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      Syd wasn't happy. At all. He'd been excited to be told he'd be dumped in the Tundra Zone, after all, blizzards and snow? Dream cover for a sniper like himself. However, he had forgotten one very obvious blaring fact in a move that showed how very much like his mother he was.
      Tundra's were very cold places.
      He now sat shivering, the only warmth was a small fire made by the wreckage of a camera he'd ambushed.
      Yes he'd ambushed a camera, in this cold, unforgiving environment, it was either them or him! And he was certainly for his own survival. Besides, he'd read no rules about destroying cameras for warmth. Sure there'd be something about damaging Blood Sport's property, but what where they going to do? Shout at him? Pfff.
      Behind him was a tall but thin rock, just enough to provide a little shelter from the ever falling snow. He was amazed that the metal hadn't melted through the snow, in fact, it seemed the snow was so cold that it was even cooling the underside of the metal, making some extra steam rise softly from under the body of the robot.
      "Fuuuuck this fucking plaaaace," Syd mumbled, trying to warm his hands on the mass of burning circuits and fuel, "It fuckin suuuucks."
      Who was he after again? Some dude called Kane. He was an irken, slightly taller than Syd and a little bit older. They had the same build but Syd had a little advantage over his opponent. When checking his weapons and supplies, he'd classed his Qutu as an entertainment item, some music to listen to when on long treks. However it also had a whole bunch of apps on it which let him download a GPS of the planet, and some basic info on some of his opponents.
      Oh yes, it was good to come from a family of assassins who made a living out of dodging security. He looked to his Qutu again, turning off the music and going onto the information he'd saved. The only things he could find on Kane was his name, a picture of him pulling his tongue out at the camera and just that he was involved in some kind of science project when young.
      He didn't look tough, in fact, he looked kinda stupid. Whatever. He would find him and shoot him and then move on out of this goddamn freezing hell of a place.
      He tapped the screen a few more times, bringing up a much nicer picture, a woman, a little older looking than Syd himself, posing topless revealing rather large breasts with lacy panties and a sultry smile on her face. A message was written underneath simply stating, 'Don't get too distracted! Love you! Be safe! ~Aluii'
      Yeah, sometimes it rocked to have a stripper as your girlfriend.
But her point was quite serious, he really shouldn't be distracting himself when he was out trying to kill someone. He sadly put the picture away and locked the Qutu.
      As he looked back up he froze. Something, or someone, was moving in the distance. Right away he kicked the robot over, destroying any sign of a fire. He couldn't be detected, even if it meant the cost of his only heat source. Syd swung his beloved rifle around his body and knelt down, aiming directly at his target and watching through the rifle scope.
      It was Kane, amazingly, and once more he looked utterly lost and half frozen to death. That was what you got when you wandered around in the snow in a bloody t-shirt.
      Syd couldn't help but grin viciously, a small trait picked up from his dad. Oh this would be soooo easy. One shot, to the head, down he'd go, onwards Syd would move. Easy as pie.
      And yet he didn't take the shot, not just yet. It was fun watching the other irken move around, trying to trudge through the snow and fall over every so often. The snow itself was knee-deep and it seemed like it went on forever. Stretching for miles in all directions. He suspected however that the weather was controlled, there was no way a planet could snow constantly like it, either that or fate just hated him.
      He momentarily switched to heat-vision. He was surprised to find that the mark on Kane's head was glowing. Weird. So was a small ball inside him, near to where his heart should be. Maybe he had some kind of ability that hadn't been mentioned in his bio? Hum well, it was nothing that couldn't be defeated by a plasma-round to the face.
      Kane was already a dead irken walking and Syd was ready to take the shot. He narrowed his eye and his finger tightened around the trigger as he silently took into account wind speed, distance and any other factor for the perfect kill.
      And than something happened which ruined everything.
      Beside him, the robot he'd been using to keep warm suddenly sparked and a loud whirring noise erupted out of it. Considering the place he was in was an almost flat plain, save for one or two oddly symmetrically placed rocks and some other dunes of snow, the sound carried swiftly and Kane immediately looked in Syd's direction.
      Kane had been wandering around for a while. He'd dozed off when in the briefing room and had woken only at the very end and they weren't very kind about repeating everything. He had been dumped face-first into the snow and had just set off in a random direction.
      Of course he hadn't found anything or anyone or anywhere. And yet, he'd come out on this big stretch of whiteness with more whiteness rising up on either side. He thought he'd spotted some smoke earlier, but it must have just been the snow annoying him.
      Now he was pretty certain it was someone. Perhaps someone who could help him find who he was supposed to kill! Although wasn't he supposed to kill everyone? Well, he could ask that question to the nice person.
      Or he would have done if he hadn't heard a faint hissing sound. He ducked just as a small ball of plasma streamed over his head and into the snow beside him, making a cloud of steam rise up from the burning, white-hot power of the round.
      Syd cursed loudly, goddamn robot!
      He began firing at the figure, who was diving in and out of the snow dunes. Switching to heat-vision did little to help him aim, the snow covering everything apart from the one tiny diving, running, ducking form in the freezing ice. The plasma rounds were making huge tunnels of steam in the snow dunes, and weirdly enough, Syd could hear an odd cracking sound whenever a round hit the floor. There must be rocks or something under the blanket of snow.
      Kane was panting, hard. This guy wasn't stopping, he just fired on and on, only narrowly missing each time. Plus he was sure he could hear something growling. Waaay underneath them in the ice. But the earth didn't growl, did it?
      Syd took more and more shots, the rush of the attempted kill cursing through him, making him focus on his target and more eager to see his blood splattered on the pureness of the snow. His determination was complete, nothing else mattered but the total death of Kane. Not even the strange, creaking, cracking sounds coming from deep beneath his feet.
      Kane too was having a rush, but a different kind of rush, the massive need for survival was coursing though his body, making his reactions faster and his heart beat stronger. His antennae had blocked out all other sound but that fatal, faint hiss. The hiss of the rifle spitting superheated gas at him. If just one hit him, it'd melt his skin, bone, blood away in less than a millisecond.
