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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.

Chapter List
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One reviewer was concerned that the Yautja aren�t true to canon because they attacked supposedly �unarmed� humans. I like to drop hints along the story and reveal things later, so it might appear misleading at first. It was intentional � the Yautja I�m trying to portray will be as close to canon as I can make them, even if the circumstances they are given make them appear to act otherwise. Also, someone commented that they would like to see Dachande�s point of view like in the original story. I considered doing that for awhile, but it would be too late to start now and it would give too much of the plot away for what I intend to do with it. That said, on with Chapter Four!

Desiderata

By

Quietharm

Chapter Four:

The Poison Flower

The poison flower that in my garden grew

Killed all the other flowers beside.

They withered off and died,

Because their fiery foe sucked up the dew.

When the sun shone, the poison flower breathed cold

And spread a chilly mist of dull disgrace.

They could not see his face,

Roses and lilies languished and grew old.

Wherefore I tore that flower up by the root,

And flung it on the rubbish heap to fade

Amid the havoc that itself had made.

I did not leave one shoot.

Fair is my garden as it once was fair.

Lilies and roses reign.

They drink the dew, they see the sun again;

But I rejoice no longer, walking there.

-Mary Coleridge

xXx
Machiko had never taken a shower so fast in her life.
They had made a pit stop at her home first; her parents were not there. It was a small miracle, the first for that night and present morning. The reason for her detour came down to one simple fact � appearances. She was not going to show up at the Uchida household and break the news of Kouhei�s death (how did one broach that with loved ones, anyways?) looking like she had single-handedly slaughtered half a dozen people.
The skirt and halter top had peeled off like a second skin. They fell to the bathroom tile caked in crusted blood, as stiff as crinoline. The process of shedding the disgusting material was not unlike a snake molting, a parallel she frowned at making.
She had left Broken Tusk in the den, or so she hoped. She had told him to stay, to hide himself. He seemed to understand after several minutes of her charades and promptly cloaked himself. Satisfied, she turned on her heel and went for a new pair of clothes.

Now the hot spray of the shower was striking her face. The crimson clots attached to her arms, face and legs came loose, moving with the water down into the drain. She had one bad moment when she stepped back, wiped her eyes and looked down at the red river through the fog.

If anyone saw this, they would think I�d cut my wrists open. I look like I�m bleeding to death in the shower.

She gave an involuntary snort at that. Now of all times was not the moment for macabre humor, however slight. As soon as she got out of the shower she was going to spend about a minute digesting the most recent news reports before heading to the Uchidas.
The Japanese woman sighed, and called out somberly for her household�s central systems to cease the flow of water. After this was accomplished, she slid open the tempered glass door to the shower and groped for a towel. It took several tries, but she finally managed attain it. She always did think that towel ring was rather far from the shower.
Not much later she was toweling off her hair and donning her new clothes. It was nothing fancy; indeed she did not need to ruin anything of quality if she were to go outside again. Her ensemble consisted of nothing but sneakers, jeans and a functional t-shirt. It would do nicely.
The large bathroom mirror was still frosted over with fog, so Machiko used one hand to clear a path by pressing her palm to the flat of the glass and making an arc. Within the rainbow of her hand�s path she could clearly see her features. What she saw there shocked her, yet at the same time she grimly acknowledged that she should have expected nothing less.
She was death warmed over. Her dark, wet tendrils hung like a black curtain on either side of her ashen face. There was swelling in places, mottled purple and blue. Some cuts were still bleeding, refusing to heal even that late in the game. Sulking, she tore away from her discouraging reflection.

Ugh. I look like I�ve been hit by a train.

