Little Hunter (Worm / Predator)
- Thread starter 3ndless
- Start date
- Crossover Sci-Fi Superhero
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- Tags
- predator (1987) worm
War 7.7
Little Hunter
Nanku left the body behind and scaled her way back to the roof.
The PRT was scrambling on the ground. They'd found some of the bodies Nanku left in her wake. They'd stopped chasing all of her bug-swarm clones, and instead were grouping up. More were showing up in more armored trucks. The normal people were being filtered out slowly, and Nanku weighed how much time she had.
She kept the charade going. Changed the way they moved. Just to keep the armored men a little distracted.
Her swarm spread through the streets wider, covering a larger area.
The brawl with Night and Fog was moving away. Still buying time? What were they buying time for?
What was the plan?
In retrospect, Nanku supposed she could have kept Stalker alive a little longer.
Lifting the phone, Nanku began shifting through the messages. Many were with '2.O.' That had to be Kid Win. Who was apparently named 'Devon.' And he had a brother he apparently didn't like much, except Stalker liked Devon more?
There was a lot of subtext in the texts and Nanku was certain she didn't understand them all.
The most recent were the ones she saw Stalker send. They went right to Kid Win and informed him about Nanku's presence and that Nanku wanted help escaping. Kid Win was supposed to watch her back. He'd sent a message since then, reporting he'd been thrown off course and his equipment was damaged.
Good to know.
Scattered among other messages were a range of phone numbers, but Nanku thought they were all from the same person. It was the thinker. Nanku was certain.
Very cryptic messages. Short and only a few words. Vague enough Nanku couldn't figure out their full meaning. But Stalker had been informed about Nanku's visit to the police station before it happened, and that Kid Win could help her 'make nice.'
0456-666-6687: Just make nice. We'll find a use for someone that bloodthirsty.
Why would Stalker work with the Pure? She had a reputation for violently attacking criminals.
Or was the thinker different in her eyes?
The messages on the phone only went back three months. Whatever was going on went further than that. Nanku couldn't see when the two started talking or why. The oldest messages were mostly Stalker getting help on finding the locations of drug dealers and thieves.
And bitching about the Undersiders 'running the city.'
Maybe Stalker just didn't like the arrangement between the local enforcers and the rest of the bad bloods in town.
Kid Win apparently felt the same way.
…
Nanku wondered if he had a phone.
She swept her swarm around but couldn't find him. The boy must have escaped her range, or he was sticking with the battle with Night and Fog. That fight was still moving away and would leave Nanku's range soon if she didn't move.
Nanku weighed her options and turned Stalker's phone in her hand.
…
The phone.
Nanku opened the text app and looked at Stalker's messages again briefly. Usually sweet and littered with bizarre yellow faces. Nanku had no idea what those meant but she did her best.
SSS: Where are you? >.<
Nanku started moving her swarm away and rose to her feet.
Dusk flew through the swarm and dove. He snatched Stalker's cloak off the street where it had been left, and Nanku had Dawn remove the hood from her corpse. The Twins carried both away and Nanku dropped from the rooftop.
A reply came slowly, and tersely.
2.O: What happened?
2.O: Where are you?
Nanku replied quickly and simply made it up as she went.
SSS: Can't see shit in here T.T
SSS: She tried to kill me.
2.O: What? Why?
Because she was a coward who attacked unarmed men who couldn't fight back.
SSS: She figured it out XD
2.O: How?
SSS: thinker bitch set me up >.<
Nanku was guessing on the last one. Either Kid Win would figure out he wasn't really talking to Shadow Stalker, or he wouldn't. In either case, maybe she could learn something.
2.O: Why?
2.O: The nazis are dead. She needs us more than ever.
Nanku started down the alley, thumb tapping against the screen.
SSS: Does she :/
Kid Win's reply was slow in coming. For a moment Nanku thought he'd figured it out, but maybe not.
2.O: shit
It was hard to tell if someone was lying over a text message. Nanku supposed that went both ways.
SSS: yeah >.<
Nanku crossed a chaotic street under the cover of her swarm and ducked into an alley.
She watched the phone and waited. Another cliff on either side of her. Precarious ledges that could send her falling if she made the wrong step.
What would he do?
2.O: are you hurt?
SSS: Yes :[
2.O: I'm unengaged.
2.O: I can get to you
2.O: worst case we come clean
Nanku looked around, picked a building, and gave him the address.
2.O: I need a few minutes
2.O: hold on
Trap, or not a trap?
No. Not a trap.
Nanku had been in the situation before and the answer was the same. The only way to really know who was trapping who was to spring the trap and see which one worked.
On the rooftop, Nanku gathered Stalker's cloak and threw it on. Just because her cloak didn't work didn't invalidate the principle.
She huddled low in a corner of the roof as if hiding and deactivated her cloak. She continued to move her swarm and lead it away from where she was. Slowly. Enough to trick someone who might find her into thinking she'd escaped 'Huntress.'
Dusk and Dawn tucked themselves into shadows around the building and Nanku settled herself to wait.
Just enough bugs remained around her to see any PRT trucks or capes coming.
Nanku went back through Stalker's messages while she waited.
The thinker set her up?
Nanku wasn't surprised. She clearly didn't care about Iron Rain, and clearly didn't care about the Pure. Whatever Night and Fog were serving as a distraction for also seemed like it might be hard for Night and Fog to get anything out of it.
The thinker liked generating chaos and using others to get it.
0465-616-9954: she only kills criminals
0465-616-9954: to the point of seeing heroes as unassailable
0456-616-9954: you'll be fine
The thinker told her that? Nanku supposed she didn't disagree, but her conception of criminal and hero weren't the same as a human's. Not anymore.
It's almost like she wanted Stalker to die.
She wanted Stalker to die.
She wanted Stalker to get herself killed… Misleading her about Nanku's nature.
The cold feeling was numbed further by the sputtering of air.
Kid Win was back on his board. It dipped and rose unevenly, and he swayed atop it. The rifle he'd used before was in two pieces slung on his back.
Nanku drew herself into Stalker's cloak and tucked the phone away. The thing was in two pieces itself. She pressed her back to the wall to keep the bottom half in place.
"Stalker?"
Nanku adjusted the settings on her mask. Isolated Shadow Stalker's voice and activated the filter.
"Over here," she said. "My leg."
Kid Win lowered in the air and hopped off his board onto the roof. He wobbled as he landed, favoring one side.
He looked back. "She can control bugs. That would have been nice to know."
"Big ones too," Nanku admitted.
"Yeah. Ran into one of those." He left his board behind and shuffled toward her. "Your leg. How ba—"
He turned and started as Dusk fell on him. His jaws clamped tight over the 'hero's' shoulder and dragged the boy to the ground. Nanku jumped up and discarded the cloak—something was poetic in that, but she'd consider it later—and Dawn flew over her head.
Dawn landed behind her brother and grabbed Kid Win's leg with her mandibles. They pulled him in opposite directions, chomping and biting at the armor protecting his body while his arms flailed. One hand crackled with electricity, and he slapped Dusk in one eye.
Nanku felt the jolt of pain through her power. Dusk jumped back with a start, body rattling and head shaking with pain.
Kid Win turned the hand on Dawn, but Nanku had her hold tight. An armored boot struck Kid Win's wrist and Nanku dropped her knee onto his chest. She pinned him and delivered a quick punch to his visor. Then another. And another.
Nanku assumed that's where whatever device he used to see through her cloak was.
It was cathartic to hit it a few times.
In the process, Kid Win became dazed and his body weak. Nanku rose and Dusk grabbed onto his other leg. The twins dragged the boy across the roof as quickly as they could. Together, they jumped and opened their jaws.
Kid Win dropped into the alley below and landed with a crunch.
The drop wasn't enough to kill him. When Nanku looked over the lip, she saw more than a few broken bones. Kid Win tried to move regardless.
Until Nanku stepped off the roof and landed atop his arm.
The armor over his limb cracked and shattered, and the bone snapped. He started to scream but Nanku covered his mouth with one hand. The other pressed her knife to his throat.
The boy's visor was broken from the beating, and she could see his eyes clearly. Bloody, and squinting through a swollen socket.
Nanku tilted her head and drew up a swarm to obscure the recess of the alley from the street.
"Where's"—he gagged and moved his head to one side—"S-Stalker?"
"I'll send you to her," Nanku replied, "unless given a reason."
Through the swollen skin around his eye, his reaction was hard to reason. He tried to sit up, but Nanku leaned her weight against him and snarled.
"Where is the Pure's thinker?"
Kid Win blinked. Shuttered. And laughed.
"You think. I know?" He kept laughing. "She'd never. Tell me."
"You'll see Stalker soon then." Nanku pressed the blade closer. "You're both cowards. You'll get along."
"Says. The bitch." he sucked down a breath. "With a cloaking device."
Nanku refused to be drawn in.
If he didn't know—and she could believe he didn't—then he was useless as anything more than a threat to be removed. Nanku was tired of interruptions. If she couldn't get rid of the thinker, she'd hack off limbs until she had nothing left.
"Get on with it." Kid Win's eye opened enough to show his scorn. "Good luck. When they really come after you. For killing a—"
Nanku turned away as someone stepped into her swarm's range.
Weaver was two blocks away but there was purpose in her steps. There were two other figures with her. One was the right size to be Vista. Despite the distance, Nanku was certain.
Her mother was tracing her exact path, except for traveling along the rooftops.
She was coming.
Opportunity, after opportunity.
Nanku needed to be quick.
Dusk and Dawn dropped from above and Nanku lifted Kid Win off the ground. She searched him but many of the strange slots and pockets in his armor didn't open to her prodding. No matter. Stalker's phone was more than enough to prove they were traitors.
It would get the heroes to look into their own before one of them pulled some other stunt that reduced Rose's life to a distraction.
Nanku wouldn't mind seeing Kid Wins though. Did the thinker set him up too, or was he in on getting Stalker to do something stupid? Nanku—
Turned and held the boy with one hand. He was heavy, but she was strong.
Around her, there was no sign of the PRT coming or not, but with Vista present they could probably arrive anyway. Maybe by other means. Nanku considered that waiting was foolish, but she didn't care.
There were some words she wanted to have with her mother.
But just in case, Nanku tossed Stalker's phone on the ground and picked a route of escape. She drew most of her swarm back, bringing the mass into a sphere around her once again.
The phone began to ring. Stalker's phone.
Nanku raised it curiously and Kid Win grumbled under his breath.
Her mother didn't have a phone in hand and was still some distance off.
So, who was on the phone?
Nanku tossed the device down and had Dawn tap the screen with her talon-tip.
The device picked up.
And Tattletale's voice started talking.
"We're gonna have to make this quick," she said. "You need to let Kiddie Win go."
Everyone with their damn orders.
Nanku started guiding Dawn's talon to hang up, but Tattletale spoke quickly.
"Let him live, and I'll tell you where to find Krieg."
Dawn's claw stopped.
Nanku glowered at the phone. "Why?"
"He's a Nazi. Fuck'um. And I still want to know what the hell happened at the camp. About as much as I don't want a dead Ward on the streets."
Nanku scoffed.
"Stalker wasn't a Ward anymore and no one liked her anyway. Kid Win is another matter."
The games were so tiring.
"You'll tell me where to find him," Nanku said. "Now."
"Come on. I'm not—"
"Fine then."
Dawn tapped the screen and hung up.
Her mother was getting closer. Kid Win tried to reach one of his strangely locked pockets. Nanku punched him hard. She waited, counting to twenty.
The text came a few seconds later.
TT: fine
TT: here
Nanku raised the phone and tapped the link. There was nothing but an address inside. In Boston.
Tattletale had been trying to get her to leave the city. Nanku wasn't sure, but it hardly mattered. If it was a lie, she'd simply come back and insist. Tattletale had to know that.
Nanku recorded the information with her mask and quickly deleted the message.
Her mother arrived not long after. She stopped briefly and waved Vista and whoever else was with her back.
Then she came alone.
She looked different in costume. Part of secret identities, Nanku supposed. The cut of the armor and the lines of the pants made her appear bustier and curvier than she really was. Her waist was a little narrower and her shoulders more sleek.
It was clever, as far as hiding who she was went.
Weaver stepped into the alley and Nanku parted her swarm so the woman could see.
She looked directly at Kid Win but her expression was unreadable with a mask that fully covered her face.
"You need to put him down," she said.
"Who killed my father?" Nanku meant to ask more tactfully, but a heat of anger erupted in her chest. She grit her teeth behind her mask, glaring at the woman who just couldn't stop stabbing her in the back. "Who killed him, and why are you protecting them?!"
Her mother's answer was immediate.
"I'm not protecting him," she claimed. Him. "I'm protecting you."
"I don't need your suffocation!" Nanku roared. "Who is he?"
Her mother flinched, realizing the slip.
"Where is Shadow Stalker?" she asked.
"Where all traitors end!"
"She killed her," Kid Win croaked. "She say—"
Nanku threw the boy forward and slammed him into the ground. Her foot came down on his throat and she drew a spear from her belt. The weapon expanded quickly, and she pressed the tip toward his swollen eye.
She didn't care if Kid Win lived or died—everything dies—but her mother clearly did.
"Name," Nanku demanded.
"No." The reply was unmoved. "It's for your own good."
Nanku had heard that before.
Notably, she couldn't think of a single time Pe'dte had uttered that banal sentiment. She hadn't needed to. It was obvious from everything she did, she wanted Nanku to succeed. Otherwise, she'd have left Taylor at the camp to be found alive. Or simply killed her.
"This has to stop," her mother said. "Killing him won't bring your father back, and—"
"Bring him back?"
Did the woman think she was stupid? He was dead. Nothing dead ever came back. Nanku wasn't a damned child dreaming her father would come back any moment and everything would be better.
