FicWad

Chapter Three
Nightfall; First Meetings

Logan had made his way through the valley about a mile from the center. He had made the tireless trek slowly despite his anticipation. He wanted everything to play out nice and neat. He had explored the terrain, getting a feel for his surroundings. He sniffed every scent and became familiar with it. He built up a small fire in a clearing. As strong as he was and as sharp as his senses were, he wasn’t stupid enough to sleep in the dark. He had decided that he wouldn’t eat that night. He didn’t know how long he’d be out there and decided it was better to let a pig live if he was going back tomorrow.
He lay on his back against a rock. The fire burned at half power in front of him. He had his hat over his eyes and his hands behind his head. Any passerby would’ve mistaken him for a sleeping cowboy. But he had lain awake many nights with his eyes closed, his ears open, and his fists clenched. If anything came within twenty feet of him, he’d be ready. He listened to the fire crackle, fully aware that it was the only sound being made by the jungle. All the birds, bugs, animals: silent. He was tense, and that’s how he liked it.
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He flew silently from tree to tree, landing only long enough to push himself forward again. He had used his night vision to scan the area at first, but the jungle was too humid for any proper identification. One of the felines had gotten close enough to attack before he knew it. The feline’s claws and teeth now adorned his necklace. He decided to use infrared vision at all times.
He had left all his tools behind except for his spear. He even took a chance that even he now thought was pompous; he had left his stealth tech behind. It was dark, and if worst came to worst he would confront the being, but not kill it. He would decide if it was worth all or none of his weapons.
His infrared vision told him that he was approaching a heat source less than 100 feet away. He kept moving, but more slowly now. Stealthily. Cautiously even. He came to a small clearing. He dared not enter it, but stayed covered by the trees. He immediately saw the being, apparently resting.
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Logan had been keeping himself awake by opening his eyes and staring at the fire through his hat every now and then. He guessed that the time was almost one in the morning, so he decided to go to sleep. Just as he had closed his eyes and relaxed, he heard a faint thud.
Anyone without his hearing wouldn’t have caught it. He tensed, but did not move. He took a long, quiet sniff to test the air. He picked out the scent of the burning fire, the faint scent the trees gave off in this heat, and even the smell of his own sweat. He reached the smell of rotting meat; a fresh kill. The scent of blood had been covered by some kind of chemical, but he could still smell it.
The blood was mixed with something else. Something he hadn’t smelled before. It was strange, but he felt something familiar about the scent, even though he’d never encountered anything like it. No animal, no mineral, no chemical he could think of smelled like that. The thought of something new excited him as he lay there under his hat with his hands innocently placed behind his head. His right leg lay flat while his left knee was in the air. He felt awkward, almost like a fool. He expected the problem to be just a stupid tiger with too much pride, or maybe even an extra-large snake with an attitude. He realized that he had no idea what he was up against. And he liked it.
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He sat there in the tree silently. Waiting for the being to move, or show any sign of life other than a heat signature. He surveyed the area, seeing no traps or riggings of any kind. He would’ve chuckled to himself, thinking how silly the being must be if it had made an open challenge and not prepared for it. He would have, if the being had not moved.
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Logan decided on three things. Number one was that something was definitely watching him. Number two was that whatever it was wasn’t going to make a move until he did, and he was getting anxious. Number three was that the fire was dying.
It took every bit of sleep-deprived courage he had to stand up. He did it quickly, to perhaps startle his stalker into moving. His eyes moved quickly around under his hat without turning his head. He walked over to the kindling pile he had made, and pushed the whole of it into the fire. Then he heard it.
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He had involuntarily moved, and he cursed himself for it. He had set his spear down, and it fell off the branch. He had to reach to stop it from hitting the ground. He found himself sweating as his quarry seemed to pay him no mind. The creature merely laid down in the same way it had before, but this time it’s hands were not behind it’s back. They were clenched into fists with palms facing up.
He thought to himself how stupid he was being. The creature had shown no more physical ability than walking around, and didn’t even do that with a fair amount of consciousness. He placed his spear in his belt, blaming himself for not doing so earlier to avoid the slip. He grabbed the tree, and quietly moved to the right, away from the being so as to come alongside it. He knew the only way he would get a reaction would be to make his presence obvious.
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Logan’s sense of smell kept working. He followed the creature’s path along the trees with his nose. He had placed his fists palm up for a reason. As quietly and as slowly as he could, he had extended his claws into the soft dirt, letting the forest foliage mask the faint smell of the blood coming from between his knuckles. He was ready.
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He had perfectly positioned himself directly behind the rock the creature was laying against, while retaining his position in the trees, He decided it was time to go down. He slowly made his way down the tree trunk, keeping his movements at an even pace. Curiosity drove him as much as his eagerness for a challenge did.