Some small part of her wished she had. It would sure beat going through the hell she had endured during the past eight hours. Her body sluggishly called for sleep, but she could have none of it. There simply wasn�t time. She would sleep later � just like she would mourn for Kouhei properly. Later.
Sighing heavily, the woman unlocked the door to the bathroom. Before taking her shower she had made sure it was locked in a near-paranoid state. The last thing she wanted was a predator walking in on her naked � even if it was Broken Tusk. He could no doubt break down the door with or without the lock, but she doubted he would try such a thing. At most he could become curious and peer inside. She had already acted wantonly in the Kamikaze when she thought him to be an extremely tall man � granted, she was drunk. She would struggle with herself over that situation later.
Still, her championed titles of �ice queen� and �cold bitch� did not need the additive of �intergalactic hussy�.
Machiko smirked. She was not bemused � she was bitter.
Crossing quickly down the hall and keeping a close eye out for any sign of Broken Tusk, she gave herself a moment of inward relief when she did not see him and reached her room without incident. Closing her door firmly behind her, she went to her dresser and filched the brush set atop it. Her mind wandered as she brushed her hair.
It made sense that wherever the predators were, those spiny aliens followed. Was it the other way around? Possibly. Back on Ryushi, the colonists had first found that arachnid-like creature� supposedly in Iwa Gorge. This was later disproven, but the hunters had shown up immediately after that. The Japanese woman later put two and two together, realizing that Broken Tusk and his kind hunted the murderous things. In a way, it seemed as if they had set them there before arriving ---
Like an antique deadbolt clicking into place, it all became clear.
The motions her arm made through her wet snarls suddenly stilled.
There had been a hole in Kouhei�s chest. She remembered this now. Had he somehow given birth to one of the creatures in the club when she lost him�?
She swallowed a suppressed sob and clapped a hand a hand over her mouth. The predators had only made themselves visible to her once the screams had gone on for some time. She hadn�t noticed them prior to that�
Had the club-goers been infected somehow? Did that explain the actual presence of the alien in the alley? Were there more?

Oh god�

She slammed down the brush with more force than necessary and activated the monitor on the wall.
�Visuals, now!�
The screen pimpled with pixels before giving its only viewer perfect clarity. The news was still on, and Nobunaga Yuu still hadn�t gone home. He looked like shit.
His haggard face stared through the screen, and he struggled over his words. There was no apprehension or terror in his voice now, which she found odd.
�For those of you just tuning in, the unidentified vessels we have been tracking for the past eight hours have faded from our observation. Worldwide, scientists and government officials alike have extended technology to its furthest in order to regain the known presence of these ships.�
The anchorman paused and took another deep breath before continuing, �All incoming commercial and private spacecrafts have been put on restricted status for scheduled planetfalls, and none are allowed to depart Earth save for authorized military bodies. It still stands that the diplomatic envoys sent early yesterday afternoon are missing. President Matsumoto has been in deep talks with all world leaders and all have called for the planet to be put under a global emergency as of an hour ago.�
Machiko forgot the brush in her hand and it fell to the padded carpet at her feet.
�This is a serious situation, although panic is the absolute last thing the population is advised to do. For now, President Matsumoto had advised all Japanese citizens to remain in their homes until further information is released. All military and government employees will be notified personally by their respective superiors if their presence is needed in their fields. No other facilities and businesses are to remain open at this time.�
The woman thought she heard a tapping on her door. It was something attended to briefly in the back of her mind, but swiftly ignored. Nobunaga Yuu was still talking, and she stood transfixed.
�Other reports are coming in of creatures seen within the city. Rumored to be those encountered on Ryushi, citizens are taking to the streets with anything they can find in order to hunt the creatures.�
The camera panned into the small icon floating right above the anchorman�s head, blowing the screen up with a scene from somewhere in the Shibuya area. Shibuya had always been a trendy place for shopping and other retreats, but now it was flooded with mobs waving everything from firearms to tennis rackets. Several glassed-off shops had been broken into, and glass was everywhere. Looters dove in and out of the boutiques, scuffling with one another in the process. One couple was making off with some equipment used in creating synthetic human beings while a motley crew of young boys made off with the latest gaming equipment from a store nearby. New fashions dripped from the arms of several young women who leapt over a young boy bawling alone on the sidewalk.
It was chaos.

Shit.

Her bedroom door rattled almost violently, and an indrawn hiss could be heard from just beyond it. Slowly, Machiko turned to face the ruckus while the newsman kept speaking.
�Police are already stretched thin and are finding that quelling the disturbances in the street a difficult if not impossible task. The firefighters of the city already have their hands full containing several blazes, the first of which occurred yesterday evening at the popular nightclub called the Kamikaze. Reasons for the fire are still unknown, and the entire building burned to the ground before help could arrive.�
She had heard enough. �Terminate Visual!�
There was a growl from Broken Tusk on the other side of the door.
No, there was a monster on the other side of the door.
He was a leader. She had ascertained that much back on Ryushi. Had he not learned the lesson given to both of them on that desert planet? Did he forget how many people died, hers and his alike? The hunters brought those aliens with them again, she was sure of it.

