by Colin Cook
that faintly travelled from his left temple down across the metal and recessed black eye of his Bio-Mask before ending just above the solid area where his mouth
would be.
It would have satisfied his newfound desire for vengeance if he had simply leapt from his perch and run this new Bad Blood through. But it would've made everything he
had survived through up to this point be for nothing. He could have slain the Yautja-Hunter and avenged all of the Predators who had fallen under it's blade in one swift
stroke, but he himself would have been quickly cut down in return by the rest of the assassins.
Thus he would have died without learning the reason for why he had been brought to this universe; he would have died knowing that his foolhardy gesture would have
ended up being for naught since the Alien would still have fallen into enemy hands anyways, and he would have died without at least having reclaimed his Combi-Stick from
Axel's thieving Shape-shifter.
No. Even though it meant he was basically handing over one of the Great Serpents to an unknown enemy and a Yautja traitor, there was nothing to be gained from
stopping the assassins now.
With this thought in mind the Predator had chosen to stay his hand, allowing the black armoured members of the group to laser cut their way through the wall of the
perpendicular corridor to the blinding outside world.
There would be other opportunities on the journey ahead to rid himself of the scarred Xenomorph and the Hunter-Killer.
For the time being the Predator would simply have to 'live to fight another day', and allow the Bad Blood to leave with it's accomplices and their prize.
Though despite the logical reasoning behind his decision, the taste of defeat was still a bitter thing to swallow.
Even now after the strange group had departed on their stealth ship, the Predator's right fist remained clenched while the sharp tips of his upper mandibles clicked together
loudly in disapproval.
However, what the Predator was unaware of at this very moment was that far behind him back down in the Corridor Junction where the bodies of the five C-Sec search
teams still lay strewn across the floor, the diamond shaped device left behind by the Sardaukar had started to hum loudly.
While that happened the red light emanating from the black sphere fixed in its center began flashing dimmer and then brighter.
As the seconds went by this flashing began to increase in frequency.
"Clear a sector!" the young Turian shouted up to a group of C-Sec officers who were idling around the entrance to the low ceilinged corridor he was currently running
down.
At his command the startled group broke apart, each person looking at each other in confusion as the Turian and Lieutenant Bailey flew past before bounding up the short
staircase to their right, soon being followed by a gaining Chellick and Moira.
Quickly the four raced up the next set of stairs that led into the main Atrium of the Academy, whipping past the archway for the staircase that led down into the Spectre
Requisitions Office, before crossing out in front of the Academy's massive glowing blue elevator shaft and dashing over to the far side of the facility.
"Did the prisoners explain why their offer was a matter of life and death?" Chellick asked up to their guide as the quartet passed a pair of Turian guards before thundering
down a longer flight of stairs and making a left into one of the blue-lit corridors that held several of the Academy's many interrogation rooms.
"No sir. But they did make it clear that if you two didn't speak with them immediately they would be forced to retract their offer," the younger man answered over his
shoulder while they all continued sprinting.
"This way, they're just up ahead," he added with a point of his talon toward a single door built midway down the corridor.
As the group charged past sealed rooms one after the other, the door for another room not far from the one they were rushing toward suddenly slid apart to allow two
Humans to step into the hallway.
One was a tall trim-cut C-Sec agent with dark skin, while the other was a slightly shorter fairer skinned man who appeared to be somewhat Germanic/Scandinavian in
origin.
He had dark green eyes and long blonde hair that curved messily down to his shoulders, with a short shaggy beard of the same colour that connected with his sideburns
and covered all of his jaw. On his person he wore a pair of shabby black trousers and an un-tucked white dress shirt that had its sleeves rolled up to just under his elbows.
Encircling around his right wrist was an interesting assortment of leather straps and bracelets, some of which were made up of decorated wooden beads.
However while all of these various pieces of clothing sort of worked well together, there was one thing that stood out in stark contrast to the entire image that this man
presented.
The left portion of his shirt's chest and shoulder was covered in dried blood, with many holes and tears potting its fabric which allowed a series of treated scratches and
cuts adorning that side of his body to show through.
"…Yeah you're free to go, but remember, C-Sec will be watching you very closely. You're still considered a major accessory to a criminal offence. If the Executor decides
later on that he wants to bring you back in for questioning I'd advise you to still be on the station for him to do just that," the taller agent could be heard saying gruffly to
the bearded man as the two left the room.
"Yeah yeah, this ain't my first time in the box Agent Man. Just fork over my stuff and I'll be on my way," the blonde retorted smarmily as he turned back to face the
agent. The agent himself gave a subtle sneer before raising his right hand toward the detainee, which held a tiny grey credit chit wedged in-between his first two fingers.
"Get out of here…" the agent uttered disgustedly, giving the blood-covered man a harsh shove away from the door after he'd taken the chit and casually slipped it into
one of his trouser pockets.