It was his first mission all over again. Slowly approaching a seemingly dead reptilian. Of course they had long tails and their blood made wounds dangerous. But the reptilians were naturally restless, and only time was needed to determine their state. He approached then as he did now. He didn’t know his prey’s habits then.
His landing made almost no sound. He moved across the distance from the tree to the rock slowly, trying his best to avoid the foliage that could give him away. It was then that he realized that he should have extended his spear before falling into the clearing. At this range the sound of the sliding metal would give him away. But he removed the spear from his belt and held it at the ready. He bent down and touched the rock for balance.
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Logan was getting restless to the point of insanity. He knew his stalker was on the other side of his rock, and that it had the jump on him. At this range neither his smell nor his hearing could distinguish position other than close. He kept his eyes closed despite his excitement. It took every iota of concentration he could muster to keep from moving. He felt the thing right next to him, but something was wrong; he didn’t hear any breathing. That was too much. He snapped.
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He was close enough to touch the creature. This was it. The moment left as soon as it had come. The beast moved surprisingly fast, like a flash it was on it’s feet staring at him. But he himself was just as fast. He held one hand out with the spear back, forgetting that it wasn’t extended.
As he and they stared at each other, he noticed something. Something that he wasn’t expecting, it surprised him almost. The creature had claws. He knew from the description that his predecessor had left that the beings used their hands the way they did, and could even climb the way they did. They were structurally similar in many ways. But this one had claws. Not like the small claws he had pulled from the feline earlier, not like any other being categorized on this planet. They were long, about 10 inches from tip to hand. Three on each hand. The creature was hunching, seemingly preparing to leap. He extended his spear and stood strong.
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Logan didn’t know what the hell he was staring at. It looked almost like a man, but it was a hell of a lot bigger than any man he’d seen besides the Juggernaut and the Hulk. It’s skin was a sickly yellow-green color, and it’s hands were webbed claws. A metal mask covered it’s face, but it had what looked like dreadlocks hanging from the sides of it’s head. He couldn’t see it’s lower body because it was hidden by the rock.
The monster had netting covering it’s bare skin, connecting shoulder pads to a dual chest plate, to what looked like a loincloth. Around it’s neck it had a necklace with what he guessed were cat claws. That was the blood he was smelling. From what he could tell he was fighting Tarzan’s ugly cousin. It’s arm was tilted back holding something like a spear. Before his eyes the monster’s arm tensed and the spear extended to twice it’s size. It looked strong. Probably stronger than he was. The two stood there, just staring for what seemed like an hour.
Logan took a chance and made the first move. He stepped to his left, and the monster stepped to it’s left. He kept moving, creating a circle around the rock. He stopped as he felt another slanted rock behind his boot. The beast stopped as well. He leaned his weight on the rock and vaulted forward with a yell. His clawed hands instinctively moved in front of him as he flew through the air.
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He was startled; the beast had leaped at him with no warning. He was frozen for a second before training kicked in and he dodged the creature’s lunge. But not without taking a hit himself. As he distanced himself from the recovering being, he felt his warm blood running down his side. He looked down for a second, and noticed that the beast had cut though the weaker piece of his chest plate. Could it have known? Did it anticipate his reaction and how to counter it? He didn’t know. But the wound infuriated him.
He threw his extended spear at the vile creature. It was already back up by the time he had done this and attempted to knock it away with it’s claws. But the beast over-swung the attempt and missed the spears flight path. It caught the animal through the shoulder, knocking it down.
It didn’t move for a moment. He felt disappointed, that such a great tension had lead to such a simple climax. He chuckled to himself and approached. As he did he noticed that his spear hadn’t gone too far into the beast, so he slowed his approach, knowing that this creature could be patient.
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Logan felt like a complete moron. He had struck out on an easy pitch and taken it in the shoulder. He noticed the blood he had drawn off the thing and was a little shocked at the color, but satisfied that he had done something.
He lay on the ground motionless. The pain didn’t bother him so much, but he was waiting for his healing factor to kick in. The spear had collided with the adamantium in his shoulder and stopped, but it still hurt. This thing was made of strong stuff. And this monster was as strong as he thought.
He heard the monster approach him. Again, he didn’t move or open his eyes. He would wait and get this sucker back. His claws were still extended, and that was a good thing. It saved him the pain and motion of pulling them out again.
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He came right up the motionless beast. It seemed to be either dead or knocked out. He grabbed the spear to remove it, but noticed that there was almost no blood in the wound.
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Logan felt the spear wiggle and used his arm to trip the monster that was standing over him. It lost it’s balance and fell to the ground while Logan had leaped to his feet and backed away.
He grabbed the spear with both hands and pulled. It hurt like hell. There was a lot more blood as it came out than there was going in, when he noticed that the spearhead was barbed. He threw it to the ground and bared his claws to the now standing monster.
“Is that all you got, bub?”
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This creature was becoming more and more interesting. He watched as the wound his spear had made vanished in merely a few seconds. He had not aimed to kill, but did not expect such a swift recovery.