He was gone.
Someone killed him.
Someone her mother was protecting from what they deserved!
…
And Nanku realized her mother was never going to understand. She couldn't understand, and it didn't seem like she wanted to.
Why bother?
"Tay—Nanku!"
The swarm pulled in tight into a near-solid mass. Nanku left Stalker's phone. Rose still deserved to be safe and the local enforcers it seemed had their own houses to get in order. Kid Win hit the ground and Nanku left him. She wasn't in the mood and the boy hadn't put up any fight worth caring about.
She left him and walked away.
Her injuries were still there. Ignored because of everything that had happened, but painful all the same. And she was tired. It had been more than a day since she'd really slept.
"Taylor!"
Her mother shouted as she dared to brave the thick swarm. Nanku had to actively restrain herself from suffocating the woman with bugs. Which wasn't helped by how she kept shouting her name.
"Taylor!"
Sleep.
Sleep sounded good.
It had been a frustrating day.
***
I do enjoy tricks you sometimes get to play, where the audience knows absolutely well that something isn't what it seems (because the audience knows there's a Tattletale clone running around), but the character can't possibly guess that (because Annette and Lisa haven't told anyone they suspect a Tattletale clone is running around).
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Nanku left the body behind and scaled her way back to the roof.
The PRT was scrambling on the ground. They'd found some of the bodies Nanku left in her wake. They'd stopped chasing all of her bug-swarm clones, and instead were grouping up. More were showing up in more armored trucks. The normal people were being filtered out slowly, and Nanku weighed how much time she had.
She kept the charade going. Changed the way they moved. Just to keep the armored men a little distracted.
Her swarm spread through the streets wider, covering a larger area.
The brawl with Night and Fog was moving away. Still buying time? What were they buying time for?
What was the plan?
In retrospect, Nanku supposed she could have kept Stalker alive a little longer.
Lifting the phone, Nanku began shifting through the messages. Many were with '2.O.' That had to be Kid Win. Who was apparently named 'Devon.' And he had a brother he apparently didn't like much, except Stalker liked Devon more?
There was a lot of subtext in the texts and Nanku was certain she didn't understand them all.
The most recent were the ones she saw Stalker send. They went right to Kid Win and informed him about Nanku's presence and that Nanku wanted help escaping. Kid Win was supposed to watch her back. He'd sent a message since then, reporting he'd been thrown off course and his equipment was damaged.
Good to know.
Scattered among other messages were a range of phone numbers, but Nanku thought they were all from the same person. It was the thinker. Nanku was certain.
Very cryptic messages. Short and only a few words. Vague enough Nanku couldn't figure out their full meaning. But Stalker had been informed about Nanku's visit to the police station before it happened, and that Kid Win could help her 'make nice.'
0456-666-6687: Just make nice. We'll find a use for someone that bloodthirsty.
Why would Stalker work with the Pure? She had a reputation for violently attacking criminals.
Or was the thinker different in her eyes?
The messages on the phone only went back three months. Whatever was going on went further than that. Nanku couldn't see when the two started talking or why. The oldest messages were mostly Stalker getting help on finding the locations of drug dealers and thieves.
And bitching about the Undersiders 'running the city.'
Maybe Stalker just didn't like the arrangement between the local enforcers and the rest of the bad bloods in town.
Kid Win apparently felt the same way.
…
Nanku wondered if he had a phone.
She swept her swarm around but couldn't find him. The boy must have escaped her range, or he was sticking with the battle with Night and Fog. That fight was still moving away and would leave Nanku's range soon if she didn't move.
Nanku weighed her options and turned Stalker's phone in her hand.
…
The phone.
Nanku opened the text app and looked at Stalker's messages again briefly. Usually sweet and littered with bizarre yellow faces. Nanku had no idea what those meant but she did her best.
SSS: Where are you? >.<
Nanku started moving her swarm away and rose to her feet.
Dusk flew through the swarm and dove. He snatched Stalker's cloak off the street where it had been left, and Nanku had Dawn remove the hood from her corpse. The Twins carried both away and Nanku dropped from the rooftop.
A reply came slowly, and tersely.
2.O: What happened?
2.O: Where are you?
Nanku replied quickly and simply made it up as she went.
SSS: Can't see shit in here T.T
SSS: She tried to kill me.
2.O: What? Why?
Because she was a coward who attacked unarmed men who couldn't fight back.
SSS: She figured it out XD
2.O: How?
SSS: thinker bitch set me up >.<
Nanku was guessing on the last one. Either Kid Win would figure out he wasn't really talking to Shadow Stalker, or he wouldn't. In either case, maybe she could learn something.
2.O: Why?
2.O: The nazis are dead. She needs us more than ever.
Nanku started down the alley, thumb tapping against the screen.
SSS: Does she :/
Kid Win's reply was slow in coming. For a moment Nanku thought he'd figured it out, but maybe not.
2.O: shit
It was hard to tell if someone was lying over a text message. Nanku supposed that went both ways.
SSS: yeah >.<
Nanku crossed a chaotic street under the cover of her swarm and ducked into an alley.
She watched the phone and waited. Another cliff on either side of her. Precarious ledges that could send her falling if she made the wrong step.
What would he do?
2.O: are you hurt?
SSS: Yes :[
2.O: I'm unengaged.
2.O: I can get to you
2.O: worst case we come clean
Nanku looked around, picked a building, and gave him the address.
2.O: I need a few minutes
2.O: hold on
Trap, or not a trap?
No. Not a trap.
Nanku had been in the situation before and the answer was the same. The only way to really know who was trapping who was to spring the trap and see which one worked.
On the rooftop, Nanku gathered Stalker's cloak and threw it on. Just because her cloak didn't work didn't invalidate the principle.
She huddled low in a corner of the roof as if hiding and deactivated her cloak. She continued to move her swarm and lead it away from where she was. Slowly. Enough to trick someone who might find her into thinking she'd escaped 'Huntress.'
Dusk and Dawn tucked themselves into shadows around the building and Nanku settled herself to wait.
Just enough bugs remained around her to see any PRT trucks or capes coming.
Nanku went back through Stalker's messages while she waited.
The thinker set her up?
Nanku wasn't surprised. She clearly didn't care about Iron Rain, and clearly didn't care about the Pure. Whatever Night and Fog were serving as a distraction for also seemed like it might be hard for Night and Fog to get anything out of it.
The thinker liked generating chaos and using others to get it.
0465-616-9954: she only kills criminals
0465-616-9954: to the point of seeing heroes as unassailable
0456-616-9954: you'll be fine
The thinker told her that? Nanku supposed she didn't disagree, but her conception of criminal and hero weren't the same as a human's. Not anymore.
It's almost like she wanted Stalker to die.
She wanted Stalker to die.
She wanted Stalker to get herself killed… Misleading her about Nanku's nature.
The cold feeling was numbed further by the sputtering of air.
Kid Win was back on his board. It dipped and rose unevenly, and he swayed atop it. The rifle he'd used before was in two pieces slung on his back.
Nanku drew herself into Stalker's cloak and tucked the phone away. The thing was in two pieces itself. She pressed her back to the wall to keep the bottom half in place.
"Stalker?"
Nanku adjusted the settings on her mask. Isolated Shadow Stalker's voice and activated the filter.
"Over here," she said. "My leg."
Kid Win lowered in the air and hopped off his board onto the roof. He wobbled as he landed, favoring one side.
He looked back. "She can control bugs. That would have been nice to know."
"Big ones too," Nanku admitted.
"Yeah. Ran into one of those." He left his board behind and shuffled toward her. "Your leg. How ba—"
He turned and started as Dusk fell on him. His jaws clamped tight over the 'hero's' shoulder and dragged the boy to the ground. Nanku jumped up and discarded the cloak—something was poetic in that, but she'd consider it later—and Dawn flew over her head.
Dawn landed behind her brother and grabbed Kid Win's leg with her mandibles. They pulled him in opposite directions, chomping and biting at the armor protecting his body while his arms flailed. One hand crackled with electricity, and he slapped Dusk in one eye.
Nanku felt the jolt of pain through her power. Dusk jumped back with a start, body rattling and head shaking with pain.
Kid Win turned the hand on Dawn, but Nanku had her hold tight. An armored boot struck Kid Win's wrist and Nanku dropped her knee onto his chest. She pinned him and delivered a quick punch to his visor. Then another. And another.
Nanku assumed that's where whatever device he used to see through her cloak was.
It was cathartic to hit it a few times.
In the process, Kid Win became dazed and his body weak. Nanku rose and Dusk grabbed onto his other leg. The twins dragged the boy across the roof as quickly as they could. Together, they jumped and opened their jaws.
Kid Win dropped into the alley below and landed with a crunch.
The drop wasn't enough to kill him. When Nanku looked over the lip, she saw more than a few broken bones. Kid Win tried to move regardless.
Until Nanku stepped off the roof and landed atop his arm.
The armor over his limb cracked and shattered, and the bone snapped. He started to scream but Nanku covered his mouth with one hand. The other pressed her knife to his throat.
The boy's visor was broken from the beating, and she could see his eyes clearly. Bloody, and squinting through a swollen socket.
Nanku tilted her head and drew up a swarm to obscure the recess of the alley from the street.
"Where's"—he gagged and moved his head to one side—"S-Stalker?"
"I'll send you to her," Nanku replied, "unless given a reason."
Through the swollen skin around his eye, his reaction was hard to reason. He tried to sit up, but Nanku leaned her weight against him and snarled.
"Where is the Pure's thinker?"
Kid Win blinked. Shuttered. And laughed.
"You think. I know?" He kept laughing. "She'd never. Tell me."
"You'll see Stalker soon then." Nanku pressed the blade closer. "You're both cowards. You'll get along."
"Says. The bitch." he sucked down a breath. "With a cloaking device."
Nanku refused to be drawn in.
If he didn't know—and she could believe he didn't—then he was useless as anything more than a threat to be removed. Nanku was tired of interruptions. If she couldn't get rid of the thinker, she'd hack off limbs until she had nothing left.
"Get on with it." Kid Win's eye opened enough to show his scorn. "Good luck. When they really come after you. For killing a—"
Nanku turned away as someone stepped into her swarm's range.
Weaver was two blocks away but there was purpose in her steps. There were two other figures with her. One was the right size to be Vista. Despite the distance, Nanku was certain.
Her mother was tracing her exact path, except for traveling along the rooftops.
She was coming.
Opportunity, after opportunity.
Nanku needed to be quick.
Dusk and Dawn dropped from above and Nanku lifted Kid Win off the ground. She searched him but many of the strange slots and pockets in his armor didn't open to her prodding. No matter. Stalker's phone was more than enough to prove they were traitors.
It would get the heroes to look into their own before one of them pulled some other stunt that reduced Rose's life to a distraction.
Nanku wouldn't mind seeing Kid Wins though. Did the thinker set him up too, or was he in on getting Stalker to do something stupid? Nanku—
Turned and held the boy with one hand. He was heavy, but she was strong.
Around her, there was no sign of the PRT coming or not, but with Vista present they could probably arrive anyway. Maybe by other means. Nanku considered that waiting was foolish, but she didn't care.
There were some words she wanted to have with her mother.
But just in case, Nanku tossed Stalker's phone on the ground and picked a route of escape. She drew most of her swarm back, bringing the mass into a sphere around her once again.
The phone began to ring. Stalker's phone.
Nanku raised it curiously and Kid Win grumbled under his breath.
Her mother didn't have a phone in hand and was still some distance off.
So, who was on the phone?
Nanku tossed the device down and had Dawn tap the screen with her talon-tip.
The device picked up.
And Tattletale's voice started talking.
"We're gonna have to make this quick," she said. "You need to let Kiddie Win go."
Everyone with their damn orders.
Nanku started guiding Dawn's talon to hang up, but Tattletale spoke quickly.
"Let him live, and I'll tell you where to find Krieg."
Dawn's claw stopped.
Nanku glowered at the phone. "Why?"
"He's a Nazi. Fuck'um. And I still want to know what the hell happened at the camp. About as much as I don't want a dead Ward on the streets."
Nanku scoffed.
"Stalker wasn't a Ward anymore and no one liked her anyway. Kid Win is another matter."
The games were so tiring.
"You'll tell me where to find him," Nanku said. "Now."
"Come on. I'm not—"
"Fine then."
Dawn tapped the screen and hung up.
Her mother was getting closer. Kid Win tried to reach one of his strangely locked pockets. Nanku punched him hard. She waited, counting to twenty.
The text came a few seconds later.
TT: fine
TT: here
Nanku raised the phone and tapped the link. There was nothing but an address inside. In Boston.
Tattletale had been trying to get her to leave the city. Nanku wasn't sure, but it hardly mattered. If it was a lie, she'd simply come back and insist. Tattletale had to know that.
Nanku recorded the information with her mask and quickly deleted the message.
Her mother arrived not long after. She stopped briefly and waved Vista and whoever else was with her back.
Then she came alone.
She looked different in costume. Part of secret identities, Nanku supposed. The cut of the armor and the lines of the pants made her appear bustier and curvier than she really was. Her waist was a little narrower and her shoulders more sleek.
It was clever, as far as hiding who she was went.
Weaver stepped into the alley and Nanku parted her swarm so the woman could see.
She looked directly at Kid Win but her expression was unreadable with a mask that fully covered her face.
"You need to put him down," she said.
"Who killed my father?" Nanku meant to ask more tactfully, but a heat of anger erupted in her chest. She grit her teeth behind her mask, glaring at the woman who just couldn't stop stabbing her in the back. "Who killed him, and why are you protecting them?!"
Her mother's answer was immediate.
"I'm not protecting him," she claimed. Him. "I'm protecting you."