      Another shot whizzed by his skull and he dived into the snow, not even hitting the bottom. How long had this small blizzard been going? Days? Months? It seemed it'd never end, just pile up and up and up. At least it made for soft landing, even if steam was now covering everything like a fake fog.
      Syd growled, the cold was eating away at his rush and he knew that this was becoming increasingly useless. He'd have to get in closer with his guns and deal death at a more personal range. Well, at least he got some practice in and he supposed the walk might do him some good. His legs were so cold they were feeling like concrete blocks.
      Gathering himself, he swung the rifle onto his back and stood up, drawing out his guns. However, he paused and frowned, looking to the snow around his knees. Did the earth just growl? He certainly felt something vibrate beneath him, maybe this ground was unstable.
      He must be firing onto some kind of lake or something, what if under all this snow there was a big lake of ice? His shots would have easily punched holes through it, and it must have started cracking. Syd internally panicked, he'd be frozen to death before he drowned! It wasn't even a cool way to die!
      Moving quickly, he began rushing at Kane, firing as he did, trying to hit the darting irken but missing, however, he was pleased to see one or two shots cut past the irken's shoulder and arm, wounding him just slightly.
      "GAAH!" The scream of the other irken brought a long, nasty smile to Syd's lips. It was a family smile, only those within his family could ever pull it off, and his dad had told him one drunken night it was one of the reasons he'd decided on his mother. She was the only woman in the universe who could copy that vicious smile.
       "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SHOOTING ME?!" Kane yelped from behind one snow dune rather unexpectedly.
      "Because that's the bloody point," Syd shouted back, now approaching his opponent slowly, guns still at the ready. "We attack each other till one of us dies, preferably you."
      "But I don't even know who I'm supposed to be fighting!" Kane yelled out in a pitiful voice, "I mean come on!"
      "Is your name Kane?" Syd replied with a raised antennae.
      There was a pause, "Noooo."
      "Really now?" The sniper was not falling for any of this. This guy must think he'd been born yesterday to fall for such a dumb trick, "So who are you?"
      "Bane," The irken answered quickly, slowly standing up, "Bane the, erm, accountant!"
      "Riiiiight," Syd cocked his guns and held aiming directly at the irken's face, "If you're an accountant, why are you here?"
      Kane rolled his eyes, "To account, duuuh."
      "Right," Syd answered slowly, wondering if this guy had some kind of special brain worm or something that ate at his logic. Although he couldn't talk, the fact that he was sane was a genetic miracle.
      "Don't I know you?" Kane suddenly announced, looking at Syd with scrutinising eyes.
      Syd shook his head, "If you'd seen me before, you'd be dead already." If his parents hadn't killed him, his boss would have. Syd was a surprisingly protected young irken, but he was an assassin, he needed to keep his name on the down low.
      "I do know you!" Kane announced suddenly with a huge smile and a grin, "You're that guy! The singer dude! With the band and the songs and the-" He jumped into some random air guitaring, stopping to continue, "that!"
      Syd again shook his head, "No, I don't-"
      "YOU'RE KASH!" Kane leapt up suddenly, "OH WOW YOU'RE KASH CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!"
      It was if a rage switch had been flipped on in Syd's head and he immediately growled and glared at Kane with the force of a nuclear bomb, "I'M NOT BLOODY KASH. Why do people keep saying that!?"
      "Well you do look like him," His opponent observed with a simple shrug, "You have the same eyes."
      "It's always the BLOODY EYES ISN'T IT?!" The young sniper screamed, "THANK'S A BUNCH, DAD." Why couldn't he have gotten his mums eyes? Nooo, he had to be sooo like his dad. He didn't even get cool mutated antennae or anything! His genetics sucked. Well, at least he could shoot and he had a stripper girlfriend. Stripper girlfriend made everything okay.
      Syd collected himself again, thinking of Aluii always calmed him down, and he aimed his gun back at Kane. "You know what? I'm going to shoot you now, just because you said I looked like Kash."
      "But you do look like Kash!" Kane stupidly insisted, not completely realising that Syd was quite serious about shooting him in the head.
      "For the last time I do not look like Kash! Just because we have the same-" As fate would have it, it was at that moment that a small beeping noise went off in Syd's top pocket. He blinked, it was time for his medication already? He shrugged and lowered his gun, "Well done, fate has bought you a few more seconds."
      Kane was no fool however, even if he did act like one. He realised this was his only chance of getting away from this guy or even killing him. Yeah, killing him would be the better option he thought, especially as he knew he had to essentially kill everyone on the planet.
      Unfortunately, the young irken had bought into Kane's stupidity and honestly believed that this backwards fool would wait for him to take his medication. He also didn't realise just what kind of reaction even lifting a single bottle of pills from a small zipped pouch on his pants.
      Kane's eyes fixed onto the pills. Of all places he'd thought he'd never get to eat pills again, it was here. And yet some shining force had smiled on him and gifted him with this chance. But yet his brain reminded him that the guy was still holding a gun. It was a hard choice, the toughest of choices. The gun, or the pills.
      Why was fate such a cruel bitch?!
      Syd however, popped the cap of the pills. The very pop echoed in Kane's brain and his choice was made. Sure, he might get shot, but hey, this might be his last time to ever eat pills again!
      The sniper hadn't even raised the container to his mouth before Kane leapt onto him. Kane's weight almost knocking the wind out of him and throwing him to the floor where they landing heavily into the snow. Immediately he felt two other hands closing around the pills and trying to yank them out his hand.
      "GET OFF!" Syd yelped as he tried to swing his gun around to fire into Kane's body, but the irken grabbed his wrist and forced the gun away from him. Syd was surprised to find Kane had more upper body strength than he first thought, and despite Syd's best efforts, he couldn't force his hand against Kane's grip.
      He tried to roll over, to force Kane onto the floor, but the irken kneed Syd in the spoonch, forcing a sharp bolt of pain through his torso and stopping him from turning his body properly.
      "Give me the damn pills!" Kane screamed at him, his hand trying to slam Syd's pill-hand into the floor whilst his other still forcing the gun away from his body.
      "NO!" Syd yelled back. Hell he didn't even know what would happen if Kane took his pills. Would he slow down? Maybe he should give him one if it meant making him an easier target.
