Kurt's about about to have a mental breakdown.
Also I think either lacy or kurt killed Danny.
Also I think either lacy or kurt killed Danny.
Last edited:
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Kaernetron
Feuergeist
- Location
- Weit, Weit dort Oben
Or a Stranger like Nice Guy, but signs point to one of them. Most likely while mastered, else the hunt (and the story) would be over too soon.
Flounder 6.2
Little Hunter
Nanku considered pouring all of Kurt's alcohol into a sink.
Taylor considered doing that once. She was furious and scared. Too scared to act on her fury.
Nanku was annoyed and that was petty.
She waited and waited and Bitch watched an oddly colorful program about talking rescue dogs.
Bitch was right.
Nanku didn't think anyone would believe she could sit and watch a child's cartoon about talking dogs for hours. But she was engrossed. Either she enjoyed dogs that much or she had an inner child she desperately wanted to feed. Maybe both.
"So that cat is going to destroy the city with a meteor?"
"Hm."
"And the only ones doing anything are talking dogs."
"It's a kid's show."
"We're not kids."
"And?"
Nanku narrowed her eyes. "The cat is cuter."
Bitch scoffed. She refused to take the bait. Nanku was sad she'd decided not to hunt her. It would be a poor way to repay Bitch's generosity, but she had a good feeling Bitch would never turn tail and run like a coward.
She'd face death with dignity.
Bitch lifted the remote and tossed it across the room. "You pick then."
Nanku caught it and winced as the extension strained her ribs. "Why?"
"You'll stop whining."
Nanku didn't rise to the bait either. If that was the contest, then she would win.
She changed the channel and started flipping through stations. She'd watch the news but that was too simple. Too straightforward. She needed a surprise.
Opening the TV guide, Nanku skimmed several channels before picking one she recognized.
The screen changed, turning to the repeated image of a cartoon mouse smacking a cat in the foot so that the cat smacked the mouse and swung back into the head of a dog behind it.
Bitch choked on a laugh.
Nanku grinned.
She recalled the cartoons, but she didn't recall the violence being so absurd. No mouse or dog could possibly survive being bludgeoned that many times. The cat meanwhile only took injuries to a leg and side. It would survive just fine.
Nanku threw the remote back.
Brutus tried to close his teeth around the device but Bitch caught it first. She tapped the thing against the armrest and thought for a moment.
She changed the channel, switching the program to some documentary with a smooth-voiced speaker talking about the mating habits of the Southern Philippine flying lemur.
Nanku rolled her eyes and held her hand out.
The remote landed in her palm and she began her search again. Part of her wondered what they were even doing. Something primal. Two creatures who needed to push to understand where the boundaries were and had somehow become embroiled in an odd dance.
Whatever it was it had become some form of contest. Nanku didn't back down from a contest.
She switched the channel to some vapid reality show. Not Cassie's because Cassie had also been generous and Nanku didn't want to insult her plainly.
It was a pretty awful-looking show though. Bunch of fat people wrestling in what looked like spaghetti sauce. Disgusting. What human enjoyed that garba—
Bitch switched the channel and Nanku started.
The two women were in a shower together and they were not bathing.
"Win," Bitch declared when the remote flew past Nanku and landed on the floor.
Nanku had no idea what Bitch had won, but yes. Fine.
She had won.
"Wha."
Kurt stirred and Bitch quickly scrambled to turn the TV off while Nanku retrieved the remote.
The man rose to find Bitch fumbling with his TV on one side and Nanku bent over—painfully—on the other.
"Wow," he slurred. "Took this long for anyone to rob me?"
"We're not thieves," Nanku protested.
Kurt looked at her bleary-eyed, but he was more sober than the last time Nanku visited.
It was also broad daylight.
His lips parted and closed. He blinked. Rubbed his eyes. Blinked again.
Nanku stepped toward him, further into the light of a window.
Kurt shot to his feet and turned away.
"I need to know about my father."
"Finally fucked," Kurt mumbled.
Nanku followed him stubbornly into the hall and snarled as he turned to the kitchen. Without her arms and armor or the Twins, her only option was the swarm.
Or Bitch.
The girl stepped into Kurt's path and blocked him.
"Sit," she ordered.
Kurt stumbled. Bitch moved aside enough to let him enter the kitchen. Once he did she crowded him, herding the man like he was a sheep. Kurt stumbled into a chair and Bitch promptly removed all the bottles from the table. The empty ones she tossed on the floor. The few she found full or half-empty she poured down the sink.
Kurt shirked at the destruction and didn't notice Nanku again until she sat down.
He looked at her again, shaking.
"I want to know about my father," Nanku repeated.
Something seemed to finally break, and Kurt leaned forward. "Taylor?"
"Yes."
"H—How are—"
"I am. My father?"
Kurt sat back. His eyes drifted to pictures on the wall. Lacy was in most but one posted on the refrigerator was a picture of Kurt and Daniel Hebert. A fishing trip.
He was slow to come around, bouncing between surprise, confusion, and disbelief. He glanced at Bitch every now and then and watched her. Bitch stared back with the energy of an impatient hound. Brutus sat at her side dutifully and yawned.
Nanku tried to be patient.
"How are you…" Kurt shifted uncomfortably. "Does Anne know?"
"I'm not here about my mother."
"Danny? Why would you want to know about Danny? Wait, Taylor—"
"The shipment," Nanku pressed. "The one that went missing. Tell me about it."
Kurt didn't listen. He started questioning, stumbling over his words, and babbling about whatever. Nothing Nanku cared about or had time for.
"Shut up," Bitch said. "Listen."
Kurt stopped and Nanku repeated her question.
"The missing shipment. Tell me about it. Why was my father at the Union building?"
"That?" Kurt blinked and shrugged. "It was a misunderstanding. Someone misplaces some containers. Didn't file the right papers. We found them that night."
"Did you see them?"
"Yeah. That's why Danny came and went."
"Did you look inside?"
It was the immediate thought. Someone did move the containers. In the process of taking something from them.
"Yeah."
Kurt rose. He cast a cautious look at Bitch, but she didn't move. Kurt moved through the house and began moving boxes and cases around. It took him a while but eventually, he returned with a single file.
"Never got rid of it."
Nanku took the file and opened it. Inside were invoices and manifests listing container numbers, times, and dates. Records of movement so their location could be tracked.
"Some kid just forgot to put in the right files," she mumbled.
"Benny? Yeah. Always screwed up. Why he doesn't do paperwork anymore." Kurt inhaled and shrugged. "Poor kid. Thought it was all his fault. Quit a few days after it happened. Put a gun in his mouth a year later."
Nanku's brow rose.
Kurt shook his head, eyes downcast. "Couldn't live with the guilt. It wasn't his fault, Taylor. He just made a mistake. Couldn't have known Dan would get mugged walking back to his truck."
But he was dead. A year? Maybe his guilt was getting to him. Maybe someone decided to shut him up before he told the truth.
Nanku looked at the papers again. She'd spent days looking at papers. The most annoying sort of trail but the one she had.
Her eyes narrowed. "The times on these are the same."
"Hm?"
"The times." Nanku held the invoice records up. "The time is the same. The date is different but the time is the same."
Twelve-fourteen.
What time was her father killed?
"Who made these?"
"Those?" Kurt frowned. "Would have been Lacy. She filed everything. Tended to do it in big sprints at the end of a shift too. Time's not special."
Nanku disagreed.
Did Lacy enter them? Her health was failing. Was she even in the building that day? And the times. Even if she did it all at the end of the day, what were the odds the times would be identical? Couldn't someone have doctored the papers and inserted them to draw attention away from the containers?
"Are you sure Lacy did it?"
Kurt frowned. "Who else would?"
Then he didn't know.
Nanku could almost smell it. The police gave up on the missing containers too easily.
The invoices were forged. Anyone could have replaced the ones the Dockworkers had on file. Maybe even filled the containers with something after moving them.
Could she find the originals?
"Who would have done it?" she pressed. "Empire?"
Kurt shrugged. "Could be anyone. Everyone was trying to get us to do things for them. Promised all kinds of things."
Well, that wasn't helpful. "What things would criminals want you to move?"
"Name it. Drugs. Guns. People."
"People?"
"Illegal immigrants. Kid. Workers. Prostitutes. Could be anything."
Surely that would have been noticed no matter what a piece of paper said, right?
Nanku's brow furrowed and she huffed a breath.
How to figure that out…
"Taylor." Kurt leaned closer. "Does Anne—"
"Leave her out of it," Nanku said sharply. "I have nothing to say to her."
The words were to shield her more than anything. Her mother couldn't get in trouble for what she didn't know. Especially now that the PRT and the Protectorate were after her.
"The other Dockworkers there that night. Tell me where to find them."
Kurt's brow rose. "Why?"
"I want to talk to them."
"No." Kurt shook his head and ran a hand over his head. "I mean… Why do you…"
He trailed off and Nanku stared at him.
A good hunter didn't lie.
"I'm going to kill them."
Kurt paled, and she could see his understanding. She was looking for who killed her father and would kill them in turn. She hadn't even planned on killing the Pure when she arrived on Earth. That was just a necessity born of their own intent.
Now that they were dealt with, it was back to why she'd returned in the first place.
"That won't bring Dan back," Kurt said.
"And they don't deserve to get away with it," Nanku replied.
To her surprise, Kurt's stunned face nodded slowly. "Suppose they don't."
He rose again and went into another room. Nanku kept an eye on him but he didn't move for a phone or any weapons. He started going through boxes of papers and files and Nanku quietly waited in the hope she'd get what she wanted to continue her hunt.
"Why?" Bitch asked.
"Why what?"
"Why do you care if they're alive?"
"Because I don't want them to be."
Bitch scoffed but didn't press.
Nanku doubted she'd understand.
The nightmares had stopped since she landed on Earth but Nanku didn't think she'd resolved their source. Her father's death was unavenged. It haunted what remained of Taylor. She needed the answer. Who did it and why, and she needed the resolution.
"Why do you care?" Nanku asked.
Bitch held her silence at first. Nanku expected she'd keep it, but then she spoke.
"Won't make it hurt any less."
Nanku's brow rose but Bitch didn't elaborate.
Kurt re-entered the room and put a piece of paper in front of Nanku. "You're not going to hurt them, right?"
"No," Nanku answered. She bore no ill will toward the Dockworkers. "I will only speak with them."
Kurt nodded. "You know the police already tried to figure this out."
"I'm not them."
"Your mom too."
"I'm not her." Thank the Black Warrior. "Thank you."
Nanku left and Bitch followed. Kurt went to the door and watched them go. He was still there after they left sight, right until he fell out of the range of her power.
"Thank you."
Bitch huffed. "For what?"
"Helping?"
"Sooner you're done sooner we go back. Time to eat."
"What?"
"Food. We eat it."
"I—"
"Eat it yourself or I shove it down your throat." Bitch grabbed her arm and pulled lightly. "Need calories."
They went to a place that smelled of oils and herbs. Azian fried chicken. Nanku wasn't certain, but she thought the name contained a spelling error. She wasn't sure she trusted food from a business that couldn't spell.
Nanku searched her pockets and realized she'd brought none of the money she'd procured. Not that Bitch asked her for any. She bought two drinks and a bucket of 'tendies' and they left the building with a bunch of napkins.
They sat in a park and ate there.
Nanku reluctantly admitted the chicken was good. Not too salty. Flavorful. Sufficient moist inside with a crunchy crust.
"Don't have to baby me."
"Not."
"Then go."
"No."
"Why?"
"Owe you."
Nanku shook her head and ate her chicken.
Until they reached the last piece.
They both reached at the same time and grabbed it from opposite ends. Bitch growled. Nanku glared.
Producing the spear from her pocket, Nanku ran the tip through the center and the tendie pulled apart.
Bitch huffed. "Fine.'
"Fair," Nanku countered and stuffed the piece into her mouth.
What idiot put an odd number of 'tendies' in a twelve-piece bucket?
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Nanku considered pouring all of Kurt's alcohol into a sink.
Taylor considered doing that once. She was furious and scared. Too scared to act on her fury.
Nanku was annoyed and that was petty.
She waited and waited and Bitch watched an oddly colorful program about talking rescue dogs.
Bitch was right.
Nanku didn't think anyone would believe she could sit and watch a child's cartoon about talking dogs for hours. But she was engrossed. Either she enjoyed dogs that much or she had an inner child she desperately wanted to feed. Maybe both.
"So that cat is going to destroy the city with a meteor?"
"Hm."
"And the only ones doing anything are talking dogs."
"It's a kid's show."
"We're not kids."
"And?"
Nanku narrowed her eyes. "The cat is cuter."
Bitch scoffed. She refused to take the bait. Nanku was sad she'd decided not to hunt her. It would be a poor way to repay Bitch's generosity, but she had a good feeling Bitch would never turn tail and run like a coward.
She'd face death with dignity.
Bitch lifted the remote and tossed it across the room. "You pick then."
Nanku caught it and winced as the extension strained her ribs. "Why?"
"You'll stop whining."
Nanku didn't rise to the bait either. If that was the contest, then she would win.
She changed the channel and started flipping through stations. She'd watch the news but that was too simple. Too straightforward. She needed a surprise.
Opening the TV guide, Nanku skimmed several channels before picking one she recognized.
The screen changed, turning to the repeated image of a cartoon mouse smacking a cat in the foot so that the cat smacked the mouse and swung back into the head of a dog behind it.
Bitch choked on a laugh.
Nanku grinned.
She recalled the cartoons, but she didn't recall the violence being so absurd. No mouse or dog could possibly survive being bludgeoned that many times. The cat meanwhile only took injuries to a leg and side. It would survive just fine.
Nanku threw the remote back.
Brutus tried to close his teeth around the device but Bitch caught it first. She tapped the thing against the armrest and thought for a moment.
She changed the channel, switching the program to some documentary with a smooth-voiced speaker talking about the mating habits of the Southern Philippine flying lemur.
Nanku rolled her eyes and held her hand out.
The remote landed in her palm and she began her search again. Part of her wondered what they were even doing. Something primal. Two creatures who needed to push to understand where the boundaries were and had somehow become embroiled in an odd dance.
Whatever it was it had become some form of contest. Nanku didn't back down from a contest.
She switched the channel to some vapid reality show. Not Cassie's because Cassie had also been generous and Nanku didn't want to insult her plainly.
It was a pretty awful-looking show though. Bunch of fat people wrestling in what looked like spaghetti sauce. Disgusting. What human enjoyed that garba—
Bitch switched the channel and Nanku started.
The two women were in a shower together and they were not bathing.
"Win," Bitch declared when the remote flew past Nanku and landed on the floor.
Nanku had no idea what Bitch had won, but yes. Fine.
She had won.
"Wha."
Kurt stirred and Bitch quickly scrambled to turn the TV off while Nanku retrieved the remote.
The man rose to find Bitch fumbling with his TV on one side and Nanku bent over—painfully—on the other.
"Wow," he slurred. "Took this long for anyone to rob me?"
"We're not thieves," Nanku protested.
Kurt looked at her bleary-eyed, but he was more sober than the last time Nanku visited.
It was also broad daylight.
His lips parted and closed. He blinked. Rubbed his eyes. Blinked again.
Nanku stepped toward him, further into the light of a window.
Kurt shot to his feet and turned away.
"I need to know about my father."
"Finally fucked," Kurt mumbled.
Nanku followed him stubbornly into the hall and snarled as he turned to the kitchen. Without her arms and armor or the Twins, her only option was the swarm.
Or Bitch.
The girl stepped into Kurt's path and blocked him.
"Sit," she ordered.
Kurt stumbled. Bitch moved aside enough to let him enter the kitchen. Once he did she crowded him, herding the man like he was a sheep. Kurt stumbled into a chair and Bitch promptly removed all the bottles from the table. The empty ones she tossed on the floor. The few she found full or half-empty she poured down the sink.
Kurt shirked at the destruction and didn't notice Nanku again until she sat down.
He looked at her again, shaking.
"I want to know about my father," Nanku repeated.
Something seemed to finally break, and Kurt leaned forward. "Taylor?"
"Yes."
"H—How are—"
"I am. My father?"
Kurt sat back. His eyes drifted to pictures on the wall. Lacy was in most but one posted on the refrigerator was a picture of Kurt and Daniel Hebert. A fishing trip.
He was slow to come around, bouncing between surprise, confusion, and disbelief. He glanced at Bitch every now and then and watched her. Bitch stared back with the energy of an impatient hound. Brutus sat at her side dutifully and yawned.
Nanku tried to be patient.
"How are you…" Kurt shifted uncomfortably. "Does Anne know?"
"I'm not here about my mother."
"Danny? Why would you want to know about Danny? Wait, Taylor—"
"The shipment," Nanku pressed. "The one that went missing. Tell me about it."
Kurt didn't listen. He started questioning, stumbling over his words, and babbling about whatever. Nothing Nanku cared about or had time for.
"Shut up," Bitch said. "Listen."
Kurt stopped and Nanku repeated her question.
"The missing shipment. Tell me about it. Why was my father at the Union building?"
"That?" Kurt blinked and shrugged. "It was a misunderstanding. Someone misplaces some containers. Didn't file the right papers. We found them that night."
"Did you see them?"
"Yeah. That's why Danny came and went."
"Did you look inside?"
It was the immediate thought. Someone did move the containers. In the process of taking something from them.
"Yeah."
Kurt rose. He cast a cautious look at Bitch, but she didn't move. Kurt moved through the house and began moving boxes and cases around. It took him a while but eventually, he returned with a single file.
"Never got rid of it."
Nanku took the file and opened it. Inside were invoices and manifests listing container numbers, times, and dates. Records of movement so their location could be tracked.
"Some kid just forgot to put in the right files," she mumbled.
"Benny? Yeah. Always screwed up. Why he doesn't do paperwork anymore." Kurt inhaled and shrugged. "Poor kid. Thought it was all his fault. Quit a few days after it happened. Put a gun in his mouth a year later."
Nanku's brow rose.
Kurt shook his head, eyes downcast. "Couldn't live with the guilt. It wasn't his fault, Taylor. He just made a mistake. Couldn't have known Dan would get mugged walking back to his truck."
But he was dead. A year? Maybe his guilt was getting to him. Maybe someone decided to shut him up before he told the truth.
Nanku looked at the papers again. She'd spent days looking at papers. The most annoying sort of trail but the one she had.
Her eyes narrowed. "The times on these are the same."
"Hm?"
"The times." Nanku held the invoice records up. "The time is the same. The date is different but the time is the same."
Twelve-fourteen.
What time was her father killed?
"Who made these?"
"Those?" Kurt frowned. "Would have been Lacy. She filed everything. Tended to do it in big sprints at the end of a shift too. Time's not special."
Nanku disagreed.
Did Lacy enter them? Her health was failing. Was she even in the building that day? And the times. Even if she did it all at the end of the day, what were the odds the times would be identical? Couldn't someone have doctored the papers and inserted them to draw attention away from the containers?
"Are you sure Lacy did it?"
Kurt frowned. "Who else would?"
Then he didn't know.
Nanku could almost smell it. The police gave up on the missing containers too easily.
The invoices were forged. Anyone could have replaced the ones the Dockworkers had on file. Maybe even filled the containers with something after moving them.
Could she find the originals?
"Who would have done it?" she pressed. "Empire?"
Kurt shrugged. "Could be anyone. Everyone was trying to get us to do things for them. Promised all kinds of things."
Well, that wasn't helpful. "What things would criminals want you to move?"
"Name it. Drugs. Guns. People."
"People?"
"Illegal immigrants. Kid. Workers. Prostitutes. Could be anything."
Surely that would have been noticed no matter what a piece of paper said, right?
Nanku's brow furrowed and she huffed a breath.
How to figure that out…
"Taylor." Kurt leaned closer. "Does Anne—"
"Leave her out of it," Nanku said sharply. "I have nothing to say to her."
The words were to shield her more than anything. Her mother couldn't get in trouble for what she didn't know. Especially now that the PRT and the Protectorate were after her.
"The other Dockworkers there that night. Tell me where to find them."
Kurt's brow rose. "Why?"
"I want to talk to them."
"No." Kurt shook his head and ran a hand over his head. "I mean… Why do you…"
He trailed off and Nanku stared at him.
A good hunter didn't lie.
"I'm going to kill them."
Kurt paled, and she could see his understanding. She was looking for who killed her father and would kill them in turn. She hadn't even planned on killing the Pure when she arrived on Earth. That was just a necessity born of their own intent.
Now that they were dealt with, it was back to why she'd returned in the first place.
"That won't bring Dan back," Kurt said.
"And they don't deserve to get away with it," Nanku replied.
To her surprise, Kurt's stunned face nodded slowly. "Suppose they don't."
He rose again and went into another room. Nanku kept an eye on him but he didn't move for a phone or any weapons. He started going through boxes of papers and files and Nanku quietly waited in the hope she'd get what she wanted to continue her hunt.
"Why?" Bitch asked.
"Why what?"
"Why do you care if they're alive?"
"Because I don't want them to be."
Bitch scoffed but didn't press.
Nanku doubted she'd understand.
The nightmares had stopped since she landed on Earth but Nanku didn't think she'd resolved their source. Her father's death was unavenged. It haunted what remained of Taylor. She needed the answer. Who did it and why, and she needed the resolution.
"Why do you care?" Nanku asked.
Bitch held her silence at first. Nanku expected she'd keep it, but then she spoke.
"Won't make it hurt any less."
Nanku's brow rose but Bitch didn't elaborate.
Kurt re-entered the room and put a piece of paper in front of Nanku. "You're not going to hurt them, right?"
"No," Nanku answered. She bore no ill will toward the Dockworkers. "I will only speak with them."
Kurt nodded. "You know the police already tried to figure this out."
"I'm not them."
"Your mom too."
"I'm not her." Thank the Black Warrior. "Thank you."
Nanku left and Bitch followed. Kurt went to the door and watched them go. He was still there after they left sight, right until he fell out of the range of her power.
"Thank you."
Bitch huffed. "For what?"
"Helping?"
"Sooner you're done sooner we go back. Time to eat."
"What?"
"Food. We eat it."
"I—"
"Eat it yourself or I shove it down your throat." Bitch grabbed her arm and pulled lightly. "Need calories."
They went to a place that smelled of oils and herbs. Azian fried chicken. Nanku wasn't certain, but she thought the name contained a spelling error. She wasn't sure she trusted food from a business that couldn't spell.
Nanku searched her pockets and realized she'd brought none of the money she'd procured. Not that Bitch asked her for any. She bought two drinks and a bucket of 'tendies' and they left the building with a bunch of napkins.
They sat in a park and ate there.
Nanku reluctantly admitted the chicken was good. Not too salty. Flavorful. Sufficient moist inside with a crunchy crust.
"Don't have to baby me."
"Not."
"Then go."
"No."
"Why?"
"Owe you."
Nanku shook her head and ate her chicken.
Until they reached the last piece.
They both reached at the same time and grabbed it from opposite ends. Bitch growled. Nanku glared.
Producing the spear from her pocket, Nanku ran the tip through the center and the tendie pulled apart.
Bitch huffed. "Fine.'
"Fair," Nanku countered and stuffed the piece into her mouth.
What idiot put an odd number of 'tendies' in a twelve-piece bucket?
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Flounder 6.3t
Little Hunter
Somer's Rock never really changed.
Same deaf owners. Same ratty seats and floors. Same emptiness that begged the question of how the place stayed open to anyone who didn't know the answer.
Lisa, of course, knew the answer.
Around the table were a dozen villains in full costume. Some more villainous than others. Faultline sat with Gregor at her back. Citrine had two other Ambassador's along—a single red tear was added to their matching white masks. A very artistic touch. Rook sat with Cozen beside him, and at the far end of the table, Sundancer was managing to look less uncomfortable than she really was.
The table hadn't changed much in the past year. Brockton Bay's cape scene was stable and had remained stable since March's last desperate attempt to make Lily love her crazy ass.
She'd be back but that was a worry for another day.
At the moment, Lisa had one worry.
Lying through her damn teeth.
"No idea what you're talking about," she said with an annoyed smirk. "Seriously. I have Snuff on the backhand for that sort of thing when needed. Why would I hire a cape none of us have heard of before?"
"And one so inept she got caught," Faultline added, which was a lure. Faultline wasn't a thinker, but she was infuriatingly capable of thinking things through.
"Because I'd hire an assassin who decides to fight the entire Pure in one night and failed to keep it a secret."
Granted, Lisa expected something to explode when she let Nanku run wild and dangled herself out open for attack. That her thinker counterpart would turn that into an ambush on Nanku instead—and that Nanku would fucking win was not a possibility she considered. Then there was Iron Rain's final march into why even bother, which begged so many questions.
And all the videos on the Internet which landed her in an annoying meeting distracting her from things that mattered.
"So you didn't hire her?" Rook asked.
"Absolutely not." Which wasn't even a lie. "I'm not that sloppy. Come on guys. I thought we had some professional respect in this room?"
"We do," Citrine replied dryly. "But that still begs the question where this cape came from and why they went after the Pure."
"I'd love to find out," Lisa lied.
Nanku took familial protectiveness to an absurd place, especially given how much bitterness she was carrying toward her mother.
They needed to get her out of the city. If she even tried to stick around every hero and villain in the bay would be gunning for her. No one cared that the Nazis had it coming. Heroes couldn't have a mass murderer running around and the villains wouldn't want to sit around waiting to see if they were next.
"What does Weaver say about all of this?"
Lisa looked Citrine in the eye. "It's villain business. You know how this works."
"And neither of you have read into the Pure threatening to kill Weaver and this cape wiping the Pure out?"
"Rune is still alive," Bouncer declared.
"Rune hightailed it out of here while the going was good," Lisa answered. "She's probably flying off to Atlantic City, changing her name, and taking a new lease on life. Only reason she was still in the club was Othala and Victor."
One of whom was sharing a basement room adjacent to Alabaster until Lisa could figure out what to do with her.
"There's a rumor going around that this cape is her daughter."
It took every ounce of will in Lisa's addicted body not to react to that. She didn't normally like actively thinking about the way her fingers quivered. A side effect of Coil's lovely drug cocktail to keep her docile. Permanent, even years after Annette forced her into a room and sat with her while she vomited, sweated, and screamed.
"Is that something someone is saying?" Lisa asked with feigned amusement. "Please tell me we're not dredging PHO now."
"It's come to us through channels in the PRT."
Impossible.
Lisa knew all of Accord's contacts and Accord was dead. Some of them had switched to other parties and Lisa scooped most of them up herself. The PRT wasn't openly broadcasting that they knew Nanku and Annette were related and Lisa had checked all of her people to see if that detail was leaking.
It wasn't.
Not from the PRT.
So where was Citrine getting that?
"What channel?" Faultline asked, looking between the women.
"I'm not going to say that."
Lisa took a peek. Citrine's mask hid her face, and her dress hid much of her body. It gave Lisa less to work with, but she'd known Citrine for years and she knew enough about the woman.
Lie.
How incredibly unhelpful.
She was lying? More like fishing.
"What does it matter?" Sundancer asked. "We have to do something about her."
"The Pure were bad," Stacer said, "but they were subtle. This is all over the news and social media."
"Our hold on the city is based on our ability to keep the criminal world relatively bloodless," Citrine agreed. "So long as bodies aren't dropping left and right, Weaver works with us, and the city remains peaceful for everyone."
"If the heroes deal with this cape they might wonder why they tolerate us," Faultline added. Her mask turned. "If she's Weaver's daughter, Weaver might be removed from her position."
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She didn't see this coming.
How did she not see this coming? It was bloody brilliant!
"We're in agreement then?" Citrine looked around the table Lisa had no choice but to agree. "Very well. We hunt this cape down and deal with them ourselves."
The fucking irony.
Someone left her a breadcrumb and she was fishing. Now the villains were after Nanku. Nanku wouldn't back down. She didn't know how. She wasn't a cape, not in her mentality or approach. Weaver would never let her daughter be killed. She'd attack a villain who tried and Citrine would wonder if that breadcrumb she doubted really was true.
Brilliant.
The Pure being dead didn't matter. Turning Weaver and the city's villains against one another was a far better way to send it all burning to the ground.
Lisa jammed her thumb into her cheek and a chill ran up her spine.
Fuck, that was devious.
Citrine was no sucker. Some cape coming to her with answers to all her questions would raise a thousand red flags, but a cape just dropping information to be picked up and pieced together? That was good. Very good.
They really had been playing the wrong game.
None of it was ever about the Pure. It didn't even seem like a ploy to take over the city.
Untapping her power in small bursts and thinking it through, Lisa couldn't shake the feeling the only conceivable goal to everything was simply to bring down what Annette and the Undersiders had built.
Who would do that?
Who would have zero interest in territory, power, or wealth, and be solely and exclusively interested in seeing everything they'd built come crashing down? Everything she'd built come crashing down. So insanely personal. Personal like Nanku wiping out the Nazis just to start things off personal.
Aside from a dead man named Calvert—and Lisa was absolutely certain he was dead—who hated her anywhere close to that much?
Lisa straightened, alone at the table.
"Fuck"—she shot to her feet—"me."
~ ~ ~
"Anne."
Shawn breathed deep and watched his wife collect papers into files. One after the other. Clipping. Stapling. Binding.
When she put her mind to something she went all the way. There were no half-measures. He appreciated that about her.
Except when she committed herself to ignoring everything. Including him.
"Anne," Shawn repeated.
It was a spiral for her. A sort of thinker-specific obsession when she used her power for too long or tried delving too deep. Normally she kept a good handle on it but when Calvert started trying to go after Rose in his insane scheme to kill her and take control of the city… What Shawn was seeing was almost that bad.
Warily, Shawn stepped forward and firmly grabbed Annette's wrist.
"Anne."
She jerked, straightening and turning to face him with a manic expression.
"Slow down," he said in a calm tone. "Walk back, Anne. Sit."
He guided her into the seat and knelt beside her.
"Calm."
"Curtz is going to kill her," she said bluntly.
"He's not going to kill her."
At least, Shawn didn't think so.
Annette was being excluded from most of the planning. Curtz claimed it was because anything could happen and involving Annette in the capture and arrest of her own daughter—the source of her trigger event, though she'd never come out and told anyone but Shawn—any more than necessary was cruel. He wasn't wrong.
But Shawn didn't think he expected 'anything' to happen.
If anything, he seemed to have almost too clear an eye on how to capture Taylor. Nanku. Thermal imaging to see through her cloak. Specialized confoam dispenser to ensnare her. Tranquilizers to knock her unconscious so her weapons could be removed.
There was something going on, but thankfully for Annette, killing Nanku wasn't the plan.
Shawn didn't think Annette could survive another dead daughter.
"He thinks she's a mass murderer," Anne said suddenly.
Shawn couldn't find a way to say the words, 'because she is.'
Annette shook her head and turned back to the files. "No. She can't be behind all of it. South America. Africa. Siberia. The killings go back before she was born. Before parahumans even appeared. Maybe the first parahumans, I don't know, but Taylor wasn't even alive in 1854 or 1918 when the first concrete murders I can find happened."
Shawn blinked. "Anne, what—"
"1854," she said. "A group of a Chacktaw found dead by US cavalry near the border with Indian territory. The only survivor was a teen girl who said 'a demon came from the air and stalked them for a week.' Glowing yellow eyes and with a scorpion tail that spat fire."
She pushed the page aside.
"1918, a special company of soldiers trained for breaking trench lines were found dead. They'd only been out of contact with other units for three days, but all eighty of the men were dead save two who both said 'a giant' attacked them with knives and blades and killed them one by one. They credited their survival to falling into mud. Their commanders attributed the story to shell shock."
"Anne."
"1938. Multiple groups of soldiers in the Picos de Europa vanish on all sides of the Spanish Civil War. A single unit radioed that they'd found a speck of a strange metal a day before they vanished too."
Shawn shook his head and reached for her wrist again, but she was starting back into the spiral.
"The oldest such story I can find is in 1529 when a Spanish ship off the coast of El Salvador began trying to find and kill Gonzalo Guerrero. The captain said in his log the natives summoned a demon that could lift a man with one hand, appeared and disappeared at will, and skinned the men to take their skulls. He claimed to have killed it with a shipboard cannon after it severed his arm with blades attached to its wrist."
"ANNE!"
"Taylor couldn't have done any of this! It's some group or faction that's hundreds of years old and just keeps killing people! They took Taylor and they made her the way she is and it's not her fault!"
She ignored him, resisting his hold while she snatched another piece of paper.
"Before the attack on the camp, there were a series of murders across Africa and Europe all targeting some pharmaceutical company! Right before the attack on the camp and after the murders in Europe stopped Heather Anders—Max Ander's wife before Kayden—was killed. Everyone blamed the Teeth when it happened but what if it was this cult and they massacred the camp and they took Taylor!?"
Her eyes were manic.
Furious.
"There are PRT files. There's a damn case number. Case-87. Late cold war a mercenary rescue team goes into Columbia to rescue a CIA asset. Most of the team was killed, the sole survivor reported an 'alien' creature with the same kind of equipment Taylor has, and in 1990…"
Her voice trailed off and the words died in her throat.
She'd missed that. Shawn knew everything about Weaver's crusade to find who massacred the camp. Every detail Annette uncovered. Every piece of evidence. Every lead. She zeroed in on Nilbog like everyone else… and she'd missed this.
All of it.
"You've been talking to Tattletale," Shawn said.
She didn't answer. She knew that if she did, he might be in as much trouble as she was if anyone ever decided to bring down the hammer for what she'd done. The deal with the not-so-evil devils she'd forced with the Undersiders to eradicate open violence in Brockton Bay.
"What did she say?" Shawn pressed.
Annette shook her head.
Shawn inhaled and looked over the papers. "I'm taking you home. You know you shouldn't be here right now."
She didn't respond and he stood.
Shawn left the room and found Hannah and Curtz in the hall.
"She won't do it," Hannah said.
"Taylor's death was her trigger," Shawn replied. He looked pointedly at Curtz. "You can say you want her alive all you want, she won't believe you and she'll do nothing but try to defend and protect Taylor. She needs to be completely uninvolved in this."
"You as well, perhaps." Curtz watched him a moment. "Thus far, the younger Hebert has not killed anyone but the Pure. She could have harmed Vista, Assault, or Battery. She could have killed Dauntless."
A lingering ache in Shawn's shoulder was less certain, but he hoped. For Anne's sake.
If Taylor started killing heroes at the drop of a hat, she'd join the ranks of villains like the Slaughterhouse Nine and the Teeth.
The kind of villains heroes couldn't afford to pull punches with, and didn't.
"Take her home," Curtz said. "She's laying low with her wounds now, but she won't stay that way."
The Director turned away, and Shawn watched him go.
Curtz had always been an odd one. At first, he was convinced that the man was meant to root out Anne's dealings with the Undersiders. Instead, he'd mostly sat back and let Anne and Tattletale do it.
Shawn learned a lot from that.
How the PRT really operated. What they really valued. And he'd seen the Protectorate wasn't so different.
Heroes weren't everything they wanted people to think they were.
Himself included.
Hannah lingered a moment while Curtz left, but she said nothing. She'd basically let Anne take over. Running the team was never what she wanted.
When she left, Shawn turned back to the room and helped Anne up.
They went through the less busied parts of the building. Got in an elevator. Crossed the backlot. Got in the car.
Anne maintained the ruse until they were a block away.
She straightened, pulled her hair back, and popped the bottom of her fist into the side panel of the door.
It came loose and she removed a tinker-tech phone from inside.