"I don't need your suffocation!" Nanku roared. "Who is he?"
Her mother flinched, realizing the slip.
"Where is Shadow Stalker?" she asked.
"Where all traitors end!"
"She killed her," Kid Win croaked. "She say—"
Nanku threw the boy forward and slammed him into the ground. Her foot came down on his throat and she drew a spear from her belt. The weapon expanded quickly, and she pressed the tip toward his swollen eye.
She didn't care if Kid Win lived or died—everything dies—but her mother clearly did.
"Name," Nanku demanded.
"No." The reply was unmoved. "It's for your own good."
Nanku had heard that before.
Notably, she couldn't think of a single time Pe'dte had uttered that banal sentiment. She hadn't needed to. It was obvious from everything she did, she wanted Nanku to succeed. Otherwise, she'd have left Taylor at the camp to be found alive. Or simply killed her.
"This has to stop," her mother said. "Killing him won't bring your father back, and—"
"Bring him back?"
Did the woman think she was stupid? He was dead. Nothing dead ever came back. Nanku wasn't a damned child dreaming her father would come back any moment and everything would be better.
He was gone.
Someone killed him.
Someone her mother was protecting from what they deserved!
…
And Nanku realized her mother was never going to understand. She couldn't understand, and it didn't seem like she wanted to.
Why bother?
"Tay—Nanku!"
The swarm pulled in tight into a near-solid mass. Nanku left Stalker's phone. Rose still deserved to be safe and the local enforcers it seemed had their own houses to get in order. Kid Win hit the ground and Nanku left him. She wasn't in the mood and the boy hadn't put up any fight worth caring about.
She left him and walked away.
Her injuries were still there. Ignored because of everything that had happened, but painful all the same. And she was tired. It had been more than a day since she'd really slept.
"Taylor!"
Her mother shouted as she dared to brave the thick swarm. Nanku had to actively restrain herself from suffocating the woman with bugs. Which wasn't helped by how she kept shouting her name.
"Taylor!"
Sleep.
Sleep sounded good.
It had been a frustrating day.
***
I do enjoy tricks you sometimes get to play, where the audience knows absolutely well that something isn't what it seems (because the audience knows there's a Tattletale clone running around), but the character can't possibly guess that (because Annette and Lisa haven't told anyone they suspect a Tattletale clone is running around).
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
War 7.A
Little Hunter
The bodies—and the parts—were collected last. They were lucky. While grievously maimed, not everyone Taylor attacked was dead. Though, those who lived were either barely alive or crippled. Missing pieces of arms and legs.
That wasn't like her previous attacks.
She didn't care about killing the men. She attacked them solely because they were in her way.
And Annette thought she had a good idea why.
The phones were fairly damning.
Devon was packed onto a gurney and taken to the hospital while Annette, Ethan, and Sam looked over the messages. The numbers changed, but their content was clear. Devon and Sophia never were very happy about the status quo in the city. They complained about it constantly. Usually in the form of snide remarks.
Annette didn't think they'd go so far as to ally themselves with a thinker working with Nazis. She supposed they bought the refrains that the Pure were merely a means to an end.
Still.
"Fuck," Ethan grumbled. "This is going to get ugly."
Sam nursed a bruised shoulder. "It was already ugly."
"Uglier."
"What were Night and Fog after?" Annette mumbled.
She felt cold saying it so… coldly.
They attacked Rose. Tried to hit her with a car and would have if her sister hadn't been there to shove her out of the way. Annette had seen the entire scene play out through her power. Watched Taylor push Rose hard and take the full brunt of the vehicle herself. If she weren't a brute she'd be dead.
Night and Fog could have still killed Rose though. Their movements were lazy. Slow.
They wanted to distract everyone, not actually kill her. What little solace that was.
But nothing had happened. The obvious reason was to provide a distraction to break Aster out. Fat chance of that. Even if they had someone on the inside, Aster was suspended above the ground—her power didn't work if she wasn't touching it—and the only way to deactivate the system was through Curtz and Hannah. So long as the system was in place, breaking Aster out was impossible.
So that obviously wasn't the plan.
A thinker of Lisa's caliber would know that.
And a thinker of Annette's caliber knew when she was trying to distract herself from something unpleasant.
"My expert opinion?" Ethan asked. "They want to force us to move Rain. Easier than trying to bust her out of a secure facility."
"Then we don't move her," Sam said.
"No can do. Night and Fog will just keep doing this, and we can't store her here forever."
"Too simple," Annette surmised. There was always another shoe waiting where a thinker was involved. "Night and Fog will have an easier time with a transport, but going after Rose is a significant escalation."
Ethan and Sam shared a glance.
Annette sighed. "Unless, that is, they know about Taylor. I.E. she killed the other Pure, including at least three in their own homes, and the unwritten rules have been broken."
"Probably what they'd say," Ethan agreed. He took a breath and looked her over. "How are you holding up?"
"How do you think?"
"In a word? Shittily."
"Close enough."
Annette raised her head and faced the street. It was littered with debris from the fight with Night and Fog. PRT vehicles were gathered collecting evidence, processing witness statements, and cleaning up. It was a mess, and the entire block looked like a warzone. Or the site of a plague.
There were hundreds of insects scattered about. Left-behinds from Nanku's swarm.
She could control insects. A true grab-bag cape.
Shawn approached with Hannah at his side. Missy trailed behind them with Micah and Stacy. Chronicle and Glimmer.
"Is Kid okay?" Stacy asked as they got near.
"Depending on the definition," Ethan answered in a low tone.
Hannah held her hand out and Annette relinquished both phones.
Hannah's glare was furious.
"How is Crystal?" Annette asked.
"She'll make it," Shawn answered. "Huntress went easy on her."
Why? She didn't go easy on anyone else.
"There's also the bad bad news." Missy scowled behind her mask. "We found Stalker."
It wasn't a long walk. Down a street and then an alley. Through a door into an old utility space.
Sophia was no one's favorite person. She was rude. Arrogant. Violent in a way usually associated with villains.
But they had known her.
A pair of medics were putting a tarp over her body when they arrived. Four troopers were looking over the room and a third medic stood off to the side with his arms over his chest. A rather large pool of coagulating blood still stained the floor.
"Worse and worse," Ethan said.
Beside Annette, Shawn's head turned. Hard to see under Dauntless' helmet. But Annette saw, and she could guess what he'd say.
Taylor had to be stopped.
He could only go so far, even if she was Annette's daughter, and even if she had saved Rose. The bodies were mounting too high.
But she was still Taylor.
"Why?" Annette asked.
"Because"—Ethan looked away—"and I don't mean it anything personal, she's nuts."
No. She wasn't.
There was rage and bitterness, but all of that was directed at Annette herself. Despite that, she'd never been the target. Taylor went out of her way to attack the Pure to protect her. Walked away from their confrontations. Controlled herself.
She wasn't a wild animal.
She was like—Like Rachel. Someone who triggered too young, too violently. Who walked out of the experience with something odd about them.
But Rachel wasn't a wild animal either. She was human and she had a rationality to her. It only needed to be figured out and managed because she wasn't dangerous so long as she was understood and respected.
"Why spare Laserdream but not Stalker?" Annette asked again. "What was different?"
It couldn't just be the texts. Annette had seen enough of the phones to put pieces together there. Sophia was directed at Taylor. Sent to her with bad information as if whoever sent her wanted her to die.
"Stalker tried to kill me."
Heads turned.
The third medic in the room watched as Sophia's corpse was carried away.
"What?" Shawn asked.
The medic shuffled. "She saved me?"
"Stalker?" Ethan asked.
He only seemed to notice them then. The man was in his armor and still had his helmet on so Annette couldn't see his face. He was unusually stiff and his movements jerky. Lazy reactions.
"No," he mumbled. "Huntress. Stalker was going to put a bolt in my head. Don't even know why."
Annette could guess.
"So…" Ethan turned to her and Shawn. "She obeys the Geneva Conventions?"
"Stalker pointed her bow at you?" Sam frowned. "For no reason?"
"I do—I mean, I was with Kent's team. We were chasing Huntress."
"And then what?" Shawn pressed.
"Bugs everywhere and—I mean those giant bug things she had were right there and—"
Annette turned away.
She could see for herself.
Delving into her power, colors flooded the world around her. They formed shapes and forms as if swept by a wind, and Annette followed the trail leading to Sophia's death back the way it came. Taylor dragged her along surrounded by a swarm so thick Annette still wouldn't be able to see it if they weren't color-coded.
Taylor and swarm were dark and red. Bloody.
Sophia was black like mist and just barely stood out in the jolting yellow net.
Curtz's damn net guns. Annette warned him they wouldn't work. Even if he managed to trap Taylor in one, she'd undoubtedly break free. Just because she spared Ethan the first time didn't mean she'd do it again and the cannon she was carrying on her back was powerful…
Her powers didn't make sense.
Brute. Some kind of low-level thinker ability—hyper-awareness—No. Not hyper-awareness. It was the bugs. She didn't just control them She saw through them. Moved them as her own body. A master power.
But what about the armor?
A master, and a tinker? It wasn't impossible but it was phenomenally rare, and usually, it was the tinker power that provided the master ability. Did she have some device that let her control the bugs?
Annette continued following the trail and shook her head.
That wasn't right.
There was something very wrong. Where did the armor come from? Why was she so violent? The one who found her at the camp? How did they fit in with the massacre?
Too many questions and too many distractions. It didn't matter. Keeping Taylor alive was more important and after killing Sophia and attacking PRT troopers she'd be up for a kill order. With the corpses of the Pure at her back, she'd definitely get one.
And for what?
Why was she doing any of it?
Annette kept following. Down the street, as Stalker pretended to try and stop her and she just tore through troopers. But not the medic. She started to attack the medic but stopped. Looked him over and turned away. Then Sophia pointed a weapon at him and Nanku warned her before attacking.
She did save that medic, but why? She showed no hesitation with everyone…
Everyone who was armed.
They had weapons.
She only attacked people who had weapons.
Annette began reviewing reports and witness statements in her head. Yes. Not everyone she killed had a weapon, but they'd fought her. They'd attacked. She didn't kill anyone who wasn't willing to try and kill her back. In her mind at least.
She didn't recognize a difference.
She literally treated people who lived by the sword as ready to die by the sword. She probably looked down on anyone who tried to pretend they would only hurt or maim. She had so many edges, and they were all violent. An all-or-nothing outlook. Kill or prepare to be killed.
Was that why she killed Sophia? Because she'd dared to point a weapon at someone who didn't fit that?
It was so odd. Following the trail further back, Annette eventually came to the part where Sophia's cloak was cut. One of the large bugs was fishing through it. Searching for a phone it took between its mandibles.
Nanku already suspected Sophia was a traitor, and Devon too.
She went after them because Rose was attacked.
Continuing along the trail all the way to an empty rooftop, Annette watched as Sophia looked over a map created by bugs. Nanku went after her from the start. Wanted her phone. She was looking for the thinker.
And she was after her father's killer and closing in.
Annette needed to do something about that. Sooner rather than later. For all the good it would do now. Shadow Stalker was no one's favorite hero, but she was a hero. According to the PRT and the Protectorate at least. That was the only definition the law would act on.
Taylor needed to be removed from Brockton Bay immediately before hell came down on her. Annette was already in no position to do anything. She'd managed to convince Curtz she could force Nanku back—by infuriating her, apparently—but she'd not be invited to act again.
The entire Brockton Bay Protectorate and Wards might be removed from dealing with her at all.
Shawn stood behind her.
He'd quietly followed the entire time, saying nothing.
"You know why," he said.
"I know," Annette confirmed.
"You can't help her anymore. It's gone too far, and trying to get Tattletale or the Undersiders to do it will bury them."
Annette bowed her head. "I know."
She waited, doing her best to look dejected. It wasn't hard. She was dejected.
Shawn sighed. "I know you're waiting for me to leave."
"Then you should leave." He knew her too well after so many years. "Check on Rose. She was nearly killed."
And despite everything else, her sister saved her.
Shawn lingered stubbornly, but if Annette learned anything across two marriages, it was that a woman could always win through attrition.
And Annette did win.
Shawn shook his head and turned. "You know you have a habit of taking things too far."
"I know."
She supposed it was how she ended up in most of the messes of the last twelve years. Never stopping, even when she knew she should. But she couldn't stop.
Once Shawn left, Annette took out a burner phone and dialed quickly. She was undoubtedly being watched but it didn't matter. She'd already burned the bridges and she'd be suspected of being involved in anything that happened now.
Raising the phone, she waited as it rang.
It picked up.
"Cassie here," Cassie said.
"I need to talk to Rachel."
"Okay. One sec."
"Why do you have her phone?"
"Because she's bathing the dogs and we don't bring any electronics into the bath. Electrocution hazard. Water. Some of them are bitey."
For phones? Annette could figure for hairdryers, but—No matter.
"I need to talk to Rachel."
"I'm going. Hey, Bitch!"
There was some shuffling and a very large number of barks. It took about a minute.
"Weaver," Rachel answered. "Saw the news. Tattletale is calling everyone up tonight."
She was. The Ambassadors were going to be a real problem now… Which was entirely Annette's fault.
With a breath, Annette just started talking.
"I'm the one who got the Ambassadors to attack you. I sent a tip to the PRT, knowing they'd intercept and act on it."
Rachel was not one for outbursts. Not anymore, so much. That didn't mean she couldn't be furious and in the sharp breath on the other side of the phone, Annette heard no small amount of fury.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I wanted them to catch Nanku with you. I was going to use you. Maneuver her into leaving the city before things escalate any further. She has a code, and rough as she is she'll feel guilty you suffered for helping her. She'd try to pay you back."
Fortunately, none of the dogs got seriously hurt. Rachel might be less restrained in that case.
