Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be a simple mission to prove his worth and train as an Unblooded Yautja in his clan. He was to go onto the foreign planet to hunt the most impressive prey, or die trying. His small ship was set to autopilot when suddenly a large bang rang through the ship. The ship tilted to the side all of a sudden, knocking the young pup off his feet. Grabbing to the floor, he pulled himself up and ran to the control panel. His ship alerted another ship of his kind unmarked by any official clan. He knew immediately it was a bad blood ship targeting him. He gripped the ship's steering and positioned the ship. Another sharp bang rang through as alarms blared, warning of the ship's damage and integrity lost. Life support systems were hit once and then twice again. Of course, his ship's vital points were being targeted intentionally; he would have to shake off his assailant before he dies in the cold, airless depths of space.

A Predator turns into nothing more than prey. He went to deploy his plasma cannons on the ship but as soon as they unseethed they had no time to aim let alone charge up for an offensive attack as they were quickly blasted off. This Bad Blood knew the exact make and model for sure now. The model was simplest in his clan's designs and commonplace for those like himself just starting out. He was quickly losing functions to his life support system and looked at any coordinates for the closest life-supporting planet to jump to as a last-ditch effort. If he can shake off the outcast chasing him he surely can either end the fight himself and contact an enforcer in case of his death. His hunt will have to wait for another day. It pissed him off, the fight was not in his favor. All weapons he owned were basic and only beginner weapons his clan passed down and his skills were not as sharpened yet from lacking experience. He was yet to be blooded and still sharpening his skills and only had a few months before his official test to become blooded. He could prove himself if this was face to face and die with honor. No. Time to survive outweighed a fight at this moment. His ship locked onto the closest planet, Earth. A planet full of sentient weak creatures with technology and weapons that he was warned could easily out smart or out fight even the most skilled Yaujta if underestimated. As he pressed the hyperdrive the ship creaked and moaned, its haul was fighting to stay in place, as he approached the atmosphere the gravity pulled his ship in. All thrusters were low on power.

As the ship was pulled in by the atmosphere, the hull took on more damage as the friction started to burn away at his ship. The ship's alarms were flashing and blaring a warning of the impact. He cursed, hoping his trick worked. He braced for impact as the ship crash landed onto the ground, mowing down any flora and fauna that lay below its path. The Unblood's bracing wasn’t enough as the inertia of the collision hit his head. What felt like forever passed as he woke up the ship's alarms, a new sound. A countdown of an immediate explosion. He panicked, he ran to the back and grabbed whatever he could. A single basic dagger, his retractable blades, and mask were all he could grab before the countdown approached closer to zero. Anything he could grab in just mere seconds before he ran deeper into the ship.

The young Yautja ran to the back exit but the door melted shut, without thinking he slammed his body into the door. The first time only a small sound immediately and barely budged. He slammed again and again until the door gave way. This was not at all the way he wanted to die, Unblooded and nothing more than a crash victim to a Bad Blood would ruin his name, his father, and his clan's reputation. The number was closer, there was barely any time as he ran into the woods, as his back was turned, as he felt the heat first burning his back, then the sound, and finally the feeling of his ankle twisting as his foot got caught as he fell. Pathetic. Worthless. Useless. He felt the world blacken around him as his ears rang from the blast. His world came too slowly; he could hear the hum of an engine. On top of him, he felt a smooth, almost fabric-like material over him, and the soft sounds of something melodic. It took him a minute to realize it, but once he did, he cursed to himself. His day of trouble was never-ending. The small creatures of this planet have discovered him uncloaked and foolishly put him in their vehicle. He wanted to kill them or leave, but he felt the pain along his back and noticed wrapping all over him, his ankle was put in a makeshift splint with twigs and more fiber wrappings. He laid his head down. He had to think of what he was taught of all sentient creatures in the galaxy. Humans… simple small creatures live in packs, they not only hunt for food but also keep other creatures for pets and food, and cultivate plants as well, dividing up their packs into larger clans. They have both the survival benefit and weakness to help ones they see as their own. Why did they help him? He wasn’t their own kind. Unless they are dumber than he thought and think they are their own.

He felt the vehicle stop. He could hear their distinct vocalizations from each other. There were two, no three of them. Two lower in pitch and the other. The young blood had to remind himself these unlike most animals his kind hunted spoke their own language and had cultures like his clans. He went to grab his weapons and realized this whole time he had nothing. They took his things. His only way home was in the hands of the humans. The day just kept getting worse. As they approached he waited for his moment to pounce, he could hold one hostage or kill one to threaten them to release his things. No that was cowardice way, he would have to just kill them in this state to regain his things. As this uncovers the smooth fabric. His vision was blurry due to his species but he could make out two males, and one female all having red fur on top of their heads.

“Oh shit the things awake!” One of the males exclaimed. The young blood couldn’t make out what they were saying but their tone could tell him they were on alert. He let out a growl as he tried to ignore the pain radiating from his back. His mandibles extended out as he gripped the metal frame of the vehicle bed and bent it with his hand. The female extended her arms out “woah woah! Calm down big guy! We’re trying to help!” Her voice was steady as he spoke. One of the males was still on edge “ I told you Robin this shit isn’t like E.T!” She looked at the two who backed away at her “Listen he has a ship that clearly exploded, some helmet with tech. I think we can help him out or worse case the mother ship might come knocking at our door.” The boys looked at each other and then her, they looked back and nodded, and quickly grabbed her, pulled her away. The young Yuatja hissed and clicked, cocking his head to the side. He slowly pulled himself out of the bed of the truck. The humans backed away from him, slowly watching him. But as soon as his foot touched the ground the pain shot through his leg, he roared out in pain. No amount of wrestling or practice he had could prepare him for this type of injury. He felt the sudden body against him. He was about to slam it back until he felt the arms being pulled around the creature's body and attempted to be lifted. He saw the same female by his side, “ Woah there, big guy. I’m not an alien vet, but one ankle is bigger than the other. You really shouldn’t be walking right now.” His voice was steady as she spoke. “Come on. Let's get you inside before the men in black arrive.” More words he couldn’t make out, but he followed as she pulled his body. All he knew is that this creature was helping him and aiding him. To kill them now would be wrong.

It felt humiliating as he followed the pack of humans. He could smell the smell of other creatures everywhere. Large hoofed animals were fenced grazing on grass, what felt like forever, but they slowly made their way inside. “Get some towels, lay them on Recess’s old bed!” She barked out the order, the two males followed her orders. He watched as they laid more cloth in what appeared to be an area of rest. The soft bed creaked at his weight. He sat there watching them intensely. The male handed him a bag, inside of it were all his items. He touched his retractable blades key pad but as soon as he did so smoke came out of it. He stomped his foot, cursing in his language. Of all the luck. The three humans looked at each other and quickly huddled up. The youngling quietly slipped on his mask, its setting already to its most basic setting. He watched closely as their language was translated in front of him, his specific years on this miserable hunk of rock at least could help him. “What the hell, why did you give him those things? He could pretend we didn’t know where they went! What if they call some mothership!” A male exclaimed, trying to hush his voice. The other interjected “ it's just a dagger and some weird arm thing and helmet! Maybe he won’t kill us or humanity if he just gives his stuff back to Darek!” He lashed out. “ Shut up the both of you! We may be the only ones stopping some alien take over. These guys got to be smart enough to see we’re helping! Darek for once you’re not a complete dumbass” she said. They could feel the aliens stare. Its clicking as his head was cocked to the side. The three unhuddled and felt a shiver of fear rush through them as its voice mimicked their sister “ not a… complete dumbass”; its parroting voice sounded uncanny valley. The three backed up slowly. The Yautja made clicking noises watching them intensely. “What the fuck?” Derek's voice was shaking with fear. Their sister swallowed her fear and slowly approached again. “Can you-can you understand us?” There was a pause again as the alien before them huffed before mimicking her voice again “... Understand?” He watched as her heart rate spiked at the response. She was fearful but he could see she was trying to be brave. He chuffed what sounded like a laugh “dumbass” the two males laughed “oh man…how’s it feel to be man fun of by an alien, sis?” She punched his arm and returned to the alien. She pushed down her feelings and addressed the Unblooded one. “Listen. You’re wounded… I can give you stuff to fix your arm brace thing, but you've got to lay low. Our dad can’t see you. We are trying not to have you dissected by some government guys here.” The alien paused. He debated killing them there but he translated the word “dad” and looked at each of them. He was unfamiliar with the exact look of their species. Pups were easy to know not to kill as their size was quite small. Were these all youngbloods like him and still living with a sire? He felt an honor bond to avoid killing them outright. He nodded, a simple gesture his sire once showed him he picked up from his time on this planet. A sign of agreement. “Good… I don’t know what you guys can eat, but I’ve made chili for the family. Just stay here, I’ll be right back.” With that the three turned and left the room. His wounds stung as he laid down in the soft bed, the burns messed up his cloaking suit, and his arm brace with his communicator inside. Now he had to figure out what to do now. Should he hide low with these young bloods or risk being spotted? He scanned his own ankle. The wound showed not only a sprain but some minor fractures inside the small bones, if he kept walking on it, he surely would risk a lifetime of pain and issues on any fights. Some time passed, and the young female entered. He had a tray of hot food, a cold object, bandages, and some other large objects. “Here, I don’t know if you can eat it, but it's food. Made with meat and beans. I got some fresh dressings and some stuff for your ankle.” She spoke gently as she handed him the tray with the food and bandage. He released his mask and hesitantly ate the food in front of him. He could taste their cooking, far better than any pure ration of dried meat he had. The calories alone could prove to be quite beneficial in his healing process and bringing him back to strength.

He flinched in pain as he felt the cold hit his ankle “ it’ll help the swelling. In a bit I’ll give you a new one and we’ll try on my daddy's old boots. He had a nasty sprained ankle after rolling in a mole hole in the field a few years back” he ate his food watching her as she moved about. He couldn’t help but notice her staring at him, watching intensely. He wanted to swat her away but perhaps if he watched he could formulate a way out of this situation. There were so many risks to stay here willingly. As soon as he was done eating she grabbed the bandages and took a container. He pulled the gauze off him, the wounds scabbed and attached the fabric to his body, peeling felt like agony. He let out a cry of pain. He carefully covered his body and wrapped his wounds. She leaned in again. “Here. Let me.” he grabbed it from him, wrapping it around him. He could feel the new dressing cover the wound that was exposed to the air. He cursed in his language. The wounds were too large and fresh, their regeneration would take about a couple of days at least to heal to an acceptable level. “There, much better. You look like a green mummy.” Every time she approached him he had to stop himself. No, it would be dishonorable. They were young bloods like himself, they were creatures showing aid and hospitality so to turn violent against one would be no better than some animal. The young female left the room, turning back to him before entirely leaving, “Have a good night's sleep. I’m just next door, okay?” He couldn’t understand a word she said without his mask on, but he nodded nonetheless.

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Robin filled her heart with dread. What was she thinking? She saw something fall from the sky from the fields earlier that evening after a long day of chores on the ranch. She saw the object fly into the woods and crash land, thinking it was a meteor that hit Earth. She grabbed her brothers on the work truck to see what fell from the sky at night. They heard the large boom, and a flash of light in the distance in the woods went off. They hurried so quickly to see what it was; to see if there were any fires that started from the blast, and how bad it would be to call the fire department. Instead, they found the alien lying there, his green blood and brunt backup, head bleeding with a twisted ankle. He was running before the blast. Next thing she knew she was grabbing the first aid kit and helping the thing. Now it's in her house. Her father was out on work tonight and wouldn’t be home until super late and won’t leave again until the break of dawn, like he’s been for the last couple days. She felt like all those times as a kid she brought in some hurt opossum baby from the woods into the house without him knowing. Only this thing was much bigger, and stronger than any baby animal.

She saw how its hand easily dented the metal on her dad's truck bed when lashing out. If it could do that to a truck frame, she couldn’t imagine what it could do to them. No she was in too deep. She just had to hope it understood them helping him, which seemed to have worked. She sighed and pulled herself together. She had to focus on what she knew she could do. She can cook, she can clean, she can get herself ready for bed. She cleared up everyone's plates around the house, as she cleaned up the kitchen, her other brother Hermes came in, the shorter of the twins. “ Hey Robin,” he said hesitantly as he scratched the small patch of red beard on his chin. “Are you sure about this? What if Dad finds out? I don’t think he’ll like some big muscled alien in Recess’s old bedroom.” He said with doubt. Robin pushed her wavy red hair out of the way as she worked. “We’re in too deep now. If Dad finds out, you both say it was all me. I like blackmailing you or something.” Her voice was clear with frustration as she spoke. Hermes leaned back and made his way to sit on the kitchen countertop. “ Are you going to say that if some men in black show up? It practically was in our backyard where it landed.” He asked. She looked at him briefly before going back to scrubbing. “Yeah-listen, we’ll figure something out, right? We’ll keep Dad's guns easy access in case it turns on us and we never speak of this again.” At first he thought she was kidding but it slowly dawned on him she was being serious. As kind as she was, she was ruthless when push came to shove. She nodded “Yeah… Coyotes have been coming in close to the ranch lately anyways. They been spooking the horses, and we haven’t got a new mule since Hot Sauce passed away” she nodded back in agreement.

The two awkwardly separate ways as she finished her chores and packed everything away. She made her way, cleaned up, and put on pjs for the night. She started to fall asleep. Her mind was racing with thoughts. But the night felt long as all she could dream of were of aliens and monsters attacking the town, watching as her father and brothers were abducted, and she jolted up. It was only 3:12 a.m. Robin slowly got out of bed, she looked down the hall and saw her father's figure. He laid there sitting up in his recliner, a beer on the table and an empty bowl of food. His snore echoed in the house. She slowly crept her way back to the room where the guest was curious if he was still in the room or if everything a few hours ago was nothing more than a dream. She slowly opened the door, as she opened the door she saw him laying on his back. His small eyes closed as it barely made a sound, with a creek, the creature shot up, grabbing its knife, ready for an attack, and then pausing.

She slowly moved her way into the room, her voice hushed, “Sorry to wake you.” She held out her hands and he slowly retracted his posture and her voice in a hushed tone. ”I’ll just…” she slowly made her way out of the room. Robin put her body against the door and calmed herself down. Yeah, I have an alien in my house and hiding it away from dad…it wasn’t some crazy dream, and it hasn’t run away yet. She slowly backed away from the door to her room. She laid back down her head spinning with thoughts and ideas. She couldn’t sleep a wink. Every creak of the house, she wondered if it was just the house settling or the alien.

Eventually, at 5 a.m. hit. She heard movement. She quickly dashed up to see what it was in the living room. She saw her father in the living room just packing his morning things. He turned his anxious-looking daughter, “Whoa there, girly! What are ya coming in here like that for?” He laughed “you forget when I’m up?” She ran over and hugged him. “ no. I just thought it was Darek going to eat the last cereal I already called dibs on” she felt her dad rustle her long wavy hair “ you know that boy loves to sleep in like a rock. It's nice to see you honey. Sorry for coming in so late. The paramedic shift last night has been long and we are short staffed” she let go of him and fixed her hair. “ Wild night? Let me guess, someone said ‘it's a quiet night’ again?” He laughed, rolling his eyes “Yeah, the rookie actually did. It was… not a good night. We got a lot of calls about some wild animal attacks- Also our neighbor kept calling and left a voicemail about some explosion? None of my firefighters buddies said anything.” He looked at her worried, “Oh, that! No, I think someone was blowing up some stuff in the woods! We looked and saw some stuff messed up, but no one was hurt, and there wasn’t any fire. So we didn’t call anyone. I think they were just some bored teenagers. Kinda sucks cuz I’d love to see something like that.” she admitted. Her father looked at her disapprovingly. She tried to correct herself, “I know, I know you see enough people hurt and you already worry about us, and seen some nasty injuries from dumb stuff people do.” She sighed. Her dad smiled at her, “Well I’m glad you guys are okay. I’m glad your brothers took over the ranch and watched you while I’m out there.” He admitted to her. She quickly went to the pile of mail on the kitchen table, pulled out some letters, and handed them to him to read “Reminds me! I was accepted to college for a vet degree and Mrs.Shirey said once I get further in my program I can shadow her! I can not only be the onsite vet for a lot of things but also make a bunch of money specializing in horses by helping the other ranches.” He looked at the papers and laughed “You’re mom would have been proud. I’m glad you all have been working so hard for your dreams, but I never want you to feel like you have to keep up your mom's dreams, sweety.” She nodded, “I love horses, Dad! I love working with them. I couldn't imagine not having one.” He tousled her hair, and just then, he got a call on his phone. As soon as he answered, his face was serious, and he walked away from her.

“Yeah… okay….are you sure we can’t find anyone else to-okay okay… understood. I’ll clock back in about 45 minutes.” His face looked tired, and he rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I have to get going again. Another emergency call about an animal attack.” He started making his way to the fridge and pulled out an energy drink, a nasty habit of caffeine only keeping his body running some days. “Please be careful out there on the ranch. Its on the opposite side of the town. It's been happening but still. Whatever it is may wander out here.” She nodded and hugged him.”I will dad, go save some lives okay?” With that she watched as her father left with only a lunch box and caffeinated drink.

Chapter Text

Robin and her brothers, once her dad was gone, had to divvy up alien babysitting while working the Ranch. Her brothers had usually laid out the manual labor of laying out the horse feed, cleaning the poop and rebedding the stalls while their sister worked with the horses themselves. Their chores lay out perfectly in sync with one another, like a well-oiled machine that gave them all plenty of free time to train and exercise the horses and maintain them. The day however was off. Their dad’s schedule was already shot, and no one knew when he would be back. Robin was stuck in the morning watching the big green guy, as promised, she handed him a soldering gun from her father's garage. She cleaned up his wounds and threw out his old bandages in the garbage to be taken to the dump later. The alien took it, looking it over. The device was simple enough, producing enough heat to melt wires. His bracer already damaged, he removed the casing and began to inspect the internal mechanism. Main parts of his system were damaged as any work he could do would be a botch job. Parts of the equipment directly tied to his bracer were damaged, and the blast short-circuited some vital parts of it. He was lucky it didn’t trigger the self-destruct protocol. The portion that was with direct communication to his kind was completely fried, but the processing units for the cloaking suit and the releasing mechanism to release the blades still worked. Part of his cloak was destroyed along his back from the blast so that may not work.

He began to work with his hands, trying to rework the wiring inside. Each time he rewired spark from the bracer would fly, almost over loading the processing units more. The Unblooded Yautja cursed; if he wasn’t careful, this whole thing might explode. Robin, feeling tired from the sleepless night, found herself nodding off before hearing a chopper fly overhead. The two of them stopped what they were doing, their heads following along the direction the sound went. Robin recognized it right away where it was headed. She quickly grabbed her phone, and before she could call any of her brothers, they were already calling her “ Hey sis. Keep the dog inside. I think the police or military are looking for those teenagers who almost burned down the woods. You know how spooked he can get. Don’t let him bolt, okay?” She almost slipped as she realized right away what was being said “Yeah he heard it, I’ll keep him in the room.” She hung up. She never knew if they would be tapping any of their phones. She slowly made her way to the window by the bed, slowly peaking out. The alien watched, slowly setting down the soldering gun. His instincts to stay quiet kicked in as he slowly moved to the window, placing his helmet on, peering only slightly to gain visual.

Zooming in he could see the same two young men from before. A vehicle in the distance started to approach. two land and another flying one. Their voices barely picked up due to the glass. No clear translation could be made. They must have triangulated the explosion of his ship and investigated like his new caretakers did. Only this time he saw the guns on them, the vehicles had their own weapons mounted and all of them appeared to have armor as well. He watched as Robin slowly backed away “army guys… fuck.” The hunter slowly backed up. He was trying to think if he killed them now he could die in at least a fight, but the wounds were great. His back stiffening from the burns healing, his ankle would only slow him down and reduce any climbing abilities. All he had was nothing but a helmet and dagger, not even an invisibility cloak. Part of him wanted the challenge but he wanted to see his true strength and capabilities at his peak against these creatures. He had to make a decision. Fight now or recover to fight another day.

He ultimately decided to lay low, the cowardly way. The both of them looked over to the door as they heard loud banging from outside “ UNITED STATES MILITARY. ANYONE INSIDE THIS BUILDING ARE TO OPEN UP AND EXIST THE PREMISES FOR SEARCH OF POSSIBLE NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS.” The man's voice shouted. “ fuck fuck fuck!” Robin's heart started to race. How the hell would she hide this thing? Put a blanket over him? The alien growled, climbing slowly out of the bed. Robin pushed him to the bed slowly and she had an idea “ I got a plan.” She opened the door grabbing his bracer and looked down the hallway to ensure no one could see them through any windows. She pulled him to a spot and reached up pulling a string from the ceiling “climb up and don’t move or make a sound… two knocks, it's me. You understand. The alien looked at her and nodded. As he climbed the ladder squeeze, ignoring the pain in his ankle as worked his way up. The small space was cramped, filled with boxes and the air was hotter than any other part of the house. As he settled in she tossed up his broken bracer and  put the ladder back up to the short ceiling “I'M COMING! I JUST NEEDED TO GET DRESSED!” she yelled. He patiently listened in, using his helmet to see through an old unattached A/C vent.

She ran to the door and opened it. Military men came rushing in. A man stood at the entrance way. “Did you know there was a massive explosion practically in your backyard?” The team leader asked her. She nodded, “ Yeah, it was bizarre. We didn’t see any fires or anything. I thought it was some teenagers in the woods.” The man looked at her with suspicion. “Did you see anything unusual before the explosion, ma’am?” She shook her head.  “I heard something but we were busy finishing up some work late last night.” What felt like forever the men raided her home, she saw them turn over furniture, open every cupboard they had, bedroom. It wasn’t long before the military team made their way back outside. “All clear. No signs of any explosives or unusual suspects, Sir.” Each man moved past her to exist outside again. If she said anything now, she surely would be charged with aiding in a possibly dangerous alien species. Even if he is injured and without a ship she could be in big trouble. The team leader took his walkie and spoke into it, “Team Alpha to Team Beta. Stories match, no signs of anything in the house. Out.”  A beep rang through, and the walkie-talkie came through, “Team Beta to Team Alpha: just some horses in the barn. No signals or signs of anything. All clear here. Out.” The man looked at her and around. Without a word, they left the building. Robin felt her legs start to feel weak. She closed the door and looked over the mess they had made in her home. She looked out the window and watched as they continued to go around the property. “ fuck. Just leave already.” She heard the creature above her start to move, the beams of the roof's floor creaking as he moved. She hoped to God they didn’t somehow hear him up there. As soon as she saw the vehicles start to leave, she approached the attic's panel. Luckily for them whoever was searching didn’t bother to crane their neck up. Robin took a broom and tapped twice before pulling down the attic ladder.  She made her way up, “Come on. They’re gone now.” She heard the creaking as he poked his head through, searching for any signs of the other humans around. The creature climbed down, holding its hand over the dagger at its side, looking around.

Her brother came in and the creature whipped the blade, almost letting go before he heard the familiar voice.”You guys okay in here?” Robin touched the arm of the alien trying to get him to put away his weapon “Yeah we’re fine. You?” Hermes followed behind his forehead full of sweat from manual labor and the sun. “Yeah. Spooked the horses, some guy also got kicked in the head. They really did a number on here, huh?” He looked around as he saw all their belongings turned upside down.” He said as he kicked one of the coach seats laid on the floor. Darek was quick to start checking to make sure everything wasn’t broken. All three felt their childhood home had just gone through a home invasion. They looked at their new guest, Hermes, full of thoughts as reality started to set in more. “Hey Robin. Can we talk a bit… alone?” He waved for her to come over and opened the door to the outside. The predator watched as the two went on a small vehicle out to the building in the far distance. He felt pissed off because he couldn't tell what they were discussing. “You know he’s just being a good big brother. We figured some guys in uniform would knock. Listen, my twin and I have been thinking… maybe when you get better, our family and you just go our separate ways. You can go somewhere else that isn’t going to have some government feds checking for aliens.”  The Yuatja nodded, giving a chuff. Darek felt a wave of relief. “Good… glad we have an understanding.” 

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She was roped away from the house by her brother. He was silent at first, and she watched as he drove to the barn. “Listen, Robin. We think as your older brothers. When that… thing… is better. It has to go.” Her face scrunched up, she knew there would be this happening “But he has nowhere to go. He has nothing.” She pleaded. “Exactly. We can barely afford the ranch on Dad's paycheck and ours. You’re heading to college soon. It's not fair to us or that it-him to be stuck in a room.” He argued his case to her. “Listen, you said that he's… smart. I wanted to think it was just parroting, but I think it's actually learning English in less than 24 hours. I just have a bad feeling about this is all.” She looked to the side, not wanting to look him in the eye. He was right, she too had a bad feeling, but she doubled down in her sunk cost fallacy. “I just… I feel bad. What if he can’t get home?” Her voice was full of concern. Hermes pressed his lips, trying to stop himself from being too blunt with her. He sighed to center himself before talking “I know you care. I really do. But something that smart will figure out a way to get home.  Probably highjack some radio station, I don’t know. All I know is we can’t keep doing this. We can’t babysit an alien, take care of the horses, you go to school and all while keeping dad in the Dark about it!” She felt guilty at his words. Her dad tried so hard the last couple years to watch over her and the ranch after their mom passed. The last thing we wanted was him to be scared or upset. “Okay.” She sighed, knowing there wasn’t enough room for her leg to stand on. “Good now as the adult here, for bringing in that thing. You’re going to help me shovel some horse shit while I play with the horses.” She sighed. She loved the animals but the poop and piss they had in their stalls was the worst. She would rather be taking care of the horses, training them, or better yet, riding them. 

