"This is X," he said over the radio, reconnecting with the mobile bases cameras. "I have a lead on Dial, but I require help from a human."
In the base, several people looked at each other before one man, the BRIDGE soldier in command of the unit on the Savage Land, came up to the mic. "We read you, X. We have an asset in the field heading out to you. He said he should be able to find you soon."
X acknowledged that. "Very well. I'll track their armor and contact them through it."
The BRIDGE soldier hesitated. "That… won't really work?"
"Why not?"
"He doesn't have armor. The only thing he went out with was a knife."
Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter
Kraven shook his head as he ran through the jungle. He'd had a fun day so far. Met up with some old smuggler friends willing to ship him to Antarctica. Always good to start a hunt off meeting old friends. His friends, French pilots who had some familiarity with flying into the ice cold regions of the world, had been doing well.
He'd then air-dropped over the cold of the most remote region of Earth with nothing but a parachute and a beam emitter that Boris had given him, really a laser that had been modified per BRIDGE specifications to emit the light they'd discovered could open the veil around the Savage Land.
That had been a thrill. Falling towards a world of ice, feeling the chill wind pass him by. Then, a single laser flying out of the boxy device he'd lugged along, and he was headed down for a jungle instead. What an incredible thing to see!
From there, things had been much more familiar note. He parachuted into the jungle and made his way to the BRIDGE mobile command center. When he got there, the BRIDGE soldiers immediately pulled him in.
"Where is Fantasma?" Kraven had asked curiously.
"She and Creel are knocked out," the BRIDGE man in command had told him. "They've been up since Dial disappeared. We're letting them rest until we get news."
Good. Sleep was as necessary to survival as sustenance and shelter. While Kraven had long since trained himself to only require 30 minutes of sleep 4 times a day, he still needed that rest. Lack of sleep could kill a man as effectively as any animal, and in many cases lead to dying by animal anyways.
Kraven rubbed his chin. "Then I will head out for the hunt."
"...You mean rescue?" the BRIDGE soldier said hesitantly.
"Is there a difference?" Kraven scoffed. Honestly. As though he hadn't saved tourists from their own stupidity before. " Where was our shapeshifting friend last seen?"
"Here," a scientist said nearby, pointing at a map.
Kraven studied it for a moment before nodding. "Very well! I am off!"
"Alone?" the soldier asked.
"If I want to go quickly, yes," Kraven said with a scoff. Honestly. While these men may have some skill on the battlefield, especially if they had even the slightest amount of skill the lovely Melissa May had displayed, they were not hunters.
"Well, we currently have an asset in the field tracking Dial right now," the soldier said. "X, an android. He said he had a lead."
An android? In the jungle?
The soldier shivered at the interested smile Kraven displayed.
"Uh, do you need anything before you go?" the soldier asked. "We have more armor, weapons-"
Kraven shook his head, patting his sides, where a steel and bone knife hung on each hip. "I will be fine as is."
Then he turned and left, ignoring the stuttering of the soldier as he left.
From there, the hunt began. And it was an interesting one.
First, he went to the cliff where Dial had fallen, and leaped off of it, hopping his way down the rocks with incredible agility until he had gotten to the bottom. Then he leaped into one of the trees along the river and made his way along the shore, jumping from tree to tree with practiced ease.
The Savage Land was a delight to the senses. The scents of animals he'd never encountered, plants larger than he could have ever believed, even the insects here were enormous and powerful creatures, if the dragonflies that frequented the river were any indication. Kraven revelled in howhostilethis place was. After half a lifetime of hunting, he'd nearly memorized almost every jungle on Earth. Not entirely of course, the very nature of jungles made such things impossible. But he'd gained a sense for how they worked. He'd hunted every manner of animal, survived floods, forest fires, and hurricanes, turning predators into prey. Over time, Kraven had only gotten stronger and more skilled. He'd taken the wild and made it a home.
Not the Savage Land. Here, the trees stretched upwards for hundreds of feet, a city of green to rival the likes of New York, the brush was thick enough to entangle the largest of animals, and the scent of the jungle was almost aggressive. Everytime he jumped from tree to tree, using the tall foliage the way lesser men would use trails, the land spoke to him. 'You are not welcome. You are prey. Make one mistake and you will die. I care not for the great empires of man, for I have survived while they have risen and fallen.'
