I am Iron Man

by Colin Cook

  "Got it! The file should be coming through now!" Moira declared with a final firm jab of her keyboard's execute button. The main screen on the wall flashed for a brief

  second before a familiar beige file appeared across its surface.

  "Finally, that thing was dug in deeper then an Alabama Tick," Bailey commented as he got up from the chair he had wheeled over to the side of Moira's desk after it

  became evident that this search was going to be a long wait. Chellick was sitting in a similar chair on the other side of the desk, leaning against the knuckles of his hand

  with his elbow propped on the desk's surface.

  "How much are you guys willing to bet that something else is going to go wrong right before we can actually read this thing?" Chellick asked with a trace of pessimism to

  his voice.

  It had now been almost twenty minutes since Moira had tried bringing out Captain Sydow's file, with each and every attempt being dogged or outright stopped by a

  myriad of problems existing within the certain area of the Alliance's databases that the file existed in.

  (From an interstellar government you'd think they'd have the technology and knowhow to keep tabs on this sort of thing. Come on people, am I right or am I right?)

  In response to that remark Moira scoffed before casting Chellick an offended look.

  "Oh ye of little faith," she stated with a shake of her head before turning back to the main screen.

  Chellick smirked and was about to apologize for doubting her abilities when suddenly, before the file had even begun downloading for them to see properly, a small chiming

  alarm beeped at Moira's terminal and a large red symbol flashed across the wall screen. Immediately the three snapped their attention toward the flashing screen with

  puzzled looks.

  "An Erosion Warning?!" Moira stated out loud after jerking forward in her seat, her voice displaying a profound sense of disbelieve and bewilderment. Bailey blew out a

  defeated breath and closed his eyes, while Chellick gave a dignified Captain Picard face-palm at their continuing bad luck.

  "Come on! What's next?!" the Hawaiian technician asked the universe angrily as she began attacking the keyboard again, diving in to the file's material codes to see if she

  could work around the erosion and reconstruct the data.

  "What's an Erosion Warning?" Bailey asked quickly as he came back around to her terminal.

  "It means that the information is still there but the file itself has become so corrupted by faulty data-streams or its systems are too fragile to transfer to the Citadel's

  hardware that it's in danger of slowly deleting itself, or Eroding away, from the mainframe," Moira responded tersely as she worked frantically at the controls, her trained

  hands flashing across the keys in a pattern so fast and erratic that Bailey was having a hard time following it.

  "Can you fix it before it eats itself?" Bailey asked, his voice steeled as he looked up at the flashing red symbol on the main viewer, imagining that at this very moment all

  the information they needed on Captain Sydow was flaking away into the vast reaches of cyber-space.

  "Like I said before, this stuff is nearly two hundred years old. When you dig up an ancient relic you try to keep it exposed to the outside air as little as possible, otherwise it

  begins to crumble and fall apart. The same principle applies to old computer files such as this. I can't save the file but I can copy all of its contents into a brand new dossier

  that can preserve everything that was written down, even the corrupted stuff, which will allow us to try and reconstruct it later," Moira explained, her eyes remaining

  fiercely glued to the terminal. Bailey arched his eyebrows and gave a thin smile.

  "Since when did you become an expert on archeological procedure?" Moira didn't answer, her concentration was too focused on saving the dying file before it could be lost

  completely. Beside them Chellick pulled his head out of his face-palm and held up his other hand with its index talon extended.

  "For the record I'd like to point out that I did call this unfortunate mishap, so if anybody wants to throw some credits my way that would be awesome."

  Immediately despite the need for focus, Moira and Bailey turned their heads over to the Turian with annoyed expressions.

  "Shut up Chellick," they both said at the same time before looking back at the screen.

  Back in the labyrinth of tunnels beneath the Market District, Torrvk was using the butt of Criax's rifle to smash or break apart sections of his own. He had done the same

  to the pieces of his armour that he had removed earlier, using it to dent them partially before laying them all out next to his former partner's body. After damaging his rifle

  to make it look like he had used it to fight off an attacker, Torrvk aimlessly threw both rifles down next to the crime scene. Amazingly the loud noises generated by this

  work still did not rouse the partially cocooned Xenomorph, as Torrvk knew it wouldn't.

  Because of the knowledge given to him by his master, the mysterious Lord Viraden, Torrvk had learned everything he could about the Xenomorphs and their various

  incarnations shown in the films and video games that had portrayed them throughout history.

  This particular surviving Xenomorph was a special case that had perked Viraden's interest not too long ago, and it had only been because of Torrvk himself that his master

  had found out about its unique gift in the first place.

  Moments after the Battle for the Market Corridor, with all the chaos and confusion still surrounding the incident, Torrvk had been able to use his C-Sec identity to discretely

  slip onto the scene and collect samples of the creatures' acidic blood from the areas that they had been slain in. Even though their bodies had mysteriously disappeared at

  the battle's end, the pools of blood that had burned through the Corridor's flooring had remained intact, giving Torrvk ample opportunity to retrieve and preserve the DNA

  locked within what was left of the acid before an organized lock-down of the district could be put into effect.

