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AvP: Desiderata	By : Subtext Category: M through R > Predator Views: 2375 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Predator movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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This was a fun chapter to write! To all you wondering, Puroresu Fever is a wrestling show in Japan.. Only it is slightly biased towards the foreign professional wrestlers who come on to beat the crap out of average Japanese guys. They have little chance, and it�s one of those crazy TV shows over there. Anyways�

Desiderata

by

Quietharm

Chapter Two:

To a Daughter Leaving Home

When I taught you

at eight to ride

a bicycle, loping along

beside you

as you wobbled away

on two round wheels,

my own mouth rounding

in surprise when you pulled

ahead down the curved

path of the park,

I kept waiting

for the thud

of your crash as I

sprinted to catch up,

while you grew

smaller, more breakable

with distance,

pumping, pumping

for your life, screaming

with laughter,

the hair flapping

behind you like a

handkerchief waving

goodbye.

-Linda Pastan

xXx

She didn�t have time to scream because she just wasn�t that type of girl. Instead, she immediately dropped back and down into one of the defensive crouches she had learned from Master Ko so long ago. The Japanese woman waited, fists held motionless before her face while her body assumed the stillness of a petrified rabbit. Her heart thundered in her chest, abnormally loud to even her own ears.
Nothing happened.
Her vision no longer warped and wavered along the edges, everything was as picture-perfect as it should have been. She exhaled, but her nerves did not release their grip on her tensed muscles. Mustering up whatever courage she had, she hesitantly took one step in reverse towards the bed. Her eyes never left the area before her, and she found her voice cracking along the edges as she commanded, �Show yourself!�
Still nothing.
�Machiko?� Her mother turned the doorknob to her bedroom, and Machiko lost sight of the objective as her eyes flicked instinctively to the doorway. �Who are you talking to?�
�Okaa-san, no!�

She heard the older woman pause in the doorway, more in surprise at the desperation in her daughter�s voice than an actual acceptance of her warning. It didn�t last long, however, and she rushed forward, fear in her dark brown eyes as she took up the scene.
There stood Machiko in a defensive posture reminiscent of her days as a martial arts student, waving a hand wildly in the empty space before her as if searching for something unseen.
�What in the world��
Machiko snapped her attention back to Mrs. Noguchi for just a brief second before looking straight ahead again. Hesitantly, she extended her arms stiffly before her, palms up. She walked forward into the empty area before her person until she hit the doors of her closet, where her palms came to rest against the heavy oak. Had she been seeing things? Glancing back to her mother now, she noticed that Mrs. Noguchi was eying her rather oddly.

God, I must look like a lunatic.

She didn�t blame her mother for appraising her in such a critical fashion just then. Her actions could be taken as rather weird to any estranged bystanders.

Damnit.

�Machiko�� Taking her hands from her hips, Noguchi Kaede strode over to her daughter and put a hesitant hand upon her shoulder. �Are you alright�?�

Can�t say I�m fine.

�I thought I saw---� she began before catching herself and changing the story, �that is, I was focusing on a spot on my closet. Going through the forms Master Ko taught me. After what happened on Ryushi, I guess I just have the urge to fine tune what he taught me.�
Mrs. Noguchi eyed her daughter up and down, unconvinced. �Who were you talking to? I heard your voice.�
Machiko thought quickly. �I.. I become more concentrated if I verbalize while going through forms. It helps me visualize an opponent.�
One black eyebrow hooked on Mrs. Noguchi�s softly lined face, and then she turned abruptly away while releasing her tenuous hold on Machiko. �Honestly, I thought you forgot all about the training that sensei gave you. That was quite some time ago.�

Thankfully, no. It saved my life.