"I'm sorry, Rachel," Annette offered. "I—I have to protect her."
"I don't think she wants your protection."
"She doesn't."
The line was silent and Annette could imagine. She'd seen Bitch angry plenty of times.
"I didn't know she could control bugs," Annette continued.
Classic thinker backfire. It always came from the unknown and overlooked details and unraveled even the most intricate plot in an instant. Hers wasn't even that complicated, but it didn't matter. She'd been trying to force Taylor out of the city from the start with Rachel to help keep her safe.
"I thought—I assumed that even if she came running to help you because she wasn't there at the start, she'd have no way to help you but to engage."
Maybe they'd stick together.
There was something about them. Kindred spirits. Two people who triggered too young and came out too different for the world around them.
"And… And as long as you were with her and didn't know it was me, I'd have a way to reach her."
"That's fucking stupid," Rachel said.
"Have a child and…" That was petty, stupid, and pointless. "Yes. It is stupid."
"Fucking stupid."
Because she wasn't a killer. She was, but not a mad beast or a wild killer. She had reason. Control.
…
Control.
That's what it was all about. Control.
Not freedom from Annette. Not freedom from pain, or guilt, or trauma. The entire time since she'd reappeared, Annette had been trying to figure out what Taylor was running from. She was a cape. They were all—all of them—running something they couldn't face.
That's what triggers were, in Annette's mind.
The product of a broken mind trying to escape its pain.
But Taylor wasn't trying to escape. Nanku didn't want freedom. Not really.
She wanted control.
"I need you to help her, Rachel. Find her. Get her out of the city. You too. Now that her power to control bugs is exposed the Ambassadors will figure out she was at the kennel. They'll come after you. Maybe less violently than last time but you need to leave Brockton Bay too. Grab your dogs and go."
Bitch grumbled something.
"I didn—"
"No wonder she's so pissed at you," Rachel said in a coldly even tone.
The phone hung up and Annette stood on the roof for a time staring out.
Every cape was running away. Usually.
Annette didn't have to run away.
She knew her problem.
She just couldn't let anything go, even long past the point she should have stopped, and looked back long enough to realize she was twenty feet under and still sinking. She needed control, and she chased it no matter how stupid it became.
It was all about a helpless pursuit of control, even when there was none.
Annette supposed the apple didn't fall that far.
Hopefully Nanku learned to let go faster than Annette ever did.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
The bodies—and the parts—were collected last. They were lucky. While grievously maimed, not everyone Taylor attacked was dead. Though, those who lived were either barely alive or crippled. Missing pieces of arms and legs.
That wasn't like her previous attacks.
She didn't care about killing the men. She attacked them solely because they were in her way.
And Annette thought she had a good idea why.
The phones were fairly damning.
Devon was packed onto a gurney and taken to the hospital while Annette, Ethan, and Sam looked over the messages. The numbers changed, but their content was clear. Devon and Sophia never were very happy about the status quo in the city. They complained about it constantly. Usually in the form of snide remarks.
Annette didn't think they'd go so far as to ally themselves with a thinker working with Nazis. She supposed they bought the refrains that the Pure were merely a means to an end.
Still.
"Fuck," Ethan grumbled. "This is going to get ugly."
Sam nursed a bruised shoulder. "It was already ugly."
"Uglier."
"What were Night and Fog after?" Annette mumbled.
She felt cold saying it so… coldly.
They attacked Rose. Tried to hit her with a car and would have if her sister hadn't been there to shove her out of the way. Annette had seen the entire scene play out through her power. Watched Taylor push Rose hard and take the full brunt of the vehicle herself. If she weren't a brute she'd be dead.
Night and Fog could have still killed Rose though. Their movements were lazy. Slow.
They wanted to distract everyone, not actually kill her. What little solace that was.
But nothing had happened. The obvious reason was to provide a distraction to break Aster out. Fat chance of that. Even if they had someone on the inside, Aster was suspended above the ground—her power didn't work if she wasn't touching it—and the only way to deactivate the system was through Curtz and Hannah. So long as the system was in place, breaking Aster out was impossible.
So that obviously wasn't the plan.
A thinker of Lisa's caliber would know that.
And a thinker of Annette's caliber knew when she was trying to distract herself from something unpleasant.
"My expert opinion?" Ethan asked. "They want to force us to move Rain. Easier than trying to bust her out of a secure facility."
"Then we don't move her," Sam said.
"No can do. Night and Fog will just keep doing this, and we can't store her here forever."
"Too simple," Annette surmised. There was always another shoe waiting where a thinker was involved. "Night and Fog will have an easier time with a transport, but going after Rose is a significant escalation."
Ethan and Sam shared a glance.
Annette sighed. "Unless, that is, they know about Taylor. I.E. she killed the other Pure, including at least three in their own homes, and the unwritten rules have been broken."
"Probably what they'd say," Ethan agreed. He took a breath and looked her over. "How are you holding up?"
"How do you think?"
"In a word? Shittily."
"Close enough."
Annette raised her head and faced the street. It was littered with debris from the fight with Night and Fog. PRT vehicles were gathered collecting evidence, processing witness statements, and cleaning up. It was a mess, and the entire block looked like a warzone. Or the site of a plague.
There were hundreds of insects scattered about. Left-behinds from Nanku's swarm.
She could control insects. A true grab-bag cape.
Shawn approached with Hannah at his side. Missy trailed behind them with Micah and Stacy. Chronicle and Glimmer.
"Is Kid okay?" Stacy asked as they got near.
"Depending on the definition," Ethan answered in a low tone.
Hannah held her hand out and Annette relinquished both phones.
Hannah's glare was furious.
"How is Crystal?" Annette asked.
"She'll make it," Shawn answered. "Huntress went easy on her."
Why? She didn't go easy on anyone else.
"There's also the bad bad news." Missy scowled behind her mask. "We found Stalker."
It wasn't a long walk. Down a street and then an alley. Through a door into an old utility space.
Sophia was no one's favorite person. She was rude. Arrogant. Violent in a way usually associated with villains.
But they had known her.
A pair of medics were putting a tarp over her body when they arrived. Four troopers were looking over the room and a third medic stood off to the side with his arms over his chest. A rather large pool of coagulating blood still stained the floor.
"Worse and worse," Ethan said.
Beside Annette, Shawn's head turned. Hard to see under Dauntless' helmet. But Annette saw, and she could guess what he'd say.
Taylor had to be stopped.
He could only go so far, even if she was Annette's daughter, and even if she had saved Rose. The bodies were mounting too high.
But she was still Taylor.
"Why?" Annette asked.
"Because"—Ethan looked away—"and I don't mean it anything personal, she's nuts."
No. She wasn't.
There was rage and bitterness, but all of that was directed at Annette herself. Despite that, she'd never been the target. Taylor went out of her way to attack the Pure to protect her. Walked away from their confrontations. Controlled herself.
She wasn't a wild animal.
She was like—Like Rachel. Someone who triggered too young, too violently. Who walked out of the experience with something odd about them.
But Rachel wasn't a wild animal either. She was human and she had a rationality to her. It only needed to be figured out and managed because she wasn't dangerous so long as she was understood and respected.
"Why spare Laserdream but not Stalker?" Annette asked again. "What was different?"
It couldn't just be the texts. Annette had seen enough of the phones to put pieces together there. Sophia was directed at Taylor. Sent to her with bad information as if whoever sent her wanted her to die.
"Stalker tried to kill me."
Heads turned.
The third medic in the room watched as Sophia's corpse was carried away.
"What?" Shawn asked.
The medic shuffled. "She saved me?"
"Stalker?" Ethan asked.
He only seemed to notice them then. The man was in his armor and still had his helmet on so Annette couldn't see his face. He was unusually stiff and his movements jerky. Lazy reactions.
"No," he mumbled. "Huntress. Stalker was going to put a bolt in my head. Don't even know why."
Annette could guess.
"So…" Ethan turned to her and Shawn. "She obeys the Geneva Conventions?"
"Stalker pointed her bow at you?" Sam frowned. "For no reason?"
"I do—I mean, I was with Kent's team. We were chasing Huntress."
"And then what?" Shawn pressed.
"Bugs everywhere and—I mean those giant bug things she had were right there and—"
Annette turned away.
She could see for herself.
Delving into her power, colors flooded the world around her. They formed shapes and forms as if swept by a wind, and Annette followed the trail leading to Sophia's death back the way it came. Taylor dragged her along surrounded by a swarm so thick Annette still wouldn't be able to see it if they weren't color-coded.
Taylor and swarm were dark and red. Bloody.
Sophia was black like mist and just barely stood out in the jolting yellow net.
Curtz's damn net guns. Annette warned him they wouldn't work. Even if he managed to trap Taylor in one, she'd undoubtedly break free. Just because she spared Ethan the first time didn't mean she'd do it again and the cannon she was carrying on her back was powerful…
Her powers didn't make sense.
Brute. Some kind of low-level thinker ability—hyper-awareness—No. Not hyper-awareness. It was the bugs. She didn't just control them She saw through them. Moved them as her own body. A master power.
But what about the armor?
A master, and a tinker? It wasn't impossible but it was phenomenally rare, and usually, it was the tinker power that provided the master ability. Did she have some device that let her control the bugs?
Annette continued following the trail and shook her head.
That wasn't right.
There was something very wrong. Where did the armor come from? Why was she so violent? The one who found her at the camp? How did they fit in with the massacre?
Too many questions and too many distractions. It didn't matter. Keeping Taylor alive was more important and after killing Sophia and attacking PRT troopers she'd be up for a kill order. With the corpses of the Pure at her back, she'd definitely get one.
And for what?
Why was she doing any of it?
Annette kept following. Down the street, as Stalker pretended to try and stop her and she just tore through troopers. But not the medic. She started to attack the medic but stopped. Looked him over and turned away. Then Sophia pointed a weapon at him and Nanku warned her before attacking.
She did save that medic, but why? She showed no hesitation with everyone…
Everyone who was armed.
They had weapons.
She only attacked people who had weapons.
Annette began reviewing reports and witness statements in her head. Yes. Not everyone she killed had a weapon, but they'd fought her. They'd attacked. She didn't kill anyone who wasn't willing to try and kill her back. In her mind at least.
She didn't recognize a difference.
She literally treated people who lived by the sword as ready to die by the sword. She probably looked down on anyone who tried to pretend they would only hurt or maim. She had so many edges, and they were all violent. An all-or-nothing outlook. Kill or prepare to be killed.
Was that why she killed Sophia? Because she'd dared to point a weapon at someone who didn't fit that?
It was so odd. Following the trail further back, Annette eventually came to the part where Sophia's cloak was cut. One of the large bugs was fishing through it. Searching for a phone it took between its mandibles.
Nanku already suspected Sophia was a traitor, and Devon too.
She went after them because Rose was attacked.
Continuing along the trail all the way to an empty rooftop, Annette watched as Sophia looked over a map created by bugs. Nanku went after her from the start. Wanted her phone. She was looking for the thinker.
And she was after her father's killer and closing in.
Annette needed to do something about that. Sooner rather than later. For all the good it would do now. Shadow Stalker was no one's favorite hero, but she was a hero. According to the PRT and the Protectorate at least. That was the only definition the law would act on.
Taylor needed to be removed from Brockton Bay immediately before hell came down on her. Annette was already in no position to do anything. She'd managed to convince Curtz she could force Nanku back—by infuriating her, apparently—but she'd not be invited to act again.
The entire Brockton Bay Protectorate and Wards might be removed from dealing with her at all.
Shawn stood behind her.
He'd quietly followed the entire time, saying nothing.
"You know why," he said.
"I know," Annette confirmed.
"You can't help her anymore. It's gone too far, and trying to get Tattletale or the Undersiders to do it will bury them."
Annette bowed her head. "I know."
She waited, doing her best to look dejected. It wasn't hard. She was dejected.
Shawn sighed. "I know you're waiting for me to leave."
"Then you should leave." He knew her too well after so many years. "Check on Rose. She was nearly killed."
And despite everything else, her sister saved her.
Shawn lingered stubbornly, but if Annette learned anything across two marriages, it was that a woman could always win through attrition.
And Annette did win.
Shawn shook his head and turned. "You know you have a habit of taking things too far."
"I know."
She supposed it was how she ended up in most of the messes of the last twelve years. Never stopping, even when she knew she should. But she couldn't stop.
Once Shawn left, Annette took out a burner phone and dialed quickly. She was undoubtedly being watched but it didn't matter. She'd already burned the bridges and she'd be suspected of being involved in anything that happened now.
Raising the phone, she waited as it rang.
It picked up.
"Cassie here," Cassie said.
"I need to talk to Rachel."
"Okay. One sec."
"Why do you have her phone?"
"Because she's bathing the dogs and we don't bring any electronics into the bath. Electrocution hazard. Water. Some of them are bitey."
For phones? Annette could figure for hairdryers, but—No matter.
"I need to talk to Rachel."
"I'm going. Hey, Bitch!"
There was some shuffling and a very large number of barks. It took about a minute.
"Weaver," Rachel answered. "Saw the news. Tattletale is calling everyone up tonight."
She was. The Ambassadors were going to be a real problem now… Which was entirely Annette's fault.
With a breath, Annette just started talking.
"I'm the one who got the Ambassadors to attack you. I sent a tip to the PRT, knowing they'd intercept and act on it."
Rachel was not one for outbursts. Not anymore, so much. That didn't mean she couldn't be furious and in the sharp breath on the other side of the phone, Annette heard no small amount of fury.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I wanted them to catch Nanku with you. I was going to use you. Maneuver her into leaving the city before things escalate any further. She has a code, and rough as she is she'll feel guilty you suffered for helping her. She'd try to pay you back."