  Minutes after collecting them he had contacted and met with a secret emergency courier, to which he handed over his finds and then sent the samples off to the hidden

  area of the Mass Effect galaxy where Viraden was amassing his army.

  To Torrvk's immense surprise the courier would return less then two hours later, bearing with him a kit of specialized equipment and instructions from Viraden himself,

  instructions which stated his gratitude for the Turian's service and then charged him with a mission to retrieve the final Xenomorph that C-Sec had openly reported as

  having escaped the battle. Whatever the Xeno's blood had shown to Viraden and his scientists, the Dark Lord now wanted it.

  And now after seeing the creature in its current state for himself, Torrvk had a good idea as to why.

  After receiving his orders he had made sure to put himself in the right place at the right time to be chosen by the Academy's commanders for the C-Sec search party that

  was going to be sent down after the creature, while also using the black earpiece that had come with the courier's kit beforehand to coordinate with the strike team that

  Viraden had sent ahead to aid him.

  The planned ambush had gone off perfectly, with Criax and the search teams being none-the-wiser about his true motivations or intentions.

  He knew that his usefulness as a spy within C-Sec had come to an end once he was given this job, it was now time for him to fake his own death and join the ranks of

  Viraden's armada in earnest!

  All that was needed now after demolishing his weapon and armour was his DNA to make it appear as if he had died along with the others. Reaching behind his back he

  drew a short black metaled combat knife. Rolling up the sleeve on his right arm, he sliced a deep gash acros
s the top of his forearm and squeezed the wound tightly,

  making it ooze streams of blue blood onto the floor and on top of some of his dented armour pieces. After a sufficient amount of blood was milked out of the wound

  Torrvk activated his omni-tool and ran an application of medi-gel, healing the gash within seconds.

  Satisfied with his work he stood up and retrieved the humming sphere still sitting on the container in front of him.

  After shutting the jamming device off and slipping it into one of the hidden pouches his body suit contained, he looked back up at the comatose Xenomorph, almost with a

  fondness in his Turian features.

  "She is a magnificent creature, is she not?" Torrvk asked out loud to the darkened junction, the intensive special training given to him by some of Lord Viraden's finest

  commanders allowing him to sense the three figures that had just crept up behind him almost without a sound.

  There was a pause before the deep voice that had answered him through his earpiece spoke again, but this time from the middle figure standing within the wide archway.

  "She is a beast of great power, meant to be used as nothing more then a weapon to hunt and slay Lord Viraden's enemies."

  Torrvk scoffed at the figure's words, shaking his head amusedly as he slowly turned around to face his fellow assassins.

  "You think in such rigid military terms. Have you no appreciation for the raw power she will generate from her body alone?" Torrvk goaded to the figures, all of which were

  actually air distortions generated by the trio's cloaking devices. The middle figure said nothing in response to this; he and the others merely raising their arms and

  deactivating the devices strapped to their belts.

  All three of the figures flashed into existence, revealing themselves to be Goa'uld Serpent Guards!

  With their dark grey armour, large engraved Cobra headpieces, and glowing red eyes, they were a fearsome group that made even Torrvk's eyes widen slightly. All three of

  the Serpent Jaffa were tall muscular men, which was expected considering their race's warrior mentality. Each of them held staff weapons in their hands.

  The Jaffa in the middle, the one that had spoken, stepped forward into the Xenomorph's lair still saying nothing in answer to Torrvk's question. Taking the hint that he

  wasn't going to get an answer period Torrvk stepped to the side and swept an arm up to indicate the Xenomorph.

  "My part in this operation is over, it is now for you and your men to safely bring him his prize," Torrvk stated in a reminding tone. The leader of the Serpent Guards looked

  at him before turning his body and gazing up at the shallow breathing Alien.

  "And we shall," the Jaffa stated firmly.

  Just after he said this, a stomping of armoured boots began to echo loudly from down the corridor. A few seconds went by before the red haired Sardaukar stormed in to

  the junction, closely followed by the second helmeted one and the enormous form of Anubis. The second soldier-fanatic was carrying the limp body of the Salarian agent

  the red haired man had killed, to which he dumped unceremoniously close to Criax's body. This was followed by Anubis leaning forward and roughly sliding the body of the

  Asari from his shoulder to land in a heap next to the Salarian.

  More stomps followed seconds after this, these ones coming from another Sardaukar carrying the body of the Salarian that had been garroted in the corridor not far from

  here, as well as the frightening visage of a mighty Horus-Guard (and I'm talking about the one's also from the original Stargate Movie!) who dragged the body of the

  Salarian's Turian partner.

  These two dumped their burdens in line with the others and then took up positions around the junction, aiming their activated staff weapons or Lasguns up at the

  Xenomorph. As that happened the Serpent Guard leader turned back toward the large archway his two counterparts were standing beside just in time to see the squad of

  Stormtroopers march around the corner, two of who were carrying the bodies of the Human and Turian from Team 4 over their shoulders. While the two troopers

  dropped the bodies with the others, the Storm commander approached the lead Serpent Guard.

