FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Author(s) Note: At long last here it is for you guys, proudly standing at 12,140 some words for your reading pleasure and entertainment. As always enjoy and let me know what you think about it. Criticism, good and bad, is openly welcomed here.

Warning: I tend to use "Foul Language" in my story(s) and will often make fun of, or prod at, certain topics from personal issues to things like morals and religion. PLEASE bear in mind that the things I say/write in these stories are mere comedy and entertainment and NOT actual fact or personal opinion of discussed topics. If you are offended in some way or another..... Well there is nothing I can really tell ya but to get over it. No one's forcing you to read this stuff, that's your choice.

Disclaimer: I do not own Alien(s) & Predator(s). I'm a simple guy writing a story for your pleasure and entertainment, don't like it? Don't read.

Italic words; will indicate thoughts/ideas/memories.

Bold/Dark words: Are important things and foreshadow things to come..... Possibly.

Story and Character are copyrighted by me.

Without further ado let's begin

---

Time: 3:15 a.m. Location: The Hive, Engineering Wing.

Having recovered from the blast, Aaron was transfixed on what was left of the smoldering door behind him. The smoke began to part, whisking around an unseen form emerging from the now non-present structure. Then a spark, seemingly to streak across on the very thin air, shot across the smoke. Soon others followed suit, highlighting a large humanoid form that hid there amongst the smog. This lasted briefly before the sparks gave way and the appearance of cool metal and tanish skin began to form in the electricity's place starting at the chest and rapidly expanding outward showing the size of the beast's form and appearance.

Once completely revealed Aaron couldn't help but admire the thing. It was much bigger than him, in height and muscle bulk, obviously meant to deliver and withstand blows far greater than what his body could withstand. Upon its olively tan skin it wore segmented armor of some sort over its vital areas, or at least Aaron assumed to be so. He noted the dual mounted weapon systems on the creature's arms and shoulders, which were currently aimed at him, and lastly the slick shiny metalloid mask hiding its face and eyes.

From the mask, a triangular set of red laser's emitted from the side of the mask and upon looking down at himself he could see the red triangle dots centered on his chest.

"Of course." Aaron thought.

For a time the two simply stared at one another. Eyeing each other up, waiting for the next to move in some way. Then the creature tipped its head off to the side slightly in what Aaron guessed to be a confused response to something. He had to admit he wasn't quite sure what was going on either but reframed from physically showing that fact to the thing.

"Act tough and/or uncaring and it might lose interest..... Or simply just kill you and be done with it." Aaron mused despite ignoring his better, more serious self.

Little did he know the opposite was occurring. The longer Isis continued to stare the human down the more curious she became of him.

1: was the simple fact that he had stopped running from her.

2: he had slightly laxed posture and his features seemed calm, at least on the outside.

3: he was unarmed yet still alive and well this far in the Xeno infested Hive..... and alone.

"Had he not been caught yet? Or did he somehow escape from his confinement of the Xeno's grasp? And lastly, was he a carrier......."

Switching from her heat visor to her Xenoc one, she zoomed in on his chest for signs of an embryo nested somewhere within...... She was surprised again when nothing turned up. However, upon a closer look and greater magnification she did note an unusual space between his lungs and diaphragm. As if something was pushing them off to the side...... Now her curiosity was peaking along with her suspension.

Bringing her left arm up to her chest and opening the compartment attached to it, Isis aimed the built in sensor at the human's torso. Aaron in response to Isis's raised arm moved once of his legs back slightly but still remained positioned and still.

"He's not completely stupid" Isis mused.

The device performed a quick prep check before locking onto its designated target Isis had set for it and began to crunch through a series of beeps and hums. Five seconds later a binging noise announced it to be finished and displayed to Isis its results of what it found in the humans body, mainly the chest area. Blood pressure, heart rate, H?O level, Sodium and Carbon level, amount of Iron, Calcium, bone percentage and density, etc. All sorts of boring crap she wasn't looking for.

While Isis continued to scroll through the results listed for her, Aaron continued his silent, and less advanced, observation of the Predator before him. He had heard stories about large creatures that prowled around most of the new facilities established by colonists at the new borders of mankind for Earth. How the higher ups expected to enforce and secure this large terrain was beyond him but then again that's why he was here, trying to fix shit for crappy pay when it came down at the end of the year. At least the health care was free and good. Accounts of people missing and later turning up dead with missing parts from their body, from skull's to skin and everywhere in-between. Predators is what the nerdy boys in the lab coats decided to call them based on their hunting type nature and lack thereof more information on the beasts. This was Aaron's first actual encounter with one up close so most of his info on them was from whatever he could gain from others; since the nerd boy's in the lab didn't release or bother sharing their notes about the subject. Many of the people he talked to about the Predators claimed they were barbaric brutes that killed on sight no matter if you where a soldier or an unarmed civilian. Well true the thing tried to kill him earlier but here they were standing in front of one another unscathed and civil.... Well except the slight burn mark on his side and the fact he was being held hostage by gun point but that was beside the point.

Without taking his eyes off the Pred, Aaron slowly moved his left foot back a little, than the right. He managed to get 3 successful steps back till the Predator's head snapped back up and gave off some growling type noise at him. Re-leveling its turret gun's at him but this time centered its aim on the center of his head.

Out of boredom, Aaron tilted his head to the side, the lasers and turrets followed. Bringing his arm up and mimicking its posture Aaron tapped his left forearm while keeping his head slightly tipped to show his confusion/curiosity on what the Predator was doing.

Understanding his actions Isis looked down at her arm and back to him thinking of what to do back in response. Rotating her arm so that the top of the kit faced him, she activated the dual blades housed within the device, extending outward with the typical clicking noise. This got the humans attention immediately on the blades with a curious eye and slight fascination at the design and craftwork of the long jagged blades. Sheathing the blades, Isis looked back at her screen and saw something that shocked her. Among the strands of DNA in his system her register had found a particular blank strand within his, something that shouldn't even be possible.

"That's not right...."

Selecting the file her screen showed a digital representation of the human's chest and highlighted a large dark area within it. Right where Isis had noted the abnormal space earlier.

"It can't be...."

Having always been a quite person and an observer of others, Aaron quickly picked up the shift in mood with the Predator. Earlier it was curiosity but now it felt like he was becoming prey, which was never good. This was confirmed to him once Isis closed her kit and re-extended her blades this time on both arms.

"Well there went any chance of an unlikely long lasting friendship, not like I really care."

No sooner had Isis taken a step at the human did Aaron turn around and bolt down the walk again in a mad sprint.

"Great, more running."

_ _Giving chase Isis prepared a net shot on her arm and fired it while still sprinting after her new prey. The shot would have been successful in ensnaring her prey had the section of the floor she had just stepped on didn't give out under her much greater mass than the humans. Stumbling to a halt, with now 1 leg wedged into the floor, Isis gave off annoyed growl along with a chosen word or two. Looking ahead of her she could see the rest of the path wasn't much better and further than that her human prey had reached the far door.