"Wait," Shawn warned. He checked the mirrors, but not for cars. The PRT was too smart for that. "Drone."
He may have juiced the car's side mirrors once or twice over the years with his power.
One thing having a thinker for a wife teaches a man.
Not everything is about raw power. If it was, then the likes of Kaiser, Lung, and the Butcher would rule the world already.
"Rose?" Anne asked.
"Pure aren't trying to kill you anymore," Shawn replied, "and the thinker apparently was never into that. She's with Addison and Missy for a few hours more."
Anne nodded and kept the phone low. She dialed and Shawn turned toward the apartment.
"You don't have to do this," she whispered. "I didn't ask—"
"You don't have to."
He'd seen her.
Taylor was a victim. Whatever happened to her, she'd come out worse for it, but she didn't deserve to die because the world and powers messed her up. And whatever Curtz was after, Shawn was well acquainted with another cold truth.
There were fates worse than death.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Somer's Rock never really changed.
Same deaf owners. Same ratty seats and floors. Same emptiness that begged the question of how the place stayed open to anyone who didn't know the answer.
Lisa, of course, knew the answer.
Around the table were a dozen villains in full costume. Some more villainous than others. Faultline sat with Gregor at her back. Citrine had two other Ambassador's along—a single red tear was added to their matching white masks. A very artistic touch. Rook sat with Cozen beside him, and at the far end of the table, Sundancer was managing to look less uncomfortable than she really was.
The table hadn't changed much in the past year. Brockton Bay's cape scene was stable and had remained stable since March's last desperate attempt to make Lily love her crazy ass.
She'd be back but that was a worry for another day.
At the moment, Lisa had one worry.
Lying through her damn teeth.
"No idea what you're talking about," she said with an annoyed smirk. "Seriously. I have Snuff on the backhand for that sort of thing when needed. Why would I hire a cape none of us have heard of before?"
"And one so inept she got caught," Faultline added, which was a lure. Faultline wasn't a thinker, but she was infuriatingly capable of thinking things through.
"Because I'd hire an assassin who decides to fight the entire Pure in one night and failed to keep it a secret."
Granted, Lisa expected something to explode when she let Nanku run wild and dangled herself out open for attack. That her thinker counterpart would turn that into an ambush on Nanku instead—and that Nanku would fucking win was not a possibility she considered. Then there was Iron Rain's final march into why even bother, which begged so many questions.
And all the videos on the Internet which landed her in an annoying meeting distracting her from things that mattered.
"So you didn't hire her?" Rook asked.
"Absolutely not." Which wasn't even a lie. "I'm not that sloppy. Come on guys. I thought we had some professional respect in this room?"
"We do," Citrine replied dryly. "But that still begs the question where this cape came from and why they went after the Pure."
"I'd love to find out," Lisa lied.
Nanku took familial protectiveness to an absurd place, especially given how much bitterness she was carrying toward her mother.
They needed to get her out of the city. If she even tried to stick around every hero and villain in the bay would be gunning for her. No one cared that the Nazis had it coming. Heroes couldn't have a mass murderer running around and the villains wouldn't want to sit around waiting to see if they were next.
"What does Weaver say about all of this?"
Lisa looked Citrine in the eye. "It's villain business. You know how this works."
"And neither of you have read into the Pure threatening to kill Weaver and this cape wiping the Pure out?"
"Rune is still alive," Bouncer declared.
"Rune hightailed it out of here while the going was good," Lisa answered. "She's probably flying off to Atlantic City, changing her name, and taking a new lease on life. Only reason she was still in the club was Othala and Victor."
One of whom was sharing a basement room adjacent to Alabaster until Lisa could figure out what to do with her.
"There's a rumor going around that this cape is her daughter."
It took every ounce of will in Lisa's addicted body not to react to that. She didn't normally like actively thinking about the way her fingers quivered. A side effect of Coil's lovely drug cocktail to keep her docile. Permanent, even years after Annette forced her into a room and sat with her while she vomited, sweated, and screamed.
"Is that something someone is saying?" Lisa asked with feigned amusement. "Please tell me we're not dredging PHO now."
"It's come to us through channels in the PRT."
Impossible.
Lisa knew all of Accord's contacts and Accord was dead. Some of them had switched to other parties and Lisa scooped most of them up herself. The PRT wasn't openly broadcasting that they knew Nanku and Annette were related and Lisa had checked all of her people to see if that detail was leaking.
It wasn't.
Not from the PRT.
So where was Citrine getting that?
"What channel?" Faultline asked, looking between the women.
"I'm not going to say that."
Lisa took a peek. Citrine's mask hid her face, and her dress hid much of her body. It gave Lisa less to work with, but she'd known Citrine for years and she knew enough about the woman.
Lie.
How incredibly unhelpful.
She was lying? More like fishing.
"What does it matter?" Sundancer asked. "We have to do something about her."
"The Pure were bad," Stacer said, "but they were subtle. This is all over the news and social media."
"Our hold on the city is based on our ability to keep the criminal world relatively bloodless," Citrine agreed. "So long as bodies aren't dropping left and right, Weaver works with us, and the city remains peaceful for everyone."
"If the heroes deal with this cape they might wonder why they tolerate us," Faultline added. Her mask turned. "If she's Weaver's daughter, Weaver might be removed from her position."
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She didn't see this coming.
How did she not see this coming? It was bloody brilliant!
"We're in agreement then?" Citrine looked around the table Lisa had no choice but to agree. "Very well. We hunt this cape down and deal with them ourselves."
The fucking irony.
Someone left her a breadcrumb and she was fishing. Now the villains were after Nanku. Nanku wouldn't back down. She didn't know how. She wasn't a cape, not in her mentality or approach. Weaver would never let her daughter be killed. She'd attack a villain who tried and Citrine would wonder if that breadcrumb she doubted really was true.
Brilliant.
The Pure being dead didn't matter. Turning Weaver and the city's villains against one another was a far better way to send it all burning to the ground.
Lisa jammed her thumb into her cheek and a chill ran up her spine.
Fuck, that was devious.
Citrine was no sucker. Some cape coming to her with answers to all her questions would raise a thousand red flags, but a cape just dropping information to be picked up and pieced together? That was good. Very good.
They really had been playing the wrong game.
None of it was ever about the Pure. It didn't even seem like a ploy to take over the city.
Untapping her power in small bursts and thinking it through, Lisa couldn't shake the feeling the only conceivable goal to everything was simply to bring down what Annette and the Undersiders had built.
Who would do that?
Who would have zero interest in territory, power, or wealth, and be solely and exclusively interested in seeing everything they'd built come crashing down? Everything she'd built come crashing down. So insanely personal. Personal like Nanku wiping out the Nazis just to start things off personal.
Aside from a dead man named Calvert—and Lisa was absolutely certain he was dead—who hated her anywhere close to that much?
Lisa straightened, alone at the table.
"Fuck"—she shot to her feet—"me."
~ ~ ~
"Anne."
Shawn breathed deep and watched his wife collect papers into files. One after the other. Clipping. Stapling. Binding.
When she put her mind to something she went all the way. There were no half-measures. He appreciated that about her.
Except when she committed herself to ignoring everything. Including him.
"Anne," Shawn repeated.
It was a spiral for her. A sort of thinker-specific obsession when she used her power for too long or tried delving too deep. Normally she kept a good handle on it but when Calvert started trying to go after Rose in his insane scheme to kill her and take control of the city… What Shawn was seeing was almost that bad.
Warily, Shawn stepped forward and firmly grabbed Annette's wrist.
"Anne."
She jerked, straightening and turning to face him with a manic expression.
"Slow down," he said in a calm tone. "Walk back, Anne. Sit."
He guided her into the seat and knelt beside her.
"Calm."
"Curtz is going to kill her," she said bluntly.
"He's not going to kill her."
At least, Shawn didn't think so.
Annette was being excluded from most of the planning. Curtz claimed it was because anything could happen and involving Annette in the capture and arrest of her own daughter—the source of her trigger event, though she'd never come out and told anyone but Shawn—any more than necessary was cruel. He wasn't wrong.
But Shawn didn't think he expected 'anything' to happen.
If anything, he seemed to have almost too clear an eye on how to capture Taylor. Nanku. Thermal imaging to see through her cloak. Specialized confoam dispenser to ensnare her. Tranquilizers to knock her unconscious so her weapons could be removed.
There was something going on, but thankfully for Annette, killing Nanku wasn't the plan.
Shawn didn't think Annette could survive another dead daughter.
"He thinks she's a mass murderer," Anne said suddenly.
Shawn couldn't find a way to say the words, 'because she is.'
Annette shook her head and turned back to the files. "No. She can't be behind all of it. South America. Africa. Siberia. The killings go back before she was born. Before parahumans even appeared. Maybe the first parahumans, I don't know, but Taylor wasn't even alive in 1854 or 1918 when the first concrete murders I can find happened."
Shawn blinked. "Anne, what—"
"1854," she said. "A group of a Chacktaw found dead by US cavalry near the border with Indian territory. The only survivor was a teen girl who said 'a demon came from the air and stalked them for a week.' Glowing yellow eyes and with a scorpion tail that spat fire."
She pushed the page aside.
"1918, a special company of soldiers trained for breaking trench lines were found dead. They'd only been out of contact with other units for three days, but all eighty of the men were dead save two who both said 'a giant' attacked them with knives and blades and killed them one by one. They credited their survival to falling into mud. Their commanders attributed the story to shell shock."
"Anne."
"1938. Multiple groups of soldiers in the Picos de Europa vanish on all sides of the Spanish Civil War. A single unit radioed that they'd found a speck of a strange metal a day before they vanished too."
Shawn shook his head and reached for her wrist again, but she was starting back into the spiral.
"The oldest such story I can find is in 1529 when a Spanish ship off the coast of El Salvador began trying to find and kill Gonzalo Guerrero. The captain said in his log the natives summoned a demon that could lift a man with one hand, appeared and disappeared at will, and skinned the men to take their skulls. He claimed to have killed it with a shipboard cannon after it severed his arm with blades attached to its wrist."
"ANNE!"
"Taylor couldn't have done any of this! It's some group or faction that's hundreds of years old and just keeps killing people! They took Taylor and they made her the way she is and it's not her fault!"
She ignored him, resisting his hold while she snatched another piece of paper.
"Before the attack on the camp, there were a series of murders across Africa and Europe all targeting some pharmaceutical company! Right before the attack on the camp and after the murders in Europe stopped Heather Anders—Max Ander's wife before Kayden—was killed. Everyone blamed the Teeth when it happened but what if it was this cult and they massacred the camp and they took Taylor!?"
Her eyes were manic.
Furious.
"There are PRT files. There's a damn case number. Case-87. Late cold war a mercenary rescue team goes into Columbia to rescue a CIA asset. Most of the team was killed, the sole survivor reported an 'alien' creature with the same kind of equipment Taylor has, and in 1990…"
Her voice trailed off and the words died in her throat.
She'd missed that. Shawn knew everything about Weaver's crusade to find who massacred the camp. Every detail Annette uncovered. Every piece of evidence. Every lead. She zeroed in on Nilbog like everyone else… and she'd missed this.
All of it.
"You've been talking to Tattletale," Shawn said.
She didn't answer. She knew that if she did, he might be in as much trouble as she was if anyone ever decided to bring down the hammer for what she'd done. The deal with the not-so-evil devils she'd forced with the Undersiders to eradicate open violence in Brockton Bay.
"What did she say?" Shawn pressed.
Annette shook her head.
Shawn inhaled and looked over the papers. "I'm taking you home. You know you shouldn't be here right now."
She didn't respond and he stood.
Shawn left the room and found Hannah and Curtz in the hall.
"She won't do it," Hannah said.
"Taylor's death was her trigger," Shawn replied. He looked pointedly at Curtz. "You can say you want her alive all you want, she won't believe you and she'll do nothing but try to defend and protect Taylor. She needs to be completely uninvolved in this."
"You as well, perhaps." Curtz watched him a moment. "Thus far, the younger Hebert has not killed anyone but the Pure. She could have harmed Vista, Assault, or Battery. She could have killed Dauntless."
A lingering ache in Shawn's shoulder was less certain, but he hoped. For Anne's sake.
If Taylor started killing heroes at the drop of a hat, she'd join the ranks of villains like the Slaughterhouse Nine and the Teeth.
The kind of villains heroes couldn't afford to pull punches with, and didn't.
"Take her home," Curtz said. "She's laying low with her wounds now, but she won't stay that way."
The Director turned away, and Shawn watched him go.
Curtz had always been an odd one. At first, he was convinced that the man was meant to root out Anne's dealings with the Undersiders. Instead, he'd mostly sat back and let Anne and Tattletale do it.
Shawn learned a lot from that.
How the PRT really operated. What they really valued. And he'd seen the Protectorate wasn't so different.
Heroes weren't everything they wanted people to think they were.
Himself included.
Hannah lingered a moment while Curtz left, but she said nothing. She'd basically let Anne take over. Running the team was never what she wanted.
When she left, Shawn turned back to the room and helped Anne up.
They went through the less busied parts of the building. Got in an elevator. Crossed the backlot. Got in the car.
Anne maintained the ruse until they were a block away.
She straightened, pulled her hair back, and popped the bottom of her fist into the side panel of the door.
It came loose and she removed a tinker-tech phone from inside.
"Wait," Shawn warned. He checked the mirrors, but not for cars. The PRT was too smart for that. "Drone."
He may have juiced the car's side mirrors once or twice over the years with his power.
One thing having a thinker for a wife teaches a man.
Not everything is about raw power. If it was, then the likes of Kaiser, Lung, and the Butcher would rule the world already.
"Rose?" Anne asked.
"Pure aren't trying to kill you anymore," Shawn replied, "and the thinker apparently was never into that. She's with Addison and Missy for a few hours more."
Anne nodded and kept the phone low. She dialed and Shawn turned toward the apartment.
"You don't have to do this," she whispered. "I didn't ask—"
"You don't have to."
He'd seen her.
Taylor was a victim. Whatever happened to her, she'd come out worse for it, but she didn't deserve to die because the world and powers messed her up. And whatever Curtz was after, Shawn was well acquainted with another cold truth.
There were fates worse than death.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Can't wait until the PRT find out that Taylor's gauntlet is a bomb as well 😋.
Flounder 6.3
Litte Hunter
"School project?" Jane Lusso—who was a man named Jane—gave Bitch a wary look. "School project for what?"
"History of the Dockworkers," Bitch replied.
Nanku wasn't sure why anyone would actually do that for school, but Jane seemed to buy it.
He opened his door a bit but didn't step out of the threshold of his domicile. "What do you want to know?"
Nanku held up the invoices. "Who made these and what gang would want to fake a shipment to get what?"
There had to be something in the containers not on the invoices. The invoices were mundane. Fertilizer and farming supplies? What was really in it and how much was it worth? Enough to kill her father for poking his nose where it didn't belong and to get someone in the Dockworkers to cover it up.
She watched Jane's face curiously, looking for any sign of anger or defensiveness.
Instead, he looked sad.
"This is about Danny?" he asked. "Why do you care about that?"
"Criminal justice class," Bitch declared.
He didn't question that answer at all.
"I don't know shit," Jane said. "Didn't even know Dan was dead for half a week. Kid got sick and everything was so crazy no one called to tell me."
"No one?" Nanku asked. She remembered the Workers being very close-knit. Her father was always getting calls.
"Lacy found him, yeah?" He narrowed his eyes, looking at Nanku more closely. He didn't stop talking. "Tore her up inside. Blew my mind when I walked up and her car wasn't in her spot."
"Spot?"
"She practically lived in that building. Had her own designated space by the door. Think Danny gave it to her after the docs found the cancer."
"And the shipment?" Nanku pressed.
"I was just working the intake office that night. Dan came in and asked about some containers. I gave him some papers and he left."
"Invoices?" Nanku turned the papers in her hand.
"Nah. Intake forms. But it was nothing. Whole thing was sorted out that night."
Kurt hadn't given her any intake forms. They weren't in the police file. Nanku had read through the entire thing more than once. She couldn't repeat it word-for-word, but she knew all its contents. There was nothing like an 'intake' form.
Did they overlook it—Her father had no such form on him when he died. If he did it would have been listed among his personal items. The enforcers recorded everything he had. Even his pocket lint. They'd have noticed forms.
Did he leave them somewhere, or did the killer take them before or after swapping the invoices?
"Would Lacy have known?" Maybe Kurt was so drunk he forgot.
"She knew everything. Lacy didn't make mistakes. Had to be someone else… Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"When the cancer started getting real bad—Lacy, I mean—I don't know. She worked too hard. Maybe she messed something up."
The man shrugged.
"What happened to Dan just… Kurt does what he can, but nothing's been the same. No one could replace Danny."
Nanku turned and Bitch rolled her eyes.
"Anyone quit?" she asked. "Week or so after?"
Jane shrugged. "Lots of guys quit all the time."
"Anyone who was there that night?"
Nanku's brow rose but Bitch watched Jane and waited for an answer. She absently scratched Brutus' head while she did.
"Don't know. A few guys took time off but quit?" Jane shrugged. "Not sure I can say anyway. Legal stuff."
The Dockworkers might have papers for it.
"Must be gossip." Bitch tilted her head. "Everyone talks."
At that, Jane shut up. "Not that I heard. Sorry." He looked between them and added, "Ain't this a bit morbid for a school project? You kids should watch less True Crime. Rots your brain."
True Crime? "Is that like reality TV?"
"Yes," Bitch answered.
Ugh.
Why did her tracks have to run out on that note?
They left and Nanku swept the streets with her bugs, still wary of possible ambush or discovery. She was in no good shape for another brawl with Assault or Battery. She had an idea how to deal with them should it be needed but cracked ribs were a serious obstacle.
Nanku stopped while Bitch continued walking forward.
It took her a few steps to notice. "What?"
"Mother."
Bitch started forward without a word and Nanku stood back and waited. She watched through the swarm.
Cassie was baring the doorway to the kennel. Ridiculously. She leaned into one side of the doorframe and barred the passage with her arm. One leg was raised, holding back a trio of dogs trying—not too hard—to sniff at the visitor. Nanku's mother stood with a tall broad-shouldered man who Nanku took as being Dauntless.
Rose was nowhere in sight of her bugs.
Her mother and Cassie were speaking in hushed tones. Too low for any bugs to pick out, but Nanku could guess Cassie's body language was nervous. Her mother's was anxious and twitching. The man was protective, arms relaxed and ready to jump in and pull her mother from harm's way.
No ambush though. No PRT vehicles waiting. No heroes on any nearby roofs or in any alleys. The sky looked clear, and Nanku had been checking for the invisible drone.
Bitch strode down the street with Brutus while they spoke.
Dauntless saw her first and his reaction was tense. His muscles tightened. He inserted himself between Bitch and Annette Not-Hebert.
Bitch approached casually and Cassie visibly relaxed on seeing her.
Nanku stepped into an alley to wait.
It was a perfect time for Rose to run into her range.
Nanku's head spun so quickly her braids struck her cheek and dared to wrap around her neck. She hurried, racing down the alley to intercept the girl. What was she thinking? Nanku told her to stay away.
Coming out onto the next street, Nanku crossed the road without looking and left the car to stop for her.
Rose's head turned at the honking horn and she stopped.
"I didn't tell," she said as Nanku took her by the shoulder—not too hard—and pulled her aside. "I didn't tell."
"You can't be here," Nanku whispered. "You need to go."
"The Director is bad," Rose said, her face slightly panicked. "He says things that don't make sense and he's after you! But not because of stabbing daddy or—"
She paled rather than say the word.
"He said a word," she whispered. "Hunters."
Nanku's response died in her throat.
Rose lowered her voice further, whispering, "He keeps talking to someone on the phone. When no one is looking."
Except for Rose, because Rose could see things.
Nanku turned her attention back to her swarm. Her mother and Bitch were talking and—And why was the air up the street wrong?
She'd seen that before. A warp in the ground and air and—
A blonde girl stepped down from a roof outside Nanku's range. The air in the alley where she entered it was strange. Warped and awkward. The ground too. She strutted out and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Rose."
Rose shuffled behind Nanku. "Uh oh."
Nanku squared her shoulders.
The girl was small but surprisingly fit. She wore jeans torn at the knees and a denim jacket. Something Nanku expected Bitch to wear, given her wardrobe. She watched Nanku in turn, looking her up and down despite being two feet shorter.
"So, Rose. Who is your—"
Nanku drew the spear from her pocket. It expanded in a quick metallic swoosh and the girl's eyes went wide.
"Fuck me."
Nanku set one foot back and Rose grabbed her leg.
"No fighting Missy!" she snapped. "That's mean!"
Missy was—Missy?
Nanku frowned. "She's the one who knows?"
Rose stiffened. "Knows what?"
She sounded as convincing as Dusk or Dawn were harmless.
"Someone's going to have to tell me what the hell is going on," Vista said firmly. "Or we're going to have a problem."
Her eyes reminded Nanku of Bitch. The eyes of someone who wouldn't run. But she'd thought the same thing about Cricket.
"Don't fight!" Rose begged. "No fighting!"
Nanku kept her spear in hand but didn't point the weapon.
Her mother and Dauntless were a block away. A battle with Vista that didn't end her immediately would sprawl. Bitch would get dragged in, and… Yes, and Cassie. Nanku didn't hold any ill-will toward the girl even if she wasted the widescreen with stupid television.
So Nanku turned to Rose instead. "You can't be here. I told you not to come back."
"Here?" Vista asked. "You—Of course you're hanging out with Rachel. Taking in strays is her entire deal."
"Go home," Nanku said to Rose. "Now."
"But the director!" Rose pointed in some direction. Nanku wasn't sure where. "He keeps talking to a man on the phone! A cape named Dutch!"
A cape named Dutch who knew about the Yautja? "Now I know. Now you need to—"
Their mother moved. She looked around and ignored Bitch and Cassie while they spoke. She followed Bitch's path to the alley, paused a moment, and turned. Nanku tensed and spun.
"Take her away now," Nanku said to Vista.
"I don't take orders from you," she replied. "Especially you. I'm still waiting for a reason other than 'I like Rachel' for why I shouldn't get everyone down here arresting you before you go on another killing spree."
Nanku pried Rose's hands off and pulled her back. Her head turned in their mother's direction and she paled.
"You know how much that sucks?" Vista asked. "I hate Nazis. Everyone hates Nazis. But we can't have you dropping a dozen bodies a night even if they are fucking Na—"
Nanku pushed Rose aside and collapsed her spear.
Rose started moving but Missy stopped her. "No. We're not just disappearin—"
"Stupid," Nanku hissed.
"Don't call me stupid. I'll stick you in a Mobius strip and—"
Their mother came out of the alley and immediately spotted them.
Vista straightened. "Fuck I'm stupid."
"Missy?" Annette came across the street in a hurry. Bitch and Dauntless hurried after Annette and both came from the alley at the same time. "What are you doing here? How did you—"
She froze and her eyes went wide.
Rose looked out from behind Nanku's leg, pale and shaking.
"Rose?"
Rose made an indecipherable sound in her throat.
Dauntless did not.
"Rose," he called. "Come to me. Now."
His eyes fixed on Nanku, glaring and ready.
Annette raised her hand. "Rose. Co—"
Rose's fingers curled and she buried her face in the back of Nanku's leg. Nanku felt Vista shift at her wide, wary and unsure. Rose's power. She triggered because she was afraid and the only ones who knew were Vista and Nanku. She didn't want their parents to know.
She was terrified of them knowing.
"I called her," Nanku lied.
"Why?" Dauntless asked.
Nanku shot a venomous glare at her mother. "To see if she was allowed to leave the house."
Her mother flinched, and for once Nanku felt guilty about her bitterness. But it protected Rose.
Their mother's jaw set, and a war visibly played out on her face. She glanced toward Vista and back. Vista stood uncertain, but only for a moment.
"Sorry," she said. "She said she was going to meet a friend. She failed to mention who said friend was."
Vista told her lie with a straight face and a mild amount of embarrassment. That part might have been true.
Annette started moving, crossing the street quickly with Dauntless and Bitch following her. The woman looked back and forth between her daughters and when she reached them she forced her hand to her side. When Dauntless joined them he immediately positioned his shoulder slightly ahead of their mother, and he was looking at Vista as if to single her out.
"We should go inside," Annette said. "Now."
They did, but Vista and Dauntless walked behind Nanku and didn't allow her out of their sight.
Cassie looked nervous as they entered.
She started to back away but Bitch said 'no' and she sulked.
They gathered in the same room Nanku last had a meeting with her mother, except Dauntless and Vista stood in for Tattletale and—
Imp rocked back on her chair and declared, "For the record, I thought this was an inevitably hilarious idea and I'm glad I'm here to see it pay off!"
Fuck how long had she been skulk—"You stole our chicken."
"It was good chicken!" she smiled cloying. "And you two are so cute together."
What did that mean?
"What does that mean?" Vista asked.
"Some things you just have to sit back and let happen in their own time."
"You stole a pizza last week and paid for it five days later with a note apologizing for how you don't give tips for no service."
"It was right there on the counter! Who pays tips for pickup?"
"And the five days later part?"
"You know what a wallet does to the lines of my costume?"
"Take it elsewhere," Dauntless said firmly. He put an arm around Rose while she sat between her parents stiffly.
"Told you not to call her again," Bitch said in a low voice.
Imp's brow rose.
Vista and her mother were no strangers to the kennel. A few dogs hurried in, sniffing and wagging their tails. Vista gave them scratches on the head one after the other while Annette endured the affection until Bitch gave a quick command to sit.
Rose looked about. "Where are yours?"
She looked at Nanku.
"Her what?" Dauntless and Vista asked warily.
Nanku sighed.
Dusk and Dawn scurried into the room. They were near silent. The dogs were accustomed to their presence and made no commotion at the Twins' passage. The smaller canines moved out of their way and Dusk and Dawn paid the canines no mind.
Dauntless nearly jumped from his seat and Vista stiffened.
Dusk set his talon tips on the table beside Nanku and snarled. Dawn curled her forelimbs over Nanku's shoulders protectively.
Dauntless's hand on Rose tightened, not noticing Rose slip away. "Those aren't—"
"They're not," her mother said. "Don't know what they are but they do what Nanku tells them to do."
Dauntless still frowned. He tightened his hold again. Rose wasn't there. It took him a moment to notice it and a brief confusion took over his face. He looked about and his wife did the same.
Missy pointedly pretended to be confused.
Nanku briefly lost track of her sister with her eyes. Strange, but she still felt the girl's passage with bugs.
Dusk turned to face her with a chitter and Rose looked at his face curiously. She raised a hand uncertainly.
"Don't touch animals you don't know," Bitch said firmly.
Rose flinched.
"She's right," Nanku agreed. Then she pointed at the underside of her jaw. "There. Under the mandibles. The chitin softens."
Rose tilted her head and reached under Dusk's jaw to scratch. Dusk chittered and his wings fluttered before he leaned into Rose's fingers. Dawn snapped her jaws and moved over to push Dusk to get a share of the attention.
So Rose used both hands.
Dauntless remained tense, even when it became clear neither creature would attack Rose. Nanku would never let them of course, but as aggressive and violent as the Twins could be, they had keen senses of smell. And their own sense of family.
They smelled Nanku on Rose. She was just another part of the hive in their minds, and Dusk and Dawn's kind didn't kill their own.
"Why are you here?" Nanku asked. "The Pure are dead, save for three."
"Rune has disappeared," her mother said. "Aster is going to be transferred to rehabilitation where she can finally get the help she needs. The thinker? Tattletale and I will deal with her."
Her? Curious.
"That's not why you're here," Nanku guessed.
"It's not." Her mother looked at her. "You need to leave Brockton Bay. Now."
Nanku looked back at her.
"No."
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
"School project?" Jane Lusso—who was a man named Jane—gave Bitch a wary look. "School project for what?"
"History of the Dockworkers," Bitch replied.
Nanku wasn't sure why anyone would actually do that for school, but Jane seemed to buy it.
He opened his door a bit but didn't step out of the threshold of his domicile. "What do you want to know?"
Nanku held up the invoices. "Who made these and what gang would want to fake a shipment to get what?"
There had to be something in the containers not on the invoices. The invoices were mundane. Fertilizer and farming supplies? What was really in it and how much was it worth? Enough to kill her father for poking his nose where it didn't belong and to get someone in the Dockworkers to cover it up.
She watched Jane's face curiously, looking for any sign of anger or defensiveness.
Instead, he looked sad.
"This is about Danny?" he asked. "Why do you care about that?"
"Criminal justice class," Bitch declared.
He didn't question that answer at all.
"I don't know shit," Jane said. "Didn't even know Dan was dead for half a week. Kid got sick and everything was so crazy no one called to tell me."
"No one?" Nanku asked. She remembered the Workers being very close-knit. Her father was always getting calls.
"Lacy found him, yeah?" He narrowed his eyes, looking at Nanku more closely. He didn't stop talking. "Tore her up inside. Blew my mind when I walked up and her car wasn't in her spot."
"Spot?"
"She practically lived in that building. Had her own designated space by the door. Think Danny gave it to her after the docs found the cancer."
"And the shipment?" Nanku pressed.
"I was just working the intake office that night. Dan came in and asked about some containers. I gave him some papers and he left."
"Invoices?" Nanku turned the papers in her hand.
"Nah. Intake forms. But it was nothing. Whole thing was sorted out that night."
Kurt hadn't given her any intake forms. They weren't in the police file. Nanku had read through the entire thing more than once. She couldn't repeat it word-for-word, but she knew all its contents. There was nothing like an 'intake' form.
Did they overlook it—Her father had no such form on him when he died. If he did it would have been listed among his personal items. The enforcers recorded everything he had. Even his pocket lint. They'd have noticed forms.
Did he leave them somewhere, or did the killer take them before or after swapping the invoices?
"Would Lacy have known?" Maybe Kurt was so drunk he forgot.
"She knew everything. Lacy didn't make mistakes. Had to be someone else… Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"When the cancer started getting real bad—Lacy, I mean—I don't know. She worked too hard. Maybe she messed something up."
The man shrugged.
"What happened to Dan just… Kurt does what he can, but nothing's been the same. No one could replace Danny."
Nanku turned and Bitch rolled her eyes.
"Anyone quit?" she asked. "Week or so after?"
Jane shrugged. "Lots of guys quit all the time."
"Anyone who was there that night?"
Nanku's brow rose but Bitch watched Jane and waited for an answer. She absently scratched Brutus' head while she did.
"Don't know. A few guys took time off but quit?" Jane shrugged. "Not sure I can say anyway. Legal stuff."
The Dockworkers might have papers for it.
"Must be gossip." Bitch tilted her head. "Everyone talks."
At that, Jane shut up. "Not that I heard. Sorry." He looked between them and added, "Ain't this a bit morbid for a school project? You kids should watch less True Crime. Rots your brain."
True Crime? "Is that like reality TV?"
"Yes," Bitch answered.
Ugh.
Why did her tracks have to run out on that note?
They left and Nanku swept the streets with her bugs, still wary of possible ambush or discovery. She was in no good shape for another brawl with Assault or Battery. She had an idea how to deal with them should it be needed but cracked ribs were a serious obstacle.
Nanku stopped while Bitch continued walking forward.
It took her a few steps to notice. "What?"
"Mother."
Bitch started forward without a word and Nanku stood back and waited. She watched through the swarm.
Cassie was baring the doorway to the kennel. Ridiculously. She leaned into one side of the doorframe and barred the passage with her arm. One leg was raised, holding back a trio of dogs trying—not too hard—to sniff at the visitor. Nanku's mother stood with a tall broad-shouldered man who Nanku took as being Dauntless.
Rose was nowhere in sight of her bugs.
Her mother and Cassie were speaking in hushed tones. Too low for any bugs to pick out, but Nanku could guess Cassie's body language was nervous. Her mother's was anxious and twitching. The man was protective, arms relaxed and ready to jump in and pull her mother from harm's way.
No ambush though. No PRT vehicles waiting. No heroes on any nearby roofs or in any alleys. The sky looked clear, and Nanku had been checking for the invisible drone.
Bitch strode down the street with Brutus while they spoke.
Dauntless saw her first and his reaction was tense. His muscles tightened. He inserted himself between Bitch and Annette Not-Hebert.
Bitch approached casually and Cassie visibly relaxed on seeing her.
Nanku stepped into an alley to wait.
It was a perfect time for Rose to run into her range.
Nanku's head spun so quickly her braids struck her cheek and dared to wrap around her neck. She hurried, racing down the alley to intercept the girl. What was she thinking? Nanku told her to stay away.
Coming out onto the next street, Nanku crossed the road without looking and left the car to stop for her.
Rose's head turned at the honking horn and she stopped.
"I didn't tell," she said as Nanku took her by the shoulder—not too hard—and pulled her aside. "I didn't tell."
"You can't be here," Nanku whispered. "You need to go."
"The Director is bad," Rose said, her face slightly panicked. "He says things that don't make sense and he's after you! But not because of stabbing daddy or—"
She paled rather than say the word.
"He said a word," she whispered. "Hunters."
Nanku's response died in her throat.
Rose lowered her voice further, whispering, "He keeps talking to someone on the phone. When no one is looking."
Except for Rose, because Rose could see things.
Nanku turned her attention back to her swarm. Her mother and Bitch were talking and—And why was the air up the street wrong?
She'd seen that before. A warp in the ground and air and—
A blonde girl stepped down from a roof outside Nanku's range. The air in the alley where she entered it was strange. Warped and awkward. The ground too. She strutted out and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Rose."
Rose shuffled behind Nanku. "Uh oh."
Nanku squared her shoulders.
The girl was small but surprisingly fit. She wore jeans torn at the knees and a denim jacket. Something Nanku expected Bitch to wear, given her wardrobe. She watched Nanku in turn, looking her up and down despite being two feet shorter.
"So, Rose. Who is your—"
Nanku drew the spear from her pocket. It expanded in a quick metallic swoosh and the girl's eyes went wide.
"Fuck me."
Nanku set one foot back and Rose grabbed her leg.
"No fighting Missy!" she snapped. "That's mean!"
Missy was—Missy?
Nanku frowned. "She's the one who knows?"
Rose stiffened. "Knows what?"
She sounded as convincing as Dusk or Dawn were harmless.
"Someone's going to have to tell me what the hell is going on," Vista said firmly. "Or we're going to have a problem."
Her eyes reminded Nanku of Bitch. The eyes of someone who wouldn't run. But she'd thought the same thing about Cricket.
"Don't fight!" Rose begged. "No fighting!"
Nanku kept her spear in hand but didn't point the weapon.
Her mother and Dauntless were a block away. A battle with Vista that didn't end her immediately would sprawl. Bitch would get dragged in, and… Yes, and Cassie. Nanku didn't hold any ill-will toward the girl even if she wasted the widescreen with stupid television.
So Nanku turned to Rose instead. "You can't be here. I told you not to come back."
"Here?" Vista asked. "You—Of course you're hanging out with Rachel. Taking in strays is her entire deal."
"Go home," Nanku said to Rose. "Now."
"But the director!" Rose pointed in some direction. Nanku wasn't sure where. "He keeps talking to a man on the phone! A cape named Dutch!"
A cape named Dutch who knew about the Yautja? "Now I know. Now you need to—"
Their mother moved. She looked around and ignored Bitch and Cassie while they spoke. She followed Bitch's path to the alley, paused a moment, and turned. Nanku tensed and spun.
"Take her away now," Nanku said to Vista.
