Little Hunter (Worm / Predator)

[3ndless]

Little Hunter

Cricket was dead.

Nanku filtered the biomask through several modes to be sure acoustic showed no heartbeat. Thermals showed body head fading. Motion revealed no tension in the muscles. She was silent, chilling, and limp.

Dead.

What a disappointment. She'd been so capable. Nanku might have actually taken her head. The idea of doing it after the stale chase was nauseating.

At least most of the Pure were dead. If Othala didn't know where to find Iron Rain or their thinker, she'd join them. Maybe that would be enough. Without the bulk of their force what would the two of them do?

Nanku supposed it hinged on how crazy they were.

Along the length of the street, people were fleeing. Like a herd of grazers startled by a predator, they scattered everywhere they could. Alleys and streets. A few got into cars and started the engines.

Others lingered and Nanku grimaced behind her mask.

Raising her arm exposed the patchiness of the cloak. Whole sections of her were exposed and the sparks of lightning drew even more attention. Ionization in the air sparked by the field that was supposed to bend light.

Her visor flashed with several warnings. Whatever Dauntless' weapon did, it disrupted the entire system.

And she just fixed that.

With a snarl, Nanku turned on her heel and moved to the nearest shadows. Best to get out of sight quickly. She didn't need pictures spreading.

"Taylor," Dauntless hissed.

Nanku ignored the name.

Somehow she'd had a feeling her mother was using it out of earshot.

She looked him over. Taller than her. Broad shouldered. His armor covered him head to toe. His lance crackled with energy, and there was a light swirling over the surface of a shield far too small to be of any real use. Air rippled under his feet, pushed away from his boots.

He wasn't relaxed, but he wasn't taking an aggressive stance.

She'd walk away.

"Nanku." Dauntless flew around and dropped into the street. "Sorry."

He kept his voice low, and behind his helmet, she could tell he was aware of the onlookers.

Dauntless set his spear on the ground. It remained upright when he released it, though the light of the lane dimmed.

"Nanku. I need you to drop"—he looked her over, concentrating on the plasma caster and shuriken that were plainly visible—"all of that."

Nanku tilted her head.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," he continued.

The line was so cliché that Nanku remembered it from television Taylor watched. And she'd not seen any television besides the news and Regent's stupid reality TV shows in a decade. Given that reality TV existed, Nanku wasn't sure the news was worth it.

The Internet was probably better.

"You need to come with me before this gets any worse."

That voice.

She was certain she knew it.

Ah.

That made sense.

Her mother's new husband was also a parahuman and also with the Protectorate. Probably how they met.

Nanku kept walking and he followed. His throat moved and he was clearly speaking to someone. A radio no doubt.

If more Protectorate were coming, more reason to be gone.

She needed to get back to Othala.

The woman was still pinned between Dusk and Dawn. Her injuries kept her from moving far, and there was no one to use her power on but enemies. The Twins could handle it until Nanku returned.

"Nanku," Dauntless snapped. "Stop."

"No," Nanku replied.

He'd either attack or he wouldn't, but he seemed to be favoring not.

"Go back to my mother. The Nazis won't threaten her or Rose soon."

Dauntless paused behind her. Did he not know Rose was in danger too? Tattletale surely reported that. Whatever else she seemed close with her mother. Maybe her mother hadn't told her new husband.

No matter.

She needed to move Othala somewhere she could work on the woman. Alabaster had been a bust but Othala wasn't so durable. Nanku was willing to bet she could get something from the woman. It worked with Fenja and Menja. Alabaster was just numb enough to pain and the threat of death she'd never get anything out of him.

Dauntless moved suddenly. The man took his lance in hand again and pointed it as Nanku neared the edge of the street.

"I can't let you go. Not after that… Shit." His tone dropped. "She's lying for you. She knows, doesn't she?"

Nanku huffed. "She knows what she wants to know."

She kept walking. Her swarm waited in the wings. Planted bugs worked into Dauntless' armor. Gave her a sense of the tension in his arms and legs.

Killing him was out of the question.

She wouldn't… Do that. Not to her mother. Not to Rose.

Unacceptable.

If Dauntless chose to fight she'd make her escape with as little force as necessary.

"Nanku," Dauntless warned again.

Run it was.

Nanku ducked to the side and rolled behind a parked car. A woman jumped back from her and Nanku quickly wheeled around. She put the woman between herself and Dauntless and ran for the nearest alley.

"Don't!"

"Take your own advice," she called back. It would be convenient.

Nanku flicked her wrist. The shuriken's blades retracted and she fit the weapon to her belt. Her spear followed and she tapped the controls of her computer. Jumping a fence separating the street with a kick off the wall, Nanku grabbed the rung of a fire escape ladder and pulled herself up.

Dauntless was in the air. Above her with his shield held down.

"Last warning!"

Nanku ran the length of the escape and threw herself into the air. Her wristblades caught the brick of the building and she swung herself around. Both feet on the wall, the lasers on her mask marked her target.

Dauntless jerked the moment the caster fired.

The bolt shot into the air, brighter and faster than before.

And off target.

Dauntless dodged but the shot never would have hit him. Nanku made sure of it when she altered the calibration of the actuator. Unless the man idiotically flew into the weapon it couldn't hit him.

Nanku threw herself into the air and grabbed onto the wall of the opposite building. She scurried up the wall while the caster fired a series of shots that kept Dauntless avoiding instead of approaching. There was hesitance in his movements. Foolish but luckily it wouldn't cost him anything.

Vaulting the lip of the roof, Nanku sprinted. Bolts continued firing and kept him at bay.

Sliding around a corner access, Nanku detached the cloak rigging and opened it. The lightning peeled away and the shimmer of invisibility dropped entirely. Drawing her knife she adjusted the crystals to their proper alignment. Pulled them out and pushed them back in. Aligned them again. Reset the rig.

The entire process took her thirty practiced seconds. Nanku didn't know why every hunter didn't practice it. Even if the cloak wasn't perfect it was better than the system not working.

The plasma caster fired bolt after bolt, forcing Dauntless to dodge.

Until he stopped dodging.

He figured that out fast.

"You need to turn yourself in," he said. "I mean it. Nanku!"

And she thought the 'last warning' was the 'last warning.' Humans.

Nanku refit the device and tapped her gauntlet.

The system popped and the cloak slid over her.

Dauntless' lance shot a bolt of lightning as she vanished, but Nanku stepped aside. The energy flew past her and she dropped from the roof to the alley below. A pair of rusty cans rattled and crunched under her feet. She jumped and sprinted down the alleyway.

She couldn't go right back to Dusk and Dawn until she lost any pursuer. Moving Othala would take time and she couldn't do it fighting.

Dauntless' lance fired again and struck the alley behind her. A guess. Far too inaccurate to be aimed at her.

Nanku turned at the corner and kept going. She kicked a can over as she went, angling to appear she'd struck it running another way. Her pace slowed. Steps quieter while she clung closer to the shadows. Stayed where her cloak was most effective.

Running from pursuit wasn't her normal move.

Eventually, she'd stop being so disappointed. Something breaking her way would be pleasant.

Crossing a narrow street to another alleyway, Nanku ducked under an alcove and kept going.

Her swarm drew closer. Dauntless was still above. Still moving in her direction.

Nanku crouched and kept her eyes forward. She flew some insects closer. Dark shells. Easily obscured. Dauntless was still there. Still following. Slowing as he neared her.

He was following her but didn't want it to seem like he was following her.

Obviously, he didn't know about her power over insects, but the pattern was one she might use while…

"I prefer this the other way around," Nanku grumbled.

Dauntless' power had something to do with objects. Vague details. Nothing Nanku found very firm, like someone was hiding it. He had his odd shield, the lance, and the boots.

Why not his helmet?

The gaps in the plate revealed only the body suit underneath. Not a cloth or plastic. Switching her vision, it was a synthetic material weaved with a honeycomb pattern. A lighter armor. Much better than anything she'd seen so far.

The armors Fenja, Menja, and Crusader wore were more for show than anything.

His shield was probably not what it appeared. It was useless as an object. Far too small. The light did something. She'd been struck by the lance and only been pushed. Surely that's not all it did.

She'd assume not.

He was too smart to stop. He circled outward, never looking at her directly.

Waiting.

Nanku sighed. That made sense.

Time to go then.

Nanku rose and shouldered her way through the door into the building. Not as hard as she could. That would make more noise than she wanted. She lifted the knob with one hand and slammed her palm into it. The wood splintered and broke. Loud but hopefully not loud enough.

Proceeding into the building, Nanku kept her many extra eyes on Dauntless.

He wasn't fooled for long. He flew back and around and checked the alley. Up and down. Nanku wasted no time in running down a hall, around a corner, down another hall, and out a side door as he went down to investigate.

The noise had drawn many but the streets were quiet and slow. Nanku crossed a road where several crowds and vehicles had stopped to watch Dauntless fly about.

Nanku moved between a pair of spectators who regarded her as nothing more than a breeze.

Dauntless came back up over the building behind her as she slipped into the next alley. He caught on but she'd gained distance and used it by running.