"Come on, just open...."

Having hit the open button for the door 20x's in quick succession it began to dawn on Aaron that a different approach was in order. Ripping the cover off the panel exposing the wire components and beeping lights within he started to mess with what he found.

"And my choices are: red, blue, green, black, yellow, a----nd purple? So I have a 1/6 shot of getting this right and a 5/6 chance to kill myself. Nice odds as always."

The sound of a canister shot forced Aaron to look up and watch as a giant net flew over his head and impale itself on the door. Blinking in surprise, he turned to look back at the Predator to see that it..... "No, her." He corrected himself, had fallen through the floor halfway. The simple form and posture displaying her rounded hips and now very evident breasts at his viewing angle and pleasure. "Gah." Was all he could say and think at the sight.

The view was short lived for the Predator now began to work its leg free of the floor and soon prepared another net shot for him. Looking back at door panel Aaron began to fiddle with the wires a little faster now, trying to decide which to redirect.

"It's almost always the red or blue one. Yet, what does the green do?.... Who the hell put a purple wire in here!?" Glancing back to see the Predator, who was no longer imprisoned, he decided to just guess.

Tearing the blue and green wire together sent a jolt up and into his body briefly making him lock up before the current broke and the door chimed open. Straight ahead down the hall was an elevator, a working elevator, with its doors already opened revealing its internal lights showing it to be operational. A beacon of freedom to Aarons eyes.

"Oh thank God!" Aaron thought in relief as he made a final dash for safety.

"Shit, don't have enough time for a net shot." Running up to the now newly opened door Isis stopped and brought her right arm up to level with her blades extended aimed at the humans back.

"I smell freedom---" "AHHH FUCK!!" Aaron screamed as pain exploded in his left shoulder and arm. The evident force of 2 objects penetrating his flesh sent his body flying forward and against the elevators wall with a thud. Groaning in pain he tried pushing himself up but stopped when another wave of pain coursed through his shoulder. The load "thudding" sound of heavy legs reached his senses and upon turning his head to look down the hall, the large Predator drawing near met his sight. Again stumbling to get up, he lunged for the panel aside of the door, hitting all the buttons he could to close the doors and get the damn contraption moving away from the large thing.

Slowly the doors stirred and began to close much to Aaron's relief. However, upon realizing that it wasn't going to make it, the Predator again stopped and shot another set of blades through the small open gap left between the 2 doors before it sealed shut. Sadly Aaron had left his right leg in the gap and once again suffered another wave of agony as more pain rushed up from his leg and thigh. Collapsing on the floor screaming in pain, Aaron looked down at his leg to see 2 long jagged blades sticking clean through his leg splattered and dripping in blood.... His blood. Turning as best he could down at his left shoulder where another set of equally in description blades emitted from his shoulder and chest, wetting his vest and side with warm blood.

"God Fucking Dammit! Of all the things to go wrong!" Wrapping his hand around one of the blades lodged in his leg Aaron gave it a yank, "Ah SHIT!" Aaron let go of the blade as his entire leg jerked and twitched for a few seconds in pain before lying still again, numbing away in the aftershock. "Damn thing is in there tight, I think one of the groves is lodged in my femur." Again grasping the same blade as before Aaron gave it a test wiggle, result, more pain and an uncomfortable pulling sensation in his leg.

"Yep. That's not coming out soon." He applied the same procedure with the other 3 blades sticking out of him. All but 1 had the same results; the 2 in his chest he couldn't remove (Not that he really wanted to anyway) but the other blade in his thigh had only punctured the side of him and was easier (But not in any way less painful) to force out.

Giving the blade a final tug it popped (More like ripped) out with a stream of blood following it collecting underneath him. Tossing the blade to the side with a clang, Aaron ripped part of his lower shirt into a few long strips and wrapped them around the now open wound as best he could. Wincing every time the rough cloth rubbed and caught his open flesh.

"Arg. If I ever meet that whore again I'm putting a few rounds into her leg and chest and see how it likes it."

Tying the strips together than briefly pausing to admire his not so professional first-aid treatment, Aaron shrugged his shoulders which immediately set another course of fire off in his left shoulder. "Owowowow Dammit." Grumbling to himself again, Aaron stood back up while taking care to lean on his left leg and hopped/limped his way towards the elevators panel.

"Venting Sector, Level/Floor 9" was displayed on the panel; looking at his destination choices he saw one that read, "Facility ground level, Sector B".

"Sounds good to me." Aaron thought as he selected it. The Elevator giving a slight lurch as it picked up speed.

=====

(Back to Isis)

Having restocked her weaponry Isis gave her up most attention to the holographic display screen above the door the human had escaped through. (Into? Whatever.) Thanks to a translator feature in her helmet she was able to make out and interpret what the human symbols read on the screen. "Elevator in use, Please wait." It translated for her in her native language, "Floor 7... 6... 5..."

"He must heading for the surface." "2... 1" The numbers stopped decreasing on the screen. "Great." The wording on the screen changed from "In use" to "Elevator ready for use". Glancing down at the door and looking on either side of it Isis found another panel with 2 buttons on it, one was pointing up while pointed down. "This is so simple it's stupid" Pushing the up button Isis glanced back up at the screen to see the numbers increasing in count. "5... 6.. 7. 8-9-10" The numbers began to blur together and "Error" was displayed in large red font across the screen. Next a rattling, banging noise began to echo in the air followed by the screeching sound of metal on metal filled the previous silence. A current of air whooshed out from the door tickling Isis's skin. The noise began to dim al little before abruptly finishing a few seconds later with an echoing bang.

"Elevator unavailable, Please wait.... Elevator unavailable, Please wa--" A shower of sparks and metal erupted from the screen as a plasma bolt tour through it ceasing its function. "That little shit, I'm going to kill him."

Prying the doors apart and looking down revealed a blazing inferno of fire and metal in a jumbled lump of smoking crap, the elevator. Glancing up she could make out the interior of the shaft and other doors that lead to other levels of the facility. "Better get started" Isis bitterly thought. Grabbing a hold of the metal cable swaying in the aftermath breeze, Isis began the long tedious task of climbing up the dark shaft to the surface in pursuit of her prey.

=====

"Hehe, that was easy." Aaron smiled as he watched his handy work shoot down the shaft and later see a faint ball of fire light up the shaft way down below. Another ray of light illuminated the lower shaft and soon the shadow of a figure could be seen; grabbing a hold of the cable in the center and hauling itself up at a surprisingly fast pace. "....Maybe I should've disconnected and shutdown the elevator instead of dropping it..... But it seemed like such an awesome idea at the time, can't be helped now." Sealing the door shut Aaron limped his way further down the hall still in search of peace and quiet and now some urgent medical care or at least a few pain killers.