"I don't take orders from you," she replied. "Especially you. I'm still waiting for a reason other than 'I like Rachel' for why I shouldn't get everyone down here arresting you before you go on another killing spree."
Nanku pried Rose's hands off and pulled her back. Her head turned in their mother's direction and she paled.
"You know how much that sucks?" Vista asked. "I hate Nazis. Everyone hates Nazis. But we can't have you dropping a dozen bodies a night even if they are fucking Na—"
Nanku pushed Rose aside and collapsed her spear.
Rose started moving but Missy stopped her. "No. We're not just disappearin—"
"Stupid," Nanku hissed.
"Don't call me stupid. I'll stick you in a Mobius strip and—"
Their mother came out of the alley and immediately spotted them.
Vista straightened. "Fuck I'm stupid."
"Missy?" Annette came across the street in a hurry. Bitch and Dauntless hurried after Annette and both came from the alley at the same time. "What are you doing here? How did you—"
She froze and her eyes went wide.
Rose looked out from behind Nanku's leg, pale and shaking.
"Rose?"
Rose made an indecipherable sound in her throat.
Dauntless did not.
"Rose," he called. "Come to me. Now."
His eyes fixed on Nanku, glaring and ready.
Annette raised her hand. "Rose. Co—"
Rose's fingers curled and she buried her face in the back of Nanku's leg. Nanku felt Vista shift at her wide, wary and unsure. Rose's power. She triggered because she was afraid and the only ones who knew were Vista and Nanku. She didn't want their parents to know.
She was terrified of them knowing.
"I called her," Nanku lied.
"Why?" Dauntless asked.
Nanku shot a venomous glare at her mother. "To see if she was allowed to leave the house."
Her mother flinched, and for once Nanku felt guilty about her bitterness. But it protected Rose.
Their mother's jaw set, and a war visibly played out on her face. She glanced toward Vista and back. Vista stood uncertain, but only for a moment.
"Sorry," she said. "She said she was going to meet a friend. She failed to mention who said friend was."
Vista told her lie with a straight face and a mild amount of embarrassment. That part might have been true.
Annette started moving, crossing the street quickly with Dauntless and Bitch following her. The woman looked back and forth between her daughters and when she reached them she forced her hand to her side. When Dauntless joined them he immediately positioned his shoulder slightly ahead of their mother, and he was looking at Vista as if to single her out.
"We should go inside," Annette said. "Now."
They did, but Vista and Dauntless walked behind Nanku and didn't allow her out of their sight.
Cassie looked nervous as they entered.
She started to back away but Bitch said 'no' and she sulked.
They gathered in the same room Nanku last had a meeting with her mother, except Dauntless and Vista stood in for Tattletale and—
Imp rocked back on her chair and declared, "For the record, I thought this was an inevitably hilarious idea and I'm glad I'm here to see it pay off!"
Fuck how long had she been skulk—"You stole our chicken."
"It was good chicken!" she smiled cloying. "And you two are so cute together."
What did that mean?
"What does that mean?" Vista asked.
"Some things you just have to sit back and let happen in their own time."
"You stole a pizza last week and paid for it five days later with a note apologizing for how you don't give tips for no service."
"It was right there on the counter! Who pays tips for pickup?"
"And the five days later part?"
"You know what a wallet does to the lines of my costume?"
"Take it elsewhere," Dauntless said firmly. He put an arm around Rose while she sat between her parents stiffly.
"Told you not to call her again," Bitch said in a low voice.
Imp's brow rose.
Vista and her mother were no strangers to the kennel. A few dogs hurried in, sniffing and wagging their tails. Vista gave them scratches on the head one after the other while Annette endured the affection until Bitch gave a quick command to sit.
Rose looked about. "Where are yours?"
She looked at Nanku.
"Her what?" Dauntless and Vista asked warily.
Nanku sighed.
Dusk and Dawn scurried into the room. They were near silent. The dogs were accustomed to their presence and made no commotion at the Twins' passage. The smaller canines moved out of their way and Dusk and Dawn paid the canines no mind.
Dauntless nearly jumped from his seat and Vista stiffened.
Dusk set his talon tips on the table beside Nanku and snarled. Dawn curled her forelimbs over Nanku's shoulders protectively.
Dauntless's hand on Rose tightened, not noticing Rose slip away. "Those aren't—"
"They're not," her mother said. "Don't know what they are but they do what Nanku tells them to do."
Dauntless still frowned. He tightened his hold again. Rose wasn't there. It took him a moment to notice it and a brief confusion took over his face. He looked about and his wife did the same.
Missy pointedly pretended to be confused.
Nanku briefly lost track of her sister with her eyes. Strange, but she still felt the girl's passage with bugs.
Dusk turned to face her with a chitter and Rose looked at his face curiously. She raised a hand uncertainly.
"Don't touch animals you don't know," Bitch said firmly.
Rose flinched.
"She's right," Nanku agreed. Then she pointed at the underside of her jaw. "There. Under the mandibles. The chitin softens."
Rose tilted her head and reached under Dusk's jaw to scratch. Dusk chittered and his wings fluttered before he leaned into Rose's fingers. Dawn snapped her jaws and moved over to push Dusk to get a share of the attention.
So Rose used both hands.
Dauntless remained tense, even when it became clear neither creature would attack Rose. Nanku would never let them of course, but as aggressive and violent as the Twins could be, they had keen senses of smell. And their own sense of family.
They smelled Nanku on Rose. She was just another part of the hive in their minds, and Dusk and Dawn's kind didn't kill their own.
"Why are you here?" Nanku asked. "The Pure are dead, save for three."
"Rune has disappeared," her mother said. "Aster is going to be transferred to rehabilitation where she can finally get the help she needs. The thinker? Tattletale and I will deal with her."
Her? Curious.
"That's not why you're here," Nanku guessed.
"It's not." Her mother looked at her. "You need to leave Brockton Bay. Now."
Nanku looked back at her.
"No."
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Flounder 6.4
Little Hunter
"You can't run through town killing people," Dauntless said firmly. He glanced at her mother. "And we can't turn a blind eye to it."
"Unless someone else tries to kill her"—Nanku looked pointedly at her mother—"I won't have to."
The fight was pointless.
Rachel and Missy remained quiet. Cassie rose and took Rose to another room. Nanku sent Dusk and Dawn with them in order to make Rose go more easily.
"You don't even know what you're looking for!" her mother tried. "I tried to find out who killed Danny! I tried for years! I failed, even with my power."
"Too bad," Nanku replied.
"Nanku! Curtz knows something." She waved a hand. "I know nothing and I still managed to find killings and strange incidents going back hundreds of years that are awfully similar to your weapons and equipment."
Nanku said nothing.
Yautja had hunted on Earth for centuries. Made sense some humans knew about it. That wouldn't change much. A hunter lived or died on their own merits. Not by hiding from all risk.
She had time.
Lay low for a bit longer. Finish healing. She wasn't entirely sure where to go from where she was anyway. There were tracks. Crumbs.
But she didn't know how it fit together. Rather, she didn't know how to proceed. If she'd had the skills and been able to follow earlier, maybe she could have found who was behind the shipping containers, or at least what was in them. If she knew that then she'd have something.
"You see things as they were," Nanku said to her mother.
She set the forms out.
"Who made these?"
Her mother's brow rose. Surprised, but not by the forms. She barely gave them a look.
She'd seen them before.
"You've followed this trail before," Nanku determined. And she didn't figure it out?
"I'm not debating this." Her mother shook her head. "Or discussing it. You need to leave. Curtz is gunning for you and even if you manage to somehow beat him and my friends who he sends after you, you'll have the entire Protectorate coming down on your head."
"I'll manage."
Dauntless shook his head in disbelief. "She's not going to listen, Anne."
"I'll make her."
Nanku rose. "Then make me."
She glared into her mother's eyes, and the entire exercise was as pointless as the conversation. Her mother couldn't make her do anything. Even if she had the means, she lacked the will. It was clear.
"Qualicare," her mother said then. "QC. The company you wanted to know about?"
Nanku scowled.
"They're a German company," her mother continued. "Were. They were shut down about a decade ago. The whole firm was never much more than a logo, some paper, and a few vehicles. A shell for a larger conglomerate."
"Who?"
"Leave Brockton Bay, and I'll tell you."
Her mother removed a phone from her pocket and set it on the table.
"Leave before this gets any worse, and I will tell you who was behind the camp massacre. They'll take you far away from here where no one is looking for you. I want whoever did it brought down too. Three dozen kids died at that camp and dozens more died in the crusade I started to avenge them."
Her mother's voice shook at the admission.
"You said you came back to finish what was left unfinished. You can't finish what happened to Danny. He's dead and he's never coming back and you'll never find who did it unless he comes right out and admits it."
"I'll find who did it."
"And how long will that take? With Curtz and the rest of the Protectorate hunting you? Plus the Thinker? She baited you. She never cared about the Pure or Aster's revenge. She wanted an incident. Something big and loud and wild that would get everyone watching."
"Everyone is watching," Missy said. "It's all over the news."
Nanku was aware.
Between Cassie's reality television and Rachel's children's shows about cute dogs with funny outfits, she'd gotten enough news. There had reportedly been a video, but that was all taken down. Suspiciously so. Enough that Nanku was certain someone wanted to hide what the videos had shown.
Someone on Earth absolutely knew about the Yautja, and they wanted to keep it very quiet.
The obvious answer was Curtz hoped to capture her and secure some alien technology. Nanku would never let that happen, of course. He could try all he wanted.
It didn't matter and it changed nothing.
Neither did this pointless conversation.
"Who found you at the camp?" her mother asked. "Who have you been living with all these years? Who trained you?"
Nanku walked around the table and moved to leave the room.
It was none of her mother's concern.
"A woman who encouraged me instead of locking me away."
The answer was longer than intended.
Her mother started to rise and Dauntless stopped her.
"Anne."
"Don't—"
"Listen to your husband," Nanku said. "Be happy. Take care of Rose. I won't be bribed and if that is what you want we have nothing left to say to one another."
Rose was playing with the dogs and the Twins with Cassie. Fetch wasn't normally something Dusk or Dawn did, but it entertained Rose so Nanku guided the insectoid creatures through the exercise. And kept them from hurting any of Bitch's dogs.
Rose saw her and started to call out. Nanku shook her head.
She let Dusk and Dawn play a little longer, then called them back to her and their small shelter under the kennel.
Nanku sat on the bed.
Then she laid down.
Her body and the pain were not agonizing, but the aches built up. She realized how badly only once she rested herself on the bed. Dusk and Dawn crawled to her sides and settled themselves.
Above, an argument started between her mother and Dauntless. The two were quiet at first but Nanku caught a few words. The fight was naturally about her, and about how to handle her. Dauntless wanted to deliver an ultimatum. He couldn't abide going any further than that.
A man with a code. Or a semblance of one. That was good.
Bitch spoke up as their voices rose and looked in Rose's direction. Then Vista spoke. Nanku only caught a few words as they quieted.
It went on and one word caught her ear through the swarm.
"No."
Bitch looked the three 'heroes' in the eye.
She said it again.
"No."
Nanku focused. Picking the words out was still hard but she was getting better at it.
"Why?" Vista asked. "Rachel, if Curtz finds out you're hiding her then he'll come after you. What about your dogs?"
"They'll fight."
"Rachel," her mother pleaded. "You don't have to turn her in—I don't want you to—but you're screwing yourself if you harbor her."
"I'm not a hero."
Rachel said the words like it was annoying to state it out loud.
"I'm not you," she said. "I don't care. I do what I want."
"You can—"
"Watch me." Rachel stood up. "Pure had to die. Only way it ended."
"No one likes Nazis," Vista declared.
"Then stop caring when they're killed. They think everyone else should die or they're just stupid. Either way, they get what they deserve."
It was the longest sentence Nanku had ever heard Bitch say.
Cassie continued to entertain Rose but it was clear the girl had become aware of the argument. Maybe she had been from the start.
"You know it might actually screw Rachel if they find you here, right?"
Nanku glanced over to Imp. The girl sat on the steps, a slice of pizza in one hand and her phone in the other.
"I'm all for a good throwdown. Don't get me wrong, but Rachel's stubborn. She doesn't back down easy. If she makes a stand, she makes a damn stand. She could get hurt. Or worse."
"That's her choice," Nanku replied.
Bitch hardly needed anyone to tell her the exceedingly obvious.
She wasn't dumb.
She knew there were consequences, and if she accepted them Nanku wasn't going to disrespect the woman.
"Damn you two are cute together," Imp mumbled.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing in particular. Not like I'm going to interfere. I only do that when I really want to fuck things up so." She shrugged. "I need to go talk to Tattletale. Won't be surprised if she tries to find her own way to bribe you."
"She can try."
Nanku wasn't leaving.
What was the point? She'd just have to come back later. There was no point walking away until she discovered who killed her father and dealt with them. She could try searching for 'Qualicare' on her own now that she had the name.
"Alright." Imp waved her pizza. "Good luck."
Nanku stared at the stares and tilted her head.
Bitch was still saying the word.
"No," she declared. "This is my place. Don't like it, get out. And keep Rose away. She doesn't belong here."
With that, the conversation ceased.
Bitch got up and left. Vista hung around and listened to Dauntless and Weaver argue. Rachel joined Rose and Cassie briefly.
Eventually, Dauntless came for Nanku's sister and the heroes all left. Nanku's mother lingered outside. She left too and followed her husband and younger daughter to a car.
They left and Nanku could see Bitch counting down a minute before she turned and proceeded to the stairs.
"They're gone," she said.
"I heard."
Bitch descended the steps and eyed her critically. "Could have said yes."
"I don't lie."
"You say so."
Nanku huffed and Bitch stopped beside the bed.
She dropped a bag of dog food on the floor. Dusk and Dawn prodded the cover but knew better than to rip the bag open and scarf it down. Nanku forced herself up and winced.
"Stupid." Bitch pushed her back onto the bed. "Off."
"Off?"
"My clothes."
Nanku shugged and removed the clothes. If she wanted them back fine. Nanku wasn't sure she needed them again. Her injuries still hurt but it was becoming annoying more than disabling. She'd be able to leave soon, and she'd find her own space. Bitch had been… generous. But Nanku didn't want to keep imposing. She could take care of herself.
Bitch collected the ball of garments and said, "Get your own."
Nanku huffed, and jested, "Want to shower?"
Bitch looked her over and shrugged. "If you want to."
Nanku froze.
She didn't expect her jest to be answered so earnestly. Or with a blatant assessment.
Bitch waited a moment and Nanku didn't speak she asked, "Going to kill them?"
Nanku still didn't answer, though not for lack of hearing the question.
Bitch took her silence as a response and said, "Won't help."
"Help what?"
"Don't know." Bitch turned. "But it won't."
"The Pure still a problem?"
"Fuck'um. They're Nazis."
"And?"
"Muggers want food. Addicts want drugs. Stupid kids do stupid shit." Bitch shrugged and started up the stairs. "Everyone ain't a Nazi."
Human sentiment. "Killing is killing."
"Yeah."
Nanku's brow rose. Bitch uttered the agreement far more casually than she expected.
"But killing them won't help." Her eyes took on a depth. "Still gonna suck inside."
"I'll see."
"Good luck. Don't always get answers."
Nanku waited but Bitch turned without another word.
"Why?" she asked.
"Why what?" Bitch asked back.
"Why let me stay?"
"Why not?"
"They could hurt you. Your dogs."
"Maybe."
So she definitely knew. "Why?"
"I'm no one's bitch."
Nanku watched her leave with no idea what that meant. Was it a joke? It sounded like a joke.
"Is she okay?" Cassie asked above.
"Leave her," Bitch replied.
"Sure?"
"Leave her."
Good.
Nanku didn't need or want their pity.
She was a hunter. She'd stalked more dangerous creatures across frozen mountaintops. She should be able to find the piece of shit who murdered her father!
She fed Dusk and Dawn and after they'd eaten enough to restore their calories, she set them to the bed. They'd gotten a lot of rest the past week and it was good for them. Their biology wasn't meant for flying across the whole city every night even if they could do it.
And Nanku still hurt.
With a breath, she dropped herself onto the bed and closed her eyes to think.
She pushed her mother from her mind. And Director Curtz. And Dutch. Whoever they were. Didn't matter. Nothing in her mission had changed except the Pure were dead and her mother and sister were safe. She was finally free to do what she came to do and she'd finally gotten started.
The invoices.
The invoices and the shipment. That was the key.
She managed to find some of the men Kurt gave her easily. They lived in roughly the same area. One recognized her. The others didn't and didn't want to talk with her until Bitch said 'school project.' Which somehow opened their mouths.
The stories they gave didn't add up.
Two insisted it was all a misunderstanding. Another spent nearly an hour fumbling over his own words and talking about things other than what Nanku asked. Three claimed there never was a missing shipment, no matter what Nanku said.
Nanku turned it over again and again.
Until she realized she was going in circles.
Looking back over the day, in the end, she learned nothing except that the invoices were still suspicious and after twelve years no one seemed to remember anything right.
She had a trail but it didn't go anywhere.
She had a cause but no idea what it was.
The killer had a vague shape. Someone her father knew. Someone he let get close. Someone he didn't initially think would attack him.
But who?
And how would she find them out?
Nanku kept thinking. Her mind paced and circled. Over and over again.
The shipment was real. She'd assume that.
So the shipment went missing and someone faked the invoices Lacy filed. So what? That gave her a single footprint in a forest with no sign of where the trail actually went. There were no other sprints. No droppings. No signs of passage.
Maybe Lacy knew something, but she was dead.
Invoices. Shipments. Kurt. Lacy. Her father didn't run for his life. He struggled but didn't fight. He was caught up unexpectedly. Stabbed first before he realized the danger. They had to be connected but how did she find who was behind it.
Everyone she talked to said it was a misunderstanding, but that was impossible. It couldn't be that much of a coincidence.
Never trust coincidence. It'll betray you sooner or later.
The shipment.
She needed to focus on the shipment. Who it was for. What was inside it. Why they'd try to hide it—Who in the Dockworkers helped to cover it up. They killed her father for that. He died to hide whatever was inside those containers and who helped move them.
Unable to sleep, she sat up and returned to the file.
Nanku tore through the file. She turned the pages. Flipped them. Searched.
It was her only trail. The murder was ten years ago. Paper and words were the only tracks that remained.
Did the knife matter? A basic fishing knife wasn't special. There must be hundreds in the docks… But using that weapon would suggest it was the most immediate at hand. It wasn't a good weapon for killing. Why use it unless it was the first thing in sight?
Spontaneous, Nanku realized.
There was no plan to kill her father.
Danny died because of the shipment. Because the piece of paper he had revealed something, and someone had to take it back. Someone he knew. A Dockworker. It had to be a Dockworke—
Nanku paused, hands sliding over a single piece of paper.
Ambush. Spontaneous. Someone her father knew.
A Dockworker had to be the killer.
The paper was a timesheet. A list of all the men and women who worked the day her father died.
It was one of them.
It had to be one of them.
Someone he trusted. Someone he'd let close. Someone in the Dockworkers who could cover up what they did.
One of them.
It was one of them.
A Dockworker.
A traitor. A betrayer. A bad blood.
And she still intended to skin them alive.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
"You can't run through town killing people," Dauntless said firmly. He glanced at her mother. "And we can't turn a blind eye to it."
"Unless someone else tries to kill her"—Nanku looked pointedly at her mother—"I won't have to."
The fight was pointless.
Rachel and Missy remained quiet. Cassie rose and took Rose to another room. Nanku sent Dusk and Dawn with them in order to make Rose go more easily.
"You don't even know what you're looking for!" her mother tried. "I tried to find out who killed Danny! I tried for years! I failed, even with my power."
"Too bad," Nanku replied.
"Nanku! Curtz knows something." She waved a hand. "I know nothing and I still managed to find killings and strange incidents going back hundreds of years that are awfully similar to your weapons and equipment."
Nanku said nothing.
Yautja had hunted on Earth for centuries. Made sense some humans knew about it. That wouldn't change much. A hunter lived or died on their own merits. Not by hiding from all risk.
She had time.
Lay low for a bit longer. Finish healing. She wasn't entirely sure where to go from where she was anyway. There were tracks. Crumbs.
But she didn't know how it fit together. Rather, she didn't know how to proceed. If she'd had the skills and been able to follow earlier, maybe she could have found who was behind the shipping containers, or at least what was in them. If she knew that then she'd have something.
"You see things as they were," Nanku said to her mother.
She set the forms out.
"Who made these?"
Her mother's brow rose. Surprised, but not by the forms. She barely gave them a look.
She'd seen them before.
"You've followed this trail before," Nanku determined. And she didn't figure it out?
"I'm not debating this." Her mother shook her head. "Or discussing it. You need to leave. Curtz is gunning for you and even if you manage to somehow beat him and my friends who he sends after you, you'll have the entire Protectorate coming down on your head."
"I'll manage."
Dauntless shook his head in disbelief. "She's not going to listen, Anne."
"I'll make her."
Nanku rose. "Then make me."
She glared into her mother's eyes, and the entire exercise was as pointless as the conversation. Her mother couldn't make her do anything. Even if she had the means, she lacked the will. It was clear.
"Qualicare," her mother said then. "QC. The company you wanted to know about?"
Nanku scowled.
"They're a German company," her mother continued. "Were. They were shut down about a decade ago. The whole firm was never much more than a logo, some paper, and a few vehicles. A shell for a larger conglomerate."
"Who?"
"Leave Brockton Bay, and I'll tell you."
Her mother removed a phone from her pocket and set it on the table.
"Leave before this gets any worse, and I will tell you who was behind the camp massacre. They'll take you far away from here where no one is looking for you. I want whoever did it brought down too. Three dozen kids died at that camp and dozens more died in the crusade I started to avenge them."
Her mother's voice shook at the admission.
"You said you came back to finish what was left unfinished. You can't finish what happened to Danny. He's dead and he's never coming back and you'll never find who did it unless he comes right out and admits it."
"I'll find who did it."
"And how long will that take? With Curtz and the rest of the Protectorate hunting you? Plus the Thinker? She baited you. She never cared about the Pure or Aster's revenge. She wanted an incident. Something big and loud and wild that would get everyone watching."
"Everyone is watching," Missy said. "It's all over the news."
Nanku was aware.
Between Cassie's reality television and Rachel's children's shows about cute dogs with funny outfits, she'd gotten enough news. There had reportedly been a video, but that was all taken down. Suspiciously so. Enough that Nanku was certain someone wanted to hide what the videos had shown.
Someone on Earth absolutely knew about the Yautja, and they wanted to keep it very quiet.
The obvious answer was Curtz hoped to capture her and secure some alien technology. Nanku would never let that happen, of course. He could try all he wanted.
It didn't matter and it changed nothing.
Neither did this pointless conversation.
"Who found you at the camp?" her mother asked. "Who have you been living with all these years? Who trained you?"
Nanku walked around the table and moved to leave the room.
It was none of her mother's concern.
"A woman who encouraged me instead of locking me away."
The answer was longer than intended.
Her mother started to rise and Dauntless stopped her.
"Anne."
"Don't—"
"Listen to your husband," Nanku said. "Be happy. Take care of Rose. I won't be bribed and if that is what you want we have nothing left to say to one another."
Rose was playing with the dogs and the Twins with Cassie. Fetch wasn't normally something Dusk or Dawn did, but it entertained Rose so Nanku guided the insectoid creatures through the exercise. And kept them from hurting any of Bitch's dogs.
Rose saw her and started to call out. Nanku shook her head.
She let Dusk and Dawn play a little longer, then called them back to her and their small shelter under the kennel.
Nanku sat on the bed.
Then she laid down.
Her body and the pain were not agonizing, but the aches built up. She realized how badly only once she rested herself on the bed. Dusk and Dawn crawled to her sides and settled themselves.
Above, an argument started between her mother and Dauntless. The two were quiet at first but Nanku caught a few words. The fight was naturally about her, and about how to handle her. Dauntless wanted to deliver an ultimatum. He couldn't abide going any further than that.
A man with a code. Or a semblance of one. That was good.
Bitch spoke up as their voices rose and looked in Rose's direction. Then Vista spoke. Nanku only caught a few words as they quieted.
It went on and one word caught her ear through the swarm.
"No."
Bitch looked the three 'heroes' in the eye.
She said it again.
"No."
Nanku focused. Picking the words out was still hard but she was getting better at it.
"Why?" Vista asked. "Rachel, if Curtz finds out you're hiding her then he'll come after you. What about your dogs?"
"They'll fight."
"Rachel," her mother pleaded. "You don't have to turn her in—I don't want you to—but you're screwing yourself if you harbor her."
"I'm not a hero."
Rachel said the words like it was annoying to state it out loud.
"I'm not you," she said. "I don't care. I do what I want."
"You can—"
"Watch me." Rachel stood up. "Pure had to die. Only way it ended."
"No one likes Nazis," Vista declared.
"Then stop caring when they're killed. They think everyone else should die or they're just stupid. Either way, they get what they deserve."
It was the longest sentence Nanku had ever heard Bitch say.
Cassie continued to entertain Rose but it was clear the girl had become aware of the argument. Maybe she had been from the start.
"You know it might actually screw Rachel if they find you here, right?"
Nanku glanced over to Imp. The girl sat on the steps, a slice of pizza in one hand and her phone in the other.
"I'm all for a good throwdown. Don't get me wrong, but Rachel's stubborn. She doesn't back down easy. If she makes a stand, she makes a damn stand. She could get hurt. Or worse."
"That's her choice," Nanku replied.
Bitch hardly needed anyone to tell her the exceedingly obvious.
She wasn't dumb.
She knew there were consequences, and if she accepted them Nanku wasn't going to disrespect the woman.
"Damn you two are cute together," Imp mumbled.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing in particular. Not like I'm going to interfere. I only do that when I really want to fuck things up so." She shrugged. "I need to go talk to Tattletale. Won't be surprised if she tries to find her own way to bribe you."
"She can try."
Nanku wasn't leaving.
What was the point? She'd just have to come back later. There was no point walking away until she discovered who killed her father and dealt with them. She could try searching for 'Qualicare' on her own now that she had the name.
"Alright." Imp waved her pizza. "Good luck."
Nanku stared at the stares and tilted her head.
Bitch was still saying the word.
"No," she declared. "This is my place. Don't like it, get out. And keep Rose away. She doesn't belong here."
With that, the conversation ceased.
Bitch got up and left. Vista hung around and listened to Dauntless and Weaver argue. Rachel joined Rose and Cassie briefly.
Eventually, Dauntless came for Nanku's sister and the heroes all left. Nanku's mother lingered outside. She left too and followed her husband and younger daughter to a car.
They left and Nanku could see Bitch counting down a minute before she turned and proceeded to the stairs.
"They're gone," she said.
"I heard."
Bitch descended the steps and eyed her critically. "Could have said yes."
"I don't lie."
"You say so."
Nanku huffed and Bitch stopped beside the bed.
She dropped a bag of dog food on the floor. Dusk and Dawn prodded the cover but knew better than to rip the bag open and scarf it down. Nanku forced herself up and winced.
"Stupid." Bitch pushed her back onto the bed. "Off."
"Off?"
"My clothes."
Nanku shugged and removed the clothes. If she wanted them back fine. Nanku wasn't sure she needed them again. Her injuries still hurt but it was becoming annoying more than disabling. She'd be able to leave soon, and she'd find her own space. Bitch had been… generous. But Nanku didn't want to keep imposing. She could take care of herself.
Bitch collected the ball of garments and said, "Get your own."
Nanku huffed, and jested, "Want to shower?"
Bitch looked her over and shrugged. "If you want to."
Nanku froze.
She didn't expect her jest to be answered so earnestly. Or with a blatant assessment.
Bitch waited a moment and Nanku didn't speak she asked, "Going to kill them?"
Nanku still didn't answer, though not for lack of hearing the question.
Bitch took her silence as a response and said, "Won't help."
"Help what?"
"Don't know." Bitch turned. "But it won't."
"The Pure still a problem?"
"Fuck'um. They're Nazis."
"And?"
"Muggers want food. Addicts want drugs. Stupid kids do stupid shit." Bitch shrugged and started up the stairs. "Everyone ain't a Nazi."
Human sentiment. "Killing is killing."
"Yeah."
Nanku's brow rose. Bitch uttered the agreement far more casually than she expected.
"But killing them won't help." Her eyes took on a depth. "Still gonna suck inside."
"I'll see."
"Good luck. Don't always get answers."
Nanku waited but Bitch turned without another word.
"Why?" she asked.
"Why what?" Bitch asked back.
"Why let me stay?"
"Why not?"
"They could hurt you. Your dogs."
"Maybe."
So she definitely knew. "Why?"
"I'm no one's bitch."
Nanku watched her leave with no idea what that meant. Was it a joke? It sounded like a joke.
"Is she okay?" Cassie asked above.
"Leave her," Bitch replied.
"Sure?"
"Leave her."
Good.
Nanku didn't need or want their pity.
She was a hunter. She'd stalked more dangerous creatures across frozen mountaintops. She should be able to find the piece of shit who murdered her father!
She fed Dusk and Dawn and after they'd eaten enough to restore their calories, she set them to the bed. They'd gotten a lot of rest the past week and it was good for them. Their biology wasn't meant for flying across the whole city every night even if they could do it.
And Nanku still hurt.
With a breath, she dropped herself onto the bed and closed her eyes to think.
She pushed her mother from her mind. And Director Curtz. And Dutch. Whoever they were. Didn't matter. Nothing in her mission had changed except the Pure were dead and her mother and sister were safe. She was finally free to do what she came to do and she'd finally gotten started.
The invoices.
The invoices and the shipment. That was the key.
She managed to find some of the men Kurt gave her easily. They lived in roughly the same area. One recognized her. The others didn't and didn't want to talk with her until Bitch said 'school project.' Which somehow opened their mouths.
The stories they gave didn't add up.
Two insisted it was all a misunderstanding. Another spent nearly an hour fumbling over his own words and talking about things other than what Nanku asked. Three claimed there never was a missing shipment, no matter what Nanku said.
Nanku turned it over again and again.
Until she realized she was going in circles.
Looking back over the day, in the end, she learned nothing except that the invoices were still suspicious and after twelve years no one seemed to remember anything right.
She had a trail but it didn't go anywhere.
She had a cause but no idea what it was.
The killer had a vague shape. Someone her father knew. Someone he let get close. Someone he didn't initially think would attack him.
But who?
And how would she find them out?
Nanku kept thinking. Her mind paced and circled. Over and over again.
The shipment was real. She'd assume that.
So the shipment went missing and someone faked the invoices Lacy filed. So what? That gave her a single footprint in a forest with no sign of where the trail actually went. There were no other sprints. No droppings. No signs of passage.
Maybe Lacy knew something, but she was dead.
Invoices. Shipments. Kurt. Lacy. Her father didn't run for his life. He struggled but didn't fight. He was caught up unexpectedly. Stabbed first before he realized the danger. They had to be connected but how did she find who was behind it.
Everyone she talked to said it was a misunderstanding, but that was impossible. It couldn't be that much of a coincidence.
Never trust coincidence. It'll betray you sooner or later.
The shipment.
She needed to focus on the shipment. Who it was for. What was inside it. Why they'd try to hide it—Who in the Dockworkers helped to cover it up. They killed her father for that. He died to hide whatever was inside those containers and who helped move them.
Unable to sleep, she sat up and returned to the file.
Nanku tore through the file. She turned the pages. Flipped them. Searched.
It was her only trail. The murder was ten years ago. Paper and words were the only tracks that remained.
Did the knife matter? A basic fishing knife wasn't special. There must be hundreds in the docks… But using that weapon would suggest it was the most immediate at hand. It wasn't a good weapon for killing. Why use it unless it was the first thing in sight?
Spontaneous, Nanku realized.
There was no plan to kill her father.
Danny died because of the shipment. Because the piece of paper he had revealed something, and someone had to take it back. Someone he knew. A Dockworker. It had to be a Dockworke—
Nanku paused, hands sliding over a single piece of paper.
Ambush. Spontaneous. Someone her father knew.
A Dockworker had to be the killer.
The paper was a timesheet. A list of all the men and women who worked the day her father died.
It was one of them.
It had to be one of them.
Someone he trusted. Someone he'd let close. Someone in the Dockworkers who could cover up what they did.
One of them.
It was one of them.
A Dockworker.
A traitor. A betrayer. A bad blood.
And she still intended to skin them alive.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Flounder 6.5
Little Hunter
Nanku rolled her shoulders.
Dusk and Dawn were rested and healed. Eager. Ready to fly and hunt. They'd gotten fidgety the past few days and it was becoming a constant expenditure of focus to contain them.
Nanku was more tired of it than her lingering aches.
She rolled her shoulder again. Her ribs still throbbed, but not enough to stop her. Her thigh still stung but the flesh and muscle were healing. With the addition of her own medicines to increase cell growth, she was about as good as she could stand to be.
Dusk and Dawn weren't the only ones tired of lying around waiting.
Nanku slid her armor into place. Checked her weapons. Donned her mask.
She took a breath and activated her cloak.
Dusk and Dawn went ahead. The pair leaving to skitter about or go for a brief flight at night wasn't strange. Nanku made sure it happened often enough.
They managed to get out of the kennel without drawing much attention.
Nanku crept up the stairs silently.
Cassie and Rachel were watching TV, and Cassie was groaning.
"You know," she sighed, "I never considered how the Crusades can be viewed as a direct consequence of the economic and social development of Western Europe. A product of the recovery of complex institutions that restructured themselves in the wake of the Western Empire's collapse and the recovery of renewed Christianized social orders."
"Mhm," Bitch replied.
"You actually enjoy this?"
"Yes."
Cassie yawned. "Well, I'll leave you to it. I'm going to bed."
"Night."
"Night."
Cassie rose and left. The dogs were so used to Nanku's coming and going they paid her presence no mind. Nothing appeared out of place.
The girl strolled by with a hand over her mouth and proceeded to her room.
Bitch waited. And waited. And as soon as the door closed she grabbed the remote and changed the channel to Paw Patrol.
Nanku waited and watched a moment.
As Bitch relaxed and became absorbed in watching the talking dogs talk several of her own canines swarmed her. They piled near the couch though only Angelica was allowed onto the furniture.
Nanku slipped away quietly and crept out the door.
Dusk and Dawn flew low overhead and Nanku quickly ran away from the kennel. West toward the mountains first, and then south along the highway. She hitched a ride on a truck and brought Dusk and Dawn down to keep them from being seen.
They went into the city. Carefully. Through alleys and darting across roads when necessary. It was sufficiently late but the city was never deserted or quiet.
Nanku didn't need anyone noticing her.
Not tonight.
The final stretch to her target was dangerous. The streets were packed. People came and went even at the late hour. Any of them seeing her would call the PRT and they weren't very far away.
In and out. Quietly.
The greatest risk was vaulting onto the roof. With a garage to one side, a lot to another, and windows all around, Nanku prioritized speed. She sprinted across the roof of the best vantage point and leaped into the air. Dusk swung low with an outstretched limb and Nanku swung from it to Dawn's and from Dawn's to the roof.
She struck the gravel-covered rooftop hard and rolled. Her cloak flickered but the camera over the door was looking the other way.
In a security room on the other side of the building, neither of the observing guards reacted to her landing.
Dusk landed on a roof overlooking the parking area. Dawn slid into place on a fire escape where she could watch the front of the building and quickly move to the roof if need be. There were multiple ways in and out of the building and Nanku wasn't worried about that part.