The streets were sparse but cover was limited. Normally she got around the city through rooftops with Dusk and Dawn helping. Casting her eyes ahead and down, Nanku hooked her wristblades on the lip of the manhole and levered it upward.

Dropping down into the stink was unpleasant, but Dauntless could either follow her inside or lose her.

Nanku mapped the tunnels with all the bugs inside. Going south, she wound her way back around toward the battle. The site left her range briefly but everything was where she left it.

Dusk and Dawn had Othala cornered. The corpses were corpses. The building with an incendiary grenade in its basement was starting to burn bottom to top.

Nanku quickened her pace. The fire would draw attention and the enforcers would find the bodies.

She needed to get Dusk and Dawn away with her prisoner.

Together—and at command—the Twins reared on Othala. They snapped their jaws. Swung their talon-limbs. The woman scrambled back while they herded her. Nanku scrambled up the ladder and shouldered her way out of the sewer.

Dauntless was aware she'd gone underground, but he was searching methodically. The smoke hadn't garnered his attention yet.

Coming out onto the street, Nanku cut the fence open at Othala's back and dragged her through.

Dusk and Dawn scurried after and Nanku sent them both down ahead. She collected her equipment quickly. Spear. Smart disk. Knife. Once she finished, Nanku lifted a crawling Othala in one hand.

"Roll," she suggested.

She dropped the woman and a bone audibly broke as she landed. Nanku jumped after her but caught the top rung of the ladder. She pulled the manhole back into place.

At the bottom of the manhole she undid some line and began binding Othala's arms behind her back.

"Crazy bitch!" she snapped. "Do you know what's going to happen to you?!"

"No." Life would be boring if she did. "But I know what happens to you."

Nanku grabbed her by the back of the head and cracked her skull into the wall.

"You're going to be silent," Nanku threatened, "or they eat you before you die. They're hungry."

"Fucking—"

Nanku cracked her head again and left Othala to collapse.

She didn't have good options. She'd not gotten around to staking out a new place to bed and rest. Her mother was out of the question. Obviously. Dauntless had noticed the growing fire finally and was flying toward the smoke. Nanku needed to move quickly to escape notice and that would be hard with a prisoner.

Grabbing Dusk and Dawn by the necks, Nanku squeezed and pulled them closer.

"Go back to Bitch." She commanded it mentally and verbally. "Wait there."

Nanku wasn't sure it would work, but she'd figure out complications once she was there.

She left the twins to drag Othala one way while she ran another.

Her wounds were starting to hurt. Multiple bullet impacts. Cuts and wounds. She needed distance and a good covered area to treat the injuries.

Nanku weaved her way through the sewers. That wouldn't do her wounds any wonder. She needed to hurry.

Above, Dauntless was at the scene of the ambush. He landed on a roof and looked it over. He paid no mind to the fence or the lack of a body.

She left him behind.

The carnage may be a suitable enough distraction. Nanku endured the stink and filth. She kept going. Followed a line opposite the direction she'd sent the Twins into. The sewers grew louder and wider the deeper she went. Vehicles rushed by on the streets above. Heavy trucks and vans. They all converged in the direction of the battle while Nanku slipped out under their feet.

The sewers ran out to sea. The smell got better as she went. The sewage was diverted underground somewhere else and flowing water took its place.

Nanku slowed as she approached the large outlet at the end of the line. The water spilled out into the mouth of the bay. It wasn't a particularly attractive waterfall but she had cover.

Dropping to one knee, Nanku let her muscles relax and removed a small case from her belt.

The implements inside were crude. A hunter's field kit. Nothing like the full medical suites on Yautja ships.

Any hunter who became too wounded in the course of a hunt to go on had failed, after all.

Nanku removed a pair of pliers and a foam dispenser.

The injury to her hip—where the sniper struck her—was the worst. First, she had to dig out the bullet. The process was excruciating, but she'd endured nearly as bad before.

The bullet hadn't made it far, but any amount was just painful and she didn't feel any better after removing it.

Pressing the nozzle of the dispenser to the wound, she injected the medical foam to plug the wound and stem the bleeding. It would encourage healing and after it set it wouldn't inhibit blood flow too much. She'd feel stiff in her leg for a while.

Longer if she didn't rest.

Nanku released her jaw and used a beam-scalpel and pliers to close the wound. Then she moved on to the other injuries. Her bruises ached as she worked. There was little she could do about those. It wasn't too bad.

Her skin was hard. The rest of her less so. Internal bleeding nearly killed her once. That had felt a lot worse.

Sitting as she continued her work, Nanku kept up a sweep of the area above her. The streets were quiet. She'd long gone past the area of the fighting.

Good.

Nanku was no coward, but she wasn't blindingly dumb. Surviving the Pure's attempted ambush was a feat. The kind any hunter could take a brief break for.

Without their parahumans, what could the remaining Pure do?

She had time.

Nanku packed her kit and stood.

For now, she had to retrieve the Twins and her source of—

Nanku stopped and turned her head.

Not a coincidence.

The drone had lingered at the very edge of her range. She noticed it only as she took a few steps to change the radius. Cloaked like the last one. Hidden and watching.

The thinker?

Behind her, a slight figure stepped into range.

A young woman with blonde hair flowing out the back of a helmet akin to Fenja and Menja's winged flourishes at the joins and gaps. Not as solid as Dauntless'. It was familiar from a series of videos.

Curious.

All of that, and the Pure wanted to keep fighting?

The girl strode forward like an angry child. Heavy steps. Furious and focused.

Nanku turned to face her.

"You're Iron Rain."

"You're a murderer."

Nanku tilted her head.

What was it with Nazis and thinking no rules applied to them?

***

I don't know either, Nanku, but I will comment on it!

Also curious. Very. Very. Curious.

Beta'd by @Grim Tide.

 

[3ndless]

Little Hunter

Iron Rain was more diminutive than Nanku expected.

She was tall. Wide hips. Full chest.

Strange.

By all examination—and Nanku used her mask to be sure—she was an adult.

But she didn't carry herself as one. Her body language lacked the confidence of someone who'd grown into their own body. She was impetuous. Puffed up.

This was the whelp that wanted to kill her mother?

Well, she wouldn't get the chance.

Nanku's body still hurt, but not enough to stop her. With Iron Rain dead, the threat of the Pure was resolved. She could get back to her own business.

That would be nice.

"Nothing to say?" Iron Rain asked. "Just going to stand there?!"

Nanku cocked her head and thought.

She deactivated her cloak and exposed herself.

"Cricket was a coward. It was disappointing."

But no need for Nanku to debase herself.

Iron Rain bristled visibly under her armor.

She was no Cricket.

Nanku took it as a good thing. She couldn't be disappointed again. Iron Rain was impetuous and loud. Just someone her mother and half-sister would be safer without.

"You're going to pay for what you did," Rain snarled. "I'll make you pay!"

Nanku flipped the spear in her hand and threw.

The weapon's spin whistled and the tip screwed toward Iron Rain's chest. Nanku released her wristblades and threw herself forward. She flicked the blades from her shuriken out.

The spear pointed down and Nanku reared her shuriken back.

Light burst. Bright and shining a pale gray. The spear struck the diamond shaped shimmer and bounded. The shield rippled and Iron Rain threw both hands forward.

Nanku jumped, lunging aside and rolling as the shield broke apart and a blade of iron light flew her way. The blade struck the causeway like a hammer. Sand exploded and Nanku grabbed a grate and pulled herself away before another sword could hit her.

"Monster!" Rain screamed.

A dozen swords formed over her head and Nanku swung her legs up to reach her feet.

"You killed Jessie and Nessa!"

The air rippled. Blade after blade launched and explosions of sheer force tore into the stone.

Nanku swerved, jumping and rolling. Rain's aim was poor, but as soon as one blade fired another came out. Momentum carried her, and she barely held her balance as she slipped and skidded through explosions.

"And Uncle Justin!"

Nanku didn't even know which of them that was. Victor?

She ducked under a sword and threw her body into a spin over the next. Her landing stained her injured thigh. Nanku dropped to a knee unintentionally and threw her shuriken.

Rain raised a shield, but the spinning blade flew past her.

She started, looking back at the weapon as it spun through the dark.

Nanku threw her second shuriken and fired a dart from her left arm. Rain looked back and ducked. The shuriken went over her head and past her second shield. The dart struck her leg and the lines launched to ensnare her ankles.

Taking her chance, Nanku sprinted into a long stride.

The shield burst. Spinning blades shot out in every direction and Nanku jumped back to avoid being hit. Three more swords fired from over Rain's head and another shot from the ground between her legs and cut the line.

Nanku's eyes widened as she rolled away from one sword and swept herself aside another. Both exploded. Debris showered over her armor and against her skin.

Her visor slid from vision mode to vision mode, but none of them showered her anything.

The iron light was light, but it was like an object as well. Solid light? That sounded familiar.

Nanku rolled over the ground, kicked off, ducked under a spinning blade, and reached with one outstretched hand.

Iron Rain stepped back as her throat came within Nanku's grasp.

Light shined from the blow and blades shot upward from the ground. They circled the girl and burst out, nearly throwing Nanku aside. Amid swirling sand, she slipped herself between the projections. One hand reached past Iron Rain and her other grabbed her knife and stabbed across her chest.