      It also suddenly dawned on him that Kane was more interested in the pills than he was in anything else. He threw the little bottle away, and Kane leapt after it, throwing Syd to one side as he chased his addiction. Syd coughed, trying to get air back into his lungs. Lying on his back in the freezing snow had taken it out of him.
      Kane however was now digging through the snow trying to find the damn thing. What the hell, how damn deep did this snow go?
      Syd had managed to pick himself up. Goddamn that asshole made him lose an entire bottle of medication! He quietly, and quickly, aimed his weapon at Kane's back just as Kane suddenly jumped up, holding the pills above him like some amazing, hard-fought treasure.
      However, he looked down, with his arms still holding up the pills, to see the loud end of a gun pointing at his face. "Ah."
      "This if for calling me Kash!" He pulled the trigger, but the shot missed. The earth had moved, literally, to save Kane. A great growling noise like the sound of an earthquake tore through the air and the very floor beneath them started to shake. Immediately snow began falling off whatever they were standing on, causing Syd to go flying into Kane, knocking him down as they slipped along ice.
      Syd's eyes widened in fear as he saw the very ground rise up before him, the growling turning into an almost deafening roar. He had the sudden feeling that the ground wasn't exactly just rock and ice.
      "OHMAGODWHATTHEFUCK!" Kane yelped loudly rolling and falling over as the ground around them continued to rise up and shake, huge clumps of snow falling from the back of whatever beast they were on. Syd had never seen a creature so utterly huge, so massive as to be mistaken for a piece of landmass when asleep. This thing had to be the size of, well, he didn't know what!
      As the snow fell away, he found that they seemed to be on the back of a massive shell and he grimaced when he saw that it had small holes where his plasma shots had landed. Kane noticed this too and couldn't help but comment, "Dude, I think you pissed it off."
      "Oh, really? Ya think? Well herp de derp!" Syd snapped back as he struggled to find ground to stand upon. The thing suddenly roared again and shook its back, which was hell for Kane and Syd. Instantly they were thrown across the shell, flying into one of the large spike-like parts which suck out in rows across the creature's back.
      Kane hit the shell with a sickening crack, his head hitting the bone-shell like a hammer hitting concrete. It didn't help that a second later Syd was thrown on top of him, another sickening crack. The sniper had barely enough time to pull himself off him before the creature shook again, throwing them about like rag dolls.
      Syd gripped onto his weapons tightly, knowing they were the only things that were going to keep him alive out here. However, it began to dawn on him that he'd now officially lost about a week's worth of pills, goddamnit. Okay, no panicking, he still had plenty left, he just needed to hide for a moment before taking some again.
      He estimated he had about an hour, tops, before he lost his mind to his... urges.
      And he refused to die in such a way, something so utterly embarrassing was not a way for someone of his bloodline to die.
      Finally the creature stopped throwing them around, but even so, the moment Syd had gotten to his feet it began to step forward and that itself caused him to wobble and shake right into Kane. He landed onto him with a loud 'oompf' and they both fell over, the sniper falling right on top of the red eye'd irken.
      Syd blinked as he went to pick himself up. Kane looked kinda attractive from this angle
      Kane must have noticed because he smirked, "Why, I never knew you were so kinky!"
      This snapped the young irken back into reality. He needed his medication, NOW.
      Again, Kane must have noticed as he held the bottle up to his cheek with a wider grin, "Looking for these?"
      Instantly Syd dived at them, grabbing them with both hands tightly, however Kane held tight and pushed Syd over, forcing him to the bottom. The two irkens grunted as they struggled for possession of the pills, each trying to gain some leverage. Syd let go only for a second to push at Kane's face but Kane quickly retaliated by pulling Syd to one side then punching him into his ribs.
      It wasn't a hard punch, but it was enough to cause enough pain to weaken Syd's grip slightly. Syd quickly curled his free hand into a fist and swung at Kane's face, hitting him square in the jaw and knocking him to the side, but the irken did not let go of the pills, and so pulled Syd with him.
      "I NEED THOSE THINGS!" Syd shouted over the crash and rumble of the massive creature they were fighting upon.
      "WHY?!" Kane replied as he again tried to pull them sharply from Syd, but to only jerk the sniper in one direction and then another.
      "BECAUSE I DO!" Syd shouted loudly, "IT'S REALLY EMBARRASSING SO JUST GIVE THEM TO ME!"
      Kane finally managed to push Syd away with a sharp kick to his body and staggered back, managing to stay on his feet even as the monstrous creature they were on continued to roam, itself quite unaware of the two small aliens battling on its back.
      Syd cursed, his mind was starting to get dirty. Thoughts of the picture of Aluii had started to drift into his mind. Those boobs, those lips, NO, he had to focus, stay on track! Annoyingly he couldn't just put his hand into his pocket and draw out another bottle, or Kane would jump on him again for that.
      He had to get those pills back.
      Kane however grinned widely in triumph at the sniper, "Okay let's see," He looked to the bottle and started to read out, "Fast acting anti-agent for... Ena-cos-funitium," He pulled a confused face, "Wazzat?"
      Syd blushed heavily, fine he'd tell him, but only because he still planned on blowing his brains out. He could take his embarrassment to the grave. Besides, if he maybe let him have one, he could get the pills back quickly, "It's an anti-viagra." He stated slowly, hands clenched at his sides, "I was addicted to enacosfunitium, which is an extremely powerful aphrodisiac. They stop me from becoming a sex maniac."
      Kane blinked, than his grin grew wider and wider and wider until it seemed it'd take over his face, "OH WOW."
      "NOT. ANOTHER. WORD." Syd screamed at him over the sound of things crunching under massive foot and the beast's mild growls radiating like a mini-earthquake thought its body.
      "I better give it back soon, you might get hooorney," Kane teased again, making Syd feel so embarrassed and humiliated he could kill him. Oh wait, he was supposed to kill him.
      Syd had forgotten all about his weapons, yes he was that mad. He just wanted to strangle this asshole to death. He moved like lightning, a shot of his father showing though as he dived at Kane. His opponent however saw it coming and moved swiftly out the way, diving to one side, his grin still plastered on his face. Syd landed onto the hard shell roughly, feeling his knees scrape along the bone and ice.