Finding what she needed was going to be hard.
But it was worth trying.
Nanku settled to wait, however long it took.
Night could be a living thing. The play of light and shadow. Usually it was just clouds and stars and moons. In a place like Brockton Bay, it was head and street lights. Flashing signs. Signals.
Shadows danced back and forth.
…
She really was that bored?
Nanku sighed and crouched.
The wait was a wait.
Until someone came up for a smoke break. She waited nearly an hour for it to happen. Two men, both speaking to one another. Her swarm in the building showed the rest of the stairwell clear and no one was approaching.
About forty men and women were inside. Most clustered in a dozen rooms or scattered in offices.
When the rooftop door opened, Nanku slid through the door before it closed and started down the stairs.
Easy.
She had a chance to make use of her meticulous casing of the police station after all.
That was nice.
She started down the stairs. Dusk and Dawn watched the exterior. People. Cars. Lights. Shadows. Dusk turned his head one way. Nanku thought she saw something through his eyes but it was only a passing vehicle.
The swarm swept the building ahead of Nanku and she quickly identified the rooms filled with papers.
There were multiple record rooms and computers she wouldn't have easy access to. No matter. She'd do what she could.
Nanku descended to the first floor. It was the busiest and the one where she'd find the fewest chances. One presented itself as she entered the building and Nanku hurried down the halls.
The lights were dimmed in the halls. Enough to obscure the shimmer of her cloak while she passed.
Nanku let a woman carrying a box pass her and stepped into the building proper. Her hand coaxed the door closed behind her. As silently as possible.
Moving through the halls, Nanku found avoiding people easier than expected. The building was far from empty but many were in offices working at computers. It was late and only a few were coming and going.
No one to bump into in the halls. There was always another path. A way to get around them en route to her destination. When she needed to wait, she had plenty of spots to stand out of the way and out of the light.
She found the first of three large file rooms.
The sign by the door said 'organized crime.'
Gangs. Gangs did lots of things. Maybe the shipment contained drugs. Weapons. Money.
Nanku checked for cameras. There was one on either end of the hall, but the men in the security office weren't really watching. They were shooing her flies away and playing cards.
Neither camera offered a direct view of the door either way.
Quietly—certain no one was approaching or watching—Nanku pushed the door open and slipped inside.
She quickly wondered if there was even time enough to waste on the exercise.
The room was full of cabinets. Two computers to one side and some other machines. Both were locked and she couldn't open them. That left the files.
And searching through them did save some time.
2010. 2012. 2013.
All the files were marked for the last few years. Maybe they weren't all open or closed or active. Whatever the term was, but they were recent. A case from the time of her father's death wasn't present.
Nanku left the room. She continued on her way. At the stairs she waited as a pair of men came down and went up after them.
The next room was at the corner of the building. Long and narrow compared to the first. 'Homicide.'
Her father was homocided.
Nanku took the chance. The cases weren't listed alphabetically. Not first. They were sorted by year, and then name. That was useful.
Nanku found the year of her father's death first. From there she found 'H' for Hebert. There were other names. Nanku peeked through them briefly. Her father died. Who else died around that time?
Keeping the building in mind and tracking the residents with her power, Nanku poked through the files one by one. Drug dealers. Criminals, a mother of three, one lawyer, and—
Nanku looked at the lawyer again.
Killed a few weeks after her father. The file was thin. No real leads developed. Stabbed like her father though. Late and night on his way to his car. Like her father.
And he worked for Medhall.
Nanku took the file and checked the rest. Nothing of interest. She took the one file that caught her eye and moved on.
The next room was on the other side of the building. Behind a large room of desks with five people inside.
Nanku made her way through the halls well enough.
Getting to the record room would be harder.
Of the room's five occupants, three were looking away. They focused on a board with names, pictures, and maps on it. Lots of paper scattered about. The stink of coffee was stronger and they were eating while they talked.
The other two were facing one another at a shared table. One could clearly see the door to the record room.
Nanku rolled her shoulders again. She ducked low, slipping into the room on silent steps and hiding her cloak's shimmer behind desks and office walls. Skirting the edges she crept as close to the door as she dared.
Then she had a fly buzz about the heads of the two men at the desk.
One yelped when the bug hit his eye. The others in the room all turned.
A bizarre brawl followed. Nanku kept flying the fly into the man, driving him from his seat and sending his hands flailing. When he batted the bug aside hard enough to daze it, Nanku struck him with another.
Soon, all five men were trying to chase the annoying insect, and Nanku led them across the room away from the door.
She hurried at her chance. Their shouting obscured her footsteps and she cracked the door to slip through.
'Narcotics.'
Drugs. Lots of crime on Earth was about drugs. If someone was transporting something in bulk in a shipping container, drugs were the obvious thing to move.
Unfortunately, the cases in the narcotics room weren't listed by year. They were sorted by gang.
Nanku searched the entire place piece by piece. She couldn't even find the Empire or the ABB. Coil had a file, but most of the cases were old. None lined up with her father's murder. Apparently, a few of his contacts were still selling drugs in Brockton Bay.
Tattletale was suspected to be the ring leader and the PRT had taken jurisdiction of the case.
The files also noted the dealers 'avoided schools, rehab centers, and hospitals like the plague.' Nanku supposed that was her mother's doing. Even Bad Bloods like the Undersiders could have a code. If some sad human wanted drugs, they could get them. But they had to go looking…
Where did the old dealers deal their drugs?
Nanku searched for the oldest cases she could find. The dealers before the Undersiders took over the city were less discerning about when and where they sold.
Unfortunately, Nanku couldn't search every file in the room.
There was too much paper. She didn't know where to start. The names and cases were all unfamiliar.
She grabbed what she could. Names. Locations. Men who were suspected to be violent or still dealing drugs in places the Undersiders didn't allow.
It was a start.
She'd uncover the entire history of drugs in Brockton Bay if that's what it took. She had the time now. The internet. The sheer will.
She wasn't going to meet her Clan on their return with only a bunch of dead Nazis and her mother's saved life to her name.
Nanku didn't take the records. Instead, she recorded as much as she could about them. So long as she got out of the police station clean, she could find her way back in. She focused her attention on groups and cases active in the Docks. Were the Travelers around back then? Ambassador—
Nanku took the file out and looked at it more closely.
From what she read, Accord had been the leader of the Ambassadors. He'd died to the Pure when they first came to the city seeking revenge. But the police reported several drug connections to his group a few months before that and found it strange.
Accord didn't like drugs and didn't tolerate a close association with them.
Either the Internet lied—possible—or maybe the death of Accord was more timely than it first seemed…
And it didn't matter.
The Ambassadors weren't in the city when her father died. They didn't do it and whatever else was going on wasn't her problem.
Nanku set the file aside and finished her work.
It was time to go.
Getting out of the building had its own trick to it. Someone coming out for a smoke got her in. It was the best way in as far as she could tell. The other entrances had more security. More minders. Technology Nanku wasn't sure she wanted to gamble on.
Even the vehicles that came and went from the garage and lots were checked.
But not the ones that left. Those weren't checked at all.
Made sense. They were more concerned about people coming in than going out.
Which was Nanku's escape plan. She'd watched the vehicles come and go often enough. She only needed to wait and see who left the building and follow them. Get ahead enough to take hold of a sufficiently large vehicle and use it to carry her out of the station.
She waited again, but not as long as before.
A man with a belly and a cup of coffee left the station with a yawn and Nanku kept pace with him. He ascended to the garage's second level and a large truck's lights flashed when he pressed a button on his keys. She got ahead of him and slipped to the passenger side of the vehicle. Waited until he opened his door and started to climb in.
Nanku climbed in herself. Slipped onto the truck bed and laid down.
Outside she directed Dusk and Dawn to gather and follow.
The engine started, the truck lurched, and her helpful collaborator carried her through the gate and onto the street.
Mission accomplished. She'd gotten what she needed and out without a problem.
…
She'd actually gotten out without a problem.
That was a change of pace.
And a shadow moved. To spite her.
Nanku flew Dawn over the moving shadow. The truck turned and the shadow turned with it.
Fucking perfect.
Nanku waited for the truck to lurch and rolled out of the bed. She landed between the truck and another vehicle. Rolled back. Rushed across the street and into an alley. She had Dusk and Dawn continue following the truck.
The shadow followed them and Nanku scrambled her way up onto the rooftops as soon as it passed.
With a twitch, her plasma caster swung down over her shoulder. She vaulted the edge of the roof and flicked a shuriken out. She threw the weapon and readied a spear with her other hand.
Dusk and Dawn swerved in the air, swinging back and flying directly for the shadow.
The woman emerged from the dark, a large crossbow in one hand.
She braced herself and took aim at Dawn.
The whirl of the shuriken drew her ear and she burst into a swirling black mist before the blades struck. When she reformed, Nanku slammed a knee into her back and toppled her.
Shadow Stalker burst again.
Nanku snarled behind her mask and cursed herself for thinking she'd gotten out without a problem.
She needed to stop stabbing before sharpening her blades.
When the mist reformed, Shadow Stalker faced Nanku.
"Jesus!" she pointed the crossbow with one hand and raised the other. "Truce, bitch! Calm down!"
Everyone and their attempts to command her.
"No."
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Nanku rolled her shoulders.
Dusk and Dawn were rested and healed. Eager. Ready to fly and hunt. They'd gotten fidgety the past few days and it was becoming a constant expenditure of focus to contain them.
Nanku was more tired of it than her lingering aches.
She rolled her shoulder again. Her ribs still throbbed, but not enough to stop her. Her thigh still stung but the flesh and muscle were healing. With the addition of her own medicines to increase cell growth, she was about as good as she could stand to be.
Dusk and Dawn weren't the only ones tired of lying around waiting.
Nanku slid her armor into place. Checked her weapons. Donned her mask.
She took a breath and activated her cloak.
Dusk and Dawn went ahead. The pair leaving to skitter about or go for a brief flight at night wasn't strange. Nanku made sure it happened often enough.
They managed to get out of the kennel without drawing much attention.
Nanku crept up the stairs silently.
Cassie and Rachel were watching TV, and Cassie was groaning.
"You know," she sighed, "I never considered how the Crusades can be viewed as a direct consequence of the economic and social development of Western Europe. A product of the recovery of complex institutions that restructured themselves in the wake of the Western Empire's collapse and the recovery of renewed Christianized social orders."
"Mhm," Bitch replied.
"You actually enjoy this?"
"Yes."
Cassie yawned. "Well, I'll leave you to it. I'm going to bed."
"Night."
"Night."
Cassie rose and left. The dogs were so used to Nanku's coming and going they paid her presence no mind. Nothing appeared out of place.
The girl strolled by with a hand over her mouth and proceeded to her room.
Bitch waited. And waited. And as soon as the door closed she grabbed the remote and changed the channel to Paw Patrol.
Nanku waited and watched a moment.
As Bitch relaxed and became absorbed in watching the talking dogs talk several of her own canines swarmed her. They piled near the couch though only Angelica was allowed onto the furniture.
Nanku slipped away quietly and crept out the door.
Dusk and Dawn flew low overhead and Nanku quickly ran away from the kennel. West toward the mountains first, and then south along the highway. She hitched a ride on a truck and brought Dusk and Dawn down to keep them from being seen.
They went into the city. Carefully. Through alleys and darting across roads when necessary. It was sufficiently late but the city was never deserted or quiet.
Nanku didn't need anyone noticing her.
Not tonight.
The final stretch to her target was dangerous. The streets were packed. People came and went even at the late hour. Any of them seeing her would call the PRT and they weren't very far away.
In and out. Quietly.
The greatest risk was vaulting onto the roof. With a garage to one side, a lot to another, and windows all around, Nanku prioritized speed. She sprinted across the roof of the best vantage point and leaped into the air. Dusk swung low with an outstretched limb and Nanku swung from it to Dawn's and from Dawn's to the roof.
She struck the gravel-covered rooftop hard and rolled. Her cloak flickered but the camera over the door was looking the other way.
In a security room on the other side of the building, neither of the observing guards reacted to her landing.
Dusk landed on a roof overlooking the parking area. Dawn slid into place on a fire escape where she could watch the front of the building and quickly move to the roof if need be. There were multiple ways in and out of the building and Nanku wasn't worried about that part.
Finding what she needed was going to be hard.
But it was worth trying.
Nanku settled to wait, however long it took.
Night could be a living thing. The play of light and shadow. Usually it was just clouds and stars and moons. In a place like Brockton Bay, it was head and street lights. Flashing signs. Signals.
Shadows danced back and forth.
…
She really was that bored?
Nanku sighed and crouched.
The wait was a wait.
Until someone came up for a smoke break. She waited nearly an hour for it to happen. Two men, both speaking to one another. Her swarm in the building showed the rest of the stairwell clear and no one was approaching.
About forty men and women were inside. Most clustered in a dozen rooms or scattered in offices.
When the rooftop door opened, Nanku slid through the door before it closed and started down the stairs.
Easy.
She had a chance to make use of her meticulous casing of the police station after all.
That was nice.
She started down the stairs. Dusk and Dawn watched the exterior. People. Cars. Lights. Shadows. Dusk turned his head one way. Nanku thought she saw something through his eyes but it was only a passing vehicle.
The swarm swept the building ahead of Nanku and she quickly identified the rooms filled with papers.
There were multiple record rooms and computers she wouldn't have easy access to. No matter. She'd do what she could.
Nanku descended to the first floor. It was the busiest and the one where she'd find the fewest chances. One presented itself as she entered the building and Nanku hurried down the halls.
The lights were dimmed in the halls. Enough to obscure the shimmer of her cloak while she passed.
Nanku let a woman carrying a box pass her and stepped into the building proper. Her hand coaxed the door closed behind her. As silently as possible.
Moving through the halls, Nanku found avoiding people easier than expected. The building was far from empty but many were in offices working at computers. It was late and only a few were coming and going.
No one to bump into in the halls. There was always another path. A way to get around them en route to her destination. When she needed to wait, she had plenty of spots to stand out of the way and out of the light.
She found the first of three large file rooms.
The sign by the door said 'organized crime.'
Gangs. Gangs did lots of things. Maybe the shipment contained drugs. Weapons. Money.
Nanku checked for cameras. There was one on either end of the hall, but the men in the security office weren't really watching. They were shooing her flies away and playing cards.
Neither camera offered a direct view of the door either way.
Quietly—certain no one was approaching or watching—Nanku pushed the door open and slipped inside.
She quickly wondered if there was even time enough to waste on the exercise.
The room was full of cabinets. Two computers to one side and some other machines. Both were locked and she couldn't open them. That left the files.
And searching through them did save some time.
2010. 2012. 2013.
All the files were marked for the last few years. Maybe they weren't all open or closed or active. Whatever the term was, but they were recent. A case from the time of her father's death wasn't present.
Nanku left the room. She continued on her way. At the stairs she waited as a pair of men came down and went up after them.
The next room was at the corner of the building. Long and narrow compared to the first. 'Homicide.'
Her father was homocided.
Nanku took the chance. The cases weren't listed alphabetically. Not first. They were sorted by year, and then name. That was useful.
Nanku found the year of her father's death first. From there she found 'H' for Hebert. There were other names. Nanku peeked through them briefly. Her father died. Who else died around that time?
Keeping the building in mind and tracking the residents with her power, Nanku poked through the files one by one. Drug dealers. Criminals, a mother of three, one lawyer, and—
Nanku looked at the lawyer again.
Killed a few weeks after her father. The file was thin. No real leads developed. Stabbed like her father though. Late and night on his way to his car. Like her father.
And he worked for Medhall.
Nanku took the file and checked the rest. Nothing of interest. She took the one file that caught her eye and moved on.
The next room was on the other side of the building. Behind a large room of desks with five people inside.
Nanku made her way through the halls well enough.
Getting to the record room would be harder.
Of the room's five occupants, three were looking away. They focused on a board with names, pictures, and maps on it. Lots of paper scattered about. The stink of coffee was stronger and they were eating while they talked.
The other two were facing one another at a shared table. One could clearly see the door to the record room.
Nanku rolled her shoulders again. She ducked low, slipping into the room on silent steps and hiding her cloak's shimmer behind desks and office walls. Skirting the edges she crept as close to the door as she dared.
Then she had a fly buzz about the heads of the two men at the desk.
One yelped when the bug hit his eye. The others in the room all turned.
A bizarre brawl followed. Nanku kept flying the fly into the man, driving him from his seat and sending his hands flailing. When he batted the bug aside hard enough to daze it, Nanku struck him with another.
Soon, all five men were trying to chase the annoying insect, and Nanku led them across the room away from the door.
She hurried at her chance. Their shouting obscured her footsteps and she cracked the door to slip through.
'Narcotics.'
Drugs. Lots of crime on Earth was about drugs. If someone was transporting something in bulk in a shipping container, drugs were the obvious thing to move.
Unfortunately, the cases in the narcotics room weren't listed by year. They were sorted by gang.
Nanku searched the entire place piece by piece. She couldn't even find the Empire or the ABB. Coil had a file, but most of the cases were old. None lined up with her father's murder. Apparently, a few of his contacts were still selling drugs in Brockton Bay.
Tattletale was suspected to be the ring leader and the PRT had taken jurisdiction of the case.
The files also noted the dealers 'avoided schools, rehab centers, and hospitals like the plague.' Nanku supposed that was her mother's doing. Even Bad Bloods like the Undersiders could have a code. If some sad human wanted drugs, they could get them. But they had to go looking…
Where did the old dealers deal their drugs?
Nanku searched for the oldest cases she could find. The dealers before the Undersiders took over the city were less discerning about when and where they sold.
Unfortunately, Nanku couldn't search every file in the room.
There was too much paper. She didn't know where to start. The names and cases were all unfamiliar.
She grabbed what she could. Names. Locations. Men who were suspected to be violent or still dealing drugs in places the Undersiders didn't allow.
It was a start.
She'd uncover the entire history of drugs in Brockton Bay if that's what it took. She had the time now. The internet. The sheer will.
She wasn't going to meet her Clan on their return with only a bunch of dead Nazis and her mother's saved life to her name.
Nanku didn't take the records. Instead, she recorded as much as she could about them. So long as she got out of the police station clean, she could find her way back in. She focused her attention on groups and cases active in the Docks. Were the Travelers around back then? Ambassador—
Nanku took the file out and looked at it more closely.
From what she read, Accord had been the leader of the Ambassadors. He'd died to the Pure when they first came to the city seeking revenge. But the police reported several drug connections to his group a few months before that and found it strange.
Accord didn't like drugs and didn't tolerate a close association with them.
Either the Internet lied—possible—or maybe the death of Accord was more timely than it first seemed…
And it didn't matter.
The Ambassadors weren't in the city when her father died. They didn't do it and whatever else was going on wasn't her problem.
Nanku set the file aside and finished her work.
It was time to go.
Getting out of the building had its own trick to it. Someone coming out for a smoke got her in. It was the best way in as far as she could tell. The other entrances had more security. More minders. Technology Nanku wasn't sure she wanted to gamble on.
Even the vehicles that came and went from the garage and lots were checked.
But not the ones that left. Those weren't checked at all.
Made sense. They were more concerned about people coming in than going out.
Which was Nanku's escape plan. She'd watched the vehicles come and go often enough. She only needed to wait and see who left the building and follow them. Get ahead enough to take hold of a sufficiently large vehicle and use it to carry her out of the station.
She waited again, but not as long as before.
A man with a belly and a cup of coffee left the station with a yawn and Nanku kept pace with him. He ascended to the garage's second level and a large truck's lights flashed when he pressed a button on his keys. She got ahead of him and slipped to the passenger side of the vehicle. Waited until he opened his door and started to climb in.
Nanku climbed in herself. Slipped onto the truck bed and laid down.
Outside she directed Dusk and Dawn to gather and follow.
The engine started, the truck lurched, and her helpful collaborator carried her through the gate and onto the street.
Mission accomplished. She'd gotten what she needed and out without a problem.
…
She'd actually gotten out without a problem.
That was a change of pace.
And a shadow moved. To spite her.
Nanku flew Dawn over the moving shadow. The truck turned and the shadow turned with it.
Fucking perfect.
Nanku waited for the truck to lurch and rolled out of the bed. She landed between the truck and another vehicle. Rolled back. Rushed across the street and into an alley. She had Dusk and Dawn continue following the truck.
The shadow followed them and Nanku scrambled her way up onto the rooftops as soon as it passed.
With a twitch, her plasma caster swung down over her shoulder. She vaulted the edge of the roof and flicked a shuriken out. She threw the weapon and readied a spear with her other hand.
Dusk and Dawn swerved in the air, swinging back and flying directly for the shadow.
The woman emerged from the dark, a large crossbow in one hand.
She braced herself and took aim at Dawn.
The whirl of the shuriken drew her ear and she burst into a swirling black mist before the blades struck. When she reformed, Nanku slammed a knee into her back and toppled her.
Shadow Stalker burst again.
Nanku snarled behind her mask and cursed herself for thinking she'd gotten out without a problem.
She needed to stop stabbing before sharpening her blades.
When the mist reformed, Shadow Stalker faced Nanku.
"Jesus!" she pointed the crossbow with one hand and raised the other. "Truce, bitch! Calm down!"
Everyone and their attempts to command her.
"No."
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Flounder 6.6
Little Hunter
"Cloak isn't bad."
Shadow Stalker had a reputation.
Strike first. Strike from ambush. Strike anyone too weak to possibly threaten her.
Maybe she'd provide a decent hunt, but Nanku was tired of hoping. The only people in Brockton Bay she was proud to kill were a man who'd thrown a phone at her and Bitch.
And Nanku didn't want to kill Bitch. She was simply too worth killing to kill.
Shadow Stalker wasn't worth the time even if she was.
"I can barely see yo—"
Catching her shuriken, Nanku swiped for the girl's thigh.
"Shit," she cursed.
Her body was armored lightly. Padding and thickly woven cloth. The cape was thick and flowed, unlike cotton. Something lighter, but her hood was thick and protected while her mask had a wide visor and a makeshift rebreather fitted over her mouth.
Not the kind of outfit she wore in pictures Nanku found of her, but most of those were from when she was a Ward.
Nanku swung a fist at her throat.
Shadow Stalker leaned back from the blow and the blade shot out from Nanku's gauntlet.
"Shit!"
She burst into smoke and the blades swiped through.
Nanku swung her arm back and kicked at the mist. It didn't react right. It looked like smoke or shadow. Swirling and misty, but it felt thick. There was a resistance when she touched it, like trying to move through water.
The smoke moved away and Nanku stayed close.
She'd risk the crossbow bolt, as annoying as becoming injured again would be. Shadow Stalker could be as practiced as she wanted. No one could reload a mere crossbow that quickly.
When Shadow Stalker reformed she shouted.
"Calm down, killer! I'm just trying to—"
Dusk swooped from above and crashed into the girl. Shadow Stalker sprawled and Nanku stomped her foot toward the girl's head. She burst apart again and slipped through the roof.
Nanku tilted her head and her visor shifted mode.
Shadow Stalker appeared as a vaporous cold spot on her multi-layered camera.
She moved freely through the solid materi—
Stalker shifted, sliding away from an electric line in the ceiling of the room below.
Interesting.
Stalker reformed below and dropped to the floor. Nanku attached a fly to her thigh and a pair of mosquitoes to her cape and hood. They clung to her body when she ran for the wall, broke apart, and slid through into the alley.
Nanku matched her steps and lunged from the roof.
When Stalker reformed on the fire escape of the opposite building she reacted quickly. She cursed and jerked at the last second. Nanku's shuriken cut clean through the banister of the escape while Stalker clung to it to swing herself around. Wristblades followed her and she kicked off into the air before turning to mist once more.
The bugs were still with her.
Very interesting.
Nanku leaped after the mist. It didn't change direction. If anything, it slowed down. She was still subject to physics but as a solid cloud rather than true mist or a body.
A very interesting power.
Nanku dropped to the alley below. Above, Dawn caught her shuriken with her mandibles and dove. Dusk swung high through the alley and the Shadow Stalker reformed to drop faster.
She burst apart again when Dusk flew through her and Dawn did a running landing. Nanku grabbed her shuriken from the bug's mouth and directed her back into the sky.
Stalker reformed and grabbed the last rung of a fire escape as Nanku threw.
She drew her legs up with a curse and avoided the blades.
"You really go straight for maiming."
The shuriken spun back quickly and Nanku threw it again. Stalker kicked off the wall and flew herself through the opposite wall. She drifted into the room beyond, jerking and pulling her cloud a bit tighter before she touched an electrical line.
Once was happenstance.
Twice was coincidence.
Never trust coincidence.
But, Nanku bolted down the alley, sprinting one way while Dusk and Dawn flew another.
Nanku slowed only at the end of the alley and allowed her cloak to settle. In the dark, it was at its best. When Shadow Stalker poked her head out and floated herself back to the roof with a jump and the use of her power, she followed Dusk and Dawn.
She might have the ability, but she had no instinct.
Nanku slipped onto the street and hopped onto the back of a truck. It drove down the road and she weaved Dusk and Dawn at the edge of her range. Their eyes struggled whenever Stalker hid herself well, but they tracked her tracking them.
The Twins turned on command and Nanku leaped from the truck.
She ran down an alley and climbed to a roof.
Dusk and Dawn flew toward her and the shadow followed. Stalker darted between buildings. She formed her body on occasion. To see? To move faster?
The cloud form seemed unable to propel itself. Though it didn't stop. Many times when Dusk and Dawn could see her, Shadow Stalker used her power to make it across long gaps. The cloud wasn't affected by gravity like a body, or like mist, but it always slowed down once she shifted. The cloud alone couldn't move. It carried on from how she moved.
What were her senses in that shape? Nanku thought she could still see, but obviously couldn't change direction.
Jumping to the base of the roof, Nanku hung off the end and readied her shuriken.
Dusk flew overhead first.
Then Dawn.
They continued on and when Stalker didn't follow directly, Nanku turned them and kept turning them until the shadow came toward her.
The angle was about as good as she could expect.
Shadow Stalker ran across a rooftop and leaped at the edge. Nanku held herself completely still. Waited. Stalker burst into her cloud.
Only then did Nanku strike.
She threw the shuriken into the air, angled to cut two routes of escape as it rose or fell. Throwing herself up, Nanku reared her arm back and turned her wrist blades. The cloud flowed onward and she waited.
No matter what Stalker did—continue to her land point or drop to the alley below—Nanku could hit her.
The cloud shifted. The shape—
Not a cloud.
Nanku jumped back and bent herself backward. The shadow bolts flew over her chest and past her chin. The arrows were dark and blurred. Bolts of shadow.
A shadowy arm reached out and grabbed the grated rim of a fire escape. Stalker shifted solid for a moment and pushed and burst apart again as her cloud—No, shadow shape launched her toward the roof across from Nanku.
She didn't turn into a cloud. That was an illusion produced by her power affecting the cloak covering her.
Nanku caught her shuriken and ran. She jumped aiming right at Stalker's shadowy neck.
The thought of 'two bolts?' struck her mid-air.
Nanku rammed her foot into the edge of the roof and let herself crash into it. The third bolt shot by and Shadow Stalker scrambled back.
Her larger crossbow was on her back under the cloak, and each hand held a small pistol-sized crossbow with two strings. One over and the other under.
Two shots each.
Nanku rolled as the fourth bolt flew by and Shadow Stalker laughed.
"Fuck you're quick! No wonder you wiped the Pure's asses! But ho—"
Dusk rammed into her from behind and threw Shadow Stalker forward. Nanku swiped her wrist blade at the girl's neck but she was quick.
Her body took on a shadow shape again after slapping the roof and throwing herself up.
Nanku took her chance.
The laser sight shot from her mask and struggled to lock the target. Nanku used her eyes and fired anyway.
Hot plasma spat from over her shoulder and slammed into the shadowy figure. The shape recoiled. Flung back and hit the ground. She shook and flailed and while the plasma bolt continued flying through the night.
Stalker's power vanished and the girl convulsed on the ground from head to toe.
"The. Fuck?!"
The Plasma Caster used a powerful beam of electro-magnetism to guide the plasma bolt and maintain its coherence. More electric energy than would be found in any Earth power line.
If that was too much power for Stalker's power to handle…
Well. Nanku enjoyed being right.
And she was right.
Rising up, she stalked across the roof toward Shadow Stalker.
It would be trouble if any word spread—in any way—that she'd been at the police station. Stalker had noticed Dusk and Dawn. That was bound to happen eventually, but at least this way Nanku could cover her tracks.
The chase was decent in the end.
That was a pleasant surprise.
Pinning the woman down with one foot, Nanku grabbed the back of her hood and raised her wrist blades. Her shuriken struck the ground nearby. More or less where she intended it to.
"Wait!" Stalker pleaded.
"Why do you all insist"—Nanku adjusted the angle—"on commanding what you can't?"
"Know what you're doing!" Stalker pleaded. "About your dad, right?"
Nanku froze.
She cursed fate.
Gods. In several variations.
Coincidence because to hell with it.
And the Black Warrior because her life was just a dance of frustration in increasing frequency.
Earth was a horrible place to hunt now. No wonder everyone stopped.
"How?" Nanku asked.
"Fuck everyone knows! Big rumor going around you're Weaver's kid! The one that died at the camp!"
Damn the Internet.
Well, that answered that question. Time to—
"I can help!"
…
Damn the Black Warrior. "Why?"
Stalker turned her head, looking at Nanku from inside her mask. "Fuck the Nazis."
How in any world's version of hell did the Pure manage to live so damned long?
"How?"
"Figured you'd go to the po-po at some point. If you hadn't. It ma—"
"How can you help me?"
"Been a cape in the bay for as long as he's been dead! Almost. I know shit!"
Nanku narrowed her eyes. She'd guess Shadow Stalker was in her early to mid-twenties. She could be that old…
One of the longest-running capes in Brockton Bay.
"Enticing?" Stalker asked. "Figured if the Undersiders were paying it forward, you wouldn't still be here."
"No deal."
"Wha—"
"You're all exhausting."
Nanku readied her strike.
A beam of light cut the night. Nanku jumped and rolled forward. It struck the ground behind her and scorched the concrete black.
The beam came from beyond her range.
The bugs at the edge noticed it with their eyes first.
Nanku dodged a second beam and a third. Shadow Stalker used the chance to escape. She tried, at least.
Dropping to one knee while a steak of light flew over her shoulder, Nanku swung her wrist blades out. Stalker jumped and kicked off the edge of the roof. She briefly burst into shadow as she sailed over Nanku's head.
Clever.
She'd figured out the range of Nanku's wrist blades.
Nanku spun, snatched her shuriken, and threw it.
Shadow Stalker stayed shadow until the blades flew through her. She reformed and one foot tapped against the ground.
"Come on," she started. "Let's—"
Nanku thrust her hand forward and the spear slid to its full length for her palm.
"Shit."
She tried to break apart but before she could the tip of the spear pierced her side. A shallow strike, but it was blood. Nanku followed it up by spinning the weapon only for the next few blows to strike Stalker's power.
Another beam of light came and Nanku was forced back.
Kid Win flew into her range, a pistol in his hands. Another boy flew behind him, shouting and pointing the other way.
Shadow Stalker made a break and Nanku growled. She caught her shuriken from the air and turned away. She had no interest in becoming embroiled in another brawl.
Beams of light cut off her path. Kid Win flew by and kept shooting. Nanku jumped and leaped. She spun for the nearest roof edge and ran.
His shots were accurate, even in the dark.
The visor over his eyes.
He was penetrating her cloak. That wasn't even original anymore.
Throwing her shuriken again, she forced Kid Win to dodge directly into Dawn's path. She barreled into the boy from behind, knocking him from his board and sending him falling to the ground. Three red lights cut the night and the second Ward—Chronicle, she thought—jerked in the air. A plasma bolt flew past him and he let out a youthful scream.
The bolt would have never hit.
He was far too young to kill.
And Nanku, for once, wanted to kill very little. Drawing less of the PRT's interest was preferable, and she had to run before the Protectorate came.
"Hold it!" Kid Win's hands flashed and a rifle appeared in his hands.
He took aim at Nanku but she kept running.
Kid Win jerked back as a shadowy bolt flew past his shoulder.
"Whoops!"
"Damn it, Stalker!"
"Stop jerking about jackass!"
Nanku stepped off the roof.
She dropped toward the ground and bent her knees on impact. Dropping, she rolled backward over her shoulder, planted her feet on the wall, and pushed. With one hand she forced herself upright and sprinted down the alley.
So damn close to just getting away cleanly.
Spinning about, Nanku ran a frantic course through the alleys while Dusk and Dawn flew ahead a bit further before diving out of sight. Chronicle flew straight to Kid Win and started getting shouted at. Kid Win messed with his gauntlet—not too dissimilar from Nanku's. His board twisted about in the distance and flew back.
At the end of the alley, Nanku leaped over the barrier into the parking garage and ran through the maze of vehicles.
She found a place to hide between large trucks and waited with the Wards at the edge of her range.
Kid Win retrieved his board and flew off in the direction Dusk and Dawn appeared to go. The Twins had already circled back. Low and out of sight. Chronicle actually looked back as they flew away but Kid Win shouted again and he followed.
Nanku's eyes narrowed behind her mask.
She waited and when nothing came she rose and walked onto the roof of the garage.
That felt off.
In more ways than one.
Nanku turned.
Shadow Stalker waved from the next roof over and threw something into the air before running off into the night.
The phone clattered at Nanku's feet.
She waited but it didn't explode.
Curious.
Nanku picked the device up and looked at the screen.
Call me for help, killer
Nanku tilted her head and tried to decide how hard she should think. Shadow Stalker really deserved to die. If only for the inconvenience she caused, but opportunity was calling. A tempting opportunity.
In more ways than one.
Nanku looked over her shoulder in the direction Kid Win went.
Then the direction Shadow Stalker went.
Dusk and Dawn landed on either side of her and she checked them both over subtly. No trackers. No marks. No apparent signs of radiation or energy stuck to them according to her biomask.
So what was the trick?
Because there was a trick.
She'd still be getting chased otherwise.
And the way Stalker and Kid Win seemed to coordinate just enough to play it all out…
Nanku moved a few blocks over and hid the phone in an AC unit. She wouldn't be taking it anywhere. This trap was plain as day.
Someone wasn't nearly as clever as they thought they were.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
"Cloak isn't bad."
Shadow Stalker had a reputation.
Strike first. Strike from ambush. Strike anyone too weak to possibly threaten her.
Maybe she'd provide a decent hunt, but Nanku was tired of hoping. The only people in Brockton Bay she was proud to kill were a man who'd thrown a phone at her and Bitch.
And Nanku didn't want to kill Bitch. She was simply too worth killing to kill.
Shadow Stalker wasn't worth the time even if she was.
"I can barely see yo—"
Catching her shuriken, Nanku swiped for the girl's thigh.
"Shit," she cursed.
Her body was armored lightly. Padding and thickly woven cloth. The cape was thick and flowed, unlike cotton. Something lighter, but her hood was thick and protected while her mask had a wide visor and a makeshift rebreather fitted over her mouth.
Not the kind of outfit she wore in pictures Nanku found of her, but most of those were from when she was a Ward.
Nanku swung a fist at her throat.
Shadow Stalker leaned back from the blow and the blade shot out from Nanku's gauntlet.
"Shit!"
She burst into smoke and the blades swiped through.