A small shield blocked the blade and Iron Rain projected a trio of swords over her head.

The first of the shurikens returned. Nanku caught it and swiped the blades.

Rain dodged and Nanku danced away from her swords. She threw the shuriken and caught the second as it returned. A flick of her fingers threw her knife and her arm threw the second shuriken.

Rain retreated in a start from the barrage. She used a shield to deflect the first shuriken. The knife cut strands of blonde hair hanging out the back of her helmet. The second shuriken struck her shoulder and spun the girl.

Nanku leaped at her chance. Wristblades poised to sever the spine.

Iron Rain screamed and a massive sword of iron light exploded from the sand to either side of her. One blade caught Nanku in the arm and pierced her skin like tissue.

She flung back, thrown by the blade and launched through the air until she crashed.

Rain screamed, clutching her shoulder while blood ran down her arm.

"WILD ANIMAL!"

Nanku grit her teeth and ran for her spear. She caught the weapon between swords blasting into the sand around her. Blasts of force rocked her to the bone. Tiny grains and bits of chitin showered atop her head.

She readied the weapon to throw, dodged a sword, and waited.

Rain's head twitched as the shurikens flew back.

Iron Rain leaned to the side and avoided one. Raised a shield over her back and blocked the second.

Nanku threw her spear and Rain screamed again as it pierced her other shoulder.

The girl stumbled and Nanku grabbed her. Swords burst from the ground. She ignored the weapons, lifting Iron Rain and throwing her overhead onto the beach.

Her body crunched on landing. The metal armor around her dented. She kicked like a wounded animal. Shot blades Nanku leaned away from. She caught her shuriken and used it to deflect a long-narrow sword and pinned Iron Rain to the sand.

With a knee to the girl's chest, Nanku swung her wristblades back and aimed for the throat.

Iron Rain sobbed.

Crying.

She—A child? Nanku thought Tattletale meant—Was her body a lie? She didn't speak like someone that tall. She screamed and wailed. Bellowed like an infant.

Nanku's arm wavered.

A shape moved behind her. She barely had time to register it. The passage was disorienting at first. The air folded in on itself and the bugs shifted position in a dizzying surge.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled. Nanku spun. The hand left her, but the girl's shape blurred.

Nanku's blades passed through the air before her but struck nothing.

Vista warped the space around herself back, jaw tense.

"Let's just calm down and put all the sharp, stabbing, penetrating, and cutting implements away. What do you say?"

Nanku turned her head.

Two more coming. Quick. Not as quick as Vista but Vista's power was…

Damn it.

"I am asking nicely," Vista said. "Drop the weapons and—"

Nanku reared back and swung her leg out in a sweeping motion. She thrust for Iron Rain.

The thrust was perfect, and still, she missed.

"Hard way it is then," Vista declared as her power twisted the air and bent Nanku's blades away from Iron Rain.

Nanku cursed.

There was nothing worthy in killing a sobbing child.

But Rose was innocent, and she'd stay that way.

For that, Rain had to die.

A blade shot from the ground and Nanku barely jerked her head to the side before her throat was cut. Rain pushed herself away and swung her hand out. A flurry of blades followed and Nanku dodged away.

Vista rotated herself, twisting the beach in an arc so she appeared behind Iron Rain.

"That's enough, Aster." She wrapped an arm around Rain's throat and squeezed. "It's over. You—"

Nanku snatched her remaining shuriken from the ground.

She threw the blade but Vista again twisted the air.

Nanku's wristblades followed, aimed for Rain's head.

Vista twisted that air too.

She wasn't limited to doing one thing at a time.

Nanku leaped back and reached to reactivate her cloak.

The woman came at her—dressed in black with a white circuit-board pattern over it—with a surge of speed. She took a step left and shot her fist out. Nanku swung the shuriken in one hand into her path and let the woman avoid the blades.

The second she threw low.

Battery jumped, starting as her leg barely avoided being cut.

Assault landed behind Nanku, between her and Iron Rain. Vista had the girl on her back and was trying to pull Nanku's spear clear of her wound.

Nanku didn't complain to herself.

It was pointless.

"I swear I had something for this," Assault said. "Puppy?"

"She nearly took my leg off!" Battery snapped.

"Something about a leg up? No, that wasn't it. Damn it, it was good too."

"Do we have a plan for this?" Vista asked. "Console?"

Nanku braced herself. Assault and Battery moved in sync with surprising smoothness. The Internet did say they were a couple. That was dangerous.

One against two weren't odds Nanku feared, but a pair in sync with one another was worth double.

"Leave," Nanku tried. "The Pure have one parahuman left."

"Yeah." Assault crossed his arms over his chest. "Not that I'm crying but..."

"But you have to stop," Battery picked up. "Stand down."

Killing Rain was no longer feasible.

"Not even going to think about it?" Assault asked.

A trap within a trap.

The drone was still there. Watching. How cold could the Pure's thinker be? Did she sacrifice her entire parahuman force just to stage a conflict with the Protectorate.

She couldn't have known Nanku would hesitate with Iron Rain. Could she?

"Where's Weaver?" Battery asked. "We could use someone to talk to her."

"Not coming," Vista replied while she listened to someone. "Director's orders."

Battery started. "What?"

Nanku threw a shuriken back and another forward.

The two capes dodged. Battery moved with a sudden burst of speed. Assault stepped into the weapon and batted it aside.

From one ambush into another.

And it was time to go.

Assault burst forward and struck the air when Nanku ducked under the blow. She warred over the nearby presence of her swarm. They were ready and waiting. But anyone who had known of it was now dead, and her greatest weapon was a surprise once again.

Behind her mask, Nanku's eyes swept over the water.

She preferred to keep it that way.

Nanku rolled away from Assault and grabbed her shuriken from the sand as she broke into a run.

"Really?" Assault asked.

"Just knock her out," Battery grumbled. "I'm not breaking the alternative to you-know-who."

They wouldn't kill her.

That was good.

But how to escape?

Vista wrestled Aster down while the girl struggled and screamed. "Wait—"

"Just keep her down!"

Vista twisted the air in and back and in again, folding the blades away from herself as Rain tried to launch them.

"Just knock her out!"

"A bit busy," Vista replied.

One obstacle eliminated then.

Nanku spun on her heel and ran.

Assault and Battery ran to chase her while she collected her knife. Her spear was still in Iron Rain's shoulder. Leaving it wasn't ideal.

Nanku avoided Assault's attempt to strike her back with an arm bar and allowed Battery to strike her side. The impact was heavy. She felt it in her ribs and the pain radiated through her chest while her body hit the sand and rolled.

The pair struck again before Nanku could turn and something in her chest broke. Another blow to her arm cracked a bone. Blood ran down her leg. Her stitches were too fresh. They hadn't held.

Pain flared up and Nanku found it hard to put any weight on her repeatedly injured leg. Moving an arm hurt. At least one rib was broken. Her arm as well possibly.

She'd tangled with a dozen parahumans in a single night.

Nanku supposed she'd pushed things a bit too far. A lesson to remember.

She marked her target with her mask. The lasers shot out and the actuating arm popped over her shoulder.

"Vista!" Battery snapped.

The girl turned and moved as the plasma bolt shot past her and over Iron Rain.

She startled. "Was that a ray gun?"

Nanku fired a dart line from her gauntlet and waited until it strung around her spear. She pulled, ripping the weapon from Iron Rain's shoulder. The girl screamed. Maybe she'd bleed out. It would save Nanku the time of finding her again.

Reeling the line back in, Nanku's fingers closed around her spear just as Battery hit her again and Assault struck her from the other side.

"Come on," Assault said as his foot reared back. "Just stay down."

Nanku rolled and collapsed her spear. The plasma caster fired twice more, driving Battery back. Her third charge came quickly and she slammed her fist into the ground. Big hands grabbed Nanku's shoulder and Assault lifted her effortlessly from the ground.

She kicked at his chest fruitlessly.

When the internet said he could manipulate kinetic energy, Nanku didn't appreciate it. Her feet simply stopped no matter how hard she kicked.

That was a problem.

"I got her," Assault claimed.

Nanku looked at his head and the plasma caster charged.

"Shit."

He threw her back and Nanku rolled as her body flew across the beach. The landing was strange. The moment she found her feet, Nanku stumbled back nearly a dozen paces into the surf.

Battery charged at her from the right. Assault leaped into the air.

Nanku sealed her mask and threw herself into the water.

She swam down—easier with her armor on—and reached her hand out.

A hand reached her first.

Dauntless lifted her from the water and flew into the air.

"Not a bad idea," he said. "But we can't ignore you now, or let you go."

"I didn't ask," Nanku replied.

She stabbed her wristblades into his shoulder, between the armored plates of his costume. There was some resistance, but the tip broke through and sank in. His hold loosened and a swift kick sent Nanku dropping from the air back into the water.

She would not kill Rose's father. He'd survive a little light maiming.

Pulling her legs together, Nanku braced as her body struck the water's surface and she sank into the cold. The weight and momentum carried her toward the bottom where dozens of small claws grasped at her. Legs crawled over her arm. Bubbles churned but the weight of the crabs was enough to keep her under the water and near the floor.