  "Perimeter has been double checked, there's nobody else down here to tell anyone what we've been up to," the commander reported shortly.

  "Good," the Serpent leader rumbled from within his headpiece as the Stormtroopers took their places amongst the others.

  Taking a look around at the growing number of diverse killers, Torrvk frowned as he glanced down at the line of bodies laid at his feet.

  "So that's teams 2, 4, and 5. Where is Team 3?" Torrvk asked over to the leader with a cocked brow-ridge.

  That was when the largest figure out of the entire group rounded the corner carrying the bodies of the two Turians on its bulky shoulders. It still had its cloaking device up

  and appeared only as a shadowy outline, while amazingly its footfalls were the quietest of any of them, uttering only as faint taps against the floor's tiled metal like a

  Jaguar stalking its prey.

  The two Serpent Guards stepped aside to allow the distortion passage, the mammoth entity silently gliding into the junction and depositing its baggage with a simple snap

  movement of its arms.

  Then, with everyone's eyes on it, the distortion raised its said arms and pressed a button on one of the gauntlets that encircled its thick forearms.

  The distortion's cloaking device shut down, dispelling the see-through field and revealing the giant's true form to everyone.

  "Incredible…" Torrvk breathed as he gazed up at the truly alien creature. During his months of secret tutorage under Viraden's specialists, Torrvk had seen and even trained

  with many of the people surrounding him at this very moment. He knew all about the Jaffa, the Sardaukar, the Stormtroopers, and he even knew about the mysterious

  Predators, the mighty race of intergalactic game hunters.

  But in his time amongst the diverse warriors of Viraden's army, he had never once had the opportunity to see a real Predator in the flesh, be it dead or captured or

  otherwise. Many of the people Torrvk had trained with had said that Viraden did have several Predators in his employ, but that they were a reclusive group that didn't

  mingle with the rest of the army and were rarely ever seen.

  That was until now.

  The creature standing before Torrvk was indeed a Predator, but it was vastly different from what he had been expecting.

  The Predator's body was large and muscled, as he had thought it would be, but it was taller and more reptilian then the ones he had studied about. Nearly all of its skin

  was a deep brown, looking black in most places, with patches of smooth whiter scales going across the front of its torso and down the insides of its arms and legs like the

  underbelly of a crocodile.

  Its armour was quite like that of the Super-Predators from the 2010 movie Predators, being mostly made up of sleek reflective black plates that adorned only parts of its

  torso, shoulders, and legs. At the same time though, this Predator's armour appeared to be a mixture of the Super Predators' technology and that of the more Classic

  Predators.

  An example of this being instead of one singular blade like that of the lead Mr. Black character from Predators, this Predator had two serrated Wrist Blades attached to the

  gauntlet on its right forearm. The pectoral portion of its torso was covered by a thick Classic-Pred looking steel chest-plate, ornately designed and potted with battle-scars

  and etched-in symbols taken from the Yautja language.

  The Predator's iconic Bio-mask was an almost exact lookalike to Mr. Black's, with the exception of it not having an unknown alien jaw-bone attached to the bottom of its

  chin. The Plasma Caster attached to its left shoulder was o
f the model used by the Classics, rather then the Gatling gun style favoured by the Super-Preds.

  One major difference that set this Predator apart from the Super Predators seen in the movie was the presence of a compact Combi-Stick clipped to the side of the many

  worn straps going around its lower waist, one that was richly detailed in the symbols and beadwork denoting it as the weapon of a Yautja Spear-Master.

  Torrvk cocked his head, gazing at the many other strange details and characteristics of this intriguing warrior. The clashing of technologies and armours added a strange

  and menacing look to the hunter. Every item adorning its body was heavily personalized, but much of it appeared as though the personalization had not been done by this

  Predator in particular.

  That was when it suddenly all clicked together for Torrvk. This Predator had not created most of the equipment it was using; it had taken them from other Predators,

  probably ones belonging to both the Super and Classic groups!

  It all made sense, and it made Torrvk a bit more wary. The Predator standing before him was obviously a Hunter of Hunters, having slain several of its kinsmen and taken

  their technologies or weapons to improve its own killing prowess, while at the same time displaying these spoils of combat on its body like some kind of trophies.

  The head of this Predator-Hunter also held a few indications of its anti-social practices towards its own species. Its more swept back dreadlocks were partially decorated

  with tiny beads made from pieces of bone, some of which unmistakably looked as though they had once belonged to the fingers or jaw-mandibles of other Predators!

  "A most impressive specimen," Torrvk remarked approvingly as he looked the deadly Yautja up and down. The Predator assassin snapped its head over and locked its

  reflective black eyes with Torrvk's, uttering out a low threatening growl mixed with a series of soft clicking noises.

  Originating from within a small hole built just off to the side of its mask's left eye, a familiar trio of red laser beams abruptly shone out toward the Turian, causing three

  corresponding red dots arranged in a triangle to materialize on his forehead.

  After an initial moment of surprise the Turian agent's face became hard, his hand tensing toward the silenced Carniflex he had transferred to the belt of his body-suit.