Soon he emerged into a large hanger with a few cranes and work trucks were parked in the area. Making his way to the stair case that lead up to an overseeing office and hauling himself up the flight of stairs he again sealed the door behind him and gratefully sat down in one of the terminal chairs left in the room.

*Cough Cough Cough* Wheezing for breath Aaron clutched his chest as he felt something squirm inside of him adding more discomfort to his already damaged body. He tried to sit up a little, yet failed as the squirming in his chest intensified making him gasp out in pain and increase in breathing difficulty.

"Please, not yet, not now." He begged, slowly it faded away leaving Aaron to deal with the still lingering aches and pains pulsing from his body from the days recent events. "I need to find a first-aid kit. There's got to be one around here somewhere." Another throbbing in his chest made him go silent.

"Its close isn't it?" Spoke a smooth voice in the quite air.

Glancing up Aaron was met with the sight of a dark form sitting right in front of him. A figure he again recognized quickly and was not at all surprised at finding again.

"Yeah, how long have you been here?"

"Not long, looks like you meet a new friend. How badly are those--"

"They're stuck" Aaron interrupted, "And before you ask the embryos fine, sadly. Shits still kicking."

"Good, if you hadn't have run off the way you did you wouldn't be in this condition." The figure continued as it drew closer to Aaron, inspecting the blades poking out of him. "Did it know?"

"Know what?"

"You know what."

"The little shit inside me? How am I supposed to know?"

"You are the one who got shot at by it; I'd think you would know as to why."

"You know what, get lost. I've had enough of all this shit, I'm leaving."

"You know I can't let you do that..." Warned the figure.

"Yeah? What are going to do? If you take me back I'll die soon if I don't get these blades removed and my wounds cleaned and closed properly. Heck, I might even have internal bleeding and will go into shock in the next 2 minutes since my adrenaline rush is now over. Quite frankly, you don't really have any other choice but to let me go."

The other form paused before replying, "Where will you go to? The rest of your kind is either wiped out or hiding somewhere and the Predators are now looking for you. If you leave the Hive you won't last 5 minutes outside of this place let alone the facility."

"At least one of the two will fix me up long enough to get this fucker out of me. Then I will deal with either side then and go from there."

".....There's a wall box off to the side of those lockers there," Venotrix pointed at the far wall, "fix yourself up as best you can and follow me." Turning around she walked over to the door Aaron had come from and waited for him to finish up his treatments.

Limping over to the locker mentioned and applying what he could, Aaron stored the rest in his pockets just in case. "Where are we going?" He asked as the two started to descent down the floors again.

"Leave that for me to worry about. You just need to keep up and not die." Venotrix replied bluntly, not even glancing back to make sure he was in fact following her.

"Fair enough." Aaron replied back ceasing any remaining conversations between the two. As expected by Aaron they continued to slowly descend floors again heading back to the Hive. However after reaching the 5th floor Venotrix detoured off down one of many halls instead of the staying with the stairwell they had been sticking to. After taking a few turns and walking for awhile Venotrix turned and walked into a small room and stopped. Only once Aaron had stopped inside the room next to her did she speak again for the first time.

"Stay here till I come back." She spoke more to the room than she did Aaron.

"Why?"

"Do you want to leave this place or not? Then wait here till I return or go ahead and go on your own." Venotrix hissed back at him, turning around she walked out of the room leaving Aaron a little confused in the sudden change of pace.

"The fuck is her problem all of a sudden?" Aaron thought as he watched her leave and fade from sight. Shrugging his shoulders and again regretting the action, he went over and collapsed in chair leaning on his right side. Letting out a deep sigh he let his body succumb to the tiredness pulsing through-out him. With his eyes closed and his mind more or less blank Aaron focused on the sounds around him. The thumping of his heart, the faint whistling noise from one of the pipes, the ticking noise of some electronic device, the steadily increased labor of his breathing, all present occurrences.

"Is this how it ends?" Aaron gloomily thought after a few minutes of silence. The grayness of his thought echoing in his skull further adding to the dark mood he was now in. "Sitting here and waiting to die rather than it just occurring unexpected?"

".... Would you rather not know it was coming? Would you prefer to fill yourself with false hope that it won't come only to be disappointed in the end?" A small, almost a shallow breath, voice answered back to him.

Reflecting on what the new voice said and thinking the concept out with his life, did Aaron respond. "No, if I do that I only hurt those around me and my last few moments will be a lie. I don't want the last thing I ever do to be a make believe fantasy or false wish."

" So you would give up any hope of living? So that your body and mind grind away on only what you see now rather than reflect on all the things done in the past that made you who you are and experienced?"

"What are you a preacher? If I do that it just makes what little time I have left even shallower. All the ideas, dreams, goals, achievements, friends and family that I had will fade with me as I die. What is the point of trying to hold onto something that's already dirt in your fingers? False hope or wishful thinking may confer some but it makes me realize how desperate I become just to live 1 more minute or hour."

" Yet you are at this very moment desperately trying to survive your current circumstance. Is that not filling oneself with false hope as your philosophy claims?"

Again the worlds spoken to him by the unknown character made Aaron stop and think again about what he was indeed doing. After a minute of silence between the two did Aaron speak again. "No, I don't believe I won't die rather I have accepted the fact that I will no matter what I do in the end. I'm not trying to survive as you put it, no; I am merely changing the way in which I will die. This way I still have control of my life all the way to the very end."

" If this was a normal scenario yes however you know that is not the case. The proclaimed abomination inside of you is also part of your life now as well."

"What do you mean?"

" You already know "how" you're going to die, for that you can't change as of this moment in time. However, what you can change "where at" you'll die. Alone, with your friends, the Predators, Xenomorphs, it doesn't matter to me or necessarily you. Thou I would prefer you to not get caught by the Predators before you die."

"Oh really? Then tell me, who is there to stop me right this second from killing myself? For doing that will defiantly solve a lot of the problems I've had to deal with lately."

" You're sane self for one and more importantly me."

"Pfff. I'm sorry; I thought I heard you say that "you" would somehow stop me? Unless you're my bipolar half there is nothing you can do to me physically. You are simply a misfired, misread and interoperated neuron signal in my now shattered inner conscious that needs to be ignored."

" Or maybe this other half of yours is a completely separate entity from you in all aspects and has a far more superior intellect to that of your own, which really isn't saying much compared to you. But I can't blame you for not thinking that concept for that would be way to much stress on your delicate mind to withstand all at once."

"Wow this keeps getting better and better. My bipolar half has developed its own bipolar half who which in turn is talking for "my" bipolar half while using the fundamental flaws of the other. So in short, "you" are arguing with me and yourself in the 4th person perspective.... Or is it the 5th person? Your right, my not so unstable half can't process that for it has never had the issue of dealing with something so fucked up, till now."

" The more likely term is that you're in denial right now and are desperately clinging to what little comfort and sanity that is left inside of you."

"Well you're defiantly not helping so I know to ignore all opinioned input, ideas, and/or insults from you."