Nanku swung her arm back and kicked at the mist. It didn't react right. It looked like smoke or shadow. Swirling and misty, but it felt thick. There was a resistance when she touched it, like trying to move through water.
The smoke moved away and Nanku stayed close.
She'd risk the crossbow bolt, as annoying as becoming injured again would be. Shadow Stalker could be as practiced as she wanted. No one could reload a mere crossbow that quickly.
When Shadow Stalker reformed she shouted.
"Calm down, killer! I'm just trying to—"
Dusk swooped from above and crashed into the girl. Shadow Stalker sprawled and Nanku stomped her foot toward the girl's head. She burst apart again and slipped through the roof.
Nanku tilted her head and her visor shifted mode.
Shadow Stalker appeared as a vaporous cold spot on her multi-layered camera.
She moved freely through the solid materi—
Stalker shifted, sliding away from an electric line in the ceiling of the room below.
Interesting.
Stalker reformed below and dropped to the floor. Nanku attached a fly to her thigh and a pair of mosquitoes to her cape and hood. They clung to her body when she ran for the wall, broke apart, and slid through into the alley.
Nanku matched her steps and lunged from the roof.
When Stalker reformed on the fire escape of the opposite building she reacted quickly. She cursed and jerked at the last second. Nanku's shuriken cut clean through the banister of the escape while Stalker clung to it to swing herself around. Wristblades followed her and she kicked off into the air before turning to mist once more.
The bugs were still with her.
Very interesting.
Nanku leaped after the mist. It didn't change direction. If anything, it slowed down. She was still subject to physics but as a solid cloud rather than true mist or a body.
A very interesting power.
Nanku dropped to the alley below. Above, Dawn caught her shuriken with her mandibles and dove. Dusk swung high through the alley and the Shadow Stalker reformed to drop faster.
She burst apart again when Dusk flew through her and Dawn did a running landing. Nanku grabbed her shuriken from the bug's mouth and directed her back into the sky.
Stalker reformed and grabbed the last rung of a fire escape as Nanku threw.
She drew her legs up with a curse and avoided the blades.
"You really go straight for maiming."
The shuriken spun back quickly and Nanku threw it again. Stalker kicked off the wall and flew herself through the opposite wall. She drifted into the room beyond, jerking and pulling her cloud a bit tighter before she touched an electrical line.
Once was happenstance.
Twice was coincidence.
Never trust coincidence.
But, Nanku bolted down the alley, sprinting one way while Dusk and Dawn flew another.
Nanku slowed only at the end of the alley and allowed her cloak to settle. In the dark, it was at its best. When Shadow Stalker poked her head out and floated herself back to the roof with a jump and the use of her power, she followed Dusk and Dawn.
She might have the ability, but she had no instinct.
Nanku slipped onto the street and hopped onto the back of a truck. It drove down the road and she weaved Dusk and Dawn at the edge of her range. Their eyes struggled whenever Stalker hid herself well, but they tracked her tracking them.
The Twins turned on command and Nanku leaped from the truck.
She ran down an alley and climbed to a roof.
Dusk and Dawn flew toward her and the shadow followed. Stalker darted between buildings. She formed her body on occasion. To see? To move faster?
The cloud form seemed unable to propel itself. Though it didn't stop. Many times when Dusk and Dawn could see her, Shadow Stalker used her power to make it across long gaps. The cloud wasn't affected by gravity like a body, or like mist, but it always slowed down once she shifted. The cloud alone couldn't move. It carried on from how she moved.
What were her senses in that shape? Nanku thought she could still see, but obviously couldn't change direction.
Jumping to the base of the roof, Nanku hung off the end and readied her shuriken.
Dusk flew overhead first.
Then Dawn.
They continued on and when Stalker didn't follow directly, Nanku turned them and kept turning them until the shadow came toward her.
The angle was about as good as she could expect.
Shadow Stalker ran across a rooftop and leaped at the edge. Nanku held herself completely still. Waited. Stalker burst into her cloud.
Only then did Nanku strike.
She threw the shuriken into the air, angled to cut two routes of escape as it rose or fell. Throwing herself up, Nanku reared her arm back and turned her wrist blades. The cloud flowed onward and she waited.
No matter what Stalker did—continue to her land point or drop to the alley below—Nanku could hit her.
The cloud shifted. The shape—
Not a cloud.
Nanku jumped back and bent herself backward. The shadow bolts flew over her chest and past her chin. The arrows were dark and blurred. Bolts of shadow.
A shadowy arm reached out and grabbed the grated rim of a fire escape. Stalker shifted solid for a moment and pushed and burst apart again as her cloud—No, shadow shape launched her toward the roof across from Nanku.
She didn't turn into a cloud. That was an illusion produced by her power affecting the cloak covering her.
Nanku caught her shuriken and ran. She jumped aiming right at Stalker's shadowy neck.
The thought of 'two bolts?' struck her mid-air.
Nanku rammed her foot into the edge of the roof and let herself crash into it. The third bolt shot by and Shadow Stalker scrambled back.
Her larger crossbow was on her back under the cloak, and each hand held a small pistol-sized crossbow with two strings. One over and the other under.
Two shots each.
Nanku rolled as the fourth bolt flew by and Shadow Stalker laughed.
"Fuck you're quick! No wonder you wiped the Pure's asses! But ho—"
Dusk rammed into her from behind and threw Shadow Stalker forward. Nanku swiped her wrist blade at the girl's neck but she was quick.
Her body took on a shadow shape again after slapping the roof and throwing herself up.
Nanku took her chance.
The laser sight shot from her mask and struggled to lock the target. Nanku used her eyes and fired anyway.
Hot plasma spat from over her shoulder and slammed into the shadowy figure. The shape recoiled. Flung back and hit the ground. She shook and flailed and while the plasma bolt continued flying through the night.
Stalker's power vanished and the girl convulsed on the ground from head to toe.
"The. Fuck?!"
The Plasma Caster used a powerful beam of electro-magnetism to guide the plasma bolt and maintain its coherence. More electric energy than would be found in any Earth power line.
If that was too much power for Stalker's power to handle…
Well. Nanku enjoyed being right.
And she was right.
Rising up, she stalked across the roof toward Shadow Stalker.
It would be trouble if any word spread—in any way—that she'd been at the police station. Stalker had noticed Dusk and Dawn. That was bound to happen eventually, but at least this way Nanku could cover her tracks.
The chase was decent in the end.
That was a pleasant surprise.
Pinning the woman down with one foot, Nanku grabbed the back of her hood and raised her wrist blades. Her shuriken struck the ground nearby. More or less where she intended it to.
"Wait!" Stalker pleaded.
"Why do you all insist"—Nanku adjusted the angle—"on commanding what you can't?"
"Know what you're doing!" Stalker pleaded. "About your dad, right?"
Nanku froze.
She cursed fate.
Gods. In several variations.
Coincidence because to hell with it.
And the Black Warrior because her life was just a dance of frustration in increasing frequency.
Earth was a horrible place to hunt now. No wonder everyone stopped.
"How?" Nanku asked.
"Fuck everyone knows! Big rumor going around you're Weaver's kid! The one that died at the camp!"
Damn the Internet.
Well, that answered that question. Time to—
"I can help!"
…
Damn the Black Warrior. "Why?"
Stalker turned her head, looking at Nanku from inside her mask. "Fuck the Nazis."
How in any world's version of hell did the Pure manage to live so damned long?
"How?"
"Figured you'd go to the po-po at some point. If you hadn't. It ma—"
"How can you help me?"
"Been a cape in the bay for as long as he's been dead! Almost. I know shit!"
Nanku narrowed her eyes. She'd guess Shadow Stalker was in her early to mid-twenties. She could be that old…
One of the longest-running capes in Brockton Bay.
"Enticing?" Stalker asked. "Figured if the Undersiders were paying it forward, you wouldn't still be here."
"No deal."
"Wha—"
"You're all exhausting."
Nanku readied her strike.
A beam of light cut the night. Nanku jumped and rolled forward. It struck the ground behind her and scorched the concrete black.
The beam came from beyond her range.
The bugs at the edge noticed it with their eyes first.
Nanku dodged a second beam and a third. Shadow Stalker used the chance to escape. She tried, at least.
Dropping to one knee while a steak of light flew over her shoulder, Nanku swung her wrist blades out. Stalker jumped and kicked off the edge of the roof. She briefly burst into shadow as she sailed over Nanku's head.
Clever.
She'd figured out the range of Nanku's wrist blades.
Nanku spun, snatched her shuriken, and threw it.
Shadow Stalker stayed shadow until the blades flew through her. She reformed and one foot tapped against the ground.
"Come on," she started. "Let's—"
Nanku thrust her hand forward and the spear slid to its full length for her palm.
"Shit."
She tried to break apart but before she could the tip of the spear pierced her side. A shallow strike, but it was blood. Nanku followed it up by spinning the weapon only for the next few blows to strike Stalker's power.
Another beam of light came and Nanku was forced back.
Kid Win flew into her range, a pistol in his hands. Another boy flew behind him, shouting and pointing the other way.
Shadow Stalker made a break and Nanku growled. She caught her shuriken from the air and turned away. She had no interest in becoming embroiled in another brawl.
Beams of light cut off her path. Kid Win flew by and kept shooting. Nanku jumped and leaped. She spun for the nearest roof edge and ran.
His shots were accurate, even in the dark.
The visor over his eyes.
He was penetrating her cloak. That wasn't even original anymore.
Throwing her shuriken again, she forced Kid Win to dodge directly into Dawn's path. She barreled into the boy from behind, knocking him from his board and sending him falling to the ground. Three red lights cut the night and the second Ward—Chronicle, she thought—jerked in the air. A plasma bolt flew past him and he let out a youthful scream.
The bolt would have never hit.
He was far too young to kill.
And Nanku, for once, wanted to kill very little. Drawing less of the PRT's interest was preferable, and she had to run before the Protectorate came.
"Hold it!" Kid Win's hands flashed and a rifle appeared in his hands.
He took aim at Nanku but she kept running.
Kid Win jerked back as a shadowy bolt flew past his shoulder.
"Whoops!"
"Damn it, Stalker!"
"Stop jerking about jackass!"
Nanku stepped off the roof.
She dropped toward the ground and bent her knees on impact. Dropping, she rolled backward over her shoulder, planted her feet on the wall, and pushed. With one hand she forced herself upright and sprinted down the alley.
So damn close to just getting away cleanly.
Spinning about, Nanku ran a frantic course through the alleys while Dusk and Dawn flew ahead a bit further before diving out of sight. Chronicle flew straight to Kid Win and started getting shouted at. Kid Win messed with his gauntlet—not too dissimilar from Nanku's. His board twisted about in the distance and flew back.
At the end of the alley, Nanku leaped over the barrier into the parking garage and ran through the maze of vehicles.
She found a place to hide between large trucks and waited with the Wards at the edge of her range.
Kid Win retrieved his board and flew off in the direction Dusk and Dawn appeared to go. The Twins had already circled back. Low and out of sight. Chronicle actually looked back as they flew away but Kid Win shouted again and he followed.
Nanku's eyes narrowed behind her mask.
She waited and when nothing came she rose and walked onto the roof of the garage.
That felt off.
In more ways than one.
Nanku turned.
Shadow Stalker waved from the next roof over and threw something into the air before running off into the night.
The phone clattered at Nanku's feet.
She waited but it didn't explode.
Curious.
Nanku picked the device up and looked at the screen.
Call me for help, killer
Nanku tilted her head and tried to decide how hard she should think. Shadow Stalker really deserved to die. If only for the inconvenience she caused, but opportunity was calling. A tempting opportunity.
In more ways than one.
Nanku looked over her shoulder in the direction Kid Win went.
Then the direction Shadow Stalker went.
Dusk and Dawn landed on either side of her and she checked them both over subtly. No trackers. No marks. No apparent signs of radiation or energy stuck to them according to her biomask.
So what was the trick?
Because there was a trick.
She'd still be getting chased otherwise.
And the way Stalker and Kid Win seemed to coordinate just enough to play it all out…
Nanku moved a few blocks over and hid the phone in an AC unit. She wouldn't be taking it anywhere. This trap was plain as day.
Someone wasn't nearly as clever as they thought they were.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Flounder 6.7
Little Hunter
Bitch said nothing as Nanku returned that night.
A willful choice, or a further sign of something suspicious. Even without the connection to her mother, the Undersiders seemed well-informed of the big events in Brockton Bay. A brawl with Shadow Stalker that ended with Kid Win and Chronicle appearing had to have made some news.
Unless some of those parties kept the entire encounter secret.
Did that work, or was she overthinking things?
Nanku returned to her room and thought about it as she laid down with Dusk and Dawn. The swarm around the kennel was vigilant. Nanku watched carefully for any sign of snooping but none came before she fell asleep.
It was far too convenient.
Shadow Stalker or Kid Win finding her was one thing. Guessing she might go to the police station for information? Nanku supposed it wasn't such a vast leap. Anyone could have guessed that. Maybe even both of them independently, or even in coordination.
That might be the most straightforward explanation.
Except…
Why did Kid Win wait until Stalker was on the verge of being killed to act? Why not jump in sooner? Stalker's violent reputation aside, she was someone who fought villains. That made her a nominal ally if nothing else.
But they let her fight alone and only jumped in at the last moment, after which she attacked them?
Nanku tossed in her bed and considered an alternative. She might be overthinking it. Maybe the PRT wanted to observe her a bit. Maybe they were content to let Stalker, an outside cape, take the risks. Maybe there was some parahuman consideration to not intervene in a fight between other parties.
No.
No, the timing was all wrong.
Kid Win injected himself in at the perfect moment to save Stalker.
Then Stalker injected herself into that fight to stop Kid Win from striking her.
And the phone delivery.
A setup. It was all a setup. Either Kid Win and Shadow Stalker, or another party, was coordinating that encounter. They wanted Nanku to see Shadow Stalker as a potential ally, or at least a source of information.
According to Rose, the PRT Director was interested in her, but why wouldn't he employ all the capes at his disposal?
Nanku couldn't deny, she wasn't sure how to kill Assault. Dauntless was someone she refused to kill. Wounding him seriously enough to remove him as a threat was also out. And then there was Battery, Miss Militia, and the rest. Vista seemed capable.
Fighting the entire Protectorate was out. Surely the PRT Director knew that? Why not just overwhelm her? Her first thought was the follow her to her resting place but even as she dozed off at last the swarm still found nothing.
Who else then?
Perhaps they were acting on their own.
Or perhaps there was someone else in Brockton Bay who had some reason to want to lure Nanku in…
~ ~ ~
Her rest was restless.
When she woke Cassie was tending to the dogs and Bitch was in the shower.
Nanku took some time to think while the Twins stirred.
The capes last night had seen Dusk and Dawn. Maybe not clearly, but enough. Nanku had to assume they were no longer a secret, but the swarm might still be. The only evidence of it she'd ever really left was always burned up in fires or blown apart in explosions.
The Twins were known.
The swarm was not.
She still had one surprise left to play in an encounter.
And maybe another. How many people knew she went about the city during the day in plain clothes?
Nanku rose first and ascended the steps. Bitch was exiting the bathroom as she entered, toothbrush in her mouth and scrubbing her teeth. Nanku glanced as they passed and Bitch gave her a harsh look.
"Already offered," she said around the toothbrush. "You said no."
Nanku scoffed and continued on. Dusk and Dawn scurried after her and Nanku took her time washing. It was a decent place to think. The patter of water and the wafting of steam had a soothing effect.
They'd seen Dusk and Dawn. The Twins couldn't move so freely now that they were known and Nanku needed to be more careful. If Kid Win and the drones could penetrate her cloak—she had to assume it was only as good as it had been so far—then surely they could find ways to track the Twins.
She'd leave the pair at the kennel. They could behave themselves for a few hours once fed.
Hunting was a lot more fun than being hunted, but it was what it was. Plainclothes and daylight. She needed to do the best she could when she wasn't being watched.
Showers were a very good place to think. She'd miss showers when she left Earth.
Showers and widescreens.
As she dried off, Nanku considered that maybe her mother had a point. Going after the Pure had brought more attention than she wanted. Especially if someone—be it the PRT or another party—was trying to lure her into a trap. She was done dealing with petty city villains and heroes and would leave them be if they did the same.
Nanku had a strong sense that wouldn't be happening.
She'd have to hunt her quarry while being hunted now.
Fun.
After she dried off, Nanku barged into Bitch's room and took some clothes. The girl glowered at her but Nanku simply took what she needed and walked back out. Cassie gawked at her as she left.
"No fucking way," she mumbled.
Nanku didn't know what that was about.
Cassie turned to the door flush. "Rachel!"
"We did not!" Bitch shouted back.
"It makes so much sense though! Holy shit!"
Nanku moved on before whatever that was became weirder. She had things to do.
Dressed in Bitch's clothes, Nanku arranged her equipment and kept a few weapons for herself. She fed Dusk and Dawn and settled them. All of that done, Nanku ascended from the room and prepared to go.
Of all her leads, she wanted to go back to Kurt and ask a few more questions.
One lead stood out to her.
The Medhall lawyer who died.
Medhall was a drug company, and it had been a front for the old Empire Eighty-Eight. The gang most of the Pure belonged to before they were the Pure. And, unless her mother lied, the company that she sought was also a drug company.
That wasn't a coincidence.
Perhaps there was a connection. Lacking that, there might be a path to someone who knew more. Nanku doubted she'd find any connection between her two quarries, but she did have a lead they shared. She might as well look into it and see what came up.
"Where?" Bitch asked.
She waited for Nanku by the front door and followed when she tried to go to the back.
"I don't need a babysitter," Nanku protested.
Bitch scoffed.
Nanku growled.
Bitch growled back.
Cassie leaned out from the corner of a door. "So many things make so much sense now."
Bitch glared at her and she leaned back.
"What is she talking about?" Nanku asked.
"Nothing."
"Denial is the first stage to acceptance!" Cassie called.
Nanku shook her head, cast her braids over one shoulder, and left. Bitch followed her of course. Maybe Imp too. Except she could remember Imp so obviously Imp wasn't around.
The area around the kennel remained as it always was. Nothing out of place. No apparent spies. Her conspirators could simply assume where she was. They either didn't want to anger the Undersiders by attacking the kennel, or it wasn't part of their goal.
Or they simply didn't think they could overpower Bitch near all her dogs.
Nanku certainly wasn't that crazy. If she were to really try at the task, she'd lure Bitch away first. Minimize how many dogs she had and kill or wound those near. The kennel itself was a suicidal place to challenge her.
"Where?" Bitch asked again as they neared the bus stop.
"The library," Nanku answered.
"Why?"
"Reasons."
"Angelica."
The dog came when called. Angelica was smaller than Brutus and less openly intimidating. Bitch was making a conscious choice about which dog to bring.
Nanku went about her business. If Bitch wanted to waste her day, fine. Let her.
The swarm kept up its work all the way through the city. No tails or observers she could see. Maybe they knew about the swarm. Observed it or—The fight with the pure.
She'd disabled the first drone but there had been a second.
Nanku grit her teeth and looked out the window over her shoulder.
The Pure's thinker. If she'd had the second drone the entire time, she might have seen the swarm. Maybe even managed to look around and find Nanku's range. They could be watching her now from outside it. Dusk and Dawn's eyes were good but Earth's insects were not.
Someone could be a few feet off and Nanku wouldn't even know.
The thinker.
Someone released a video online of her, and somehow rumors were spreading she was Weaver's daughter. Who might have done that? The Thinker was as good a suspect as any.
But why?
What did they care? They'd all but thrown Iron Rain away and sent the Pure to their deaths. Cutting losses? Spite?
"What does Tattletale know about the thinker?" Nanku kept her voice low as they stepped off the bus.
Bitch gave her an odd look. "Who cares?"
Nanku's eyes narrowed.
Bitch shrugged. "Don't care to ask. She does the thinking stuff. She likes words."
"You follow her without asking her what's going on?"
"I don't follow. I trust. She knows what she's doing." Bitch huffed. "Has to pull her head out of her ass sometimes is all. Thinker stuff."
Not remotely helpful. Nanku wasn't sure she'd get anything if she asked.
Even if she did, what would she do with it? This wasn't her problem anymore, especially not if Rose or her mother's lives were secure. She had her own mission and was free to pursue it now.
Getting sidetracked with annoying distractions.
The downtown of Brockton Bay was enough to make Nanku wonder if the library was an annoying distraction. It wasn't.
So many people. Hordes of them. Way more than Nanku remotely wanted to deal with.
"Can turn back," Bitch said as the crossed the corner to the library.
"Then turn back."
The receptionist rose as they entered, eyes on Angelica.
"Um, ma'am—"
"Emotional support dog," Bitch said.
The woman looked annoyed. "Ma'am, everyone says that bu—"
Bitch glowered and the woman flinched.
"Okay then."
She sat down and pointedly didn't look at them as they entered.
"Emotional support dog?"
"Bad dog owners ruin dogs for everyone," Bitch replied. "Stupid."
Nanku went to the back of the building. There were a few rooms with computers but in the middle of the day many were full. Nanku's only good option was one of the larger rooms with scatterings of people, but a few mostly vacant spaces she could take.
Bitch followed her quietly.
Nanku picked a quiet section of the room and sat at one of the computers.
The screen flared back at her with a white box. She tried to make it go away but it didn't.
The last time she needed a password…
Nanku lifted the keyboard and looked underneath.
Nothing.
"Try password," Bitch said.
That didn't work.
"Guest one."
No.
"Guest two."
Nanku glared.
Bitch shrugged. She took out her phone, dialed a number, and raised it.
The phone rang a few times before answering.
"Rachel?"
Nanku found the voice familiar. "Who is that?"
"Sabah. What's your library password?"
The answer was slow in coming.
"You… want my library password?" she asked.
"Yes," Bitch answered.
"… Why?"
"Why not?"
…
"Okay. I guess. I'll text it—You're not downloading porn, right?"
"No."
"Okay. Don't do that."
"Who does that in the library?"
"Not me."
The call ended and a text came a moment later. Bitch leaned over and put the code in. The screen unlocked and Nanku clicked the icon for the Internet.
Bitch settled and scratched Angelica's head while Nanku got to task.
She looked up the lawyer first
Jonathan Fliescher.
Young paralegal. Fresh off his bar exams. Witnesses reported nothing unusual according to the reporting in the news. Nanku found the news to be dim and uninteresting. They could confirm something happened and report on what was said or seen.
But so much went unsaid and unseen. Especially in crimes and parahumans.
Nanku could only trust them so far.
The story they told, however, was about the Empire and it was about drugs. Jonathan had been talking to the police. She found nothing about that in the file she had, but maybe they had more.
Getting back into the building was not feasible.
She had to assume it was being observed now.
…
What became of Medhall in the end?
Nanku searched for the company and started reading. According to the news, Max Anders was exposed as Kaiser. He died fighting Leviathan. With him, the company passed to his so—Aster Anders? She was listed as a survivor. She'd heard that name many times.
Iron Rain was Aster Anders.
Except that was impossible.
The girl in the pictures would be Rose's age. The woman Nanku faced was an adult. In body… She'd acted like a child.
Nanku rose slightly, staring at the screen.
Killing children was against the code. Beyond their weakness, there was the need to not wipe out species. The Yautja might hunt and kill and challenge, but they did not exterminate. To kill the young was cowardly, reckless, and irresponsible.
Why did she appear so old?
Aster Anders wasn't mentioned in most articles. Beyond her name and relation, there was nothing. Nothing about ho—
Distraction.
Iron Rain wasn't her problem anymore.
Medhall. What became of Medhall and where she might find useful information.
After Max Ander's death, the enforcers seized the company. It became property of the government and was slowly dissolved and sold off. That explained the empty building Nanku found, but where would records be? Information about the lawyer. The drugs.
Pharmaceuticals.
Quality Care and Medhall.
Nanku put both names in the internet and finally.
It was a bare mention in a news story about an entirely different company from nearly twenty years ago. A firm based in Germany that had established some agreement with Medhall through a subsidiary.
Qualicare.
Nanku smiled and searched that name instead.
There was little but she found a few articles mentioning the company or its CE—James Fliescher.
There was something here. Something. Something something something.
Any and all news about Qualicare ended the same year the camp was attacked by the R'ka. That wasn't a coincidence. There was no announcement or information about it but the company simply vanished. No more mention after that.
Nanku searched for James Fliescher instead. The death of his brother Jonathan came up. One article where he was CEO of Qualicare. The company vanished, but he didn't.
Krieg.
A cape from the Empire-88…
Nanku rose.
And James Fliescher was still alive.
Nanku turned the computer off and turned.
"I'm d—"
Bitch was gone.
"Where—"
Nanku frowned and went down the hall to a small room at the bottom of a short flight of stairs.
A half dozen children doted on Angelica, while Bitch sat in a bag-shaped chair on the floor, and watched cartoon dogs.
Typical.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Bitch said nothing as Nanku returned that night.
A willful choice, or a further sign of something suspicious. Even without the connection to her mother, the Undersiders seemed well-informed of the big events in Brockton Bay. A brawl with Shadow Stalker that ended with Kid Win and Chronicle appearing had to have made some news.
Unless some of those parties kept the entire encounter secret.
Did that work, or was she overthinking things?
Nanku returned to her room and thought about it as she laid down with Dusk and Dawn. The swarm around the kennel was vigilant. Nanku watched carefully for any sign of snooping but none came before she fell asleep.
It was far too convenient.
Shadow Stalker or Kid Win finding her was one thing. Guessing she might go to the police station for information? Nanku supposed it wasn't such a vast leap. Anyone could have guessed that. Maybe even both of them independently, or even in coordination.
That might be the most straightforward explanation.
Except…
Why did Kid Win wait until Stalker was on the verge of being killed to act? Why not jump in sooner? Stalker's violent reputation aside, she was someone who fought villains. That made her a nominal ally if nothing else.
But they let her fight alone and only jumped in at the last moment, after which she attacked them?
Nanku tossed in her bed and considered an alternative. She might be overthinking it. Maybe the PRT wanted to observe her a bit. Maybe they were content to let Stalker, an outside cape, take the risks. Maybe there was some parahuman consideration to not intervene in a fight between other parties.
No.
No, the timing was all wrong.
Kid Win injected himself in at the perfect moment to save Stalker.
Then Stalker injected herself into that fight to stop Kid Win from striking her.
And the phone delivery.
A setup. It was all a setup. Either Kid Win and Shadow Stalker, or another party, was coordinating that encounter. They wanted Nanku to see Shadow Stalker as a potential ally, or at least a source of information.
According to Rose, the PRT Director was interested in her, but why wouldn't he employ all the capes at his disposal?
Nanku couldn't deny, she wasn't sure how to kill Assault. Dauntless was someone she refused to kill. Wounding him seriously enough to remove him as a threat was also out. And then there was Battery, Miss Militia, and the rest. Vista seemed capable.
Fighting the entire Protectorate was out. Surely the PRT Director knew that? Why not just overwhelm her? Her first thought was the follow her to her resting place but even as she dozed off at last the swarm still found nothing.
Who else then?
Perhaps they were acting on their own.
Or perhaps there was someone else in Brockton Bay who had some reason to want to lure Nanku in…
~ ~ ~
Her rest was restless.
When she woke Cassie was tending to the dogs and Bitch was in the shower.
Nanku took some time to think while the Twins stirred.
The capes last night had seen Dusk and Dawn. Maybe not clearly, but enough. Nanku had to assume they were no longer a secret, but the swarm might still be. The only evidence of it she'd ever really left was always burned up in fires or blown apart in explosions.
The Twins were known.
The swarm was not.
She still had one surprise left to play in an encounter.
And maybe another. How many people knew she went about the city during the day in plain clothes?
Nanku rose first and ascended the steps. Bitch was exiting the bathroom as she entered, toothbrush in her mouth and scrubbing her teeth. Nanku glanced as they passed and Bitch gave her a harsh look.
"Already offered," she said around the toothbrush. "You said no."
Nanku scoffed and continued on. Dusk and Dawn scurried after her and Nanku took her time washing. It was a decent place to think. The patter of water and the wafting of steam had a soothing effect.
They'd seen Dusk and Dawn. The Twins couldn't move so freely now that they were known and Nanku needed to be more careful. If Kid Win and the drones could penetrate her cloak—she had to assume it was only as good as it had been so far—then surely they could find ways to track the Twins.
She'd leave the pair at the kennel. They could behave themselves for a few hours once fed.
Hunting was a lot more fun than being hunted, but it was what it was. Plainclothes and daylight. She needed to do the best she could when she wasn't being watched.
Showers were a very good place to think. She'd miss showers when she left Earth.
Showers and widescreens.
As she dried off, Nanku considered that maybe her mother had a point. Going after the Pure had brought more attention than she wanted. Especially if someone—be it the PRT or another party—was trying to lure her into a trap. She was done dealing with petty city villains and heroes and would leave them be if they did the same.
Nanku had a strong sense that wouldn't be happening.
She'd have to hunt her quarry while being hunted now.
Fun.
After she dried off, Nanku barged into Bitch's room and took some clothes. The girl glowered at her but Nanku simply took what she needed and walked back out. Cassie gawked at her as she left.
"No fucking way," she mumbled.
Nanku didn't know what that was about.
Cassie turned to the door flush. "Rachel!"
"We did not!" Bitch shouted back.
"It makes so much sense though! Holy shit!"
Nanku moved on before whatever that was became weirder. She had things to do.
Dressed in Bitch's clothes, Nanku arranged her equipment and kept a few weapons for herself. She fed Dusk and Dawn and settled them. All of that done, Nanku ascended from the room and prepared to go.
Of all her leads, she wanted to go back to Kurt and ask a few more questions.
One lead stood out to her.
The Medhall lawyer who died.
Medhall was a drug company, and it had been a front for the old Empire Eighty-Eight. The gang most of the Pure belonged to before they were the Pure. And, unless her mother lied, the company that she sought was also a drug company.
That wasn't a coincidence.
Perhaps there was a connection. Lacking that, there might be a path to someone who knew more. Nanku doubted she'd find any connection between her two quarries, but she did have a lead they shared. She might as well look into it and see what came up.
"Where?" Bitch asked.
She waited for Nanku by the front door and followed when she tried to go to the back.
"I don't need a babysitter," Nanku protested.
Bitch scoffed.
Nanku growled.
Bitch growled back.
Cassie leaned out from the corner of a door. "So many things make so much sense now."
Bitch glared at her and she leaned back.
"What is she talking about?" Nanku asked.
"Nothing."
"Denial is the first stage to acceptance!" Cassie called.
Nanku shook her head, cast her braids over one shoulder, and left. Bitch followed her of course. Maybe Imp too. Except she could remember Imp so obviously Imp wasn't around.
The area around the kennel remained as it always was. Nothing out of place. No apparent spies. Her conspirators could simply assume where she was. They either didn't want to anger the Undersiders by attacking the kennel, or it wasn't part of their goal.
Or they simply didn't think they could overpower Bitch near all her dogs.
Nanku certainly wasn't that crazy. If she were to really try at the task, she'd lure Bitch away first. Minimize how many dogs she had and kill or wound those near. The kennel itself was a suicidal place to challenge her.
"Where?" Bitch asked again as they neared the bus stop.
"The library," Nanku answered.
"Why?"
"Reasons."
"Angelica."
The dog came when called. Angelica was smaller than Brutus and less openly intimidating. Bitch was making a conscious choice about which dog to bring.
Nanku went about her business. If Bitch wanted to waste her day, fine. Let her.
The swarm kept up its work all the way through the city. No tails or observers she could see. Maybe they knew about the swarm. Observed it or—The fight with the pure.
She'd disabled the first drone but there had been a second.
Nanku grit her teeth and looked out the window over her shoulder.
The Pure's thinker. If she'd had the second drone the entire time, she might have seen the swarm. Maybe even managed to look around and find Nanku's range. They could be watching her now from outside it. Dusk and Dawn's eyes were good but Earth's insects were not.
Someone could be a few feet off and Nanku wouldn't even know.
The thinker.
Someone released a video online of her, and somehow rumors were spreading she was Weaver's daughter. Who might have done that? The Thinker was as good a suspect as any.
But why?
What did they care? They'd all but thrown Iron Rain away and sent the Pure to their deaths. Cutting losses? Spite?
"What does Tattletale know about the thinker?" Nanku kept her voice low as they stepped off the bus.
Bitch gave her an odd look. "Who cares?"
Nanku's eyes narrowed.
Bitch shrugged. "Don't care to ask. She does the thinking stuff. She likes words."
"You follow her without asking her what's going on?"
"I don't follow. I trust. She knows what she's doing." Bitch huffed. "Has to pull her head out of her ass sometimes is all. Thinker stuff."
Not remotely helpful. Nanku wasn't sure she'd get anything if she asked.
Even if she did, what would she do with it? This wasn't her problem anymore, especially not if Rose or her mother's lives were secure. She had her own mission and was free to pursue it now.
Getting sidetracked with annoying distractions.
The downtown of Brockton Bay was enough to make Nanku wonder if the library was an annoying distraction. It wasn't.
So many people. Hordes of them. Way more than Nanku remotely wanted to deal with.
"Can turn back," Bitch said as the crossed the corner to the library.
"Then turn back."
The receptionist rose as they entered, eyes on Angelica.
"Um, ma'am—"
"Emotional support dog," Bitch said.
The woman looked annoyed. "Ma'am, everyone says that bu—"
Bitch glowered and the woman flinched.
"Okay then."
She sat down and pointedly didn't look at them as they entered.
"Emotional support dog?"
"Bad dog owners ruin dogs for everyone," Bitch replied. "Stupid."
Nanku went to the back of the building. There were a few rooms with computers but in the middle of the day many were full. Nanku's only good option was one of the larger rooms with scatterings of people, but a few mostly vacant spaces she could take.
Bitch followed her quietly.
Nanku picked a quiet section of the room and sat at one of the computers.
The screen flared back at her with a white box. She tried to make it go away but it didn't.
The last time she needed a password…
Nanku lifted the keyboard and looked underneath.
Nothing.
"Try password," Bitch said.
That didn't work.
"Guest one."
No.
"Guest two."
Nanku glared.
Bitch shrugged. She took out her phone, dialed a number, and raised it.
The phone rang a few times before answering.
"Rachel?"
Nanku found the voice familiar. "Who is that?"
"Sabah. What's your library password?"
The answer was slow in coming.
"You… want my library password?" she asked.
"Yes," Bitch answered.
"… Why?"
"Why not?"
…
"Okay. I guess. I'll text it—You're not downloading porn, right?"
"No."
"Okay. Don't do that."
"Who does that in the library?"
"Not me."
The call ended and a text came a moment later. Bitch leaned over and put the code in. The screen unlocked and Nanku clicked the icon for the Internet.
Bitch settled and scratched Angelica's head while Nanku got to task.
She looked up the lawyer first
Jonathan Fliescher.
Young paralegal. Fresh off his bar exams. Witnesses reported nothing unusual according to the reporting in the news. Nanku found the news to be dim and uninteresting. They could confirm something happened and report on what was said or seen.
But so much went unsaid and unseen. Especially in crimes and parahumans.
Nanku could only trust them so far.
The story they told, however, was about the Empire and it was about drugs. Jonathan had been talking to the police. She found nothing about that in the file she had, but maybe they had more.
Getting back into the building was not feasible.
She had to assume it was being observed now.
…
What became of Medhall in the end?
Nanku searched for the company and started reading. According to the news, Max Anders was exposed as Kaiser. He died fighting Leviathan. With him, the company passed to his so—Aster Anders? She was listed as a survivor. She'd heard that name many times.