      He was up again however in a split second. Perhaps his new found aggression and short-sightedness was part of his lack of medication, his mind slowly slipping into a more and more primitive, emotion driven state rather than his usual, logical thoughts.
      He wanted to kill Kane, kill him quickly and swiftly and spray his blood around. Then he'd find someone else to play with, to rape and BAM.
      The creature they were standing on suddenly, and rather shockingly, bent forward. Kane had been dodging Syd and Syd had been trying to wrap his hands around his enemy's neck as it happened. They were both thrown forward by sudden stopping and dipping, falling down the massive creature's back.
      As Kane fell, his hand hit the side of the creature and the bone sent a sharp pain ripping through his fist. He yelped and dropped the pills, which fell slowly and landed in a small crux between a rise in the creature's bone and a small bit of snow still clinging onto the shell.
      Syd saw his chance and let go of the small grip he'd had on the creature, letting himself fall close to the pills. His mind had gone into a last-ditch moment of sobriety, but Kane was not far behind. He too knew his victory was within that bottle of medication, both for making him hyperactive enough to kill Syd and turning his opponent into a drooling, sex-mad moron whom he could destroy at will.
      He landed beside Syd and quickly tried to pull his fingers of the creature's back, but Syd was focused. He batted Kane's hand away quickly and punched him square in the face, Kane only just holding on not from pain, but from sheer surprise.
      The sniper quickly tried to reach over, but dammit, he was just out of reach. His fingers were just touching the bottle... OW. Kane had retaliated by biting him on the shoulder and trying to pull him down. Syd immediately turned and growled at the irritation, elbowing him squarely on the head and trying to shove him off.
      Kane was latched onto him however and wouldn't let go. He activated his PAK legs and tried to make his move, to leap across and grab the pills.
      Syd took his only chance.
      Just as Kane moved across his back, the young assassin activated his PAK legs suddenly, squarely hitting Kane in the chest and punching him backwards, causing him to fall down the massive beast's back, the only expression being a look of pure shock.
      The sniper didn't notice however, he use the momentum to reach over and grab the pills, then pulled himself up onto the small ledge. Grinning in joy and relief, he opened the pills and took one out, popping it into his mouth and swallowing.
      He sighed and put the bottle back into his pocket, oh yeah, that was good. He could almost feel his sensibilities returning back to him. That was until the creature moved suddenly, shaking Syd off his ledge. He fell backward, but he managed to grab onto one or two bits of the creatures shell as he did, slowing his fall enough to land into the snow without breaking anything, although as he did hit the ground, he hit it hard.
      The snow did little to stop him from falling with a heavy thud into the floor and already he could feel his PAK reacting, sending painkillers to his back where he was sure he'd bruised a bone or two. Very painful.
      Slowly however, he looked up as a great shadow fell over him, and his eyes widened in absolute horror.
      The creature was massive, giant, the biggest thing he'd ever seen. It looked to be about three stories tall, and who knows how wide. It had four, trunk-like legs and its face was like a lizards, but long and thin and with a massive beak.
      But within the beak, being saved only by his PAK-legs and his own strength was Kane, holding up the creature's mouth to stop himself being eaten alive.
      Syd was awestruck. After all, it wasn't something one saw every day. The creature must have stopped to search for food and as Kane fell it had tried to eat him. This was amazing and hilarious and the perfect time to kill his opponent.
      Kane noticed the smile forming on his opponents face and he shouted, "COME ON MAN! SAVE ME! I'M SORRY ABOUT THE PILL THING!"
      Syd slowly brought his rifle around and aimed it up and the doomed irken. "Laugh at me would you? Call me Kane would you? How about a nice plasma shot to the face, you dick?!"
      "Come on bro!" Kane yelled back, straining as the creature slowly won its fight to slice him in two, "I think your medication is a legitimate and completely inhumorous affliction which should deserve the proper respect that such disabilities requires!"
      Syd blinked at this. "What?"
      Kane also paused and loudly added, "DID I SAY I WAS SORRY!?"
      The irken smiled as he saw the sniper lower his weapon for a moment, maybe he was going to save him after all! They could team up and take people down and-
      There was no more thinking after that, especially as a large plasma round instantly burned away the space between the irken's eyes, killing him in a split second and travelling through the creature behind him, into its brain also, disintegrating everything inside its primitive mind.
      His body was then sliced into two as he went limp, as well as the creature falling forward, its jaw shutting around him and crushing his lifeless corpse, blood spewing everywhere and flowing out the mouth and brain of the creature, a deep purple blood of the alien monster mixing with the dark, rouge of the irken.
      Syd grinned, that was a shot and a half! He could almost jump for joy at such an epic kill! Then he realised the creature was falling on top of him.
      He screamed and ran, or rather, swam through the shoulder-level of snow, trying to get out from under the shadow. He soon realised it was impossible, the thing was falling too fast for him to get out from under and he fell onto his back to perform a trick his mother had taught him a long time ago.
      The creature's massive head fell onto Syd, but at the same time, several shots could be heard hissing out from the sniper rifle, penetrating through the being's skull and mouth in a small cloud of burning purple mist.
      Snow exploded around the body of the beast, flowing up like a white tide and a great rumble rocking the land around it as the massive being died in a manner quite unfitting for it's girth and majesty. The snow settled again slowly, the wind blowing it into the air and carrying some of it away.
      All was still, as was the norm within the blizzard wasteland, but slowly, there was a sign of life. A purple-coloured irken was crawling out from within the skull of the monster.
      It was Syd. Battered, bruised and covered in gore from a creature he'd never heard of, but soundly alive. The sniper had won the fight and his first round of a contest he was now wishing he'd never bothered joining. Seriously, universal acclaim was NOT worth getting a face full of monster-brain.
      He collapsed panting onto the top of the massive being, the snow cooling down his body from the raw heat of blood, brains and plasma residue. His eyes closed and his breath coming on in gulps before evaporating away before him, he slowly, sat up and wiped his face clean of blood.
      Syd however, couldn't help smile and pant to himself, "Wait 'till dad hears about this. It'll top his 'I escaped from Seven' story any day. HA."