" And look where that type of thinking got you and nearly me."

"Hmm. A nice apartment, great party life, minimal social interaction with people I hate, peace of mind, a stable shitty income, paid bills, a few women, and nearly obtained military benefits. Is there something I'm forgetting or do you simply hate all those things because they make me happy and allow me to block you out?"

" I was referring to our current state right now, physically that is. The 4 sharp blades sticking through you and nearly me specifically aren't doing much good for your image or me."

"Pretty fucking amazing huh? The chicks are gana dig this shit, 4 new scars to show off and rant about when I get older to random by passers on my way to the nursing home; And I believe the blades did in fact hit you since we are sharing the same body here and all. Unless of course you are under the belief that it is somehow actually "your" body in some twisted fashion."

" Correction, you are sharing your body, amongst other things, with me and not vice a versa. You would know immediately if I had been struck by one of those things."

"How so?"

_" Either 1, I would have stopped it from going through you leaving me more than a little annoyed with you, which I am. Or 2, the blade would have pierced, and there for have killed, me and you rather painfully. Not to mention that.... ARE YOU EVEN LISTEING TO ME!?" _ The voice yelled at Aaron, who had hung his head down and was pretending to have fallen asleep during the speech. Even adding a fake snore now and then for show.

*Snoring sound* "Nope."

" Pay Attention!" Growled the voice before giving a hard "lunge" against Aaron's ribcage.

"Ow FUCK!" Aaron yelled clutching his chest as severe pain overwhelmed his entire torso and fell out of his chair. Squirming as he lay there on the cool floor with a burning, almost heart burn like, feeling eroding his insides to shit.

" Are you going to take me seriously now? " Hissed the voice while giving Aaron's ribcage another hard thrust, making him cry out in extreme pain once again. " You are so damn lucky that I can't crack you open yet for I really want to just burst you inside out."

*Cough Cough* "What, you did that just now!? How in the hell did--" Aaron choked back in disbelief before being cut off by another series of rough coughs.

" I'm the thing nestled in between your internal organs you fucking idiot! Who the hell did you think was talking to you all damn day!?" The voice yelled again inside Aaron's skull.

"But how are you.... That's not possible, you're--"

" I'm what? Just another mindless lump of flesh that is only capable of lying inside of its host and does nothing till it is actually born like the others? Have you learned nothing from what the Queen here told you about me or even our first encounter together? Get your head out of your ass and wake the hell up! This isn't a joke; I am NOT like the others of my kind."

"But how are you speaking with me?"

" I have been stuck inside of you for what, 5 - 6 days now? I haven't been sitting inside of you doing nothing all that time. I've been studying what I can from you, by slowly shifting through your memories and experiences as well as ease drop on what I can around me as well. "

"Then you're the--"

" Stop talking out loud dipshit! I can pick up what you're saying/thinking in your head just fine."

"....You're the one I saw in that vision, aren't you?" Aaron slowly asked as everything that had transpired recently began to make sense to him, or at least become a little clearer. He was still confused as fuck but it was an improvement.

" Yes well, not literally, more like a copy I guess is what one could call it in a way. Till now I've been keeping myself quite from your current awareness but thanks to your recent actions I obviously can't rely on you to keep us both alive. Leaving me with little choice but to intervene; not that it did any good since you ignored my first warning about the Predator nearby and had to go get shot up by it."

"Would have been great if you had told me where the shit was exactly since you were able to pick it up nearby without a damn problem or perhaps warned me earlier!" Aaron shouted back. Picking himself off the floor and sitting back down in the chair he turned it around so that he was facing the door and out the hallway. From there he began to stare a hole into the far wall at the end of the hallway before continuing his discussion with his "new talking buddy". "How about making yourself useful for once and tell me as SOON as you detect anything coming our way miss high and mighty."

" You know that your liver is within my biting vicinity as is your heart, and I am feeling rather hungry right now. Perhaps a small bite wouldn't hurt.... At least not for me anyway."

"Do that and I'll die of internal bleeding within minutes if not seconds ending us both." Aaron warned back.

" Hmm your right, wouldn't want that now would we? Yet if you would, oh I don't know, eat something more substantial sometime today I wouldn't be having this problem."

"You are demanding you know that? Why can't you just steal what nutrients you need from my body on your own like any and all other tumor like mass's do?"

" I am not a tumor...."

_"Uh, technically you are. _

1: You are not originally part of me.

_ 2: You are stealing proteins and nutrients from me without my consent._

_ 3: You are providing no nutrient(s) or other useful function for/to the rest of my body._

_ 4: You are slowly killing me to sustain yourself._

And actually, if you're not tumor you are most defiantly a parasite, which is like the same thing."

" And you're a furless ape incapable of keeping your nose where it doesn't belong and always manage to get its self in current situations like this one!" Ranted the voice again.

"Thanks mom, I'll go sit in a corner and think about what've done wrong now." Aaron laughed back.

" I see that there is no point in me trying to reason with you in your current state. You have defiantly lost a little too much blood and that awful smelling liquid crap you chugged down has defiantly dulled your judgment. I'll let you wallow in pity and doubt for now but next time I tell you something you better damn well listen and do it."

"You respect the Jack dammit and I'm done talking to you anyhow." Aaron murmured back only halfway listening to the conversation. He received no response in kind.

After sitting in the dark room for what Aaron guessed to be 15 minutes did something exciting happen. It was faint, but none the less Aaron was able to hear a stat-icky noise that cut off but soon after continued again. Having nothing better to do he limped his way towards the sound which lead him to a small door to the side of the room that had suffered some treatment from a Xeno or two. Upon opening it the noise got louder and the foul smell of decay met his nostrils like a solid wall.

"Man that reeks, poor fool." Lying on the floor remained what was left of a soldier, most likely one from the first unit sent here to fix this entire mess. Rolling him over, Aaron found the source of the noise to be a small radio transmitter still intact and functioning along with a few grenades and ammo clips. Laying off to the side was the soldiers side arm and a small knapsack in which Aaron quickly delved into finding some more ammo and some random, miscellaneous items.

Appling what he needed most to his pockets Aaron placed the rest back in the sack and with care, placed it on his back. Picking up the side arm and giving it a quick look over, revealed it to be functional but a little battered but none the less it would do for now. Sheathing it in his side he picked up the radio and began to toy/fiddle with it trying to find the channel he hoped was still working somehow, somewhere.

"Echo to Key, do you read me?" After a pause no response came, grumbling Aaron switched to another channel and tried again but was met with the same result, nothing. "Great I still don't know what to do or where to go from here if I manage to get out of this place. But maybe.... No, my signal wouldn't be strong enough to get any message up that high. Yet one of the colonist transmitters should do the trick. Only problem is that I'm here and they're way over in that direction with hundreds of things out to get me." As Aaron continued to glumly think of a plan he failed to hear the sounds of footsteps of something coming his way.