Iron Rain was Aster Anders.
Except that was impossible.
The girl in the pictures would be Rose's age. The woman Nanku faced was an adult. In body… She'd acted like a child.
Nanku rose slightly, staring at the screen.
Killing children was against the code. Beyond their weakness, there was the need to not wipe out species. The Yautja might hunt and kill and challenge, but they did not exterminate. To kill the young was cowardly, reckless, and irresponsible.
Why did she appear so old?
Aster Anders wasn't mentioned in most articles. Beyond her name and relation, there was nothing. Nothing about ho—
Distraction.
Iron Rain wasn't her problem anymore.
Medhall. What became of Medhall and where she might find useful information.
After Max Ander's death, the enforcers seized the company. It became property of the government and was slowly dissolved and sold off. That explained the empty building Nanku found, but where would records be? Information about the lawyer. The drugs.
Pharmaceuticals.
Quality Care and Medhall.
Nanku put both names in the internet and finally.
It was a bare mention in a news story about an entirely different company from nearly twenty years ago. A firm based in Germany that had established some agreement with Medhall through a subsidiary.
Qualicare.
Nanku smiled and searched that name instead.
There was little but she found a few articles mentioning the company or its CE—James Fliescher.
There was something here. Something. Something something something.
Any and all news about Qualicare ended the same year the camp was attacked by the R'ka. That wasn't a coincidence. There was no announcement or information about it but the company simply vanished. No more mention after that.
Nanku searched for James Fliescher instead. The death of his brother Jonathan came up. One article where he was CEO of Qualicare. The company vanished, but he didn't.
Krieg.
A cape from the Empire-88…
Nanku rose.
And James Fliescher was still alive.
Nanku turned the computer off and turned.
"I'm d—"
Bitch was gone.
"Where—"
Nanku frowned and went down the hall to a small room at the bottom of a short flight of stairs.
A half dozen children doted on Angelica, while Bitch sat in a bag-shaped chair on the floor, and watched cartoon dogs.
Typical.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Flounder 6.8
Little Hunter
Nanku considered simply leaving but didn't.
She went back to the computer and decided to work some more. She had other leads. Other names. Some were still around on social media and in the news.
Like a Dockworker—former--named Trent Bragg. He'd been fired from the Dockworkers a month before Talyor's father died. Some sort of incident that made the news but without specifics. He didn't come up in the police investigation but she'd heard some of the men she talked to mention a guy in passing who got in trouble for gang stuff.
Trent fit the timeline. He hadn't been a Dockworker long.
Danny Hebert as the head of hiring would have been the one to fire him.
Maybe he took revenge. Or maybe the men he'd been working for did it because Danny figured something out about them.
Then they killed him.
After he was fired, Trent Bragg went on to work in clubs. Bar tending. Bouncing. A big man with muscles and a stupid smile. He made videos about drink mixing that people apparently liked.
Some of the oldest pictures on his account went back more than ten years.
Asian bars. Trent Bragg didn't look Asian, but he'd hung in those circles apparently. Maybe he'd been associated with the ABB. They were a gang back in the day and one big in the Docks.
She had her lead on Qualicare.
But that was a complex lead to follow. She could focus on Trent Bragg for now. He still lived in Brockton Bay. Nanku even found a new way to use social media.
Every picture was a clue. The names of shops, streets, and businesses were tracks. She combed through Trent Bragg's images and searched every name. Not all were in Brockton Bay but most were. Some he went to more frequently than others.
It was tedious work, but eventually, Nanku had a radius of his range. He likely lived somewhere in the area and would most frequently be found there. Some places he went to more than others. Clubs mostly. He seemed to work at some, but not consistently. A mercenary of some sort.
The hunt wasn't so different, Nanku realized.
He had a territory and a range. Waterholes and dens he frequented.
Nanku could track this prey. Pin him down. Ask him some more pointed questions.
Who knew. Maybe Trent Bragg knew where to find James Fliescher. She'd gotten lucky already. Never test fortune, but never turn it down.
Nanku set the information she'd gathered aside and checked other options. The man who killed himself for one. A young boy. College aged. He only worked at the Dockworkers for money. The articles didn't mention specifics. Only that his death came after Danny Hebert's, framed as a dual tragedy.
Every article talked around or speculated the reasons he killed himself. What Nanku heard made it sound like he was guilt-ridden. Why? Why would he feel guilty solely because he reported the shipment? A shipment everyone insisted was just a misunderstanding.
Benny Young still had a social media account. His family seemed to use it like a shrine, leaving comments or posting family photos on the anniversary of his death eleven years and counting. Nanku looked through the…
She tilted her head.
Hire of the Year said the plaque he was holding.
Danny Hebert stood beside him, a proud smile on his face. The photo was colorful and bright with the shadows of others in the image.
Nanku looked at her father's face. Traced the lines of age with her eyes. The shape of his eyes were like hers. She'd never noticed.
"Done yet?" Bitch asked as she approached.
Nanku closed the page before Bitch could see. "Are the cartoons over?"
"Yes."
"Then I'm done." Nanku rose. "How do I find a cape outside of Brockton Bay?"
Bitch glanced over. "Why?"
"Because I don't know how."
It was the one thing she couldn't find.
James Fliescher was outed like the rest of the Empire 88. Unlike many of them, he vanished after Leviathan and didn't return with the Pure. Since then he'd vanished from the public eye, or at least news reporting. Maybe he was dead, but Nanku didn't think so.
His power was troublesome but should keep him alive.
She only needed a way to find him.
"Bad idea," Rachel said.
"What idea?"
"That idea. Haven't been too stupid yet. Don't start."
"I only want to talk to him."
"Hunters don't lie."
"I can just talk to him."
"You won't."
"He won't let me."
Probably.
Nanku hadn't exactly set out to spare the Nazis, but the Nazis were… Nazis. James might have murdered Jonathan. It made a disturbing amount of sense. Maybe he was a good man. Decent. Discovered something his brother was doing and was killed for it.
Or maybe something else.
No matter.
James Fliescher had been the official CEO of Qualicare.
Qualicare transported the eggs.
Qualicare lost the eggs.
Everything that happened at the camp, all those deaths. All the deaths that followed when her mother tried to avenge Taylor Hebert's death.
It was all their fault.
And someone had to pay for the dead…
So all those faces could finally rest their spirits and stop tormenting her dreams.
Maybe she'd get lucky.
Maybe it was James Fliescher who had to pay.
"Won't fix anything." Bitch frowned, eyes lidded. "Dead are still dead. Won't feel any better after it's done."
Nanku scoffed. "If you say so."
"I do."
The two words were heavy. Nanku glanced from the corner of her eyes, but the woman said nothing.
They descended the steps of the library in silence. Angelica trotted along beside Bitch and Nanku did a quick sweep of the surrounding block. There was another police car but like the last, they paid her no mind. Just a standard patrol.
"Which one?" Bitch asked in a plain and tired tone.
Nanku watched her face. "Krieg."
Her reaction was no reaction at all.
They proceeded along the sidewalk toward the bus stop. Angelica trotted happily, tongue out and tail switching left and right. Nanku was in too good a mood to let Bitch's dourness affect her. The street was loud and smelling, but oddly peaceful. Humans young and old walking about their business. Cars driving by in a steady stream. The sun was nestled in some clouds but not enough to obscure its light.
It was… nice.
"Which one?" Bitch asked again as they stopped to wait.
"I told you."
"Not that one."
Nanku frowned.
Ah.
She meant, "The camp. He was the CEO of the company Pe'dte was following. He has to know something about what happened."
"Does he?"
"He was—"
"Lisa is boss of everything." Bitch looked Nanku in the eye. "She know everything?"
Nanku's frown became a scowl as the bus approached.
"Why do you care?" Nanku asked. "So what if he knows nothing? He's a bad blood. To the Black Warrior with him."
"Don't give a shit about him," Bitch said. "Fuck'um."
"Then wh—"
"Won't make it better," Bitch said once again, her voice dull and her eyes plain. "No point in it."
Justice.
A human concept. The Yautja had no sense of justice. There was the code, and what was proper for a true hunt. But those who broke those rules and expectations didn't meet justice. A bad blood who caused trouble could only be killed and their death wasn't about righting wrongs or punishing evildoers.
It was about protecting life when they recklessly endangered it. Like when they unleashed R'ka with no sense of propriety or containment.
…
But that wasn't why Nanku had to find the answer and kill it. She was human. Part of her, at least. A piece of Taylor that was still there and that Nanku didn't want anymore. Taylor's spirit needed satisfaction.
"Justice is the point," Nanku declared as the bus drove through the city.
"You're making revenge," Bitch replied.
Justice. Revenge. Same thing as far as Nanku could tell. "You took revenge."
"Yes."
"Those men were killing dogs. Making them fight."
"Yes."
"It was cruel."
"Yes."
"So—"
"There another camp about to die?"
Nanku straightened.
Bitch scratched Angelica behind the ears and stared at the window.
"Justice," she mumbled. "Just a word."
Her hand stilled and she looked Nanku in the eye.
"They killed dogs, and they'd keep killing dogs. Keep threatening our territory. Keep selling drugs. Keep trying to kill us, or Weaver, or others. Fuck'um. They picked the fight. We finished it."
"Then—"
"Not protecting anyone," Bitch continued. "Not protecting anything. Going after him to make you feel better."
The bus creaked to a stop and Bitch rose.
"Waste of time. You won't feel better. Nothing to protect. Nothing to save. No justice. Just murder."
"No diff—"
"Those dogs were still alive. Your mom and sister are alive. Fuck anyone who wants to change that."
Nanku glanced at the window.
This wasn't her stop. They weren't even near the kennel.
Bitch stormed off the bus with Angelica and went onto the street. Nanku continued to sit as the vehicle started and continued along its route. Her gait was stiff and angry. She didn't look back. Not even after the bus crossed the intersection and left sight.
What was that about?
Protecting the dogs. Her mother and Rose. She didn't mind that. Bitch didn't even seem to care about killing the Pure that much. Her own qualm with it seemed to be getting the local enforcers paying Nanku attention and chasing her.
Nanku did kill the Pure. What did another dead Nazi matt—
Protect.
Bitch was smarter than she got credit for. She knew what words meant and she knew how to use them. Maybe she wasn't dumb at all. What use did a smart person have to babble on and on and on when a single word was enough to make all the difference?
Justice was just a word.
All there really was, was protection and revenge.
For a human who didn't even know they existed, Bitch sure could think like a hunter.
Nanku slouched in her seat.
Didn't matter.
Bitch admitted it herself. She'd taken revenge before.
Nanku never heard her have any nightmares.
~ ~ ~
Sarah leaned toward the screen and grinned.
"What is that?"
The file was buried deep. She'd have to go through a lot of old records and shared drives and folders. A lot of it was the laziest digitization project ever. Just folders and files and more folders and files all stuffed on some dusty corner of the network where it was copied along with each new update but never purged.
Well, maybe some of it was lost. Sarah did see a few holes in whatever the hell it was she'd found.
The video played out in a terrible resolution. Cameras had come a long way and Sarah never appreciated it more.
Still. Even with the screen too dark and the resolution piss poor, Sarah was intrigued.
Did Gesellschaft even remember they had this? From what she could find virtually everyone involved had been killed ten years ago save a few. Max Anders' name was on some forms and papers but even he was dead now.
If they didn't know, she might just be able to get away with her.
Her scheme was in desperate need of a bang after all.
Something for the closing of the curtain.
Sarah glanced at the ground under her shrunken unusable legs and smiled warmly at the rolling mist.
It certainly took them long enough.
"Fog. So glad you decided to come."
With the press of a button, one of the screens in front of her became reflective.
Night glared down her nose, her skin pale as snow and her hair dark. Starting to gray a bit, actually.
"Sorry," Sarah offered. "So hard to hold a conversation with… That thing you do. Feel free to smash the mirror and eviscerate me if you want."
"No need," Night replied.
The fog on the ground rose slowly, wafting up and enveloping the room.
"Sorry about the dirt." Sarah waved a hand. "I don't exactly have money for janitorial staff."
"Aster," Night said. "Get her out."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" Sarah turned her chair around, exposing her misshapen body. Too long and thin on top, and with limp useless twig legs on the bottom. "Lovely as I am, I don't get out much myself. Not exactly rescue material."
"Die then."
Night stepped back and the fog rose higher.
"You think you can bust Aster out on your own?" Sarah laughed. "Please. You wouldn't even help her when she asked."
"She didn't," Night said pointedly.
Her voice was dull and monotone, but she could convey some real rage when she wanted to. And she was angry. Furious. At Sarah in particular.
Promised Kayden. Believed in her ability to keep her promise.
"Fair enough," Sarah conceded. "I pulled her strings, but let's be fair. You let her go. You know how you are Night. You're not fit to raise a child, let alone raise them the way Kayden hoped to."
Such a bizarre mess of a woman. Unable to escape her prejudices, unable to walk away from a man who used her. Dedicated to trying to personally raise her child to be better. Sarah wondered how she reconciled that, or how she managed to think Night was a viable choice to protect Aster if she died.
"You let me lead her off by the nose," Sarah continued. "Don't act all innocent now."
"You're worse than her."
She clearly didn't know Lisa very well.
"Does being annoyed about it get you any closer to getting Aster out?"
Sarah activated another display and showed the Rig. It was, to be fair, a real fortress. The location was awkward. Getting in undetected would be hard. Getting out and escaping—with her charge safely in tow—would be harder.
"Think you can get her out on your own? I should warn you. Weaver can shut you down. Oh, wait. You already learned that about her? Man that must be inconvenient."
Sarah turned away.
"So go ahead and blame me if it makes you feel better, but you can't get Aster back on your own."
"Thinker."
"Does that make it a lie?"
Night's normally placid expression flinched.
"Would you like some help?" Sarah smiled. "Not that you or Fog are anything to scoff at, but you have your shortcomings."
"I will kill you," Night replied.
"But?"
"But not today."
Her fist slammed into the mirror-monitor and shattered the glass. There was a platter of blood and bone from broken pale skin. The bloody hand pulled back and the fog on the floor took the shape of a pale man with messy dark hair.
Fog glowered at Sarah.
He wore murder far more openly than his wife.
"Where is Aster?"
Sarah had to admit.
It was beautiful when a plan came together.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Nanku considered simply leaving but didn't.
She went back to the computer and decided to work some more. She had other leads. Other names. Some were still around on social media and in the news.
Like a Dockworker—former--named Trent Bragg. He'd been fired from the Dockworkers a month before Talyor's father died. Some sort of incident that made the news but without specifics. He didn't come up in the police investigation but she'd heard some of the men she talked to mention a guy in passing who got in trouble for gang stuff.
Trent fit the timeline. He hadn't been a Dockworker long.
Danny Hebert as the head of hiring would have been the one to fire him.
Maybe he took revenge. Or maybe the men he'd been working for did it because Danny figured something out about them.
Then they killed him.
After he was fired, Trent Bragg went on to work in clubs. Bar tending. Bouncing. A big man with muscles and a stupid smile. He made videos about drink mixing that people apparently liked.
Some of the oldest pictures on his account went back more than ten years.
Asian bars. Trent Bragg didn't look Asian, but he'd hung in those circles apparently. Maybe he'd been associated with the ABB. They were a gang back in the day and one big in the Docks.
She had her lead on Qualicare.
But that was a complex lead to follow. She could focus on Trent Bragg for now. He still lived in Brockton Bay. Nanku even found a new way to use social media.
Every picture was a clue. The names of shops, streets, and businesses were tracks. She combed through Trent Bragg's images and searched every name. Not all were in Brockton Bay but most were. Some he went to more frequently than others.
It was tedious work, but eventually, Nanku had a radius of his range. He likely lived somewhere in the area and would most frequently be found there. Some places he went to more than others. Clubs mostly. He seemed to work at some, but not consistently. A mercenary of some sort.
The hunt wasn't so different, Nanku realized.
He had a territory and a range. Waterholes and dens he frequented.
Nanku could track this prey. Pin him down. Ask him some more pointed questions.
Who knew. Maybe Trent Bragg knew where to find James Fliescher. She'd gotten lucky already. Never test fortune, but never turn it down.
Nanku set the information she'd gathered aside and checked other options. The man who killed himself for one. A young boy. College aged. He only worked at the Dockworkers for money. The articles didn't mention specifics. Only that his death came after Danny Hebert's, framed as a dual tragedy.
Every article talked around or speculated the reasons he killed himself. What Nanku heard made it sound like he was guilt-ridden. Why? Why would he feel guilty solely because he reported the shipment? A shipment everyone insisted was just a misunderstanding.
Benny Young still had a social media account. His family seemed to use it like a shrine, leaving comments or posting family photos on the anniversary of his death eleven years and counting. Nanku looked through the…
She tilted her head.
Hire of the Year said the plaque he was holding.
Danny Hebert stood beside him, a proud smile on his face. The photo was colorful and bright with the shadows of others in the image.
Nanku looked at her father's face. Traced the lines of age with her eyes. The shape of his eyes were like hers. She'd never noticed.
"Done yet?" Bitch asked as she approached.
Nanku closed the page before Bitch could see. "Are the cartoons over?"
"Yes."
"Then I'm done." Nanku rose. "How do I find a cape outside of Brockton Bay?"
Bitch glanced over. "Why?"
"Because I don't know how."
It was the one thing she couldn't find.
James Fliescher was outed like the rest of the Empire 88. Unlike many of them, he vanished after Leviathan and didn't return with the Pure. Since then he'd vanished from the public eye, or at least news reporting. Maybe he was dead, but Nanku didn't think so.
His power was troublesome but should keep him alive.
She only needed a way to find him.
"Bad idea," Rachel said.
"What idea?"
"That idea. Haven't been too stupid yet. Don't start."
"I only want to talk to him."
"Hunters don't lie."
"I can just talk to him."
"You won't."
"He won't let me."
Probably.
Nanku hadn't exactly set out to spare the Nazis, but the Nazis were… Nazis. James might have murdered Jonathan. It made a disturbing amount of sense. Maybe he was a good man. Decent. Discovered something his brother was doing and was killed for it.
Or maybe something else.
No matter.
James Fliescher had been the official CEO of Qualicare.
Qualicare transported the eggs.
Qualicare lost the eggs.
Everything that happened at the camp, all those deaths. All the deaths that followed when her mother tried to avenge Taylor Hebert's death.
It was all their fault.
And someone had to pay for the dead…
So all those faces could finally rest their spirits and stop tormenting her dreams.
Maybe she'd get lucky.
Maybe it was James Fliescher who had to pay.
"Won't fix anything." Bitch frowned, eyes lidded. "Dead are still dead. Won't feel any better after it's done."
Nanku scoffed. "If you say so."
"I do."
The two words were heavy. Nanku glanced from the corner of her eyes, but the woman said nothing.
They descended the steps of the library in silence. Angelica trotted along beside Bitch and Nanku did a quick sweep of the surrounding block. There was another police car but like the last, they paid her no mind. Just a standard patrol.
"Which one?" Bitch asked in a plain and tired tone.
Nanku watched her face. "Krieg."
Her reaction was no reaction at all.
They proceeded along the sidewalk toward the bus stop. Angelica trotted happily, tongue out and tail switching left and right. Nanku was in too good a mood to let Bitch's dourness affect her. The street was loud and smelling, but oddly peaceful. Humans young and old walking about their business. Cars driving by in a steady stream. The sun was nestled in some clouds but not enough to obscure its light.
It was… nice.
"Which one?" Bitch asked again as they stopped to wait.
"I told you."
"Not that one."
Nanku frowned.
Ah.
She meant, "The camp. He was the CEO of the company Pe'dte was following. He has to know something about what happened."
"Does he?"
"He was—"
"Lisa is boss of everything." Bitch looked Nanku in the eye. "She know everything?"
Nanku's frown became a scowl as the bus approached.
"Why do you care?" Nanku asked. "So what if he knows nothing? He's a bad blood. To the Black Warrior with him."
"Don't give a shit about him," Bitch said. "Fuck'um."
"Then wh—"
"Won't make it better," Bitch said once again, her voice dull and her eyes plain. "No point in it."
Justice.
A human concept. The Yautja had no sense of justice. There was the code, and what was proper for a true hunt. But those who broke those rules and expectations didn't meet justice. A bad blood who caused trouble could only be killed and their death wasn't about righting wrongs or punishing evildoers.
It was about protecting life when they recklessly endangered it. Like when they unleashed R'ka with no sense of propriety or containment.
…
But that wasn't why Nanku had to find the answer and kill it. She was human. Part of her, at least. A piece of Taylor that was still there and that Nanku didn't want anymore. Taylor's spirit needed satisfaction.
"Justice is the point," Nanku declared as the bus drove through the city.
"You're making revenge," Bitch replied.
Justice. Revenge. Same thing as far as Nanku could tell. "You took revenge."
"Yes."
"Those men were killing dogs. Making them fight."
"Yes."
"It was cruel."
"Yes."
"So—"
"There another camp about to die?"
Nanku straightened.
Bitch scratched Angelica behind the ears and stared at the window.
"Justice," she mumbled. "Just a word."
Her hand stilled and she looked Nanku in the eye.
"They killed dogs, and they'd keep killing dogs. Keep threatening our territory. Keep selling drugs. Keep trying to kill us, or Weaver, or others. Fuck'um. They picked the fight. We finished it."
"Then—"
"Not protecting anyone," Bitch continued. "Not protecting anything. Going after him to make you feel better."
The bus creaked to a stop and Bitch rose.
"Waste of time. You won't feel better. Nothing to protect. Nothing to save. No justice. Just murder."
"No diff—"
"Those dogs were still alive. Your mom and sister are alive. Fuck anyone who wants to change that."
Nanku glanced at the window.
This wasn't her stop. They weren't even near the kennel.
Bitch stormed off the bus with Angelica and went onto the street. Nanku continued to sit as the vehicle started and continued along its route. Her gait was stiff and angry. She didn't look back. Not even after the bus crossed the intersection and left sight.
What was that about?
Protecting the dogs. Her mother and Rose. She didn't mind that. Bitch didn't even seem to care about killing the Pure that much. Her own qualm with it seemed to be getting the local enforcers paying Nanku attention and chasing her.
Nanku did kill the Pure. What did another dead Nazi matt—
Protect.
Bitch was smarter than she got credit for. She knew what words meant and she knew how to use them. Maybe she wasn't dumb at all. What use did a smart person have to babble on and on and on when a single word was enough to make all the difference?
Justice was just a word.
All there really was, was protection and revenge.
For a human who didn't even know they existed, Bitch sure could think like a hunter.
Nanku slouched in her seat.
Didn't matter.
Bitch admitted it herself. She'd taken revenge before.
Nanku never heard her have any nightmares.
~ ~ ~
Sarah leaned toward the screen and grinned.
"What is that?"
The file was buried deep. She'd have to go through a lot of old records and shared drives and folders. A lot of it was the laziest digitization project ever. Just folders and files and more folders and files all stuffed on some dusty corner of the network where it was copied along with each new update but never purged.
Well, maybe some of it was lost. Sarah did see a few holes in whatever the hell it was she'd found.
The video played out in a terrible resolution. Cameras had come a long way and Sarah never appreciated it more.
Still. Even with the screen too dark and the resolution piss poor, Sarah was intrigued.
Did Gesellschaft even remember they had this? From what she could find virtually everyone involved had been killed ten years ago save a few. Max Anders' name was on some forms and papers but even he was dead now.
If they didn't know, she might just be able to get away with her.
Her scheme was in desperate need of a bang after all.
Something for the closing of the curtain.
Sarah glanced at the ground under her shrunken unusable legs and smiled warmly at the rolling mist.
It certainly took them long enough.
"Fog. So glad you decided to come."
With the press of a button, one of the screens in front of her became reflective.
Night glared down her nose, her skin pale as snow and her hair dark. Starting to gray a bit, actually.
"Sorry," Sarah offered. "So hard to hold a conversation with… That thing you do. Feel free to smash the mirror and eviscerate me if you want."
"No need," Night replied.
The fog on the ground rose slowly, wafting up and enveloping the room.
"Sorry about the dirt." Sarah waved a hand. "I don't exactly have money for janitorial staff."
"Aster," Night said. "Get her out."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" Sarah turned her chair around, exposing her misshapen body. Too long and thin on top, and with limp useless twig legs on the bottom. "Lovely as I am, I don't get out much myself. Not exactly rescue material."
"Die then."
Night stepped back and the fog rose higher.
"You think you can bust Aster out on your own?" Sarah laughed. "Please. You wouldn't even help her when she asked."
"She didn't," Night said pointedly.
Her voice was dull and monotone, but she could convey some real rage when she wanted to. And she was angry. Furious. At Sarah in particular.
Promised Kayden. Believed in her ability to keep her promise.
"Fair enough," Sarah conceded. "I pulled her strings, but let's be fair. You let her go. You know how you are Night. You're not fit to raise a child, let alone raise them the way Kayden hoped to."
Such a bizarre mess of a woman. Unable to escape her prejudices, unable to walk away from a man who used her. Dedicated to trying to personally raise her child to be better. Sarah wondered how she reconciled that, or how she managed to think Night was a viable choice to protect Aster if she died.
"You let me lead her off by the nose," Sarah continued. "Don't act all innocent now."
"You're worse than her."
She clearly didn't know Lisa very well.
"Does being annoyed about it get you any closer to getting Aster out?"
Sarah activated another display and showed the Rig. It was, to be fair, a real fortress. The location was awkward. Getting in undetected would be hard. Getting out and escaping—with her charge safely in tow—would be harder.
"Think you can get her out on your own? I should warn you. Weaver can shut you down. Oh, wait. You already learned that about her? Man that must be inconvenient."
Sarah turned away.
"So go ahead and blame me if it makes you feel better, but you can't get Aster back on your own."
"Thinker."
"Does that make it a lie?"
Night's normally placid expression flinched.
"Would you like some help?" Sarah smiled. "Not that you or Fog are anything to scoff at, but you have your shortcomings."
"I will kill you," Night replied.
"But?"
"But not today."
Her fist slammed into the mirror-monitor and shattered the glass. There was a platter of blood and bone from broken pale skin. The bloody hand pulled back and the fog on the floor took the shape of a pale man with messy dark hair.
Fog glowered at Sarah.
He wore murder far more openly than his wife.
"Where is Aster?"
Sarah had to admit.
It was beautiful when a plan came together.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Flounder 6.9
New
Little Hunter
Trent Bragg was not a hard man to find.
With his typical stalking grounds located, Nanku only needed three nights to track him down through Dusk and Dawn's eyes. The man cruised bars, going from place to place. Mostly on foot.
Nanku spent a few days simply following him. Looking at where he went. Who he met.
There was little consistency aside from the general area. Trent Bragg didn't seem to have any friends. He was friendly with lots of people but just that. The man cruised haphazardly from bar to bar, picking up money doing odd jobs one or the other.
Mostly bouncing and bartending.
Waiting across the street and out of sight on a fire escape, Nanku relied on her swarm to track his movements. She'd planted two black widows on his coat. Dusk and Dawn covered the flanks just in case and she kept a constant vigil on her back.
From her angle she could see fairly far. Relying on her swarm wouldn't work if the range had been discovered. Maybe her watchers didn't know the source but they'd figured she had some awareness of her surroundings and it generally reached out to a block.
She was in the southwest of the city, far from previous areas she'd run through. Hopefully, that kept anyone who wanted a fight off her back. If not, maybe she'd learn something useful.
It made Trent Bragg the obvious first target.
James Fliescher would take more time. His identity as Krieg was exposed. He never joined the Pure. Finding the man would be hard…
Especially since Nanku had killed most of the people who might know how to find him.
Not that Nanku would ever call it a mistake.
Inside the bar, Trent Bragg was managing rowdy patrons. The club was a bit dirtier than the others. A stage was the primary attraction and drunk men mostly sat around getting more drunk and watching women take their clothes off.
It was a very tiresome stakeout.
If only the man frequented the same locations more consistently. His patterns were so random. It made finding a good quiet place to drag him off for a chat difficult.
In the bar, Trent Bragg dragged one man to a side door and threw him out with the help of two others. The man—boy? He seemed young—had gotten 'handsy.' Apparently, that was against the rules.
Nanku presumed any man who had to go to such a place to touch a woman had failed in other regards.
What did that say about Trent Bragg? If anything.
When he finally left, Nanku followed. The man drank casually as he walked. A new set of strangers joined him. The men who helped him throw the other man out.
Nanku could only hear bits of the conversation but they clearly weren't close.
What a strange way to live.
Trent Bragg's next destination was another bar. He got work again, this time serving as a bouncer. He was physically imposing to his credit. Tall and broad-shouldered. Others were clearly intimidated by his presence at the club door.
It was a larger location than the last and lacked the stripping women. The main attraction was alcohol, drugs, and bands playing obnoxiously shaking music.
Actually searching the interior was hard. Earth insects were sensitive to vibrations. The music was violently shaking inside the club. Every insect Nanku sent became disoriented. Not quite confused, but partially blinded in their senses.
The task took four times as long as it should.
Not that Trent ever moved away from the front door for most of it. He stayed outside, but watching him and searching for an opportunity was boring work.
The club was weird. Not just because it was dark with beams of light dimly filling the room. That was a typical club and bar, apparently.
Aside from the spacious interior—which had three stories with an open center all overlooking the main stage—there was a whole back area that consisted of more than half the building. Even discounting the kitchen and storeroom where the alcohol came from.
Many of the rooms on the upper floors were empty or filled with boxes. One was an obnoxiously large bedroom with two beds and a single occupant. One floor, oddly, was sealed tight. Or at least so tight Nanku couldn't get any bugs into it.
The area was sealed.
Nanku had seen a lot of clubs.
Many. Clubs.
Many. Many. Clubs.
None of the others had that.
Nanku sent Dusk around the back but that revealed nothing. All the exterior facing windows were covered, and they had security cameras watching the rear approaches.
Palanquin was the name over the door.
The letters gave Nanku a bad feeling.
He stuck around there for a few hours, went in, and drank and few hours more.
Nanku took a breath and prepared herself to leave. Getting anywhere safe with Dusk and Dawn in daylight was too risky. She couldn't follow the man all over town when he slept all day and still never put himself anywhere she could—
When he did leave the Palenquin as Nanku prepared to go, he went back the way he'd come.
That was the way Nanku needed to go.
She might as well.
Nanku pulled Dusk and Dawn away and followed Trent two blocks north. They weren't near his apartment. He pulled out his phone a few times and checked it but Nanku couldn't see the screen.
Where was he going?
He went to an apartment building not his own. Rode an elevator to a floor not his own. Went to a door not his own.
A woman met him. They chatted a bit at the door and she let him inside.
Then the clothes started going off.
Nanku sighed.
There were things she just wasn't interested in seeing, but she saw them anyway.
She did her best to distract herself.
The apartment might finally be her chance. There was a balcony so she could get inside quickly and out just as quickly. There was only the woman to worry about as a witness.
Maybe Nanku would get lucky and Trent was good enough in the act to leave her asleep. It took some time. The sun would rise soon.
Well, Nanku could just hide in the apartment.
Eventually, her chance came.
Nanku got Dusk to help her cross the road. The Twins landed on the balcony and hurried over the lip to avoid being seen. Nanku scaled the building under the cover of her cloak and dropped between them.
Neither of her targets were moving.
The balcony door wasn't locked. It was four stories up. Why would the resident bother? Foolish, but usefully so.
Dusk and Dawn went in first, skittering into the apartment amid a small swarm. Nanku checked the front door and ensured it was locked. The other doors led only to bathrooms, bedrooms, an office, and closets. To be sure she'd have the time, Nanku dragged a chair over and braced it against the door.
That seemed too feeble, even if everyone did it on television.
She lifted the fridge and set it down behind the door instead. Her strength made it easy enough to do.
Front door secure. Dusk and Dawn are in the living room.
Nanku drew some line from her gauntlet and slipped into the room.
The woman was in the bathroom, but she wasn't paying any attention in the shower. Nanku grabbed a garment from the ground. She prepared her line and was quick to storm the bathroom. The woman didn't manage a scream before she was gagged and Nanku used her line to bind her wrists and ankles. Once she was secure, Nanku turned off the water and threw a towel over her.
"Be silent or die."
The latter wouldn't happen. She was unarmed.
But if thinking differently kept her quiet for a time, good. The gag probably wouldn't last the whole day.
Nanku grabbed Trent Bragg by the neck and wrenched him from the bed. He woke with a start. One elbow shot back and Nanku met it with her own. His bone bounced and she punched him in the shoulder.
"Be still," Nanku snarled. "And speak only when spoken to."
"Wha—"
She punched him again. Hard.
Nanku dragged him into the living room. Dusk and Dawn flanked him. They hissed and fluttered their wings. Bore their teeth and presented themselves with threat displays. Trent was disoriented from his lazy reaction.
His body hit the couch and Nanku sat on the short table. She found the remote and turned the TV on. The noise would be a decent distraction, especially when she found some horror movie channel. Plenty of screams and weird noises.
And no reality TV.
Trent Bragg strained while she bound him to the couch.
"What are—"
She punched him again.
"Be still," Nanku repeated, "and speak only when spoken to."
Nanku drew the curtain over the window shut and swept the building. She had full coverage. Every room, stair, and doorway. The sun was starting to rise. She wouldn't be leaving until morning. For safety, she began gathering small swarms in dark places. Empty rooms. Utility closets. The elevator shafts.
If anything happened, she'd be prepared.
Nanku returned to sitting on the table and deactivated her cloak.
She watched the man quietly.
He watched her back. When he wasn't watching Dusk or Dawn on either side of him. The two bugs snapped and clacked their jaws and talons to keep him constantly aware of their presence. Frazzled, but not so frazzled he became numb or incoherent.
Nanku needed the man startled but cognizant.
From her belt, she produced a piece of paper she'd printed.
Nanku set between the man's legs a mere inch from his crotch. With a knife to pin it in place.
Trent Bragg looked down.
Murder of Daniel Hebert, Still Unsolved
The man blinked.
"D—Danny?" He raised his head and shivered at the sight of the tall and fierce figure sitting before him. "This is about Danny?"
Nanku pointed at the paper and nodded.
"Five minutes," she said. "Tell me, and you live."
The man blinked at her, but his wariness faded.
Instead, he turned angry.
"The fuck is with everyone thinking I did it?!" he asked, incredulous. "Seriously! Lacy. The cops. His damn wife!"
Nanku stilled.
"I didn't kill him! Jesus come on! It's been twelve years why are you guys still on me about this?! What are you some kind of Shadow Stalker fan? I fucking told the rest of them! All I did was mess with my fucking timecard! It was stupid okay! I get it it's stealing but Danny let me keep the money and he let me quit instead of firing me! I had nothing against him Jesus fuck! I didn't fucking kill him! I don't know who killed Danny! It just wasn't m—"
Nanku grabbed his throat to silence him.
She leaned in, looking him in the eye with the lenses of her mask.
"His wife?"
~ ~ ~
Annette glowered at the evidence.
The screen over their booth prevented anyone else from seeing the contents or overhearing their discussion. Not everyone who used the private booths was a cape, but they ended up working for a lot of people. Such things were commonplace even where capes weren't frequent patrons.
Which only meant they served the purposes of capes even better.
It had all been there. None of it was new, or even hidden. All of the pieces to find her way to the truth had been there when she started. The string of murders in Europe. The odd source of 'something' from Africa. The death of Max Anders' wife in Boston.