Fortunately, none of the dogs got seriously hurt. Rachel might be less restrained in that case.
"I'm sorry, Rachel," Annette offered. "I—I have to protect her."
"I don't think she wants your protection."
"She doesn't."
The line was silent and Annette could imagine. She'd seen Bitch angry plenty of times.
"I didn't know she could control bugs," Annette continued.
Classic thinker backfire. It always came from the unknown and overlooked details and unraveled even the most intricate plot in an instant. Hers wasn't even that complicated, but it didn't matter. She'd been trying to force Taylor out of the city from the start with Rachel to help keep her safe.
"I thought—I assumed that even if she came running to help you because she wasn't there at the start, she'd have no way to help you but to engage."
Maybe they'd stick together.
There was something about them. Kindred spirits. Two people who triggered too young and came out too different for the world around them.
"And… And as long as you were with her and didn't know it was me, I'd have a way to reach her."
"That's fucking stupid," Rachel said.
"Have a child and…" That was petty, stupid, and pointless. "Yes. It is stupid."
"Fucking stupid."
Because she wasn't a killer. She was, but not a mad beast or a wild killer. She had reason. Control.
…
Control.
That's what it was all about. Control.
Not freedom from Annette. Not freedom from pain, or guilt, or trauma. The entire time since she'd reappeared, Annette had been trying to figure out what Taylor was running from. She was a cape. They were all—all of them—running something they couldn't face.
That's what triggers were, in Annette's mind.
The product of a broken mind trying to escape its pain.
But Taylor wasn't trying to escape. Nanku didn't want freedom. Not really.
She wanted control.
"I need you to help her, Rachel. Find her. Get her out of the city. You too. Now that her power to control bugs is exposed the Ambassadors will figure out she was at the kennel. They'll come after you. Maybe less violently than last time but you need to leave Brockton Bay too. Grab your dogs and go."
Bitch grumbled something.
"I didn—"
"No wonder she's so pissed at you," Rachel said in a coldly even tone.
The phone hung up and Annette stood on the roof for a time staring out.
Every cape was running away. Usually.
Annette didn't have to run away.
She knew her problem.
She just couldn't let anything go, even long past the point she should have stopped, and looked back long enough to realize she was twenty feet under and still sinking. She needed control, and she chased it no matter how stupid it became.
It was all about a helpless pursuit of control, even when there was none.
Annette supposed the apple didn't fall that far.
Hopefully Nanku learned to let go faster than Annette ever did.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
War 7.B
Little Hunter
Rachel threw the phone against the wall hard enough to shatter the device and chip the plaster.
Cassie jerked and jumped to her feet. Rushing for the door, she looked out covered in suds and puppy licks.
"What happened?" she asked.
Rachel started removing the shirt she was wearing. An old beater. Good for cleaning mud off the dogs and anything else they happened to roll around in. Which was just about anything they could roll around in.
"We need to go," Rachel said.
Cassie's differently colored eyes blinked. "What?"
"Start packing up everything. Call Biter and Colt. Prep the dogs. Brutus. Angelica. Come."
"Wait. Slow dow—"
"We're leaving. Now."
Rachel tossed the shirt aside and stepped out of the old denim shorts that looked almost as worn. She pulled out the basket with her regular clothes and Cassie turned and slowed Brutus and Angelica long enough to rub them both down with a towel. Get them dry enough to go out.
"What happened?" Cassie asked. "Is it that big fight downtown?"
"No."
Rachel did her best to appear calm.
She'd had a lot of practice over the years. It paid off, even if she really didn't want to look calm.
She wanted to look furious.
Using her to advance the group was one thing. The Undersiders and Weaver were Brockton Bay. They did all of that together. Kept it safer, smoother, and cleaner for everyone.
They did that.
It was theirs.
And Rachel would put up with a lot to keep it. Being used as bait by Lisa? That was just Lisa. Normal bullshit. It didn't faze her.
Being set up because Weaver desperately wanted her daughter to have a damned chaperon?
Bull fucking shit.
Rachel inhaled sharply while she dressed.
"Where are you going?" Cassie asked.
"Out."
"For wh—"
"Out!"
Rachel slipped into her boots and stormed out of the room.
I need you to help her, Rachel. Find her. Get her out of the city.
Bullshit.
Rachel inhaled and grabbed another phone on her way out. The Ambassadors wouldn't come before dark. Not in force. Worst case they'd send some stranger or thinker to snoop around. Maybe probe the building and see if there were any signs of Nanku.
She needed to make sure Nanku didn't come back. Not to where everyone who would know knew where Rachel was.
But they'd also take notice if Rachel began running around town looking for Nanku.
…
Rachel inhaled and turned on her heel. She left quickly.
Annette had fucked her.
Thoroughly. And it was infuriating.
But, everyone was about to assume she was in league with 'Huntress' anyway.
And Rachel was leaving the building to look for her. Anyway.
Sometimes Rachel wondered why, and then she tossed the question because what did it matter? Fuck the Nazis. Rachel had no particular liking for Shadow Stalker who had nearly killed Brian more than once before he did die. Fuck her too.
Nanku wasn't hurting anyone Rachel gave a damn about, misguided as her revenge quest was.
And she'd helped save Cassie. And the dogs. And Rachel.
Rachel didn't like owing anyone anything. She wasn't done repaying debts yet.
To say nothing that at the rate she was going the Protectorate would send someone like Cinereal, Dragon, or Alexandria to put her down. Then she'd be dead. Over Nazis and Shadow Stalker.
People were stupid.
Rachel supposed she was people, so she was stupid too.
Fun.
Now. Where would Nanku go after slipping away? Rachel supposed it depended on if she was wounded. Cassie would call if she turned up, but Nanku stayed away before. She might do it again to try and spare Rachel trouble.
Too late. No matter. Enough feeling sorry for herself.
Brutus and Angelica joined her in her trek into the downtown of Brockton Bay. Rachel avoided the still lingering columns of smoke. The PRT and Protectorate would be patrolling the area. Still looking for Night, Fog, and Nanku. If the Ambassadors were going to come looking for her then the Protectorate and PRT would too.
Rachel needed to find Nanku before they did, and before anyone found her.
She started at the library.
Nanku had been there more than once. As good a place as any to start.
"Tall," Rachel said to the receptionist. "Braids. Dark eyes. Never wears clothes that fit."
The man stared at her. "I see hundreds of people come and go everynday. I'm not going to remember what you look like in fifteen minutes."
Useless.
Rachel left and took some time to watch the streets. Nanku was tall and most white girls didn't wear their hair like hers. She'd stand out in a crowd…
And she'd know that and would avoid crowds. It wouldn't be beyond the PRT to decide a secret identity didn't matter anymore. Rachel had her own experience there.
So where. Where would she go and—
A hand tugged on her jacket and Rachel jerked.
She'd not noticed anyone get close.
"Ms. Rachel."
Rachel looked down and met Rose's eyes. Brutus and Angelica growled but a quick motion silenced them.
Impossible.
How had she just appea—Rachel sighed.
That made sense.
"You can't be here," Rachel said. "Lea—"
"I know where Nanku is," Rose said.
Rachel frowned.
"She's in trouble." Rose started pulling on Rachel's coat. "This way."
"How would you know where she is?"
Rose looked left and right. "It's secret."
Rachel grabbed her shoulder and pulled. With a sharp whistle, Brutus and Angelica followed. With the dogs she hauled Rose around a corner and surrounded her so no one could see.
"Explain," Rachel demanded. "Now."
Rose shrank into herself.
Rachel didn't feel bad. It was Rose's own fault. Approaching her at all was stup—"Why were you looking for me?"
Rose didn't meet her gaze. She looked at Brutus and Angelica. The two hounds were sitting and staring at her intently. Not openly aggressive, but present enough to be unnerving. Which Rachel realized might be overkill for Rose.
"I saw Mom call you," the girl claimed.
Saw?
Rose kept talking, saying, "And Nanku will be angry if she sees me but if you find her…"
"And how do you know where I was to find?" Or Nanku for that matter. If she would be angry to see Rose, Rose obviously wasn't helping her hide.
Rose calculated the lie in plain sight. Rachel could see her thinking it up.
Children were easy to read that way.
"Phone," she claimed. "I tracked her phone."
On the whole, the lie was only utterly unbelievable because Rachel doubted Rose knew how to do that. Just because she was lacking in guile didn't mean she was incapable of a good story. Smart kid.
Rachel maintained her frown all the same.
The girl was too young to be inserting herself into anything, whatever her power really was.
"Where is Nanku?"
Rose perked up and quietly slipped between Rachel and Angelica. "This way."
She led Bitch away from the library toward the bus stop. As soon as a bus pulled in, she grabbed Bitch's hand and near dragged her on board. The girl had a grip. And how had she slipped away? Hadn't she nearly been hit by a car?
Rose pulled Rachel into a seat as the door closed. Angelica and Brutus strode on in and pushed themselves into the spaces at their feet. Brutus—because he was a wimp inside—rested his head on Rose's lap.
"I had a bad day." Rose raised a hand and patted Brutus' head. "Today was scary."
"Hm."
"I almost got hit by a car."
Rachel tried making no sound at all.
"But Nanku pushed me out of the way."
Damn it.
"And Dusk and Dawn attacked the mist-man to make him stop."
She was spunky.
"And then there were bugs everywhere," Rose continued. "Lots and lots of bugs. And Laserdream tried to catch Nanku but she beat Laserdream up real bad." Rose grimaced. "That was scary too."
Rachel watched the girl but she wasn't sure what she expected to see.
Power.
Some kind of power.
The kind that was weird and impossible to guess at because it was too weird.
"Then Nanku yelled at Mom and left." Rose sighed. "I think she was really sad."
"Disappointed," Rachel corrected.
"Disappointed?"
"Disappointed." Rachel knew the feeling.
They went uptown three stops.
"She changed her clothes and hid in the crowds. The policemen escorted her away and she escaped."
That explained how she got past the PRT. Probably covered her hair with a hood and managed to hide among others. The Undersiders did that a few times when they were starting out. Back before Aisha triggered, or Brian died, and Sabah and Lily 'joined' the team.
Rachel didn't like being wistful. Waste of time.
But looking out the window, she realized she'd lived in Brockton Bay longer than anywhere else in her life. It was the first place that really felt like home. Before Weaver screwed her over entirely.
Rachel just went along.
Spilled milk. No point whining. However Rose's power worked, it wasn't a threat and she knew what Nanku was.
If they were quick Rachel would get to her before she did anything else. Weaver might have fucked Rachel completely because of her, but that wasn't Nanku's fault. Sort of. No, it was at least half Nanku's fault but—Stupid waste of time.
"This stop." Rose got up and pointed. "That way."
Rachel nodded and rose.
Rose sat back down.
"Not coming?"
Rose shook her head, and there was a slight quiver in her lip. "Nanku would be mad. I wasn't supposed to watch her."
Watch her? Some kind of power to see what she wanted to see… No wonder Nanku didn't want her watching.
"Go home," Rachel said. "And try not to say anything."
"I won't." Rose pointed. "That way. She—"
"I can find her."
Rose lingered, watching as Rachel left with Brutus and Angelica. Rose could see exactly where Nanku was? That was… Potent. There were rumors about capes like that. The kind of thinker who got grabbed up by Watchdog or groups like the Elite. They saw too much too easily not to use them.
And Rachel was seriously considering telling Weaver.
Because that wouldn't end well, but neither would waiting for someone else to notice Rose's power. Something to fret about l—So that's why Missy showed up. She knew. Maybe best to leave it be then.
Missy was capable. She'd keep Rose safe until the truth came out.
Rachel had few hopes of talking Nanku out of whatever she was doing.
The girl was headstrong and stubborn. Too brave for her own good. Skilled enough in a fight she wasn't really afraid of anyone. Never backed down.
Not the kind of person who gives in to mere words. Rachel knew all too well.
Rachel watched the buildings as she went. At first. Then she considered she should really be watching the bugs.
Nanku hid herself well, but Rachel never knew a wasp to turn and looked at her. It probably wasn't the first bug to react to her approach, but it was the first she noticed. A fly landed on her collar and two more on Brutus and Angelica.
Did Nanku know where all the bugs were? Did she see through their eyes? That could explain why Dusk and Dawn seemed so feral but so controlled.
Rachel followed the bugs and found her way into a thrift store. It was closed for the weekend according to a paper tapped to the door.
A good place to lay low for a few days.
When Rachel tried the door handle, she found the lock bolts cut clean through. And the interior of the building buzzed. Angelica and Brutus began growling immediately and Rachel's skin crawled. She didn't have any particular fear of insects, but the knowledge that a swarm of them were in the building but out of sight was unnerving.
The shelves and clothing racks were full, and various bins were occupied with other items. Anything from toasters to tents to cookware.
Rachel heard Dawn or Dusk skitter about. Out of sight but close.
She proceeded onward. She wouldn't stop now.
As much as Weaver had screwed her over, Rachel didn't want to hurt Nanku out of spite. The damned woman would get her way. Rachel would be bitter about it later. When she had the time.
"Nanku," Rachel called. "The noise."
Brutus and Angelica were still growing.
Rachel considered it a good sign when the sound abruptly stopped.
At the back of the building, Dusk and Dawn scuttled around Nanku where she sat. She was about naked from the waist up. Her side was bandaged along with one of her thighs. She'd been shot again.
Her armor and weapons set aside with her mask. With a cloth, her hands ran over the blades and sections of plate. Cleaning them slowly and methodically.
Rachel exhaled seeing her. Wounded she may be, but she was alive and that she moved around clearly meant her injuries weren't too crippling. Not like last time at least.
"Rose showed you how to find me," she declared.
"How would she?" Rachel asked.