"Thanks, I remember where the exit is. Take it easy till' our next meeting; as always you boys have been a real treat!" the blonde called back to the agent with a wide grin
as he began sauntering his way down the corridor toward the stairwell behind the approaching four, taking a brief moment to spin around in mid-step and give his former
jailer a mocking farewell salute.
"Oh sorry dude!" the blonde quickly apologized to the group's leading Turian as he side-stepped out of the way, allowing the young agent to continue sprinting past him
before doing the same for Chellick and Moira when they followed behind him. The faint wake of air created by their speedy passage actually managed to make the
bloodied man's hair loosely flutter around his shoulders for a moment.
"What happened? Somebody forget there was free donuts in the break room?" the man asked to himself with a laugh after watching the trio run by him, cocking an
impressed eyebrow as he zoomed in on Moira's…'backside'…in particular.
While that was happening Bailey also ran past the man, causing both of them to lock eyes briefly before the blonde turned and continued on his way, giving an overly
exaggerated groan as he stretched out his arms before slipping his hands into his pockets and whistling an old folk tune that resounded cheerily throughout the hall.
Immediately Bailey came to a sudden stop next to the tall agent who was still standing in the open doorway, a deep scowl of alarm having come across his face the
second he'd looked away from the blonde's eyes.
"Hold on a sec…" Bailey sharply stated aloud before spinning around.
"Officer, what the hell is that man doing out of his cell!" Bailey demanded to the interrogation officer, jabbing a finger at the exit
ing man's back with his free hand since his
other was still holding Axel's ancient flintlock. The agent jerked from the lieutenant's words as if he'd been stung, his face betraying a look of confusion.
"Sir, he made his bail. After we finished questioning him he was able to provide a credit chit that had the funds needed to cover the amount posted on him by the
Academy," the agent explained somewhat tentatively. Bailey's near stony face contorted into a look of thinly contained rage.
"That man is under suspicion of knowingly aiding a wanted criminal. His charges are just barely floating in-between Destruction of Public Property and High-Treason!"
The agent scowled, his eyes narrowing to slits and his mouth beginning to open and close indecisively, while his shoulders gave a large shrug and he threw his hands up in
the air.
"He made bail! If his funds check out with Lock-Up it's not in my jurisdiction to keep him here, no matter what his crimes are. He coughed up the money to set himself
free and legally I was obligated to release him!" he defended hotly.
Now Bailey turned his pointed finger on the agent, regarding him with a very patronizing look.
"Now you listen to me very carefully. You're gonna bring that guy back here, put him in…" Bailey began instructing coldly.
But even as the words were coming out of his mouth Bailey's voice was suddenly overtaken by a chorus of horrendous male screams that had just started echoing down
the corridor!
Both the lieutenant and the agent snapped their heads toward the source of the nightmarish sounds; a sense of dread suddenly befalling Bailey when he saw Chellick,
Moira, and their Turian guide all recoiling away from the now open doorway to the room they had been running for. Each of them had a look of horror etched on their
faces.
In that instant Bailey and the nameless Human sprinted over to the other interrogation room, arriving there amongst the three within seconds to see what was the cause
of the shrieking screams.
As he skidded to a stop and stared into the room, Bailey got his answer.
The four Turian assassins were dissolving!
Thick swirls of grey smoke were rising up from each of the men's bodies, slithering out from in between the plates that made up their jet-black armours, and partially
obscuring the entire room in a hazy screen. Two of the Turians had already fallen silent, both of them dying as soon as Bailey laid eyes on them. While these two limply
crumbled back against the set of chairs that the quartet had been seated in on the far side of the room's center table, the other two continued to wail in agony.
One of these said assassins had fallen from his seat and was now writhing on the floor, wrapping his arms around his rapidly decaying body before gradually curling up into
a fetal position and going silent as well.
It was a sight that would have made even the stoutest of souls cringe.
All of the assassins' armour and clothing were being dissolved into the hanging smoke by some kind of unseen acid substance, burning away on each of them until their
Turian exo-skeletal skins began showing through in patches.
But while this was happening, another acid seemed to be eating the poor men from the inside out!
Their exposed skins were already starting to sizzle away with the rising wisps or fall apart into millions of tiny burning flakes. Smoking holes and sores were beginning to
break open across their bodies, quickly expanding outward from their points of origin, stripping their skins to the muscles and then from their muscles down to the bones.
By now the screaming had stopped with the three recently deceased Turians continuing to burn away to nothing, the acid eating at their flesh until the whites of their skulls
and the insides of their chest-cavities began to show. Soon those began disappearing as well.
The final assassin however was miraculously still alive, groaning and hissing faintly, while remaining partially seated in his chair with his torso and arms slumped out across
the table's surface.