All she worked cleaning up the barn, washing areas that were in major need. She toiled away, sweating until the job was done. The two finally finished up. They could hear passing helicopters every so often bass by. Making their way back and forth from the explosion site. When they arrived, they saw their father's truck parked in the dirt driveway. Slowly the approached in both holding their breath as they entered. “Oh there you guys are!” He hugged them both “oh someone reek of horses more than usual? Robin that you?” She rolled her eyes “Yeah I need a shower. Sorry dad.” Her tired body was still running on fumes from a lack of sleep. She moved past him eyeing the shared hallway bathroom. As she moved away Hermes looked at his dad who dropped his smile. “Darek told me the Military was here for that explosion and he’s been cleaning since they came in. I want you all to have your go bags ready and the trailer hitched at all times for the horses in case they tell us it's time to leave, okay?” His tone was serious, as always, their dad was steps ahead of any of them. Hermes and Darek for being older than Robin were only just 22, while both had more responsibilities and a hard-working attitude they lacked moments like these is what reminds him how much he still has to learn to be an adult. Things like emergency evacuation bags and learning not to follow your kid's sister into a truck after seeing something fall from the sky into the backwoods. Hermes sighed as he felt the guilt building up, watching as his dad, clearly was still tired tried to push himself more. “Yeah. Why don’t you go to bed? I’ll cook tonight and prep some mornings to make breakfast for you.” He offered. His dad smiled, rubbing his eyes. “Actually, they are making me take the next two days off. Too many back-to-backs here. The bright side of being older in the job is that you stay this long; they actually try to keep you sticking around a bit more.” He laughed. 

It was in no time the whole family went about their night. It was strange but their dad never once mentioned his day. He always loved talking about the wild and crazy things he saw expect for the exceeding sad and stressful calls. The kids had years of experience and lots of training by their late mother to not ask him. The Once their dad was in his bedroom, they could hear his snoring through the door. All the siblings looked at each other, hightailing it to their eldest brother's room. The young Yautja with a soldering gun in hand and now more tools and fresh wire courtesy of his hosts, when suddenly he heard two light knocks and all three of them entered. He stared at them all, who started to huddle around him. Darek put his arms around both his siblings. “Okay, team. Game plan. Dad's home for a couple of days. Big guy, you are under house arrest.” He whispered just in case their dad could hear them. The alien looked at them and just continued his work, ignoring them all. Robin folded her arms. “What if they do give us a emergency evac like dad said. What we do with him?” She pointed. Hermes pulled his brother's arm off himself. “We will have no time, so sneak the guy since we’re in charge of the horses. We can try to hide him with them? Or worse case: we just tell Dad and try to have him agree to smuggle in an alien the size of a grown man and then some. It's not easy decision.” Robin felt guilty, unsure of what to do. Their house guest wasn’t butting in for sure. His attention was on whatever was so important with that arm brace.

The trio spent forever going back and forth, while he tried to work. He took off his bio mask to look at the wiring closely. He could only catch a fee words here and there of what they were all barking about, their tones lowered still annoyed the crap out of him. His anger built up as the brace still refused to work. It wasn’t even functional as a weapon; the mechanism for the blades were messed up and the ends of the blades were fully retracted into the body. After what felt like forever, he was able to make his stand to make them go away. he heard footsteps start to go. He sighed in relief. Just as he thought the pesky creatures had left he felt something touch his shoulder. He pulled back, thinking it was about to be an attack, but then saw it was the human female. She spoke but all he could pick up was the word “sorry” he heard before. He cuffed and put the bracer and tool down in front of him. He then felt the touch of her hand on his locks. He looked at her and slowly grabbed her hand, he brushed his finger along it for a second, he could feel where her smooth skin came hardened on some spots but not others, callouses on her hands from daily tasks. She slowly reached over, placing his hand against hers, comparing the sizes, she grabbed at his fingertips, touching the claws. He then watched as her hand slowly approached his face, and he pulled back, and she paused. He had to remind stories of their intelligence and curiosity, much like his own kind. After all, once his ankle healed he should have his things working okay enough to contact his kind and notify an enforcer, it's not like doing any harm or breaking any codes. He slowly reapproached, he felt and watched as she touched the manibles of his face, slowly and gently, but only for a couple of seconds before pulling her hand away.  She watched as she came closer, the bottom part of her face touched his forehead, but he could clearly understand her next words, “I’m sorry for all this.” He watched as she left the room. He wondered if it was a custom of her kind to show regret and ask for forgiveness. Whatever the case may be, he found it strange.

Chapter Text

Robin quickly left the room. She grabbed her biggest plus and shoved her face into it, she felt the heat of embarrassment on her face. “What was that? Why did I kiss his forehead?"she muttered to herself. Her mind kept replaying it: the texture of his hands, locks and how let her touch his face a bit. It was strange, how she just accepted it. She closed her eyes and replayed the curiosity he had for her. Realization struck her, the feeling she hasn’t had in a while. She tried to shake off this feeling with logic but it was no good. She will just have to wait and see if it’ll ever  just go away on its own or linger. The restless 24 hours finally caught up with her faster than she realized as her mind wandered about feelings she succumbed to a deep sleep. 

When she came to, she realized the time was much later than normal. Her body felt sore. As she went to start her day, tiredly she went to grab the door to check on the alien guest but she found herself too embarrassed to do so. Her hand hovered over the door knob for a second before pulling away. He’s a big alien guy… we don’t need to check on him. He’s probably sleeping or working on that thing again. As she went to walk away she caught her dad out the corner of her eyes “ Hey honey bunch. You miss your big brother huh?” He said as he approached her. He put his hand on her shoulder “I told him a bit what's going on with the explosive and military. Big guy actually for once wanted to be home and said he missed all the action. Can you believe that?” She said, “Yeah? Big guy was kicked in the head too many times.” She giggled in response, as her dad rolled his eyes. The two walked together and her dad started pulling out a large skillet for breakfast. It was nice for Robin. He usually has early enough shifts for the day he never has time to cook for everyone. It was a nice break of pace for the both of them. “Hey dad can you make some extra? I’m feeling extra sore and could need the extra protein and calories.” She asked him, hoping it would be enough to fool him. “Um sure?” He replied. 

The twins emerged from their room smelling food. “Aw sick! Dads cooking? Sorry Robin you’re fired, a real chef has entered the kitchen!” Darek said in a boisterous tone. Walking by to the fridge he ruffled his sister's hair. Robin tried swatting him away and fixing her hair. Hermes was behind and sat down. Darek came over with four glasses and poured each of them some orange juice, and then proceeded to get everyone a mug as well and pour some coffee and set out the creamer and sugar on the table. “Man, it's been a while since you cooked pops! I miss it.” Darek said with a smile. Everything was going picture perfect for the family as they prepared, then sat down for breakfast. All ideally chattering about. Then a ball drop of a question happened “So dad, what’s going on with that  animal attack you were called on for? You were gone for a while.” Robin asked her dad as she ate. Her stiffened up, and sighed “I don’t know what it was and I don’t want to talk about that one right now.” He said softly with the discomfort plain in his voice. Robin pressed her lips feeling guilty for asking. “Sorry I didn’t realize it was that bad." She apologized to him. The silence filled the air,  down the hall they could hear a growl in the room and a crash. The three of them looked at each other and their dad “Soooo dad! What is it like to be-” Darek said trying to fill the air from silence “-what was that?” Their dad asked with concern. “NOTHING!” All three said in union. The jig was up, as he got up, all three tried to distract him, get in his way or pull him but it was no use. “Dad, you gotta understand. We were going to tell you. I swear-”a bold-faced lie by Hermes. All of a sudden, their Dad opened the door. He saw nothing. He walked in and all he saw were some of his tools and wires on the bed. “What are you guys building?” As he looked back, the three of them looked doubtful and found “We ahhh.. been trying to make something for Recess for Christmas before Robin's was too busy at college. It's a big surprise.” Hermes spoke up.

Their dad scratched his head, unsure to believe it. “Okay… well please do it in the garage. The last thing we need is the house to burn down.” He spoke leaving the room. The three of them tried to play it off cool. “ Yeah! Of course.” Robin laughed trying to hide her nerves. As her father went back to the kitchen she went inside the room. She touched the soldering gun sadly, but as soon as she turned around she could see something. It was hard to see but it was the edge of an invisible silhouette behind the door. She approached slowly. Amazed that such technology could exist. She felt like it was the same clarity as glass or crystal clear water. She approached him, silently watching her, his hand touching her face and then lip in a hush manner. As soon as the hand left her, she nodded. Watching his exact location as she left the room.

For the Unblooded his luck by fate was far more mysterious. He cursed at himself for not being quiet like he was before. But this time he finally made progress after hours of working with limited and barely compatible technology. His cloak, for the first time since being on this miserable planet, worked, but short-circuited and dropped. He just couldn't help expressing his anger. Out of sheer luck his cloak controls sparked and worked again at least temporarily, everything was too close for comfort. By what test were the gods putting in through? He sat down, carefully. The pain in his ankle was still there. It wasn’t long he could hear her out there. He sat and watched as she carefully came in. “I brought you some breakfast.” She said as soon as the door closed, she put the food down. She went to touch his brace and pulled back. “Oh! Sorry. Your kind has stuff I've never seen before, I can’t believe you were invisible. I get why ships maybe but why… you? Wait! Have you visited Earth before? Oh god, are abduction stories from my weird uncle true?” She threw question after question at him, her tone excited and nervous. He sighed after her relentless questions. This time, as he spoke, he was no longer solely mimicking anyone's voice but attempted to speak her tongue, “My kind visited… before.” His voice was harsh and low. Robin felt surprised by him; this was the first time she heard not her own voice.

She had so many questions, such little time before he would leave. She noticed how his back, which would put a person in the hospital for a couple of weeks, was already healing much faster than she thought. Soon the new skin would be nothing more than a burn scar on his back and legs in a couple of days.He stayed silent after his answer, raising some concerns. “ What do… you do here on Earth?” She asked carefully, suddenly all the butterflies in her stomach from the crush was just that, crushed with reality hitting them. Suddenly she looked less human like she could see all the differences between them. He paused and then just spoke “...Hunt…” he rasped. She was unsure what exactly that meant by that. But she had to be rational. He hasn’t yet hurt her, and only ever seemed to be unreasonable. She felt that same feeling again. “Do you… hunt any particular animals?” The creature shook its head. It was all technically true; they often didn’t target one species on this planet, so long as it might be a formidable prey. Robin sighed, feeling some relief. 

She looked at him. She felt nervous. God why was she nervous “ I don’t really hunt unless we have to. Keep boars and coyotes away- I do work with animals. I- uhh would love to show you to the horses and show you what I do. It's hard to explain to an alien.” She felt mouth running again. The more nervous she felt the worse it felt to not talk. But he looked at her with his head cocked to the side, only saying “yes” he wondered what these creatures were, ones she killed and only seeing the hoofed ones outside wondered why they kept them. They appeared large and they made no sense why to keep them.  She smiled “I uhhh hate to piss my brothers off any more than I have. Let me check with them on it really fast, okay?” She got up and ran out of the room. 

Robin made her way to the living room where her brothers were helping clean up after breakfast. The two looked at her and paused, looking over their shoulder to see if dad was in earshot. “Is it… still there?” Darek whispered. “Yeah he got some invisibility cloak working? So I wanted to see… can we show him the horses? He’s been cooped up in there for a while? Pleaseee,” She asked and pleaded. The older brothers  looked at each other with concerns on their face thinking and saying “Invisable?” She nodded simply in response. Both looked around, double-checking their father wasn’t around as they quickly finished their chores. The brothers looked around, deciding to walk outside where their father couldn’t hear them at all. “ Robin what you mean by invisible you mean like it has some scifi cloaking device?” Hermes asked. She nodded and proceeded to explain some of the questions were answered. Leaving the two uneasy. Darek “An alien race comes to Earth to hunt stuff? Huh. You think they hunt like just anything on here or like do the weird rich people thing and hunt lions on preserves?” Darek asked. Hermes on the other hand was less relaxed than his other siblings “I don’t trust it. Listen. It hasn’t hurt us yet but what if they do hunt more than just animals here? We don’t know because this thing has just been accepted for survival. I’m gonna say the quiet part outloud: what it it betrays us? We shouldn’t let it out of the room until it's healed.” He said with conviction.

Robin pushed her hair back and sighed, “He’s been nice so far, grumpy for sure, but I don’t think it's going to betray us.” Her voice was strong in her opinion. Darek scratched his head and looked at his brother. “Look, I don’t think the big guy will betray us, I think maybe  we should let it have some free time. Dad’s never in the barn on the first day back home, plus the military calmed down. This thing can now just go invisible! It’ll be so much easier to hide. “ he admitted. Hermes, feeling he has been outvoted, sighed, “Fine… but I want you to carry your pistol around this thing, Robin.” She nodded. The trio made their way back inside Hermes gave her his personal pistol from his gun safe and holster. It felt weird like it was no longer a sign of trust, but I hoped the creature wouldn’t know what its purpose was for. 

As she approached the door she lightly tapped on the door before coming in. The creature on the bed waited patiently, his body relaxed seeing her presence. He found it odd this one was growing on him. Even in her constant questioning he found it something enjoyable. But his demeanor for her quickly changed as his helmet picked up and located a human weapon on her waist. “Okay good news big guy: you’re going to the barn for some fun.” He got up to walk and ignore the pain like he’s done before. Robin realizing this wouldn’t be a quick walk opener her brother closed and pulled out his old wooden bo staff from karate handing it to him. The alien looked over the simple weapon, shifting his weight relieving the pressure. “We can also try the boot-” she tried to suggest before being cut off by a simple “no” uttered by the creature. He pushed her out of the way, making his way outside. He needed to get out of this dwelling and explore, his primal urge to move and take action was getting the better of him and his patience to hide and wait waning . She pushed in front of him and he growled at her, she put her hands up “ woah there big guy. I still need to check if there’s anyone out there” he pushed past her, turning on his cloak.

She followed suit and sighed “This way” she waved for him to follow, she walked over a smaller vehicle than the one he was brought in. She patted the seat for him to sit, slowly he complied with the request. The vehicle quickly took them to a building off in the distance. The wind felt like relief to him to be outside and feel the warmth and sun. He could see on his helmet as they approached a building several heat signatures of large hoofed creatures from before. 

As he entered the building, he decloaked all the horses, making noises of disapproval and fear, as each one of them tried to get away from the alien. “Woah, woah!” He watched as the human made her way to the creatures. She approached them, and she was able to calm each one down. The alien curious watched as she was able to calm them down and not just instill fear. She looked at each stall and made her way to one feed cell. She put on headgear and mounted it onto the animal, opening the gate that led the creature out. She waved her arms again as the creature at first whined trying to move away from him, she was able to pull the creature in with confidence. She shoved the reins into his hands as she grabbed a chair for grooming and placed it down. “You can sit here if you want. Just stay back while I work with these guys.”  The Yautja chuffed and leaned onto the bo staff like a walking stick. 

He heard of how humans used other animals besides for hunting: breeding for food, companionship, entertainment, work, and to ride long distances. He watched as she led the horse. It started off slow. She used the rope as a lead as the animal spun in circles around her, with a sound she made, she changed its direction to spin the other way. She made another similar but different sound and it spun in the opposite direction. Then, with a sound, it stopped. “Good boy. Are you ready?” She directed it, the creature was larger than her but she used its saddle to hoist herself up onto its back. With little effort, the horse accepted her as his rider. It shook its head and started to trot. “Whoa! Not so fast, bud.” She pulled its reins, and its trot slowed down. The alien watched intently, wondering to itself how they managed to take control of such a beast. In the large open room, he watched as she then took control and allowed him to pick up the pace. With every sound she made the horse complied. Only every so often she had to repeat her request, pull the reins in more and redirect where to do.. She approached him on horseback, looking down at him, “Howdy partner,” she laughed. The alien had its head cocked to the side watching her. She quickly got off the animal. The horse looked at her awaiting what to do next, she patted the creature on its head which deepened its affections. “You’re such a big softy for me.” Its mouth is playing with her braided hair. She pulled its face in closer, its ears back clearly skittish of the stranger creatures coming near him. “Pet him, he should know you’re not going to hurt him.” The alien slowly held its hand out and touched the animal's fur, it tried to back away at first but then gave a sound of self soothing it slowly leaned in more into his hand. “These guys are kinda easy to spook, sometimes they are scared of their own farts so don’t feel bad if they decide to freak out.” She said as she petted the creature alongside him. “Bolt likes you. He’s our most stable horse. Do you want to try riding?” She looked over at him, before she saw as he slowly made his way to the side of the creature. She held onto the reins and watched as he easily lifted himself up. While she looked small on the biggest horse they had, he looked perfect in size. 

For the next hour, she trained both her horse and the alien on riding. The alien was quick to pick up the commands. Robin at first worked on guiding the two from the floor, holding the reins, but slowly showed him how to apply pressure and use his feet to give directions as well as sound commands. Bolt was excellent the whole way and excited to have so many treats for training. After a bit she left the alien and horse along and grabbed another horse. As strange as the creature was, she calmed down Arrow, a mare that was a bit smaller but easier to climb on. Arrow was spunky. Despite her commands, she wanted to trot and run. “Arrow you little shit! Ugh. This is why no one loves you, you big hunk of glue.”  The horse finally calmed down enough that she got a good lead on her.

The two approached him side by side. “Sorry, she’s a bit much; she loves to run and take action, but the beginning when we handle her is always the worst. After you remind her YOU’RE in charge, she's pretty good. Each one of these guys have different personalities and handle a bit differently. You just gotta know how to read ‘em.” With a kick, she simply commanded up speed. Arrow exceedingly complied, shaking her head in excitement as she ran around the ring. Bolt, wanting to follow, shook his head, huffing and whining. The young Yautja could sense the animal's urge to follow, and with a motion, commanded it to pick up speed. He could see the horse's heart racing with his mask balancing and braving his body in rhythm with the animal. He couldn’t describe it but he found it all the more exciting, as if he were the one running. A few more laps around the ring, she led her horse to slow down, it whined and shook its head wanting to return to the run. His horse followed suit, much calmer. “You’re pretty good at handling for your first time. You having fun?” She asked. The alien simply chuffed. At that time, her brothers showed up. Darek and Hermes both looked amazed at the sight they saw.

Chapter Text

There was something on the saddle. His kind found creatures for the use of hunting such as tracking, or wearing down prey, some clans even used great fearful creatures as part of battle entertainments and proofs of strength. Through the time in the barn watching the siblings work the animals he found how they did it. He watched how the humans could establish dominance and leadership over a large creature such as this, and made the animals learn to go against its natural instinct. Each command and strange behavior the animals became quicker and quicker at its task He noticed how unlike his kind where animals were forced to obey via force and create absolute submission the humans created a system of rewards for expected behaviors and working along side its natural behaviors. 

It reminded him how his kind treated many animals outside of hunting, the worst by far was by Badbloods completely hijacking the animals natural state with technology to use to their own means. Turning even the most docile animal into a killing machine, all due to the potential they could have. He watched as the humans did strange things and how the animal, while frightened at first slowly became less so, simple methods of how to apply ropes and repetitive tasks and rewards created a willingness to comply. The system seemed weak at first but he saw for himself some of the benefits. At the end if the day as much as they may name call them for disobeying they still respected them. 

“Alright, guys, time for Harley. Come on, big guy, let Bolt have a break.” Darek spoke, he grabbed the reins from the alien. The young Yautja huffed, getting off carefully. “ Alright out of the ring too” he demanded. Taking the house away from him. He looked over, he saw Robin with a horse no bigger than the one she was riding earlier. This one, however, was making a fuss; it kept whining and shaking its head . As soon as it hit the ring, something about its language had Robin at ease. She held her hand and then a stick to create room. The Yautja watched intensely when he heard the two men behind him “we’re trying to break that one for a while now. Some days she's good, other days she just wants to kick your face for getting too excited to go. Looks like it's one of those days huh?” Darek shouted the last sentence at his sister. They watched as Robin worked the horse from bucking, high energy to agitated but calmer. The boys knew they would be her eyes in case something ever happened to her. Without warning the alien leap over the fence, its walking stick in hand taking the stick from her. 

Robin and her brother all did a double-take. “Okay, big guy. You want to try? I’ll walk you through it. Also you need this.” She said, having him piece of rag and tying it to the stick she had. To create distance, He chuffed as she walked away. The horse became excited again only it stayed far from the ring, pacing looking around over and over. “Make some noise! Get her attention by waving the flag.” He made a click and Harley whipped around to look, waiting for the flag “now put it away, keep pretending like you’re part of her herd and you’re alert for danger! She's looking for other horses” the alien tried again and after a few times he saw the horse get closer to him, her heart rate started to relax and her body relaxed. “ Pretty good! Now go in and see if she will let you touch her by slowly approaching her,  now you can build some more trust.” He reached out and touched the side of the creature, he huffed, pushing its body more into his hand. The bristle fur running along his hand. Every command he listened to intensely, like any other training session for battle.

As the horse calmed down, he noticed how it followed him, wanting to take his lead. “Aw, you did so good, big guy.” Darker laughed. “Never thought I’d see a space cowboy. Maybe we can teach you how to lasso while riding, or take in some jumps?” Darek egged on. The alien looked at him, almost confused. Robin from the other side of the fence, “I’ll show some more moves tomorrow.” Robin left her brothers behind to drive their alien home. Its invisibility cloak flicked on and off, concerning her as he got in, “That thing doesn’t seem reliable,” she commented. When they pulled up, she carefully opened the door for him and had him follow her lead. The hulking creature was still invisible but gave a slight shimmer to his appearance. She looked in and saw her father dead asleep on the couch. His body ran ragged from too many shifts and not enough breaks, plus his age was catching up to him. She opened the shared bathroom hall and whispered, “You probably want a shower?” She carefully came in and showed him the knobs, changing the heat sittings and quickly left.

The young Unblooded took in the room, the door closed. He huffed, feeling the skin on his cover in the planet's dirt and grim, and his own blood. As he tried to take off his thermal regulating set suit. He cursed as he took off and revealed that the entire back was cut off where the burns were. His lower half, covered in metal and leather, was also dirty from the same issue. He felt on high alert as he stripped off his entire outfit. He carefully entered the showering/bathing area. The whole place was covered in bottles, all dispensing strong scented liquid, as he rubbed his fingers he saw how it lathered. None of their written language made sense. As he felt cleaned he finished up and, feeling the towels he figured their purpose quickly and prepared himself to be dressed appropriately at least. He went to turn on his cloak, it sparkling from the humid air. He let out a curse in his native tongue. He heard a small knock “you okay in there?” Another spark released it was back up again. He opened the door and pushed past Robin, quickly making a break to the room, closing the door behind him. Another knock she again was there. He felt like she was not leaving him alone, almost growling at her when he saw the bo staff in her hands, “Here… you left this.” She said.

He held the staff, looking back at it and then her. He saw her heart beat start to increase. The whole day it was at a normal relaxed rate but anytime he was around she seemed to be nervous. Just why was she hanging around so much? Obligation? Suspicion? It started to bother him how invested this creature became to him but he also respected her bravery. His voice was low and raspy as he attempted her language, “Why?” The question threw her off. “I saw you were in pain trying to stand.  I  hate for you to be in any more pain, that burn on your back looked really bad. I just thought you needed some help.” He huffed and looked away from her, making his way to the bed, plopping his weight onto the mattress the frame cried out with his weight. “Listen… It's the right thing to do. My dad. He’s an EMT. He taught me if I see someone hurt, bleeding out or in need of a hand I could do something.” The creature didn’t say anything, which made her feel more nervous. He watched his mask pick up her anxiety more.

Robin, trying to fight the feeling. “ I also wanted to show you some cool things. Like this.” She approached her brother's closet, reached deep inside of the thing and pulled out his old crossbow and arrows and a box of his old throwing blades and throwing stars. She went to show him how it worked, but the alien quickly reached over to the crossbow, quickly reloading it as if it was nothing. She felt uneasy about how quickly he understood how the weapon worked. “Oh … you already know how to use that? Well, what about these?” She showed him the box. He carefully grabbed three and held them in his hand. Looking over the throwing star she thought she found something to show him. However he looked over to the old bulls eye her brother left out, and with a flick of the wrist he sent all three in his hand hitting the target perfectly. “Oh.” That was all she could muster. He took off the mask and revealed his face, clicking from his mouth as he looked at her. Unsure what to do now she bites her lip “ I’m sure my brother won’t mind you having them. He left them behind, and I can always buy him something new.” She felt the wave of embarrassment overtook her brain. “ I should probably let you rest up here. Just let me know if you need anything, and knock on this wall, I’m right next door.”  She said with a smile, approaching him and knocking softly at the wall.

She turned to face him she saw as the creature's hand extended out to her, her heart skipped a beat.  All dropped as he didn’t grab her hand like she had hoped. Instead, she saw him grab her gun. She went to grab his hand, but quickly saw him aim the crossbow at her. “Why?” he repeated. She tried to calm herself down, freaking out the turn of events. All this time, she thought he had no idea what a gun was. “I-I was told to wear it. I wasn’t going to, I swear.” She raised her arm up as he took the gun from her, looking over the weapon. His honor wouldn’t allow him to kill her after her hospitality but he questioned why all of them suddenly adorned those weapons. “My brothers… I said your kind hunted here. He felt better if we just had something to protect ourselves. I mean you bent the metal of our truck.” He slowly lowered the crossbow down, tossing her the weapon back. She caught it, thanking the safety. She was confused if it meant he trusted her again? She placed it back in the holster on her waist.