It was a lie of course, but neither of them were going to make Rose's life any harder.
"You killed Stalker," Rachel stated.
"She was a coward."
Rachel huffed. "She tried to kill Grue once. Imp's brother. Echidna's clones succeeded."
Nanku continued cleaning her equipment. Rachel supposed if nothing else, Aisha wasn't around. They'd never remember her to talk about her if she was.
No point talking around it.
"We need to leave Brockton Bay."
"I am."
"We both do."
Nanku raised her head and turned slightly. "Why—" She grimaced. "My swarm."
Rachel nodded. "Ambassadors will figure it out. Dead Stalker? PRT is done playing."
Nanku bowed her head, hands still.
When they resumed their movements, the motions were jerky and angry.
"I was impulsive," she snarled. "Stupid."
"Plan got the dogs out safe. It was a good plan." And Rachel was still grateful. "Time to go now."
"I'm sorry."
Rachel's brow rose.
Nanku repeated the words.
"I'm sorry. I never meant to bring trouble on you."
Rachel took a breath. Weaver wanted to guilt-trip Nanku into leaving with Rachel. Rachel didn't know why, but that idea probably would work.
And fuck that idea.
"Weaver told the Ambassadors you were with me."
The girl stiffened.
"Thought she could get you to leave town before things got worse," Rachel continued. "Screwed me while she was at it."
Nanku remained still, but the buzzing started again. Dusk and Dawn's wings fluttered loudly and they tapped their claw tips against the floor.
"Get dressed," Rachel said. "Let's go."
"I'm already leaving."
"Then we'll both leave."
Nanku looked over her shoulder. "Why?"
"Why not?"
Rachel had run before. Been assumed an animal before. Treated like one. She could do it again if everyone really wanted to be an asshole over a few dead Nazis and fucking Shadow Stalker.
Weaver had one thing right—and only that one thing. Nanku needed someone around. Whether she realized it or not.
At least until she finished her business and went back to wherever she'd been all the years she'd been gone.
Rachel frowned while Nanku switched into some plain clothes.
For some reason, the idea of Nanku going away left her feeling a little cold.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Rachel threw the phone against the wall hard enough to shatter the device and chip the plaster.
Cassie jerked and jumped to her feet. Rushing for the door, she looked out covered in suds and puppy licks.
"What happened?" she asked.
Rachel started removing the shirt she was wearing. An old beater. Good for cleaning mud off the dogs and anything else they happened to roll around in. Which was just about anything they could roll around in.
"We need to go," Rachel said.
Cassie's differently colored eyes blinked. "What?"
"Start packing up everything. Call Biter and Colt. Prep the dogs. Brutus. Angelica. Come."
"Wait. Slow dow—"
"We're leaving. Now."
Rachel tossed the shirt aside and stepped out of the old denim shorts that looked almost as worn. She pulled out the basket with her regular clothes and Cassie turned and slowed Brutus and Angelica long enough to rub them both down with a towel. Get them dry enough to go out.
"What happened?" Cassie asked. "Is it that big fight downtown?"
"No."
Rachel did her best to appear calm.
She'd had a lot of practice over the years. It paid off, even if she really didn't want to look calm.
She wanted to look furious.
Using her to advance the group was one thing. The Undersiders and Weaver were Brockton Bay. They did all of that together. Kept it safer, smoother, and cleaner for everyone.
They did that.
It was theirs.
And Rachel would put up with a lot to keep it. Being used as bait by Lisa? That was just Lisa. Normal bullshit. It didn't faze her.
Being set up because Weaver desperately wanted her daughter to have a damned chaperon?
Bull fucking shit.
Rachel inhaled sharply while she dressed.
"Where are you going?" Cassie asked.
"Out."
"For wh—"
"Out!"
Rachel slipped into her boots and stormed out of the room.
I need you to help her, Rachel. Find her. Get her out of the city.
Bullshit.
Rachel inhaled and grabbed another phone on her way out. The Ambassadors wouldn't come before dark. Not in force. Worst case they'd send some stranger or thinker to snoop around. Maybe probe the building and see if there were any signs of Nanku.
She needed to make sure Nanku didn't come back. Not to where everyone who would know knew where Rachel was.
But they'd also take notice if Rachel began running around town looking for Nanku.
…
Rachel inhaled and turned on her heel. She left quickly.
Annette had fucked her.
Thoroughly. And it was infuriating.
But, everyone was about to assume she was in league with 'Huntress' anyway.
And Rachel was leaving the building to look for her. Anyway.
Sometimes Rachel wondered why, and then she tossed the question because what did it matter? Fuck the Nazis. Rachel had no particular liking for Shadow Stalker who had nearly killed Brian more than once before he did die. Fuck her too.
Nanku wasn't hurting anyone Rachel gave a damn about, misguided as her revenge quest was.
And she'd helped save Cassie. And the dogs. And Rachel.
Rachel didn't like owing anyone anything. She wasn't done repaying debts yet.
To say nothing that at the rate she was going the Protectorate would send someone like Cinereal, Dragon, or Alexandria to put her down. Then she'd be dead. Over Nazis and Shadow Stalker.
People were stupid.
Rachel supposed she was people, so she was stupid too.
Fun.
Now. Where would Nanku go after slipping away? Rachel supposed it depended on if she was wounded. Cassie would call if she turned up, but Nanku stayed away before. She might do it again to try and spare Rachel trouble.
Too late. No matter. Enough feeling sorry for herself.
Brutus and Angelica joined her in her trek into the downtown of Brockton Bay. Rachel avoided the still lingering columns of smoke. The PRT and Protectorate would be patrolling the area. Still looking for Night, Fog, and Nanku. If the Ambassadors were going to come looking for her then the Protectorate and PRT would too.
Rachel needed to find Nanku before they did, and before anyone found her.
She started at the library.
Nanku had been there more than once. As good a place as any to start.
"Tall," Rachel said to the receptionist. "Braids. Dark eyes. Never wears clothes that fit."
The man stared at her. "I see hundreds of people come and go everynday. I'm not going to remember what you look like in fifteen minutes."
Useless.
Rachel left and took some time to watch the streets. Nanku was tall and most white girls didn't wear their hair like hers. She'd stand out in a crowd…
And she'd know that and would avoid crowds. It wouldn't be beyond the PRT to decide a secret identity didn't matter anymore. Rachel had her own experience there.
So where. Where would she go and—
A hand tugged on her jacket and Rachel jerked.
She'd not noticed anyone get close.
"Ms. Rachel."
Rachel looked down and met Rose's eyes. Brutus and Angelica growled but a quick motion silenced them.
Impossible.
How had she just appea—Rachel sighed.
That made sense.
"You can't be here," Rachel said. "Lea—"
"I know where Nanku is," Rose said.
Rachel frowned.
"She's in trouble." Rose started pulling on Rachel's coat. "This way."
"How would you know where she is?"
Rose looked left and right. "It's secret."
Rachel grabbed her shoulder and pulled. With a sharp whistle, Brutus and Angelica followed. With the dogs she hauled Rose around a corner and surrounded her so no one could see.
"Explain," Rachel demanded. "Now."
Rose shrank into herself.
Rachel didn't feel bad. It was Rose's own fault. Approaching her at all was stup—"Why were you looking for me?"
Rose didn't meet her gaze. She looked at Brutus and Angelica. The two hounds were sitting and staring at her intently. Not openly aggressive, but present enough to be unnerving. Which Rachel realized might be overkill for Rose.
"I saw Mom call you," the girl claimed.
Saw?
Rose kept talking, saying, "And Nanku will be angry if she sees me but if you find her…"
"And how do you know where I was to find?" Or Nanku for that matter. If she would be angry to see Rose, Rose obviously wasn't helping her hide.
Rose calculated the lie in plain sight. Rachel could see her thinking it up.
Children were easy to read that way.
"Phone," she claimed. "I tracked her phone."
On the whole, the lie was only utterly unbelievable because Rachel doubted Rose knew how to do that. Just because she was lacking in guile didn't mean she was incapable of a good story. Smart kid.
Rachel maintained her frown all the same.
The girl was too young to be inserting herself into anything, whatever her power really was.
"Where is Nanku?"
Rose perked up and quietly slipped between Rachel and Angelica. "This way."
She led Bitch away from the library toward the bus stop. As soon as a bus pulled in, she grabbed Bitch's hand and near dragged her on board. The girl had a grip. And how had she slipped away? Hadn't she nearly been hit by a car?
Rose pulled Rachel into a seat as the door closed. Angelica and Brutus strode on in and pushed themselves into the spaces at their feet. Brutus—because he was a wimp inside—rested his head on Rose's lap.
"I had a bad day." Rose raised a hand and patted Brutus' head. "Today was scary."
"Hm."
"I almost got hit by a car."
Rachel tried making no sound at all.
"But Nanku pushed me out of the way."
Damn it.
"And Dusk and Dawn attacked the mist-man to make him stop."
She was spunky.
"And then there were bugs everywhere," Rose continued. "Lots and lots of bugs. And Laserdream tried to catch Nanku but she beat Laserdream up real bad." Rose grimaced. "That was scary too."
Rachel watched the girl but she wasn't sure what she expected to see.
Power.
Some kind of power.
The kind that was weird and impossible to guess at because it was too weird.
"Then Nanku yelled at Mom and left." Rose sighed. "I think she was really sad."
"Disappointed," Rachel corrected.
"Disappointed?"
"Disappointed." Rachel knew the feeling.
They went uptown three stops.
"She changed her clothes and hid in the crowds. The policemen escorted her away and she escaped."
That explained how she got past the PRT. Probably covered her hair with a hood and managed to hide among others. The Undersiders did that a few times when they were starting out. Back before Aisha triggered, or Brian died, and Sabah and Lily 'joined' the team.
Rachel didn't like being wistful. Waste of time.
But looking out the window, she realized she'd lived in Brockton Bay longer than anywhere else in her life. It was the first place that really felt like home. Before Weaver screwed her over entirely.
Rachel just went along.
Spilled milk. No point whining. However Rose's power worked, it wasn't a threat and she knew what Nanku was.
If they were quick Rachel would get to her before she did anything else. Weaver might have fucked Rachel completely because of her, but that wasn't Nanku's fault. Sort of. No, it was at least half Nanku's fault but—Stupid waste of time.
"This stop." Rose got up and pointed. "That way."
Rachel nodded and rose.
Rose sat back down.
"Not coming?"
Rose shook her head, and there was a slight quiver in her lip. "Nanku would be mad. I wasn't supposed to watch her."
Watch her? Some kind of power to see what she wanted to see… No wonder Nanku didn't want her watching.
"Go home," Rachel said. "And try not to say anything."
"I won't." Rose pointed. "That way. She—"
"I can find her."
Rose lingered, watching as Rachel left with Brutus and Angelica. Rose could see exactly where Nanku was? That was… Potent. There were rumors about capes like that. The kind of thinker who got grabbed up by Watchdog or groups like the Elite. They saw too much too easily not to use them.
And Rachel was seriously considering telling Weaver.
Because that wouldn't end well, but neither would waiting for someone else to notice Rose's power. Something to fret about l—So that's why Missy showed up. She knew. Maybe best to leave it be then.
Missy was capable. She'd keep Rose safe until the truth came out.
Rachel had few hopes of talking Nanku out of whatever she was doing.
The girl was headstrong and stubborn. Too brave for her own good. Skilled enough in a fight she wasn't really afraid of anyone. Never backed down.
Not the kind of person who gives in to mere words. Rachel knew all too well.
Rachel watched the buildings as she went. At first. Then she considered she should really be watching the bugs.
Nanku hid herself well, but Rachel never knew a wasp to turn and looked at her. It probably wasn't the first bug to react to her approach, but it was the first she noticed. A fly landed on her collar and two more on Brutus and Angelica.
Did Nanku know where all the bugs were? Did she see through their eyes? That could explain why Dusk and Dawn seemed so feral but so controlled.
Rachel followed the bugs and found her way into a thrift store. It was closed for the weekend according to a paper tapped to the door.
A good place to lay low for a few days.
When Rachel tried the door handle, she found the lock bolts cut clean through. And the interior of the building buzzed. Angelica and Brutus began growling immediately and Rachel's skin crawled. She didn't have any particular fear of insects, but the knowledge that a swarm of them were in the building but out of sight was unnerving.
The shelves and clothing racks were full, and various bins were occupied with other items. Anything from toasters to tents to cookware.
Rachel heard Dawn or Dusk skitter about. Out of sight but close.
She proceeded onward. She wouldn't stop now.
As much as Weaver had screwed her over, Rachel didn't want to hurt Nanku out of spite. The damned woman would get her way. Rachel would be bitter about it later. When she had the time.
"Nanku," Rachel called. "The noise."
Brutus and Angelica were still growing.
Rachel considered it a good sign when the sound abruptly stopped.
At the back of the building, Dusk and Dawn scuttled around Nanku where she sat. She was about naked from the waist up. Her side was bandaged along with one of her thighs. She'd been shot again.
Her armor and weapons set aside with her mask. With a cloth, her hands ran over the blades and sections of plate. Cleaning them slowly and methodically.
Rachel exhaled seeing her. Wounded she may be, but she was alive and that she moved around clearly meant her injuries weren't too crippling. Not like last time at least.
"Rose showed you how to find me," she declared.
"How would she?" Rachel asked.
It was a lie of course, but neither of them were going to make Rose's life any harder.
"You killed Stalker," Rachel stated.
"She was a coward."
Rachel huffed. "She tried to kill Grue once. Imp's brother. Echidna's clones succeeded."
Nanku continued cleaning her equipment. Rachel supposed if nothing else, Aisha wasn't around. They'd never remember her to talk about her if she was.
No point talking around it.
"We need to leave Brockton Bay."