Machiko shrugged and sighed, giving the room another investigative sweep with her eyes. She couldn�t blame her mother for her lack of knowledge as to her dealings anymore. Once, they were close. Now it seemed that the years and time apart that would have normally driven friends away had left them resigned to very stereotypical mother and daughter roles. It was all they had left.
Somewhat saddened by this new discovery, Machiko was about to brood over it further but didn�t have the chance. Mrs. Noguchi had nearly exited the room, but then her sights settled on the overstuffed duffel bag laying haphazardly askew on her daughter�s bed.
�What is this? Are you leaving so soon?� A concise note of worry played along her tenor, and she turned an accusing stare to Machiko while pointing at the evidence with one small finger.
�No, I��
Interrupted before she could explain, the bedroom was suddenly filled with the sound of Nobunaga Yuu�s strained voice. Both pairs of Noguchi eyes turned to the screen at the front of the room, which up until that point had been displaying commercials that were easy to ignore. This was not. Both were transfixed on the image before them.
Strangely shaped objects floated on a continuous stream of sat-link video as the disembodied voice of the anchorman filled airwaves. �This is Nobunaga Yuu, and we�re back again with live feed from the A-232 docking station near Triton.�
The color drained from Mrs. Noguchi�s visage, and she clutched at her chest with a small gasp.
Machiko made no sound. She could only stare in horror.
There were hundreds of them. Hundreds and hundreds, perhaps nearing one-thousand. Fifty was an understatement, and a poorly made one at that. They were enormous, streamlined and unlike any human construction she had ever seen. Their numbers stretched out endlessly in space, a metallic tsunami nearing Earth. In some distant part of her conscious that she refused to acknowledge, she knew, knew what they were.
A small whimper escaped from her mother�s lips, and it raised the gooseflesh on Machiko�s arms.
�Government officials have declared that these are indeed XTs and the public should not be alarmed. The exact cause of disappearance for the group of Envoys deployed earlier today still has not been ruled out. At this time, we are not sure if contact has been made with this� entourage of unidentified vessels. We will update you as more information becomes available. Until then, we will return to Puroresu Fever.�
A wrestling ring came up, with two opponents in opposite corners. One was a large, burly foreign wrestler while the other was a short, svelte Japanese man who barely weighed in at 90 pounds. Machiko became quickly distracted by her shaking mother and could see no more.
�Terminate Visual!�
The screen fell blank and dark.
�Okaa-san��
�What.. what was that!?� Mrs. Noguchi�s shrill voice shook with the effort not to panic.
�Calm down, it could be a First Contact.� First Contacts were rare, and they had always involved less intelligent life on outside planets. Special precautions were taken in these instances by the highly trained personnel that attempted them. It took many years of arduous training to be a First Contactor.
Machiko swallowed a lump in her throat. In all of history, they had never encountered intelligence high enough to create space-faring ships.
It was also a first that they were the ones being �contacted� on their very own homeworld, if that were the case.

Why do I have the feeling this isn�t a social call?

They could be looking for her. It was impossible for them to know that she had been marked by Broken Tusk, but what if they had somehow found out? What if�

Did he survive?

No, of course not. She had seen him die and then dishonored him by leaving his corpse for the scavengers - and it wasn�t unheard of for the beasts on Ryushi to consume everything. That included bones.
Shaking her head furiously, she gritted her teeth. Mrs. Noguchi was staring vacantly at the silent screen at the forward wall of her daughter�s bedroom.

�Let�s go for a walk, okay?� She didn�t want to remain in their home any longer. It felt too stagnant and vulnerable. She had to move.
�Go outside?� Her mother snapped out of her stupor and looked at Machiko like she had grown a second head. �We can�t go outside with those things in the solar system! I want to stay here and��
A digitalized beep from the monitor they had just sent to sleep cut in on Mrs. Noguchi�s thoughts. Wiping blearily at her face, Noguchi Kaede faced the screen again and said, �Proceed.�
All at once, the screen filled with the face of Uchida Mai. Like Machiko�s mother, Mai was getting on in years. As a child, she had grown alongside Mai�s son Kouhei. Her mother and Mai had been the best of friends in their upper-class suburban setting, and as a result Kouhei had spent a lot of time with her. If Machiko could best describe the relationship she had had with him then, it was that of a younger sister. She always looked up to him, and he had been a role model for many years. As time went on and they were able to function without their mothers at their sides, their lives intersected less. The last time she had seen him was her graduation from high school. He had been with Mr. and Mrs. Uchida at her graduation party, and by then he was a freshman at University.
They hardly spoke that entire night, so distant had they become.
It was somewhat of a shock to see Mrs. Uchida again. She seemed a lot older from what Machiko last remembered of her. Apparently, Uchida Mai thought the same.
�My, Noguchi Machiko! I haven�t seen you in ages. You�ve� grown.�

No matter what age we are, we always seem to �grow� in the eyes of those older than us, she mused sardonically.
About to reply, Machiko was swiftly interrupted by her mother. �Mai-san, did you hear the news?�
�I did. It�s why I thought to contact you. Is your husband home yet?�
�Not yet. I need to speak with him.�
�Why don�t you and your daughter come over while you wait? The more the merrier.� For the first time, Mai�s composed exterior wilted a little. To Machiko, �The more the merrier� sounded suspiciously like �Misery loves company�.
�We�d love to. What do you think those things were?� Mrs. Noguchi didn�t miss a beat.
�I don�t know, Kaede-san� I don�t know.� Mai lowered her eyes for a moment. She was a proper and prim woman, one that made Machiko�s mother look carefree in contrast. Every facial expression, gesture and speech pattern seemed to be orchestrated in a fluid manner. Machiko was sure she was just as scared as her mother, but she hid it much better.
Ever the pragmatic one, Mai looked between them and then insisted, �Come over, we are having oodon. I hear Kouhei walking in the door now.�
�What about Toshiro?�
�You can contact your husband from my house and even spend the night. Bring some things. We haven�t been all together in quite some time.� Mrs. Uchida hadn�t directly said it, but the premise was there. Safety in numbers.
�We�ll be there as soon as we can,� said Mrs. Noguchi quickly.
�I�m looking forward to seeing you both.� The face of Uchida Mai dissolved instantaneously, and the room suddenly seemed darker than usual. Machiko glanced over her shoulder at the large bay window that looked out upon the gardens beyond. Evening had fallen.
�You heard Mai-san, Machi-chan. Begin to..� Her mother�s eyes strayed over to Machiko�s duffel bag, and a corner of her mouth kicked upward. �Nevermind.�
�You head to Mrs. Uchida�s house, Okaa-san. I�ll wait here for Otou-san.�
Her mother�s mouth fell open. �You cannot be serious.�
�What if he gets home before you get to Mrs. Uchida�s? He�ll wonder what happened to us. I�m sure he�ll be here any minute.� She had to get her mother away from her. If these things wanted to tango with her, she wasn�t getting anyone else involved.
�But Mai��
�She�ll understand. Otou-san and I will join up with you shortly.�
Mrs. Noguchi just sighed. Headstrong daughters - why her?
Spinning around, she headed out of the room and down the hall. Machiko listened until her mother�s receding footsteps could no longer be heard. The master bedroom of the Noguchi household was on the opposite end of the house from Machiko�s room.
Machiko stretched and sighed. She was suddenly sore. Remembering that there had been a disturbance of some sort in her room earlier, she decided to inspect. Walking about the room, she waved her hands up and down in every available air pocket while continuously checking her open doorway. She didn�t need her mother to catch her in the process of doing this a second time.
When she was satisfied that there wasn�t one possible place left unturned, she hefted her duffel bag over one shoulder and glanced again at the doorway. Now.
Moving quickly, she reached for what appeared to be a thick dictionary on the bookshelf beside her bed. Pulling it loose, she opened the cover and removed the object inside. The book itself was a hollowed-out prop and nothing more - but it served its purpose. Her mother would never condone Machiko having a gun in the house, but after Ryushi she knew she would never go without one again.
Yanking up her loose t-shirt and keeping her sights trained on the doorway, Machiko strapped the gun belt around her waist and slid the small revolver into the sheath.
She was ready.

xXx

Half an hour after her mother had reluctantly departed, Machiko found herself sitting in the family�s den again. At random intervals she would bid the home�s internal computer to give her insight on the news updates, but the news had surprisingly little that was new to report. Government and world leaders admitted to attempting communication, but no contact to the strange ships could be made. They simply floated there on the edge of the galaxy, as if waiting.

Waiting for what?