The bastards let them loose here just so they can play their games.

This conclusion chilled her more than facing one of the aliens ever had. This is where it stood, then. A planet full of humans was a much better spawning ground for their prized prey than one mere colony. Kouhei and the others in the club had been tools � used and cast aside � for the sole purpose of spreading those black nightmares.
Filled with a rage beyond her understanding, Machiko took the three steps that lay between herself and the door. One shaking hand reached for the doorknob, and she yanked it aside after unlocking it.
He stood defensively in the hall, one fist raised as if she had caught him in the act of breaking down the door. At her tense posture and gritted teeth, his fist lowered to rest back at his side. He stood straighter, head tilting curiously to the side while a low chitter escaped him.
She appraised him up and down in her fury. Her anger gave her a bravado she wouldn�t normally possess. �You really are one ugly��
Trailing off, she bit her lower lip when he began to growl in warning. She needed answers, not a fight. Standing her ground and awash in the bright light of her bedroom, she began again, �Why were you in the Kamikaze?� Her voice wavered, and she had to consciously keep herself from yelling.
Broken Tusk seemed to pick up on her ire, which only caused him to take a step closer and snarl. They glared at one another for a space of seconds, she with her dangerously slit eyes and he through the impersonal visor of his mask.
She emitted a curt laugh without warning, struck by the absurdity of her query. �This is ridiculous! I�m talking to someone who can�t even say my real name and expect them to reply.� Her hand waved at him dismissively, and began to push past to get down the hallway.
�This is ridiculous!�
That stopped her. She turned back at her own echo, grating the upper and lower sets of teeth in the back of her mouth. �Just.. just shut up, okay? This is all your fault!� Jabbing an accusatory finger in the predator�s direction, she glowered. Her voice was rising on one end, and she was at a failure to keep the high whine in her tenor from filling her words. �Why can�t you just go away? Those people at the club� they� they� were� tell me why you killed them!�
Nothing at first. He merely looked at her.
Suddenly, he was there. Not just a foot away, but an inch away. He cuffed her hard on the chin with one hand, and her head simultaneously tore away to the side. With an impatient bark, he tried again but she stepped back, out of his reach. Strangely enough, he did not attempt to make a grab for her again.
She could not trust him as far as she could throw him � and given their difference in heights and weights, such a feat would be physically impossible.
The tears were back, threatening to overhaul her anger. Her focal point remained only on his mask, sometimes straying to the beringed dreadlocks on either side of it. Despite everything they had faced together and the numerous times he had saved her life, she wanted nothing more than to see him vanish.
�Why?� It was all Machiko could manage to choke out.
He began to pantomime then. One clawed hand reached for one of the alien fingers adorning his armor, lifting it up and away so she could clearly see it. The Japanese woman found herself nodding, and then he in turn used his opposite hand to point between them both.
�The thing that attacked us? Yeah, I remember it,� she snapped.
The warrior�s movements appeared to become more rushed at the ire in her voice, which might have mirrored something he was feeling too. The hand holding the disgusting trophy released it and clutched at his midsection next. As if he were signifying something growing large and pregnant, his hand burst away from his mottled stomach and his digits flared open.
�I knew it,� Machiko said scathingly. Her horrible theory was now a horrible fact. �You haven�t learned anything, have you? You.. you.. what happened back on Ryushi�� She flailed her arms wildly, not caring if she made sense or not. Any gratitude she had ever felt at seeing Broken Tusk alive again had quickly dwindled down to nothing. �What�s wrong with you? Are the rest of your kind running around right now, spreading those things you hunt into other humans? What the fuck is wrong with you?�
There was a deafening din as the hall filled with the roar of an enraged predator. She couldn�t suppress a whimper as the reverberation of it continued to rip through her long after he had finished. Considering she didn�t know any better, she hazarded a guess that he had just told her to shut up in his own way. He took a threatening step in her direction, lowered his masked face to hers and snarled in such a manner that she started to shake. One large fist clamped vise-like over her upper arm, just above the elbow. It squeezed. The pressure wasn�t painful, but it was definitely reprimanding.
�Da�dtou-di.�
He let go.
No one moved for what seemed to be five minutes. Machiko at last made the effort first, angling around him and walking a bit faster than she had to towards the foyer of the house. She heard him follow, his heavy footsteps keeping pace with her speed. �I need to go check on my parents. I need��.
The tone of the screen in the den interrupted her frantic thoughts, thankfully scattering them. At the same time, she didn�t need distractions in a time like this. �Onscreen.�

The central monitor flared up, and she threw a hasty glance behind her as she realized her blunder. As if anticipating that she would make a mistake, Broken Tusk had already cloaked himself. No one would see him standing just over her shoulder � she could breath a short sigh of relief.
�Ms. Noguchi?�
It was Sam Stewart, her operations head. In short, the boss she answered to within Chigusa�s hierarchy. He was an expat in his early forties with something akin to a moustache that reminded her of a chocolate milk stain instead. From the first time she had interviewed with him over the channeling system, she had found it difficult not to stare at the mark beneath his roman nose. She had come up with a name for him after that, one she only used mentally � Smudge.
In spite of the circumstances, the British man appeared cool and collected as he gave her a detached gaze over the monitor. It would have had a more intimidating effect had he shaved that morning.
�Yes?� Her voice sounded guilty.
�Do you realize what time it is?�
�I---� She glanced over to a clock on a wall console, which highlighted the time in glowing numerals.

Damnit.

�It is past 6:30, Ms. Noguchi. I would expect you to be more punctual on your first day.�
�But��
�I do realize the crises our world is currently under. However, you are still needed and there is no excuse. You know that each employee�s role is vital in keeping normal business operations. We cannot simply close our doors in the face of something like this. We have hundreds of colonies that still rely on our communications and services.�
She almost informed him that ships weren�t coming and going from Earth anyways, but decided against that.
�I have not informed my division supervisor of this tardiness on your part as of yet. If you are prompt to make up for your lateness, we can forget this entire fiasco.�
Her blood was boiling by now, but she gave him a thin smile instead and nodded. �Thank you. I apologize and will be there as soon as possible.� After a short visit to the Uchida house, that was.
�Good. Oh, and Ms. Noguchi---�
�Yes?�
�Find a proper change of clothes for the office.�
He blipped out of existence before she could even respond. It was a good thing, too. Her patience was so thin at that point that any retort of hers would have no doubt canned her ass.
She sighed and noticed the watery form of Broken Tusk take shape into something corporeal. He grumbled.
�Good thing I have a change of clothes at the office. If you insist on following me, I�m heading to the Uchidas.� She pivoted and stormed off towards the front door without a further remark.
Her heart fell as he followed.

xXx
The Uchida manor was a post-modernist�s dream home. It was a sprawling structure that combined the best of western and Edo-era architecture with all the latest technological advances for private residences. The behemoth entryway was its own butler, able to scan anyone who stepped within ten feet of it for background records and prior notice of invitation before admitting them. Every single time that Machiko visited, she couldn�t help but find the decadence exhibited by the Uchidas to be somewhat distasteful.
The monitoring system for the front door bid her to wait in a pleasant, feminine voice while it took in her identity by scanning her irises from a device located in a nearby pillar. She stood impatiently while the process was underway. After a moment, a mechanized whir could be heard as the doors to the residence slid aside.
�Welcome, Noguchi Machiko.�
For all that Mr. Uchida had invested in that security unit, Machiko took a selfish satisfaction in the fact that a cloaked XT was able to slip by undetected as the doors held open long enough for them to pass through. That same satisfaction dissolved instantly once she was actually inside, however.
Blood. Someone� no, several people�s plasma decorated the marble floor of the foyer.

She froze. She couldn�t breath, couldn�t move, couldn�t think---
Not again. There was never a respite. Never a motherfucking respite.

Okaa-san� Otou-san�

All at once, her nerves flared to life and she broke out of her state of shock. Machiko sprang forward and rounded the corner into what was a formal sitting room, ignoring the dismayed sound from the hunter behind her.
There had been a struggle. Broken furniture and decorations lay about like a tornado had ripped through the room. There was a broken window on the far wall, and the breeze blew the scent of pungent death to her nostrils.
Four bodies lay like broken dolls in various positions, dead where they had fallen. She took note of her mother first. The upper half of her body was flung across a coffee table with her head to the side. Two lifeless orbs stared directly at Machiko, burning her with their all-encompassing scrutiny that demanded she be blamed. Mrs. Noguchi was clutching a vase in her hand, but had never had the chance to throw it at her attacker.