Description
      Syd wasn't happy. At all. He'd been excited to be told he'd be dumped in the Tundra Zone, after all, blizzards and snow? Dream cover for a sniper like himself. However, he had forgotten one very obvious blaring fact in a move that showed how very much like his mother he was.
      Tundra's were very cold places.
      He now sat shivering, the only warmth was a small fire made by the wreckage of a camera he'd ambushed.
      Yes he'd ambushed a camera, in this cold, unforgiving environment, it was either them or him! And he was certainly for his own survival. Besides, he'd read no rules about destroying cameras for warmth. Sure there'd be something about damaging Blood Sport's property, but what where they going to do? Shout at him? Pfff.
      Behind him was a tall but thin rock, just enough to provide a little shelter from the ever falling snow. He was amazed that the metal hadn't melted through the snow, in fact, it seemed the snow was so cold that it was even cooling the underside of the metal, making some extra steam rise softly from under the body of the robot.
      "Fuuuuck this fucking plaaaace," Syd mumbled, trying to warm his hands on the mass of burning circuits and fuel, "It fuckin suuuucks."
      Who was he after again? Some dude called Kane. He was an irken, slightly taller than Syd and a little bit older. They had the same build but Syd had a little advantage over his opponent. When checking his weapons and supplies, he'd classed his Qutu as an entertainment item, some music to listen to when on long treks. However it also had a whole bunch of apps on it which let him download a GPS of the planet, and some basic info on some of his opponents.
      Oh yes, it was good to come from a family of assassins who made a living out of dodging security. He looked to his Qutu again, turning off the music and going onto the information he'd saved. The only things he could find on Kane was his name, a picture of him pulling his tongue out at the camera and just that he was involved in some kind of science project when young.
      He didn't look tough, in fact, he looked kinda stupid. Whatever. He would find him and shoot him and then move on out of this goddamn freezing hell of a place.
      He tapped the screen a few more times, bringing up a much nicer picture, a woman, a little older looking than Syd himself, posing topless revealing rather large breasts with lacy panties and a sultry smile on her face. A message was written underneath simply stating, 'Don't get too distracted! Love you! Be safe! ~Aluii'
      Yeah, sometimes it rocked to have a stripper as your girlfriend.
But her point was quite serious, he really shouldn't be distracting himself when he was out trying to kill someone. He sadly put the picture away and locked the Qutu.
      As he looked back up he froze. Something, or someone, was moving in the distance. Right away he kicked the robot over, destroying any sign of a fire. He couldn't be detected, even if it meant the cost of his only heat source. Syd swung his beloved rifle around his body and knelt down, aiming directly at his target and watching through the rifle scope.
      It was Kane, amazingly, and once more he looked utterly lost and half frozen to death. That was what you got when you wandered around in the snow in a bloody t-shirt.
      Syd couldn't help but grin viciously, a small trait picked up from his dad. Oh this would be soooo easy. One shot, to the head, down he'd go, onwards Syd would move. Easy as pie.
      And yet he didn't take the shot, not just yet. It was fun watching the other irken move around, trying to trudge through the snow and fall over every so often. The snow itself was knee-deep and it seemed like it went on forever. Stretching for miles in all directions. He suspected however that the weather was controlled, there was no way a planet could snow constantly like it, either that or fate just hated him.
      He momentarily switched to heat-vision. He was surprised to find that the mark on Kane's head was glowing. Weird. So was a small ball inside him, near to where his heart should be. Maybe he had some kind of ability that hadn't been mentioned in his bio? Hum well, it was nothing that couldn't be defeated by a plasma-round to the face.
      Kane was already a dead irken walking and Syd was ready to take the shot. He narrowed his eye and his finger tightened around the trigger as he silently took into account wind speed, distance and any other factor for the perfect kill.
      And than something happened which ruined everything.
      Beside him, the robot he'd been using to keep warm suddenly sparked and a loud whirring noise erupted out of it. Considering the place he was in was an almost flat plain, save for one or two oddly symmetrically placed rocks and some other dunes of snow, the sound carried swiftly and Kane immediately looked in Syd's direction.
      Kane had been wandering around for a while. He'd dozed off when in the briefing room and had woken only at the very end and they weren't very kind about repeating everything. He had been dumped face-first into the snow and had just set off in a random direction.
      Of course he hadn't found anything or anyone or anywhere. And yet, he'd come out on this big stretch of whiteness with more whiteness rising up on either side. He thought he'd spotted some smoke earlier, but it must have just been the snow annoying him.
      Now he was pretty certain it was someone. Perhaps someone who could help him find who he was supposed to kill! Although wasn't he supposed to kill everyone? Well, he could ask that question to the nice person.
      Or he would have done if he hadn't heard a faint hissing sound. He ducked just as a small ball of plasma streamed over his head and into the snow beside him, making a cloud of steam rise up from the burning, white-hot power of the round.
      Syd cursed loudly, goddamn robot!
      He began firing at the figure, who was diving in and out of the snow dunes. Switching to heat-vision did little to help him aim, the snow covering everything apart from the one tiny diving, running, ducking form in the freezing ice. The plasma rounds were making huge tunnels of steam in the snow dunes, and weirdly enough, Syd could hear an odd cracking sound whenever a round hit the floor. There must be rocks or something under the blanket of snow.
      Kane was panting, hard. This guy wasn't stopping, he just fired on and on, only narrowly missing each time. Plus he was sure he could hear something growling. Waaay underneath them in the ice. But the earth didn't growl, did it?
      Syd took more and more shots, the rush of the attempted kill cursing through him, making him focus on his target and more eager to see his blood splattered on the pureness of the snow. His determination was complete, nothing else mattered but the total death of Kane. Not even the strange, creaking, cracking sounds coming from deep beneath his feet.
      Kane too was having a rush, but a different kind of rush, the massive need for survival was coursing though his body, making his reactions faster and his heart beat stronger. His antennae had blocked out all other sound but that fatal, faint hiss. The hiss of the rifle spitting superheated gas at him. If just one hit him, it'd melt his skin, bone, blood away in less than a millisecond.