She reached out to him slowly, placing her hand on his shoulder. He flinched, grabbing the cross bow tighter. “ I’m not going to hurt you big guy.” She said softly. The creature sighed, watching as she once again touched his locks and then slowly his face. She felt her heart race and pulled away afraid he would lash out at her. Instead his yellowish brown eyes looked at her and watched her every movement looked almost human in nature. “I’ll leave you alone.” Robin said awkwardly.  As she left the room she leaned against the door. Every chance she felt like she was getting over this crush it just kept coming back. She never had one this hard and strong before, usually guys started acting stupid as soon as they met her brothers and say something rude. He didn’t say much of anything, he was angry and growling but showed a lot of patience. She didn’t know his name; she didn't know if she could even pronounce it if she did. He was frustrated with herself more than anything.

Robin was so immersed in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice her dad standing there in the hallway. “Robin? Pumpkin? You okay?” He asked as concern plastered his face. She moved off the door and over to him and gave him a hug. “Yeah, Dad. I um…. just met some guy. It's been alot of fucking thinking. You know?.” She said with a frown. There was no way to explain to him the alien under his house's roof, the deal they made, or what even happened. “First of all language! Where’d you get such a fucking sailor mouth?” He joked. She laughed at her dad's corny joke, elbowing him in the side. “Shut up! I learned it from you!” She laughed. “I thought your high school boy drama days were over. What's the problem with this one? Does he have a girlfriend already? Or is he some bad influence I need to worry about? You know what? Why don’t you tell me about the boy's troubles and help me at the feed store? “ I don't," she looked back at the room he was in, biting her lip in worry. “Come on, that project can wait, just let the boys know you’re gonna be with me for a bit.” His voice was full of fatherly encouragement and reassurance. Robin looked at her dad and felt guilty if she didn’t take on father-daughter bonding time. “ Okay,” she agreed, quickly texting Hermes.

Robin: {going to feed the supply with dad. Big guy is clean and in the room. Check in later.}

Hermes: {. . .}

As they made their way to the car, she quickly put her phone on silent and into her bag, deciding to ignore her brother's text. She was certain it was going to be a paragraph anyway. For now, she needed to get away. As soon as they get in the pick up he patted her  shoulder, starting the car “ So tell me, I thought you said when you turned 18 you were totally over all your teen drama and ready to start college.” He joked at her. She smirked and rolled her eyes “Okay maybe you were right. Some things don’t change magically just because it's your birthday.” Both of them laughed together.

“ So what's this guy's deal, darling?“ he asked with a sincere concern. He knew it wasn’t her first rodeo of heartbreak, but it still hurt him every time watching her heart get broken. “He’s in town only for a short while. He’s patient and really smart and likes hunting. But I don’t think he likes me like that or I guess won’t? I keep telling my brain it's best if we stay friends. I like him, but it's one of those ‘this won't work out for either of us' type of situation. Like, it's best if you don’t do anything or shit might blow up in your face” She confessed.

Her dad laughed, “That's a tough one. Why not tell him? Are you afraid of the whole long-distance thing people do now? Or he isn't single?” he asked. Robin looked outside the window and sighed, “No, it's not that. I don’t think he sees me like that. We only just met and it’d be a lot. I’m just waiting for him to leave just so my brain gets over this crush and move on." Her voice was sad as she talked. She could feel her father's comforting pats leaning over carefully before pulling back as he drove into town. “Well, I’m glad you’re trying to be mature and respectful towards others and take their feelings into consideration. But who knows what will happen? Maybe you stay friends for years and you find someone else or he might just like you back. I’m not saying go full confession and marry the guy. Just let him know you might be interested and see how he feels. Sometimes, assuming what others think isn’t healthy.” He was optimistic and caring. She smiled, thankful to God that he ended up being her dad. 

Robin felt better staying with her dad. Once they arrived at the feed store at the other end of town. She put her gun in the truck's lockbox for safety, and seeing no need since it was just the local feed shop they always went to. The owners and patrons all knew each other, plus she needed to help lift everything without it being in the way. The two had their shopping day out as father and daughter, adventures like she had a kid. They started purchasing all the store supplies they needed. The pallet cart was full of feed, salt, enrichment toys, and horse grooming basics. Her dad stayed on the ground as she hopped up in the bed of the truck, helping place it onto the bed and stack the bags. Her ear caught something different than the cicadas in summer. An all too familiar sound. She couldn’t believe it, thinking her mind was playing tricks on her as soon as she got down from the truck and went inside the. Her father started the car and drove. “Perfect! Now, as always, a sweet treat for our little adventure, I can swing by that new coffee shop if you want. Robin….Robin?” He looked at her, confused. “You see something?” He asked. Robin was still staring at the shimmering figure in the trees. Her eyes squinted at all too familiar, but this time it looked much taller and leaner than the one she knew. Hit was looking directly at them, just standing up in the trees. “No… um-I thought I saw a hawk or something. Why don’t we get that coffee?” 

Chapter Text

The evening went smooth as they had made their way back to the ranch. The whole night Robin felt weird to try to talk to the big guy. She felt like she was already annoying him enough. If her brothers found out he aimed a cross bow at her even for a second she shuttered to think that would happen. She laid at night thinking about the day. He seemed to blow off some steam but also agitated and still so annoyed. Her mind kept thinking of the alien she saw. The shimmering figure up in the trees. It for sure wasn’t the same alien they were keeping as a house guest. It was slimmer in build but far taller. ‘Was he looking for him? ‘She thought, her brain optimistic and sad that a search and rescue would make him time over short. ‘It was cool when it lasted. Maybe we can take the truck over there tomorrow.’ Robin remained hopeful that she was doing the right thing. 

She woke up to the sound of a door slamming in the middle of  the night. Robin bolted up, looking out her window to see her dad get into his pick up and start to leave. Her eyes still blurry. She looked at the time on her phone ‘3:37 a.m’ she sighed, laying back down. It was nice her dad had time off while it lasted. He might have been called in for an emergency, it was strange…what was going on? Why couldn’t they get someone else to take the shift? Was something bad happening? She pulled up the local news website, and social media pages. Nothing. She then heard the sounds of helicopters in the distance over her house starting to move further away. She threw her pillow over her face and groaned. “It’s way too early for this! “ complained in her pillow. She checked her phone again…nothing. No alerts anywhere.

As soon as her eyes drifted back and the sounds were easing she heard a knocking at the door. Robin didn’t even bother to check the time as she stumbled out of bed, dragging her feet. She opened the door to see her two brothers all dressed up and ready for the day “What time is it?” She spoke tiredly, rubbing her eyes. There wasn’t any daylight hitting her windows and her alarm didn’t go off yet. “It’s way too fucking early thats what. Dad called and said he needs us across town to Mr.Harrows Ranch and bring the trailers." Robin's heart sank, the guys were nice and huge in the local equestrian community with a large breeding facility and huge training for both racing and olympic level horse related sports.”Is he okay?” The brothers looked at each other and then her “He was killed in the middle of the night and so were some other people in their homes. There was one survivor.  He said not to bring you. We will be let on scene to get the horses and go.” Darek admitted. His face was with concern and fear. A thought popped up in my head. “Wait, are we keeping them or do we need to look for volunteers to house them? I can help call around who can-.” She was suddenly interrupted" There's only two left…the others are dead too.” Hermes' face looked upset, not his normal ‘I’m tired of this bullshit’ upset either. ‘What type of psycho shit-?’ She thought.

“We’ll talk about it later, dad says its important to be head over there now.” Darek yawned.  She had her arms crossed feeling uneasy they were going to some psychos murder scene. She followed the two towards the car “Hey don’t forget your gun, okay? I don’t need to lose any more family.” She said trying to joke but her face plastered with worry. “You too sis” as they all exchanged a quick “ I love you” departure she felt suddenly eerily uneasy in the house alone. No dad, no brothers or family. Her mind felt uneasy feeling so alone, until she remembered her guest.

She locked the door and hugged herself as she walked to that very room. Her eyes still tired but her mind felt un easy.Her heart pounded in her chest feeling worried she was just going to wake him or find him sleeping.As she slowly opened the door, she used her phone screen as a dim flash light in the dark room. She found him in the dark, the soft glow of her phone revealing him sleeping. His arms crossed as he sat up in the bed. All his tools and weapons right by his side. Looking at him calmed her down a bit. His size and attitude felt  strangely safe? Maybe it was knowing there was some killer on the loose but she rather be in a room with this alien anyday that face being alone.She berated herself mentally for using him like some kind of comfort person. He wasn’t even awake, but the thought of leaving the room. ‘What if whoever killed Mr.Harrow and his horses made their way here?’ She slowly sat down onto the floor. She took one of the pillows he kicked off and placed her head down the lull of sleep hitting her like a ton of bricks.

She didn’t know how long it had been. She woke up to being poked by something. “ 5 more minutes.” She whined. The hard object poked her again as she heard some clicking “ ugh stop it.” She grabbed what ever it was and push it away. The next thing felt warm pressing against her stomach. She grabbed it and as she released what/who it was it was too late. She felt like the air was being pushed out of her by his massive foot “ okay okay! I’m awake.” He shifted his weight off her stomach and made a noise that sounded sorta like a laugh. He paused before, poking her again with the staff.” Why” voice asked.

It felt embarrassing to say out loud to the alien. ‘There's no harm in omitting the full truth right? He’s smart he can figure it out’ she thought. She sighed, adjusting her body in a sitting position. Before she could get up he squatted in front of her staring him face to face. Her back literally against the wall. She expected his face snarling and angry looking.. well more angry looking than usual, “ I um… My dad and brothers had to leave last night. I didn’t feel like being alone. Sorry for sneaking in. My brothers should be back.” She went to get up but found herself uncomfortably close to the hulking alien. She tried to politely get him to get the hint but he didn’t budge. “...Training”  he growled. ‘He must be asking about the horses’ she thought to herself trying to decipher him. nodded “yeah we can do that big guy.” She gave him an encouraging smile.

Suddenly her memory of the other day came flooding back. The seed of worry and doubt started to creep up. No. Just talk to him. He’ll tell you to worry right? “Oh…um- god I don’t even know your name- I saw someone yesterday while I was out!” the creature cocked its head to the side, twitching his mandibles about as if thinking. “It was one of your kind I think-” within a second the creature roared, turning around kicking the bed. The metal bar splitting and the whole thing launching up. She didn’t expect that kind of reaction. She leaned back against the wall, he was clearly cursing in his own language to himself. He turned over to her. He could tell she was scared without ever needing his mask to watch her heart rate. Her body was shaking in fear.

The worst case scenario was confirmed. There’s no possible way it isn’t the very same bad blood who chased him. He must have assumed he was dead and taken up camp to hunt the area. He grabbed his bio mask and checked his ankle again. The fractures were less intense, pain was less intense but it meant it was also his weak spot in combat. If he had a couple more days.He had to calm down,anger is a blade that could either kill your enemies or yourself. He looked at the frightened human, the temporary ally still recovering from seeing his outburst. Speaking the foreign tongue “where?” He huffed, he watched as she bravely got up and inched closer, closing the space between them. “.....why?” He simply asked to return the question back.He didn’t know what words to use, describe the dishonor bad bloods carried in his kind and the danger that they could pose to even their own kind. Manics and yet still cowards who kill with no honor, no respect for the creatures they kill. Maddened by the lust for killing they try anything. “Hunt” He pointed at himself, and slowly then to her. He prayed to his creators she could understand it.

Robin stared at him trying to process everything. Suddenly remembering where she saw him. ‘Mr. Harrow… on the other side of town. Feeds supply is-”Then sudden fear hit, she made her way to brothers and fathers rooms. Each door revealed no one there. She opened the window and didn’t see their trucks anywhere. She looked at the time at the microwave clock. ‘No they should have been home a couple hours ago for two horses.’She headed back to the guest room and grabbed her phone.

{Missed call Hermes}

{Missed call Darek}

{Missed cal Darek}

{Dad: late shift be home in the morning}

She fumbled her phone calling Hermes. The line on the other end rang and rang. Eventually sent to voice mail. She tried again and nothing. Then tried to call Dareks' phone but nothing happened either. “Come on!” She called a third time “we’re sorry the number you reached has been disconnected.” Confusion stuck. What was going on? She tried calling her dad but the same thing happened. She tried calling her dads boss, asking him where he was. But her phone completely stopped making calls. “What the fuck is going on?” She cursed. The alien peered over and watched her panic. She felt so alone, no one in her family, no one who could offer any help but.. him.

She approached the creature. Feeling overwhelmed, tears started to well up. Feeling completely helpless, she just needed someone, anyone. She found herself closing in, hecwemt to move figuring she wanted to move past him. Instead he found her entire body against his, her arms around his torso. He went to shove her off of him, his anger already at a boiling point. Her arms squeezed around him. He saw on his mask the heart rate monitor and her elevated levels started to lower. She was using him to sooth herself? Embraces weren't uncommon amongst young pups and mothers, as his kind ages out though they must learn how to deal with fear on their own. Every part of his culture screamed to push away, but remembered what he knew of humans. They were creatures that form strong bonds to even others they have no clan to, enemies can become allies in mere seconds solely on principle of being the same species, or defense of animals they favored. He felt dumb for not realizing why she was so social towards him even when she didn't need to be. In the short time he stayed he found she had bonded to him and socially held him close to one of her own.

He slowly put his hand on her back, after a second he felt her breath against him deepen. Her chest drastically moved as he felt her breath against his torso. The embrace deepened at even the smallest touch. Robin had been fighting away her tears trying not to burst out into full tears. She wanted to stay against him, his large stature and muscles felt comforting. He was someone bigger than her and strong. She didn’t realize the breath she was holding until he placed his hand on her back. At first she thought it was him going to rip her off of him, but instead it was a gentle placement, the pressure simply stayed in place. She started to feel her mind panic less and her head becoming more clear. She gave another sigh before slowly pulling away from the towering alien, she wiped away a couple of tears “I needed that… thank you.” Her voice felt shaky. She hated how it sounded when crying. She felt his hand still on her back, feeling the heat of her face start to form. If it wasn’t for the scenario she was in and the worry about her brothers she would have crumbled being against him. All her brains buzzing mosquitos of a crash was long gone in her head. Now was not the time to play with such feelings.   

She held her breath and said “I have no car and my brothers might be missing or worse…I don’t know what to do.” She admitted. The creature chuffed, finally moving his hand from her back, he started to move to the bedroom, gathering his things. “What are you doing?” She asked. She knew already deep down what he was planning. She watched as he grabbed the bracer, the throwing stars and crow bow and arrows. He looked like he wanted to go to war. “Please… let me go with you. I can take you through the old trails. We can take the horses, it'll be faster.” She spoke, her voice becoming more steady. She didn't know what to do if people saw an alien riding a horse but she didn’t want to be left alone. The alien nodded , all its gear strapped and onto his back and he saw down on the broken bed.

Robin took it as his sign ‘I’m waiting’ and quickly got dressed and packed her bag with essentials: water, food, basic first aid. The supplies were lower due to their first encounter but something was better than nothing. She hollistered her gun and packed a box of bullets. She approached him, boots slamming on the floor. “ We can take the back path that cuts through the cow fields to go east. Come on, I’ll show you.” She looked around and saw no signs of the military again. They had been flying overhead, but seem to have taken up camp? The last thing she wanted was to get caught with the bug guy. As usual his cloaking device barely worked. After a quick feeding and letting them free roam outside with access to food and water. She prepared their horses; blanket, saddle, and reins. For good measure she grabbed the rope for lassoing and placed it on each horse.”in case a bull gets any ideas.” She stated.

The young Yautja lifted himself onto the creature he rode yesterday. Feeling relief on his ankle sitting up. As they made their way to the back of the property at the far corners into the woods. Seeing no signs he uncloaked himself to reserve energy. Finally some familiarity. The sounds and scent of nature eased his mind, guiding the creature alone as she rode in front. “You know… I never got your name. You have a name?” She asked, trying to kill time. He huffed and growled, saying something “ Oz-az-shit that's hard to say. There's a lot of uh sounds I can’t make. Can I give you one?”she asked but he didn’t respond. “How about something cool? Like Jet? Cuz you know jet like a ship and you’re always hot-hot headed… always so grumpy!” The last part of her sentence slipped. ‘What was that. Stupid. Dumb. Ahhhh’ she cursed at herself mentally. To her surprise he huffed “okay” behind her. She let go of her breath she was holding, expecting him to be grumpy and growl in disapproval. “Okay Jet it is.”

The hours dragged on, still no cell working cell. Robin hoped it was just an error on her dads part not paying the phone bill. Her riding partner also wasn’t the most talkative. She tried asking him everything she could think of: where are you from? What is the name of your species? Why that alien guy want you dead, like do they all kill each other for hunting sport?She barely got anything out of him but the name of him kind as "Yautja" and then a whole lot of what sounded like noises, unsure if its just noise they make or part of his language. Robin eventually gave up try to cox something out him. 'Are they all as quiet as him or was he just not a talkative guy? ' she thought to herself. Robin wondered if thats why the crush was sticking, maybe unlike most guys he hasn't said anything outright rude or dumb, just growls and literal hissy fits. Her mind  went back to the morning. His skin against hers, his hand on her'-no stay focused.' She told herself, it wasn't time to just day dream.

Eventually they left the trail completely into the woods, only relying on overgrown paths no one used anymore. The deeper and deeper they went the more concerned she got if she was better staying home. They made their way past houses along the way. Robin was ideally just leading the horse when the horse suddenly got more skittish. Jet whipped around looking all over before. Robin tried to calm down her horse but out of nowhere her horse was on its back legs making wild sounds of fear, then proceeding to buck her off. “Ah!” Robin shouted as she couldn’t hold on anymore. She tried grabbing something but all she got was the lasso. The lop that held it suddenly snapped and she was on the ground, avoiding getting trampled. All she saw next was her horse run off into the woods, and felt herself suddenly scooped up by Jet off the ground, old Bolt trying to run alongside her horse. She heard the beasts low roar. 

Chapter Text

It was early in the morning. Hermes woke up to a call from his dad. his voice was urgent, “Hermes! I know it's late and you boys aren't used to this, but I need you to get the trailer over to Mr.Harrows. I just dropped off a patient at the hospital. The sheriff should bring you both the horses.” Hermes felt like a wall of information was thrown at him way too early in the morning to process. He yawned, wiping the crust off his eyes. “What? Right now? What happened?” He asked, trying to understand what was going on. Mr.Harrow was his mentor in a lot of ways in his teens, there always was plenty of onsite.  “Mr.Harrow was killed,  Hermes..I have the sheriff waiting after I said you two could help pick up the horses for them to finish the crime scene.” He said his voice was more stressed than usual. “Okay okay Dad. Calm down, we‘ll get over there and be at the ranch in about an hour.”

Hermes got up, walking to his twin's bedroom, pulling the blanket off his brother. Who immediately recoiled as if the Arctic winters hit his body,” Come on, get up,  get ready to go,” he started, maybe factually. His twin groaned, “I just wanna sleep! Why?!” he whined.” Dad said we gotta go. “As by a sudden bolt of lightning strike, he was up “Dad called us?” His voice was surprised. Hermes sighed, as he explained everything their dad told him.

The horse trailer only took a couple of minutes; faster than normal. As soon as they informed their sister, they were on the road. It was supposed to be an easy job. The horses should already be ready to go and ready to be loaded at the edge of the property alongside the cops. The two sat in the car, energy drinks in hand and music to wake up to. But when the boys pulled up they didn't see the cops, instead, outside the property became a military checkpoint. Darek immediately reached over and turned down the music to talk.

“What the hell?” Darek exclaimed. There were 2 armored vehicles, a helicopter, and almost two dozen soldiers. “It's the United States, but.. I don’t recognize that uniform pattern.” Hermes said. The two looked at each other and in unison “Men in Black?!”. As they slowly pulled up on the road in front of them were three men, two on the side pointed their guns and flashlights at the truck approaching while the one in the middle held up his hand. The old vehicle came to a noisy halt, and Hermes rolled down his window. “This area is off limits! State your purpose!” The man in the middle exclaimed. Hermes turned a bit and shouted out “We were told to-” meanwhile Darek's attention was spent focused elsewhere.

He watched in the distance two people handling the horses they were sent to get. One was limping and clearly injured. He thought to himself how they can just pick up the horses and leave, Hermes was good at talking more serious stuff then he was. The horses were tied to a post in the building spot lights and the men who were handling them started walking away. “‘What the?” But he watched in horror as in the spot lights he saw two men pull up their gun. “No” BANG. BANG.” WHAT THE FUCK?” he yelled. Hermes covered his ear from the sudden outburst. “Ah! Darek, what the hell man? I’m trying to talk here-” but he was quickly interrupted “-they killed the horses! That sound was them shooting them,” Darek interrupted. As soon as their squabbling started they found themselves with guns from pointed point-blank.

“What do we have here?” A man's voice cut through the air low and rough. His face wasn’t hard for the boys to forget. Sargent Stanford. The same man from the other day was questioning them. “My my my isn’t it Tweedledee and Tweedledum. You know the whole twins are a package deal is cute when you’re little it gets a little weird when you get older. Stand back, lower your weapons.” He barked. Behind him was a woman labeled K-9 on her vest, handling a Belgian Malinois with an armored tackle vest of its own. “Should we check them, sir?” She asked. He chuckled, “Sure, why not?” He approached, and the man by Hermes' window moved out of the way. “ Let me make this clear, son. I find it funny we keep meeting, but I hope to God Almighty I don’t see you or your red-haired family again. There better be a good reason-”

"Sir, we have a hit.” The man looked confused and looked at her. With a wave of his hand, the twins found themselves at gunpoint again.

“Hit the truck bed.” She started. He looked over the bed, seeing flicks that looked like chunks of dried dark green. Then he noticed the bent crunch up metal. The way it curbed inward, looking like grooves collecting to one big spot. He swear he could almost see the fucking hand print. No. He was already suspicious they had involvement or knowledge after that explosion. Lucky for them, a US military report located another aircraft that didn’t go sky high on the opposite side of town. Stanford slowly walked over “ well well well. Those rookies clearly need more training. You boys are hiding something, ain’t ya?”

It wasn’t long before they were forced out of the truck, their phones and guns put into one of the armored trucks far away from them.  Both were kneeling on the floor with guns pointed. “Where is it?” The two looked at him with fear. It wasn’t long before Darek broke down. Hermes looked at him with determination. “I don’t know what you mean,” he said through his teeth. The hulk Sargent laughed “Oh my my- you two really think you’re playing with a little E.T  don’t ya? Stand up. Let me do a little show and tell,” He barked. They were forced to stand with guns at their backs. Walking through the ranch gates. “I’ve met one of them before, back in the Iraq war in 2007. Gave me this scar, but I killed that ugly fucker. I won’t give in details what happened to my unit when it showed up, but just say these things ain’t all cuddly little creatures.” As they approached the large barn, they could smell the foul stench of fresh blood. Skinned and crushed animals and people strung up by ropes. It was enough to make Darek hurl, while Hermes choked, trying to hold it in. They both tried to turn their heads away, but the man grabbed their heads, forcing them to face it. “That’s all just one. Massive fuckers hunting anything they want. Imagine if more came what they do to us. Invasion of killers slaughtering us for sport.” His voice was right in their ears.

“Now boys-” his hands let go and let them look away. “Tell me where you’re hiding it.” Stanford commanded. Both of them tried to regain themselves from what they saw, the pools of blood soaking the soil and the stench making it harder to think. Darek was trying to rationalize what he just saw. The last couple days the creature he saw wasn’t killing anything, sure was angry but also showed gentleness especially at his sister. Hermes looked like he was at his own battle and internal struggle. ‘Maybe he was right, maybe it was going to just betray us’ Darek thought. The silence in the room felt deafening. “It’s… in our house.” Hermes admitted breaking the silence. The Sargent laughed loudly “I fucking knew there was something up. How’d you hide it? Let me guess, put it in the attic?” He sighed after laughing, taking a cigarette and smoking it. “Alright then. Ramirez, take these two to the base for more questioning. Be alert, and radio for any sightings along the way. We have one contact in this area and another unidentified creature as well. Once these two boys tell us more intel, we can go hunting on our own.” He took a long draw from his smoke and exhaled.

It wasn’t long before the two were shoved into an armored vehicle. The two brothers sat across from each other, as one other person with a gun sat at the back. “Don’t worry, guys, we're only going to ask you some questions.” Ramirez said as she started the vehicle. “I know Sargent Stanford is big and scary, but he’s just looking to keep people safe.” The two kept silent trying to compose themselves from the events, trying to push back the flooding anxiety. “If it makes you feel better, all of us in this unit have encounters with them.” She said, trying to coax them out of being scared. Darek looked up and looked between the two. “I was 10 in Detroit in 2010. My dad was a drug dealer. Hell I was in a shitty little gang, doing stupid shit with my homies like graffiti and stealing alcohol from the gas stations.” She said with a smile. “I watched my dad and his homies from inside, the real gang shit got together, they started beefing and fighting with each other in the yard at night. Then out of nowhere one of those things just showed up. Killed them all right there.” Her face dropped a smile. The silence became louder before she spoke again “police said it was just gang violence. We got evicted and everything right after. The whole thing is just a cover-up. I thought to myself… if they could be middle of the fucking city and get away with it….what the fuck can I do? You know? Like all this shit is real and we all are here to get them the fuck out of our territory.” 