She heard someone knocking on the door, and she jumped. Confused, she headed to the front of the large house and peered through the peephole.
There was a man on the other side. He looked lost.
Suspicious, Machiko slowly opened the door a hair and moved her face close enough to the crack enough to say, �Yes?�
�Noguchi?�
She blinked.
�Kouhei-kun?!� came her incredulous reply. The door opened fully.
He was there, grinning on the other side like a sheepish fool. �I thought I�d jog over here to get you. Your mom managed to get your father just before he left his office. He�s already at our home.�
Machiko didn�t reply right away. She was busy staring at the man on her doorstep like a starry-eyed schoolgirl. He had grown at least two inches, she swore it. His short hair was shiny and slightly spiky, still as jet as she recalled it to be. His jaw line had filled in since his freshman year, and so had he. He was far from overweight, but he wasn�t the scrawny beanpole he had been on her graduation night. In short, he finally looked like a grown man - and a handsome one at that.
�Um� Earth to Noguchi?� He waved a hand in front of her face, trying to bring her back to the land of the living.
�Uh? Oh, sorry!� A flush filled her face, and she instantly put a hand to her countenance as if to conceal it. Too late.
If Uchida Kouhei noticed, he made no mention of it. He just smiled. �We tried contacting you, but no one answered. They sent me over to investigate.�
�I apologize. I must have been paying too much attention to the news to hear the incoming tone.�
�I don�t blame you.� The young man shifted from his left foot to his right, and for the first time seemed unsure of himself. �They stopped cutting through regular programming when I left the house. It�s just the news now� on every channel.�
If one jogged to the Uchida household from her own, they could make the trip in three to five minutes, depending how fast your legs could carry you. Machiko and Kouhei had recorded the trip numerous times on their watches when they were younger. �I guess. Anything new?�
�Not yet,� he answered glumly.
She bowed her head a little. If something didn�t happen soon, they would all need therapy just from the building suspense.
�So, uh, you sure changed Noguchi.� He had always called her by her last name, it was their way.
�So have you.� She suddenly felt fifteen.
�Hey, uh� you want to go get a drink or something? I can call our parental units from the car and tell them where you are.�
�They won�t like that.�
�No, but they can�t do much about it. We�re adults, right?� He reached up with one hand and scratched the back of his neck.
She laughed, and he smiled too. Around their parents? Hardly.
�Okay, you�re on. Where at?�
He just grinned again.

xXx

Fifteen minutes later and they were both sitting in a leather booth in Kamikaze, a nightclub in Tokyo�s red light district. The place was surprisingly packed. No national emergency had been called, and as such the nightclubs along the strip remained open and generating revenue from their patrons.
�This place sure is busy,� she commented after Kouhei had finished his sake and ordered them two Waohs at the bar.
Resettling himself, her companion nodded his affirmation and pointed to the dance floor. The place thrummed with the energy of the dancers as they moved their bodies in powerful motions that simulated the pounding beat of the music overhead. It was a new genre of sound, piped in through large overhead speakers that were craftily hidden in all regions of the club. Multicolored lights rotated at 360 degree angles, throwing the dancers in an assortment of greens, blues, reds, and yellows.
As the music blared, Machiko found her voice rising in order to stay audible to Kouhei. �I�m amazed my mother didn�t have a heart attack when I told her where I was going.�
Truthfully, her mother hadn�t liked it initially. She had made a face on the small display in Kouhei�s hovercar, about to rattle off a protest when Machiko�s father put a hand on her shoulder. Someone outside the range of view must have been making signals to her as well, because she was constantly looking to her left.
Kouhei and Machiko had to bite back smiles as Mrs. Noguchi merely smiled wanly and gave in. �Have fun, dear. Be back as soon as possible. Now is not the time to��
Once again, Mr. Noguchi squeezed his wife�s shoulder. �We�ll be waiting here.�
The communication channel switched off, and Kouhei and Machiko burst into nervous laughter.
�Parents,� they had said in unison, looking at each other knowingly before they realized the awkward moment for what it was. They abruptly tore their gazes away. The rest of the car ride to the Kamikaze had been eerily quiet, but the energy of the club opened them back up again once inside.
�Thanks for the drink.�

�No problem.� He promptly began nursing the beer, and so did she. �I�m surprised you like Waoh. Don�t you usually go for things a bit more fruity?�
�Is that a veiled insult or an honest question?�
He looked taken aback a moment, and then chuckled. �You haven�t changed much.�
�Neither have you.� She suddenly had the need for a cigarette.
�Want to dance?�
�You dance?!�
�Well, not really, but it�s not like anyone will notice if we�re doing it right or not.�
She swallowed another sip of the bitter Waoh and cast a look to the dance floor. The people there were absolutely head-to-head, a vast sea of sweating bodies. It didn�t look appealing. At the same time no one would pay attention if they could dance or not. They looked absolutely drunk.
�You�re right about that.� Inwardly, Machiko chastised herself for even being here. The people in the club had too much nervous energy and were dancing as if it were their last night on Earth.