      Another shot whizzed by his skull and he dived into the snow, not even hitting the bottom. How long had this small blizzard been going? Days? Months? It seemed it'd never end, just pile up and up and up. At least it made for soft landing, even if steam was now covering everything like a fake fog.
      Syd growled, the cold was eating away at his rush and he knew that this was becoming increasingly useless. He'd have to get in closer with his guns and deal death at a more personal range. Well, at least he got some practice in and he supposed the walk might do him some good. His legs were so cold they were feeling like concrete blocks.
      Gathering himself, he swung the rifle onto his back and stood up, drawing out his guns. However, he paused and frowned, looking to the snow around his knees. Did the earth just growl? He certainly felt something vibrate beneath him, maybe this ground was unstable.
      He must be firing onto some kind of lake or something, what if under all this snow there was a big lake of ice? His shots would have easily punched holes through it, and it must have started cracking. Syd internally panicked, he'd be frozen to death before he drowned! It wasn't even a cool way to die!
      Moving quickly, he began rushing at Kane, firing as he did, trying to hit the darting irken but missing, however, he was pleased to see one or two shots cut past the irken's shoulder and arm, wounding him just slightly.
      "GAAH!" The scream of the other irken brought a long, nasty smile to Syd's lips. It was a family smile, only those within his family could ever pull it off, and his dad had told him one drunken night it was one of the reasons he'd decided on his mother. She was the only woman in the universe who could copy that vicious smile.
       "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SHOOTING ME?!" Kane yelped from behind one snow dune rather unexpectedly.
      "Because that's the bloody point," Syd shouted back, now approaching his opponent slowly, guns still at the ready. "We attack each other till one of us dies, preferably you."
      "But I don't even know who I'm supposed to be fighting!" Kane yelled out in a pitiful voice, "I mean come on!"
      "Is your name Kane?" Syd replied with a raised antennae.
      There was a pause, "Noooo."
      "Really now?" The sniper was not falling for any of this. This guy must think he'd been born yesterday to fall for such a dumb trick, "So who are you?"
      "Bane," The irken answered quickly, slowly standing up, "Bane the, erm, accountant!"
      "Riiiiight," Syd cocked his guns and held aiming directly at the irken's face, "If you're an accountant, why are you here?"
      Kane rolled his eyes, "To account, duuuh."
      "Right," Syd answered slowly, wondering if this guy had some kind of special brain worm or something that ate at his logic. Although he couldn't talk, the fact that he was sane was a genetic miracle.
      "Don't I know you?" Kane suddenly announced, looking at Syd with scrutinising eyes.
      Syd shook his head, "If you'd seen me before, you'd be dead already." If his parents hadn't killed him, his boss would have. Syd was a surprisingly protected young irken, but he was an assassin, he needed to keep his name on the down low.
      "I do know you!" Kane announced suddenly with a huge smile and a grin, "You're that guy! The singer dude! With the band and the songs and the-" He jumped into some random air guitaring, stopping to continue, "that!"
      Syd again shook his head, "No, I don't-"
      "YOU'RE KASH!" Kane leapt up suddenly, "OH WOW YOU'RE KASH CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!"
      It was if a rage switch had been flipped on in Syd's head and he immediately growled and glared at Kane with the force of a nuclear bomb, "I'M NOT BLOODY KASH. Why do people keep saying that!?"
      "Well you do look like him," His opponent observed with a simple shrug, "You have the same eyes."
      "It's always the BLOODY EYES ISN'T IT?!" The young sniper screamed, "THANK'S A BUNCH, DAD." Why couldn't he have gotten his mums eyes? Nooo, he had to be sooo like his dad. He didn't even get cool mutated antennae or anything! His genetics sucked. Well, at least he could shoot and he had a stripper girlfriend. Stripper girlfriend made everything okay.
      Syd collected himself again, thinking of Aluii always calmed him down, and he aimed his gun back at Kane. "You know what? I'm going to shoot you now, just because you said I looked like Kash."
      "But you do look like Kash!" Kane stupidly insisted, not completely realising that Syd was quite serious about shooting him in the head.
      "For the last time I do not look like Kash! Just because we have the same-" As fate would have it, it was at that moment that a small beeping noise went off in Syd's top pocket. He blinked, it was time for his medication already? He shrugged and lowered his gun, "Well done, fate has bought you a few more seconds."
      Kane was no fool however, even if he did act like one. He realised this was his only chance of getting away from this guy or even killing him. Yeah, killing him would be the better option he thought, especially as he knew he had to essentially kill everyone on the planet.
      Unfortunately, the young irken had bought into Kane's stupidity and honestly believed that this backwards fool would wait for him to take his medication. He also didn't realise just what kind of reaction even lifting a single bottle of pills from a small zipped pouch on his pants.
      Kane's eyes fixed onto the pills. Of all places he'd thought he'd never get to eat pills again, it was here. And yet some shining force had smiled on him and gifted him with this chance. But yet his brain reminded him that the guy was still holding a gun. It was a hard choice, the toughest of choices. The gun, or the pills.
      Why was fate such a cruel bitch?!
      Syd however, popped the cap of the pills. The very pop echoed in Kane's brain and his choice was made. Sure, he might get shot, but hey, this might be his last time to ever eat pills again!
      The sniper hadn't even raised the container to his mouth before Kane leapt onto him. Kane's weight almost knocking the wind out of him and throwing him to the floor where they landing heavily into the snow. Immediately he felt two other hands closing around the pills and trying to yank them out his hand.
      "GET OFF!" Syd yelped as he tried to swing his gun around to fire into Kane's body, but the irken grabbed his wrist and forced the gun away from him. Syd was surprised to find Kane had more upper body strength than he first thought, and despite Syd's best efforts, he couldn't force his hand against Kane's grip.
      He tried to roll over, to force Kane onto the floor, but the irken kneed Syd in the spoonch, forcing a sharp bolt of pain through his torso and stopping him from turning his body properly.
      "Give me the damn pills!" Kane screamed at him, his hand trying to slam Syd's pill-hand into the floor whilst his other still forcing the gun away from his body.
      "NO!" Syd yelled back. Hell he didn't even know what would happen if Kane took his pills. Would he slow down? Maybe he should give him one if it meant making him an easier target.