She could have figured it all out years ago.
Instead, she fell into the same hole that always fumbled thinkers. She tunnel-visioned. Focused too much on the most obvious or convoluted thing. The creatures themselves. The assumption that Nilbog must have been related to the massacre.
Annette got carried away, and look what came of it? Multiple dead, her daughter alive and missing for a decade, and the source of whatever had massacred the camp was still out there.
And worse…
"She's going to go after Krieg," Annette determined.
"Probably," Lisa agreed. "Not sure we should stop her, exactly. When it was in our backyard it was one thing but fuck the Nazis and fuck whatever the hell they unleashed. On this one, I'm half inclined to help her rather than play damage control after the fact."
But they never used it again. Not that Annette or Lisa could find. The camp was a one-time event, whereas the murders and strange incidents went back centuries. The Nazis might have brought the problem near Brockton Bay, but they didn't create it.
"Did you find anything about those cases I sent you?" Annette asked.
"No." Lisa gave her a worried look. "It's a bit crazy, Anne."
"I know."
"Not that I'm saying you're wrong, but is it something we want to get involved with?"
She was working up her courage to say something. Annette could sense it.
Lisa sighed. "Fine. I'll say it. She's lost to you."
About what Annette expected.
"I mean it, Anne. Maybe she doesn't hate you as much as she thinks. She's angry and bitter and basically a young adult pissed at mommy… But she went pretty out of her way to paint the city in a very Nazi shade of red to protect you, and Rose, so she doesn't hate you that much."
"I know."
But Taylor was still her daughter, and if she went after Krieg—who had all but ceased to exist as a cape in a public sense—she might never be safe.
Killing the Pure was one thing. That could be spun. They were Nazis anyway; others were more worried they'd be next than they really sympathized with the Nazis.
But if she killed Krieg by hunting him down in his secret identity then Nanku would truly have a target on her back.
No cape would hold back against someone who killed freely and showed no compunction about killing through secret identities.
"We need to settle this ourselves."
"It's worse." Lisa sighed and pushed another paper Annette's way. "She's onto your dirty little secret, Anne. And yes. I know. Of course, I fucking know."
Annette paled and grabbed the paper. "She found Trent..."
"Yeah, and from him it's only a few more steps to the truth. You think killing capes and crooks is bad? Wait until she does whatever she's planning to do to her dad's killer. She's foggy to me because all her body language is off, but I get enough Anne. She's literally going to skin him alive."
Anne set the paper down and reached for her phone under the table.
Decisions made.
Lisa stiffened. "Anne."
"It's the only way."
"No. We go the nuclear option and we—"
"I won't fail her again, and we need to take control of this situation now."
Lisa groaned. "I reiterate that I hate this plan."
"It wraps everything up in a bow. If it works."
"If it works."
"It's also not something our actual enemy will see coming," Annette noted.
"No. No, I agree. Especially if her primary goal is to make me miserable. Like I can't do that myself."
Lisa looked away and Annette allowed herself to feel guilty for a moment.
It was for their own good, and if they hated her then they were alive to hate her.
With a few quick taps, Annette inhaled and sent the text message. It would relay through a few other numbers, all anonymous, and ultimately find its way to Hannah.
A simple tip.
Five words.
Hellhound is helping the hunter.
***
No mistakes were made.
Said someone who will never be proven wrong.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Trent Bragg was not a hard man to find.
With his typical stalking grounds located, Nanku only needed three nights to track him down through Dusk and Dawn's eyes. The man cruised bars, going from place to place. Mostly on foot.
Nanku spent a few days simply following him. Looking at where he went. Who he met.
There was little consistency aside from the general area. Trent Bragg didn't seem to have any friends. He was friendly with lots of people but just that. The man cruised haphazardly from bar to bar, picking up money doing odd jobs one or the other.
Mostly bouncing and bartending.
Waiting across the street and out of sight on a fire escape, Nanku relied on her swarm to track his movements. She'd planted two black widows on his coat. Dusk and Dawn covered the flanks just in case and she kept a constant vigil on her back.
From her angle she could see fairly far. Relying on her swarm wouldn't work if the range had been discovered. Maybe her watchers didn't know the source but they'd figured she had some awareness of her surroundings and it generally reached out to a block.
She was in the southwest of the city, far from previous areas she'd run through. Hopefully, that kept anyone who wanted a fight off her back. If not, maybe she'd learn something useful.
It made Trent Bragg the obvious first target.
James Fliescher would take more time. His identity as Krieg was exposed. He never joined the Pure. Finding the man would be hard…
Especially since Nanku had killed most of the people who might know how to find him.
Not that Nanku would ever call it a mistake.
Inside the bar, Trent Bragg was managing rowdy patrons. The club was a bit dirtier than the others. A stage was the primary attraction and drunk men mostly sat around getting more drunk and watching women take their clothes off.
It was a very tiresome stakeout.
If only the man frequented the same locations more consistently. His patterns were so random. It made finding a good quiet place to drag him off for a chat difficult.
In the bar, Trent Bragg dragged one man to a side door and threw him out with the help of two others. The man—boy? He seemed young—had gotten 'handsy.' Apparently, that was against the rules.
Nanku presumed any man who had to go to such a place to touch a woman had failed in other regards.
What did that say about Trent Bragg? If anything.
When he finally left, Nanku followed. The man drank casually as he walked. A new set of strangers joined him. The men who helped him throw the other man out.
Nanku could only hear bits of the conversation but they clearly weren't close.
What a strange way to live.
Trent Bragg's next destination was another bar. He got work again, this time serving as a bouncer. He was physically imposing to his credit. Tall and broad-shouldered. Others were clearly intimidated by his presence at the club door.
It was a larger location than the last and lacked the stripping women. The main attraction was alcohol, drugs, and bands playing obnoxiously shaking music.
Actually searching the interior was hard. Earth insects were sensitive to vibrations. The music was violently shaking inside the club. Every insect Nanku sent became disoriented. Not quite confused, but partially blinded in their senses.
The task took four times as long as it should.
Not that Trent ever moved away from the front door for most of it. He stayed outside, but watching him and searching for an opportunity was boring work.
The club was weird. Not just because it was dark with beams of light dimly filling the room. That was a typical club and bar, apparently.
Aside from the spacious interior—which had three stories with an open center all overlooking the main stage—there was a whole back area that consisted of more than half the building. Even discounting the kitchen and storeroom where the alcohol came from.
Many of the rooms on the upper floors were empty or filled with boxes. One was an obnoxiously large bedroom with two beds and a single occupant. One floor, oddly, was sealed tight. Or at least so tight Nanku couldn't get any bugs into it.
The area was sealed.
Nanku had seen a lot of clubs.
Many. Clubs.
Many. Many. Clubs.
None of the others had that.
Nanku sent Dusk around the back but that revealed nothing. All the exterior facing windows were covered, and they had security cameras watching the rear approaches.
Palanquin was the name over the door.
The letters gave Nanku a bad feeling.
He stuck around there for a few hours, went in, and drank and few hours more.
Nanku took a breath and prepared herself to leave. Getting anywhere safe with Dusk and Dawn in daylight was too risky. She couldn't follow the man all over town when he slept all day and still never put himself anywhere she could—
When he did leave the Palenquin as Nanku prepared to go, he went back the way he'd come.
That was the way Nanku needed to go.
She might as well.
Nanku pulled Dusk and Dawn away and followed Trent two blocks north. They weren't near his apartment. He pulled out his phone a few times and checked it but Nanku couldn't see the screen.
Where was he going?
He went to an apartment building not his own. Rode an elevator to a floor not his own. Went to a door not his own.
A woman met him. They chatted a bit at the door and she let him inside.
Then the clothes started going off.
Nanku sighed.
There were things she just wasn't interested in seeing, but she saw them anyway.
She did her best to distract herself.
The apartment might finally be her chance. There was a balcony so she could get inside quickly and out just as quickly. There was only the woman to worry about as a witness.
Maybe Nanku would get lucky and Trent was good enough in the act to leave her asleep. It took some time. The sun would rise soon.
Well, Nanku could just hide in the apartment.
Eventually, her chance came.
Nanku got Dusk to help her cross the road. The Twins landed on the balcony and hurried over the lip to avoid being seen. Nanku scaled the building under the cover of her cloak and dropped between them.
Neither of her targets were moving.
The balcony door wasn't locked. It was four stories up. Why would the resident bother? Foolish, but usefully so.
Dusk and Dawn went in first, skittering into the apartment amid a small swarm. Nanku checked the front door and ensured it was locked. The other doors led only to bathrooms, bedrooms, an office, and closets. To be sure she'd have the time, Nanku dragged a chair over and braced it against the door.
That seemed too feeble, even if everyone did it on television.
She lifted the fridge and set it down behind the door instead. Her strength made it easy enough to do.
Front door secure. Dusk and Dawn are in the living room.
Nanku drew some line from her gauntlet and slipped into the room.
The woman was in the bathroom, but she wasn't paying any attention in the shower. Nanku grabbed a garment from the ground. She prepared her line and was quick to storm the bathroom. The woman didn't manage a scream before she was gagged and Nanku used her line to bind her wrists and ankles. Once she was secure, Nanku turned off the water and threw a towel over her.
"Be silent or die."
The latter wouldn't happen. She was unarmed.
But if thinking differently kept her quiet for a time, good. The gag probably wouldn't last the whole day.
Nanku grabbed Trent Bragg by the neck and wrenched him from the bed. He woke with a start. One elbow shot back and Nanku met it with her own. His bone bounced and she punched him in the shoulder.
"Be still," Nanku snarled. "And speak only when spoken to."
"Wha—"
She punched him again. Hard.
Nanku dragged him into the living room. Dusk and Dawn flanked him. They hissed and fluttered their wings. Bore their teeth and presented themselves with threat displays. Trent was disoriented from his lazy reaction.
His body hit the couch and Nanku sat on the short table. She found the remote and turned the TV on. The noise would be a decent distraction, especially when she found some horror movie channel. Plenty of screams and weird noises.
And no reality TV.
Trent Bragg strained while she bound him to the couch.
"What are—"
She punched him again.
"Be still," Nanku repeated, "and speak only when spoken to."
Nanku drew the curtain over the window shut and swept the building. She had full coverage. Every room, stair, and doorway. The sun was starting to rise. She wouldn't be leaving until morning. For safety, she began gathering small swarms in dark places. Empty rooms. Utility closets. The elevator shafts.
If anything happened, she'd be prepared.
Nanku returned to sitting on the table and deactivated her cloak.
She watched the man quietly.
He watched her back. When he wasn't watching Dusk or Dawn on either side of him. The two bugs snapped and clacked their jaws and talons to keep him constantly aware of their presence. Frazzled, but not so frazzled he became numb or incoherent.
Nanku needed the man startled but cognizant.
From her belt, she produced a piece of paper she'd printed.
Nanku set between the man's legs a mere inch from his crotch. With a knife to pin it in place.
Trent Bragg looked down.
Murder of Daniel Hebert, Still Unsolved
The man blinked.
"D—Danny?" He raised his head and shivered at the sight of the tall and fierce figure sitting before him. "This is about Danny?"
Nanku pointed at the paper and nodded.
"Five minutes," she said. "Tell me, and you live."
The man blinked at her, but his wariness faded.
Instead, he turned angry.
"The fuck is with everyone thinking I did it?!" he asked, incredulous. "Seriously! Lacy. The cops. His damn wife!"
Nanku stilled.
"I didn't kill him! Jesus come on! It's been twelve years why are you guys still on me about this?! What are you some kind of Shadow Stalker fan? I fucking told the rest of them! All I did was mess with my fucking timecard! It was stupid okay! I get it it's stealing but Danny let me keep the money and he let me quit instead of firing me! I had nothing against him Jesus fuck! I didn't fucking kill him! I don't know who killed Danny! It just wasn't m—"
Nanku grabbed his throat to silence him.
She leaned in, looking him in the eye with the lenses of her mask.
"His wife?"
~ ~ ~
Annette glowered at the evidence.
The screen over their booth prevented anyone else from seeing the contents or overhearing their discussion. Not everyone who used the private booths was a cape, but they ended up working for a lot of people. Such things were commonplace even where capes weren't frequent patrons.
Which only meant they served the purposes of capes even better.
It had all been there. None of it was new, or even hidden. All of the pieces to find her way to the truth had been there when she started. The string of murders in Europe. The odd source of 'something' from Africa. The death of Max Anders' wife in Boston.
She could have figured it all out years ago.
Instead, she fell into the same hole that always fumbled thinkers. She tunnel-visioned. Focused too much on the most obvious or convoluted thing. The creatures themselves. The assumption that Nilbog must have been related to the massacre.
Annette got carried away, and look what came of it? Multiple dead, her daughter alive and missing for a decade, and the source of whatever had massacred the camp was still out there.
And worse…
"She's going to go after Krieg," Annette determined.
"Probably," Lisa agreed. "Not sure we should stop her, exactly. When it was in our backyard it was one thing but fuck the Nazis and fuck whatever the hell they unleashed. On this one, I'm half inclined to help her rather than play damage control after the fact."
But they never used it again. Not that Annette or Lisa could find. The camp was a one-time event, whereas the murders and strange incidents went back centuries. The Nazis might have brought the problem near Brockton Bay, but they didn't create it.
"Did you find anything about those cases I sent you?" Annette asked.
"No." Lisa gave her a worried look. "It's a bit crazy, Anne."
"I know."
"Not that I'm saying you're wrong, but is it something we want to get involved with?"
She was working up her courage to say something. Annette could sense it.
Lisa sighed. "Fine. I'll say it. She's lost to you."
About what Annette expected.
"I mean it, Anne. Maybe she doesn't hate you as much as she thinks. She's angry and bitter and basically a young adult pissed at mommy… But she went pretty out of her way to paint the city in a very Nazi shade of red to protect you, and Rose, so she doesn't hate you that much."
"I know."
But Taylor was still her daughter, and if she went after Krieg—who had all but ceased to exist as a cape in a public sense—she might never be safe.
Killing the Pure was one thing. That could be spun. They were Nazis anyway; others were more worried they'd be next than they really sympathized with the Nazis.
But if she killed Krieg by hunting him down in his secret identity then Nanku would truly have a target on her back.
No cape would hold back against someone who killed freely and showed no compunction about killing through secret identities.
"We need to settle this ourselves."
"It's worse." Lisa sighed and pushed another paper Annette's way. "She's onto your dirty little secret, Anne. And yes. I know. Of course, I fucking know."
Annette paled and grabbed the paper. "She found Trent..."
"Yeah, and from him it's only a few more steps to the truth. You think killing capes and crooks is bad? Wait until she does whatever she's planning to do to her dad's killer. She's foggy to me because all her body language is off, but I get enough Anne. She's literally going to skin him alive."
Anne set the paper down and reached for her phone under the table.
Decisions made.
Lisa stiffened. "Anne."
"It's the only way."
"No. We go the nuclear option and we—"
"I won't fail her again, and we need to take control of this situation now."
Lisa groaned. "I reiterate that I hate this plan."
"It wraps everything up in a bow. If it works."
"If it works."
"It's also not something our actual enemy will see coming," Annette noted.
"No. No, I agree. Especially if her primary goal is to make me miserable. Like I can't do that myself."
Lisa looked away and Annette allowed herself to feel guilty for a moment.
It was for their own good, and if they hated her then they were alive to hate her.
With a few quick taps, Annette inhaled and sent the text message. It would relay through a few other numbers, all anonymous, and ultimately find its way to Hannah.
A simple tip.
Five words.
Hellhound is helping the hunter.
***
No mistakes were made.
Said someone who will never be proven wrong.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
War 7.1
New
Little Hunter
Trent looked left as Dusk snapped. Jerked right when Dawn stabbed a claw into the couch between his thighs. Nanku kept him guessing. Unsure where the next shock or demand would come. Off-balance. Unable to brace himself he would say the first thing that came to mind.
Nanku hoped that would be the truth.
"Why would his wife come to you?" she pressed.
"Same reason the cops did!" Trent Bragg answered. "She thought I did it but—But I didn't! Swear to god! I had nothing against Dan! He was a good guy!"
"He fired you," Nanku growled.
"And he let me finish the month so I could collect unemployment!"
"Then you killed him."
"I didn't do it!" The man shook his head frantically and squirmed against his bindings. "I swear I didn't hurt Dan! I was pissed okay!? It was bullshit I didn't deserve to be fired but that wasn't Dan's fault! Lacy's the one who caught me!"
Nanku tilted her head. "Lacy?"
He nodded energetically. "Y—Yeah! It was dumb too! Everyone fudges their time card! Everyone does it! I swear!"
Nanku slammed a fist into the couch by his knee.
He flinched, eyes wide and fixed on her. Shaking and wary. But quiet enough.
"Fudging?" Nanku asked.
"Yeah. You know. Fudging? What? Capes don't do that at work?"
Nanku growled. "What is it?"
"You know. You work an eight-hour shift but you need to make rent so you say you worked nine to get a little overtime."
Nanku needed to puzzle that for… Longer than she wanted to admit. Shifts. Overtime. Rent. Nanku didn't really deal in those things.
"You were stealing," she surmised.
"It's not stealing! The Association charges to the client!"
"Then who pays the overtime?"
"The association!"
"Stealing."
"No, no. It doesn't work that—"
Nanku punched again.
She had no interest in whatever lies he wanted to tell. Stealing was stealing. She wasn't close to dumb enough to believe otherwise.
"He fired you for stealing."
"He—He said he had to let me go, okay? Fine. Whatever. Shit happens. Maybe I pushed too much or whatever. I don't know! Danny didn't seem to care that much."
"He didn't care about you stealing?" Nanku didn't believe him.
"I mean—I mean he kept looking at the time cards and stuff the whole time so I don't know. He had to see everyone was doing it. Just fired me to make a point. It's cool. I get it. It happens! I didn't kill Danny! I swear! It wasn't me!"
Nanku glanced away and rose from her seat.
Time cards? A man was stealing from him and instead of focusing on the man himself, her father was focused on time cards?
Nanku tilted her head. "You said a month?"
"Y—Yeah. Why?"
A week. "Did you stop working before or after he died?"
"B—Before. Why?"
Did it mean nothing?
Nanku turned back. "Everyone did this?"
"I said that already!"
"But he only fired you?"
"Jesus. What, is his wife on a radio or something?"
"Why?"
"She did the same thing you're doing. Getting all weird and making me repeat shit." He swallowed. "And then she let me go. A—Are you going to let me go?"
His date for the night was still tied up in the shower. Nanku didn't think the woman had even seen much. Trent Bragg had seen much, and Nanku didn't want him saying too much. It might warn her prey she was coming.
But that was what the code was for.
If you just did anything you wanted to do, you were no different from a mad dog.
Nanku was not a mad dog.
"Best you pretend this never happened," she warned. Dusk and Dawn snapped their jaws and Trent whimpered. "I don't have a reason to come back. Now."
She could pretend.
Going to the bathroom, Nanku untied the woman. Who actually lived in the apartment. And looked like she was utterly furious but too afraid to act on it.
"Sorry."
Nanku sat her down in a more comfortable position and tied her back up.
"Seriously?" she asked.
"I will fucking scre—"
Fortunately, she'd left her clothes on the bathroom floor and Nanku pushed them into the woman's mouth. It was her own fault. Nanku was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until she said she'd give Nanku away.
So she could sit in her shower and wait until Nanku left.
Trent Bragg struggled and squirmed on the couch when she returned.
"So"—he jerked away from Dawn—"are you taking your, um, pets with you?"
"Yes."
"Can I get up?"
"No."
"But—"
Nanku pointed at the window. "I'll be gone once the sun sets."
"What? But—What about—"
Nanku sighed.
She decided to just make things simple. It's not like the two of them hadn't been intimate already.
Nanku tied Trent up, dragged him into the shower, and dropped him beside his date. And she gagged him too.
"Be quiet," Nanku said. "I'll untie you when I leave. Never see me again unless you give me a reason."
The building appeared normal. Since her arrival there had been no significant change in the behaviors of anyone inside. No eyes looking at the room from anywhere. No police. No flying parahumans. All was quiet and seemed set to stay quiet.
And Nanku settled in to wait.
~ ~ ~
She did not think this through.
The woman apparently made none of her own food. The contents of her kitchen were crackers, spices for food she didn't have, and lots of wine and ice cream. Which wasn't going to feed anyone.
Nanku had to get creative.
"Melanie" had money, fortunately. And clothes. None of them fit Nanku well but there were some sundresses that seemed to work. Nanku shut the bathroom door, threw one on, and stuffed her armor to the side.
When the pizza guy showed up she took her boxes and gave him his money. With correct change.
Except he stared at her like she'd kicked him.
"What?" she asked.
"No tip?" he asked back.
"I paid for the pizzas."
"But—"
Nanku shut the door and shook her head.
Humans were so selfish.
Tossing the dress aside, Nanku got her armor back on and set two of the pizzas down for Dusk and Dawn. They dug into and tore the pies apart. Meat lovers. Extra meat.
The third pizza Nanku took to the bathroom.
She set it down and glared from behind her mask. "Make any noise besides eating and you can go hungry."
No food for a day wouldn't kill them.
Not that they didn't complain anyway.
"I'm Vegan," Melanie said angrily.
"What?"
"She doesn't eat fish," Trent said.
"That is not what Vegan is," Melanie growled.
"Sorry?"
"You're going to be more—"
"Eat it or eat nothing." Nanku had no interest in a lover's spat. "Keep it down."
She could see Melanie thinking about it.
Which was a good time for Dawn to poke her head into the bathroom with tomato and cheese all over her face. It did look suitably gory if one had no idea what gore looked like. Melanie paled, took some pizza when given the chance, and picked the cheese off the top.
So Vegan was someone who didn't eat cheese?
That seemed weirdly specific.
Nanku let them eat and drink and tied them back up. She was willing to be kind, but not stupid.
With them and the Twins taken care of Nanku ate her own food. Melanie lacked a widescreen but that was fine. Nanku found animal planet, turned it on, and used the oddly soothing narrator's voice as background noise.
She had a lot to think about. It seemed as good a time as any.
Time cards.
A man was stealing from the Dockworkers—her father's other child—and he was more interested in the timecards than the man who was stealing. What did that mean? It meant something. Taylor had been a child when her father died but she knew how timecards worked and she knew her father treated them very seriously.
Paperwork.
More paperwork.
Catching Trent was the start of something. Her father went looking at the timecards—Trent claimed everyone fudged them—and he found something. Something that led him to a strange shipment that either did or didn't exist, and then his death.
Did that help her, or make it more complicated?
It had been nearly three months now. A quarter of her time on Earth and she was still chasing trails.
And her mother.
Her mother had already found Trent? How. He wasn't in the police file. Did she simply do what Nanku did? No. No, she found him on the Internet. Barely looking. She'd simply followed some basic clues.
Surely the police would have—
Nanku shot to her feet and hurried into the bathroom to remove Trent's gag.
"Can I get some water?" he asked.
Nanku didn't care. "The police came to speak with you?"
"Yeah? Duh?"
"And Annette Hebert?"
"Yes? Her too? Wha—"
She gagged him and left the room with a cold stare.
Her mother didn't mention Trent Bagg in the slightest. He wasn't in the file on her father's murder either.
…
The file was doctored.
They gave her a fake, or at least, they'd removed some of the conten—No. The file had an inventory. They'd manufactured one that wouldn't look weird to her. All of the papers. Everything. How much of it could she even trust?
Her mother knew.
She knew.
She knew who killed her father and she was… Doing nothing?
Nanku sat and stared. Bid her time. Stuck to her plan.
It was no time to overreact.
She inhaled and waited with her soon lukewarm and then cold pizza. The day was long. Arduous. Downright agonizing. She paced and grumbled to herself.
She could believe a lot of ill things about her mother.
That the woman would outright sabotage her—willfully obstruct her—was new. Behind the bitterness, Nanku knew what motivated her all those years ago. Fear. Desperation. Pain.
She wasn't a monster. She was terrified.
This?
This was different and Nanku wanted to scream.
She didn't. It would draw attention. She was in no mood. Something would happen she'd regret.
So she sat. And waited. Scratched Dusk and Dawn and brewed. She did improvise briefly. Melanie had plenty of clothes. She could spare a few.
When the sun went down and Nanku could finally leave, she sent Dusk and Dawn out the window.
Nanku left through the lobby.
A bus took her close to her mother's apartment. She played the moment by ear. Swept the streets with bugs. Thoroughly. She moved back and forth across several blocks, surveying a wider area than her power covered, and searched for any sign of someone waiting just out of her range.
There were some suspicious vehicles and some observation equipment. Nanku used alleyways to avoid them and had a fly temporarily land on one to obstruct its view. Nanku passed by while it couldn't see her clearly and sent the fly away after she'd passed.
The apartment building itself was not being observed. Nanku guessed no one expected her to come back.
It was so obviously a terrible idea.
That didn't stop Laserdream from flying overhead. Dusk and Dawn had to hide but the woman hovered about for a minute and then left.
Kid Win could see through her cloak. Nanku would assume all of the Protectorate could.
But she wasn't cloaked.
She was on the street among dozens of others.
No one paid her any mind as she approached the apartment.
Rose was inside, and the boy. Dauntless' son. Rose's half-brother. There was no sign of their parents. Good. That meant Nanku could simply go in and find what she wanted.
It had to be somewhere and Nanku had a good idea the apartment was the first place to look.
She kept her swarm active and watching as she went up the elevator and down the hall.
She knocked.
"Who is it?" a boy's voice answered.
"Pizza delivery," Nanku lied.
Rose shot to her feet and hurried to the door before her brother could stop her.
She opened the door with a smile and a, "Hi Nanku."
"Hello, Rose."
Nanku entered quickly and Rose blinked.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"No," Nanku lied.
She would not make her anger Rose's problem, she told herself. She wouldn't do what her mother did. "Where are they?"
The boy looked at her and paled. He jumped to his feet and hurried across the room while Rose closed the door.
Before she could answer, the boy moved between Nanku and Rose with a stern expression.
"Addison!" Rose complained.
"You need to leave," he said to Nanku. Firmly. With certainty. A lot of it for someone shaking so much. "Or I'll call the PRT."
Nanku gave a slight nod of approval.
And proceeded into the bedroom.
"Hey!"
"I'm looking for something."
She sent bugs into every nook. Every corner. She'd been to the apartment before and found nothing too strange. Maybe it wasn't kept in the—
A spider crawled into the back of a drawer. Nanku had seen it before but she paid it no mind. Or she just didn't notice. Or it was new.
In either case, the drawer went too far back. It was bigger inside than the dresser it was in.
Nanku went around the bed and nearly ripped the drawer out. It was bigger. How did it possibly fit? There wasn't a hole in the wall behind the dresser. It just fit?
Parahumans.
Nanku removed a false bottom because it was deeper too, but she found her file.
With a snarl, Nanku ripped it out and quickly searched through the contents. It looked more or less like the file she'd already gone through. Same pages. Mostly. Same evidence. Mostly. Either her mother thought she might find the real file and prepared a second fake, or she'd doctored one that was mostly right while hiding the real one away.
The real one had a few extra pages. A longer suspect list and more interviews.
"I'm done." Nanku clapped the file closed and turned to leave. "Have a nice night."
Addison backed up and kept Rose behind him.
The news was on the TV.
Nanku saw the fire and the explosion first. The bright light against the dark street drew her gaze. A building was burning and taking out a pair of cars next to it while a huge hulking creature roared at a pack of men in costumes.
Typical parahu—
Nanku stilled again.
She read the headline three times.
'Brawl in Captain's Hill: Hellhound Sighted'
"What happened?" Rose asked.
Addison continued standing between Nanku and Rose.
Bitch rode one of her dogs, a bat in hand while she shouted at the capes. Nanku couldn't make out their costumes. Not the Protectorate. They'd have help from the PRT and lots of flashing red and blue lights. Nanku didn't see any of that in the video so it was someone else.
Nanku called Dusk and Dawn to the balcony and grabbed the backpack from Dawn.
Addison stared with a pale face.
Rose went up and scratched the Twins under their jaws like they liked.
Nanku went around a corner to hurriedly change and left the bag and dress behind.
"Go inside," she told Rose.
Dusk and Dawn beat the air with their wings and flew off.
Nanku activated her cloak and jumped as the shroud enveloped her.
***
Bitches gonna get stiches. But not Bitch. Maybe. We'll see.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Trent looked left as Dusk snapped. Jerked right when Dawn stabbed a claw into the couch between his thighs. Nanku kept him guessing. Unsure where the next shock or demand would come. Off-balance. Unable to brace himself he would say the first thing that came to mind.
Nanku hoped that would be the truth.
"Why would his wife come to you?" she pressed.
"Same reason the cops did!" Trent Bragg answered. "She thought I did it but—But I didn't! Swear to god! I had nothing against Dan! He was a good guy!"
"He fired you," Nanku growled.
"And he let me finish the month so I could collect unemployment!"
"Then you killed him."
"I didn't do it!" The man shook his head frantically and squirmed against his bindings. "I swear I didn't hurt Dan! I was pissed okay!? It was bullshit I didn't deserve to be fired but that wasn't Dan's fault! Lacy's the one who caught me!"
Nanku tilted her head. "Lacy?"
He nodded energetically. "Y—Yeah! It was dumb too! Everyone fudges their time card! Everyone does it! I swear!"
Nanku slammed a fist into the couch by his knee.
He flinched, eyes wide and fixed on her. Shaking and wary. But quiet enough.
"Fudging?" Nanku asked.
"Yeah. You know. Fudging? What? Capes don't do that at work?"
Nanku growled. "What is it?"
"You know. You work an eight-hour shift but you need to make rent so you say you worked nine to get a little overtime."
Nanku needed to puzzle that for… Longer than she wanted to admit. Shifts. Overtime. Rent. Nanku didn't really deal in those things.
"You were stealing," she surmised.
"It's not stealing! The Association charges to the client!"
"Then who pays the overtime?"
"The association!"
"Stealing."
"No, no. It doesn't work that—"
Nanku punched again.
She had no interest in whatever lies he wanted to tell. Stealing was stealing. She wasn't close to dumb enough to believe otherwise.
"He fired you for stealing."
"He—He said he had to let me go, okay? Fine. Whatever. Shit happens. Maybe I pushed too much or whatever. I don't know! Danny didn't seem to care that much."
"He didn't care about you stealing?" Nanku didn't believe him.
"I mean—I mean he kept looking at the time cards and stuff the whole time so I don't know. He had to see everyone was doing it. Just fired me to make a point. It's cool. I get it. It happens! I didn't kill Danny! I swear! It wasn't me!"
Nanku glanced away and rose from her seat.
Time cards? A man was stealing from him and instead of focusing on the man himself, her father was focused on time cards?
Nanku tilted her head. "You said a month?"
"Y—Yeah. Why?"
A week. "Did you stop working before or after he died?"
"B—Before. Why?"
Did it mean nothing?
Nanku turned back. "Everyone did this?"
"I said that already!"
"But he only fired you?"
"Jesus. What, is his wife on a radio or something?"
"Why?"
"She did the same thing you're doing. Getting all weird and making me repeat shit." He swallowed. "And then she let me go. A—Are you going to let me go?"
His date for the night was still tied up in the shower. Nanku didn't think the woman had even seen much. Trent Bragg had seen much, and Nanku didn't want him saying too much. It might warn her prey she was coming.
But that was what the code was for.
If you just did anything you wanted to do, you were no different from a mad dog.
Nanku was not a mad dog.
"Best you pretend this never happened," she warned. Dusk and Dawn snapped their jaws and Trent whimpered. "I don't have a reason to come back. Now."
She could pretend.
Going to the bathroom, Nanku untied the woman. Who actually lived in the apartment. And looked like she was utterly furious but too afraid to act on it.
"Sorry."
Nanku sat her down in a more comfortable position and tied her back up.
"Seriously?" she asked.
"I will fucking scre—"
Fortunately, she'd left her clothes on the bathroom floor and Nanku pushed them into the woman's mouth. It was her own fault. Nanku was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until she said she'd give Nanku away.
So she could sit in her shower and wait until Nanku left.
Trent Bragg struggled and squirmed on the couch when she returned.
"So"—he jerked away from Dawn—"are you taking your, um, pets with you?"
"Yes."
"Can I get up?"
"No."
"But—"
Nanku pointed at the window. "I'll be gone once the sun sets."
"What? But—What about—"
Nanku sighed.
She decided to just make things simple. It's not like the two of them hadn't been intimate already.
Nanku tied Trent up, dragged him into the shower, and dropped him beside his date. And she gagged him too.
"Be quiet," Nanku said. "I'll untie you when I leave. Never see me again unless you give me a reason."
The building appeared normal. Since her arrival there had been no significant change in the behaviors of anyone inside. No eyes looking at the room from anywhere. No police. No flying parahumans. All was quiet and seemed set to stay quiet.
And Nanku settled in to wait.
~ ~ ~
She did not think this through.
The woman apparently made none of her own food. The contents of her kitchen were crackers, spices for food she didn't have, and lots of wine and ice cream. Which wasn't going to feed anyone.
Nanku had to get creative.
"Melanie" had money, fortunately. And clothes. None of them fit Nanku well but there were some sundresses that seemed to work. Nanku shut the bathroom door, threw one on, and stuffed her armor to the side.
When the pizza guy showed up she took her boxes and gave him his money. With correct change.
Except he stared at her like she'd kicked him.
"What?" she asked.
"No tip?" he asked back.
"I paid for the pizzas."
"But—"
Nanku shut the door and shook her head.
Humans were so selfish.
Tossing the dress aside, Nanku got her armor back on and set two of the pizzas down for Dusk and Dawn. They dug into and tore the pies apart. Meat lovers. Extra meat.
The third pizza Nanku took to the bathroom.
She set it down and glared from behind her mask. "Make any noise besides eating and you can go hungry."
No food for a day wouldn't kill them.
Not that they didn't complain anyway.
"I'm Vegan," Melanie said angrily.
"What?"
"She doesn't eat fish," Trent said.
"That is not what Vegan is," Melanie growled.
"Sorry?"
"You're going to be more—"
"Eat it or eat nothing." Nanku had no interest in a lover's spat. "Keep it down."
She could see Melanie thinking about it.
Which was a good time for Dawn to poke her head into the bathroom with tomato and cheese all over her face. It did look suitably gory if one had no idea what gore looked like. Melanie paled, took some pizza when given the chance, and picked the cheese off the top.
So Vegan was someone who didn't eat cheese?
That seemed weirdly specific.
Nanku let them eat and drink and tied them back up. She was willing to be kind, but not stupid.
With them and the Twins taken care of Nanku ate her own food. Melanie lacked a widescreen but that was fine. Nanku found animal planet, turned it on, and used the oddly soothing narrator's voice as background noise.
She had a lot to think about. It seemed as good a time as any.
Time cards.
A man was stealing from the Dockworkers—her father's other child—and he was more interested in the timecards than the man who was stealing. What did that mean? It meant something. Taylor had been a child when her father died but she knew how timecards worked and she knew her father treated them very seriously.
Paperwork.
More paperwork.
Catching Trent was the start of something. Her father went looking at the timecards—Trent claimed everyone fudged them—and he found something. Something that led him to a strange shipment that either did or didn't exist, and then his death.
Did that help her, or make it more complicated?
It had been nearly three months now. A quarter of her time on Earth and she was still chasing trails.
And her mother.
