adrien gave chase, knowing the corner came to an immediate dead end. When he rounded it, however, nothing was there.

Pure reflex had him doing a sloppy roll just before wrist blades could plunge into his back and out his chest. The blades instead sunk into a shipping container. Adrien spun around and got four more shots off; one into its leg and the rest into its armor.

He was still too close to the beast, though, because a moment later the weapon was grabbed by its hand guard and promptly ripped from his grip, breaking the e-clip for the weapon's sling in the process.

Instead of retreating or going for his weapon, Adrien took the creature by surprise and football-tackled him around waist level. Since the hunter had been trying to free his blades, putting him somewhat off-balance, the force of being tackled coupled with the blades coming loose, knocked him over completely.

Once on the ground, Adrien quickly ripped the hunter's mask off, ignoring the angry, cat-like teal eyes, and delivered a flurry of punches using his glove's hard polymer knuckles to boost the damage. By his estimation, it had the desired result.

Before he could pull his pistol and shoot the thing in the face, he felt claws dig into his back, followed up by the force of being ripped off the hunter and slammed to the ground, which knocked the wind out of him.

Dazed, Adrien didn't have time to react as the hunter punched him right in the ribs. Even with the armor and a trauma pad backing, he thought he could feel his ribs cracking. Not a good sign.

To say Vai'dqouulth was impressed would be an understatement. He had heard stories from other hunters of humans and their canniness; but it was always indirect fighting, never anything like this. Actually, he had hunted humans himself and never experienced anything like this.

The human had lured him into the warehouse, and he'd known it was a trap of some kind. What he hadn't expected was for the trap to be triggered by an innocuous pile of snow. The human had used it to mask his thermal signature. Primitively ingenious.

Adrien had then shot at him immediately, forcing a retreat and reassessment. From there, the elite had expected the fight to be over when he snuck up behind the human, ready to stab him; but clairvoyant reflexes had saved Adrien and sabotaged Vai'dqouulth.

When he had yanked the weapon away, he expected a retreat from the human; instead, the veteran had charged and knocked him to the ground. The swiftness of the attack had left Vai'dqouulth vulnerable long enough for the human to rip his mask off and hit him with the kinetic weapon, breaking a mandible in the process.

No matter, he was well versed in setting the bone on those appendages.

Now the Yautja warrior had the upper hand as the human lay writhing in pain on the floor. He took the time to retrieve his mask before coming back over and grabbed Adrien by his nape, forcing the warrior to look him in the eye.

"Like the rest of your race, weak and undisciplined," Vai'dqouulth stated before throwing the human face-first into one of the many metal boxes within the building. This would be a glorious story to share with his brethren over a stout of c'ntlip.

Adrien turned to him, baring teeth, his strange mouth parts turned upward. The odd-colored blood dribbled from his nose. Baring teeth was a threatening gesture in his culture. "The bitch hits harder than you," the human spat out more blood.

A female canine hit harder than him? It took Vai'dqouulth a fraction of a second to realize the human was talking about his female companion. Calling a female a canine seemed very insulting, and not something wise to do in front of her. Similar to 'lou-dte kale' in his own language. Not a good thing to say to a female if you wanted offspring.

He realized now the human was insulting him, because females of their kind were typically smaller and physically weaker. So, in essence, it was being implied Vai'dqouulth couldn't hit harder than a human female.

A clear and blatant lie; he could hit harder than any human, and now he suspected the male had said it not out of disrespect to the female, but to anger and distract him.

The Yautja pulled out his combistick and extended it to its full length.

He was just about to go for the kill when he was suddenly blinded by a white flash.

Adrien's verbal distraction had worked.

Even though he'd have to apologize to Katja later for the feigned disrespect (if he lived, that is), he found it interesting that his desperate taunts and jabs to the ego had done the trick. Seemed the hunter species was as susceptible to pride and arrogance as an average marine recruit.

But no time to dwell on it now. Adrien had dropped a flashbang, not knowing if it would blind the hunter like it would a human. For whatever reason, it had worked and bought him enough time to scurry away to retrieve his rifle. When he turned, the alien was gone. That camouflage needed to go, like yesterday.

Setting his sights to the wall, Adrien found a lever for the fire suppression system. He rushed over and yanked it down, but nothing happened. The pipes must've been frozen or shut off.

Looking up at the broken sky light, he saw a water tower on the roof. He loaded another grenade round and fired at the support legs. Hopefully the water wasn't frozen.

