I am Iron Man

by Colin Cook

  However before either of the assassins could make the first move the lead Serpent Guard stepped in between them facing toward the angered Predator. Holding his staff

  weapon diagonally across his chest in a casual but defensive posture, the Guard arched his back slightly so that his Cobra head could look up into the face of the towering

  behemoth.

  "Enough! You were not summoned here to kill members of my strike-force," he ordered to the Hunter in a low but firm tone. Using the head of his staff the Serpent

  Guard pointed toward the cocooned Xenomorph.

  "Sedate the creature and prepare it for transport."

  Cocking its head slightly, the Predator-Hunter decided to turn its attention from Torrvk to look down into the glowing red eyes of the Guard's headpiece, its tri-laser now

  locking onto him instead.

  The Guard's dark skinned hands tightened in readiness around the shaft of his staff weapon, just incase the Yautja killer decided not to heed his orders.

  But after holding his ground, not flinching an inch even in the face of possible instant death, the Serpent leader was treated to the Predator finally deactivating his Caster

  sights and turning away toward the Xenomorph.

  With quick jabs of his taloned fingers, the Predator lifted his left arm and began tapping into the set of keys located on the side of his armoured gauntlet. After imputing a

  specific code into the mechanism, a short telescopic barrel extended out over the top of his scaly wrist.

  Straightening his arm and aiming the barrel at the Xenomorph's neck, the Predator killer sighted his left eye down the length of this arm and held his index finger over the

  firing button.

  Torrvk drew his Carniflex and joined the other assassins as they pointed their weapons up at the creature, all of the group waiting tensely with their fingers squeezed

  against triggers or pressed against staff switches.

  With a quick tap of the button the Yautja's gauntlet fired out a familiar engraved tranquilizer dart no bigger then a toothpick, flashing up out of the barrel and stabbing into

  the Xeno's exposed neck, sinking in until it was nearly invisible.

  Now finally aware to the present danger it was in, the Xenomorph jerked out of its slumber with an echoing screech, its mouth unhinging and baring its teeth at the

  encircling group of people. With a loud chorus of hisses, the still injured Alien ripped its arms away from its chest and sunk its claws into the black resin it had coated over

  the walls, using its arms to push itself away from the wall and out of its partial cocoon.

  All of the assassins widened their stances and brought their eyes closer to the sights of their weapons, each of them locking on to the Alien's head. However not all of

  them followed the others' example, for even when the lead Serpent Guard readied himself for action, the Predator did nothing. It merely stood stock still, silently gazing up

  at the thrashing creature with a small cock of its head.

  The Xenomorph was now beginning to completely rip itself free of its self made wrappings, tearing off the swaths of slime covered resin and wrenching the back of its

  head from the nook it had placed it in.

  Torrvk's eyes widened with intrigue as he gazed upon the areas of the creature's body that had been hidden to him up until now.

  The back of the Xeno's head had widened slightly from its usual elongated look, branching outward with small but sharp crests and horn formations going up along its

  sides. Its arms were now larger, they too containing more sharp horns traveling up its forearms and cresting over its shoulders.

  Suddenly the Xeno screamed again and ripped its entire torso free, allowing it to lean forward and slither its long tail out from behind itself. The tail was also much bigger

  than any normal Xenomorph, with larger plates and a much more pronounced curved spike fitted to its end.

  Pieces of resin fell to the floor in shreds, the creature continuing to rip itself further and further out of the cocoon. All of the assassins held their fire, continuing to wait until

  the Predator's serum took effect.

  But one of the Stormtroopers was not inclined to wait until that happened.

  "The tranquilizer is taking too long! We have to stop it before it can get enough room to attack!" he shouted before lunging closer toward the Alien with his blaster a

  second away from firing. But as he lunged he passed next to the stoic Predator, not noticing that at that moment the Yautja was balling his right fist.

  Just before the trooper was about to clear past him, the Predator lashed back with his arm and smashed the hardest point of his elbow straight into the trooper's

  helmeted face, sending the man sprawling to the floor unconscious. All of this happened within the blink of an eye, with the Predator not even glancing back while he did it!

  The other assassins didn't give the sleeping Stormtrooper a second thought, keeping their focus trained solely on their quarry. The Xeno was ripping away the last of the

  cocoon, moments from springing forth and engaging its attackers.

  But it was becoming evident that the Predator's dart serum was now finally taking its toll on the creature's system.

  Its movements were becoming sluggish like a drunkard, its hisses growing weak and confused sounding.

  After a few more thrashes and pulls the cocoon finally tore free and allowed the partially deformed Xeno a clear path.

  But instead of charging, it gave a dying cry before reaching out a clawed hand toward the Predator, using the last of its might to lung down at him. All it managed to

  accomplish though was a blurred swipe before it tumbled from the resin wall and slammed down in a heap on the debris-strewn ground at the Yautja's feet, its breathing

  and chest movements slowing until it was obvious to even an idiot that the Alien was out cold.

