_ _ _ _3rd Person POV_ _ _ _
Heavy footsteps shook the ground as the behemoth charged forward, red light illuminating its path while the sound of its drill roared through the air. It had no idea what the creature before it was; its twisted and broken mind didn't need to understand. It already knew all it needed: this was a threat, one that needed to be eradicated.
The hunter weaved out of its path, its body bending in ways that should have broken bones as it scrambled backward up a nearby wall. The protector, for its part, was unable to stop its momentum and collided into said wall a second later, the already fragile surface crumbling under the force of its weight, a plume of plaster and dust rising into the air.
Having its vision momentarily obscured, the guardian didn't see the hunter fall from above until it was clinging to its head and faceplate, the red light it emitted illuminating the hunter's form as the xenomorph attacked with predatory precision. It aimed for the behemoth's joints, the alien beast slashing with claws and bladed tail; the xeno was clearly attempting to slow its movements by targeting those locations.
The protector, of course, would not take these vicious attacks lying down. It rumbled and roared in rage, slamming into nearby objects in an attempt to dislodge its attacker. The hunter, however, was persistent, easily scrambling over the guardian's body as it continued its ferocious yet calculated assault.
Eventually, the hunter made a mistake, one that could've been potentially fatal. The behemoth managed to grab hold of the hunter's tail; its gloved hand cracked the creature's exoskeleton as its grip tightened around it. The alien did attempted to free itself, but it was too late. The guardian yanked it off its body and slammed it into the ground with enough force to shatter the already cracked flooring. The xenomorph had just enough time to regain its senses before the drill came down upon it.
The hunter screeched as its exoskeleton buckled, torn and mangled; neon-green blood poured from the wound across the metal surface of the roaring drill. Of course, the drill began to melt. The steel that made up its form broke apart even as it continued to shred the hunter's internals, an action that only served to spray acidic fluid chaotically into the surroundings. Droplets of that fluid landed upon the protector's suit, eating through the material before eventually coming into contact with the twisted and malformed flesh beneath.
The guardian reeled in agony, using its free arm to knock the hunter from what remained of its primary weapon. It stumbled backward, attempting desperately to shake the emerald fluid from its body, unfortunately such attempts that were ultimately futile. However, it did not have time to wail in pain for long, because while the guardian was suffering, the hunter was healing.
Flesh knitted itself into place; organs regrew at a visible rate, and the hole in its chest sealed back up within seconds. A moment later, the hunter was moving again, with no sign of the grievous wound on its form. It lunged forward, latching onto the body of the destructive guardian, its limbs snapping and bending unnaturally as it dug its claws deep into flesh and suit. Its serrated talons gouged horrific gashes into the protector's weakening form.
The protector, despite the agony screaming through its body, tried to grab the xenomorph's tail again; however, the same trick would not work on the beast twice. The hunter weaved out of the way of the open palm, crawling over its opponent like a spider, causing the hand to close on nothing but air. Then, before the guardian could pull the limb back, the hunter swung its tail upward, the blade at its tip colliding with the outstretched appendage, slicing through muscle and bone in one swift motion.
The battle was practically over after that. With no way to properly fight back, the protector was torn to pieces, the hunter ripping it apart with frenzied brutality. Once it lay unmoving, the hunter arched its head and screeched in victory. The feeling of its queen, its mother, looking upon it with its own mind only amplified the sense of triumph.
_ _ _ _Carmen POV_ _ _ _
(Well, that was quite the show.)
I was currently looking through the "eyes" of the xenomorph in question; I had actually been watching since the start of the fight. To put it simply, I was impressed, to say the least, in fact, I was downright surprised by what I had just witnessed.
It would seem that the mutagenic properties of the adam had some seriously positive effects on certain aspects of its biology. For one, it was already highly intelligent, even without the boost creatures got from the connection to the hive mind; it was already as smart as a praetorian, yet it was still in the drone stage of its evolution.
The thing that surprised me most, however, was its regenerative abilities, the way it seemed completely unfazed by having a hole torn into its chest was honestly impressive. I mean, sure, xenomorphs have fast regeneration compared to humans, but we still have limits, and yet here it was regrowing whole organs in literal seconds.
(Now I'm curious what'll happen if a person with actual plasmid abilities is used as a host.) I mused, but my thoughts were interrupted.
"Excuse me," a familiar voice said at my side.
Turning, I immediately recognized who it was. "Oh, Harper, what's up?"
"That thing you wanted me to remind you about." She hummed, gesturing down the hallway. "They're ready."
"Oh? Well, I guess I'll need to come see for myself then." I muttered, rubbing the smooth part of my head.
I hesitated for a second before continuing. "I was going to go over to the research area, but I suppose I can check that out first; it is on the way, after all."
"Alright, follow me then." She shrugged, not really bothered.
As we moved through the damp and decrepit halls we chatted, and honestly, we had a lot in common. Yes, Harper had studied a different branch of biology than I had, however despite that it was still rather nice to be able to talk like this. Eventually we came to a sealed-off door; the guard standing to the side quickly tapped a console and opened it a moment later.
The door took a second to open; the reason was almost immediately revealed. The entire room within was covered in hive resin, which had made it very difficult for the door to open properly. The room itself was probably the largest in the building, likely some kind of assembly hall, if I had to guess. What was more notable was that it was infested with xenomorphs of various kinds, including a very familiar queen.
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(Also, it's less of a weight on my conscience.) I thought as I looked around.
Simply put, we had been using those cloning machines to produce a steady stream of hosts for my xenos. This not only allowed us to increase the numbers of my xenomorphs but also enabled me to mass-produce certain types that had been difficult to obtain until now, mainly predaliens. Before, I was limited to only the two I had; I definitely wasn't going to use my own Yautja to make them, but now I could gather them in larger quantities. Although I will admit it did take them much longer to mature than normal xenomorphs, so it's not like I had hundreds of them just yet.
(I may be used to the screams considering all I've done up until this point, but I much prefer it this way.) I sighed, shaking my head.
Despite that, there was a spark of cold numbness in the back of my mind. (Not that I won't use live hosts if I really have to...)
"Anyway, let's get to the reason I'm here." I mumbled as I turned back to Harper. "Is everything ready for our little experiment?"
"Yes. I've had some of Jonas's team prepare everything. They got it all done surprisingly quickly." She said, then gestured to my right.
There, laid out in a neat row and separated from the rest of the ovomorphs filling the room, were three that were clearly different. They were slightly larger and visibly darker in color; additionally, the surrounding xenomorph drones seemed to be taking extra care and vigilance over these three. If you haven't guessed by now, these were royal ovomorphs, and within them were facehuggers that held queen embryos.
The reason behind their creation was simple: expansion. I needed to spread my claim over Rapture, and what better way to do that than by increasing the swarm and expanding the territory we have dominion over. Of course, I wasn't just going to release a bunch of queens into Rapture mind you, oh no, I was going to use this opportunity for a little test...
"Good. Tell them to bring everything over." I mused, my tail scraping against the floor.
"Understood..."
(A/N. Sorry for any spelling mistakes, i'm currently very exhausted and haven't had much sleep recently. Reviews and comments are appreciated as always, thanks for reading.)