Dauntless was still in the air clutching at his shoulder. He followed at first, tracking the shadow of her movement.

Until her helpers pulled her into deeper water and the darkness of the bay and the night made tracking her impossible.

The air in her mask would last more than long enough. Nanku took her time. Kept many eyes on Dauntless as he continued his search. He'd turned the wrong way and Nanku was sure he'd lost her.

The crabs kept up their work, scurrying in mass and pulling her further along the bay.

The cold numbed the pain. Made it easier to think clearly.

If the enforcers were smart, they'd spread out. Look for her anywhere she could come back on land. She needed to slip past them before they did that.

Nanku flowed with the currents and used bugs along the shore to search.

When she found a small grate under a boardwalk further along the shore, Nanku directed the crabs.

They spilled her out under the decks above. Too weak to carry her out of the water. Nanku pulled herself to the grate with a limp and a snarl. She stopped to reapply her med-kit's treatment. The extra pain made her more alert briefly. Long enough to reseal the lacerations in her legs.

The broken ribs and cracked bones were another story.

For that, she injected an agent directly into her bloodstream. It would accelerate her healing, but broken bones did not heal fast. Not even with Yautja technology.

She dragged herself after that. First to the grate. She cut the bars and slipped through. Lifting them back into place further strained her body. She needed sleep. Badly.

Nanku went back into the sewers, wary of all movement over her heat.

There were cars with flashing lights. Loud sirens. She heard them even underground.

None of them stopped her or gave any sign of pursuit.

Nanku kept going. The thrill of the hunt and the air of danger went away and only the pain remained. A lot of pain.

She kept going anyway.

Lifting a manhole cover was too much. Nanku found a drain that emptied into a causeway and climbed the incline back onto the streets. From there her legs carried her on through shadowed alleys and streets.

Until she couldn't keep going.

Nanku slid down the wall and groaned.

She'd been injured before. Badly. That damned rhino-like beast nearly trampled her to death when she was fifteen. A stalking beast would have killed her if not for her power.

The Elders kept hunters away from Earth for good reason.

The line between pride and wit was thin. Nanku thought herself on the better side, but mistakes happened.

She'd have to not reach for more than she could grasp next time.

After she woke up from the black.

"Figures."

Nanku's eyes fluttered weakly.

Rachel crouched in front of her and snorted.

"You look like shit."

***

I like grown up badass Vista sue me.

Beta'd by @Grim Tide.

 

[3ndless]

Little Hunter

Annette glared across the table, glad and terrified just how much practice she'd gotten at that over the years.

In her time as a cape, Annette shared a lot of tables with a lot of people. Most of them unpleasant. Piggot. Armsmaster. Coil. Kaiser and Lung. Some weird woman in a fedora she didn't care to think about.

Director Curtz held his hands folded together.

He was a young man. Lean. Sandy hair and dark eyes. A small scar marked the top of his left ear.

Not the ambitious sort, which always surprised Annette. Since Brockton Bay ceased being a constant source of news about cape carnage the city had gone through three directors. Piggot lasted a year before she seemed to consider her work as done as she could get it. Martin was killed by the Nine.

Curtz arrived after and had occupied the chair quietly for nearly three years.

And all of a sudden he was throwing his weight around.

Annette kept trying to puzzle out why. He'd been content—so long as the city was quiet—to be quiet.

Around the room, staff were preoccupied. The carnage came in bits and pieces.

First the massacre at the old Medhall building. Dozens dead. Vehicles destroyed. More firepower than anyone knew the Pure had. That was bad, but not so bad Annette couldn't spin it. The Pure lured Rachel out to kill her and she had no choice but to defend her life and the lives of her dogs.

A mansion in the hills beyond the city exploded after. The fire department was still digging through the wreckage, but the PRT had records of the property. The Richter family were closely tied to a number of Neo-Nazi groups and that several members were parahumans was all but an open secret.

Fenja and Menja. Annette was certain the two women were dead, along with anyone else in the building.

And then the brawl in the Trainyard. A dozen armed men dead. Two might live, minus limbs and covered in burns respectively. Stormtiger and Crusader were dead. No sign of Othala. Cricket was chased down and killed, and then a brawl ensued on the beach nearby between Iron Rain and…

Annette's fingers curled under the table.

She'd known.

It was plain as day and hard as it was she wasn't a total fool.

Nanku was different. There were pieces of Taylor there. Bits she recognized beyond her face or her eyes.

But Nanku wasn't Taylor anymore.

She was someone else, and she was a killer.

Killer.

The word rattled about and echoed.

Nanku was a killer and her capacity for it was on par with the Nine. She might have actually topped the Nine in terms of single-night body counts minus the likes of Shatterbird and Burnscar. They could attack whole buildings and cities, but the comparison was about as good as a comparison of Stalin and Hitler.

A great way to miss any point worth making.

"Rain's been apprehended," one of the staffers announced. "Vista has her in custody."

"Risks?" Curtz asked.

"Her injuries are disorienting her."

"Standard procedure then. We'll need to use Type-12 restraints. Contact Dragon for support. As I understand her power can't be used if she's not touching the ground."

"I'll make the call," someone offered.

"And bring her in and under guard," Curtz added. "For her and against anyone who might make another attempt to murder her."

Annette's eyes narrowed. "What about the other cape?"

"Assault and Battery are reporting they had her on the run. She tried to flee." The staffer turned her head, listening. "Dauntless is injured."

Annette's hand balled into a fist.

"Minor puncture wound to his shoulder. He had the suspect cape in hand but she dropped into the water and slipped away."

"Search the shore," Curtz ordered. "She can't stay underwater forever. Injuries will slow her down."

She'd be killed.

The PRT gave capes a lot of leeway. Most people didn't get it. They couldn't think past the first steps of anger and catharsis.

Wantonly killing every cape that was a problem was madness. Every cape would be backed into a corner. Every crime would be a war. Life and death. Destruction piling up faster than anyone could try to fix it.

Killing capes just because they were monsters ignored that they were monsters, and the only thing worse than monsters running wild was monsters destroying everything that might try to destroy them.

But the PRT had limits.

So many bodies this quickly? Kaiser's Empire never accrued that kind of body count. Lung's Asian Bad Boyz. The Merchants. Coil. The Teeth. The Nine really were the best comparison short of Amy and Annette wasn't going to bring that up.

Hundreds died when Amy broke.

The world came within an inch of an apocalypse. Annette wasn't entirely sure how they'd pulled it off in the end. She wasn't sure what Carol said to make Phage stop long enough for some cape with a death beam power to kill her.

Carol was never the same after her daughter died, and her surviving child had to be sent away for help.

Annette hadn't checked on Victoria in a long time. Maybe she should.

"Rain's status now?"

"Secured. Injuries to her shoulder."

"Treatment is secondary to containment." Curtz turned his head. "I know we're used to problems happenstancing their way out of sight or being handed to us with bows, but we do all those drills for a reason."

Annette frowned.

The room continued about its business and Annette glanced at her phone. Calling Lisa was too risky. Curtz was moving suddenly. After something. Until Annette knew what she needed to tread carefully.

"Anything to add, Weaver?"

"Sitting here is a misuse of my power."

"Your power is best for investigation and is valid after an incident has been resolved and the area secured. Especially when one of our perpetrators is a cape with a stated interest in murdering you."

"And as I keep trying to tell you and everyone else, I can talk her down if we're face to face."

"You're track record on that front is not going very well of late."

"That's a low blow, Director. A bit beneath you."

Curtz looked at her intently. He'd always struck her as intelligent, but distant. She'd never gotten the sense he liked her, but Annette was surprised how much distaste charged his gaze. He disliked her, and he disliked her a lot.

"So is keeping a secret this badly," he replied. "I'm sure you're not naive enough to think the PRT likes the arrangement you've set up in Brockton Bay."

Heads turned and Annette kept her face plain and her gaze even.

She hated power politics. Too much bravado and posturing. Too little actual work being done.

"I don't know what you mean," she countered.

"But," Curtz continued, "it did stop the city from being such a damned mess, and as long as the Undersiders and their cronies stuck to small-time and bloodless, the PRT was content to let them tangle with Watchdog in mind games. The world has bigger problems than a band of petty thieves turned underworld bosses."

"Tends to happen with Endbringers destroying cities and the Nine running around."

"Indeed." Curtz inhaled and pursed his lips. "But we have a problem now, Weaver, and you're not helping it by trying to play dumb."

He reached out and tapped a control on the phone beside him.

The screen at his back switched, and an image appeared.

Blurry, but marked by a human shape swinging a bladed weapon into a man's throat.

Annette sat up.

The night had been a damned disaster. One mess after another. A long, painful, hard night where she'd gone from one bad idea to a blood bath in Captain's hill, a burning building, a brawl in the Trainyard.

And the angle of the image. "Who took that?"

"A very good question," Curtz said. "Almost as good as who put it online and posted a claim on PHO and across social media that the Undersiders hired a cape assassin to murder the Pure."

Annette sat forward. "What?"