  "Oh how the mighty have fallen," Torrvk quoted with an amused smirk down to the sleeping creature as he and the others de-activated or holstered their weapons.

  While the Predator produced a strange collar device from several pouches on his armour and set to work encasing it around the Xenomorph's neck, the lead Serpent

  Guard made a gesture toward the three Sardaukar, giving them a silent order. The red haired one nodded and stepped over the bodies of the search teams towards that

  of Criax with his two other counterparts behind him. After grouping around the dead Turian, all three men knelt down and began pulling small mechanical pieces out of their

  belts.

  While the two helmeted Sardaukar handed their set of parts over to the red haired man, he himself began connecting them together into an odd looking diamond shaped

  device with a black sphere centered in the middle.

  Off to the side the Storm commander glanced down at a chronometer he had strapped to his wrist just under the lip of the armour that covered his forearm.

  "We're almost out of time, the survivors' internal acid capsules will break the second their counters run out," he stated over to the lead Serpent Guard.

  "Hopefully they haven't given into the fear of their impending doom and asked for a bargain in exchange for their lives," Torrvk remarked next to the leader.

  "The weapon is armed," the red haired Sardaukar interrupted without looking up, clicking the last mechanism into place on the device and causing a deep red glow to

  suddenly shine from within the black sphere. After seeing them gingerly place the device on the ground next to Criax's chest and then back away, the Serpent Guard

  turned back toward the Xenomorph.

  The Predator was standing up, having fitted the collar to the Alien and bound its wrists together with a steel cord.

  Using only one arm he lifted the tranquilized Xeno into the air and folded it over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. With a nod from the Predator the lead Serpent Guard

  ma
de a sharp rallying gesture with his arm before hefting his staff weapon and marching down the largest dark passage that the Xenomorph's junction lair connected to.

  "We must leave now, our mission is nearly complete. The transport for our escape is moments ahead," he stated clearly a second before Torrvk and the burdened

  Predator-killer formed up on his flanks, followed closely behind by the rest of the strike force with the squad of Stormtroopers bringing up the rear guard, one of who had

  the misfortune of having to carry over his own shoulder the unconscious Stormtrooper the Predator had laid out earlier.

  For a very quick couple of minutes the parade of killers from different universes marched through the darkened corridor in a close but disorderly gaggle. No one spoke a

  word, all of them staying alert and watching their surroundings for any witnesses to their passing.

  Eventually they came to a smaller corridor running perpendicular to their own, cutting off any way for them to go forward any further.

  However instead of turning left or right to continue on their way, the lead Serpent raised his fist back to the group, signaling for them to stop. Frowning in confusion after

  looking around the area, Torrvk soon found that it was not this corridor that the leader was interested in; it was the wall directly ahead of them.

  Torrvk cocked his head as he saw the Serpent leader walk up and place a hand on the bare grimy wall for a brief moment before pulling away. It was just a wall, with no

  indications of a secret passage way or anything behind it.

  Where was this escape craft they'd mentioned?

  Abruptly however the Turian traitor got his answer. After motioning for the two helmeted Sardaukar, the Serpent leader and the others backed away from the wall, forcing

  Torrvk to do the same unless he wanted to get crushed by the larger Anubis and Horus-Guard that had moved in front of him. The two soldier-fanatics advanced on the

  wall ahead of the group, both of them drawing their Lasgun pistols and adjusting small hidden power gauges built into their sides. After choosing a place to stand at an

  even distance away from each other, they both aimed their guns and fired.

  Two continuous beams of blinding white energy shot out from the pistols' barrels and struck into the wall's metal, easily burning through it to whatever lay on the other

  side. After making the initial incision, the Sardaukar began carefully lifting their arms higher and melting two glowing molten-hot lines eight feet up the wall. While they did

  this a blast of cold air suddenly began shooting into the corridor, blowing against the group with a loud rushing sound.

  A moment passed before the Sardaukar eventually cut to the height they wanted, both of them suddenly turning their pistols inward and cutting along a horizontal plain

  until their two beams met each other in the middle. After meeting up and remaining connected for a brief second the two soldiers finally shut down their weapons, their

  laser beams snuffing out immediately with a hiss.

  Rapidly cooling from the strong currents of air rushing in along the lines that had been burned through the metal, a smoking rectangle now decorated the corridor wall.

  Silently brushing past Torrvk without a word or even a command from the lead Serpent Guard, the Predator-killer advanced between the two Sardaukar on the

  superheated outline.

  With a mighty grunt while still carrying the Xenomorph over his shoulder, the Predator lifted his right leg and slammed the bottom of his padded foot into the center of the

  rectangle.

  Immediately an explosion of silvery white light assaulted the group's eyes, accompanied by a harsh increase in the cold air that had been pressing against them up until

  now!

  Torrvk threw up a hand to shield his retinas before adjusting to the sudden burning illumination that flooded into the corridor, turning the night-like tunnels he had been

  travelling through for the last hour into a breezy daytime. The loud rushing sound generated by the wind had now turned into a violent howl, sounding more like something

  you would expect at the top of a mountain then in the bowls of the Citadel.