“Me and my buddies up in Georgia, fucking middle of summer all hot as shit. We had a farm, not like y’all have, but you know.” How it is…coyotes found the hen house. We tried setting traps and shit and nothing worked. I invited my friends to go hunting and figured we'd get some good pelts…. and then-” he cut himself off. There were no words that needed to be spoken. The story just faded out. “Now I feel it’s your turn to share, boys.” She said her voice was smooth like honey. Darek looked at his brother and shook his head. He was unsure if they should even say anything, as soon as Hermes started Darek chimed in “We-” “- why did you guys kill the remaining horses?!” He asked loudly, overshadowing his brother. 

Hermes' face scolded his brother, angry he was interrupted. The guy with the gun pointed it at Darek. “Calm down.” He commanded. Darek realized just frantically he spoke, she relaxed back down and leaned against the wall of the truck “I saw you kill the horses from Mr. Harrow's ranch. They didn’t do anything but survive.” He quietly spoke. The gun slowly lowered his gun. “They were in the way of our mission. We can't babysit some animals.” He spoke frankly. Darek's face was angry and full of disgust. ‘They still didn’t deserve that,’  he thought. Hermes relaxed. “How much longer to the camp?” He asked. “About another 45, it’s gonna get bumpy.” Hermes knew the tale they were taking. “You’re in the old summer camp? Aren’t you?” The two didn’t answer. It was too obvious.

The twins knew the trails and roads well in their small town. Back in the 1980s the camp was closed due to contamination in the small lake. There were always fights between the old cow farms and the EPA about the run off from animals across the way. No one could sell that damn property with all the legal issues tied up with it. The trails were overgrown and the asphalt broken down to nothing but gravel and dirt after decades of no maintenance. The twins would hitch rides with their friends to go exploring back in their teens for fun and drink beers, daring each other to go swimming in the disgusting waters. In hindsight luckily no one ever was brave enough to do it. Only teens and the occasional hunter try to go near that area.

“It must be boring out here in the sticks. I bet an alien coming down from Mars was pretty exciting. I’m curious how the hell you are alive.” Ramirez commented. “Yeah well for such great hunters how the fuck are any of you guys alive?” Hermes sat back.  He could start to feel the truck become more bumpy, jolting more often as the suspension adjusts to the new terrain. Cracks of small sprouts of trees as the vehicle moves over them. They are officially no longer on any major roads. Ramirez laughed “Yeah I ask that shit everyday. Some of us were lucky, we didn’t get spotted, hid and got away or like Sarg’s luck was able to kill one of them. “ she spoke plainly. She was getting annoyed, trying to find their angle. Figure out why they were hiding and protecting it. One seemed more empathic, the other one thought… he almost cracked a minute ago.” So does your sister know?” She asked. “What the-” Darek uttered. “Oh, honey, you don’t think we’d do a little background check? Make some portfolios of you and your little family? I memorized the files of all those surrounding site A from the mission, just in case it showed up.” She boasted.

“You’re Darek and Hermes, owners of your late mother's Ranch. Your sister just got accepted to college for a vet program, congrats on that. And your dad is an EMT who quite honestly should just retire and find a new job because let's face it, Ranches and Horses are far too expensive to run, am I right?” Ramirez smirked looking in her back mirror.’ Right on the money’ she thought. Just then she saw it, she started slowing down looking into the tree “where are you son of a bitch?” Her eyes squinted as she scanned the trees. They both could hear a noise coming from the side. A large BAM, hit the side of the vehicle almost tipping ir over “FUCK” their guard almost falling on his face, Hermes body jolted forward and barely catching himself. The vehicle started going faster “I gotta shake this thing off of us before it gets to camp.” They felt the vehicle turn to the left and into a new trail, far more dense and uneven. Another BANG. This time, a white object pierced through the haul of the truck, impaling their guard before pulling back.

“Holy shit! What is that?” Darek exclaimed. Hermes grabbed the man's gun from his body. “Whatever it is, it's after us. Ramirez grabbed the walkie, “Ramírez to base. Contacts found. Vehicle being pursued is taking a different route, sending out location now.” She tried to keep herself steady. The trail pitched up and she floored the grass. She felt another slam into the back of the vehicle, pushing it more and more. “Shit!” The armored truck was being pushed off to the edge of a cliff to the right of the trail with the forest floor 25 ft below. The twins grabbed whatever they could. Trying to avoid being impaled too. Another ram into the truck and sure enough it cut through the metal like it was nothing. They heard the cracks and wails of the metal as it was pulled apart. They say a creature almost a mix between rhino and boar, it roared loudly as it rammed again pushing them down off the cliff. The two men rolled down, landing into the soft mud below as the truck became pinned between two trees above them. 

Hermes in pain looked over to see his brother was still breathing and his arm broken and unconscious. He couldn’t feel the pain at first, the adrenaline still pumping in his veins. He heard the sound he heard so many times before. He held his breath as he heard the thud sound coming from above, hitting the armored vehicle. The creature uncloaked itself, reaching down and ripping off the door. It was bigger, its skin red with patterns like a tiger, and its face scarred entirely on its right side. Hermes wanted to scream in pain, wanted to shout and do something, but instead he watched in horror as the woman was pulled out of the vehicle, and its deafening roar echoed as it pulled her spine and skull clean out of her body. The creature looked in his direction before looking to the sides, cloaked again before disappearing again. 

Hermes remembered in the truck, looking into the helmet was a thermal vision ‘the mud! It can see us!’ All that was on his mind was two things : survive, and warn his sister to get away from those things as soon as possible. The sun was starting to rise and the crack of dawn arrived. He slowly and bravely made his way to the vehicle, grabbing his and his brother's confiscated guns and phones. He called her, quietly ringing hoping she would pick up, he called again. Nothing. He tried calling from his brother and still nothing. He tried his dad…and got an answer “Darek?” He heard his dad's voice. He tried to hide and push back his tears he was holding back. Nothing felt more hurtful than to be so scared and hearing his parents voice “dad…  I love you. Please check on Robin. I need you to check on Robin.” His voice struggled to stay steady all while staying as low as it could be “Son? What's going on?” Panic on the other phone rose “I can talk right now but I love you” he said “son-” his dad couldn't continue as he hung up, turning the phones off in case the creature was listening. He had to figure out how to get to safety and get there soon. He slowly made his way to his brother in the cool mud, his only place to hide for the moment. Holding his gun tight in his hands ‘Think think think!’ 

Chapter Text

Jet saw his ally Robin fall off her horse, distracting him from the obvious heat signature approaching quickly. He saw it, a fo’nuk, a juvenile at best too. The hulking creature with rage came charging at them. He ordered his beast to run, bending down and scooping up the human off the floor. She was nothing to him in weight and  behind he heard the crash of the  creature hitting large trees that was near then. Placing Robin in front of him. She  was facing directly in front of him, her legs and arms around him to brace herself as the horse ran.  He could feel her warmth legs around him, so close to him-‘pay attention’  he growled, trying to direct the spooked horse where to run.

“Um, a large rhino thing is looking right at us!” She stated. He could hear it approaching from behind. Thankfully, he made it out to a clearing in the woods. He could see it now. On the creature was an electric collar with chemical injectors no doubt about it. Of course, the Hormone injectors would explain its unprovoked and erratic behavior. These creatures were herbivores, while they were large in size as adults, their thick skin and tusks foraging and defense as well as relative intelligence made them worthy animals to hunt. However their nature is always docile unless provoked by violence, or in this case chemically altered. Nothing but a raging beast. No wonder such devices were banned on prime. The bad blood must use this creature's rage as a distraction or weaken his prey and just swoop in during the confusion rather than hunt head on, disgusting. 

He slowly came out of the foliage to the opening. Its large body was almost twice the size as the horse he was on now. The creature was huffing and puffing, seeing it now Jet saw the scars littering on its body. “ I have an idea” Robin said. Jet looked at her only for a moment before back at the creature, it trying to catch its breath. Surely it's over exhausted, ‘How long has he made this creature rage?’ He thought. “ We can try to hog tie it. I can lasso its  legs and you can distract it and make it run towards you . I’ll use a tree to secure it.” She suggested. The young blood thinking. It could work. They could trap it and disable the collar off the juvenile. Then came another idea….he wondered if it would even be possible.

The creature leaned its tired body against a tree huffing, Robin as this as her chance. She blushed and looked away before kissing the cheek of his helmet “ in case I die, it was nice knowing you.” She moved off of him and hopped off, taking the rope,  and crouching down and making her way to the foliage. Robin snuck carefully making sure the creature didn’t see her. She tried to make the bigger know she could and on the other end of  her rope around the biggest tree she could. Waving to Jet and signaling she was good. 

Jet roared trying to get the creature's attention. It eyed him huffing, digging its feet into the ground like a bull. It belted out guttural sound before charging. Its speed was much faster than he anticipated, both him and the horse narrowly avoiding being trampled. The creature slid across the dirt and mud  whipping around to find him again. It dragged his tracks along the dirt trying to intimidate him, before charging again. As it approached, read with nothing but a dagger in his hand, he thought that at least this death against the beast would be worthy. The creature tripped, crying out as it fell to the floor. “NOW!” Snapping his head, he jumped off the horse and climbed himself on top of the creature. His ankle was crying out in pain. He took his knife and jammed it into the device on its neck, breaking the mechanism and pulled the injectors out of its body. It cried out in pain, echoing out into the woods. Meanwhile Robin had run over, hoping onto Bolt and using him to help quickly tie around the creature's legs faster and for a quick escape. “CATCH!” She shouted. “Tie its legs so it can’t get out!” He threw the injector collar and did just that. The creature huffed and groaned in pain and tiredness. Its breathing calms down more and more before halting to nothing more than low grumbles and moans of pain.

He dismounted himself, checking his ankle as she approached him. Robin looked over to the collar and saw the needles covered in the blood and then back at the beast. “Was that collar controlling it?” She asked. Jet huffed and nodded. She dismounted off Bolt and  walked over inspecting the creature more. “Poor thing. You must have been through so much.” She petted  its rough head, it only weakly moved its head as the chemicals in its body no longer courses through its veins. “What should we do with it? I feel bad it’s been through so much.” She said, touching its head. Jet watched her intensely, her bravery back there , the cunning way she could use such a simple tool to take down a creature this size. If she hunted with him. She surely bring back amazing trophies on her own. 

Jet walked over , the creature reacted in fear as expected. He slowly went over and placed his hand on its head. “...Train…ride” he simply said. She looked at him in surprise “You want to train it to ride it?!? Here I thought I was the crazy one.” She laughed. He quickly located some berries nearby and held it to the creature's mouth, its nose sniffing him intensely picking up on the sweet scent. Its over worked body craving high calorie meals again. Anything was better than starvation. It picked up that the Yautja was not the same one that had beaten and cut it, forcing the collar on its neck. Once calm the Unblooded took its knife and cut the ropes. Robin quickly backed up, worried about being charged again quickly for Bolt. “Holy shit you’re actually doing this now? No game plans or talks just gonna break an alien creature like a horse?” She said in a panic, her tone was joking but her fears were obvious. “...Yeah…” Jet voiced simply. 

He took the boot of berries and moved it left and right, clicking as he did for the horses, giving it as a reward. It only took 3-4 times each way for it to understand the commands. Their intelligence was far superior than a horse. It didn’t take long before he tried to mount himself on top of it. It tried to shake him off but he held on tight. “Alright intergalactic cowboy. How are you gonna steer it?” Jet nodded its head, she realized that there was still the extra rope from Bolts side. “Of course” she threw the rope over and soon he dismounted. Rewarding the creature for its cooperation and making a makeshift rein system. It tried shaking it off but it wasn't working. Jet rewarded it again once it calmed down, accepting its treats. When he ran out Robin found another bundle of raspberries. “So I’m guessing the one you’re looking for put that collar on this big guy? He seems really fucking nice.” She said sarcastically. He jumped again onto the creature testing the short lesson. Just as he hopped, the creature took his commands easily. Maybe it was the weakness or the fear but it took it no time to pick up what he was asking.  

Robin and Jet were able to help guide the alien creature, rewarding it as it walked. Robin noticed it seemed to have similar body language to the horses, its neck down and chewing on food as he slowly moved, a stark difference between the charging tank that went to ram its tusks into them. “So you gonna use this guy to hunt? Chase him down and stuff?” She asked, trying to make up for the silence. He had no response, nothing whatsoever. “Wait… you didn’t- did you just do all this because you wanted to see if you could?” She asked. Still no response “Oh my god, you did! You’re way worse than Recess trying to keep a coyote as a pet! How old are you anyways?” She chastised him. He huffed “...young…Unblooded” he replied. “What the hell does that mean? You have some kind of ‘becoming a man’ thing with your species?” She asked riding alongside him. ‘Does that mean? He’s just like a teenager, or is he my age? ’ She wondered. There was so much she didn’t know. He just chuffed in response, his little “yes” without saying anything at all.

“I’m also… young. I turned 18 not long ago and I'll be on my own soon for college. It still doesn't feel real being considered ‘adult’ by title. You know? Like, I still feel I have so much to learn and explore. So much I want to see where I can go and do it. You know, test myself.” She looked up at him. His haze behind the helmet was difficult to tell but she could tell he was listening. “Unblooded.. test myself.” his words were simple, but it was the most conversation she’s had with him. Robin felt like she understood a bit more what he was saying although unsure what the details inquired. Suddenly the mood felt uneasy, something in the back of her brain felt like something was wrong. As they walked along the trail, she saw bits of metal and tire tracks. 

As they approached Robin saw the pierced metal door laying in the road, and from there a new trail appeared.  from what looked like an armored truck. She could smell the stench of old blood. They followed the tire prints and found a military armored vehicle below. Robine was horrified as she looked over the cliff she saw the two corpses below by the truck. “Oh my god, the one doesn’t have a head,” she whispered. “Trophy.” he said with a click. Moving away slowly. ‘What type of monster just rips off someone's head?’ she thought. “Hold on… I see some mud below, there's someone still alive from that.” The statement caught his attention, he looked around on his helmet but didn’t see anything on his helmet. “They lead to a cave over there. Wait… I know where we’re at now.” She dismounted the bolt, carefully sliding down the slide of the trail down. 

Jet watched as she slowly made her way farther, keeping his eyes out for any possible sign of his enemy. Thrilling at the thought of killing him for good. Eventually he looked over and lost Robin. Curious. Jet got off the beasts, carefully climbing up the trees. His ankle throbbing as he did so, using the staff to steady himself. Eventually he could pick up voices, the men he knew and her.

“Robin! Shhh hide! It's out there!” Hermes grabbed his sister covering her whole Darek used his good arm and smothered her in mud and whispered. She pulled his hand off of her and in the same volume back “First of all don’t point your gun at me, secondly why the fuck are you both out in the woods and I’m assuming with those dead miltary guys? What the fuck happened?” She hissed. “Shh I hear it!” Suddenly she was pulled against the cool cave wall. Jet approached hearing the voices suddenly start to die down, he turned on his cloak and clench his staff. Robin watched from afar as the Yautja slowly entered, his cloak up. They all could hear him up thrillingly and slowly enter the cave. Only by the light from the entrance they could see the shimmers of a figure and the traces of his footsteps. Then suddenly complete silence, as the hulking creature quietly moved into the shadows. The longer he was met with silence the more alert he became. 

There was an eeriness how something as tall as him could move so quietly. She found that her brother's grip only tightened as he moved .  She yanked them off of her letting out a sound of struggle, her steps making a sound that drew his attention. She heard him suddenly start barreling towards her direction with the staff in hand and positioned to strike “IT'S ME!” She shouted, his pace almost stopping on a dime at the recognition of her voice“ My brothers ugh, got mud all over me. You can’t see me or something?” He made a sound she could only describe as his “I’m really annoyed" sound slightly different from the “I want to be left alone” sound but similar. 

She looked over to see her brothers pointed their guns at him, “What are you-” “get away from it Robin….we both got to see what the fuck they can do to people.” Hermes stated. Her mind flashed back to the corpses she saw. “We both got chased by some creature being controlled by someone called a ‘Badblood’ but that doesn’t mean-” Robin’s voice was interrupted “tell us… does your kind hunt humans for sport or some kind of invasion? This is all some act isn’t it?” Hermes asked, his eyes looking at the cave's entrance just in case. Robin looked at him, her face full of hope dropped as he spoke “Yes, hunt humans. Invasion… no.” He spoke honestly. Robin felt guilty, this whole time we had been his defender but here is he admitting to hunting people, her own kind. It felt like a betrayal. She felt dumb for ever convincing herself that his kind were just hunting any other animal on Earth. ‘No, there had to be more’. She put her hand on both their guns and stood in between the two of them “you both are going to have to calm down. Whatever you saw, that's not Jet. He’s been with me the whole time and in fact saved me from being stepped on by some giant alien creature. Give him some credit.” She said with anger behind her voice.

Jet reached touching her shoulder, closing in the space behind her. She could feel his body heat and pressed up behind her. She became internally screaming ‘Ahh why does my brain want this?!?’ The heat rising on her cheeks. Darek looked at his sister, realizing her face and slowly lowered his gun. “What are you doing? Darek!” Hermes said feeling betrayed, outvoted by his own family no less. “Listen bro, I think we should just chill out. Robin’s right, he’s done nothing like the other one. Besides if he was alive or dead we still would be stuck here. Only we wouldn’t have one of their own on our side.” He admitted, putting his head against the cave wall. “Look we all need to figure out how to get out of here, that doesn't help if we’re just fighting each other.” He said. For once Darek was the most reasonable and rational person and kept the peace. 

Robin looked over and realized Darek’s arm was wrapped in a splint. “Darek you okay?” She shook his head “no…I think I have a concussion I passed out from the fall and broke my arm. Hermes somehow got lucky. He waited for me while I came to and helped reset my arm… it still hurts a bit better than bone sticking out,” He mentioned. Hermes looked guilty, almost ashamed that his brother was injured and while he was okay. His gun slowly lowered down.” I swear the family's guardian angel is working overtime right now.”  Robin sighed, resting her head back onto Jet’s chest in a sigh of relief. Her body lingered there for a second. Her eyes closed and she felt his hand slowly move to her forearm, making a purr in his chest. His hand suddenly pulled back, and she felt the wall she was leaning on suddenly back away, almost losing her balance. Robin caught herself before he balanced. 

She whipped around to see Jet start to make his way to the exit. Robin looked at her two brothers and back outside “We have Bolt, and lost Arrow. Are you two okay to ride?” She asked. “Yeah, we're okay. My head hurts, but I should be okay.” Her brother said with a grimace. “I think we’re near the old camp? Do you want to hide out there?” She asked. The men shook their heads."No, there's a bunch more military. They weren’t exactly the friendliest people. They just executed Mr. Harrow's horses all because they didn’t want to deal with them.I think they are going to do something to us.” Darek recalled the event. His brother was more silent. “I think we should go…We can already have some protection.” Darek didn't look at his brother. Robins never saw the two divide before, let alone Darek against what Hermes had to say. She looked and saw his ally was already out of the cave she looked at then and back. “Well you two figure something out..”

“Where are you going?” Hermes asked. “-You’re not going to follow that thing, are you?” She huffed and started walking out. The twins slowly emerged and looked around suspiciously. They saw the giant beast that chased them earlier with a makeshift. “Holy fuck?!? Robin, what the hell? You two caught that thing??”  Darek looked at it amazed and in disbelief. The two slowly talked forward, Jet looked relaxed as he scanned the area over and over he saw no signs of the Bad blood. Although he’s getting tired of the humans' mistrust, the bickering and internal power struggles between her clan. The moment he was about to, she stepped in front. He understood they were her siblings but he rather they fought like normal to decide who is really the one to make decisions. The beast and horse seemed to not have gone too far and in fact up alone the top of the trail was trying to make their way closer. He stopped listening to their constant talking. All that mattered was that he got to kill the Bad Blood. Now he was in his hunting grounds. Now he had an advantage.

He paid the humans no mind as he walked over and mounted on the beast. The creature huffed trying to shake him off again a bit but to no avail. It groaned in annoyance. “I know you big tank, he’s soooo mean. Hey guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up soon. ” he looked down to see her petting the creature. Not long after she started climbing up “ She asked. He looked over to the other two sitting on the horse in tandem, slowly moving away. “ Can you let me up real fast?” Looking back down he should have pushed her down, denied her and given every way to tell her no. But he found himself instead reaching down and pulling her up with one arm up. She was much smaller and lighter than him and easily brought her closer.  Up as she saddled facing him “Thank you. You're really strong. ” she said with a tired smile and her voice low.

Why was he okay with her? Everything told him to just ignore her, but she clearly was able to prove herself. There was something about her taming animals much larger than herself while having the creatures still have free will to work alongside her. There was a respect she had for animals. She had some potential that made him curious. He felt her body closer to his behind him. “ What's your plan?” She asked “Track. Hunt. Kill,” he spoke. Robin should have known the plan was simple. “Me and my brothers are going to find a way to the hospital. It's one this side or town- I guess I-I just wanted to say good luck… don’t die on me, big guy. I really want to get to know more of you.” She reached behind her neck and unclasped a small horseshoe necklace she always wore and put it in his hand. “It's my lucky necklace, in case I don’t see you again. You can keep it to remember me by.” His face was blushing. 

He looked at the trinket. “One more thing. Can I just?” She reached over and placed her hands on his mask, pulling it from his face slowly. “I want to just look at you one more time and do this.” She leaned her face into his, pressing her warm lips against his mandibles. He didn’t understand this display…he watched her as puller away. Was she sorry like before? The placement seemed similar to when his kind touched their… ‘oh’ it hit him like a beast charging at him full speed. The realization hit all her nervousness, the heart rate around him, especially when alone and close, the trinket to remember her. “Bye… I hope to see you again…” she carefully got off the beast, giving it one last petting and scratching before returning to her brothers now in the distance looking back waiting on her. He sat there staring at the jewelry tracing his finger along the simple shaped pendant. 

Chapter Text

It had been some time since he was on this backwater planet. Back then, he was still in his clan. Nothing more than a pup who went out to celebrate his victory after becoming blooded. Everything was the same as last time. Humans unsuspecting him quickly meet their fates to the black warrior. His newest pet was proving to be a good addition. It's raging, slamming into pitiful creatures running, was a great success. All he had to do was watch everything unfold and swoop in for the final blows. Its strength and size easily cut through the metal vehicle like it was nothing. Impressive indeed. He could only imagine how much stronger and more deadly it could become if it were to survive to adulthood. He could kill something more worthy than Earth's creatures.

He had been moving through the trees when he saw it. A human warrior's base. Guns, armor, weaponry, vehicles, and most importantly, prey. He could kill them one by one, but where's the fun in that? No… perhaps his new pet can be tested now. See how fruitful his efforts are to obtain such a beast. He hid further into the tree line, pressing the collar's control to return. It should be somewhere close to where he left it. He leaned back, observing the humans below, watching their repetitive patterns of guarding the area. He waited for his newest creature to come rampaging through, but nothing came. 

Imperially, he pulled out a map to pinpoint its location. The collar was still in the same area he had last left it, but there were no vital signs coming through. There was no way it just up and died on him. Not now. Then a thought appeared, ‘something must have killed it… But what?’ He looked over at the human guards seemingly unresponsive. He knows these creatures. They would gloat over each of their victories, becoming egotistical, making them so much easier to pick off. No, they were on high alert and nothing indicated they were successful. 

He heard a flying vehicle overhead, landing in the middle of the camp. “Sargent! Sir!” Solutes are signs of respect to a single human. The man who excused out was large, albeit a bit older. But he bore a scar, indicating the victory of a battle. He brought his attention back to his pet, cursing, wondering why the hell his beast isn’t  here. Now would be such a beautiful moment of chaos and confusion. So many are already distracted by the flying machine.

He stealthily made his way through the trees to the pinned location. The mature oaks and pines worked perfectly as a canopy catwalk for the forest. Getting closer, he saw no signs of any humans in the dense woods. No signs of anything he knows might have a chance at killing his beast. 

The sun slowly started to set as he went to the clearing. ‘Curious,’ he purred to himself, not even a dead body anywhere. Its dead body surely wouldn't have already cooled off much by now for him not to see it. The Badblood dropped down and walked over to the creature’s collar on the floor.  He picked up the collar and saw distinct markings of a blade. He crouched down, looking at the ground for tracks. Horse…Human…Yautja. He laughed. 

‘That little pup is alive? And working with a little ooman? Oh, I thought I was the dishonorable one~’ he thought. The Unblooded must be completely disparate. Unsurprisingly, he did cause his ship to crash land here. However, that was a cycle ago on this planet. He must have gone and hid to lick his wounds or worse, accepted a human's help. He heard of other Yaitja on rare occasions working alongside a human or worse, even accepting a clan member. Disgusting. Yautjas like that should be the Badbloods for even having the thought cross their minds. 

‘This is what I get for assuming he was dead,’ he sighed. ‘Now, where to find that bug?’ He thought about looking around. He focused on his pets' obvious large tracks. As he followed them outside the main area, he saw the horses' tracks side by side to his prized animal. However, the humans and the pups' tracks just vanish. Things keep getting more interesting indeed. Maybe his older human prey can wait.

He continued to follow the tracks. Eventually, he was the horse, the pup, and several human tracks nearby, where he claimed his trophy. This whole time, he saw multiple human tracks. Seeing his pet and the horse split ways. ‘Interesting,’ he thrilled into a purr. He looked between the two tracks and settled on the humans. As a wicked little plan to catch his prey crossed his mind. 'Let's see how close you feel to your pets.' 