The first figure moved inside the room quietly and began to look around in search of something. The other 2 figures weren't as quiet as the first but also followed suit in looking around the place for something.

"See I told you she was leading us to nowhere, he's long since left this place. This was all a waste of abundant time." The 1st voice said aloud.

"This is where I told him to wait at; it's not my fault he left without the 2 of you again." Growled Venotrix.

"I don't blame him; I'd do the same thing if I had to deal with the two of you all damn day." Replied Mark.

"Hey Mark," Nathan shouted back while raising his left middle finger up, "sit on it and spin."

"Do you want me to bite your face off?" Hissed Venotrix giving Mark a death stare.

"Can I shoot you afterwards?" He replied bringing his newly obtained pulse rifle to level with the runner's skull.

"Kill me and you'll have to find a new guide out of here." The Xeno runner hissed. "But if you want to fight I certainly won't back down to you."

"There's fresh blood over here!" exclaimed Nathan as he inspected a nearby chair, "Looks like you where telling the truth about him being injured and all." Turning around to face the 2 he continued, "And you just left him here to bleed out and die, some guard you are."

"Oh I'm sorry; I thought that I'd go get his retarded friends to come help him out with that problem and then maybe escort the lot of you out of this place. But that would have been selfish of me, your right, what was I thinking?" (Venotrix)

By this point Aaron was aware of the new voices nearby and was currently standing in the doorway overlooking the 3 figures fight amongst one another with slight amusement. "Your right Venotrix that was selfish of you." All heads stopped and focused on Aaron, Nathan and Mark's surprised faces went from joy to shock in a heartbeat.

"Jesus Christ! What the hell did you do to yourself!?" Nathan yelled first.

"Did you have to catch those with your chest and leg?" Asked Mark as he too looked over the 3 remaining blades sticking out of Aaron like a pin sack. "You didn't tell us he was this bad." Mark said to Venotrix.

"That's nothing for my kind, not my fault your species in so weak and frail." She countered.

"Doesn't matter what species you are, the body isn't meant to have things sticking clean through it." Nathan spoke from behind Aaron as he also was surveying the damage. "How bad does it hurt?"

"Constant burning, numb around the area, hurts when I laugh, cry, or just move for that matter. There was a 4th one next to the blade in my leg but I managed to pull it out. The rest are wedged in pretty good and forcing them out will cause more harm than good. I need a real doctor for this one."

"No trouble breathing?"

"Not yet, lucky for me it didn't get my lung for we wouldn't be having this discussion."

"You're not in the all clear yet. It is highly possible that you have internal bleeding and those blades are the only thing keeping your insides from filling up." Warned Mark.

"So the 2 of you can't help him?" asked Venotrix, "Great, looks like I will have to get the three of you out of this place and to your friends somehow."

"..... So that's why you were all pissy earlier, you don't want us to leave.... At least not me." Aaron answered.

"I don't want the "embryo" to leave yes. But it seems I have little choice but to do so for its sake now and yours." Venotrix sighed.

"So we are leaving right?" asked Nathan, "Alright let's go then!" He shouted happily. Turning to face Aaron again he pulled out an extra side arm he knew Aaron would be happy to obtain again. "Merry Christmas." Nathan smiled, handing Aaron his AE7 Desert Eagle gun back.

Smiling back Aaron happily took his gun back and the few clips Nathan was able to retrieve for it and gave it quick check over. "Oh how I missed thee. Really can't wait to shoot a certain someone with this." Aaron smiled evilly. "But no rifle or first-aid? Well at least I have the means of a quick cure now."

"Speaking of which," growled Venotrix, "I was, and still am, against you caring any type of weapon due to an earlier attempt on your part also trying to relieve yourself from existence."

"What?"

"I tried committing suicide earlier during my pre-impregnation stage." Cleared Aaron.

"Ah. Well if she prevents you from trying again we'll do it. Not because we want to but once you're gone anyway we lose our diplomatic immunity with the Xeno's on a whole and I really don't want to deal with another 1 of them running around near me." Mark continued, glancing over at Venotrix with serious face, "Do you have a problem with that?" He asked.

"Yes, I do. If either one of you tries to or assist him in his death wish I will kill you. Your immunity is far from absolute, you can and will be killed based off of your actions and intentions regardless if he's alive or not." Replied Venotrix.

"Then what if I kill you?" Spoke Aaron raising his gun up at Venotrix with an equally emotionless and stare as Marks. "If Nathan and Mark can/are going to die based off their attentions and actions that rule should apply to me as well. Since you admit that you would attack the both of them without hesitation we both know you won't, or should I say can't, do so to me. Am I right so far?"

"Yes, you could kill me right now and I would be unable to fight back due to your..... current position. But as I said earlier, if you kill me than the 3 of you will have to find another one of my kind to "willingly help" you escape. The probability of that is very slim especially in the short amount of time you have."

"Well if you think about it the 3 of us don't really need your or anyone else's help." Nathan chimed in, "Marks a mechanic so he can fix or disable what obstacles we may come across. Aaron, although a little shaken up at the moment, knows how your kind operates and can keep us a step ahead of the rest of your kind. As for me, I'm trained in navigation. So really we could get out just as fine with or without you." He finished.

"The only difference you will make is possibly the amount of time it will take for us to get out." Added Mark, "Yes it would be nice to have someone lead us who knows the area well out, but again as Nathan said we don't really need you."

Despite having 3 three different gun barrels aimed at her, Venotrix's demeanor and posture were still the same as it was before the argument started. All though the conversation she kept her gaze on Aaron, mostly because out of the 3 of them he was the leader and was a greater threat to her compared to the others. Slowly, her muzzle cracked into a grin and a short chorus of laughter erupted from her.

"What's so funny?" Mark demanded, applying a tighter grip on his rifle.

"Why don't you tell them Aaron," Venotrix continued to snicker, "I'm sure you have taken into account the 3rd party that's involved in all of this mess."

"What's she going on about?" Nathan asked, looking between Aaron and Venotrix.

Aaron was silent for a time, but soon answered Nathan's question in a dull, almost dreading voice. "There is.... Another group we have to avoid now besides the Xenomorphs. There is a large group of Predators nearby out looking around the area."

"Why?" (Mark)

"Because they are after him!" Venotrix laughed while pointing a clawed finger at Aaron, "What do you think gave him those wounds? Did you not notice the foreign design and workmanship of the blade's compared to that of your own? Even if you get out into the open you will have nowhere to hide or go from there since the rest of your kind is long gone and is most likely no more. As knowledgeable the 3 of you may be I bet not one of you knows exactly what a Yautja, or Predator as you call them, is or are. As for me, well I've fought with several and am standing before you still right now. I could get all of you past them and home free but not if you decide to leave or kill me here."

"And you are willingly doing this out of the kindness of your heart then? You expect us to just blindly take your world on that you will safely lead us out of here for no exchange on our part?" Nathan asked narrowing his eyes somewhat, both Mark and Aaron agreeing with his statement.