  Immediately Torrvk realized what had happened a second before seeing exactly what was in front of them.

  The Sardaukar had just cut an opening through the hull of the Citadel itself, allowing the team a makeshift exit out of the Presidium and off the station!

  As the rectangular piece of wall fell away from the Predator's foot and tumbled down through the Presidium's atmosphere bubble into the abyss below the station, which

  gave the group a breathtaking view of the endless swirling patterns of the Serpent Nebula and the massive underside of the Citadel Tower hanging out several thousand

  feet above their position, an alarming thought occurred to Torrvk.

  They had just put themselves on C-Sec's radar!

  The Serpent Guards had neglected to tell him this part of the plan.

  Shoving his way past Anubis and the Horus-Guard while fighting to keep his balance against the raging wind, the Turian reached out a hand and grabbed the lead Serpent

  Guard by the shoulder, jerking his large torso sideways slightly.

  "C-Sec will have detected a breech in the hull! They'll have ships here within minutes to investigate!" Torrvk shouted into the face of the Cobra headpiece to be heard over

  the constant howling. Without warning the Guard's right hand flashed up and locked around Torrvk's wrist, harshly prying the Turian's arm away from his shoulder twisted

  at an odd angle.

  While Torrvk grimaced and ripped his hand free of the other man's grasp, the Serpent Guard turned away and pressed the polished gemstone built into the armoured

  gauntlet plate that went over the back of his said right hand.

  Right away a high-pitched humming/whooshing sound began to overpower the roar of the wind. Everyone backed up another step as a section of a dark brown hull

  belonging to a large ship de-cloaked out of nowhere, rippling the air around it and flickering into existence several dozen feet ahead of them before hovering over to within

  spitting distance of the hole the Predator had just kicked open!

  Meanwhile far up in the Citadel Defense Headquarters, one of the station's external sensors began broadcasting an urgent maintenance signal, warning the current

  operators of an exposer in the Citadel's hull plating.

  The Headquarters itself had calmed down considerably since Axel's dramatic escape, allowing all of the operators and officers that had been assigned to stay on duty after

  the embarrassing ordeal to work comfortably at their stations without the stress of a crisis on their minds. Currently all of them were focusing on damage control or

  repair jobs, most of which involved fixing the ruckus caused to their systems by the terrorists' Rick-Roll video.

  While this was happening, one of the operators sitting at the ring of consoles set up on the main circular platform in the middle of the chamber suddenly noticed the hull

  warning pop up on his screen, originating from the area where Torrvk and his hit-squad were making their getaway.

  "Commander," the operator called over to the Turian CO of the Headquarters.

  While carrying a steaming mug of some dextro-acidic beverage in his hand, the CO quickly finished whatever he was doing and came up behind the operator to see the

  screen for himself.

  "What've you got?" he asked casually while taking a deep swig from the mug. Tapping at their console the operator zoomed in on the digitalized area of the Presidium the

  warning was mapping out for them, one that showed a flashing golden dot where the breech was believed to be located.

  "The lower level sensors in Sector C-15 are detecting an un-authorized opening in the hull," the operator explained. This information suddenly made the CO suspicious,

  causing h
im to lower the mug from his lips and squint at the screen carefully.

  "That's the maintenance tunnels just under the Market District, the same ones that the…" he said to himself, almost forebodingly.

  "Sir…" the operator began trying to ask, but the CO interrupted, having now turned very serious.

  "Get gunships loaded with EVA security teams to that location, now!" he ordered.

  The airlock door that had de-cloaked along with the rest of the partial section of the escape ship's hull slid apart, revealing two more able bodied Jaffa warriors dressed in

  standard grey chainmail armour standing at the edge of the open archway. These ones however were bare faced with no robotic headpieces and bore the black circular

  mark of Apophis tattooed on their foreheads.

  The two men silently knelt down and picked up a large mobile loading ramp from the deck before throwing one end across the bottomless windswept gap in front of

  them, creating a small bridge between the ship and the Sardaukars' opening.

  The moment the tossed end of the ramp clanged down onto the corridor's floor, the Predator-Killer shouldered his unconscious baggage again and stormed across its

  grated surface, without even first testing the balance to see if it was secure enough to walk on. As the others began following the Yautja's example, marching single-file

  across the narrow makeshift gangplank overlooking the soft silver ball of light that was Widow thousands of miles below them, Torrvk stayed where he was to survey

  what he could see of the half-cloaked vessel that gently bobbed up and down against the rough currents of wind still swirling around the area.

  "A Tel'Tak? Really? I was waiting for something a bit more impressive like an Imperial shuttle, or a Bird of Prey," Torrvk remarked disappointedly to the Serpent leader who

  stood next to him.

  From the design of the airlock and what little there was showing of the surrounding hull patterns, and the fact that it had Jaffa piloting it, the Turian was able to easily

  recognize the low-key Goa'uld cargo ship floating in front of them despite most of it still being invisible to the naked eye.