Preposterous. Lisa would do a lot of things, even things she didn't like. She had the capacity to kill. But Annette knew her and it was a leap to jump from Lisa's willingness to do unsavory things to orchestrating a mass killing.

"I found it a tad strange too," Curtz agreed.

Annette rose and crossed the room.

Looking over the shoulder of one staffer, she squinted at the ongoing response online.

Someone recorded the battle, and then released it. Accused the Undersiders of hiring an assassin. That was absurd. The Undersiders had no such history.

The Thinker.

"We've been playing the wrong game the whole time," Annette mumbled.

"I'd say so," Curtz agreed. "Were you ever really the target or a red herring meant to cause something to snap?"

He pointed.

"In this case, something rather conveniently timed."

Impossible.

There was no way the thinker could have accounted for Nanku. She came out of nowhere. No one could have predicted her except a pre-cog. Was that the thinker's power?

But what was the motivation? To bring down the Undersiders?

"This changes everything," Annette whispered. "This isn't an attempt on my life. It's something else."

The Thinker was using Aster.

Indignation rose in Annette's throat.

"So it would seem." Curtz sat back in his seat. "And now we have a whole new problem, and a wild card that I can't turn a blind eye toward."

"We don't know that—"

"Don't. The coincidence stretched credulity before, and your contributions to the Protectorate and the PRT are the only reason you're not being brought up on charges for trying to cover up your daughter's murder spree."

Annette didn't face him.

She thought. Searching for any path.

She couldn't find one.

The room around her was silent and more than one set of eyes watched and waited. Most of those present were people she knew. Not well, but the PRT wasn't that different from everyone else.

Heroes were heroes.

People believed in them. In her. Even as the people around the building realized what she was doing—that she and Tattletale were conspiring together to control Brockton Bay's underworld—they believed in her. That she was doing what she did because it saved lives, even if it doomed others.

Annette made her peace with that. In the knowledge that Addison or Rose could walk the street and be as safe as anyone could be.

Coming to terms with how everyone else felt about it was… Harder.

"I can think a lot of negative things about you, Weaver. But I don't believe for a second you sicced your daughter on the Pure. I find it infinitely more likely she was the one telling the truth. That she came back to the city to make some peace, found out what was going on, and took matters into her own hands."

"The Pure decided to break the unwritten rules," Annette said. "They were going to attack me and my younger daughter at our home."

It was better.

Better she be seen as an extreme vigilante than a mass murderer with no sense of restraint. The PRT arrested one. The other was Birdcaged, or killed.

"She's trying to protect us."

"I suppose we'll have to arrest her to find out."

Damn it.

Curtz stood slowly.

"If you have a way to contact her, then do it," he said in a tone that brokered no compromise. "Say whatever you have to say. Just get her somewhere we can surround her and if we're lucky we can bring her in alive."

Annette shook her head.

That was bad, but she'd figure something out.

The thinker was worse.

They'd been played. Tattletale was right. It was never about Aster's revenge. That was a smokescreen. A ploy.

But this?

Annette guessed a lot of possibilities after Accord died, but she never fathomed the goal was something as ambitious as turning Brockton Bay upside down.

And Nanku gave them the perfect chance.

~ ~ ~

Nanku woke slowly.

The bleariness in her eyes clung and her surroundings were both strange and smudged across her vision. The room was small. A set of stairs led to a door in the ceiling and a small bathroom tucked into a nook beneath. The walls were rushed.

A hastily assembled space. Not constructed by typical means. The walls were rough and dirt spilled through the boards. A roughly assembled staircase led to a door in the ceiling. A trap door to the floor above.

Nanku blinked and reached out with her power.

Dusk and Dawn turned their heads in the room above. They scuttled toward the door and began trying to work it open.

Talon limbs weren't very good for opening closed doors.

The noise drew the attention of a woman above. Nanku's mind was still dazed and she needed a moment.

Dusk and Dawn moved aside instinctively, making room for a hand to reach down and lift the trap door.

Bitch came down the steps and didn't flinch as the Twins rushed through the opening.

Dawn leaped onto the bed and began arranging the sheets. Dusk circled the room, searching the walls and testing them with taps of his knuckle. Something about being underground brought a new set of instincts out.

Taking a stool from the wall, Bitch took a seat beside the bed.

"Look like shit," she said.

"Fine," Nanku replied. She tried to sit up but her body protested.

Definitely a broken rib.

A cockroach found her equipment under the bed. She searched piece by piece. Weapon to weapon. It was all there. Nothing missing.

That was a start.

"Med-kit."

Bitch stared.

"Box. Size of my hand."

Bitch hunched down and reached under the bed. She fiddled a bit. Turned a few pieces over one way and then another. When she finally found it she'd searched nearly everything. Nanku wasn't sure that was a coincidence.

Checking to see if she'd grabbed any of her weapons.

Smart.

"Here."

Bitch set the box down and Nanku pushed it open with her thumb.

"Can't get a healer," Bitch said. "Broken ribs. Bad cuts."

"I've had worse."

"Be worse if you try to run."

"I'm not dumb."

"Fought the Nazis and the Protectorate. Seems pretty dumb."

"I breathe. The Pure don't."

Nanku checked her med kit. She had the tools to deal with the rib, but she'd have to cut into her own skin to reach the bone. She'd done that before and it wasn't pleasant. Pain was a fleeting thing. Nanku could endure it.

She just didn't like it. She wasn't a sadist.

There was a bone suture in the kit. It was meant for knitting bones. Still hurt but she wouldn't have to worry about her own lungs filling with blood.

"Heroes are looking for you," Bitch said.

"Figured."

"Don't need trouble. Stay here."

Nanku's hand stopped and she looked Bitch in the eye.

The girl didn't blink. "I have rope."

Nanku reached out. Dusk and Dawn both turned on Bitch and rattled in their throats.

Bitch whistled. Two dozen dogs barked in response.

Nanku scoffed.

Bitch huffed.

"Why?" Nanku asked

"Helped me," Bitch answered. "I help you. Even."

Nanku tilted her head. "Tattletale?"

"She's smart. Probably knows already."

"My mother?"

Bitch shrugged. "Telling her makes trouble. Don't make trouble."

"Fine."

That was fair.

Nanku leaned back onto her pillow and closed her eyes.

"I'll bring food later. Stay put and stay quiet."

Nanku laid down but kept the kit close. Dusk and Dawn settled around her. Their wings began vibrating. It did soothe the aches in her muscles. The pain in her ribs not so much.

She'd rest a bit. Rebuild her strength. Then she'd cut into her side and mend the rib.

After she rested.

A rest sounded good, the more she thought about it.

If nothing else, Iron Rain was captured. She couldn't hurt her mother or Rose now. There was still the thinker but they obviously weren't that smart. They'd lost everything in a night. Some thinker.

Nanku took a deep breath and eased herself to drift away.

When she woke, angry brown eyes glared at her.

Rose kicked Nanku in her uninjured side far too hard. The world spun wildly. Her body twisted in the air and her back struck the wall.

Nanku's vision blurred and she had to restrain Dusk and Dawn from attacking.

She hit the floor and started.

Rose stomped her foot on the bed, heedless of the Twins hissing at her.

"Meanie!"

***

And before anyone asks; Rose triggered before Taylor returned to Earth and has had her powers.

Beta'd by @Grim Tide.

 

[3ndless]

Little Hunter

"You stabbed daddy!" Rose snapped. "That's mean! Sisters shouldn't stab sister's daddies!"

Nanku pressed a hand to the new sore spot in her flank.

Strong.

Far, far, too strong for her size.

And in the absence of their mother, or anyone else, Nanku felt the instinct clearly. The sensation of a predator. Danger. She paid it little mind. Aside from the first day, the parahumans she encountered were obvious.

But she'd missed it from Rose before.

"You have a power."

Rose's next complaint died in her throat. Her lip quivered and her eyes started to swell.

"Don't tell mom."

Nanku blinked and her breath caught.

"When?"

Rose dropped to a squat and wrapped her arms around her legs. She buried her face in her knees. No answer came.

Nanku winced and pulled herself up.

"Rose," she pressed. "When? How long?"

It couldn't have been the previous night. Nanku grimaced at the thought. That wasn't what she wanted. It wasn't supposed to happen. Was it because of the threat to their mother? To her? Because she'd stabbed Dauntless to escape?

Nanku hobbled to the bed and sent Dusk and Dawn back. They retreated, giving Rose space as Nanku stood over the girl.

Her sister.

The girl was her sister.

"Rose." Nanku dropped her tone to a soft voice. One like Taylor remembered when she was young. Before it all went wrong. "You're not in trouble. Tell me. When?"

Rose looked up for a moment. Eyes big and puffy.

"When I was littler," she said.

Not last night then.

Nanku exhaled and her shoulders relaxed.

With the release of the sudden—annoying—fear, her curiosity took over.

"How did you find me?"

Rose averted her eyes.

"Good hunters don't lie," Nanku said.

"I'm not a hunter," Rose replied.

"Found me."

Rose gave her a quizzical look. Nanku kept her face straight and wondered why she thought that would work. Pe'dte said it so many times. It just came naturally with the idea of chiding a child.