The action worked, and the water tower tipped before falling, breaking more skylights and dribbling water all around the warehouse.

It must've worked, because the immediate fallout to that action was the lights cutting out, as well. What they were running off of, Adrien didn't know or care. He only cared that two could play at this game.

He flipped his night vision goggles down. The hunter didn't rely on lighting to see like he did, and Adrien knew that was why it had cut the lights. A form of cloaking, since Pierce had removed that advantage; at least temporarily.

Swapping magazines, Adrien began stalking through the shipping container maze. The night vision goggles caused vision distortions, but at least he could see. "Don't you ever get tired? Or does this shit, this thrill of the hunt bullshit, just fuel you?" Adrien asked aloud. Dumb to give away his position, but maybe taunts would make the hunter slip up again. Plus, it likely knew where he was anyway.

Unsurprisingly, there was no response to his query.

Scanning the tops of the containers, Adrien was almost too late in dodging the alien spear that suddenly came at him. In response, he opened fire, dumping the entire magazine. He was pretty sure he didn't hit anything, though.

As he was changing magazines again, he saw the hunter jump on top of a crate. Damn, it must've known the sound of reloading. A blue streak of energy came at him, and only by sheer luck did it hit his gun, blowing it into two halves instead of blowing him into two halves.

The alien did another superhuman jumping vault and landed right in front of him. Having no options, Adrien delivered a straight punch right to the creature's (presumed) stomach, to no effect. Instead, he received a kick right to his chest, knocking him to his back and sliding him back toward the spear.

Adrien heard wrist blades shoot out, and he grabbed the alien spear just as the killing thrust came. The blades got tangled in the spear, preventing injury or death. Now, the two species were locked in a battle of muscle.

He knew he was older and not in his prime anymore, but Adrien was still very muscular and fit. But the alien was so much stronger. Adrien's arms were burning as the blade tips slowly approached his chest, cutting through the level IV ceramic armor plate in his carrier like it was butter. Using the floor, he tried to brace the back of his upper biceps against it to help. All it did was slow the inevitable… somewhat.

It was over just like that. All his studying, all his training, all his drills, and he had decisively lost. He just hoped he had given Katja enough time to escape.

Based on the look of the human's face, they both knew it was over. Respect where respect was due. The human warrior had gotten farther than most. And he hadn't relied on pure cunning to do it, choosing direct confrontation at certain points.

As Vai'dqouulth pushed the blades down, the building's lighting suddenly flashed back on. Strange, he had cut the power directly. A back source perhaps? A moment later he felt an unexpected pain in his hand. He reeled away from his target reflexively. There, stuck in the back of his hand, was a small blade; embedded deep. But it had no handle.

Looking up, Vai'dqouulth saw the human doe loading another blade into her launcher. Her sudden appearance so distracted him, he didn't notice more humans had arrived until he felt weight on his back. The other two warrior human males, he presumed. They had likely restored the lights, and were now trying to wrestle him to the ground.

The veteran and the doe scrambled away into cover to regroup. Vai'dqouulth had to get these males off him.

Jumping up, he angled his back toward the floor. He landed on the two humans, crushing them with his body, and their grip slacked, allowing him to get up.

Just as he turned to kill the two males, he suddenly felt a constriction at his throat. "How does that feel?! That's not too tight, is it?!" the veteran shouted.

"You know it is, human," Vai'dqouulth growled in his tongue.

"I told you to leave. That was not a debate," Adrien said to Katja while they hid.

"I wasn't debating, I was ignoring you," Katja responded.

"Clearly," Adrien growled. "Where's the kid?"

"Prepping the train. What's the current plan?" Katja asked.

"Well, I'm down to a pistol and knife. What'chu got?" Adrien responded. He was pissed at himself for not holding onto the alien spear.

"I used a ballistic knife over a gun, so I didn't hit Petrov and Zaitsev when they jumped the walking tank over there. Still don't have much ammo, though. If we're desperate, I have some of those flex zip-tie handcuffs," Katja answered. Adrien laughed audibly. "Why is that funny, dare I ask?" she demanded.

"Handcuffs. I'll bet he wonders where that enthusiasm was in the bedroom the other night," Adrien laughed again.

"Oh, shut up," Katja groaned.

A thudding noise and sharp cries of pain from both Petrov and Zaitsev brought their attention back to the situation.

"That's our cue," Adrien prompted as he darted from cover. Along the way, he grabbed his broken gun sling and jumped on the back of the alien, looping the sling around its neck and digging his boots into its back for leverage.