"You are smart; yes there is something I would like in exchange of my services for this endeavor." Replied the Xeno turning its gaze on Nathan briefly before focusing back on Aaron.

"And? What is it?" Mark asked.

Venotrix only smiled again continuing to stare only at Aaron with a knowing look.

"..... Really? That's what you want, at a time like this with the condition I'm in?" Aaron asked in an annoyed tone.

"Yep, this is possibly the last few hours we'll have ever see each other and I plan on it being an enjoyable one." Venotrix purred back at him.

"Forget it. If that's all you want you need to leave now or choose something else. My body can't take much more abuse before it quits."

"Then I refuse to let you leave then." Venotrix growled, the smile on her muzzle being replaced with a snarl. "And I'll be killing your friends now since their usefulness is no longer needed or even efficient to start with."

"You'll die before you get them both." Aaron threatened back, "Or better yet, if you even kill 1 of them I will take myself and your "embryo" out with me. Making all our deaths be for nothing and put an end to this shit."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that; you know how fast my kind notoriously is when it comes to speed. I bet I can take the 2 of them out before you can even process what's going on to shoot."

"Then let us put that claim to the test." Mark replied.

Silence enlaced the room as each of the 4 figures went still waiting for another to begin or provoke the other to start the fight. Nathan and Mark had their sights on Venotrix's skull, who in turn had taken on a battle stance of her own; swishing her long tail behind her making the bladed tip produce an air cutting sound. Aaron bore a similar look like that of Nathan's and Mark's however his posture was far less professional and soon his breathing became labored as sweat dotted his forehead.

".... Are you alright, Aaron?" Nathan asked while looking from the corner of his eye at his worsening friend, as was Mark.

"..... No--" *Hurling noise* Quickly turning his head to the side and placing a hand on his knee for support Aaron let loose a brief torrent of vomit and blood onto the floor. Coughing a few times to get the rest out of his throat and spitting more of the stuff out he began to work on slowing down his breathing.

"What I'd tell ya? You got a leak somewhere." Murmured Mark as he disdainfully looked from Aaron to the collected puddle on the floor. "Feel any better now?"

"Give me *Cough* a second to clear something *Couch* up." Aaron wheezed in between breaths. "Hey, tumor mass, the fuck is your problem!"

" I told you not to call me that, what do you want?" Growled the voice.

"Quit screwing around with my insides, the shit fucking hurts!"

" I would but it's getting awfully cramped in here.... Pushing your innards aside doesn't really help any since they keep pushing back against me. Tell you what, in less than 8 hours I'll chew through your rectus, burst through your ribcage and leave you with an empty feeling deep down inside for you to enjoy." The voice began to laugh uncontrollably at the truthful irony in its claim.

"Hahaha Shutup. Just stop fucking squirming around and lie still for a few hours so that I can breathe properly. Making me look like I'm going to have a stroke at any minute now."

" At the rate you're going that's probably going to happen with as much blood you're loosing. As for me, I will do whatever the hell I want in here. You are in no position to lecture me or even tell me what to do in your state."

"My body, my life, my rules."

" Not for much longer."

"Aaron!"

"What what what, WHAT!" Aaron yelled back at the interruption.

"The hell is your problem? First you get shot, now you're starting to throw up blood then you completely blank out. You need some serious help dude." Nathan replied back to Aarons shouting.

"I fucking know that and have been trying to get help for the past few days but obviously that hasn't been working to well for people keep getting in the wa-y." Another torrent of blood escaped Aaron's mouth and collected on the ground with the rest yet again. *Cough Cough* "God dammit."

"Alright that does it." Yelled Mark as he lowered his rifle. "You are leading us out of here for the sake of saving us some time and we can discuss the exchanges for your services later." He finished.

"Fine, but so we are all clear as to how this is going to work these are my rules. You will follow my lead and do what I say without question or complaint about anything from anything, understood?" (Venotrix)

"Understood murmured the trio.

(30 minutes later)

"So, where does this lead to again?" Nathan asked as the group stood in front of a large, thick steel door with multiple flashing lights encircling its outer walls.

"It's an emergency pressure vent for lowering excess gas or diverting an explosion of sorts away from the main core of this facility." Answered Mark, "So instead of letting the heat and pressure build and collect in the core for it to blow all of us apart it can instead be forced out this way. Preventing an explosion equivalent to that of a nuclear power plant melt down." He finished with a grin on his face.

"I swear, you get a boner every time anyone mentions or asks what something is or does when it comes to machinery." Mumbled Aaron as he limped his way towards the door.

"So the plan is to travel down this tunnel that wasn't built for human travel that could or could not be filled with radiation. How far does it go? Nathan continued as he surveyed the door "Maybe we should wait before we open it."

"No problem there, panels all screwed up. Mark! Get your ass over here and do what you do best." Aaron announced from the door.

"You mean touch the insides of machines to make them hum and beep properly?" Mark smiled.

"Whatever you want to call it you sick, sick man."

Meanwhile Nathan had wondered off into a nearby cubical that turned out to be the control room for the door and tunnel the group was trying to gain access to. Most of the display screens were shut off and busted while the few that were still on showed mainly static. Pulling up a chair he propped himself in front of the controls and started up the first screen.

"A password.... Really?" Shaking his head Nathan closed the screen and went to the next runner up. "This week's lunch schedule is....." He read aloud before closing the window again, "Boring." Another window was revealed to him upon closing the first running some script he didn't recognize right away.

///Power status: Low, Main door: Sealed, Inventory status: Average. Power failure detected on multiple floors, emergency shutdown activated. Administer password required for gate reentry.///

"Well that sucks." Clicking on the inventory tab, a list of items labeled under lockers A - C lined the side of the room, one of which caught Nathans attention rather quick. Unlocking it he gave a shout to the others. "Hey Aaron! Found that first aid treatment for ya!"

Within 5 seconds of his yell, Aaron was in the room and franticly looking around the room for what Nathan was talking about.

"Where, Where, Where!"

Nathan pointed to the 3 lockers on the side of the room. "Locker B, have fun."

No sooner had Nathan finished, Aaron had already opened the locker and was rummaging through it with a joy pasted all over his face.

"Okay, stimpacks, ointments, disinfectants, PAIN KILLERS!" He yelled happily while pulling a bottle of pills from the shelf. Popping the top off the bottle Aaron proceeded to dump its contents down like a shot drink of some sort much to Nathans amusement.

"You're going to overdose yourself and die if you don't slow down idiot."

"Good." Aaron managed to say back between the pills stuffed in his mouth. Swallowing the wade, he stuffed what was left in the bottle in his pocket and pulled out the next item of interest to him. "Adrenaline shots, nice."

"Are you going to take all those at once too?"

"Maybe only 2 or 3 don't want to look selfish." Aaron replied as he prepared one of the shots.