Rose's expression began to crack and Nanku stuck to her spear.

She'd made the thrust.

She might as well see if it worked.

It took time. Several minutes before Rose broke eye contact and huffed. "I can see people. If I want to."

"See people?"

She nodded. "And I know where they are."

Her power. "Your power lets you see people, and track them?"

Rose nodded again.

Nanku's eyes widened. "You found me here like that?"

"Daddy said you stabbed him!" Rose's face turned red and her back straightened. "That's mean!"

Nanku looked away. "He'll be fine."

"That's what he said."

"He wi—How do you know I stabbed him?"

Rose pursed her lips. "I told you! I see people!"

Nanku grit her teeth. "You were watching me."

"No. I was watching Daddy!"

Nanku started to reply but stopped herself.

Her father was Dauntless. She had to know. If she knew, "You worry about him."

Rose's eyes provided the answer.

Nanku looked over her shoulder. "How did you kick me so hard?"

"I don't know."

"Good hunters don't lie," Nanku repeated.

"I don't!" Rose buried her face in her knees again. "I was angry so I kicked you… I didn't mean to hit so hard."

"I'm fine," Nanku lied. "My body is hard."

Did she have more than one power? Nanku wasn't sure how that worked. She had more than one power but knew most parahumans didn't. And hers were weird. Her control of insects was her strongest ability. The others were useful but small. Minor.

Rose could locate anyone and track them down, and she could kick Nanku across a room.

It wasn't like Assault's blows. His blows could throw her but there was oddly little pain in them. The impacts weren't real. It was like he simply wanted to move her and did.

Battery hit harder, but was that because Rose's blows were weaker or because Battery was older?

"Don't tell Mom," Rose pleaded. She surrendered and Nanku could see it on her face. "She was scared and had to hide me, but hiding me made me scared and I couldn't sleep! I wanted to be brave but…"

Her face flushed and Nanku could tell there was more. Something worse.

Whatever it was, Rose seemed unable to say it.

"Why did she hide you?" Nanku asked, as a distraction.

"Because a bad man named Coil was looking for me."

Coil. "He's still out there?"

Rose shook her head. "Auntie Lis is Coil now. That's what Mom said."

Lis? "Tattletale."

"I don't see her much. Mom said she's not a good person."

"She's not."

"But she's Mom's friend."

Nanku tilted her head. Her legs were tired and her ribs hurt. She directed Dusk to make some room and turned to sit on the bed. It wasn't the softest, but it was better than the ground, and getting the weight off her scared legs felt better.

An edge faded from her voice as she spoke, and she straightened her back. "Not all friends are good. Shouldn't be here."

Rose pouted and looked away. "You shouldn't be mean."

Nanku sighed. "I shouldn't."
She's let Rose have that one. Children should get to win an argument from time to time. Especially against adults.

"Does anyone know?"

"Aunt Miss—" Rose shut her mouth. "Not supposed to talk about that."

Nanku frowned but let it go.

Her mother had no sisters. Neither did her father. Maybe Rose's father did?

"She didn't tell anyone?"

Rose shook her head and uncurled slightly. "Mom's always scared. I can tell. If she knew how scared I was, she'd be sad."

"So you didn't tell her?"

"No."

Then no one else knew where she was, though Nanku guessed someone could figure it out. Clearing her mind, she reached out through the swarm and searched the surrounding block. The streets were normal. Nothing unusual.

Above, the dogs were eating eagerly. They'd just been fed and Bitch was—

Nanku looked up.

The hatch above flung open and Bitch came down the steps.

"The fuck you—"

She stopped, eyes fixing on Rose and jaw dropping.

"Hell is she doing here?"

"It's not nice to swear!" Rose chided.

Bitch stared at her and turned to Nanku. "You bring her here?"

Rose paled.

"Yes," Nanku lied.

Bitch's eyes narrowed at the answer. She looked back and forth between them and Nanku could smell the suspicion. Briefly, the girl looked around the room and seemed to notice something when she turned away.

"Keep it down," she said. "And don't cause trouble."

Rose relaxed and Nanku gave an affirming snort Bitch seemed to understand.

"Cassie went for Chinese," she continued. Over her shoulder, she glared at Rose. "Leave before she gets back."

"Okay," Rose hiccuped.

Bitch huffed and left the room. "Should be in school anyway."

"There's no school on Saturday," Rose said.

Nanku blinked. "How long?"

"Five days," Bitch answered. "I fed your bugs. They're well trained."

Nanku reached over and scratched at Dusk's throat.

They were hungry, but not too hungry. Better to underfeed them than overfeed them.

And five days.

She still had the far better part of a year, but five days laying in bed was far too many.

Rose pushed her lips out. "You said good hunters don't lie."

"I didn't."

"But you said—"

"You were looking for me because I hurt your father. That I brought you here unwittingly is meaningless." Nanku huffed. "He will be fine. The wound was superficial."

"It was still mean," Rose insisted.

"Yes," Nanku conceded. "You should go. If they come for me, you aren't safe here."

Rose watched her with curious eyes. Familiar eyes. Nanku saw them in reflections whenever she looked.

"Why did you kill people?" Rose asked. "Everyone knows killing is bad."

"Chickens don't want to die to feed you," Nanku answered. "They die anyway."

"But they're chickens."

"Death is part of life. If the Nazis didn't want to die, they should have done a better job living."

Rose gave her a queer look. She didn't understand but Nanku didn't expect her to. She was human and she was better off staying that way.

"Go home," Nanku insisted.

"What if I tell Mom."

"Your choice."

Rose huffed and stood up. She glanced at Dawn for a moment and stepped off the bed. Her steps were slow. Lingering. Like she wanted to stay, or was waiting for Nanku to tell her too.

She wouldn't.

Killing the Pure was for her, and their mother.

But she didn't need to know that.

Nanku pondered the thought as Rose plodded up the stairs. Rose looked like Taylor. Sounded like Taylor.

But she wasn't Taylor.

Before her father died, Taylor had been energetic and talkative. Loud. Nanku's memory was hazy but she remembered some moments. The happiest ones in particular. The sad too.

Rose was… Different from Taylor. And she had talent.

Nanku pushed the thought away and started to bed forward.

"I won't tell Mom," Rose said. "Promise."

Nanku tilted her head and watched Rose vanish up the steps.

She waited a moment and Dusk scuttled after her. Rose left the same way she entered, running when Bitch shouted at her not to touch dogs she didn't know. She was out the door and going down the street, and Dusk took off and followed.

Nanku couldn't follow her all the way to wherever she was going but—

In the kennel above, Imp appeared and groaned.

"I'll do it," she said. "How the hell did the kid even find this place?"

"Nanku brought her," Bitch answered.

"She have a phone?"

"She has lots of stuff."

Imp shook her head. "Just keep her here. Whole town is still hunting her ass, and at this point even the Ambassadors are after her."

"Lisa?"

"Lisa is pointedly not asking the very obvious question so that when asked she can semi-honestly say the words 'I don't know.' Just keep her down there."

"She's too hurt to move."

"Then it'll be easy."

Nanku blinked and shook her head.

Rose left at a steady pace.

Dusk stuck low after taking off. It was light out and any flying parahumans could spot him if he rose too high. Nanku directed him to scuttle over the rooftops and leap once he was far enough along.

Rose went to a bus stop and sat down to wait.

A girl with dark skin and purple streaks in her hair came out of an alley a moment later.

An alley where no one had been moments before.

Dusk turned his head and Nanku drew bugs close to Imp to listen.

"Hey," Imp said with a smile. "You okay, kid?"

Rose stared at her. "Mom says not to talk to strangers."

Imp held in a laugh. "Well, she sounds smart. You okay?"

"I am waiting for the bus and I can scream. Really, really loud."

"How about you don't do that"—Imp sat down on the bench with space between them—"and I'll just sit here and make sure you get on that bus. Deal?"

Rose watched her warily and then stared at the empty ends of the bench in confusion.

Nanku kept watch until the bus arrived and in the meantime she had Dawn retrieve her mask. She tried to get it herself, but getting on the ground and reaching under the bed hurt before she'd gotten halfway down. Dawn's talon caught the rim and she pulled the mask out enough to close her jaws over it.

The insect held the mask out and Nanku retrieved it.

She settled back on the bed and eased herself onto the bed. Dawn went back under the bed and retrieved the gauntlet with her computer.

It felt much better to lay down.

Fitting the mask over her face, Nanku plugged the cord into her implant and waited for the device to restart.

Always a long wait waiting for the system to boot from a depowered state. Once it did, Nanku ran quick diagnostics. Refitting her gauntlet she opened the panel and started being productive.

She still had the scans of her father's file. The papers themselves might be around. She'd left them in the kennel five days ago. A quick sweep of the building didn't find them.

That's what she had scans for.

With a sigh, Nanku decided to focus on the pages about the scene. The building was gone. The images and words in the report were all that remained.

She read through the report quickly and tried to build the image in her mind. And she compiled questions she needed to answer.

Her father left the Dockworker's building late after checking in. Why did he check in? Did he do that often?

A note clearly stated he regularly parked in the building. Most Dockworkers did. Were there none who'd seen his death?