"I am."
"We both do."
Nanku raised her head and turned slightly. "Why—" She grimaced. "My swarm."
Rachel nodded. "Ambassadors will figure it out. Dead Stalker? PRT is done playing."
Nanku bowed her head, hands still.
When they resumed their movements, the motions were jerky and angry.
"I was impulsive," she snarled. "Stupid."
"Plan got the dogs out safe. It was a good plan." And Rachel was still grateful. "Time to go now."
"I'm sorry."
Rachel's brow rose.
Nanku repeated the words.
"I'm sorry. I never meant to bring trouble on you."
Rachel took a breath. Weaver wanted to guilt-trip Nanku into leaving with Rachel. Rachel didn't know why, but that idea probably would work.
And fuck that idea.
"Weaver told the Ambassadors you were with me."
The girl stiffened.
"Thought she could get you to leave town before things got worse," Rachel continued. "Screwed me while she was at it."
Nanku remained still, but the buzzing started again. Dusk and Dawn's wings fluttered loudly and they tapped their claw tips against the floor.
"Get dressed," Rachel said. "Let's go."
"I'm already leaving."
"Then we'll both leave."
Nanku looked over her shoulder. "Why?"
"Why not?"
Rachel had run before. Been assumed an animal before. Treated like one. She could do it again if everyone really wanted to be an asshole over a few dead Nazis and fucking Shadow Stalker.
Weaver had one thing right—and only that one thing. Nanku needed someone around. Whether she realized it or not.
At least until she finished her business and went back to wherever she'd been all the years she'd been gone.
Rachel frowned while Nanku switched into some plain clothes.
For some reason, the idea of Nanku going away left her feeling a little cold.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
War.S
Little Hunter
"Just keep going."
Sarah leaned closer to the monitor.
"I've been going for a damned hour," Rune replied. "How much longer are yo—"
"Last job, Tammi. Then you're free. Now do it right."
The girl groaned and continued on through the warehouse.
Rune turned and the camera turned with her. The warehouse was old and decrepit. Toward the front it was clearly still used. Containers going in and out all the time. The back was a dusty mess. Dozens of old containers stacked and lined up. The only way to search them was with a lift of some kind.
Or a girl who could lift herself about.
Rune went down the line, going from top to bottom. Looking at the labels on each container. Opening those Sarah told her too. Searching inside.
It was time consuming, especially with security doing walk around patrols that would see her. Stop and go. Very exhausting.
But one did what one had to do.
Or in Sarah's case blackmailed someone else into doing it.
No matter.
"Stupid waste of time," Rune grumbled as she went through another container. "There's no container from that long ago still around. Probably got sold at an auction or something."
No. Not this one.
This one they wanted buried. If anyone ever found the contents, then all hell would come down. The Protectorate didn't play games with wanton massacres, and they certainly weren't going to show Nazis any mercy.
They had no choice but to bury it, even before Weaver began her warpath. Not long after the Empire started crumbling at the edges under the weight of Weaver and Coil. They may well have forgotten all about the buried evidence, but it was still there.
They'd paid in full for decades.
Even if the company storing the container went bankrupt, the contents were likely still where they'd been left.
"Security is coming back around," Sarah warned. "Stay in that container until they pass."
Rune pulled the door shut quietly. A cleverly useful application of her power. She could lift the metal from its hinges just enough that the metal wouldn't grind, and she could close them quietly.
"Making me look all over the fucking place," Rune growled. "Container to container and they're all full of junk."
"It's a small price to pay for freedom," Sarah reminded. What a baby.
"Do you see the expiration date on this?" She lifted one of the boxes in the container and held the label toward the camera. "Even if we find what you want, it'll have gone bad ages ago!"
"Just keep looking." Whining infant.
Security passed and Rune moved on. On and on she looked. Container to container. One after the other. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Not that Bitch. Just general bitching.
No wonder the girl couldn't keep he nose clean. She couldn't do the most basic thing without becoming a frustrated little whiner.
"Stop." Sarah tilted her head atop her uneven shoulders. She smiled and pointed at the screen. "There. That one. Two doors ahead on your right."
Rune floated and turned. "Here?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"The date on the seal there." Sarah took a closer look and was certain. "It was locked the same month and year as the last record I can find. Looks like no one's opened it since."
She had a good feeling.
A light flashed over the console display.
"I'm not opening whatever the fuck this shit is," Rune declared. "I'm not that fucking stupid."
Guess even Rune had her limits.
"For your own good," Sarah advised, "don't open it."
She turned the monitor off and spun her chair around. Just in time for the door to open, which was inadvertently very dramatic.
"Night. Fog."
"We're not waiting," Fog warned.
"You did nothing," Night added.
"Oh, but I did."
Tapping a few keys, Sarah prompted another display. She didn't catch Huntress killing Stalker. Too many bugs, but there'd been enough of a clearing to show her threatening Devon.
As much as Sarah didn't want to kill a fellow clone or see them die, she was hardly going to throw her own plans to the wind over Devon.
But, in this case she got what she wanted, and he survived. No one liked Shadow Stalker anyway.
"The whole PRT and the Protectorate will be very much solely focused on Huntress. That'll distract them pretty well, and they're going to watch Weaver very closely."
"And?" Fog asked.
"And a lot of what makes the Undersiders rule this city is heavily dependent on the cooperation Weaver provides them. With her benched and the Ambassadors hunting Bitch"—that was fortunate—"the Undersiders will have their own problems. Weaver may lose her position and the PRT and Protectorate will prioritize Huntess' little murder rampage over you."
"That doesn't get Aster out," Night said. She turned to her husband. "Kill her an—"
"Not just yet." Sarah tapped a monitor. "Right now, she cares more about finding me than stopping you, so you've got as much cover as you'll get. The PRT will decide to move Aster soon and when they do, our little saboteur will ensure her restraints fail. That'll give you your opening."
Fog's brow rose. "Saboteur?"
"A good thinker never reveals her secrets."
"She's lying," Night accused.
"Decide that after you've made your move to free poor little Aster."
Devon would come through on that front, at least. Iron Rain's powers only worked if she was touching the ground. The PRT would use tinker-tech to suspend her, and Kid Win was the only one they had who could do that.
Of course, now that PRT probably had ample reason to suspect Devon had turned traitor. They might inspect Iron Rain's restraints to make sure and they might notice an issue.
But that really wasn't Sarah's problem.
She had what she wanted and had found something far more effective in ruining Lisa's life.
Sarah just had to buy a little more time. Then Night and Fog wouldn't matter much.
The pair watched her for a time. They watched each other too.
And without warning, Fog pulled out a gun and fired.
Sarah winced and lurched forward as the bullet slammed in her gut. Pain lanced through her and the sensation of blood spilled out on her lap.
"Done?" Night asked.
"Yes," Fog replied. "We're done."
He fired again and Sarah managed to keep herself upright.
"Then we're done," Night agreed.
She turned and left, and Fog fired a third shot before following her.
Sarah strained to breathe. The very thought of breathing hurt.
Gagging, and raising her strong arm, Sarah reached under her shirt and pulled at the solid kevlar pouch she'd put over her chest. About the only thing as predictable as violent sociopaths eventually trying to kill you. Everyone stupidly assumed anyone who was shot and bleeding was a goner. A good pouch of blood to sell the image didn't hurt.
Still hurt like fucking hell.
Really hurt like hell.
A lot.
Sarah coughed and hunched forward, wincing at the feeling that something was wrong. Internal bleeding maybe, or a broken bone. Something bad. She'd get it looked at but a bullet to the stomach was better than a bullet in the stomach.
Still hurt.
Pain.
Sarah waited a moment and tried to look the part just in case they came back.
They didn't.
Heaving a sigh, she spun back around and reactivated the monitor connected to Rune.
"Hey!" Rune called. "Are you fucking there?"
"Sorry," Sarah answered hoarsely. "I had to take another call."
"The fuck is this shit?!"
Sarah figured she'd open it. Mission accomplished. "What is what shit? Let me see."
Rune turned back toward the container. A cool mist billowed out. Dim lights ran the length of the corners where the walls met the floor and ceiling. The cooling units were near the front. Dusty and worn, but still working. Someone paid good money for top-of-the-line of the line from ten years ago. Even the lining inside the container had some kind of shielding on it. Sort of radiation coating.
Sarah grinned and leaned closer as Run entered cautiously.
Most of the container was equipment. Coolers. Defrosters. Radiators. Whatever-ors. Sarah didn't really know. And she didn't really care.
There was one thing she wanted, and she saw it at the far end.
Right where she knew it would be.
Rune stopped, clearly unwilling to go any closer. "The fucking hell, is that?"
Three glass tubes were struck in a row near the far end of the container. They bubbled as some machine cycled fluids through the containers. The interiors were a mess. Thin sheets of dead flesh peeled off the corpses. Three of them, one in each tube. Spider-looking things with eight legs, tails, and flaps of some kind. Their underbellies—and Sarah couldn't think of a less crass way to describe it—looked like vaginas.
Ugly looking things, but three of the reported remains Qualicare had been handed from wherever their parent company found them. Sarah had tried to puzzle that out, but it was buried even deeper than the container itself. Probably shuffled in some European office space somewhere, meant to be forgotten like the contents.
"They look dead," Rune said.
"Yes. But…"
Further back, fixed in a larger tank, was a fleshy egg. Big and bulbous. Rather ugly.
With a heart monitor attached. Something improvised, Sarah guessed but the readings. It didn't really look like a heartbeat.
But it was something.
"Exactly what I'm looking for," Sarah told her. "Good job."
***
This chapter is short because the wham ending is wham and going longer would ruin it.
Instead I have some bonus chapters to fill out the week with some side content for Cassie and Pe'dte that I'll release later today.
Also ooooohhhhh noooooooo.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
"Just keep going."
Sarah leaned closer to the monitor.
"I've been going for a damned hour," Rune replied. "How much longer are yo—"
"Last job, Tammi. Then you're free. Now do it right."
The girl groaned and continued on through the warehouse.
Rune turned and the camera turned with her. The warehouse was old and decrepit. Toward the front it was clearly still used. Containers going in and out all the time. The back was a dusty mess. Dozens of old containers stacked and lined up. The only way to search them was with a lift of some kind.
Or a girl who could lift herself about.
Rune went down the line, going from top to bottom. Looking at the labels on each container. Opening those Sarah told her too. Searching inside.
It was time consuming, especially with security doing walk around patrols that would see her. Stop and go. Very exhausting.
But one did what one had to do.
Or in Sarah's case blackmailed someone else into doing it.
No matter.
"Stupid waste of time," Rune grumbled as she went through another container. "There's no container from that long ago still around. Probably got sold at an auction or something."
No. Not this one.
This one they wanted buried. If anyone ever found the contents, then all hell would come down. The Protectorate didn't play games with wanton massacres, and they certainly weren't going to show Nazis any mercy.
They had no choice but to bury it, even before Weaver began her warpath. Not long after the Empire started crumbling at the edges under the weight of Weaver and Coil. They may well have forgotten all about the buried evidence, but it was still there.
They'd paid in full for decades.
Even if the company storing the container went bankrupt, the contents were likely still where they'd been left.
"Security is coming back around," Sarah warned. "Stay in that container until they pass."
Rune pulled the door shut quietly. A cleverly useful application of her power. She could lift the metal from its hinges just enough that the metal wouldn't grind, and she could close them quietly.
"Making me look all over the fucking place," Rune growled. "Container to container and they're all full of junk."
"It's a small price to pay for freedom," Sarah reminded. What a baby.
"Do you see the expiration date on this?" She lifted one of the boxes in the container and held the label toward the camera. "Even if we find what you want, it'll have gone bad ages ago!"
"Just keep looking." Whining infant.
Security passed and Rune moved on. On and on she looked. Container to container. One after the other. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Not that Bitch. Just general bitching.
No wonder the girl couldn't keep he nose clean. She couldn't do the most basic thing without becoming a frustrated little whiner.
"Stop." Sarah tilted her head atop her uneven shoulders. She smiled and pointed at the screen. "There. That one. Two doors ahead on your right."
Rune floated and turned. "Here?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"The date on the seal there." Sarah took a closer look and was certain. "It was locked the same month and year as the last record I can find. Looks like no one's opened it since."
She had a good feeling.
A light flashed over the console display.
"I'm not opening whatever the fuck this shit is," Rune declared. "I'm not that fucking stupid."
Guess even Rune had her limits.
"For your own good," Sarah advised, "don't open it."
She turned the monitor off and spun her chair around. Just in time for the door to open, which was inadvertently very dramatic.
"Night. Fog."
"We're not waiting," Fog warned.
"You did nothing," Night added.
"Oh, but I did."
Tapping a few keys, Sarah prompted another display. She didn't catch Huntress killing Stalker. Too many bugs, but there'd been enough of a clearing to show her threatening Devon.
As much as Sarah didn't want to kill a fellow clone or see them die, she was hardly going to throw her own plans to the wind over Devon.
But, in this case she got what she wanted, and he survived. No one liked Shadow Stalker anyway.
"The whole PRT and the Protectorate will be very much solely focused on Huntress. That'll distract them pretty well, and they're going to watch Weaver very closely."
"And?" Fog asked.
"And a lot of what makes the Undersiders rule this city is heavily dependent on the cooperation Weaver provides them. With her benched and the Ambassadors hunting Bitch"—that was fortunate—"the Undersiders will have their own problems. Weaver may lose her position and the PRT and Protectorate will prioritize Huntess' little murder rampage over you."
"That doesn't get Aster out," Night said. She turned to her husband. "Kill her an—"
"Not just yet." Sarah tapped a monitor. "Right now, she cares more about finding me than stopping you, so you've got as much cover as you'll get. The PRT will decide to move Aster soon and when they do, our little saboteur will ensure her restraints fail. That'll give you your opening."