Jesus, it just might be. What the hell am I doing?

Across from her sat Kouhei, and she instantly found her reason again. Well, reason(s). She couldn�t let them find her with her family. There was no telling what they might do to them.

So you risk Kouhei�s life instead?

She had no good answer for that. The optimistic side that rarely came knocking suggested that it was all a peaceful First Contact. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sure, and I love handing out hugs and kisses.

She was so not arguing with herself here. �Let�s dance.�
They did.

xXx
The next few hours were a whirlwind of activity. She lost Kouhei quite a few times, grinding against strange men that didn�t mind in the least. This didn�t start immediately, of course, but the drinks they bought her kept coming and she kept dancing with more abandon. The world floated by, and everything seemed warm and muzzy around the edges. She could no longer discern individual faces,. There was only the primal beat of the music and colorful, painted expressions floating under the smell of perfumes and humanity. Someone goosed her in the middle of the jumble, and she didn�t care.
That�s when all hell broke loose.
Someone was screaming near the front of the club. The combined cacophony of the music and slurred speech of the dance crowd made it easy to ignore at first. There was someone who could have been Kouhei in front of her, and he grabbed onto her hips as they jostled between nameless strangers.
More cries and shouts from up front, but Machiko ignored it and so did the man in front of her as they ground together. Must be a fight over a girl or something.
Someone on her left shoved her, hard. She would have fallen over if the man with his hands on her derriere hadn�t held her upright. Unfortunately for him, the person who pushed her ricocheted at an angle and brought them both down. Machiko was immediately bereft of all touch, which was a rare thing for her. She was annoyed.
Ignoring the fact that the man she had been dancing with was now pinned under the motionless individual on the floor, she ambled brokenly away to find another dance partner. Something wet hit her cheek at her right, and she stumbled before turning to address the girl next to her in a clipped tone, �Watch �da drink!�
The girl next to her didn�t have a drink, but she was coated in a thick liquid too. Machiko was getting pissed.

Dumb drunks!

The scantily-clad girl had no reservations about passing out then and there. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and a surge of dancing bodies nearly trampled her underfoot when she hit the ground hard.
Unphased, Machiko moved on to find Kouhei.
At the end of the dance floor, she noticed a tall figure. There were more screams from somewhere behind her as well as the rush of feet as people stampeded about. For Machiko, it was like listening down a long tube - distant but nearly tangible. She would have turned around if the tall one wasn�t so compelling.
She fell once or twice as she neared him, stumbling over unconscious drunks or something else, she couldn�t ascertain which. When she was within a meter of him she was suddenly amazed at how he loomed above her.
He was wearing a mask, as if he had arrived for a costume party. Her clouded brain registered when he reached out and touched something on her forehead before his hand slid down to rest on the cheek stained with alcohol. Disconnected from the meaning of this, she pressed herself up against him and noted that he was like a rock - not pliable in the least like the other men she had danced with. Putting her hand to his mask, she was stunned by the cold metallic feel of it. Something deep within her was shaken when he took a step back in surprise. Something was horribly wrong. If she could only remember�
�Dun� wanna dance, big guy?� she garbled in an unsteady voice.
He made rapid clicking noises from behind the mask.
�Da�dtou-di!�
That shaken part of her snapped. Had she been carrying her last drink, she would have dropped it. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor. Her eyes stared at the apparition before her in complete disbelief, and one trembling hand traced her cheek.
She held her fingers before her and dropped her eyes to them like a condemned woman. The screams amongst the dancers was a palpable thing now, gripping her heart in a vice and squeezing the color from her face.
Blood stained her fingers. Her head whipped around to the rest of the club behind her. There were creatures mingled in with the last of the living club-goers, but they wouldn�t be alive for long. Bodies littered the floor, some beheaded and some gutted. Some were indistinguishable.

SHIT.

Blood, Bodies�
A prolonged sweep of her eyes up to the implacable mask of the tall �stranger� before her confirmed the rest.
�Jesus,� she gasped meekly.
The predator just shook his head and pointed down at her knowingly.
�Da�dtou-di!�
Blood, Bodies and�
Broken Tusk.
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AvP: Desiderata