Her mother had already found Trent? How. He wasn't in the police file. Did she simply do what Nanku did? No. No, she found him on the Internet. Barely looking. She'd simply followed some basic clues.
Surely the police would have—
Nanku shot to her feet and hurried into the bathroom to remove Trent's gag.
"Can I get some water?" he asked.
Nanku didn't care. "The police came to speak with you?"
"Yeah? Duh?"
"And Annette Hebert?"
"Yes? Her too? Wha—"
She gagged him and left the room with a cold stare.
Her mother didn't mention Trent Bagg in the slightest. He wasn't in the file on her father's murder either.
…
The file was doctored.
They gave her a fake, or at least, they'd removed some of the conten—No. The file had an inventory. They'd manufactured one that wouldn't look weird to her. All of the papers. Everything. How much of it could she even trust?
Her mother knew.
She knew.
She knew who killed her father and she was… Doing nothing?
Nanku sat and stared. Bid her time. Stuck to her plan.
It was no time to overreact.
She inhaled and waited with her soon lukewarm and then cold pizza. The day was long. Arduous. Downright agonizing. She paced and grumbled to herself.
She could believe a lot of ill things about her mother.
That the woman would outright sabotage her—willfully obstruct her—was new. Behind the bitterness, Nanku knew what motivated her all those years ago. Fear. Desperation. Pain.
She wasn't a monster. She was terrified.
This?
This was different and Nanku wanted to scream.
She didn't. It would draw attention. She was in no mood. Something would happen she'd regret.
So she sat. And waited. Scratched Dusk and Dawn and brewed. She did improvise briefly. Melanie had plenty of clothes. She could spare a few.
When the sun went down and Nanku could finally leave, she sent Dusk and Dawn out the window.
Nanku left through the lobby.
A bus took her close to her mother's apartment. She played the moment by ear. Swept the streets with bugs. Thoroughly. She moved back and forth across several blocks, surveying a wider area than her power covered, and searched for any sign of someone waiting just out of her range.
There were some suspicious vehicles and some observation equipment. Nanku used alleyways to avoid them and had a fly temporarily land on one to obstruct its view. Nanku passed by while it couldn't see her clearly and sent the fly away after she'd passed.
The apartment building itself was not being observed. Nanku guessed no one expected her to come back.
It was so obviously a terrible idea.
That didn't stop Laserdream from flying overhead. Dusk and Dawn had to hide but the woman hovered about for a minute and then left.
Kid Win could see through her cloak. Nanku would assume all of the Protectorate could.
But she wasn't cloaked.
She was on the street among dozens of others.
No one paid her any mind as she approached the apartment.
Rose was inside, and the boy. Dauntless' son. Rose's half-brother. There was no sign of their parents. Good. That meant Nanku could simply go in and find what she wanted.
It had to be somewhere and Nanku had a good idea the apartment was the first place to look.
She kept her swarm active and watching as she went up the elevator and down the hall.
She knocked.
"Who is it?" a boy's voice answered.
"Pizza delivery," Nanku lied.
Rose shot to her feet and hurried to the door before her brother could stop her.
She opened the door with a smile and a, "Hi Nanku."
"Hello, Rose."
Nanku entered quickly and Rose blinked.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"No," Nanku lied.
She would not make her anger Rose's problem, she told herself. She wouldn't do what her mother did. "Where are they?"
The boy looked at her and paled. He jumped to his feet and hurried across the room while Rose closed the door.
Before she could answer, the boy moved between Nanku and Rose with a stern expression.
"Addison!" Rose complained.
"You need to leave," he said to Nanku. Firmly. With certainty. A lot of it for someone shaking so much. "Or I'll call the PRT."
Nanku gave a slight nod of approval.
And proceeded into the bedroom.
"Hey!"
"I'm looking for something."
She sent bugs into every nook. Every corner. She'd been to the apartment before and found nothing too strange. Maybe it wasn't kept in the—
A spider crawled into the back of a drawer. Nanku had seen it before but she paid it no mind. Or she just didn't notice. Or it was new.
In either case, the drawer went too far back. It was bigger inside than the dresser it was in.
Nanku went around the bed and nearly ripped the drawer out. It was bigger. How did it possibly fit? There wasn't a hole in the wall behind the dresser. It just fit?
Parahumans.
Nanku removed a false bottom because it was deeper too, but she found her file.
With a snarl, Nanku ripped it out and quickly searched through the contents. It looked more or less like the file she'd already gone through. Same pages. Mostly. Same evidence. Mostly. Either her mother thought she might find the real file and prepared a second fake, or she'd doctored one that was mostly right while hiding the real one away.
The real one had a few extra pages. A longer suspect list and more interviews.
"I'm done." Nanku clapped the file closed and turned to leave. "Have a nice night."
Addison backed up and kept Rose behind him.
The news was on the TV.
Nanku saw the fire and the explosion first. The bright light against the dark street drew her gaze. A building was burning and taking out a pair of cars next to it while a huge hulking creature roared at a pack of men in costumes.
Typical parahu—
Nanku stilled again.
She read the headline three times.
'Brawl in Captain's Hill: Hellhound Sighted'
"What happened?" Rose asked.
Addison continued standing between Nanku and Rose.
Bitch rode one of her dogs, a bat in hand while she shouted at the capes. Nanku couldn't make out their costumes. Not the Protectorate. They'd have help from the PRT and lots of flashing red and blue lights. Nanku didn't see any of that in the video so it was someone else.
Nanku called Dusk and Dawn to the balcony and grabbed the backpack from Dawn.
Addison stared with a pale face.
Rose went up and scratched the Twins under their jaws like they liked.
Nanku went around a corner to hurriedly change and left the bag and dress behind.
"Go inside," she told Rose.
Dusk and Dawn beat the air with their wings and flew off.
Nanku activated her cloak and jumped as the shroud enveloped her.
***
Bitches gonna get stiches. But not Bitch. Maybe. We'll see.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
War 7.2
New
Little Hunter
Nanku rushed with her eyes on the sky around her.
The heroes who could fly were already ahead of her, dipping low and flying back up frequently. Laserdream and Kid Win were firing beams down below and Dauntless' lightning spear nearly drowned both out.
Helicopters circled the battle from a distance. Some colorful with numbers on the side and one with a siren.
The fire had spread from the kennel to neighboring buildings. Nanku could see the smoke clearly. Three columns, perhaps four.
Nanku jumped the gap between two buildings and began turning east toward the water.
Why would they keep fighting if she wasn't there?
Maybe it had nothing to do with her. The attack could be targeted at Bitch. The Pure's thinker and Rune both escaped. Nanku was never their target but the coincidence boggled.
Nanku dropped into an alley and drew Dusk and Dawn lower behind her.
She'd bet it was related to her. The coincidence was too far-fetched, but then why keep fighting if she wasn't there? Did they think she'd be lured out if they attacked Bitch openly?
And what were the heroes doing now that they'd arrived?
She began to circle as she drew close. Building a swarm wasn't hard at night but the city itself had limited options. Black widows from houses. Bees and wasps. It was the best she could do without a thorough search.
It wasn't enough for her liking.
This was a trap.
Nanku wasn't dumb and she didn't believe the timing was a coincidence. She'd been hiding out at Bitch's kennel for weeks. If someone could have tracked her there and wanted to attack it would have happened already.
The problem didn't resolve itself even as she slowed down.
The closer she got the more distracted she became.
There was something else going on. No invisible drones unless they were lingering beyond her range. Which they had before. Kid Win could be watching for her, or Shadow Stalker.
Someone.
And while Nanku tried to figure out who she could hear the shouting and the barking of dogs. Snarling. Lots of snarling.
She wasn't close enough for the fires, but the air sweltered with smoke. There were several red trucks blocking the roads but they were being prevented from moving in by the PRT. The troopers were blocking the roads in and out.
That could be the trap. Getting Dusk and Dawn through the barricades unseen would be hard. Getting out would be harder after starting or joining a fight.
The smoke and heat were affecting the bugs too. The shifts in the air messed with their flight. The smoke dazed some. Others began to struggle to breathe.
The fire could be a ruse to hinder her use of her power.
Was Bitch even in any real danger? They could have moved her and her dogs.
No. That wasn't likely.
Nanku crouched at the edge of the cordoned area and looked within.
The kennel was all fire. She could barely see the building anymore. The roof had collapsed amid the smoke. Flames spread to the buildings beside it and one across.
Her answer to how a fire spread so odd and so fast was clear in the shadows moving about the burning street. Organized chaos. PRT troopers in packs sticking to the edges of the battle. Assault, Battery, and Miss Militia were further in, and at the center a horde of monster dogs and four capes in matching costumes.
Hard to make out from a distance but Nanku found a reasonably high building three blocks away.
Suits with white masks over their faces. Ambassadors.
Miss Militia was in the street with Assault and Battery shouting at them. She didn't seem to be getting very far.
Why would they attack Bitch? Didn't the Pure kill their leader?
They were in a scattered line, one woman holding her hands out at the air while a man stood just slightly behind her to her right. He appeared completely relaxed, arms behind his back.
Nanku tilted her head at the pair uncertain. The other two were more clear-cut.
They were to the side, avoiding Assault and Battery as they tried to hold the dogs back. Which didn't work with how many dogs there were. Kid Win and Laserdream tried to screen the battle and Dauntless was in the distance fighting something or someone else.
One suited man was brawling freely with three of Bitche's dogs. His suit was torn and tattered but his skin was hard and gray in color. Like Alabaster except he didn't come back from being dead. The man just didn't bleed. Even when cut and sliced no blood came and the flesh quickly sealed.
The fourth Ambassador was the source of the fire.
A woman within the head of a fiery serpent. Bitch's dogs hemmed the beast in but gouts of flame surged from every swipe of its tail. The dogs were burned lightly but the fire scared them more than it stopped them.
A dozen more of the transformed beasts were scattered about, some seemingly standing in place and others surrounding Bitch and Cassie.
Nanku hadn't seen Bitch use so many dogs before.
At least thirty of them were running around in varying sizes but the smallest Bitch was keeping close to her.
Miss Militia was behind the Ambassadors with some troopers, shouting.
The whole scene was a mess. Even looking at it Nanku could only call whatever attack had been executed sloppy.
And her instincts screamed at her to stay out of it.
She couldn't fight that many capes, and making herself known now might not help Bitch at all. Sour as the taste of standing aside was. Bitch had been generous with her space and time. Nanku didn't want to make trouble.
Making more trouble wasn't going to help.
Nanku rocked on her heels and turned her eyes on one of the buildings that wasn't on fire just yet.
It was abandoned. No one used it for anything.
It would do.
Slipping past the PRT cordon, Nanku left Dusk and Dawn in a shadowed alley out of sight and moved toward Dauntless' lightning. She didn't see who he was brawling with until she came closer behind the other Ambassadors.
A woman in a fine dress and a mask more stylized than the others. Nanku couldn't see it directly, but the woman had done something to the ground and the air. The lightning broke apart in the air and scattered into the ground.
Then it shot back and Dauntless dodged out of the way.
There were words going back and forth but the woman didn't seem moved.
Nanku ignored them. She weaved her swarm through the sewers. Into the water drains, through the tunnels and then out. They weren't noticed in the dark once they slid under the PRT barricade. Nanku poured them into the abandoned building. The roaches and flies mostly. Anything that didn't bite or sting very well. Most of her swarm went into the building and bundled together in one corner.
Save a few.
Crouching at the edge of the battle, Nanku drew a spear and readied herself.
She passed a few bugs into the burning building and let them catch fire. Their pain was palpable. Only a few made it to the other building. Nanku needed three batches to spread the fire. Then she stoked it, feeding bodies in rows to the fire and getting the flames to spread faster.
It was still too slow.
In the street, one of Bitch's dogs was thrown aside and the brute grabbed another. With both hands, he pried the beast's jaws open and Bitch snarled. She shouted and a half dozen of the dogs around her charged.
None reached their target. They swerved and scattered. It was odd. Strange.
Nanku focused her attention on the woman with her hands raised. She sent a few bees her way, but they didn't reach her. No matter what she did when she tried to approach her she found herself inexplicably moving aside. Off target.
That was annoying.
Nanku tried sending a few bugs at different directions and angles while she coaxed her blaze to life.
Directional.
The woman's power only worked in the directions she pointed her hands? Broad angles but focused on her hands. And only when approaching her. Directly behind there was nothing.
Nanku flew a single spider onto her back and dropped it. Just in case.
Smoke billowed high from her ruined building and Nanku jumped into the street.
Bugs exploded from the building, 'fleeing' the fire and rushing into the street. Heads turned and voices started. The swarm fell like a tide and enveloped the battle. Surrounded everyone, despite the woman's power as part of the horde flew at her from behind and kept going.
She turned her hands and Nanku's black window bit. The woman yelped and stumbled and her hands dropped. The fire serpent whipped around.
The brawl briefly stalled and Nanku ran through the cloud of buzzing insects right toward Bitch.
The air was sweltering. The fire and the smoke didn't get through her masks, but she felt both on her skin. If she lingered too long it might expose her cloak.
One of the dogs sensed her and barked. Another snapped. Bitch's head turned and Nanku flashed the lenses on her mask. Bitch blinked and grabbed Cassie's arm.
"Huh? Wha—"
"We're going."
"But what about—"
"Now."
Bitch forced Cassie onto Sunny's back and climbed onto Brutus. With a whistle and a call, Bitch took all her dogs and fled the battle and the fires. The beasts followed her on command and became a stampede of giants rushing the street while the swarm of bugs began to slowly scatter and flee the fire and smoke.
Nanku ran a different way, bolting between two burning buildings and letting her mask filter the air while she got through to the other side.
Pulling up a manhole cover, Nanku dropped herself down. She replaced the cover quickly and hurried back toward Dusk and Dawn.
If Bitch left then the fight was pointless. The Ambassadors and Protectorate would break off. Brawl over.
Nanku pulled herself onto the street carefully. A large truck was parked over the manhole and she barely had enough room to slide out. From beneath it she waited for a chance to slip away and passed through the barricade unseen. She hoped. Planting a bug on every helmet and orienting it toward the front of the wearer's head.
If they had any equipment that could see through her cloak no one was looking in the right direction to notice.
Slowing, Nanku took a moment to catch her breath. She could run and jump for hours, but going full out from one side of the city to the other was exhausting.
Dusk and Dawn reached her and fluttered their wings to cool their bodies.
Nanku took a breath and sat.
That worked.
Nanku was a bit out of range and she couldn't see but just from movement on the nearby street it seemed like things were breaking up. Good. She managed to get Bitch out of the situation without making it worse.
Not her usual interest but she owed the woman.
Nanku rose to her feet and quickly patted herself off. She didn't need any soot clinging to her while she found…
Something.
To sleep…
Damn it.
She had to find somewhere to sleep again.
She was tired. She'd not slept since the night before and her body felt it. Too tense and too weary. She had to find her mother for a candid conversation and she needed to sort out who was trying to attack her through Bitch—
Shadow Stalker and Kid Win.
Nanku snarled and rose to her feet.
One coincidence was suspicious but nothing to be alarmed over. Two. Three. Four. The more coincidences coincided the less coincidental they were.
Why did the Ambassadors attack?
Rolling her shoulders, Nanku checked her equipment and swept off any remaining ash and soot. Her swarm was essentially fodder for the fire after she'd blown them out of the building and let them scatter. That left her with work to do while she moved.
Nanku went northwest first, and then then north. Finding the Ambassadors as they retreated from the battle wasn't hard. The men from the brawl hauled the woman Nanku had bitten between them. The fire snake was gone and the woman who conjured it walked beside the one who'd battled Dauntless.
They retreated from the fire and Nanku could see the sirens and lights of firetrucks moving in toward the blaze as she vaulted a roof. Dauntless, Kid Win, and Laserdream darted back and forth. Laserdream carried people off the ground using her power and Dauntless was somehow sucking one of the blazing fires into his shield.
She crept along and planted bugs on each of the Ambassadors.
"—got played," the fire-snake woman said to the one in the dress. "Huntress wasn't there."
"That doesn't mean our information was wrong," the woman in the dress replied.
Nanku dared a closer look over the roof's edge.
The Ambassadors had a half-dozen other men with them. Their masks only covered their eyes and noses rather than their full faces and they clearly took direction from the others. Non-parahumans in their own non-parahuman costumes.
They were preparing vehicles ahead and talking on phones.
The capes were sticking together.
"Bit by a fucking bug," one grumbled. "Bit by a swarm of roaches."
"Disgusting," the gray man agreed.
"Imagine what the boss would have said after that? He'd have freaked out."
"Probably hunted down whoever owned the building and squeezed them to dust."
"Yeah. He probably would."
"Can't believe I miss the old nut."
"Right?"
The snake woman and the one in the dress continued to talk, and the snake woman was getting angrier.
"I told you not to trust whoever was feeding us that shit," she said. "They're clearly trying to drive a wedge between us and the Undersiders."
"You think Tattletale is trustworthy?"
"I think Tattletale is about as trustworthy as any villain can be trustworthy. She keeps her deals and we just stabbed her in the back attacking Bitch like that."
The woman in the dress shook her head. "There's something going on."
"A bunch of Nazi shits wind up dead, what do we care who did it? They killed the boss!"
"And now we have to stand without him. Simply being allied to the Undersiders means nothing if all we become is dependent on them."
"Going to war with the Undersiders doesn't help us. We're lucky Bitch isn't as mad as her rep. She could have fought harder instead of stalling for a chance to get out."
"And then the Protectorate let us walk to focus on the fires."
"Now all this shit on our head, J. I know you want to keep the boss' legacy going but fucking come on."
Nanku tuned out the bulk of the conversation.
She didn't care for their drama.
Someone told them she was with Bitch was the detail that mattered. Someone told them and got the fight to happen.
The only ones who absolutely knew were the Undersiders, Rose, her mother, Dauntless, and Vista…
And it could have been any of them, couldn't it? Tattletale had used Bitch as bait before. Her mother was her mother. Dauntless and Vista were enforcers opposed to Nanku's actions. The only one she was absolutely certain couldn't have done it was Rose…
But the fire-snake woman had a point.
Who had been trying to cause trouble since before Nanku even got into town? Who could have deduced her location and sent the Ambassadors to start a fight?
Nanku tapped a finger against her knee as the Ambassador got into their vehicles and left. Dusk and Dawn drew up beside her and rumbled their throats. They were rested and ready, and Nanku—if her guesses were right—had at least one lead.
But first….
Nanku rose and hurried the other way. It was slower than she wanted to be. Avoiding the PRT and others took time. Fortunately, the flying capes were busy with the fires and everyone else was at ground level.
She found Bitch after nearly an hour of searching.
Cassie was with her, along with Parian and Foil and a dozen women who were helping to pull dogs out of piles of steaming fat and meat.
Nanku stayed hidden and held Dusk and Dawn back. She couldn't be sure someone wasn't watching. Best no one sees her openly.
Bitch sat atop Brutus while the work was done, glaring in no particular direction.
"This is bad," Cassie grumbled. "Right? This is bad."
"Bad," Foil confirmed.
Parian sat side-saddle atop a stuffed animal. "We don't have to do anything."
"Can't do nothing," Bitch said. "Have to remind everyone why we're in charge."
Made sense.
Like any pack, the Undersiders had to assert who was in charge even if the Ambassadors seemed ready to drop the issue.
"What about Nanku?" Parian asked.
"She helped us get away," Cassie said. "Don't think she showed herself in a way anyone else would notice."
"At least she didn't go on another killing spree," Foil grumbled.
"Not an animal," Bitch replied cooly. "Don't talk about her like one."
Nanku tilted her head.
That was nice.
…
And Bitch looked unharmed. Her dogs too. Good.
Nanku raised a hand to her chest and breathed.
Good.
***
I had a long hard time with how to end this chapter, to either A) move forward with a lead into the next chapter, or B) do something with the slow burn romance.
I picked B cause B felt more right and fit better within the confines of the chapter XD
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Nanku rushed with her eyes on the sky around her.
The heroes who could fly were already ahead of her, dipping low and flying back up frequently. Laserdream and Kid Win were firing beams down below and Dauntless' lightning spear nearly drowned both out.
Helicopters circled the battle from a distance. Some colorful with numbers on the side and one with a siren.
The fire had spread from the kennel to neighboring buildings. Nanku could see the smoke clearly. Three columns, perhaps four.
Nanku jumped the gap between two buildings and began turning east toward the water.
Why would they keep fighting if she wasn't there?
Maybe it had nothing to do with her. The attack could be targeted at Bitch. The Pure's thinker and Rune both escaped. Nanku was never their target but the coincidence boggled.
Nanku dropped into an alley and drew Dusk and Dawn lower behind her.
She'd bet it was related to her. The coincidence was too far-fetched, but then why keep fighting if she wasn't there? Did they think she'd be lured out if they attacked Bitch openly?
And what were the heroes doing now that they'd arrived?
She began to circle as she drew close. Building a swarm wasn't hard at night but the city itself had limited options. Black widows from houses. Bees and wasps. It was the best she could do without a thorough search.
It wasn't enough for her liking.
This was a trap.
Nanku wasn't dumb and she didn't believe the timing was a coincidence. She'd been hiding out at Bitch's kennel for weeks. If someone could have tracked her there and wanted to attack it would have happened already.
The problem didn't resolve itself even as she slowed down.
The closer she got the more distracted she became.
There was something else going on. No invisible drones unless they were lingering beyond her range. Which they had before. Kid Win could be watching for her, or Shadow Stalker.
Someone.
And while Nanku tried to figure out who she could hear the shouting and the barking of dogs. Snarling. Lots of snarling.
She wasn't close enough for the fires, but the air sweltered with smoke. There were several red trucks blocking the roads but they were being prevented from moving in by the PRT. The troopers were blocking the roads in and out.
That could be the trap. Getting Dusk and Dawn through the barricades unseen would be hard. Getting out would be harder after starting or joining a fight.
The smoke and heat were affecting the bugs too. The shifts in the air messed with their flight. The smoke dazed some. Others began to struggle to breathe.
The fire could be a ruse to hinder her use of her power.
Was Bitch even in any real danger? They could have moved her and her dogs.
No. That wasn't likely.
Nanku crouched at the edge of the cordoned area and looked within.
The kennel was all fire. She could barely see the building anymore. The roof had collapsed amid the smoke. Flames spread to the buildings beside it and one across.
Her answer to how a fire spread so odd and so fast was clear in the shadows moving about the burning street. Organized chaos. PRT troopers in packs sticking to the edges of the battle. Assault, Battery, and Miss Militia were further in, and at the center a horde of monster dogs and four capes in matching costumes.
Hard to make out from a distance but Nanku found a reasonably high building three blocks away.
Suits with white masks over their faces. Ambassadors.
Miss Militia was in the street with Assault and Battery shouting at them. She didn't seem to be getting very far.
Why would they attack Bitch? Didn't the Pure kill their leader?
They were in a scattered line, one woman holding her hands out at the air while a man stood just slightly behind her to her right. He appeared completely relaxed, arms behind his back.
Nanku tilted her head at the pair uncertain. The other two were more clear-cut.
They were to the side, avoiding Assault and Battery as they tried to hold the dogs back. Which didn't work with how many dogs there were. Kid Win and Laserdream tried to screen the battle and Dauntless was in the distance fighting something or someone else.
One suited man was brawling freely with three of Bitche's dogs. His suit was torn and tattered but his skin was hard and gray in color. Like Alabaster except he didn't come back from being dead. The man just didn't bleed. Even when cut and sliced no blood came and the flesh quickly sealed.
The fourth Ambassador was the source of the fire.
A woman within the head of a fiery serpent. Bitch's dogs hemmed the beast in but gouts of flame surged from every swipe of its tail. The dogs were burned lightly but the fire scared them more than it stopped them.
A dozen more of the transformed beasts were scattered about, some seemingly standing in place and others surrounding Bitch and Cassie.
Nanku hadn't seen Bitch use so many dogs before.
At least thirty of them were running around in varying sizes but the smallest Bitch was keeping close to her.
Miss Militia was behind the Ambassadors with some troopers, shouting.
The whole scene was a mess. Even looking at it Nanku could only call whatever attack had been executed sloppy.
And her instincts screamed at her to stay out of it.
She couldn't fight that many capes, and making herself known now might not help Bitch at all. Sour as the taste of standing aside was. Bitch had been generous with her space and time. Nanku didn't want to make trouble.
Making more trouble wasn't going to help.
Nanku rocked on her heels and turned her eyes on one of the buildings that wasn't on fire just yet.
It was abandoned. No one used it for anything.
It would do.
Slipping past the PRT cordon, Nanku left Dusk and Dawn in a shadowed alley out of sight and moved toward Dauntless' lightning. She didn't see who he was brawling with until she came closer behind the other Ambassadors.
A woman in a fine dress and a mask more stylized than the others. Nanku couldn't see it directly, but the woman had done something to the ground and the air. The lightning broke apart in the air and scattered into the ground.
Then it shot back and Dauntless dodged out of the way.
There were words going back and forth but the woman didn't seem moved.
Nanku ignored them. She weaved her swarm through the sewers. Into the water drains, through the tunnels and then out. They weren't noticed in the dark once they slid under the PRT barricade. Nanku poured them into the abandoned building. The roaches and flies mostly. Anything that didn't bite or sting very well. Most of her swarm went into the building and bundled together in one corner.
Save a few.
Crouching at the edge of the battle, Nanku drew a spear and readied herself.
She passed a few bugs into the burning building and let them catch fire. Their pain was palpable. Only a few made it to the other building. Nanku needed three batches to spread the fire. Then she stoked it, feeding bodies in rows to the fire and getting the flames to spread faster.
It was still too slow.
In the street, one of Bitch's dogs was thrown aside and the brute grabbed another. With both hands, he pried the beast's jaws open and Bitch snarled. She shouted and a half dozen of the dogs around her charged.
None reached their target. They swerved and scattered. It was odd. Strange.
Nanku focused her attention on the woman with her hands raised. She sent a few bees her way, but they didn't reach her. No matter what she did when she tried to approach her she found herself inexplicably moving aside. Off target.
That was annoying.
Nanku tried sending a few bugs at different directions and angles while she coaxed her blaze to life.
Directional.
The woman's power only worked in the directions she pointed her hands? Broad angles but focused on her hands. And only when approaching her. Directly behind there was nothing.
Nanku flew a single spider onto her back and dropped it. Just in case.
Smoke billowed high from her ruined building and Nanku jumped into the street.
Bugs exploded from the building, 'fleeing' the fire and rushing into the street. Heads turned and voices started. The swarm fell like a tide and enveloped the battle. Surrounded everyone, despite the woman's power as part of the horde flew at her from behind and kept going.
She turned her hands and Nanku's black window bit. The woman yelped and stumbled and her hands dropped. The fire serpent whipped around.
The brawl briefly stalled and Nanku ran through the cloud of buzzing insects right toward Bitch.
The air was sweltering. The fire and the smoke didn't get through her masks, but she felt both on her skin. If she lingered too long it might expose her cloak.
One of the dogs sensed her and barked. Another snapped. Bitch's head turned and Nanku flashed the lenses on her mask. Bitch blinked and grabbed Cassie's arm.
"Huh? Wha—"
"We're going."
"But what about—"
"Now."
Bitch forced Cassie onto Sunny's back and climbed onto Brutus. With a whistle and a call, Bitch took all her dogs and fled the battle and the fires. The beasts followed her on command and became a stampede of giants rushing the street while the swarm of bugs began to slowly scatter and flee the fire and smoke.
Nanku ran a different way, bolting between two burning buildings and letting her mask filter the air while she got through to the other side.
Pulling up a manhole cover, Nanku dropped herself down. She replaced the cover quickly and hurried back toward Dusk and Dawn.
If Bitch left then the fight was pointless. The Ambassadors and Protectorate would break off. Brawl over.
Nanku pulled herself onto the street carefully. A large truck was parked over the manhole and she barely had enough room to slide out. From beneath it she waited for a chance to slip away and passed through the barricade unseen. She hoped. Planting a bug on every helmet and orienting it toward the front of the wearer's head.
If they had any equipment that could see through her cloak no one was looking in the right direction to notice.
Slowing, Nanku took a moment to catch her breath. She could run and jump for hours, but going full out from one side of the city to the other was exhausting.
Dusk and Dawn reached her and fluttered their wings to cool their bodies.
Nanku took a breath and sat.
That worked.
Nanku was a bit out of range and she couldn't see but just from movement on the nearby street it seemed like things were breaking up. Good. She managed to get Bitch out of the situation without making it worse.
Not her usual interest but she owed the woman.
Nanku rose to her feet and quickly patted herself off. She didn't need any soot clinging to her while she found…
Something.
To sleep…
Damn it.
She had to find somewhere to sleep again.
She was tired. She'd not slept since the night before and her body felt it. Too tense and too weary. She had to find her mother for a candid conversation and she needed to sort out who was trying to attack her through Bitch—
Shadow Stalker and Kid Win.
Nanku snarled and rose to her feet.
One coincidence was suspicious but nothing to be alarmed over. Two. Three. Four. The more coincidences coincided the less coincidental they were.
Why did the Ambassadors attack?
Rolling her shoulders, Nanku checked her equipment and swept off any remaining ash and soot. Her swarm was essentially fodder for the fire after she'd blown them out of the building and let them scatter. That left her with work to do while she moved.
Nanku went northwest first, and then then north. Finding the Ambassadors as they retreated from the battle wasn't hard. The men from the brawl hauled the woman Nanku had bitten between them. The fire snake was gone and the woman who conjured it walked beside the one who'd battled Dauntless.
They retreated from the fire and Nanku could see the sirens and lights of firetrucks moving in toward the blaze as she vaulted a roof. Dauntless, Kid Win, and Laserdream darted back and forth. Laserdream carried people off the ground using her power and Dauntless was somehow sucking one of the blazing fires into his shield.
She crept along and planted bugs on each of the Ambassadors.
"—got played," the fire-snake woman said to the one in the dress. "Huntress wasn't there."
"That doesn't mean our information was wrong," the woman in the dress replied.
Nanku dared a closer look over the roof's edge.
The Ambassadors had a half-dozen other men with them. Their masks only covered their eyes and noses rather than their full faces and they clearly took direction from the others. Non-parahumans in their own non-parahuman costumes.
They were preparing vehicles ahead and talking on phones.
The capes were sticking together.
"Bit by a fucking bug," one grumbled. "Bit by a swarm of roaches."
"Disgusting," the gray man agreed.
"Imagine what the boss would have said after that? He'd have freaked out."
"Probably hunted down whoever owned the building and squeezed them to dust."
"Yeah. He probably would."
"Can't believe I miss the old nut."
"Right?"
The snake woman and the one in the dress continued to talk, and the snake woman was getting angrier.
"I told you not to trust whoever was feeding us that shit," she said. "They're clearly trying to drive a wedge between us and the Undersiders."
"You think Tattletale is trustworthy?"
"I think Tattletale is about as trustworthy as any villain can be trustworthy. She keeps her deals and we just stabbed her in the back attacking Bitch like that."
The woman in the dress shook her head. "There's something going on."
"A bunch of Nazi shits wind up dead, what do we care who did it? They killed the boss!"
"And now we have to stand without him. Simply being allied to the Undersiders means nothing if all we become is dependent on them."
"Going to war with the Undersiders doesn't help us. We're lucky Bitch isn't as mad as her rep. She could have fought harder instead of stalling for a chance to get out."
"And then the Protectorate let us walk to focus on the fires."
"Now all this shit on our head, J. I know you want to keep the boss' legacy going but fucking come on."
Nanku tuned out the bulk of the conversation.
She didn't care for their drama.
Someone told them she was with Bitch was the detail that mattered. Someone told them and got the fight to happen.
The only ones who absolutely knew were the Undersiders, Rose, her mother, Dauntless, and Vista…
And it could have been any of them, couldn't it? Tattletale had used Bitch as bait before. Her mother was her mother. Dauntless and Vista were enforcers opposed to Nanku's actions. The only one she was absolutely certain couldn't have done it was Rose…
But the fire-snake woman had a point.
Who had been trying to cause trouble since before Nanku even got into town? Who could have deduced her location and sent the Ambassadors to start a fight?
Nanku tapped a finger against her knee as the Ambassador got into their vehicles and left. Dusk and Dawn drew up beside her and rumbled their throats. They were rested and ready, and Nanku—if her guesses were right—had at least one lead.
But first….
Nanku rose and hurried the other way. It was slower than she wanted to be. Avoiding the PRT and others took time. Fortunately, the flying capes were busy with the fires and everyone else was at ground level.
She found Bitch after nearly an hour of searching.
Cassie was with her, along with Parian and Foil and a dozen women who were helping to pull dogs out of piles of steaming fat and meat.
Nanku stayed hidden and held Dusk and Dawn back. She couldn't be sure someone wasn't watching. Best no one sees her openly.
Bitch sat atop Brutus while the work was done, glaring in no particular direction.
"This is bad," Cassie grumbled. "Right? This is bad."
"Bad," Foil confirmed.
Parian sat side-saddle atop a stuffed animal. "We don't have to do anything."
"Can't do nothing," Bitch said. "Have to remind everyone why we're in charge."
Made sense.
Like any pack, the Undersiders had to assert who was in charge even if the Ambassadors seemed ready to drop the issue.
"What about Nanku?" Parian asked.
"She helped us get away," Cassie said. "Don't think she showed herself in a way anyone else would notice."
"At least she didn't go on another killing spree," Foil grumbled.
"Not an animal," Bitch replied cooly. "Don't talk about her like one."
Nanku tilted her head.
That was nice.
…
And Bitch looked unharmed. Her dogs too. Good.
Nanku raised a hand to her chest and breathed.
Good.
***
I had a long hard time with how to end this chapter, to either A) move forward with a lead into the next chapter, or B) do something with the slow burn romance.
I picked B cause B felt more right and fit better within the confines of the chapter XD
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
- Location
- USA
And... nothing interesting has happened. Two entire arcs. There are tons of hints of epic history, massive changes to canon, but our viewpoint character is either too stupid to care about it or the author just wants to play "I know something you don't" despite the MC finding all the history.
It wouldn't even be all that hard to find out what happened with Leviathan, Echidna, Panacea, and so on. At least pieces of it should be all over the internet. And Taylor literally looked into the cape scene, yet the story/author doesn't want readers to know anything. It's an incredibly irritating writing style. The entire point of third-person limited is that we as readers find out what the MC does when they do, but this story takes it further and doesn't let us know what she knows.
I was really interested in a Worm/Predator crossover, especially with alternate history/future, but that interest has been crushed by the coy and unbelievably slow writing. I don't expect Taylor to figure out everything immediately, but as she learns stuff so should we. And this habit of regularly adding new characters with new names as if we should know or care about them, without any background or detail, is just as irritating. Sometimes they are characters we know (Ethan, Hannah, etc.), but other times they are random nobodies with names we know (Eric, etc.). Worse yet, their names are used as if it's from one of their POVs, such that whoever is "narrating" would know who is who, yet it turns out that it's actually Taylor's POV, and she shouldn't know.
I've gotten through two entire arcs, 17 chapters, or close to a third of the written material... and find that I just don't give a damn what's happening because NOTHING IS HAPPENING, and what few actions are being taken are both drawn out endlessly and mostly pointless. I've learned more about what's going on via "tee-hee" author's notes than from the story, and that's a sign of absolutely awful writing. It turns out that this is not what I had hoped it would be, and I can't justify reading another 100k+ words when the first 45k or so were this... disappointing.