He died within thirty minutes of leaving. The body was found an hour later. The detectives had dismissed the coroner's report and apparently made their own determination.

Thirty minutes.

"Thirty minutes," Nanku mumbled.

Why didn't he simply leave? He wasn't killed in his car. He never made it to his car. He was near the restroom, but why not go before leaving the Dockworkers?

"You stopped," Nanku realized. "You stopped. Why did you stop, Daddy?"

The last word caught her for a moment.

"You stopped," she affirmed. "What made you stop? Not get in your car."

She scrolled through the pages in search. Surely someone else asked that question. It didn't take thirty minutes to get into a car. He had milk. It was late. He had to get back to Taylor. She was waiting for him.

Thirty minutes.

Thirty minutes.

Did it take that long to kill him? No. Not with his injuries. So what? Did the killer…

"You talked to them," Nanku determined. "Who was it?"

Nanku went looking for who specifically found the body and when.

Lacy.

Lacy found him.

And Lacy was dead.

Did Kurt know something?

Nanku continued looking through the records in detail and compiling questions. Some were answered as she went. He checked in because someone called him. Something about missing containers at a work site. Nothing came of it. The enforcers tracked it down and found it to be a clerical error.

That was a dead end.

Othala.

Where was Othala? Did Tattletale take her too?

Nanku snarled.

She'd killed the rest. Othala was her only link left to…

It took a moment to remember the name.

"Quality Care. That's what they called it."

QC.

The trap door opened as Cassie returned with bags of food.

Bitch came down the steps and Dusk scurried after her. Rose was on the bus and riding back into the city. It was as far as Nanku could follow. She'd be alright.

The girl kicked her across the room.

Pity on anyone who tried to hurt her.

"Need help." Bitch reached out.

"I'm fine," Nanku replied.

"Not a question."

She grabbed Nanku's shoulder and pulled.

"And take off the mask."

"Why?"

"In case."

Nanku grimaced but the smell of food spread through every bug in the building.

Her stomach roiled.

Nanku removed her mask and her gauntlet and leaned against Bitch up the stairs. The girl all but lifted her over the last few steps.

Cassie eyed Nanku suspiciously. "She's not going to murder us, right?"

"We're not Nazis." Bitch eased Nanku into a seat at the table. "Don't eat the sweet and sour."

Nanku looked over the boxes and containers, unsure what was what. Taylor had Chinese food but it had been a long time. Nanku only remembered the taste of beef and broccoli. The arrangement smelled of a range of spices, all richer than she was accustomed to. Dusk and Dawn sniffed curiously and patiently waited for their chance to eat.

Cassie and Bitch took their own seats.

"How did she get here?"

"Don't know," Nanku answered.

"Who?" Cassie asked.

"No one," Nanku and Bitch answered.

Cassie looked at them and shrugged. "Fine."

She filled a plate and left the room.

"Don't mind me. It's a nice day out. I'll eat outside."

Nanku retrieved her own plates. She loaded two with the contents of chicken and broccoli and offered them to Dusk and Dawk. They continued sniffing at first, wary of something so unfamiliar.

Bitch glowered. "Got no phone. No computer. You didn't bring her."

"I sent Dusk to get her."

"Don't drag her in." Bitch's tone was serious. Warning. "Too little for this shit."

Nanku stabbed a fork into her food. "I know."

"Then don't bring her here again."

Nanku shrugged and stuffed the first mouthful into her lips. She froze, brow furrowing as the flavors melted over her tongue.

Her mouth chewed slowly and swallowed. "That's disgusting."

Bitch scoffed. "Told you not to eat the sweet and sour."

***

Beta'd by @Grim Tide.

 

[3ndless]

Little Hunter

"No!" Cassie groaned and rose from the couch. "No! No! NO!"

On the screen—in a horrific misuse of a widescreen—some man in his thirties handed a rose to a vapid woman in her twenties. The woman clapped excitedly and shot a dirty look at another.

"NO!" Cassie screamed. "Why Kystyn?! She spells her name with two y's! That's stupid! She's stupid!"

Nanku didn't get it.

Who looked for a mate on a game show? That seemed like the worst possible way to find someone to breed with. Surely anyone actually worth that kind of arrangement wouldn't need to whore themselves for entertainment value.

"Why?!" Cassie carried. "Why are they always so cute but so blind?!"

"Because they're looking for love on TV," Bitch quipped.

Nanku huffed in agreement. "Waste of a widescreen."

"Hey!" Cassie turned and pointed. "Who's name is the arrow on the turn wheel pointing at?"

Bitch didn't look.

Nanku didn't either.

"Yeah. Cassie," Cassie said. "Right there. It's my turn and I am going to watch this adorable idiot with the cutest ass on Earth ruin everything with some dumb blonde bimbo who spells her name with two y's!"

Brutus barked in support and Angelica yapped.

"Traitors," Bitch complained.

"Of course they're on my side." Cassie crossed her arms over her chest. "All you ever watch is Shark Week and that random subscription to the Great Courses. Which you don't need a TV for!"

"Visual aids," Bitch replied.

"Get a powerpoint!"

"Knowledge is power," Nanku quipped.

Bitch huffed. "Better than—"

"Rule two of the wheel," Cassie interrupted. "No criticizing outside commerc—Gracie?! You're picking fucking Gracie?! She cheated on you on national television and they told you about it!"

Bitch held her mouth shut and seemed to resign herself to an afternoon of vapid reality television. The name struck Nanku as impossible. How could it be filmed and be 'reality?' That didn't make sense.

Complete waste of a widescreen.

Nanku refocused her attention.

Her injuries had healed enough she could move around. Enough to sort the papers on the coffee table. Which no one used for coffee so Nanku didn't know why they had it.

No matter.

Bitch was able to produce her father's file when Nanku asked for it.

Her biomask did have limits.

Having the papers spread out before her had limits too but she could organize and sort the information. Let her visualize the information. See multiple pieces at once and try to fit it all together.

Her father wasn't ambushed. Ambushed wasn't right. He'd have died sooner. There weren't enough injuries on his arms or legs to signal defense.

Danny Hebert didn't fight, but he wasn't ambushed.

Someone approached him and he trusted them enough to let them get close.

Then that person killed him. Quick. Violent. Brutal.

Taylor's father was so shocked by the attack he didn't even try to protect himself. The question was who. The most straightforward route to who was why did they kill him.

Missing shipments.

Nanku focused on that.

The police determined it was a misunderstanding, but how? All they did was talk to Kurt about it. The investigators questioned him and Lacy extensively, but only asked Kurt about the shipment.

He produced some paper labeled 'incident report' and the police added it to the file.

The report was vague. Someone said something about a computer entry that never really existed.

No one ever looked to see if that was true.

The Dockworkers did a lot in Brockton Bay. Worked for different companies doing different things. And the gangs were always looking to get a foot in the door.

Maybe one of them did.

They started running a business through the Dockworkers somehow, and Danny Hebert died when he started looking into it.

Nanku watched Bitch from the corner of her eye.

Othala was gone. Taken somewhere by someone. And Nanku still needed her. She might know about Quality Care, and she might know about anyone moving on the Dockworkers at the time her father died.

A complication, but Nanku didn't believe the coincidence.

She couldn't.

Her father goes to investigate something and is killed shortly after? It had to be related. The enforcers of Earth gave up on the obvious trail far far too easily.

Maybe they knew more than they let on?

Another question for the pile.

A pile that kept growing taller because she could move about on her own, but she still wasn't in any condition to hunt. And it was miserable. The last time she'd been injured two other hunters managed to help her back to the ship.

Yautja medical technology sped things up.

Another week at least she thought. Her rib would still be sore, but it would heal enough. She didn't particularly like imposing on Bitch either.

It was very generous of her to hide Nanku while the entire city was hunting for her. She framed it as paying back a debt. Nanku didn't find the scales very balanced. Cassie nearly died in the Pure's ambush, but Bitch would have survived and made them suffer for the effort.

Nanku hardly saved her.

But that was a week away at least.

Until then, best to take things easily. She'd heal faster.

Cassie groaned and shook her head furiously. "Why is it so hard to find a guy with a great butt and brains?"

"They're men," Nanku answered automatically. "They think with their organs first."

Cassie looked over her shoulder. "Don't strike me as someone with much experience in the boys department. Unless you killed them after. I could see that."

Nanku scoffed. "All men are the same."

A Yautja woman only killed a male if he was reaching for far more than he could grasp and a lesson needed permanence.

Not that Nanku would ever know. She was two-thirds the height of the shortest Yautja—all males. She was thin, lacking in the chest department, and significantly, completely incapable of carrying any male's child.

She had friends among the men. Good friends. None of them would want her as a mate and Nanku wasn't sure why they would. She offered them nothing.

Nanku accepted it long ago. Puberty had been awkward but the end of it was obvious.

For the best. The clan accepted her because she'd proven herself. Any other human—let alone one who entered only through her—wouldn't fare so well.

She'd never have a child of her own.

Nanku accepted that.

Though maybe sex was something worth trying at least once before she left. She'd have to find a man worth the risks first. Something to consider when her chest hurt less.