How enticing. To be once more a novice. He hadn't felt such a thrill since he'd been a young man in Kenya. For all his experience, he couldn't help the feeling within him. The thirst to prove oneself that only the greatest of men felt deep in their hearts.
Either that or he was having his first mid-life crisis.
His amusement at the internal thought faded when he noticed an irregularity. A crater alongside the river, on the opposite bank.
In a twisting movement that would have left the most avid Olympic gymnasts gasping in awe, Kraven leaped out and grabbed a branch in his hands, the bark under his palms cool as he twirled around it three times before releasing it to fly across the river in a somersault. He landed in a roll on the other side and came to an instant stop next to the crater. Then he took a long hard look at it.
"Hm… newly formed," he mused to himself. Dust from the crater had flown up to land on nearby plants, proving that true. It was about three feet deep, but nothing stood in its center. He took a deep sniff. The scent of metal, ozone, and silicone filled his lungs. The android.
He looked around and found the tracks. The android had a heavy gait, but the ground was dry enough that it took a small amount of effort to discover where he had gone. He'd entered the river for a brief moment, then left it to begin trekking alongside the river. So the android was on the trail as well.
Kraven leaped into the trees again, moving rapidly to follow. If the android found Dial before him, Kraven would never live it down.
It was during this next leg of the hunt that he discovered something interesting. The android was among the easiest things to follow he'd ever encountered. The android had apparently taken the same method tanks did when it came to tracking prey. Simply stride forward and bulldoze anything that blocked you. Kraven found ancient trees ripped out of the earth and discarded on their sides as though the thousands of tons of wood were little more than driftwood. He'd also sliced his way through the brush with brutal efficiency, leaving long trailing gaps of devastated foliage and large footprints. Kraven noted a few boulders that had been ripped out of the ground as well. Apparently, whenever the android came up against anything it was faster to tear through rather than walk around, he simply ripped through it.
It was almost impressive.
Soon, Kraven found himself dropping from the trees to land in a small field. He looked around, face neutral as he took in the scents and sounds of the area.
X had been here, the footprints said. But so had two others.
Kraven leaned down to look at some grass that had been torn in half, as though by a hand. Then at some small footprints like those of a baby elephant in terms of the way the weight was being distributed.
Of course, then there were the massive footprints that must have come from a being that outweighed elephants by several tons. Kraven eyed the footprints, including the ones that showed the largest animal had been running towards the android.
Kraven laughed when he realized what had happened. Impressive. This android must have been quite strong!
Then, the android entered the water, and never came back up.
He eyed the water. After a moment, Kraven dived in, disappearing beneath the waves. Some close examination revealed the existence of the tunnel. Any normal man wouldn't have gone in without some form of oxygen tank.
Kraven had no such fears. He'd hunted in caves and deep beneath the ocean, lakes, and rivers of various parts of the world on many an occasion. The world's longest recorded dives often lasted over 10 minutes, with the divers requiring time hyperventilating oxygen beforehand in order to last that long. Kraven had no need for such things. He took the only piece of technology he had brought with him, a small flashlight, and placed it between his lips before entering the tunnel.
The hunter crawled in the hole for long minutes, fingers pressing to stones, the cold water pressing in around him. The conditions were less claustrophobic than he expected. He soon discovered why when he realized that the tunnel had been pushed to be wider than it had been, with scratches along the walls and some portions opened up so wide that Kraven managed to grab some air.
He rose out of the end of the tunnel and blinked up at what he had found.
"Good afternoon," the android said. The large being in front of him had eyes that emitted a powerful beam of light, illuminating the cave around them. Kraven pulled himself out of the tunnel as the android stepped forward. "I am X."
Kraven stood to his full height and face the being warily. He was built thick and strong in size, his body made of smooth metal all across. Kraven noted the machete, revolver, and rifle the AI was wearing. Apparently he'd come prepared for a fight. Interesting. "I am Kraven."
"Yes, I know," X said quickly. "I have been stymied in my search."
Abrubt. Wonderful! He had no wish to waste time with pleasantries!
"What happened?" Kraven asked.
"Anti-Metal, a substance so named by Dial for its ability to dissolve the bonds of atoms in metal," X said. "Of course, that is a rather brisk description of the material, but it will suffice until it can be studied."
Kraven eyed one of the androids hands, which had been partially melted. My. That was an interesting material. "I suppose that would be an issue for a man like you."
X nodded. "I require organic assistance."
"You have it, my friend," Kraven laughed, walking forward. "Come! Let's continue the hunt!"