-----------

Roger swallowed his fear facing the biggest scariest thing he ever had to face. His scars and angry demeanor sent fear into almost everyone in the camp. “Sir, if I can speak openly?” Roger asked his superior. Sargent Stanford looked up from his intel papers and report. He knew where this was going all too well, but for now, he’ll play along. “Speak…” he said, drinking his coffee. 

“Ramirez and-----  radioed if they had contact. I know you denied to sense in back up but-” he tried to talk but was cut off” -what you’re asking me to do is to send more men to die. That's what it wants. They all play the same games. Pick off teams one by one, bit by bit until no one survives. They knew we had one of them out there. They knew the risks. No sense of sending more men yet.” Stanford spoke plainly, his raspy  voice cut through Rogers. Roger stood there feeling frustrated. He knew the risks and trained hard to be here but to hear such callousness from his superior was demoralizing. 

He was quickly dismissed and walked to the barracks. He looked over to Ramirez’s empty bed, missing his teammate. Roger had become close to Ramirez since they met. Both grew up in Detroit, so they were familiar with the city's culture and life. While he didn’t grow up the same way, he remembered his own encounter as a kid. 4th of July vacation to the Great Lakes turning into a horror scene.  He went outside to take his mind off it, lighting himself a cigarette. He saw something move in the woods. He fumbled, reaching for his gun. “Ah! Something here! It's here!” He shouted. Two means to look out. He heard a thumping noise, and out of the bushes, a horse came running out. 

The men laughed “what the fuck? Roger, you can't tell a horse from a monster?” They heckled. Roger felt his blood boil. “Of course I can! I just couldn’t see it in the dark. Besides, how do you two idiots not see it or have any motion sensors alert you?" He threw back. The men's faces dropped before releasing something “Hey wait-where’s its rider?”  he asked. 

Roger looked at the horse and saw a full saddle but indeed no rider in sight. He slowly approached to grab the rein. “Hey there, buddy. Woah there!” The horse flung its head around and ears back. He had never handled a horse before. He knew they were pretty trusted creatures almost like dogs to some people. Its size and fact it could trample him or kick him made he way less trusting of the horse. Its body language although unfamiliar he figured it was mighty upset. “You want some apples? Huh? Horses like apples, right?” He quickly grabbed the rein and sighed in relief. It didn't try to kick his head or try to run away and dragged him.

“Hey, nice catch,” a woman's voice rang out.

Rogers looked over to see Haley Haines from his unit. “I just got off of a coms from the ranch incident. They said all the horses were killed by the alien and any surviving horses were killed for liability. Looks like one got out.” She said as she walked closer. Rogers was silent before whispering, “So you heard Ramirez's request for backup?” His voice does not conceal his emotion. Haley petted the horse with ease. “A bit of advice, Green. She was dead by the time she called. An order is an order. There isn’t much I could do if I tried…. huh.” Rogers' anger rose again before being cut off.

“- That brand isn’t from the Harrow Ranch.” She stated.

“What is this about a horse reported at camp? Why is those motion sensors not working?" The Sergeant's voice cut in. It was no surprise he found out. Stanford grabbed the reins and inspected the horse. “Haines check to see if we have any intel on that Ranch with the dead twins' branding. I have a feeling whose horse it is.” His gruff voice said. Haines simply agreed to her task and ran off. “Green, you're in charge of the horse while I figure out something useful and we deploy a search time for reinforcing the camps alarms.” He shoved the reins back into Roger's hand. “Yes, Sir.” Roger nodded. He didn’t know what to do with a horse; he could barely muster the courage to get its reins

He looked around for a spot to tie it up for the time. "Come on? How do you do you-oh it's just following me. Okay. This is much easier than I thought it would be." He awkwardly clicked and whistled, walking the large creature to a spot out of the way. He whistled again trying to manage the horse. That's when he heard it. Almost an echo in the woods of the exact whistle, the hair stood on his neck. Adrenaline kicked in, the realization hit him. It was out to there, taunting him. He held his breath as he slowly reached for his gun. 

'This is it... this is your chance to kill one of those sons of bitches' Roger thought to him. He could hear its clicking sound, the unforgettable sound before they strike. He aimed his weapon at the tree lines, searching for even a hint where it could be. God, he wished they were able to get the drone operators in faster. 

But nothing came. He felt like he was in a stalemate with a ghost; he waited for alarms to blare and gun fire to happen elsewhere in camp, but nothing happened. It was fucking with him. That has to be it. A serial killer from some slasher movie is coming to slaughter its camp goers for fun. Time went by slowly.

He slowly lowered his gun when he suddenly saw several men start making their way to the forest. "Hey wait! It's out there! You can't-" 

"We all know it's out here, Green. Suck it up we have a job to do. Sargent's orders to check on our motion sensors and replace them." One of the 3 men said. Before Roger could say anything, they disappeared into the thick brush. He felt the uneasy feeling as if he just saw them disappear into the arms of death. He went to back away, sudden memories of that July 4ths screams came flooding back. He wasn't supposed to feel this way. Everything became dimmer and harder to concentrate on. His mind was overloaded. Panic attack. He braced himself and tried to refocus.

Five...five things you see: horse, boots, cabins, lake, a firefly. Four...four things you feel: the wood, cloths, hair, dog tag. Three../Three things- his panic was interrupted as he felt a sudden hand on his back. It was Haley again. "You okay? You look like you're gonna pass out." She asked. He stared at her, almost like a mask being put on he smiled "Yeah just... the food has my stomach in knots." He laughed nervously. "Okay? Well Sargent Stanford was right. That horse is from those kids ranch. So that sister of theirs might be dead too. What a shame." she said dryly. Roger was unsure if she was being genuine or just stating a fact.

"Oh by the way. No breaks. Sargent ordered me to tell you in 1:00 hours to be ready. When the motion sensors are fixed we will be using the horse as bait. You'll be the rider." She said plainly. Roger swallowed hard, he felt uncomfortable with the very notion. "Why me?" He asked. Haley shrugged, "I'm just the messenger, man. He said this one clearly likes killing the horses. We'll be behind you as back up so don't worry." Haley rolled her eyes in annoyance as she walked away.

'They want to use me and the horse as bait? This guy is insane...I got to get out of here! Fuck if it's dishonorable!-' He went to move and then the realization hit. He was dead no matter what. Out there there was one if not now two not two of them, out of blood. He slowly stepped back and swallowed trying not to throw up in panic. The hour passed, it was time. "Okay, so motion sensors all are destroyed. We could only replace half of our original. We already contacted HQ for replacements for the mornings deployment of new equipment and special Ops for camp. Bureaucracy be damned for actually approving for once." Haley spoke. As mad at Roger was at his situation and the lack of complete freak out by everyone. Talking to her made him less nervous. Sargent Stanford on the other hand: complete and utter panic inducing force.

"You're mission is simple. You are to walk the South West trail to the location of Ramirez's attack. Get us intel on the damages as well as lure the creature out. A small crew will be positioned at the back to have an eye on the creature and you at all time. Stick to the trails and stay out of the brush. Other wise you're as good as dead and the mission is canceled. You're on your own out there." He ordered.

Rogers climbed on the horse awkwardly. Wishing someone else would be the bait, but he felt like the Sargent didn't want to lose any real men he found useful. He always had it out for him. He technically never did anything wrong or caused any fights but he always felt like the Sargent just hated him since his arrival to HQ. This just felt like an excuse to kill two birds with one stone. He hated to admit it. But at first he felt more reassured as he saw the small ground of men that would be his back up. All experts are hiding and great shots to boot. 

But he quickly learned their definition of "behind" actually meant. His support were positioned to be far as possible so he be nothing more an a sitting duck. No matter how it was put; either he would be killed first or survive to be the last man standing. It didn't help him feel any more comfortable as they officially were no longer under blinding brightness of the spot lights at camp. Now he was in the complete darkness of the forest in the middle of the night. His only lights were the illumination of the moon and a small body flashlight. Meanwhile his support was nowhere to be seen using their night vision goggles. Only thing he knew out there was snipers and the monsters in the trees. Roger tried to control the animal but it clearly was tried, no long patient and wanting nothing to do with him. "Come on! Don't do this!" He tried calming it down as it started to go faster. "Ah stop! Heel! What the-" he lost control. The pitch darkness made it that much harder to see where the horse was taking him. 

Chapter Text

It felt strange to let her leave. Every fiber of his being felt strange as if he had done something wrong nagging at the back of his head. It was a feeling he didn’t quite understand. Why did he let her touch him like that? She was a species of prey, nothing more. Sure there were rumors of other clans accepting them as their own but, was that actually the case? He didn’t know why he even bothered to wear her jewelry. Throwing it away felt…dishonorable. Like he was rejecting some kind of token of admiration or worse rejecting a symbol of recognition of his accomplishments. Sitting on his newest pet, the height meant he could easily spot and find markings of the Bad blood on the lower parts of some trees. Preventing him some damaging his ankle more for needless movement. He could overhear the same noise he heard before foying over head ‘Oomans warriors…of course, his camp must be near by.’ He sighed. The last thing he wanted to do is to get mixed in with more Oomans. Moving around them without being noticed and avoiding needlessly starting a fight with them was important. It irritated him to have to be so careful, but they weren't his prize to be had. No. If this was any other circumstances he'd gladly test his hunting capabilities on them. Maybe for another day, the thought going against such warrior was tempting. 

The family that helped him was already enough, their way of life was as animal tamers and weapons far less powerful than these Oomans. He saw the weapons they possessed were far larger and they wore armor for protection. Unlike the tamers who carried smaller and simpler weapons, with no armor even when handling their creatures they accepted the risk of being trampled, knocked off or kicked by the very creatures they sought to ‘break’ and train to obey their commands. These warriors on the other hand were more dangerous, their numbers alone and weapons posed a great challenge to any Yautja. Patience and force against them would have to go hand in hand.

For now he would have to be careful, like he has been. He slowly moved further away from them, a distance they would not easily find him or the obvious creature he was riding. As he approached, he dismounted the beast. It’s tired eyes looked at him, he reached over and grabbed some berry plants holding it to the creature's face. As it hungrily ate he could see how weakened it really was, still trying to survive. He placed his hand on its forehead and then its tusks. Finally feeling like he can speak his native tongue with this creature. “Stay and rest…regain your strength to fight." The creature closed its eyes, laying down leaning against the trees.

He walked along the bottom of the forest floor, cloaked, using his staff to hold his weight. He wasn’t limping as badly, but if he overdid it the true fight might be worse. He slowly made his way through the forest and his foot brushed up against something not of wood or leaf. Curiously he bent down and picked it up. Jets head tilted as he looked over the device, what ever  it was there was no energy signature and the primitive wiring was completely cut off. As he made his way he found another, curiously also broke and cut in the same manner. What ever it was, the Badblood must know their purpose and destroy them. He looked around and saw no other signs of the Badblood anywhere as he approached. All he found was more broken devices.

In the distance he saw a heat signature. The horse? Her horse. He went to approach it but it suddenly bolted away. He watched in the distance the human camp. He searched for any signs of the Badblood, perhaps he was hidden right underneath their noses? He found absolutely nothing. He walked the perimeter and found nothing. He did however find where Robin’s horse called ‘Arrow’ ran off to. Curiously he watched as one of the Oomans tried to tame the horse. It was amusing to an Ooman so afraid and unsure what to do with the creature. He never realized just how much confidence she had with them. This Ooman male by contrast was so timid over a herbivore his species domesticated. 

Jet found himself curious, watching the man try to handle such a creature, when they were alone heard the whistle sound. Jet without thinking found himself whistling back in the dark, thrilling as he watched the warrior falter. ‘Pathetic’ he clicked. He climbed up watching them from afar. He watched as three men move into the forest. He quietly moved out of their sight. They were completely oblivious to him “Hey wait! It's out there! You can't-” the male cried out. He huffed watching them up from the trees. 

“Fuck it broke the motion sensors?” One of them whispered. One man leaned to the ground messing with the device while the other two played as lookouts. “Sarge was right… it really is trying to pick us off.” Another stated.

‘Motion sensors?’ His mind recalled his species having similar devices especially on planets designed for hunting. Alerting hunters to areas where their desired prey may be at. ‘They must used it as an alarm for threats rather than just for looking for prey… cleaver.’ He noted. Something to consider when he returns to this planet. Whichever laid out this plan sought to keep their camp alert as possible to his kinds location, it seems however unfortunately for them this Badblood seemed well aware of this tactic and was willing to be patient with his prey. However despite his efforts he was nowhere to be seen or found. There was no heat signature or anything in sight. As jet watched the Oomans setting up new devices along the camp's perimeter it meant it was time to leave the area.  

He made his way through the trees quickly. Jet retreated back to the slumbering beast. It was completely out cold, tired from the day and still recovering. He slowly crouched down and laid on its side. He had to rethink his plan. His cloaked device was flicking off, short circuiting again. It seemed to have a time limit on how much energy it can output before expiring. His tests so far shows if its stable enough it can last for what would be Ooman time of 3 hours on  a good day.' If the Badblood isn't here does that mean he had sought out new grounds to hunt? But why go through the effort to dismantle their alarm devices unless he figured out the creature was no longer his to control.' He could do the following: wait for the Badblood to return and risk the Oomans finding him first, or exhaust himself and the creature more by looking for where he was by back tracking. Both seemed like bad ideas. Jet cursed to himself feeling no where closer. It felt like every step he took was two steps back.

Feeling hungry and weighing his options he quickly killed and ate an Earth animal in the meantime. It was small with little nutrition but it will have to do. He hadn’t had a single kill or ate any raw meat in some time since the crash. The action of skinning the creature he found climbing the tree relaxing, like second nature and meditative.  His mind started slowly unfocused away from the Badblood to the Ooman female Robin. Her mentioning her hunting on this planet. His hand reached up the necklace she gave him and rubbed the pendant between his clean fingers. She had so much fire, bravery and if not foolish ideas. He was no better: he was stubborn, sometimes thick in the skull, and maybe also a fool.

The way she spoke, her constant talking to fill the silence should have annoyed him more but he found it… comforting? She had so many questions for him, so many things she wanted to show him. He felt like he was nothing more and a pup again being shown things he never seen before. He hated to admit it but he liked watching her, watching her tame such beasts, her connection to her family was so strong. She risked even that to help him. There was a ping of guilt for that, he never asked for help but he still accepted it. Siblings fought and competed with each other but kin was still important.

As he laid leaned against the animal he huffed. They were too different: both in language and in culture. It's not like he could take her with him home, pulling her short life away from her planet and kin. Neither could he just settle on this foreign planet. It's not like his species had any interest in diplomatic prospects. No, killing and hunting was his life.

It felt lonely sitting in the forest floor. Without knowing she was around in some way made him feel strange. ‘She’s Ooman… not Yautja. She will always be apart. Always different.’ He cursed at himself for getting sentimental. He sighed, a rumbled in his throat emerged. If he emerges victorious he can at the very least keep her teachings a part of him. Perhaps visit for more research not just for hunting. ‘Maybe we can visit her again’ he realized the thought of her accepting him in open arms, her touch… he shook his head ‘No. No! Not smart. Foolish’ he pushed the ideas to the very recesses of his mind. Leaving her alive and well, knowing his existence was already risky, puts her as a potential future target to other Yautja. 

Out of nowhere, he heard it faint at first, then louder. Sounds of brush and clopping hoofs. He was sure that the warriors would be resting by now, their sleep cycles appeared to be naturally more aligned with the planet's sun rise and fall. Jet was confused how it was even navigating as both creatures were not inclined for optimal vision in the dark. He heard a shout and scream before suddenly the horse bolted across from him. Further down he could hear cracks of branches and a large thud of something or someone hit the forest floor. Jet growled to himself “More Oomans” he cursed in his tongue. 

“Of! Fuck my back! Fucking horse! Hey guys?!?” He called out. Roger slowly got up, his back sore from the fall. “You’re not actually gonna leave me right? Guys?!” He shouted before realizing what he was doing. He tried to look around the pitch dark, moving through the thick brush, his leg scraping against a throned brush. “Fuck! Okay, Roger. We need to think…” he whispered to himself as he tried to move along the pine trees. Holding his gun in his hand ready for any signs of the predator. He pushed through the bushes and put his hand on a rock to ground himself and figure out his position to get to camp. Suddenly, he realized the rock wasn’t cold like it could be. It wasn’t rock at all and felt like warm leather. 

Realization hit him with the low rumbling sound from the creature that stirred. The other alien creature in the reports. His breath pitched and quivered, hoping he didn’t wake it. He tried to slowly back away when he felt himself hit a tree. His eyes flickered and he heard sparks of electricity as he saw in horror the creature. The creature before him growled. Panic arose in him as his knees became weak and shaky. He tried to rise his gun. He tried to pull the trigger, but the mechanism inside the chamber became jammed. Just his luck, the hulking creature grabbed it out of his hand and tossed it to the bushes. “GUYS!” 

Fear shot through him as the creature grabbed his face and lifted him in the air, facing its masked face to face. ”Shut…Up” it growled. He flicked his head around, searching for any signs of life. Roger tried to claw his way out or even open his jaw to bite the very hand. He felt like any moment his skull would be crushed. He tried to kick or do anything as all his training flew out the window in his panic. Tears fell as he tried to scream. 

He could hear his team mates in the bushes in the distance. But their sounds became fainter and fainter. ‘No no! Wrong way! Come on!’ He muffled a scream behind the thick hand. The creature slowly lowered him down “Quite….woah,” the hiss coming out. ‘Is he trying to shush me like a horse?!’ What ever was left of his ego just felt bruised to be treated like some dumb animal. 

Jet didn't know why he decided to just disarm and quiet the Ooman. In fact, it was against his every teaching. What ever the case was these ones seemed dumb, and by what he heard, his own clan is not particular on protecting this clan member. He easily saw why… he was being a weak and cowardly creature. Despite his attempts at a fight, he failed to even grab the knife in his pocket. His head tilted, he looked… young. Mature for this species but still undoubtedly inexperienced in true combat. No wonder his members left him for dead. He huffed and threw him to the ground. ‘Not worth anything’ he thought to himself, focusing his energy towards finding his prize. If he was smart enough he'd run. Jet was ready to leave the area anyways.

Jet turned to his beast when he heard footsteps rushing towards him, he swiftly turned around and in one swoop of the staff went to knock his assailant from his feet. Roger jumped over the staff, rushing towards him with a Bowie knife. Jet quickly redirected the staff up at striking diagonally until his staff struck Roger along his torso.  With a sharp crack, the staff broke into two against the Ooman's body, the bulletproof vest absorbing a good amount of force, but he'd certainly be bruised. Roger, feeling the air leaving his body, almost fell from the strike, caught himself. His fear and panic were replaced by absolute anger, hatred, and determination. Before Roger the alien let out when sounded like a laugh before going in for another strike, this time with his own much longer knife. 

“Come at me you ugly bastard. You deserve to die for what you did!” Roger shouted. Hoping the noise would alert his unit. Jet roared, lunging but he was more nimble than he anticipated. The man lunged again almost striking him but he moved out of the way. Roger stumbled forward striking the tree. His knife as it hit got stuck in the tree. Suddenly he noticed the beast beside them start to stir. “Fuck!” The fear coming out of his voice. He tried pulling but it wouldn’t budge. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the alien's knife coming right at him. His body was able to dodge the attack as he let got of the imbedded knife only his face was grazed by the alien’s blade.

Roger panted, realizing the odds against his favor as he was no longer in arm's reach of his weapon. Roger had one last thing he could do. His feet taking off, he ran into the bushes. Jet, realizing he was doing so, grabbed the Ooman's knife and mounted the beast, awaking it from its slumber.  He wasn’t going to let some Ooman attack him like this and get away. The beast barreled through the forest uprooting any tree and bush in its path. ‘So much for stealth’ Jet cursed. ‘If anything will get that Badbloods attention would be a fight’ he told himself. As the beast trampled everything in sight it started to slow down, losing its raging steam. The Ooman man barreled his way into the dense brush and weaseled his way out of sight. Angry Jet dismounted. Following the trail of blood on the floor. 

His beast slowly followed behind. The raging monster is now docile and tired from running. As they walked the creature suddenly started to refuse to go any further, Jet tried to call to it, but nothing was working. He growled out of frustration and  continued on foot. In fact its heart rate spiked and seemed to be on edge. As he continued walking forward searching for the Ooman male, Jet started to smell burning flesh and smoke, almost tasting it. He was close to what he was looking for all along.

The gods finally smiling upon him and giving him another chance, a chance to prove himself. Jet made his way out of the brush to the small camp, skinned bodies of animals and humans life littered about. He looked around for any heat signatures of the Badblood in the trees 'This might mean his ship might be nearby'. Jet was so distracted by his own thoughts he didn’t notice the human hiding behind a large log on the forest floor sneak up behind him until he felt a seering pain of a hot metal spear sliced into his side. He left out a roar.

“Hurts doesn’t it, huh?” Roger said through clenched teeth. Suddenly, he found himself holding on for dear life as the alien grabbed the spear, swimming him on the other end along. “Fuck-”  on his back he looked up to see the alien pointing a cross bow at him point blank. “Fucking do it! You monster!” A roar not of its own screamed out much deeper and guttural than the creature in front of him. The deep voice echoed before revealing a tall slender Red Yautja.  

He effortlessly fell from the trees, landing on his feet like a graceful cat. "Look who came to play." He spoke in a deep guttural voice. His English far less broken and pronunciation much more clearer than Jets. Jet instinctively pushed the Ooman behind him, pointing his crossbow to the Badblood in front of him. "Protecting your prey? Here I thought I was a disgrace." He purred him his native tongue. He watched gleefully as expected his arm started to lower his defenses. It was too predictable.

Chapter Text

Roger, one minute was fighting the creature, ready for combat. In a single moment, he found the alien’s large hulking arm of his enemy come in between him and the other larger alien. Roger was no longer his target but rather his enemy’s crossbow was pointed at the new alien. ‘Is it…protecting me?’ Roger thought to himself, confused by the new situation. The new taller and slender alien said something in his strange guttural language. The massive trunk of an  arm slowly next to him started to lower down. Whatever it was saying caused his defense to lower? Or maybe much like his troop mates would do to him: berate him for showing any signs of weakness. All Roger knew of these creatures was that they were killer aliens with a sick, twisted culture of hunting “worthy prey”. The last thing he wanted to do was be the hunting target for two crazy aliens.

He noticed the way he never once lowered his weapon from the other predator. Almost like he didn’t trust his own kind “Friend of yours?” He quipped. The alien next to him growled a low grumble, as the one across them made a laughing sound. “Friend? So stupid.” He saw the shoulder plasma cannon light come to life, three dots in a triangle pointed right at the short green one next to him. The high pitch hum of an electrical surge of energy building before its release rang in the air. Suddenly, Roger felt a large hand smack him against his chest, flying him several feet away from the blast. The spear he had found earlier dropped from his hands as he cried out in pain, his shoulder smacking against the cold forest floor. He heard a shot from the crossbow fire and an angry growl.

He painfully started to regain his sense of direction. He saw the beast roar, the hunting arrow embedded in its arm, dripping neon green. The opposing figure drew for his weapon and quickly, in almost just a flick of his wrist, Roger watched as a large metal flying dagger on a chain came hurling towards him. He prepared for death coming his way when he heard the thud of stomping, fleeting approach, and in an instant,t grabbed the chain mid-air. The blade was only mere inches away, narrowly missing Roger's head. The alien wrapped his massive hands around the chain and pulled hard, almost sending the other one off balance. ‘Why is it protecting me?’ His mind screamed.

Roger quickly got off his feet, grabbed the spear again, and bolted for the nearest forest clearing. His heart and legs felt like they were on fire. “Fuck fuck fuck-!” He bolted, hearing the roars of the beasts fighting each other in the distance. He heard the air behind him suddenly change, as something was coming his way. He dove to the ground to see the green one fly right in front of him, smacking into a tree.  “Oh shit!” He screamed, watching the red plasma cannon again start to charge. Aiming right at the green on. “This is stupid!” Roger reached down and pulled the green one's hand, using his body weight and momentum to pull the green one down, narrowly avoiding the searing blast. Even behind the blank mask, he could tell there was a level of confusion and surprise across his face. He could only imagine how he would look with his ugly mug.

He could hear the energy blast behind him charging again. The green hunter next to him, in a quick motion, flung the flying stars at the red one. The strikes weren't enough to stop it, but they were enough to distract him and make him miss again. Roger saw his chance and got up to run. He was over getting mixed up in this mess. As far as he was concerned, protection or not, he wanted to get as far away from these things as possible. He didn’t want to stick around long to find out who would emerge victorious in the end.

He rushed into a clearing of bushes, jumping over fallen logs along the way. His boots loudly announcing his location as the leaves and twigs were crushed beneath his feet. Roger ran as far as he could to a large nearby cave. “Fuck…okay hide hide hide.” He looked around in the dark cavern. Even with his training he found himself trying to catch his breath. As he slowly walked further into the cave he stopped when he saw fire down the way, and something inside the cave. At first, he was going to leave but heard the distinct sound of a human crying. ‘Maybe it’s survivors?!’.

Rogers' breath became shaky, clutching to the spear for dear life. Worried for the worse. In case it's another one of those camps.  As he made his way across the wet cave floor, following the slight curve, he saw another camp but this time much smaller. But then he realized this one, however, was in front of a spacecraft. “Holy-” his attention was drawn to the sight in front of him. Three humans are all tied up and hanging from their wrists and legs on wooden poles as a makeshift prison. Roger couldn’t help but notice one of the three had a strange device on his neck.