"How does that feel?! That's not too tight, is it?!" Adrien taunted over its growls and roars. Its claws came up and raked across his face, drawing blood.

Adrien watched as Katja bolted forward and somehow managed to get its hands in the cuffs. Why hadn't she just shot the damn thing? Low ammo or not.

The hunter stepped backward, right into a tipped metal barrel that was lying behind it, and tripped itself. Adrien stood. "Told you it would work," Katja said.

"So does a bullet; what the hell?" Adrien furrowed his brow in confusion.

Before she could respond, it stood and yanked its hands apart, snapping the cuffs in two. It fired its plasma weapon close to their feet, sending them flying backward towards Petrov and Zaitsev. The hunter was approaching, blades out and posture suggesting anger.

"Oh, shit."

Katja knew it was down to her, now. Whatever it did to Petrov and Zaitsev, they were out of the fight. Adrien, while he had most likely put his best foot forward, was also done.

She had not quite landed in the same pile as the rest of the men. Popping up, she charged, firing her AK-105 on full auto. The beast turned to her and made a slashing motion.

Katja ducked, sliding across the floor past it, firing a blade into its thigh with her ballistic knife as she passed.

It spun, focusing on her, and took a leaping bound. It grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up face level as she felt her throat being crushed, but that just allowed Katja to loop her legs around its neck. She jerked to the right, which spun her out of its grip, but caused it no damage like it would a human.

She followed up with a kick to its abs, but it was like hitting steel. The creature grabbed her offending leg and tossed her. From there, it began approaching her men on the ground.

Undeterred, Katja stood and pulled her Glock. "Hey!" she called. It turned, which was disconcerting, but she fired anyway. It didn't matter what damage the pistol did or didn't do; she just wanted it focused on her.

It worked, because its attention did come back to her. Katja ran, hoping it would follow her. "Come on, come here, good alien, come on…"

She could hear it crashing around behind her and realized she had successfully lured it into chasing her. "Oh, I really should have thought this through a little more first," she thought desperately, searching for a solution to take down her pursuer.

A shipping container, just ahead of her, had its door cracked open just slightly. As Katja ran by it, she stuck out her arm, twisted her wrist, and yanked at the door with as much force as she could, letting it fly open behind her.

She heard a satisfying clang as the hunter ran right into it, and she sprinted faster, gaining ground but probably not hurting it at all.

Rounding a corner, she saw a coiled electrical cord beside one of the shipping units. It was thick, and probably used to charge forklifts. Regardless, it was more than enough for her foe.

Grabbing one end of the cord, she looped it around the handle of the shipper's door, then grabbed the remaining coil and ducked behind some large cardboard boxes, letting the cord fall slack.

Not seconds later, the hunter charged around the same corner, heading straight to where she was hidden. She didn't know how it knew where she was, but she forced herself to stay put until the creature was right in front of the cord.

Pulling it taut, Katja braced herself as the creature ran into the makeshift tripwire.

Even so, the inevitable stumble and fall from his massive body yanked her forward onto her stomach. But unlike the alien, she'd been expecting it, and immediately released the cord and hopped to her feet.

She jumped over his fallen body, releasing a few rounds from her Glock into him as she did so. He roared viciously. Katja felt the displaced air as it swiped for her ankle and just missed by a hairline. What, she wondered, if anything, would be enough to take him down? Because she didn't have any plastic explosive handy, like Adrien did in Afghanistan.

By now, they had reached the other end of the warehouse. Before them was a flight of stairs that led to a small upstairs office, via a catwalk. Katja didn't want to corner herself, but noticed how rusted the catwalk appeared, and mentally weighed the hunter's bulk against how sturdy it looked.

This would be a gamble.

"Come on," she taunted, prancing backwards up the stairway as the hunter got back on his dinosaur feet. "You think this is hard for me? I've had falling-down drunk guys in nightclubs that have given me more trouble than you. Give me a real challenge, handsome."

There was a growling snarl, which to Katja sounded indigent, and then he rushed after her. Katja turned and sprinted up the remaining stairs and onto the catwalk. Even with just her weight, it swayed ominously.

She rushed across the catwalk and made it to the office, and it wasn't long until she heard the metal screech, followed by a crashing noise. Turning, she looked from the office window down at the alien, who was sprawled on the concrete.

Despite the mask, if looks could kill, she'd be dead a thousand times over.