"What are the two of you doing?" Venotrix growled as she emerged from in the doorway.

"I'm working on trying to get a look inside the tunnel and plot out a course of action for us from there. Might be able to get an outside look of the facility and see what those Predators are up to." Nathan responded.

"I'm O.D.-ing over here. Might I add that I'm feeling much better now compared to that when we started awhile ago." Aaron smiled with his back facing Venotrix while also lining the needle with his vein.

"What is that?"

"A pick me up, don't worry about it."

" If you don't tell me I'll just rip it out of your fucking head. Or better yet there is something I've been meaning to try out....."

"Just keep taking to yourself that's cool, not like I can hear you do it or anything."

" Hehe, look out behind you....."

"I am aware of the rapist behind me thank you--" "ACKK!" Aaron yelled as pain erupted in his shoulder and back along with his line of sight being flung out of proportion. After regaining his senses again and the pain dimming slightly, Aaron realized that he was now pinned to the ground on his back with a large figure laying over him. "The fuck is your problem!?" Aaron yelled at Venotrix who held him pinned down and was viscously snarling out at him.

" Wow that worked out better than I thought it would. I should have done this a long time ago!" Laughed the voice inside Aaron's head.

Controlling his breathing back down to average, Aaron attempted to push the heavy Xeno off him or at least ease up some of the pressure on his shoulder where the 2 blades had been forced through more of his flesh due to the rough tackle and extra weight. However every time Aaron tried to do so Venotrix would again growl at him and apply a tighter grip on his arms and lean more of her weight upon him. Further forcing the blades to push into his open shoulder from the weight and reopen his wounds.

"Fucking stop! The both of you!" Aaron continued to yell out in pain and anger as more and more of the blade(s) cut through him.

" I have to do everything for you don't I? I guess I'll tell her to stop but if you would listen AND obey to what I say this wouldn't happen. But nooo, you have to do things your way and get yourself in shit."

"You made her do this!? The hell, why are such a cun-t."

" Finish that sentence and I'll have her do worse things to you." Hissed the voice.

"........."

" .....Hello, dipshit? Answer me, I won't be ignored."

"..... Sorry it's just..... The pills all just kicked in. I'm feeling an inner peace now, no pain or aches, just peace. It's nice."

" No that's me, quite trying to grope a feel."

"Nothing to grope anyway, you have the curves of a 10 year old boy."

" I'm going to take my time killing you. Watching you squirm in pain will be so satisfying and fitting for the constant annoyance I put up with from you."

"You're a towel."

" Grrr. My point exactly."

The sudden surge of hostility emitting from within Venotrix had now vanished from her and was now left with a state of confusion. 1 second she remembered standing in the doorway yet as she took into account her present surroundings she was instead now in the middle of the room on top of Aaron for reasons she couldn't figure out.

"Was it my heat perhaps? No I couldn't have been, his cloths are still on and I still feel..... an empty burning feeling inside my loins yet to be satisfied again. Rage then maybe? Wouldn't be surprised, it's not the first time that's happened." Giving a shrug Venotrix gave a hard push off Aaron, who in response gave an annoyed grunt from it, before turning around and leaving to go check up on Marks progress with the door.

"Yes, got it! I have feed inside the tunnel now and by the looks of it it's okay to go into. No ceiling or floor collapses and the radiation levels are close to none existent. Seems safe enough to travel through." (Nathan)

"Awesome, does this tunnel have an exit near the colony in anyway?" Aaron asked as he resumed browsing through the med-locker and stuffing his bag with things of interest. (Mostly pain killers)

"Well there is an engineering shaft off to the side a ways. It's a pretty steep climb thou and why do you want to know?"

"I have a plan on finding where the rest of the Teams are and if that should fail, a way to get transportation out of here."

"Are you fucking crazy, did you forget that the colony is now being surveyed by those Predator things? And you want to go there, for what exactly?"

"The colony's transmitter servers. If we can patch into just 1 that's still functional we can send a signal to the Carolina for pickup."

"So you plan on sneaking into and past all those Predator asswholes then somehow send and hopefully receive a response back then holdout till our new transport arrives, and then scram? That all sounds good except one small little thing...."

"What?"

"Now I know that I'm not the most knowledgeable person about these things but what I do know about those Predator creatures is that their technology is far more advanced than ours. Second is we, the human race and all our flaws, have the means of monitoring, tracking, blocking, and decoding signals whether it be a text message to a normal call or recording, if its signal based we can track it. Now if we can do that I guarantee you the Predators can too and do so more efficiently than us in every aspect."

"Yeah, what's your point? I don't plan on caring out an entire conversation with the lazy fucks up there. I just plan on sending them 1 small message than wait around till they respond back with help. Once that's done we sprint to the evac site and go home, simple."

"Again, they will pick up our message and decode it. Even if we make it to the evac point the Predators will be right behind us and as far as we know it's only the 3 of us against however many of them."

"Don't you mean 4?"

"O my God, like that'll make a difference."

" Don't you mean 5?"

"I mean 4, shutup."

" You want to die an early death?"

"Alright Nathan, let's see what you got, what do you suggest we do then?"

"We got to the colony; find some extra radio transmitter parts and mobile signal booster. Next we get back down in the tunnel and follow it to the exit which is a good 7 miles from the colony. After that we signal for help once we get another 3 miles or so further on foot." Nathan finished.

"Now see, that would be fine and dandy if everyone involved in said plan was in fit shape to do that and had time to spare for the long trip. You and Mark could pull it off but I'm in no shape to make that long of a run with the condition I am now in with the short amount of time I have left to live anyway."

" What was that stuff earlier on not being desperate to survive? Sounding pretty desperate right to me."

"This isn't desperation is called reasoning. I "will" make it in time to the Carolinas Medical sector if we follow my plan."

"Then I don't know what to do Aaron. I don't see any other way of successfully sending and retrieving this message without it being tracked back to us and someone getting killed."

" Why not send multiple signals out at once instead of just 1 for them to track?"

"Would you shut the fu--, wait what?"

" Send out your distress message while running a few fake ones all throughout the colony at the same time. When the Yautja pick up the messages they will have to either take the time to decode them all to figure out which one is the real one or split their forces up and check all the sites. Either way it will give the 5 of us a greater survival chance should a fight erupt along the way and a decent head start."

Running through the proposed plan in his head and combining it with that of his own, a small grin spread across Aaron's face at the high successful probability of the plan. "Of course why didn't I think of that sooner? Simple yet genius."

" I know I am, thank you for noticing."

"Yeah, you're pretty simple alright....."

" THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!" Screamed the voice.

"Ehh, cry about it." "Hey Nathan, could you make some fake signal scripts for the colony's computer to run through later?"

"Possibly, why and how many?" Nathan asked with a confused stare.

"At least 5 but the more you can do the better off we will be. When we send our distress call we activate your fake signals and run them around the entire colony masking our exact location somewhat. This way we can gain a head start before the Predators know any better and come after us."