      It also suddenly dawned on him that Kane was more interested in the pills than he was in anything else. He threw the little bottle away, and Kane leapt after it, throwing Syd to one side as he chased his addiction. Syd coughed, trying to get air back into his lungs. Lying on his back in the freezing snow had taken it out of him.
      Kane however was now digging through the snow trying to find the damn thing. What the hell, how damn deep did this snow go?
      Syd had managed to pick himself up. Goddamn that asshole made him lose an entire bottle of medication! He quietly, and quickly, aimed his weapon at Kane's back just as Kane suddenly jumped up, holding the pills above him like some amazing, hard-fought treasure.
      However, he looked down, with his arms still holding up the pills, to see the loud end of a gun pointing at his face. "Ah."
      "This if for calling me Kash!" He pulled the trigger, but the shot missed. The earth had moved, literally, to save Kane. A great growling noise like the sound of an earthquake tore through the air and the very floor beneath them started to shake. Immediately snow began falling off whatever they were standing on, causing Syd to go flying into Kane, knocking him down as they slipped along ice.
      Syd's eyes widened in fear as he saw the very ground rise up before him, the growling turning into an almost deafening roar. He had the sudden feeling that the ground wasn't exactly just rock and ice.
      "OHMAGODWHATTHEFUCK!" Kane yelped loudly rolling and falling over as the ground around them continued to rise up and shake, huge clumps of snow falling from the back of whatever beast they were on. Syd had never seen a creature so utterly huge, so massive as to be mistaken for a piece of landmass when asleep. This thing had to be the size of, well, he didn't know what!
      As the snow fell away, he found that they seemed to be on the back of a massive shell and he grimaced when he saw that it had small holes where his plasma shots had landed. Kane noticed this too and couldn't help but comment, "Dude, I think you pissed it off."
      "Oh, really? Ya think? Well herp de derp!" Syd snapped back as he struggled to find ground to stand upon. The thing suddenly roared again and shook its back, which was hell for Kane and Syd. Instantly they were thrown across the shell, flying into one of the large spike-like parts which suck out in rows across the creature's back.
      Kane hit the shell with a sickening crack, his head hitting the bone-shell like a hammer hitting concrete. It didn't help that a second later Syd was thrown on top of him, another sickening crack. The sniper had barely enough time to pull himself off him before the creature shook again, throwing them about like rag dolls.
      Syd gripped onto his weapons tightly, knowing they were the only things that were going to keep him alive out here. However, it began to dawn on him that he'd now officially lost about a week's worth of pills, goddamnit. Okay, no panicking, he still had plenty left, he just needed to hide for a moment before taking some again.
      He estimated he had about an hour, tops, before he lost his mind to his... urges.
      And he refused to die in such a way, something so utterly embarrassing was not a way for someone of his bloodline to die.
      Finally the creature stopped throwing them around, but even so, the moment Syd had gotten to his feet it began to step forward and that itself caused him to wobble and shake right into Kane. He landed onto him with a loud 'oompf' and they both fell over, the sniper falling right on top of the red eye'd irken.
      Syd blinked as he went to pick himself up. Kane looked kinda attractive from this angle
      Kane must have noticed because he smirked, "Why, I never knew you were so kinky!"
      This snapped the young irken back into reality. He needed his medication, NOW.
      Again, Kane must have noticed as he held the bottle up to his cheek with a wider grin, "Looking for these?"
      Instantly Syd dived at them, grabbing them with both hands tightly, however Kane held tight and pushed Syd over, forcing him to the bottom. The two irkens grunted as they struggled for possession of the pills, each trying to gain some leverage. Syd let go only for a second to push at Kane's face but Kane quickly retaliated by pulling Syd to one side then punching him into his ribs.
      It wasn't a hard punch, but it was enough to cause enough pain to weaken Syd's grip slightly. Syd quickly curled his free hand into a fist and swung at Kane's face, hitting him square in the jaw and knocking him to the side, but the irken did not let go of the pills, and so pulled Syd with him.
      "I NEED THOSE THINGS!" Syd shouted over the crash and rumble of the massive creature they were fighting upon.
      "WHY?!" Kane replied as he again tried to pull them sharply from Syd, but to only jerk the sniper in one direction and then another.
      "BECAUSE I DO!" Syd shouted loudly, "IT'S REALLY EMBARRASSING SO JUST GIVE THEM TO ME!"
      Kane finally managed to push Syd away with a sharp kick to his body and staggered back, managing to stay on his feet even as the monstrous creature they were on continued to roam, itself quite unaware of the two small aliens battling on its back.
      Syd cursed, his mind was starting to get dirty. Thoughts of the picture of Aluii had started to drift into his mind. Those boobs, those lips, NO, he had to focus, stay on track! Annoyingly he couldn't just put his hand into his pocket and draw out another bottle, or Kane would jump on him again for that.
      He had to get those pills back.
      Kane however grinned widely in triumph at the sniper, "Okay let's see," He looked to the bottle and started to read out, "Fast acting anti-agent for... Ena-cos-funitium," He pulled a confused face, "Wazzat?"
      Syd blushed heavily, fine he'd tell him, but only because he still planned on blowing his brains out. He could take his embarrassment to the grave. Besides, if he maybe let him have one, he could get the pills back quickly, "It's an anti-viagra." He stated slowly, hands clenched at his sides, "I was addicted to enacosfunitium, which is an extremely powerful aphrodisiac. They stop me from becoming a sex maniac."
      Kane blinked, than his grin grew wider and wider and wider until it seemed it'd take over his face, "OH WOW."
      "NOT. ANOTHER. WORD." Syd screamed at him over the sound of things crunching under massive foot and the beast's mild growls radiating like a mini-earthquake thought its body.
      "I better give it back soon, you might get hooorney," Kane teased again, making Syd feel so embarrassed and humiliated he could kill him. Oh wait, he was supposed to kill him.
      Syd had forgotten all about his weapons, yes he was that mad. He just wanted to strangle this asshole to death. He moved like lightning, a shot of his father showing though as he dived at Kane. His opponent however saw it coming and moved swiftly out the way, diving to one side, his grin still plastered on his face. Syd landed onto the hard shell roughly, feeling his knees scrape along the bone and ice.