"Still looking?" Bitch asked.

Nanku did just that. "Use of time until I can run."

"Run fast. Heroes are after you now."

"For killing Nazis," Cassie said. "Which is like, the weirdest thing ever. No one cared when we kicked the Empire out of town way back when."

"Didn't kill them," Bitch said.

"Um, Animos?"

"Accident."

"Yeah. Because no villain has ever claimed that defense before."

"Accident."

"Live by blood, die by blood," Nanku recited.

"So you grew up with a bunch of crazy Bible nuts?" Cassie asked.

"No."

"Damn."

"Less Nazis in the world," Bitch said. "Heroes are stupid."

It did seem oddly unheroic.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "We'll try that defense if they arrest her. Good luck not getting Birdcaged."

"Birdcage?" Nanku asked.

They both gave her a look.

"Prison?" Cassie pursed her lips. "No way out. Literal pit where they throw capes they don't want to deal with?"

Nanku turned back to her papers. "They can try."

"Oh, they're gonna."

"Cass," Bitch chided.

"Just saying."

Nanku turned her attention to the list. A loosely scrawled collection of 'big questions' she'd assembled. There were simply too many to memorize. She had to write them down in the bastardized mix of English and Yautja she could manage.

She'd not 'written' anything in years.

Most of her questions required talking to people. Kurt. Her mother. Lacy if she weren't dead. Several Dockworkers. Brady. The man who reported the missing shipment.

If there really was a shipment, then the locals gave up on him too readily.

Nanku frowned.

That was a completely different sort of hunt. One she wondered if she'd put off because of its… unfamiliarity. A hunt with no killing. Where her tracks came from talk.

And the local enforcers were looking for her.

Was this what being a bad blood felt like? Annoying.

Maybe she didn't need to wait until she could run and jump around to get started.

Nanku lingered. Mostly not to draw attention. She'd lingered for a week—marking a month since she arrived on Earth—healing. It was slow but she was getting better. Better enough for a quick trip perhaps.

The credits on the show started rolling after some vapid testimonials from people who seemed to want their faces on TV more than love. Cassie stewed, pacing back and forth. Ranting about how Java was the name of a country and 'totally not that bitch's real name.'

"Is it over?" Nanku asked.

"No," Bitch replied.

"How?"

"Because she waits for the season to end."

"… Why?"

"Because I have the heart of a lover and I can't take the suspense of waiting a week! I am binging this shit!"

Another episode started and Nanku took her chance.

She collected her papers, sorted them back into their file, and rose from the couch. Dusk scuttled over from the other room and provided a place to lean her weight while she went back to the trap door.

It was well hidden. Tucked in a closet where it could easily be covered. The room was sealed well and before her occupancy Nanku wondered if it had ever been used. There'd been no bugs and she'd not even noticed it before.

Once she was down the stairs she sent both twins on another task.

Nanku undressed while they rummaged quietly.

Cassie was back to shouting at the man on the television and Bitch was enduring. Or so she seemed. Nanku thought maybe she enjoyed the program more than she pretended.

Not enough, unfortunately.

The Twins hurried through the kennel with their prizes. One dog was started and yapped. The canines had grown accustomed to their presence but no animal liked sudden movement in its proximity.

Bitch noticed.

She looked over her shoulder and rose.

Started walking.

Damn.

Dusk and Dawn joined her in the basement. They delivered the retrieved clothes and Nanku started changing. Bending over to pull pants up her legs was a challenge. Cassie was far too short, but Bitch's worked with a belt and a jacket.

The only thing that really just didn't fit was the bra. Were Bitch's breasts really that much bigger than hers?

No matter.

Kurt wasn't far.

Nanku drew her braids back and gritted her teeth through the pain. She'd use the bus. That would save her a lot of painful walking.

The shadow stepped into the doorway above and looked down the stairs.

"Stupid," Bitch said.

"If you say so."

She set her feet apart and drew her hands from the pockets of her jacket. "Get in the bed."

"Make me," Nanku replied. "And reopen my wounds."

"If it keeps you there."

Dusk and Dawn hissed and fluttered their wings.

Bitch whistled. Brutus and three other dogs moved up and snapped their teeth.

"Done this fight before," Nanku recalled.

"Broken bones," Bitch mused. "Barely scarred cuts. No armor or weapons."

Nanku pulled the bra strap over her shoulder. Cassie's clothes didn't remotely fit.

Bitch huffed and with a quick motion of her hand sent the dogs away. Brutus lingered, sitting and letting his tongue hang out.

"Come," she said.

Nanku's brow rose. "I'm not your dog."

Bitch rolled her eyes. "Coming. In case you fall over and crack your stupid skull."

She stepped away without another word.

Nanku lingered a moment and growled.

She ushered Dusk and Dawn onto the bed and left them to rest. They'd been eating during her convalescence and resting. It was good for them. She'd worked both twins hard over the past few weeks. Flying back and forth, up and down the length of Brockton Bay.

It was a lot more flying than they were used to.

Another day of rest wouldn't hurt them, and Nanku didn't want to risk either being seen in daylight. They'd stay put while she was gone, so long as she wasn't gone too long.

"I don't need help," Nanku agrued.

"Good last words."

Cassie was absorbed enough in her show she didn't notice she was alone.

Not that it stopped her.

"You stupid bint! Just tell him! Tell him how you feel and stop trying to be clever you're being stupid! You're lucky I'm bi or I'd never give you dating advice!"

"Bi?" Nanku asked.

"She fucks boys and girls."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Fair.

Nanku left through the front doors and breathed the fresh—garbage stinking—air. She'd take what she could get. Being stuck in a building for days on end was too much.

Ugh.

"Your welcome," Bitch said. "Brutus. Come."

"I didn't ask for company."

"Didn't ask for clothes either."

"You have plenty."

Nanku went right to the bus stop.

There was a map of the lines and she'd learned the layout of the city with time. Five stops and they'd be two blocks from Kurt's house. Better than trekking across the city.

And she could think of Imp.

Which meant Imp wasn't around.

She hadn't seen Regent either. Or Tattletale. Or her mother. Definitely not Rose, thankfully…

Nanku found it weird she wanted to see Rose. But she was family, with none of the ill-feeling that existed toward their mother. She also had a power only one other person knew about and whoever it was wasn't their mother or her father.

The brother? That would make sense.

The bus ride was quieter than Nanku expected. Bitch sat beside her and scratched Brutus' head throughout the ride. A sign on the vehicle said no pets. No one said a thing about Brutus' presence.

People largely tried to avoid acknowledging Bitch at all. Did they recognize her, or just not want to test their luck with a girl and her dog in Brockton Bay?

"They fear you," Nanku said.

"Smart."

It took more stops to arrive than the map suggested, but they arrived and Nanku disembarked with only minor pain. Bitch and Brutus followed and the trio walked the blocks to Kurt's house. Nanku recognized the buildings and picked up her pace as they grew closer.

"Slow down."

"Make me."

"Stupid."

"Bitch."

"And?"

Nanku ascended the steps to Kurt's door.

No one answered her knocks. The only person inside lay on the couch and didn't stir. She waited and knocked again. And again.

With a scowl, she tested the knob and once more found the door unlocked.

Bitch huffed. "Idiot."

Nanku stepped into the house again and it still reeked of alcohol. If it had been cleaned since her last visit, she couldn't tell. The mess wasn't any worse than she remembered.

Kurt sprawled over the couch asleep.

In the middle of the day.

Reeking of booze.

Nanku opened a window before she sighed.

Bitch stood over the man with a strange look on her face. "Who is he?"

"My father's best friend." Nanku found a blanket from the floor and recoiled from the greasy feeling. "His wife died."

"Easier to put a gun in his mouth."

"What?"

"Wants to kill himself."

"Cowards kill themselves."

Bitch turned away. "Misery is stupid."

Nanku threw the blanket into the washing machine by the back door. She found a clean blanket in a closet and threw it over Kurt. How much did he drink? During the day even?

Lacy was in every picture. On all the walls somewhere. Small items that seemed hers more than Kurt's were scattered about.

It was like her mother after her father died. Broken. Hopeless. Miserable.

Kurt had no children to drag down with him.

Nanku supposed that was different. And part of her wondered why he didn't end it. It wasn't the Yautja way but… She shook her head. The answer didn't matter and the question was pointless.

She found a seat and took it to wait.

"Really?" Bitch asked.

"Need to talk to him."

Bitch sighed. She pointed and Brutus sat.

She found the remote, took the other seat in the living room, and turned on the TV.

Nanku frowned.

Bitch scrolled through several options on the TV guide and picked one.

"Paw Patrol! Paw Patrol! We'll be there on the double!"

Nanku stared.

Bitch set the remote aside and relaxed into her seat. "No one will believe you."

***

Get it? Cause it's about dogs. (the implication is Bitch watches the most gory or boring thing she can find so Cassie will leave and she can watch Paw Patrol in peace).

Also I enjoy depicting characters watching reality TV in goofy ways XD

Beta'd by @Grim Tide.

 

[3ndless]

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.

 

[3ndless]

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.

 

[3ndless]

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.

 

[3ndless]

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.

 

[3ndless]

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.