"..... That could work, alright, I'll try to make as many as I can. Anything particular you want them to say?"

"Make them believable like: requesting back over here, fall back here, regroup there, crap like that."

"Can do."

The screeching of metal and rumbling vibrations in the floor and air revealed Marks success with opening the tunnels doorway (It's more like gate actually) for the group's path of departure. Mark walked into the office room while wiping some sweat off his face and wiping his hands on his pants.

"Well she was a stubborn whore but I got her to come around. So what's the plan now?"

"We are going to do a little recon stealth shit and request for transport from the colonists servers." (Aaron)

"All while trying to keep hidden and alive from the Predators roaming all over that area." Nathan mumbled still diligently typing away at the controls. "I'm creating some fake signals to throw off the Predators when we do request for help to buy us some time."

"Great, need me to do anything else at the moment?" (Mark)

"Yeah, come over here and help me pull this blade out of my thigh. Shits been bothering me every time I put weight on my leg." Aaron replied as he began to wrap a piece of cloth into then over his mouth a few times.

"Shouldn't you have her do that?" Mark asked, pointing a finger at Venotrix who was now also in the room. "She is the strongest one here."

"How astute of you to realize that Mark. I'll gladly help you Aaron with your little problem. Do you want me to pull the other 2 out while we're at it?" Venotrix grinned back at the group.

"Let's start small here, first the 1 in my leg then we will see where to go from there." Aaron managed to mumble through the layers of cloth. Pulling a chair up to sit in nearby the desk he propped his right leg up on the table with a bottle of alcohol/disinfectant in hand. Venotrix stood nearby and once was given the OK to proceed wrapped her fingers around the blade.

"Ready?" She asked, Aaron only shook his head, "Tough." With a quick yank of her arm the entire blade popped (More like tore) out of Aarons flesh followed with a spray of blood and the slightly muffled scream of pain from Aaron.

Pushing through the red haze of pain Aaron quickly poured out the bottle in his hand on/into the open wound causing it to foam up and produce more pain to rise up all over his thigh. Dropping the now empty bottle with shaking hands he clutched at the oozing open slit in his leg while motioning with his other hand for Mark to get the gauze wrap. With gauze in hand Mark began to tightly wrap Aarons thigh down to stop the bleeding and help keep it clean longer. Only once that was done did Aaron remove the layers of fabric from his mouth to speak again.

*Deep inhale* "That was unpleasant." He spoke more through his clenched teeth then aloud.

"Looked unpleasant." Replied Mark.

"...... Venotrix....."

"What?"

"Take that out of your mouth and give it to me." Aaron ordered in an unpleased tone.

"Let me finish getting the blood off, I haven't had anything to eat all damn day." Venotrix replied as she continued to run the blade across her inner jaw.

"You're fucking weird, and cryptic, not many people openly like that. You should stop and never do that again while amongst others." Nathan spoke up still facing his screen.

By now Venotrix had removed all the blood from the blade and tossed it to Aaron like a bone. "There, happy?"

"No."

"..... You taste good, have I ever told you that?" Venotrix smiled in a knowing type of way.

"I hate you SO damn much." Aaron responded as a brief, previously blocked memory resurfaced itself.

---

Time: 5:20 a.m. Location: Vergo's tunnel system, level 4.

"Commander, Sir?" A voice broke the previously silent, gloomy dark atmosphere within the small intersection of several different tunnel paths.

A lone figure stirred in the shadows of the light that hung from the ceiling providing a faint glow to the dark area. "Yes, what is it?" The figure answered.

"We have managed to get one of the terminals down here rewired and connected to a working transmitter. We have also picked up the Carolinas signal and are standing by for your orders Sir." Helen replied in a spent voice.

"Good, any luck with finding anymore survivors?" The Commander already knew the answer to that question but still felt it necessary to check again anyway before what was left of his force continued moving forward.

"None that are still alive I'm afraid."

*Sigh* "Alright tell the boys above that we are requesting an immediate pickup and that this entire place is a lost cause. We are scrapping the entire mission and getting the hell out of this cursed place."

As relieved Helen thought she should feel at hearing the new plan she couldn't help but feel even more depressed then what she already was. This whole operation was nothing but a waste of time, and more importantly life's that would be missed back home. Yet no one besides their loved ones would care, all the higher ups cared about was money and positive results that produced it, nothing more. "Sorry to ask Sir, but are we just going to abandon this place and leave it to the Xeno's and.... Predators?"

"Now Helen, just because we suffered a major defeat doesn't mean we're going to roll over and die for them. I have a special departing "gift" in mind for the lot of 'em." Smiled the Commander.

"May I dare ask what that may be Sir?"

"Let's just say you'll be able to see it go off from space." The Commander burst out in laughter.

"Yes Sir." With that Helen took her leave from the room to relay the group's new orders and get the gears in motion for their new course of action out of here.

Still chuckling to himself the Commander continued to incoherently mumbled things with himself in a crazed manner. "Hehe, you may have won this battle you ugly shits but this war is FAR from being over. I swear on my life, honor, and family on it, we will have vengeance." More laughter echoed in the dark room and tunnels.

---

Time: 5:25 a.m. Location: Predator mother ship.

"I hear the humans have been successfully taught a lesson to not trifle in affairs that don't concern them." Spoke one of the Elders that sat at the circler table, podium like, structure with a red hologram display of the entire vicinity of Vergo and the Hive inside and out in the center of the table/room.

"Any news on the Eggs location, has it been found yet?" Another Elder voiced aloud.

"None what so ever as far as I've heard, but rest assured that it WILL be found and brought to us." A 3rd voice answered.

"How can you be so sure the Egg is even here or still exists to start with? This better not turn out to be a huge waste of time for no reward."A 4th Elder spoke.

"It's here. We went through decades and centuries of volumes upon volumes of data remotely relating to that which we seek. The last known recorded data of the location of this rare Royal Breed lead to here. If we don't find it here then we must accept the possibility that that this breed has long since died off now...." Answered the 2nd voice.

"I heard that your daughter, Isis, was sent to get it Zenioc. I hope that she doesn't disappoint us....." The 1st Elder relayed with a hidden smile underneath his decorated mask.

"Her performance will not be a concern. I have received word that she has successfully reported the Eggs existence, but there is a catch." The 5th voice, Zenioc, paused a moment to let the info sink in a little before continuing. "It has chosen a host and is on the move." He finished.

"A human no doubt." Growled the 1st, "I imagine that it will try to regroup with its brethren and try to escape on their pathetic clunk of a ship. I suggest we take it out before they get even the chance to think about doing so."

"No. We will leave their ship be for now, it is their last resource for communication and we are monitoring all messages to and from it. When they message for help, we will know, and we will find out where they are hiding." Cut in the 3rd Elder.

"I can't wait for our future guest to arrive." Chuckled the 4th. The statement receiving approving acknowledgments from the others in the room.

---

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