The red-haired woman was young, close to his age for sure. Roger looked around, the sound of his feet alerting both her and the male. “Oh my god!” She whispered. Roger put his finger up to his mouth and looked around more, and got closer to her. Her legs and feet were bound by what looked like simple ropes you’d find anywhere. “Shhh, there might be more of them… I’m going to get you all out of here,” he whispered. “There’s only one here  I haven’t seen any else.” He said. 

His brows furrowed in confusion as he carefully cut into her binds. The other one looked up, tired and angry “We know that” 

There was an awkward silence as Roger went over and started by cutting off the woman’s binding first. She dropped down, barely catching herself, and she rubbed her hands on her wrists from the pain and bruising. Roger looked at the other man and went to help him when he saw the splint on his arm and a large burse on his arm in the shape of a massive hand. “You okay?” He asked.

“My headaches are pretty gone, but the big guy he-he was messing with my already fucked up arm. I thought he was gonna tear it off.” He admitted. Watching him remove the ropes from his body.

Roger went to approach the one with the strange collar, but the woman grabbed his arm and pulled him away. “Wait!” Her voice filled with panic. “The collar! You need to break the collar first!” As if by command, the man started to squirm at the new commotion. As he looked up from the ground, his face distorted in rage, he drooled uncontrollably. Underneath his pale skin, he could see his veins colored a dark black. His back is trying to tear itself apart as he frantically moves. “It’s the collar!… Hermes!... Hermes… It's me…” Her voice was soothing. 

He started to stop moving, drool pouring out of his mouth. “M-mom?” He could only muster in the confusing mess of almost demonic tongues coming out of his mouth. “No Hermes… It’s me, Robin…. Robin. Remember?” She spoke softly. The man's face filled with confusion started crying, letting out an almost primal sound of suffering. “Now!” She ordered. Roger had no idea what he was doing, but given the distraction, in the middle of the wailing, he shoved it into the small crease, turning it with all his might until the hinge broke off. Bits of blood and black, almost green and black ichor come out of the neck as the device is released from Hermes’ neck, dropping to the ground. His breathing became more shallow, and he coughed until vomit fell out. He groaned in pain. Roger backed away from the man as his body and mind were trying to recover. 

“Hermes!” Robin went to him, but his face still didn’t recognize her. He moved his body, trying to get away in his confused state. “Robin, get away from him! He clearly is still out of his mind.”  Darek spoke. Roger backed away from the man as his body and mind were trying to recover.. 

“Ugh, I guess you and Jet met? There was a big roar and crashing outside. Whatever happened made the guy stop putting those things on us,” He rubbed his wrist and arm in pain. 

“You know that thing? Wait, you're the ranch kids everyone’s been talking about! We all thought you died or something. They did this to you?” He stated. He felt like it was too obvious. “First of all, we’re adults, and second, Jet didn’t do anything to us,” She corrected him. Roger, in confusion, looked at the only other person. “Yeah… that red one came out of nowhere. Hunted us up to trap us. We tried to fight back, but it used all kinds of weapons and a net that kept getting tighter and tighter on command. Used our horse to get here, and then he killed Bolt.” 

“Yeah… Bolt had no clue what was happening, even in the fight. Jet called him a ‘‘Badblood. I think it's like criminals or psycho killers? Those collars…they cause whatever creature's mind to be flooded with rage and aggression even if they hurt themselves, like some kind of extreme space drugs or space animal hormones?” She said, looking at her brother with concern.  

As he looked at the man's splint on his arm. Their chances of making it out alive, especially if there's a fight, suddenly looked much worse. The three looked up as they heard a deafening roar of the battle outside. “Hey, what’s your name?” She looked up at the strange military man who helped them. 

“Roger Green, Ma’am,” He stated. Robin looked at him and pressed her lips in thought. “I need to help Jet. Can you get my brothers to your base? Tell them that Jet is innocent and didn’t kill anyone, he wouldn't, I just know it.” She pleaded with Roger. He looked rather dumb founded. unsure of the claims she was making. The man in the splint looked to the side, his face clearly saying he wasn’t one hundred percent on board with everything she was saying.

“Robin…while I think our best option is to side with the one who didn’t straight up kill us or try some weird ass drugs on us. I don’t want my little sister dying to help some alien.” He spoke honestly. Roger looked at them, and his face looked upset. Roger nodded. “I can’t let a civilian like you to go into battle. I don’t know why it didn’t kill you or your family yet, but trust me, that thing isn’t your friend.” He stated. 

Robin went to speak and then immediately closed her mouth. The heat of embarrassment rose up in her face. He was right. She didn’t know why he didn’t kill them, maybe cultural reasons, he didn’t kill them because they helped him with food, shelter, and first aid. Maybe he only tolerated them at most. Her mind shook off the feeling and retired to refocus on the situation at hand. How the hell do they get out of the cave alive and make it to safety?

“I have too honest I’m pretty fucking lost. All I really have is a compass." When Roger pulled the compass from his bag he looked surprise “Fuck! It's going insane!” Roger looked over to the ship as realization hit him, followed immediately by an idea. “This is stupid…but you know what. Let's see if we can jack his ride.” Roger said.

Darek laughed and elbowed Robin, “You want to go for a joy ride? Make that asshole pay for fucking with us.” He asked.

It wasn’t difficult to get in. The alien left the whole entrance open, doubting his captives or anyone else would get into his ship without him knowing. For them, all they had to do was get in and figure out how to drive it. The group looked over at Hermes, who was practically shaking from withdrawal. The men nodded, both helping him to the best of their ability to stand and move.

“W-where am I? Where are the horses? They get loose again?” Hermes asked, his speech slurred. “Yeah, buddy, you’re gonna go on a car ride to find them,” Roger said, propping him up with Darek using his good arm around his brother. As they entered the ship, it was eerie.

It was dimly lit with thick amounts of fog, the humidity was dense and the whole shit was warm. It felt like walking into a sauna. They noticed that along the floor of the back entrance were several thick chains. Robin figured it must be to secure that creature that her and Jet helped free. The poor thing must have been cramped and hot. She was unsure if it was even an animal suited for this type of habitat. It would explain Jets and that other ones lack clothes except for armor. 

As they walked along, they opened each door, examining the carvings along the walls. One room looked like a bedroom. Full of personal trophies of animals hunted, human skulls and weapons alongside the wall of a bed. Another room was what appeared to be food storage, piles of meats and some small amounts of planets strung up. However, there was no kitchen in sight. 

“You think they eat the meat raw?” Darek asked. Rogers was quiet for a second before talking, “ Yeah… they will eat any prey they want raw. Including us.” He said. 

“You sure about that? I get this one’s a psych,o but like-” Darek tried to speak “-I know what I saw. I know what they do to people. I’ve seen it before…When I was a kid.” Roger interrupted him with a bitter tone. As they moved along, they all stayed silent. There was no arguing with him. There wasn’t much they could say except for an apology for not knowing. 

The last room before the opening to what must be a pilot's room was a room that looked like a chemistry lab. There were vials of liquids, pinned animals, and brains preserved in suspended fluids. On shelves were multiples of the same collars; they came across all in various sizes. Robin approached the table to find what looked like a data pad. As she touched it, a projection appeared. Slides of different species and more of the strange markings. “He’s been experimenting on all kinds of creatures. There’s a few blank ones.” Robin stated. 

Then in an instant she saw it, a list of other species only a photo was displayed with the side completely clear. “ I think this might be a list of ones to experiment. Fuck… there’s humans, and his own species.” Robin's voice trailed off in its confusion by the observation. She couldn’t read what was written but if her brother had one of those on, clearly he was his newest test subject. 

“Holy fuck. Okay, yeah, maybe this one is a real psycho then. Is he planning on using one of those collars even on his own kind?” Roger asked. His brain is horrified by the idea or those things being nothing more than a drooling rage filled beast with its mine completely clouded. 

 “Like we don’t do the same…” the voice of their recovering brother came through. Darek laughed  in response at his brother's cognitive function coming back and said, “You must be getting better if you’re being cynical again,” said Darek. The man groaned not in annoyance but in pain. “Why am I here? This isn’t a truck…” Hermes said. 

As they made it to the cock pit, it appeared to be one made for multiple people rather than a single pilot. They slowly put Hermes down on one of the chairs “Here you go. Just rest up bro.” Darek said. Roger let out a sigh of relief not having to help prop up the grown man. The man wasn’t built like a body builder but years of manual labor surely made the man more dense. 

“Okay so we just now have to-” as if by command the ship turned to life. They felt a sudden movement. “Fuck! There has to be some kind of remote alarm system or control?? Fuck it probably knows we’re here.” Roger cursed. “Then let’s give him a warm welcome. I want to see what fancy alien tech weapons he’s got.”Darek spoke.

“Listen Darek… me and Roger will see what we can find for everyone. But I think it's up to us to help protect you both.” Robin said. Roger nodded agreeing with her “Yeah. I don’t like any of you guys getting involved, but your arm is severely damaged and your brother is completely out of his mind, and just now clearing his head from that thing’s experiment." He said. They all looked at Hermes, his body still slightly shaking and  the puncture wounds on his neck finally starting to become nothing more than scabbed dots on his neck.

Darek looked at his brother and splinted arm. “Find me something with a range. I rather he have something in case it goes south he can still fight, you know?” His voice spoke with an aura of command. Robin was surprised by her brother's lack of carefree attitude and taking some charge. She nodded and walked with Roger to the back of the ship towards the Badbloods room. 

Robin and Roger both felt uncomfortable being in the room, the skulls of previous kills staring into their souls. She was walking when she noticed three different skulls, his own kind. She swallowed her throat, worrying about Jet. “Hey! Focus! Help me look for something to fight with.” Roger commanded, pulling her out of her thoughts to the matter at hand “Yeah, sorry” she quietly apologized, looking back at the skulls one last time. 

Chapter Text

Jet watched as the Ooman male run away in the middle of the fight. He growled to himself. “Pathetic creatures aren’t they?” The red Badblood spoke with a taunt. “To ally yourself with such weak things is humiliating let alone protect them like some pups. It’s a wonder how they could kill any of us.” His voice is like venom trying to get the better of him psychologically. Jet brushed him off and reloaded the crossbow, aiming again at his chest in hopes of hitting his enemy’s heart. 

As he pulled the trigger her opponent narrowly dodged the attack. He took his chained blade and swung it to bring up momentum before unleashing it at full speed. Jet watching his opponent grabbed his blade with a free hand to quickly parry it.

“Oomans have so much less strength than us. You however, have so much potential. Let me show you the way it ought to be, pup.” He purred as he spoke. Excitement as he watched the young one take on his attacks with strength and cunning. The only thing it was frustrating how he ignored him. He swung his blade towards his feet, using his weakened limb to his advantage. Just as expected he was much slower to dodge such attacks, his running and climbing almost affected. There was only so much any creature can take even in a battle of life or death. It was only a matter of time before the pain became too great. Then he can take him down to submission.

The Badblood climbed in the trees, jumping to avoid the onslaught of arrows. His arrogance got the better of him as found a small blade heading towards his front, in an effort to avoid the impact, he stopped and backed up. A brief moment of simple defense brought an opening, an arrow pierced his thigh. “Any prey can kill you. Everyone knows.” Jet spoke simply. 

The Badblood grabbed and yanked the arrow out of his thigh and aimed his plasma cannon at him in a growl. Jet leaped out of the way, using his body's movement to duck into a roll, he quickly was able to get back to facing the Badblood. He loaded another arrow and struck the plasma cannon as it fired another round, blasting it upwards towards the trees. 

The smoky rich smell of fire filled his lungs. The blasting from the weapon gave new form of life, embers from the heat soon blossomed to a fire. Jet quickly looked down to the forest floor, noting the dry crunch of the leaves. He went to reload the cross bow trying to avoid the newly emerging flames. As he went to take aim the chained blade hurled at him, slashing through the weapon's body, rendering it completely useless. Throwing it to the ground in frustration. He ran, climbing, digging his clawed hands into the bark. He tried to rush in with nothing his dagger. His ankle swelling in pain made his movements too slow, as the Red Badblood quickly was able to ready himself for the attack and dodge the meager attempt.

In a tight motion the Badblood stomped on his weakened ankle, a loud crack echoed. As he dipped down, losing his balance fall below to the floor. A thud of his body as his muscled frame made contact. The red Yautja like a cat ready to pounce on the mouse he was toying with jumped down. He took the chain of his blade, holding it against Jet’s neck, tightly holding him up in the air. His body trying to pull himself up, tried to grab at the chains but they only tightened. He could feel the blade’s sharp end every so slightly pricking into his mid back. A single motion would penetrate his spine.

“Amazing. So many ways to die to meet the Black Warrior. Too bad for you today is not your day to die with such an honor.” He purred in his ear. 

He tried to pull more against the metal chains feeling the wind from his lungs being collapsed. In a disparate move he reached behind to grab the chains and used his weight to flip the Yautja over his back. Sending his enemy flying across a tree.

The fires started to pick up, roaring and crackling around. The heat vision of his bio mask started to blend. He could hear in the distance the same flying machine he’a heard start to approach. His mistake was looking up to see how close it was “You’ve been impressive, pup. I’ll give you that. The real fun’s just about to start.” The voice came from behind him. 

Suddenly a sound of annoyance. A low guttural growl. Seeing his chance he grabbed out barely seeing the figure in his mask. However, the Badblood grabbed him by the mask and pulled it down. Losing his bio mask his body felt like it was choking on the smokey air. No more did he have any breathing aids. The fire is now becoming more intense. It was starting to blaze around them. Again his face was grabbed but this time pulled down, his head hitting the knee of the red Yautja over and over, his lower red mandible broken from the impact. He could taste his blood mixed in with the smoke.

Coughing, he gasped for air. The red Yautja grabbed his mask and placed it on his hip. And grabbed his locks. Pulled the sensory organs tightly, popping several of them. The pain rushed through him. The Badblood pressed the keypads on his brace. As his eyes became heavier and heavier. He could barely breathe anymore. As his lungs filled with the hot dense smoke. 

The red Yautja dragged him, pulling him along. He saw the ship appear.  Either it could be his saving grace or his tomb. “Come, pup” he commanded. Jet hated how he called him that. He was Unblooded sure but he long since been a pup. How someone like him even became blooded in a sacred trail was a mockery to their species' ways of life and to the way of the hunt. 

The back door opened, lowering down to the back entrance. As he felt his lungs fill with smoke he heard a familiar animal sound. The beast he had freed braved enough to push through the burning embers. He saw the state he was in and went to rush forward in a charge. The Bad blood unleashed a large bolas trap, entangling the creature's legs. It wheezed as it could barely breathe. From his shoulder he took out a large dart and struck the creature. Its movements started to quiet down. Whatever was in those darts was potent. Jet tried to struggle but he was losing what little oxygen he had left.

"Good, I'd hate to lose such a great prize." He laughed.

The next thing he knew he was on the floor of a metal ship. The creature chained in the loading bay. His arms are cuffed tied in wiring material. His lungs felt relief as he breathed in the dense humid air. He felt like his lungs slowly became less on fire. He wasn't sure how long he was unconscious for. Coughing, he slowly tried to get up and ignore the Badblood. As he struggled to his feet, he felt the warm neon green blood oozing down his chest. A familiar feeling of a cold blade now was against his neck. “Now, now. Not too-” his sentence cut off suddenly he heard footsteps slap against the metal floor. 

Jet's eyes were widened as he saw the same human male come barreling towards them both. His voice let out a battle cry as he charged in with a spear and blade in hand. The red one expected to be faced with the spear head one, but miscalculated. Instead the man rushed in and slid across the floor to his new captive prey. He made another mistake, his eyes off the Ooman failed to register the incoming attack of a blade. His side slashed, immediately followed by the other younger Yautja motion jabbing upwards. He stepped just in the nick of time of time out of the way, narrowly avoiding his skull being pierced. 

“Pest!” He roared in the creature's tongue. He grabbed the Ooman male and tossed him against the wall. Followed by the spear attack of the Yautja. A second wave of strength filling his body. Jet pushed through the pain and attacked with reckless abandon. If he would die he would die with honor. 

“Roger! Jet!” He looked to see her. His heart stopped, filled with a black rage he never felt. All forms of pain subsided.he ripped the make shift bonds off his wrists. Blocking  the on coming attacks, pushing in to take up space in the battle. able to land a few good jabs in the Badbloods arm and side. The Oomans watched in horror as they fought in a bloody battle. Jet used the spear’s handle trying to knock his opponent off balance but it was no good. His wave of anger was slowly dying down. The pain radiating to an almost unbearable degree. His movements again become too predictable and easy to avoid. 

“Getting tired so soon?” The Badblood taunted. Roger tried to step in but was grabbed  by his face. The Red one laughed, squeezing the Oomans head slowly tighter and tighter. Suddenly he felt a metal bold hit his chest. He hear the metal click of anothe bolt being reloaded “Fucking die!” Robin screamed out. Hitting again in the chest. He found himself coughing up ooze of blood, his lungs started to collapse as they filled with the green fluid. Then felt a jolt of pain as a spear pieces right through his torso in a clean strike. 

Jet grabbed his blade and in a swoop slashed through his arm holding the Ooman male, cutting it clean off. The younger male stood before him as he fell to his knees, the young warrior grabbed him by the head. He effortlessly started to rip out his head and spine clean out as he roared no longer in anger but in pure pride and victory. 

Jet looked at the Oomans who stood both in awe and horror at his display of strength. He slowly limped his way past Roger. He watched in horror as the creature felt the head still in his hand, slowly approach Robin. Her crossbow was unloaded as she totally froze in place. He loomed over his breathing heavily from the fight. His green and beige hand reached over to her and touched her face softly.

Her face looked scared and frightened. His brow muscles no longer furrowed and his head dipped down to meet the top of her head. A purr radiating from his chest “Brave” he uttered in English. He could feel her shaking beneath him, slowly starting to steady herself. Her fear was almost in a scent radiating off her, dissipating from her. He couldn't place why he felt compelled to hold her, to steady her. 

Roger took in awe and disbelief at what he was seeing. One second was an absolute monster killing machine to completely relax. He was at first expecting some kind of aggression towards Robin as he approached her. He could see the terror she had on her face, staring at the trophy he refused to release. Roger saw his body relax, a vibing noise emanating from his chest as he spoke to her. 

The moment was cut short however. Jet placed his hand on the near wall, coughing clearly trying to maintain his body from collapsing . “Medicine,” he said. He tried to walk past her, almost on instinct he knew where to go. The two slowly followed the limping beast to the raised bedroom. He looked around and then rushed over to the wall. In a compartment in a wall he pulled out a metal box. Inside he pulled out a bright blue vial, pouring a blue liquid onto his wounds. In an instant it hardened to a crystal like structure “it's like a medical glue” Robin stated. Her voice was in awe as she watched. 

Roger dared not to go near him, he tried to pull back Robin but she pulled his arm away. Her face was mixed with emotion: fear, comfort, sadness . “Here…” she sat down next to the creature and helped pour it on. He allowed her to help but with some mild hiss of protest. “What now?” She asked.

“Contact enforcer… elder decide. If not him then clan leader.” Jet sighed. He knew that if this was a battle between just him and the Badblood, no Oomans to report would be simple. However, this fight, the time he spent in the dwelling and their involvement wasn’t something any honorable Yautja would cover up. No, they would find out sooner or later any holes in the story if he even lied. If he was caught lying he would surely just be killed right there.

“You’re saying we’re prisoners until your superiors make a final verdict?” Roger asked. Jet looked at him confused, only understanding some of the words. “He’s asking if that means we can't leave until they decide?” Robin asked. He chuffed in agreement and nodded. 

He found the emergency healing fluid from the first aid. It was fast acting super fluid. Used only for those on the absolute brink of death, how a Badblood like him obtained one could only guess he created it or stole it from an elite. He took the injector and pressed it into his arm muscle. 

The medicine running through his veins felt like a shot of adrenaline through him. His intense pain subsided, hecould feel his body become less heavy and tired, his mind almost jolted with energy and no longer in complete haze. His ankle was completely wrecked from the fight and it would only subside the pain and speed up the healing process by a mere fraction. The medicine clan members would have to probably do surgery.he

Jet sighed, using the spear as a walking stick he slowly got up to the cockpit. He left the head in the bedroom. He'll have to clean it later...assuming he will not be punished for his failures.

He looked over at the two brothers, both plasma based weapons. They didn’t attack but Jet grabbed them out of their hands. Feeling uncomfortable with the idea of them holding onto his species technology, having no idea how to use it. The young Yautja slumped into the pilots chair, noting the ship was already far out of the Earth’s atmosphere. 

“We’re going home right?” Darek asked. He sounded tired.

There was a ping of guilt, as the Unblooded started to reconnect the ship back to the prime's main communication hub. He held his breath using the communications hub to contact the nearest enforcer to his location. A hologram of a recognizable enforced was in view. His sire’s brother, his uncle. The older Yautja was not wearing his bio mask and looked surprised. 

“This is Ja'tuniv. Reporting the death of a Badblood interfering with my hunt. He is dead but there are… witnesses.” He awkwardly stated. His uncle looked at him in suspicion and could see the faint figures behind him. Oomans. 

“Of all the planets of the galaxy? Tell me why are they not taken care of?” His uncle asked. His tone was harsh, direct. There was no care for any error or mistakes, and his question held a weight to it.

“I feel it would be dishonorable to kill them.” Ja'tuniv spoke truthfully. His final judgement would be for the elder, he told himself. His kin or not. There was one beyond him that held authority of them both. 

“You are lucky I am en route to another location in that sector. Stay where you are. Do not engage in any behavior or have them take anything that does not belong to them. Do not let your guard down around them.” He advised his nephew. His face was serious as he looked at his face.

Normally he would be thrilled to have kin strong enough and able to survive a Badblood attack at his age, let alone right before his Blooding ritual. This also would be more impressive depending on which known Badblood he was entangled with in battle. It would be an honor to be related to such a prospect of a kin. However he was inexperienced with Oomans. Only ever reading them, his father and him would have taken him to celebrate by a hunt on Earth once he became blooded. The last thing he needed to learn by experience was for him to be tricked or betrayed by them.

Chapter Text

Time passed slowly. The hum of the foreign engine was steady. The humans on the ship all felt an unusual silence between them. Robin especially felt uncharacteristically quiet. Every time she looked at Jet her heart started pounding. The memory of his brutal strength seared into her brain. Her body only froze in fear as he approached her, almost like her brain completely shut off to autopilot. Her movements near him felt foreign now, as if a pure survival part of her brain activated to play along. Pushing the deepest fears and anxiety away into the recesses of her mind. 

As time passed her brain could no longer hold in the flooding of fears like a levee about to break from the water he held. Robin tried to push past it still. All the time he growled, hissed and clearly made a display she knew he could kill them at any moment especially early on. Seeing it in action was far different than speculating just how brutal he could be. She slowly approached him in the pilot chair. He was looking over what she assumed to be the ship’s database and logs. He would huff and growl every so often. Almost as if in disgust. Images of what appeared to be animal testing, dissection, schematics to other tools and tech. 

“Hey…” Robin said softly as she approached Jet. His mask off she saw his limp broken mandible and went to touch it before retrieving back. “You okay?” She asked. Pushing past her fear to give him concern. 

“....Better… heal in time.” He admitted. Most of his kind would never dare admit the pains they felt unless to a member of their calm who specializes in medicine. Much like all warriors only admit their hunting frustrations to a weapon crafter in hopes they may aid them with solutions and improve their future hunts. There was an expectation to push past the pain. His eye darted to his ankle. It was bruised and swollen, the small bones broken now by the Badblood targeting the spot. As much as the injector of medicine worked, it was no miracle cure. No time was his only method to be better, worse case seek a surgery to rebuild the body. 

He went to touch her hand and noticed the smallest recoil at his touch, before relaxing back. He could smell the fear off of her. A scent he was accustomed to but it felt strange to have it from her. He reached in slowly this time, placing his hand on Robin’s  arm. “Rest. Will be long before arrival” he spoke softly. 

Robin nodded, her arm still feeling the burning hot embers of his touch scorched in her skin. She looked over to see Hermes was out cold. She had no doubt similar to the beast they helped uncollar, his body was completely drained of all energy and needed to recover completely. Darek slept beside him, his body still tired from being over extended for a long period of time. The twins were huddled up side by side in the comically large chairs. Roger appeared to stay on guard, his eyes burning to the back of the skull of the alien. He was vocal about being upset about being held captive, but she was certain he must have had his own reasons to not turn on him. She sat down next to him and sighed. 

Roger looked at her and whispered “ I don’t get it… why is it helping us?” He asked. Robin thought about the question but could only come up with one answer “we helped him…he was injured really badly and helped him. Dressed his wounds, fed him, hid him from you guys and showed him some Earth stuff.” She answered. She paused for a second before talking again. Feeling herself start to relax around Roger. “I guess he figured we weren’t a threat? Or we just helped him so it wouldn’t really make sense to just slaughter us on site.” He admitted.

Roger sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. Feeling the weight of the night hit him. “It still doesn't explain  why… why he-” he stopped himself. Opening his mouth to talk but didn’t know how to say it. “He was…exceedingly nice to you? He completely ignored me.” He stated. ‘ Is he jealous that the big guy didn’t call him brave after almost getting his head popped like bubble wrap?’ She thought. She eyed Roger, not entirely knowing what he was saying, “Maybe because I spent the most time with him? I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine,” she whispered. 

Roger didn’t know to tell the women how it looked like a display of affection. He watched him intently his interactions with her. He ignored the brothers except for a quick once-over medicine exam. For him, he only huffed before turning away, completely dismissing him. Even if he tried speaking to break the tension he never responded. It was like talking to a literal wall. Her, however, the way his head turned to her, watched her, touched her on his own accord. A predatory alien hunter showing such actions made his skin crawl. Who knows what was going on in that massive dome head. 