With an amazing display of strength that defied the injuries inflicted upon him by the gruesome instrument of his death, the Turian used one arm to push himself a few
inches up off the table so that he could lift his sizzling, half bone-exposed face, and stare straight into the eyes of Bailey himself.
"He…lied…to us! ...should've…had…more…time!" was all the assassin could utter in a wretched voice, reaching out a smoking hand toward the group right before his talons
and palm area disintegrated into a wispy cloud of drifting ash!
This entire incident, from the moment Bailey arrived at the doorway to the death of this final assassin, transpired within the window of only a few seconds.
As the Turian's body collapsed back down onto the table with a sickening death-rattle, his now handless arm still out-stretched in front of himself, Moira was the first to
snap out of her shock.
Thinking quickly the Hawaiian jumped away from the others toward the side of the interrogation room's doorframe. Using the point of her elbow, she drew back and
smashed in a small glass case painted in scarlet red, one that held a single black button within it.
The force from her elbow instantly shattered the case and also succeeded in striking the button at the same time.
Immediately an alarm rang throughout the corridor, with dozens of red lights placed next to each door flashing on and off simultaneously. What was also immediate was a
thick slab of dark metal detaching from a secret compartment built higher up within the wall, one that slammed down to the floor and locked over the doorway's opening
with a harsh metallic clang.
This succeeded in sealing off the room from the rest of the Academy.
"Bio Hazard! Hostile foreign substance in interrogation room twelve!" Chellick shouted into his omni-tool, having activated it after he and the others leapt back from the
doorway when the slab came down.
"Agents, get a secondary security detail together. I want the Atrium and any exits leading out of this corridor locked down now!" Bailey ordered over to the nameless
interrogation officer and the younger Turian who'd brought them down here. Both men hesitated for a moment, still glancing over at the slab of metal with fearful
expressions, obviously shaken by what they had just seen.
"You heard him!" Chellick snapped, raising his voice even higher than Bailey's. Right away the agents jumped out of their daze, nodding immediately with a snap salute
before breaking off toward the far stairway at a brisk run.
As those two rapidly shrank down the corridor, Bailey's partners came to stand on either side of him, all three of them taking a cautious extra step away from the sealed
doorway.
"What kind of a person could do that to someone? To turn their bodies into nothing but smoke and ash while they're still alive?" Moira asked out loud, her voice containing
a bitter edge.
"Those men were going to tell us who their employer was. They were going to give us their name and maybe even their location. Whoever He is, he knew to plan ahead
for exactly this kind of a situation," Chellick answered without looking at her, his eyes remaining glued to the door-slab.
"Just in case they get captured he plans ahead to have them melted down like defunct car parts?" Moira began stating in disgust.
"The kind of person who does this is one who views the men under his command as cannon fodder. Whoever their boss is he's shown he won't hesitate to erase evidence
any way he can to guarantee his identity remains secret, even if that means erasing his own people," interrupted Bailey, his eyes also remaining on the doorway.
"I can only imagine what other lengths this shadowy bastard is willing to go to to remain anonymous," Chell
ick remarked in equal disgust.
While Chellick and Moira continued to speak back and forth about the matter, Bailey held up Axel's flintlock so as to gaze upon the ancient name and date printed into its
side.
Alexandre Henri, 1680
Looking up from the pistol back to the sealed room that now contained the ashen remains of the four mysterious assassins, Bailey couldn't shake the feeling that this half
of the investigation had just stumbled into a solid roadblock.
"How does any of this connect…"
The flashing red light coming from the core of the Sardaukars' device had hit a peak in speed, a speed to which it remained at for a brief moment before abruptly winking
out of existence.
Suddenly the diamond mechanism surrounding the sphere broke apart, while the sphere itself exploded!
A massive firestorm of blinding orange flame erupted from the device, lashing out in all directions like a condensed nuclear bomb. Its intensified heat engulfed the entire
junction in less then a second; consuming everything it touched in just as much time.
The black Xenomorph resin coating the walls was swept away in a sudden wave of burning vapours, while the bodies of the five murdered C-Sec teams were incinerated.
Everything from their clothes down to their skeletons was instantly reduced to ash, leaving behind only microscopic traces of DNA and melted fragments of their armour
suits.
While that was happening the fiery inferno continued to branch outward, travelling down and destroying everything within each corridor the junction was connected to,
including the very one the Predator was still inside of.
The Hunter snapped his head around the moment he heard the Sardaukars' evident Incendiary Bomb explode, the infrared vision in his Bio-mask lighting up brighter then a
supernova as the entire far end of the hallway disappeared into the maw of a rapidly approaching vortex of hissing spitting flame!
With instant reflexes the Predator leapt down from his air-duct and made a mad dash for the rectangular opening, pumping every reserve of strength he had into his
battered legs.