He heard the beast’s comment and recorded it. He didn’t know its meaning but assumed that it was an insult & a challenge. He was without his spear, and thusly no weapons. But he merely stood there, hoping to draw the creature into action as he had before.
He repeated it’s challenge with his own voice. “Is…that…all…you…got…bub.” It seemed to infuriate the creature, but it did not move. He normally would have charged, but seeing the damage it could do to him was enough to convince him otherwise. The heat from the fire was irritating his legs. Then he got an idea.
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Logan stood there tensed, staring at the monster. His hat had fallen off in the struggle, revealing his black hair, brushed backward the way he always wore it.
It repeated his words back to him like some kind of recorder. The monster suddenly made a loud roar. He was startled at first by the sheer volume of it, but realized that it was the sound he had made on the ridge.
The monster had used his opportunity to reach down into the fire and pull out one of the larger sticks. It was on fire, and surprisingly pointed. The monster charged forward, the echo of the roar still rippling through the jungle. Not being one to turn down a challenge, he ran forward as well, claws at either side of his head. With a well-timed slash he cut the stick into pieces.
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Now it was his turn to be clever. As the creature cut his torch into pieces, he leaped over the animal’s shoulders with ease. He landed on his haunches and picked up his spear, holding it in front of him. By this time he knew he had gotten more than he had expected out of the life form.
The creature, infuriated over being duped so easily, savagely attacked him. It swung left and right with it’s claws, he barely being able to push them aside with his spear. He had had enough. It was time to go.
It slashed and he parried over and over again until it saw through his pattern and got a few inches into his stomach with it’s claws before he used the spear to stop it’s hand. He pushed it’s hand away and spun the spear over his head before giving a final stab. It missed the creature, but struck straight through it’s brown torso garment. He grabbed the back of the creature’s neck and spun the spear to push his adversary behind him and he made a beeline for the trees. He leaped into them and began quickly making his way through the jungle, leaving his foe behind.
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As Logan hit the ground face first he barely had time to register that he had dodged the bastard’s spear. He heard it’s footsteps now behind him as it ran away. “Oh no you don’t.” He rose to his feet quickly and turned after it. It made an incredible leap into the trees. He had seen better. He followed it as fast and best he could. He heard it pulling ahead of him through the trees as he ran. The scent was growing fainter, and he was growing angrier.
After about ten minutes of running, the scent disappeared. He stopped in his tracks, breathing heavily. He sniffed desperately at the air to find the scent. When he didn’t, he let out another savage cry that echoed through the jungle. When he was sure that he couldn’t follow his enemy, he retracted his claws and followed his own scent back to his camp.
As he arrived back at his camp, he discovered that his fire had burned down to embers. His hat had been trampled by the chase, and to cap it all off, his jacket was ruined. The bastard’s claws had shredded the neck and back, and the spear ruined the bottom and shoulder. It was barely hanging off of him. He once again unsheathed his claws and sliced up the rock in a fit of rage. He took off his jacket and laid it in the burning embers along with the hat. He thought it at least deserved a fitting burial. It produced little light, but enough to keep away the animals, as if his cries of rage hadn’t already.
He climbed a tree and lay in its branches, making sure there were no snakes or cats. He lay in the tree, trying to sleep, thinking about the hunt only hours away, and what he would do to that son of a bitch when he caught him. He would show him what he does, and why there was no one better.
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As he practically flew through the trees back to his ship, he cursed himself for being so careless. He should have at least kept his adaptive camouflage tech. He also felt ashamed that he was so easily hurt by such a primitive being.
He came upon his ship. The door instantly closed and the lights activated. His ship was small and much more difficult to find in the jungle. It had everything he needed for his time here: A sleep chamber, trophy room, file computer, lab, and medical room. He threw his spear to the floor and walked to the medical room.
His natural healing factor was already working to heal his wounds, but the probability of infection was high in this humid jungle. The diseases in this planet had not yet been categorized. As he spread his medical jelly across his wounds, he again cursed himself for his stupidity. He looked into his mirror, realizing that he had not yet taken off his mask.
After he finished applying the jelly, he removed each air tube, and then removed his mask. As he looked upon himself, he smashed the mirror in a fit of rage. He had worked so hard to get to this planet to mend the pride of his race. And here he was; wounded by the only inhabitant who had fought him. He stalked out of the room, the jelly quickly assimilating to his wounds, sealing them. He placed his mask and breathing converter on its rightful pedestal next to his weapons. He pulled his disks and blaster from their racks and placed them next to his mask. He would be ready next time. He would be prepared.
He had killed many beings from this pitiful ball, and this one would be his prize. He turned to access his sleep chamber, but noticed his spear on the ground. He examined it, as it had scratches in it. How was this possible? Their weapons were made of some of the most durable and light minerals the universe had to offer. He headed into his lab to examine the chemicals in the scratch marks.