The biggest reason was that he felt so uncomfortable: she was the only female of his species on the ship. He was unsure culturally how they viewed their own females, let alone an alien species. He hated to admit it but he would hear whispers from some of the guys about wanting to know what a female looked like, if they looked similar to our kind. Some even suggest they would have sex and gladly die ‘death by snu snu’ if they are just like their species but larger and muscled. The idea of such a large creature even approaching her with those types of intentions made his stomach churn. 

He looked at her, her fiery red hair was a mess and she was covered in dirt and grime like they all did. Her body well muscled from daily work on a ranch. Feeling awkward he noticed how soft her face was, her green eyes like an emerald forest. She looked tired.  “Well um…I wanted to thank you earlier. You were a good shot back there.” He complimented her awkwardly. 

“It wasn’t me who took him down. I just distracted  him.”  She admitted. The conversation had an eavesdropper, as the green Alien huffed in an almost disapproving manner. ‘Right…it-he understands  English. God, these guys pick up things fast’ he cursed, wishing for privacy, but also didn’t trust it enough. Roger continued to burn his eyes into the back of his thick skull. If looks could kill…

Roger at times watched him go over the data from the ship. Reading logs with pictures of other worlds and creatures attached or walls of text. He didn’t realize how much time passed as he felt Robin slump on his side, her head laying on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts. He looked at her sleeping, wondering what type of person she was if she even got this guy to trust her. He was so…opposite how he expected him to be. His thoughts lingered when he felt like eyes were burning back at him. He looked up to see the alien ‘Jet’ they called him staring at them. His expression is completely unreadable.

“What are you looking at?” Roger asked, his voice filled with hate and venom. He liked that it didn’t kill him, and working with it seemed useful, but didn’t trust him. Jet stared at him, and he saw his eyes shift slightly, looking at her for a brief second before staring back at him. The click of his toothy mandible was unsettling. He huffed and returned back to the data pad. “Need to be clean…Enforcer coming soon.” He stated. 

“What we too bloody and dirty for your superior?” Roger asked snidely.  Jet paused not saying anything. Roger hated to admit, as much as he tried to taunt him… the smell of blood, dirt and sweat was getting to him. “Fine, you guys shower?” He asked.

He thrilled, attempting to stand up, leaning on the spear in his hand. His body was clearly slow. Roger felt a ping of guilt looking at the creature. For as tall as he was, he was still someone who risked his life and now is in tremendous pain. It was like a lion with a thorn in its paw. The paint was incredible, but it still at the end of the day, was a lion. Roger tried waking the twins up. “Hey, dumb and dumber. Spaceship shower time before we meet the boss.” He slapped their arms lightly to wake them up. Both jolted awake. The men looked at each other and figured they would leave Robin alone until they all get clean. Just give her privacy later and allow her to sleep.

They gaggle humans awkwardly following Jet. All felt disgusting. The alien approached what looked like a regular wall, to unveil a shower room. Several water spouts were around, he approached another area, as he approached the floor beneath the retreat unveiling a steaming almost blueish tinted hot water. It was certainly a bath to them but looked like a literal small pool to the humans. “I guess we didn’t visit every room." Darek commented. 

The whole room reminded them of a communal bathroom. Darek and Hermes did football and Roger did the army so community showers and the etiquette behind them they were familiar with. It was easy to ignore each other, turn off the part that wants to judge or feel self conscious. All the men stopped and looked at each other and then the alien. The question lingering on their mind. ‘Are we going to see an alien penis?’ All three of them were grossed out not wanting to see. But something there was human curiosity they pushed down, the desire to compare each other was too much. A literal dick measuring contest. ‘May he species will understand human modesty and-’ Rogers thought was cut off as he watched Jet start to remove his armor and plated leather loincloth. Jet paid no mind, but when he noticed all the males staring it felt…strange.

His kind was uncaring for nudity. Only covering to protect sensitive areas and keep them clean from their days if not weeks they may face not finding any clean water to remove dirt and blood off themselves. Humans, however, covered themselves head to toe, literally. The men looked at each and the very obvious thing almost right at face level. The awkward silence hanging in the room. Someone had to say it. “I vote we never talk about this. EVER.” Hermes said. All nodded in agreement. Jet stood there awkwardly not understanding what they meant. 

Jet was not surprised seeing their bodies on display, he had seen diagrams apparently, showing the biological differences between male and females of their species and how to differ them apart. It wasn’t much different from his own species in some ways. Useful information to know which best to avoid or at the least check to see if they are with an unborn offspring. To the men's surprise, there was sheath. Reminding the brothers of the male horses they had in the barn. A vital part of the organ kept it clean. All the human men looked at each other with both horror, and confusion but decided to not ask anything about the creature’s body.  As they approached the shower heads they automatically turned on, releasing a hot warm blue liquid. Everyone silently agreed not  to talk.

The dirt and blood on contact instantly dissipated on the skin, leaving behind a silky feel of the skin. Almost a combination of a lubricant like soap and an exfoliation on the skin and hair. The water felt almost rejuvenating. Even against the cuts and wounds their bodies felt much better. Almost like it had minor healing qualities. Whatever it was they embedded this ship with more than normal water in its shower system. 

Feeling refreshed they all felt how gross their clothes have become from just over 24 hours. They made their way back to the cockpit to find Robin siting at the main chair, her hand hovering over the datapad. She looked back, noticing how much cleaner they all appeared. “Oh hey. Um? You found a shower or something?” She asked. The guys nodded. 

“Yeah Jet showed us. I guess there's some rooms we missed. It's nice actually There's even a bath-” without hesitation he leapt up. “Bath?!” She asked. Her mind raced with the ideas of luxury: bath bombs, bath salts, bubble baths with a little candle in the dim lit room. Her little at home spa days were a highlight of a rough day she had. 

Her eyes glimmered as she realized that Jet motioned his head in a “follow me” way. She felt uncomfortable at the thought of following him somewhere alone. He wasn’t lying or anything, but it also felt odd. Roger walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. His face smiled softly. “Come on. I’ll show you.” He offered. She watched a Jet loomed over. His stare into Roger, there was a look in his eyes. Like he said, something he didn’t like. 

Normally she loved romance novels and fanfiction of tall muscled men getting possessive over someone. Her crush feeling she had all now gone with this mixture of fear and uncertainty of something dangerous. In reality, it might be a situation that felt anything but appealing. Jet in a low tone, “No need… I show.” He said. She couldn't tell what was going on in his mind, but she felt uncomfortable. Something in her said that a fight might happen any minute. She looked at Roger with a bit of uncertainty before nodding. 

Roger however, tailed them, staying not too far behind. “Shouldn’t you… stay off your foot? It looks really bad” Robin asked as they walked down the corridor. He huffed approaching the same wall section and with a whoosh the doors opened to reveal the shower and bath. Her heart sank as she expected him to follow but felt relief as the doors, and she was left alone by herself. “I guess he at least understands privacy” 

Jet leaned himself against the wall entrance, crossing his arms in front of him, his spear leaning against the wall next to him. He watched as the Ooman male named Roger approached. He growled looking at him. He could feel the distrust radiating off the man, his scent full of anger. “I could have shown her the way, there's no reason for you to do it.” He said. Both looking at each other uncertain of each other's motives. “Yautja ship. I show.” He said bluntly. 

In honesty, he did not trust this human male. If her kin had offered he would have gladly accepted, allowing them to wander the ship freely. Even in their distrust, they showed their own acceptance to allow him to be in their dwelling. The three human siblings could predict as well, each personality seemed more clear over time, what they might do. While his uncle said not to trust them, those three he couldn’t care less about them betraying him or each other. This one however, was different, his muscles were built differently, his hair a different color and his outfit was of that warrior clan. He had no reason to be protective of the others except for being the same species. His actions in battle were unpredictable as well between him fighting head on to just fleeing, taking brave if not cheap shots on his opponents. He couldn’t decide if it was a survival method in battle or just dishonorable. 

There were also records kept by others of his kind, he knew by records Ooman males respect towards females was vastly different. He was not of her kin nor clan. There was no telling what his honor or intentions were. His hatred even in his weakened state and showing no signs of aggression, this one showed no stopping to lower his guard, and by all reasoning could attack any minute. He was trying his best to be respectful, even showering along aside to show he meant no harm. A simple act but not uncommon for bath houses to be built in communities by elders to strengthen the bonds between Yautjas. Separated by gender of course as male portions had harder times to let go of any conflicts between other males. The females with sucklings and young pups had no patience to police aggressive males for what was meant to be moments of relaxation with kin and other clan members. Roger was starting to annoy him. He didn’t need or want his respect. 

Time passed. She didn’t emerge. Jet became not so impatient as he found himself… worried? ‘Why am I worried?’ He pushed himself off the wall, grabbing the spear. Roger on the opposite end of the wall with his arms crossed looked up. “Hey wait a minute!” His pleas fell on deaf ears. Luckily for him, she was already behind the  door and finally figured out the keypad. “Oh hey! Sorry I couldn’t figure out the door. She nervously laughed. Roger backed up, not knowing what to say or if he should warn her that the big guy almost just tried walking on her. 

It wasn’t long before everyone was up and feeling better, they became more open to conversations, filling the air with sound. It felt strange to Jet. He was always so quiet socially. Even amongst kin they rarely spoke unless needed. They like to fill up the air with their constant talking. He stayed on his seat receiving confirmation from his uncle he was approaching and to dock the skip. As he typed away his response he noticed her right by his side. Her hand slowly reached over to his, her small curled fingers slowly around just a couple of fingers, and gave a small squeeze. “I realized I never really, you know, thanked you. I didn’t -I…you really saved me back there and--”’ her words cut off he grabbed her hand back, placing it on his face. His unmasked face looked at her deeply, before the look faded in a literal blink. “Brave.” He spoke.A low purr radiated from his chest. “Enforcer comes soon."

“Jet, what if it goes bad? What happens to us?” She asked, her voice concerned. He looked at her and huffed, a deep rumble from his throat came out as he said something in his language “A’hu- do well. Don’t worry” he said. It felt like anything but reassuring. She wanted to, no, she had to believe that he was right.

Chapter Text

The group watched in awe as a large ship slowly approached in view of the ship's glassed exterior. The size was immense, far larger than the ship they were currently on. For all the humans aboard felt small compared to the mother ship. Part of Roger felt like Sargent was right, they could easily conquer the Earth if they wanted to. It wasn’t just the physical strength alone they had, it was also technology. 

For Jet it was normal as ever. A few off-world missions away from prime here and there made him accustomed to large board ships. His piloting skills have also improved much over time and with ease he was able to dock the vessel into the docking area of the vessel. He noticed their seemingly unease, and amazement of being up in space after some time to decompress. It brought a bit of resemblance to the first time off Prime he felt. Robin and the others watched in amazement of the sheer size, before fear started to rear its ugly head more and more. Who or what was waiting for them in that ship? The anxiety is boiling over for all of them, the scent thick in the air. She sat beside Jet, her nervousness did not stop but she held onto him for reassurance, or rather Jet did not let go of her. 

He found himself rubbing his fingers on her soft hands, tracing along her short dull fingernails. Without weapons they were creatures barely able to survive, delicate under his strength. It was a wonder their species survived as long as they did on their own planet. As the ship drew closer he had to pull himself away from her.Jet lifted himself up relying on the spear as his brace. As uncomfortable as everyone was with the situation, they followed him like a mother hen. It was easier to have some trust with the alien you’ve known longer than the ones that you haven’t even met yet. Even Roger, feeling uneasy and mistrusting of the one they called Jet, knew it was better chance of survival not to kill Jet after making contact with their mother ship. 

Before moving forward, Jet grabbed the head he had collected, the blood now pooled on the floor from sitting for hours.  In the back of the loading area, the beast was wide, initially agitated, but calmed down upon seeing Robin and Jet. Robin placed a hand on the tusks as Jet walked by. His mind clearly focused elsewhere.

The hiss of a mechanical lock unleashed, and the back doors dropped into a ramp. Below were three other Yautja. Their presence was strong and intimidating. Two on the sides were smaller compared to the middle, with black and brown coloration. The one in the middle was unmistakably related to Jet. His skin was a more greenish color with darker tones mixed in; his locks were of similar thickness, and they shared a similar, wider, almost brutish physique. There was no doubt they shared the same DNA. They would only imagine the strength he carried being much larger than even his peers.

Upon seeing them, he spoke that same language not known to any of the humans. The two talked to each, only being able to read body language.

“My nephew, my brother's blood. I wish these were different circumstances.” He stated. 

Ja'tuniv laughed tiredly in response, “ I wish so too Ze’nitka

The large enforcer Ze’nitka looked at the gaggle creatures and his nephew. The injuries he sustained and the head he held in his hand. A sure tell sign of victory of a hard fought battle. As he held up his hand to inspect the head, he examined it, scanning the face and DNA bio-markers. A record popped up: Diqot, age 457 cycles, previously blooded member of the gu-vulki clan. He was found guilty of illegal experimentation on prey and using said experimented creatures for dishonorable kills. Killed three other clan members in an attempt to capture them, 2 of whom were young blood and one unblooded member. It made Ze’nitka proud that his nephew was not another dishonorable kill by him; he wouldn’t be surprised at all when his time comes, he will kill plenty of the black serpents in the ritual, perhaps a queen.

Ze’nitka nodded in recognition at the accomplishment. He looked at the other animals, their injuries they have sustained. Two of the creatures had wounds on their necks, one with a broken arm, and two who looked to have nothing more than bruises. Meanwhile, his nephew was the most damaged. As his kin, it worried him not just  to see him in this state; scars on his back, a broken mandible, and an ankle in need of disparate medical treatment. To top it off he was entrusting himself with Oomans not to kill him, or worse, accepting their help would not be good. Ze’nitka sighed, wondering what to do. If Ja’nuiv had killed the Oomans as prey or for getting in his way, then this part of the job would have been much more cut and dry. Looking over the large beast that was unchained and tired, a juvenile of the species at it too. There was indeed a lot to go over, something like this would have to have a full report, he was too unsure what to do with the Oomans on hoard. He was distrustful of them. 

Ze’nitka handed back the trophy to his nephew. “You have done well.”  He took his blade and moved it to his nephew's head, carving a mark on his head of the clan. There was pride in his eyes as he accepted it. After all he did kill someone so dangerous already blooded, an honor to defeat in combat and survive.

“Let's get you a healer. I have some questions.” He said his last part was covered in the coating of a warning. Ja'tuniv looked at him and sighed. “Yes. I must ask what you will do with the Oomans?”Ja'tuniv asked, hiding any form of concern he might have.

His uncle behind his mask raised a brow, looking at the group behind Ja’tuniv. “The others shall conduct the investigation and help build a report for the elder. You need help.” He waved him to follow, but there was a pause. He looked back at the group. “ I must go…they ask you questions,” he said. His eyes were looking past the others to Robin in the back. He felt a longing to not leave her side, wanting to bring her with him, to be there with her while they asked them things. To be there while they asked her questions.

The Oomans looked at each other, concerned and confused. Complaint, all knowing too well just how dangerous they are. 

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Ja'tuniv, despite his pride, was given aid to move to the medical bay. A floating chair is guided by others. Inside was a female enforcer, “Ah, the young warrior. I’m Sutk. Your trophy can be placed here for cleaning. Meanwhile, let me see your wounds and scars and tell us how they came to be.” She said.

Ja'tuniv suddenly felt like a small suckling crying against medical treatments; he wanted nothing to do with being here, but he needed do  it nonetheless. He sighed, allowing her to look over his injuries, taking off everything he had to nothing but a loincloth. She touched his fresh, scarred back, and she immediately noticed how new it looked, the skin still scabbed in certain places. "What happened here? You seem lucky to survive,” she noted.

Ja'tuniv saw his uncle typing away notes alongside her. He swallowed and exhaled. “My ship was hunted…I survived the crash but had little time to escape. The vessel exploded from the damage, burning my back and damaging my bracer before I was knocked out from the blast. I had no communication." He admitted. 

His uncle was as perceptive as ever and spoke up.

“Is this how you found allyship in the Oomans?” He asked. Prodding his way for an answer. Ja'tuniv looked at him immediately, understanding the leading question. “Yes. Three of them are kin, witnessed the explosion, and found me injured. Offered help, food, and shelter until healed. They showed they were honorable ones, taught how to tame animals in their way,” he said honestly. He felt a sense of pride talking to them… thinking about her. The way she was so kind to him despite his warnings to stay away.

Next, Sutk looked over her face, poking the mandible, noting how limp it was.” This will not heal correctly, too damaged. You may have to remove it,” She stated matter-of-factly. He huffed in frustration. He rather liked how his face looked, but there was the prospect that a mate might find it attractive. Proof he has been in battle and won. ‘Robin might- what- why am I-’ his thoughts of vanity as he felt the necklace being pulled. His body reacted faster than his mind. He found him grabbing the hand that pulled it. Seeing his transgressions against a higher-ranked member of his species, he apologized.A wave of shame overlapped his body for such a transgression. If he hadn’t been kin or if he wasn’t in pathetic state due to his injuries, any other high ranking-no any Yautja would have hit him for showing signs of aggression.

Ze’nitka looked at what caused such a reaction. Noting it was an Ooman jewelry, no doubt. Clicking his teeth together, his mind pondered. “Ah, another trophy? I was worried you had not gotten to hunt an Ooman while down there.” He found a brief silence before being corrected. Ja’tuniv’s chest slightly puffed, a sign of pride. “I was given this. By the female. A departure gift before the Badblood tracked her-well, mean them.” 

Before Ze’nitka could inquire more, Ja’tuniv growled loudly. Both didn’t pay much attention as Sutk examined his worst wound.

“Good, you still have nerve connections and reflexes as expected. We can replace the broken bone with metal. Recovery will be shorter than if it healed naturally, too high of a risk of permanent injury and recovery and rehabilitation is a two lunar cycle on prime.” Sutk said with the same tone. He found himself wishing she were kinder, more like-

He growled at himself. His uncle took note, “Was this injury from your fight?” He asked as plainly as possible, Ja’tuniv nodded in agreement.

“Yes. The broken mandible was from my fight. The ankle was at first a simple twist, then he had crushed it… I only had a  few solar cycles to heal. I foolishly did not wait longer. My weapons were nothing but weak  Ooman weapons as well, except for a blade I was able to take before the crash.” Ja'tuniv said in frustration. Almost then Ze’nitka laughed in response. The very notion proved that despite his win, there was much to learn. “My brother should have taught you. All weapons can be dangerous. Ooman or Yautja. They have killed our brothers plenty of times. That is why they are worthy prey.” He said.

Sutk laughed, pointing to a large scar on her neck. “A female, nothing but a small dagger, had hidden from me. Tried to cut my throat after jumping on my back from a tree.”  She said with pride as she grabbed a device from the wall. His uncle pointed to the left side of his torso. “Male, hunted me down. Trapped me before narrowly harpooning me. I was thankful that I was fast enough,” he laughed. 

Ja'tuniv looked surprised. The two laughed as they recollected their stories. The idea of an Ooman trophy felt strange; all he could think about was her. Realizing never once he ever thought of her as a trophy, always a nuance or potentially a hunter herself, wishing to see her as a hunter.“ I will begin the operation on your leg and amputate the broken mandible. Lay back. You will wake up soon.” 

------------

He found himself in a field of grass on a distant land. The grass almost reached his face and made it difficult to see through all the brush. But he could see the heat of creatures through the thick grass. Her voice echoed around. His legs tried to run, but they felt too sluggish. Feeling like the floor beneath him was falling, pulling him down. He tried to pull himself out of the grasp, but they kept snapping because of his weight. 

“Here. Let me help.” A familiar voice called out. A rope looped around him, pulling up from the mud. He looked up to see her there on top of a horse. She didn’t say anything. Instead, the horse and her started to walk away towards the grass. Her fiery hair glistened in the sun. Ja'tuniv found himself running after her, his feet once again getting stuck. He looked over to the side to see the horse Bolt beside him. He pulled himself up and on top of the horse. With gentle pressure, he pressed his heels to the side and clicked. The horse responded by getting closer to Robin.

As soon as he got closer, they ran faster. Her hair flew in the wind behind her. He commanded them to go faster, and they did; he could feel the wind in his face. But she was out of reach. But the same feeling of excitement in his chest burst, the wind, the sound of an animal at full speed, all under your control, and listening to you. It felt exciting, he roared as he chased, trying to catch up to her. wanting to be by her side. 

The blur of images, he found himself no longer on Bolt, but instead on the beast from the Badblood. It was fully grown and running, charging at full speed. The tusks of the beast were just at the heels of her and the horse. Panic grew; he commanded the creature to stop. Watching helplessly as the horse below ran with vigor. ‘No no no!’ He tried pulling but to no avail. 

He saw her run into the side towards the woods. He slid down the charging beast, landing with cat-like grace, watching it run away without him. As he approached the woods, he could hear her say, “Why?” She asked simply. He could not think of an answer; he chased her, but not as prey. “Do you know?” In front of him stood a masked Yautja; she was pale with bits of flaming locks and markings. She approached slowly. Her hips swayed as she walked, touching his chest. It felt wrong; this touch wasn’t right. But she looked beautiful.

“Why do you chase?” She spoke in his tongue, her voice sounding uncanny as the vocals didn’t match how a Yautja should. His skin felt like her touch was fire. In a moment, he found himself lying down. She was on top of him, her legs over his torso. Her hand grabbed her mask, her body shifting to an Ooman again. “Tell me. Why do you hunt? Or do you wish for something else?” Her voice was silk as she breathed. She crawled lower, her soft hands gliding over his thigh. Every part of him should deny it, deny this. His heart raced.  His mind conflicted. Part of him wanted nothing but to push her away, and the other part wanted to allow it to continue. “Don’t deny your instincts, hunter.” She said with intent that it glided further towards his pelvis. 

He closed his eyes, and his mind screamed, ‘it's not real. It's a dream.’ The fantasy felt no longer real, “You're not her,” he growled. The image of her looked confused. “What are you talking about, Ja'tuniv?”  He pushed her away. “This is a dream. Sent to torture me. You are not her!” He exclaimed. “What is wrong with me? I killed a Badblood, but think this is to be like one! To waste myself on a creature as yourself? That would kill me!”  

He felt the gentle touch of her hand touch his shoulder. “What is the harm of a dream if it isn’t real?” She said. Ja'tuniv shook his head, “No…this isn’t real, but it would be wrong, still. She isn’t my mate. You-she isn’t Yautja.”  He said. He looked at her. Her face was soft. She took his hand and placed her head into his hand. “Then, I am prey?” She said in English, no longer speaking in her native tongue from Earth. His hand combed through her soft, fiery hair; it felt so real. “...no…” he stated softly. “Then you already know what you desire. Do not deny it,” She said, her eyes closed as he pressed deeper into my hand. Her mouth pressed against his hand, her lips as soft as he remembered. 

-----------------

“Good dreams, pup?” A familiar voice echoed through the fog of his mind. A low radiating pain on leg. He went to move his arms but found himself strapped down. It was Ze’nitka in the corner, walling up besides him, unlunched the straps “your first surgery. Straps keep you still, some have bad reactions when waking up from a mind clouded” he said. He paused and looked at his nephew “mind feel okay?” He asked.

Ja'tuniv once his hand was free rubbed his head, and slowly moved to where his mandible was. It felt strange, phantom pains of a piece now missing. “Not really. I had strange dreams. Once where I knew it was fake” he mentioned. Ze’nitka chuckled and patted his back, the big meaty hand landed on his hard unintentionally. “Explains the sounds you made. We finished our report. All data is collected and sent over to Elder for the final decision for the beast and Oomans.” He said. Ja'tuniv looked up at him, slowly moving his body to sit up. 

“I wish to make a case to keep the beast on prime as my own. I want to train it more, I believe as it grows it may be great use in hunts for long travel and chasing large prey. It’s still young and has many cycles left to grow.”Ja'tuniv told his uncle. The idea was in his head the moment he saw the creature, a beast that was an herbivore but still brute in strength and endurance, intelligent meant it was a perfect creature to train without immediate death, except for being impaled or crushed to death in a rage. His uncle laughed deeply before stopping “Oh… you're serious?” He asked in disbelief. Yautja killed creatures, only capturing live ones for battle entertainments in some clans or used in hunting, although that was mostly by Badbloods. Something like that concerned him a bit about his nephew's plans. But he knew him all his life, he was the most cautious and careful of all his brother's pups so seeing him have such an idea was not something he would have expected. 

Stubborn as ever though the one tried to keep himself appearing strong, immediately tried to walk. Ze’nitka held his hand in place and pushed him back down “it's unlike you to be so foolish. Rest your body. You’ll only damage it more.”Ja'tuniv huffed annoyed “I spent too long staying still. I’m tired of limping and hate using that chair.” He said. If he was younger playing with a device would have made him excited now it just felt like another confinement.

Feeling the anxiousness being cooped up he had he chuckled “if I didn’t know better I’d say you were trying to see the Oomans again, like a suckling wanting to see his pets.” He teased. Only the reaction was anger, striking a nerve. He normally would jest in annoyance back, correcting him or lashing back his own words to wound him. Being an enforcer most respected him, didn’t question his honor. With blood kin such lashings he would allow, especially by those younger, he already proved himself and will continue to do so. Such words meant nothing as long as they did not question his honor. His kin simply was quiet for a second before cursing to himself. 