Unable to help herself, she waved tauntingly.

Of course, the fall hadn't hurt him. It had been a slim hope anyway, but she couldn't help but feel discouraged as the hunter once again climbed to his feet. That drop would have rendered a human being paralyzed.

Katja was taken by surprise when he suddenly leapt several meters into the office with ease. She had no time to react before his hand was around her throat and he pinned her to the wall.

She could feel him slowly tightening his grip, crushing her windpipe. Katja couldn't wiggle her way out of this one, and she knew it.

"Wait," Katja choked. He did not stop, however. "I yield!" she managed to get out. The feeling stopped and he even loosened his grip, if only a little. "I yield," Katja reaffirmed.

He dropped her on her ass and stepped back a few paces, waiting. She rubbed her throat for a moment, trying to think of her next steps.

Katja held her hands up, hoping to appear nonaggressive, and weighed her options. Would he understand the concept of bargaining? For that matter, would he even understand her words?

"If it's me you want, I'll come quietly. Just let my people live," she tried. Really, he held all the cards in that regard. But maybe the promise of no hassle or even just the willingness would be enough.

The hunter cocked his head inquisitively. Or so she hoped.

"Please," she added.

The most unexpected noise suddenly erupted from him. A… purr? Steady and strong-sounding. It seemed to force Katja into a relaxed state even though her mind was screaming to run.

The alien held out his hand and curled his finger at her to come to him. like a damn pet. She sighed. A deal was a deal. She just wished his purring didn't feel vaguely like Adrien's Valium. Why was she suddenly so calm? Tired, even?

Vai'dqouulth didn't want her, though he could see why she had come to this conclusion given their previous encounters. Regardless, she was bargaining for the lives of her companions with surrender, so he would accept. Unconsciously, even instinctually, he began to purr to calm and reassure her as he would if she were Yautja.

It was clear the males all listened to her, so if he controlled her, he'd control them all. Then he could take the computer and leave them to whatever devices they pleased. Or, more likely, what she pleased.

Interestingly, the hierarchy of this particular group was a lot like hard meats and their queen. Yes, he could kill them, but letting them go had its benefits as they were somewhat adept at killing hard meats and slowing the spread.

Besides, he or the clan could always hunt them down at a later time.

As she approached, he noted she seemed dazed or intoxicated. Dilated eyes, not able to focus her gaze or walk in a straight line, face flushed red. Was she poisoned? Induced reaction by medicine? Didn't matter; they would be going their separate ways shortly, though he had to privately acknowledge how much use he was getting out of the trichromatic spectrum setting in his mask, especially for it being a novelty option.

The female – Katja – came to a stop in front of him, head bowed, eyes on the ground. A sign of submission in his culture. Hopefully that was true of humans, but even if it was, he didn't trust her. She had proven quite tricky.

He noted again how small she was. Interesting what a fight she had put up with that kind of stature.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, he guided her down another stepped incline to the floor. A test of sorts. And she passed, not offering any resistance.

Slowly, she turned, still deferring in light of her defeat.

"Well? What is it you want from me?" she prompted boldly. He did like her fighting spirit. Even in defeat, she did not show the fear she clearly felt.

Before he could try to think of a method to formulate a reply, though, there was a loud noise, and he felt a hit to his armor. The female fell to the ground in surprise. Turning, he saw the veteran with a new smaller weapon, firing sporadically.

Vai'dqouulth stepped in front of the female lest she get hit in the middle of their negotiating. The shots weren't to cause harm, however; it was simply to get his attention.

As he approached the veteran and the veteran approached him, the weapon ran out of projectiles and the human tossed it aside carelessly and rather violently. "Is that it?" Adrien asked him. Vai'dqouulth chuffed in amusement.

"Adrien, pull back, get out of here!" Katja urged.

Her order went unheeded and they now stood only a few noks length apart. The human male tipped his head back to make eye contact. Vai'dqouulth didn't smell fear, only anger.

"Is that all you got?" the human asked, spreading his arms then letting them flop in a challenge.

Again, Vai'dqouulth had to mentally chuckle. He would certainly finish this fight if that was his wish. Perhaps then the female would be more willing to listen, out of fear of the same fate.

There was a different-sounding loud explosion, causing him to whip around. Clan Weyland suddenly descended in from various ceiling portals.

When he turned back, the female warrior and her drones were gone. Damn, he'd need to clean up clan Weyland quickly and catch up to her.

Author's notes: Writing battles is hard...