Now the arm connected to that hand just dangled off the edge of the table, shockingly pale against the blood on her skin.
Stifling a sob, Machiko tremulously found herself looking at Ms. Uchida next. She had died on her back, eyes flung wide open like her mother�s. The difference in the two women was the expression. Where Mrs. Noguchi seemed to have her eyes trained accusingly towards whomever might step into the room from the foyer, Mrs. Uchida�s face was frozen into a ghastly but silent scream. Her eyes were nearly rolled back into her head, as if the terror for whatever had ended her life was too much to bear.
The woman swayed and almost fell backward as her sanity threatened to leave her. Only a supportive hand on her back kept her upright now. Broken Tusk was making some noises, saying something, but she couldn�t hear him anymore.
The two women had been disemboweled. Their innards were strewn about the room, most of it blackened and burned away into unrecognizable clumps of gut and flesh.
Beyond them were her father and Mr. Uchida. Unlike their wives, they did not suffer the same fate. There were holes in their chests, yes, but it was more like something had erupted from inside rather than something from the outside digging in---
�I�m sorry, Miriam.� The voice that was hers and yet wasn�t sounded scratchy and hollow. It came from Broken Tusk, but she had said it long ago on Ryushi when her friend and fellow colonist Dr. Miriam Revna died in an attack by the creatures that had been born from her father and Mr. Uchida.
The same ones that had killed their wives and then fled the scene. The same ones that Broken Tusk and his kind had brought to the planet.
She stepped out of the predator�s grasp; she could not be consoled. Broken Tusk made an inquisitive sound at the back of his throat, but she paid it no heed. She began to walk and he did not follow. Machiko picked her way around the bodies of her parents and � no, just the bodies, and headed for Mr. Uchida�s study in the west wing of the house. There was no expression on her face, just the deep set of her jaw and a slight furrow to her brow.
Mr. Uchida was an avid hunter � or had been. His study was a personal showcase that held the taxidermied heads of many lions, antelope, snow bear, and other exotic animals. It was here too under the high ceilings that he kept a personal arsenal. Machiko remembered the Uchida house from when she was small, and a memory came to her as she found the spare key taped on the underside of the gun cabinet.

She was playing with Kouhei � hide and go seek. Kouhei was hiding, and she was seeking. She couldn�t have been older than eight. After searching the entire house, the last place to look was Kouhei�s father�s study. Normally, the children were barred from that room and told never to enter. She remembered her fear as she approached the oak door to that forbidden place, and being surprised to find it cracked partway open. She had called out to Kouhei through the crack, she was sure of it. No answer. Opening the door just enough to slip inside, she remembered the feeling of true fear finding her for the first time. The animals all stared down at her, jeering her from their places on the walls. She didn�t want to go in there. It was too scary � but she had to find Kouhei. Moving on tiptoe inside, she glanced about and tried not to look at the dead animal heads. They were watching her, tracking her. After looking about, she had decided the only plausible place for Kouhei to hide was the large oak cabinet at the other end of the room. Scared senseless, she had raced to it � reached up for the bronze pull and was amazed when the door swung aside. There were things in there, long and short things. Metal rods? There wasn�t much time to think it over when Mr. Uchida appeared in the room, yelling at her for trespassing in a room he had told them not to enter. He was always high-strung, that man. She had fled the room, but not before she looked over her shoulder one last time, saw him crouch down, reach under the cabinet and pull out a key to lock the cabinet with�

Now she was unlocking it. The old vision of the firearms came back fresh again, and she calmly reached for one that looked like a modified version of her rifle. The solid weight of the gun was comforting.
She did not lock the cabinet, but then Mr. Uchida could no longer voice his disapproval at her for being there.
He was dead.
With that in mind, she found the quiet place inside her where she used to go when training with Master Ko. Checking to see if the handgun was indeed loaded, she walked back to the sitting room where the bodies were.
Broken Tusk had his back to her. He was examining some pictures of the Uchida family on the mantle atop the fireplace.
Between them were the bod� no, her parents and the Uchidas. It was the final straw.
Machiko straightened her arm, sighted down the barrel---
---and pulled the trigger.
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AvP: Desiderata