He felt himself surprised at Ja'tuniv reaction, was he actually considering an allyship that wasn’t based on honor not to kill or hurt them? It shouldn't be surprising. Very few Yautja ever find themselves social with Oomans, no they usually hunt and fight them. Even in battle against them as enemies they were only ever a truce as a larger threat had to be dealt with. Some tried to be allowed into Clans as blooded was rare, they often did not survive or eventually left the clans and banished. Oomans culturally were different and their sense of empathy towards others meant they would break rules and codes of honor that fit their definition of morality. 

It was one of the reasons Yautja stopped working with Oomans on Earth; they eventually stopped seeing them as gods. They grew tired of being used as cattle for their blooding rituals and became unreliable. Assassition attempts even in the most dishonorable ways such as poisoning foods, stabbing the backs of any Yautja that they saw, Ooman leaders and priests saw them mere demons to trick them and refused to cooperate. Too many failures on the planet crumbled away the little trust they had and establishing it again became fruitless. It was only a matter of time before their instincts would kick in, and betrayal may occur. Ze’nitka understood well the need to separate from them, after all they were prey. Prey that may be weak but when feeling threatened may prove to be deadly, and they were not above taking dirty tactics to kill once their mine was set. All history many other unblooded and young bloods seem to ignore until heir first Earth hunt proves to be more than simple. History that sounds ridiculous until you narrowly survive one that seeks to hunt you. It would be foolish by the youngblood to assume they were okay, and cursorily seemed to have gotten the better of him. 

His mask hid the seriousness behind his stare at his nephew. He sighed knowing he truly never got to hunt them. “ I know you are young. But trust your elders and know we warn you the truth. They are not like the fo’nuk, they are not simple minded creatures.” He warned. Ja'tuniv hissed in annoyance “I know…they also seem to be reasoned with. Can be strong and brave like any other Yautja.” He surged back. It was not his place but he felt like his uncle must understand. 

“Exactly. Their bravery isn’t for honor like us: their bravery for survival of themselves and others, for revenge of those fallen, a fear of the Black Warrior. They call us the word ‘demons’ from their myths. But they hold anger in their chest like no other creature, it can and will consume them like a fire,” As his uncle's words hit. He remembered her. That face she had as she shot the Badblood, the hatred in the warrior Oomans eyes as they fought mixed with fear. He spared him and showed mercy but he still attacked him ‘Come at me you ugly bastard. You deserve to die for what you did!’ The way his voice screamed in his mind as it replayed the event. If it hadn’t been for the Badblood it surely would have been a fight to the death between them. 

Chapter Text

For the humans, their meeting with the Yautja was not at all what they expected. While Jet promised they be investigated, the humans found themselves treated like criminals or rather cattle. Several other Yuatja surrounded them, grabbing them by their arms and shoulders, silent commands for them to move. Their hands were large and rough with an iron grip like a blacksmith. Any attempts to diverge from the path they wanted them to follow or escape their touch were quickly overpowered, their claw-like hand digging into their skin. They were anything but friendly hosts; Robin was just grateful they didn't have any cattle prods.

There was no interview like they expected. To Yuatja, the ship itself had its fair share of evidence, compounded by the interview reports from the new Youngblood, which would be more than enough. No, they were humans. Nothing more. They held nothing but a possible risk for the ship's inhabitants. Other members would gladly slaughter all four of them if just given a reason. They were just some alien stowaways on the ship out in space. 

They were collected and herded into a small room barely big enough for the four of them. Two of the guards pushing stopped once inside. One grabbed the arms of Roger, holding him in place, as the other one grabbed something from his back. In his hand looked to be some kind of high-tech collar. Fear jolted in his eyes. The first thought racing through Hermes ' mind was when Hermes' mind was altered by one of their technology.

He tried to move, fight, or flee. "NO! You're not going to fuck with my mind! Fuck no!" His back arched as her tried to worm his way out, moving his neck side to side. It wasn't long before the one holding the collar grabbed him by his head, holding him in place. Fear ran through his body like a chill in the air, deep into his bones. This was it. 

He had heard a click of the collar as the cold metal went around his neck. The other humans tried to help, but they were pushed back with ease. 

"What the hell?!" Roger cried out in fear. 

There was a sound similar to a laugh from the one behind him as the other one in front spoke. "Noa, uymo shau Ooman!"

"Stop moving, human," a robotic voice carried out from the collar. Roger looked up in surprise at the technology. The rough hands let him go, the sudden shift of weight no longer being pulled made Roger almost fall. As she braced himself,  Roger tried to grab the device and simply rip it off. The cold metal didn't give way one bit, not even a sound of a latch loosely moving. The one behind him thrilled in amusement before speaking in his tongue. The sound of clacking tusks, fidgeting echoes in the room.  "It will not be removed so easily," the same translator spoke out from his neck. 

"A translator?" Robin said in surprise. It dawned on her that the whole time, Jet must have had something similar on his mask. He must have used it to organically learned English at a much faster rate. It was impressive how he learned so much in almost a week's time. The other looked in surprise as well, albeit hesitant to just accept something like that after their last experience with alien tech neckwear. 

"Oh, hey! Um, no need for the arm pinning, please?" Darek awkwardly held up his arm, showing his injury. The Yautja behind their masks look at each other, their expression unreadable. The two paused, putting the collar on him more carefully. 

As soon as a bit of trust was made, it was taken away. Shock and horror plastered on their faces as they were explained a simple rule: obey or die. The very tech, of course, served multiple purposes. None of them doubted for a second it was a mere bluff. If a collar could alter one's mind, another translate, why wouldn't they believe that this could also kill them in an instant if their handlers saw them as out of line. The guards quickly made their way out of the room. The large metal door is closing with no keypad inside. They were locked down tight with no way out. 

“Fuck!” Roger slammed his boot against the door in rage as soon as the door closed. 

Hermes and Darek looked at each other. Darke reached out and placed his hand on Roger's shoulder “Hey man. We’ll find a way out of here.” he said. The words of encouragement tasted like soured milk in his mouth just saying those words. A bold-faced lie he hoped was convincing enough for him and everyone else in the room. All they had left way hope, even if it was a lie.  

Robin looked to the side; she was scared shitless the whole way through. Jet, grumpy as he was, never manhandled her or them the same way they just did. It was the same way as how you have to force an animal to obey you. The only thing missing was a cattle prod. Now they were tagged and put in fancy alien tech that might as well be deadly e-collars. 

Any bit of optimism towards Jet and his kind felt like it had waned to nothing. Maybe they were just animals to them, and they were vicious hunters. The image of him ripping out the spine of his own kind even in a battle to the death, his own kind not even looking to be upset confirmed such an act of violence for self defense wasn’t frowned on or considered too far. Instead, they marked him proudly. 

On top of feeling the uneasiness, Jet was almost guarding her from Roger, holding her hand and calling her brave like it was the truth. She felt the opposite. It was strange to feel Jet's rough hand, the circling of his gracing against her own. The feeling of his skin lingered after so long after. Her brain told herself it was as if he was petting her. She couldn’t help but feel like some pet that was given praise or an animal being hushed into a calmer state. True she felt comfort in his arms before, but now it felt tainted. Unsure of what he would be like now.

When they met, she felt like the one in charge, a guide or a teacher of the ways humans live, and her passion for riding horses. He was a quick student. Brave and headstrong, experimenting with his skills and perfecting them. The heat or battle, however, Robin felt more out of her element than ever. It was no surprise he took over. She knew of their strength and technology unlike any she had ever seen; maybe she projected her humanity onto him. Despite humans having complex societies, language, and technology, they still wanted to hunt humans? Perhaps his society saw other creatures to their most basic definition as animals with no care of sentience and intelligence. Then again, why bother with individual translators? None of it made any sense to Robin or the others. Perhaps they will never fully understand them beyond being hunters from another world.

She felt dumb for having that crush in the first place. She was the one always being handsy and exploring the alien a bit, part curiosity for him as a species, partly from the crush. As strange as his face was, his eyes held an intelligence, a world of understanding. She always believed the eyes were the window into the soul.

Jet always allowed her touch; now she found him initiating it. She hated how calm and yet scared she felt like she was an adrenaline junkie who, despite the fear, kept going headfirst. ‘Maybe I fell off the horses one too many times, ’ she berated herself. 

Hermes slowly sat down next to her as she was deep in thought, trying to understand their behaviors more. To understand Jet more. He grabbed her hand, his throat in pain from when he was screaming in his delusional state. Talking too much was hard to do. “Hey, Rob. You okay? You’re usually the one to see the bright side to everything. You think he’s gonna talk them into letting us out?” He asked.

“Not really. I  don’t know what to do…what to think.” Robin admitted. 

There was a silence between them as he put his arm around her. “Hey, it’s okay. We all don't know what to do here. God, I never thought I’d say this, but I think I prefer Jet any day over these guys.” He jokingly said. She gave a small chuckle back as she wiped away the tear, trying to keep them from bursting out into a river on her face. “Yeah.” 

Roger overheard and stepped forward, “I doubt it’s going to do anything to help us now it’s with its own kind now.” He spat. His words were like venom as he spoke ill of Jet. Infecting their minds. Robin felt uneasy. She didn’t want to fight back at his words. She felt like he was right. What were the chances he would go running to them like old-time pals? He was stuck with a bunch of random humans after almost dying. He probably was glad to get away from them all.

The hours passed, and nothing eventful happened. The only highlight was when fresh food and water was brought over to their quarters. Just a metal room. All the anger and frustration settled into hopelessness. At this point, any cell phones they may have had died long ago, were broken, or lost. The passage of time was unknowable and felt unreal. It felt like hell to be in the prison cell. The group talked on occasion but always fizzled out to be alone

Hope arose when the door finally opened. Two guards entered, followed by a larger bulker Yautja. The Uncle to Jet. Robin felt a bit of hope. “Did you get to talk to Jet?” She asked. Robin had a difficult time pronouncing his name. Hopefully, he knew who she was referring to. 

He spoke in that same strange language, the collars translating for him. “ Ja’tuniv has spoken. I am here to inspect.” The robotic voice said. 

They all looked at him with worry; he was a hulking giant amongst giants. Just what do you say? The four of them looked at each other, wondering what exactly to say in the silence. Behind his mask they could not see the absolute amusement he had. They were confused as ever; at least they weren’t begging for their lives. He hated how cowardly they could be at times. 

“Jatu-ja, sorry I’m butchering his name. I um. Where is he?” She asked tentatively. Ze’nitka was curious why they felt the need to know where he was, perhaps a misplaced bond from their time together. 

“He is recovering. Why do you ask for him?” 

“I-I just wanted to-” she stuttered her words

“-We all want to make sure he is okay. He got hurt really badly. Helped us out against what you call a Badblood?” Hermes interjected. 

Robin looked at him with a sigh of relief washed over her. The beast waved the guards away, clearly not worried at all about a fight 4 vs 1 match. Either he truly has that much strength and experience in fights or simply underestimates their capabilities. Most likely both if any of them had to guess. Once the doors closed and it was the four of them, he spoke, “Why have you helped him?” He asked. 

“We saw him hurt. Our sister…she insisted we help. We agreed he would get better and then leave.” Darek chimed in.

The creature stepped forward towards the female, sensing he was expecting some kind of  acknowledgement she stood up and looked at him. Her body wanted to run but she kept her feet planted. If training horses taught her anything, its to make space and show you will not be easily pushed over.  He  was more quiet than Jet was, there were no facial expressions or anything she could go by to know his emotions. ‘I guess Jet’s more attuned with his emotions and expressive one compared to these guys’ she joked with herself. The silence felt heavy as everyone watched. 

“Why did you help?” He asked again. 

“He was hurt. It was the right thing to do.” She said with confidence to him. Finally she got some kind of sound of approval, a chuff or agreement or understanding. She finally let go of the breath she didn’t know she was holding. 

“He may visit if he wishes, you have 3 cycles before we visit the clan elder.” He simply stated. Before anyone could ask he swiftly turned around leaving the humans to their own devices.

They all looked at him, surprised, before he left. The four huddled together and whispered amongst themselves. “Three days? That's not too bad.”  Darek asked

“Well, they probably use their home world as a reference of time. So we really don't know. Depending on their planet's rotation, it could be super long. I mean, Jupiter takes almost 10 hours, while Venus is what, over 240 Earth days? All depends on the size, make up and placement of the planet in relation to other solar bodies even."  Roger said. 

Everyone looked at him in a bit of surprise; no one would have pegged a military guy to be really into astronomy. Roger looked around his face getting red. “What?! I was always into space as a kid. Being traumatized as a kid by a bunch of aliens. I always wanted to go to space." 

“So I’m guessing that view from earlier felt like a dream? To be up there in the stars." Robin asked. 

There was a long pause before he scratched his head. “Yeah…I just wish it were different circumstances.” He admitted.

They all slowly sat back down and looked awkwardly at each other, mostly at Roger. “I hate to pry but… is that why you hate Jet back there?” Darek asked. Breaking the silence.

“I don’t hate HIM…just like his kind? ” Roger berated himself for not expressing what he meant clearly and looked at everyone awkwardly. 

“Yeah... we heard some stories before we got rammed and thrown off a cliff. I don’t blame you for not being so trusting.” Hermes interjected, his throat felt like it was on fire as she spoke every word. The moment though was worth it. He looked at Roger with eyes of understanding. Roger locked eyes before looking at the marks above Hermes collar/translator. 

“Thanks.” He smiled softly.

Robin looked at Roger and gave a sympathetic smile. “Listen, I know you don’t trust them, but we can at least play by their rules.” She suggested.

“I hate to say it. Even if Jet helped, we’re stuck here for 3 days of an unknown amount of time. We may be victims of some psycho but as far as they see it we’re just their prisoners. Stay out of line: you die.” Hermes said cynically.

"We have been studying them. Some of their tech, biology and behaviors. They live an almost primitive lifestyle. Sargent believed that they wanted to eventually take over Earth. What we do know for sure is if you aren’t a threat or avoid them trying to goat you into fighting you probably won’t die for the most part. We all must play our parts carefully now we are on their territory." Roger stated.

The four of then looked at each other. Darek especially, gave a face of forced positivity. "If we want to see our friends and family I saw we stick to their rules. Maybe they will let us go. If they think as us as animals Perhaps they will release us into the wild?" He added, joking in a serious matter. Robin held back her tears thinking of her farther, trying not to dwell on how worried he might be or be questioned by the unknown government forces. Just who might be waiting back when they get home? There's no way life could return back to normal after the week they all have had. 

---------

To be honest, Ze’nitka could smell the fear and stress radiating off them. Something was interesting about how they didn’t flinch, no. They held their ground without lashing out or cowering in place, unlike most in their position. For once, an experience wasn’t just backhanded attacks, or pleas for mercy; then again, those collars kept them in check. If what Ja’nutiv stated is true, that they aided him after he almost died and let him recover, he would be honor-bound not to kill them in turn and spare their lives. For the Oomans, their empathy as a species led them to only aid for the simple fact of seeing a creature hurt.  

‘Oomans… their sense of empathy and compassion for others is both their biggest weakness and strength.” Ze’nitka recalled his many trips to Earth before becoming an enforcer. Mostly, he didn't outright kill those he saw he would plead for mercy for those they were close to them. Others sought attacks in defense or seeking revenge of others who died honorably. Only a few of his Ooman trophies were truly special. 

He and the others on the ship came to a vote on what to do with them. He argued that they should stay in the quarters and under supervision. His equals mocked him for acting like a pup who was told too many stories of Oomans. They had a bit of a point. Now, with the devices, the language barriers would be less troublesome, and they certainly wouldn't want to find out for themselves if the devices worked or not. In the final cast, his opinion on the matter was outvoted only by a slim margin. 

They planned for safety's sake that the Oomans may be released under supervision once they reached the final day if all questioning indicated no threats. In the meantime, the remaining visits they had to their quarters were the same. His questions were simple. “Why have you helped him? “, did any others see him?” And most importantly, “did any Oomans possess their technology?"

After review, he found nothing suspicious about the group. All their answers were similar if not exact to his nephews at times. While their military knew of the visit and hunt, they had not obtained anything important. Thankful that there wouldn't be any more cleanup involved. He wanted this to be over with already. 

His nephew also made do with his new mobility device while he healed. A warrior's worst experience is to wait and be immobile like this for a prolonged time. However, if he ever wanted to hunt again, he would have to rest. Ze’nitka found his nephew located where the young fo’nuk was kept. He kept insisting he wanted to train the creature on Yautja Prime once home. Trained animals for hunts were akin to hunting dogs on Earth; if they live long enough, they may become a retired pet if calm enough. Riding a creature like this? It was strange. 

That matter is settled. On the first day after the surgery, he brought him to where the fo’nuk was being held. He seemed to have grown soft towards the creatures he found on his journey. Curious as to what caused this and most importantly if he will have to warn his brother of possible marks against their bloodline's reputation. Even on a mobility aid, he approached the creature with such confidence and gentleness. The creature, once on edge, warmly greeted him, making noises of approval. 

"What made you want to ride one?" He asked as he inspected the creature. No parasites or harboring of any diseases. That was a good sign.

"The Oomans. They have creatures they ride. Taught me a few basics. Now its mind is free, I wish to see how much more I can make this creature useful to me," Ja’tuniv said, petting the tusk of the creature as he fed it fruits and leaves gathered from the Badblood's ship.

"Ah, horses. Yes, I've seen them ride them before. Less now than before." Ze’nitka thrilled in amusement. It has been some time since he saw the strange behaviors. Even generations later, they still pass on the tradition of breeding and riding them.

"Have you ridden one?" He asked innocently.

"No. Too big, I could break one's back just by sitting on it." He laughed deep in his throat as he talked to his nephew. He was larger than the average male in both height and width; such an Earth creature would be severely injured.

"Have you?" He asked.

"Yes. At first I had doubt, but it listened. Like fighting along side another. This Creature is like that as well." He said as he pet it. The animal playfully messed with his lock sniffing and poking at him. "Ah, get off you oaf! I have no food left!" Ze’nitka Watched as he relaxed, remembering to himself he is blooded but still much to learn. If he smart, he may yet continue to be just as great of a hunter and warrior as the ones who came before them. He certainly has the skills to become one. 

A couple cycles passed since then, he noted the lack of visitation to the Oomans, despite his ability to do so. His time was spent elsewhere on the ship. It led Ze’nitka to be curious why he would avoid them. Perhaps their deal had been struck, and now they were no longer in need to socialize with them. Soon, the time to arrive approached, and all data collected was finalized and sent. Now it was just a matter of time to approach Prime and land. 

Ze’nitka approached Ja’tuniv, who seemed deep in thought in the common areas of the ship. His hand seemed to always cover that necklace unless addressed. Ze’nitka walked over to Ja’tuniv in the eating area and sat down beside him. His face deep in thought, now broken to the surface of reality as the new company sat beside him. Ze’nitka gave him a respectful chuff greeting. 

“Are you here for more reports?” Ja’tuniv asked. He seemed more annoyed than he was before. He seemed irritated more than usual, there was almost a warningful hiss to his voice as he spoke. It made Ze’nitka want to smack him upside his head for improperly greeting him. 

“No, those have been sent. I am curious, though. They permitted you to meet with the Oomans in their holding area. I have yet to hear you you visited. Was our talk enough to change your mind? Or did you decide not to use them anymore?” Ze’nitka asked with a bit of curiosity behind his tone. Fishing for answers, yet again.

“I do not wish to see them right now. I have been thinking, that's all.” He admitted the half-truth. His uncle took off his mask and started eating the food beside him.

As expected the last day they were to arrive, meant that the humans were out with supervision. It was early and they had only a few hours before they made it to Prime. Enough time to clean them and feed them. They had begun to stink. The four humans were followed by two guards, showing them only allowed areas. They quicky grabbed their food and once seeing the familar Yautja, Robin lead them to Jets seating area along side his uncle. 

Ja’tuniv felt himself freeze a bit before eating his food to distract himself. She sat right beside him, and everyone else followed. while Robin was oblivious, his uncle had a more keen eye. Ze’nitka could see the way he tensed up, his shoulders straightened, his chest puffed up. The way his attention was solely on the female of the group. Ze’nitka found himself amused at first. "If I didn’t know any better, he's acting like a young blood trying to impress a-’ the realization hit him like a charging beast. 

‘-Wait-No, he wouldn’t be so idiotic?’ He looked at him in suspicion, suppressing any looks of disgust at the very notion of an idea. 

“Jet- your face! They removed your broken-and your leg? You okay?” She asked in a tone of worry. All fear of Jet dropped seeing the state he was in. They may be massive, powerful creatures, but they too were mortal. It was the equivalent of seeing a tiger wounded, limping helplessly.

Ze’nitka watched his nephew start looking more deflated as he looked at the chair he was in. Noting him not even attempting to correct the Ooman of his proper name, and accepting the nickname instead, “I’m healthy. I need food and rest.” 

“God you've been hurt so many times. I don’t know how you survived. It’s crazy how resilient you are.”  She said, He watched as the compliment boasted his morals. His posture looked more prideful again, his chest rumbled with pride.

“Oomans… more durable than I thought.” He said his voice sounded more relaxed.

“Yeah. I’ve actually fallen off the horses plenty of times. Some are more laughable than others.” She giggled. Feeling her fears of him start to fade away more. Seeing him, talking with him again. He wasn’t cruel and left them after all. Not like how Roger made it out to be. He just was just injured, his mandible missing, bruises along his neck, bond to a space mobility aid chair. She didn’t blame him for not rushing over to see them. Her feelings of a silly intense crush was gone, she could see him in a different light. He was bold, stubborn, he seemed to actually care for her and the others. 

“I like… you to teach me more about taming.” He happily stated. He felt excitement at the prospect. He had been thinking of asking her for some time now what she knew. Perhaps could ask the elders for more time so that they can stay and he can gain more substantial knowledge to build his own methods. If he just had more time.

“Yeah I’d love to.” 

He started to make a sound of approval. Jet's attention so focused elsewhere, he was completely oblivious to his uncle staring right next to him. The stares he had lasered focused on his every movement and minute details of each little bit of the body language he displayed around her.

‘He is…that stupid,’ Ze’nitka cursed his brother for raising such an offspring. First time on Earth, and he doesn’t hunt Oomans, he gets almost killed as someone’s prey, and now finds himself…close to an Ooman. No, not one but four! He looked at the four. The other three seemed more preoccupied by food,  ideal conversations. They greeted them but were more friendly, in a passing sense. Their attention was more focused on their assigned and appeared to try to socially gauge them instead. 

The twins seemed to stay closer to each other, awkwardly eating the food prepared. Unsure what meat it might be. Roger had them all worried they might be committing cannibalism or maybe get space parasites but he glances their way every so often. Watching the two interactions, measuring for himself what may be going on. His face was grim, full of unease.

Ze’nitka Without warning grabbed Ja’tuniv mobility device and pushes the two into another area. Somewhere his nephew could be away from Oomans and others of their own kind.

Ja’yuniv made his protests as he dragged him outside of the commons to a more secluded area. “What are you doing?! My kin, why did you take me here?” He tried to reach around and move his uncle's hands off the device. He tried to use the motor functions, but nothing worked.

Alone at last. Ja’tuniv felt the tension as his uncle got right in his face. His large body looming over him, like he and his father did so many times before.

“I am older, do you not think I would notice?” He started with a growl. 

He looked at him with surprise and confusion. For all he knew he was enjoying the Oomans company, he felt relief at how she didn’t find him pitiful in the chair. He asked his question for more training. What could have caused this? “I have no idea what you are talking about!” Ja’tuniv stated with honestly.

“Paya! You are acting like a young one in their first season. At her!”

Ja’tuniv stared at him with a blank expression. There was a long pause before he spoke, “Are you…implying me…with her a Ooman?” Ja’tuniv pointed his fingers at his uncle and then himself. No, he just appreciated her, right? She showed being honorable to take care of him, she had so much knowledge to tame creatures and showed bravery. He wasn’t someone trying to impress her or get to couple with her. She was a good ally, and he just missed her constant talking to him, and didn’t want her to look down on him for needing a mobility chair. He certainly didn't have an almost mating dream of her. He didn't want to do it either. No. That would be wrong. No one can know that. He doesn’t know that. He couldn’t know that. 

“Puak, you are your sire’s child…are you aware of yourself?” He asked, clearly exasperated.

“I’m unsure what you mean. She is an ally, that's all. I was asking because she proved to be a master of taming. I want to see about riding and taming the fo’nak more." He doubled down on his reasoning but there was nagging in the back of his head. The same nagging part that was around when he thought of her.The same part of his brain that kept bringing up the dream. ‘I’d like to see her ride and tame something alright-what am I… no she’s not going to approve. Stop it.’ His mind raged at itself, how could be casually think of such things? 

Ze’nitka looked at his suspiciously and huffed in annoyance. He wasn’t his son, but he only bared a few offspring from mating seasons on prime. All but two have survived to be blooded, and one to be tested. He helped train his sons and daughters as well as his brother's offspring. He saw no difference as they were still a part of each other's blood. “I will not say this again, nothing is more shameful than to partake in something against nature’s intentions.”

Ja’tuniv felt a ping of guilt at that statement. Even if nothing happened, it still didn’t mean his mind wasn’t pure. “Uncle…I don’t-”

“- the code exists for a reason. To respect the order of things. If you are to break it. I will not hesitate to kill you myself, nephew.” He warned. His tone was serious. 

“I have no intentions on acting on anything wrong.I do however think she is of some use to me. To train me in her ways.” Ja’tuniv admitted. Hoping his uncle could change his mind.

His uncle looked at his before walking away and huffing, a low growl emitted from his chest. "You better not lie to me or yourself,  young one." Ze’nitka warned.