      He was up again however in a split second. Perhaps his new found aggression and short-sightedness was part of his lack of medication, his mind slowly slipping into a more and more primitive, emotion driven state rather than his usual, logical thoughts.
      He wanted to kill Kane, kill him quickly and swiftly and spray his blood around. Then he'd find someone else to play with, to rape and BAM.
      The creature they were standing on suddenly, and rather shockingly, bent forward. Kane had been dodging Syd and Syd had been trying to wrap his hands around his enemy's neck as it happened. They were both thrown forward by sudden stopping and dipping, falling down the massive creature's back.
      As Kane fell, his hand hit the side of the creature and the bone sent a sharp pain ripping through his fist. He yelped and dropped the pills, which fell slowly and landed in a small crux between a rise in the creature's bone and a small bit of snow still clinging onto the shell.
      Syd saw his chance and let go of the small grip he'd had on the creature, letting himself fall close to the pills. His mind had gone into a last-ditch moment of sobriety, but Kane was not far behind. He too knew his victory was within that bottle of medication, both for making him hyperactive enough to kill Syd and turning his opponent into a drooling, sex-mad moron whom he could destroy at will.
      He landed beside Syd and quickly tried to pull his fingers of the creature's back, but Syd was focused. He batted Kane's hand away quickly and punched him square in the face, Kane only just holding on not from pain, but from sheer surprise.
      The sniper quickly tried to reach over, but dammit, he was just out of reach. His fingers were just touching the bottle... OW. Kane had retaliated by biting him on the shoulder and trying to pull him down. Syd immediately turned and growled at the irritation, elbowing him squarely on the head and trying to shove him off.
      Kane was latched onto him however and wouldn't let go. He activated his PAK legs and tried to make his move, to leap across and grab the pills.
      Syd took his only chance.
      Just as Kane moved across his back, the young assassin activated his PAK legs suddenly, squarely hitting Kane in the chest and punching him backwards, causing him to fall down the massive beast's back, the only expression being a look of pure shock.
      The sniper didn't notice however, he use the momentum to reach over and grab the pills, then pulled himself up onto the small ledge. Grinning in joy and relief, he opened the pills and took one out, popping it into his mouth and swallowing.
      He sighed and put the bottle back into his pocket, oh yeah, that was good. He could almost feel his sensibilities returning back to him. That was until the creature moved suddenly, shaking Syd off his ledge. He fell backward, but he managed to grab onto one or two bits of the creatures shell as he did, slowing his fall enough to land into the snow without breaking anything, although as he did hit the ground, he hit it hard.
      The snow did little to stop him from falling with a heavy thud into the floor and already he could feel his PAK reacting, sending painkillers to his back where he was sure he'd bruised a bone or two. Very painful.
      Slowly however, he looked up as a great shadow fell over him, and his eyes widened in absolute horror.
      The creature was massive, giant, the biggest thing he'd ever seen. It looked to be about three stories tall, and who knows how wide. It had four, trunk-like legs and its face was like a lizards, but long and thin and with a massive beak.
      But within the beak, being saved only by his PAK-legs and his own strength was Kane, holding up the creature's mouth to stop himself being eaten alive.
      Syd was awestruck. After all, it wasn't something one saw every day. The creature must have stopped to search for food and as Kane fell it had tried to eat him. This was amazing and hilarious and the perfect time to kill his opponent.
      Kane noticed the smile forming on his opponents face and he shouted, "COME ON MAN! SAVE ME! I'M SORRY ABOUT THE PILL THING!"
      Syd slowly brought his rifle around and aimed it up and the doomed irken. "Laugh at me would you? Call me Kane would you? How about a nice plasma shot to the face, you dick?!"
      "Come on bro!" Kane yelled back, straining as the creature slowly won its fight to slice him in two, "I think your medication is a legitimate and completely inhumorous affliction which should deserve the proper respect that such disabilities requires!"
      Syd blinked at this. "What?"
      Kane also paused and loudly added, "DID I SAY I WAS SORRY!?"
      The irken smiled as he saw the sniper lower his weapon for a moment, maybe he was going to save him after all! They could team up and take people down and-
      There was no more thinking after that, especially as a large plasma round instantly burned away the space between the irken's eyes, killing him in a split second and travelling through the creature behind him, into its brain also, disintegrating everything inside its primitive mind.
      His body was then sliced into two as he went limp, as well as the creature falling forward, its jaw shutting around him and crushing his lifeless corpse, blood spewing everywhere and flowing out the mouth and brain of the creature, a deep purple blood of the alien monster mixing with the dark, rouge of the irken.
      Syd grinned, that was a shot and a half! He could almost jump for joy at such an epic kill! Then he realised the creature was falling on top of him.
      He screamed and ran, or rather, swam through the shoulder-level of snow, trying to get out from under the shadow. He soon realised it was impossible, the thing was falling too fast for him to get out from under and he fell onto his back to perform a trick his mother had taught him a long time ago.
      The creature's massive head fell onto Syd, but at the same time, several shots could be heard hissing out from the sniper rifle, penetrating through the being's skull and mouth in a small cloud of burning purple mist.
      Snow exploded around the body of the beast, flowing up like a white tide and a great rumble rocking the land around it as the massive being died in a manner quite unfitting for it's girth and majesty. The snow settled again slowly, the wind blowing it into the air and carrying some of it away.
      All was still, as was the norm within the blizzard wasteland, but slowly, there was a sign of life. A purple-coloured irken was crawling out from within the skull of the monster.
      It was Syd. Battered, bruised and covered in gore from a creature he'd never heard of, but soundly alive. The sniper had won the fight and his first round of a contest he was now wishing he'd never bothered joining. Seriously, universal acclaim was NOT worth getting a face full of monster-brain.
      He collapsed panting onto the top of the massive being, the snow cooling down his body from the raw heat of blood, brains and plasma residue. His eyes closed and his breath coming on in gulps before evaporating away before him, he slowly, sat up and wiped his face clean of blood.
      Syd however, couldn't help smile and pant to himself, "Wait 'till dad hears about this. It'll top his 'I escaped from Seven' story any day. HA."