Fog's brow rose. "Saboteur?"
"A good thinker never reveals her secrets."
"She's lying," Night accused.
"Decide that after you've made your move to free poor little Aster."
Devon would come through on that front, at least. Iron Rain's powers only worked if she was touching the ground. The PRT would use tinker-tech to suspend her, and Kid Win was the only one they had who could do that.
Of course, now that PRT probably had ample reason to suspect Devon had turned traitor. They might inspect Iron Rain's restraints to make sure and they might notice an issue.
But that really wasn't Sarah's problem.
She had what she wanted and had found something far more effective in ruining Lisa's life.
Sarah just had to buy a little more time. Then Night and Fog wouldn't matter much.
The pair watched her for a time. They watched each other too.
And without warning, Fog pulled out a gun and fired.
Sarah winced and lurched forward as the bullet slammed in her gut. Pain lanced through her and the sensation of blood spilled out on her lap.
"Done?" Night asked.
"Yes," Fog replied. "We're done."
He fired again and Sarah managed to keep herself upright.
"Then we're done," Night agreed.
She turned and left, and Fog fired a third shot before following her.
Sarah strained to breathe. The very thought of breathing hurt.
Gagging, and raising her strong arm, Sarah reached under her shirt and pulled at the solid kevlar pouch she'd put over her chest. About the only thing as predictable as violent sociopaths eventually trying to kill you. Everyone stupidly assumed anyone who was shot and bleeding was a goner. A good pouch of blood to sell the image didn't hurt.
Still hurt like fucking hell.
Really hurt like hell.
A lot.
Sarah coughed and hunched forward, wincing at the feeling that something was wrong. Internal bleeding maybe, or a broken bone. Something bad. She'd get it looked at but a bullet to the stomach was better than a bullet in the stomach.
Still hurt.
Pain.
Sarah waited a moment and tried to look the part just in case they came back.
They didn't.
Heaving a sigh, she spun back around and reactivated the monitor connected to Rune.
"Hey!" Rune called. "Are you fucking there?"
"Sorry," Sarah answered hoarsely. "I had to take another call."
"The fuck is this shit?!"
Sarah figured she'd open it. Mission accomplished. "What is what shit? Let me see."
Rune turned back toward the container. A cool mist billowed out. Dim lights ran the length of the corners where the walls met the floor and ceiling. The cooling units were near the front. Dusty and worn, but still working. Someone paid good money for top-of-the-line of the line from ten years ago. Even the lining inside the container had some kind of shielding on it. Sort of radiation coating.
Sarah grinned and leaned closer as Run entered cautiously.
Most of the container was equipment. Coolers. Defrosters. Radiators. Whatever-ors. Sarah didn't really know. And she didn't really care.
There was one thing she wanted, and she saw it at the far end.
Right where she knew it would be.
Rune stopped, clearly unwilling to go any closer. "The fucking hell, is that?"
Three glass tubes were struck in a row near the far end of the container. They bubbled as some machine cycled fluids through the containers. The interiors were a mess. Thin sheets of dead flesh peeled off the corpses. Three of them, one in each tube. Spider-looking things with eight legs, tails, and flaps of some kind. Their underbellies—and Sarah couldn't think of a less crass way to describe it—looked like vaginas.
Ugly looking things, but three of the reported remains Qualicare had been handed from wherever their parent company found them. Sarah had tried to puzzle that out, but it was buried even deeper than the container itself. Probably shuffled in some European office space somewhere, meant to be forgotten like the contents.
"They look dead," Rune said.
"Yes. But…"
Further back, fixed in a larger tank, was a fleshy egg. Big and bulbous. Rather ugly.
With a heart monitor attached. Something improvised, Sarah guessed but the readings. It didn't really look like a heartbeat.
But it was something.
"Exactly what I'm looking for," Sarah told her. "Good job."
***
This chapter is short because the wham ending is wham and going longer would ruin it.
Instead I have some bonus chapters to fill out the week with some side content for Cassie and Pe'dte that I'll release later today.
Also ooooohhhhh noooooooo.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
War.Bonus
BONUS – Cassie
There were times when Cassie wondered how she'd ended up where she was in life.
Like, sad stories about bad homes, abusive parents, and other assorted traumas aside, her life story had nothing on someone like Rachel or Alec. Really, she'd been not so poorly off in comparison.
And here she was so many years later.
Surrounded by dogs, stuffed into an air-conditioned trailer, and breaking up a play fight between Sunny and a giant bug monster.
Dusk was snapping his jaws—four toothy mandibles—and fluttering his wings.
Sunny barked and snapped her teeth.
A dozen other dogs behind her were barking and growling, snarling at the fight and standing with their hairs on end.
Dawn was settled into one of the dog beds in the corner of the trailer and seemed utterly disinterested in her siblings' plight. If they were siblings. Nanku treated them that way, but Cassi supposed it might not be literal. Plus, she controlled them directly? Or not?
Was Nanku picking a fight with Sunny or was she just letting Dusk do whatever Dusk wanted?
"Figuring that out is way over my head," Cassie figured allowed. "Sunny. Bad dog. Sit. Dusk. Bad bug! Sit!"
Sunny growled but at least stopped barking and riling up the entire trailer.
Dusk shuddered and skittered back atop his claws. Which were pretty scary. Being that his arms were just giant claw arms. Big claw arms the size of Cassie's arms.
Jesus, no wonder Nanku had killed so many people.
Ushering Sunny off, Cassie stayed light on her feet. The highway was pretty smooth, and the trailer was one Rachel paid for specially. It was supposed to be pretty smooth inside. It still swayed a bit on big turns and tilted on steeper inclines.
Still. It wasn't so bad for her.
Moving toward the front, she sat down in a seat and sighed. Sunny rested her head on Cassie's lap and wagged her tail. Her eyes still glanced at Dusk and her throat rumbled. Dusk went to Dawn and cuddled alongside her.
The dogs and bugs were pretty used to one another, but sometimes animals just got into scuffles. It happened.
She pulled out her phone and checked on their progress via a GPS app.
Cassie wondered when it would set in. Not when she looked at the map on her screen. Not yet.
Brockton Bay wasn't even on it anymore. They'd moved south along the 495, headed toward Worcester. Not even Worcester. A smaller town just outside Worcester called Holden.
Bitch thought it was far enough from Brockton Bay they could rest, and far enough from Boston that the Boston Protectorate and PRT wouldn't notice them immediately.
Because they would be looking. Maybe. Probably.
Cassie never realized how much she appreciated the whole deal in the Bay before.
It was pretty chill. Tense, but chill. Way better than it had been in the early years when she'd first joined Bitch. That was when Coil was still around. Turned out he was some douchebag PRT contractor playing both sides. Those days could be tense, but nothing like this.
Nanku killed Shadow Stalker. That was bad. That was really bad.
Not because anyone liked Stalker. No one liked Stalker.
But with a hero dead, the other heroes were going to gun for Nanku hard. Probably send someone big to Brockton Bay since they couldn't trust Weaver. Nanku was tough and Cassie wasn't going to pick a fight with her, but she doubted Nanku could stand up to someone like Narwhal or Dragon or Legend.
That shit would get real bad.
Cassie sighed.
She really wasn't made for thinking this much. Didn't even feel like she was making sense. She was just meandering from one topic to the next and it was all goofy or whatever.
She didn't fucking know. She liked helping Rachel take care of her copious number of dogs and occasionally getting to feel like she was a positive force in the world.
Now she just felt like death was stalking her.
So annoying.
"We should play fetch," Cassie mused.
Sunny and a dozen other dogs all raised their heads.
"Not here, obviously, but later. Just unwind with the power of a stupid little colored ball that I throw, and you bring back."
Cassie sighed and closed her eyes.
"Yeah... That would be nice."
BONUS – Pe'dte
She was not one for melancholy. Least of all for the living.
But things were stiller without Nanku.
Pe'dte found it all over the ship, and not simply because they'd all suddenly realized the girl had been killing off the excess pest population without saying anything for years. Damned razer-legs were all over now. Getting into components. Chewing on trophies. Annoying little vermin.
It had only been three months.
And in her soul, Pe'dte wasn't sure if Nanku would want to come back.
Her life among the hunters was hard. She was smaller than them. Frailer under her skin. She had no prospect for a mate and was unlikely to ever advance into the leadership of the clan. The others could tolerate her, but they'd never follow her.
Pe'dte grumbled low in her chest.
She admitted to herself that Nanku might have an easier time if she returned to being human.
But that was her choice to make.
Pe'dte could only wait and fill her time. She was too old to go on far-ranging hunts anymore. She was hardly weak or decrepit, but her energy wasn't what it used to be. Her sons were still dead, but her desire to see some youths raised in her shadow endured. Her time was better spent raising the next generations. Making them smarter. Wiser. Keeping them from stupid deaths.
She focused on the youngest in the clan. Trained them. Prepared them for their first trials and to don their first armors and masks.
It was not the most respectable of tasks for a veteran hunter of her seniority, but she was old, and anyone who didn't like it could eat their own shit and drink piss.
Her own mother had always said that teaching a new hunter was a learning experience.
Teaching Nanku to be one of them had taught Pe'dte she found fulfillment in preparing the young.
Perhaps.
Maybe it was lingering melancholy she didn't want.
A quiet admission that if she'd paid more mind to the 'lowly' task of training new hunters with more dedication, her sons would have survived instead of dying as they had.
Life took strange turns as it weaved with death.
One never knew where they would end. All the more reason to pursu—
An alarm sounded suddenly and Pe'dte opened her eyes.
She rose from her meditations with a growl and turned toward the door.
The hall beyond her chamber was loud with the klaxon call and the engineers were already scrambling about the neck. Pe'dte grabbed one as he ran by and snarled at him.
"I don't know," he replied with a bowed head.
Of course he didn't.
"Go," Pe'dte ordered.
She pushed him on his way and started down the hall. Pe'dte was old, and towering. She dwarfed even other hunters as she strode through the hall.
Khrass crossed into the hall ahead.
"What is it?" Pe'dte snapped.
The young male stiffened, meeting her eyes for only a moment. "Earth."
Pe'dte tensed. "Nanku?"
He shook his head. "Old signal. Isotope tracker."
Pe'dte stilled. "Isotope tracker?"
Khrass nodded.
The kind they used to track R'ka eggs.
She'd missed one.
Somehow, she'd missed one and lost more than her sons.
She'd failed.
Pe'dte growled and shook the young blood. "Gather six others. Armor and weapons. Meet in bay four."
She turned and stormed down the hall to her chambers.
From the rack at the far wall, she grabbed hold of her mask and fit it over her face.
Nanku was good. She could survive. She would survive.
But if the R'ka broke out and spread, she would not be able to stop them from spreading like a plague. The parasite infesting the planet was bad, but many planets endured them once the hive was broken. They only needed to wait and in the meantime some hunters relished the challenge their presence provided.
That wouldn't matter if the R'ka swarmed the entire planet.
Donning her armor and weapons, Pe'dte left the chamber and hurried through the decks at a run. Her heavy steps rocked the grating, and the sound of her approach sent the lower castes scrambling out of her way.
The ship began to pitch. Another alarm sounded and cries echoed in the hall.
The clan ship decelerated abruptly. The nose began to pitch, the ship twisting around to go back the way it had come. It would take time. Most of a day to break their velocity and reverse course. And it would take weeks to reaccelerate safely. They were three months away from Earth and it would take three months to get back.
Unless they took a smaller ship.
Stepping through the sliding doors, Pe'dte stomped into the bay.
Eight others waited for her. Five males and three females; Khrass, Griv, Theer, Jaska, and Houri were all of Nanku's generation. Newly blooded hunters, young and eager. They saw her, human or not. The others were members of Pe'dte's family gathered behind her brother.
Rhaark snarled as Pe'dte approached.
He didn't stop her.
Instead, he fell in step behind her and tapped at the controls on his wrist-mount. One of the smaller shuttles was lowered from its rigging above, the engines sparking into life and the bay door under the nose opening.
The hunters boarded and moments later the shuttle launched from the underbelly of the clanship. It was still decelerating, the nose half-way into its twisting turn as it brought the main thrusters around to bring its massive hull to a stop.
The shuttle didn't wait.
Standing behind her brother, Pe'dte checked her arms and armor as Rhaark set a course for Earth and the shuttle's thrusters fired.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
There were times when Cassie wondered how she'd ended up where she was in life.
Like, sad stories about bad homes, abusive parents, and other assorted traumas aside, her life story had nothing on someone like Rachel or Alec. Really, she'd been not so poorly off in comparison.
And here she was so many years later.
Surrounded by dogs, stuffed into an air-conditioned trailer, and breaking up a play fight between Sunny and a giant bug monster.
Dusk was snapping his jaws—four toothy mandibles—and fluttering his wings.
Sunny barked and snapped her teeth.
A dozen other dogs behind her were barking and growling, snarling at the fight and standing with their hairs on end.
Dawn was settled into one of the dog beds in the corner of the trailer and seemed utterly disinterested in her siblings' plight. If they were siblings. Nanku treated them that way, but Cassi supposed it might not be literal. Plus, she controlled them directly? Or not?
Was Nanku picking a fight with Sunny or was she just letting Dusk do whatever Dusk wanted?
"Figuring that out is way over my head," Cassie figured allowed. "Sunny. Bad dog. Sit. Dusk. Bad bug! Sit!"
Sunny growled but at least stopped barking and riling up the entire trailer.
Dusk shuddered and skittered back atop his claws. Which were pretty scary. Being that his arms were just giant claw arms. Big claw arms the size of Cassie's arms.
Jesus, no wonder Nanku had killed so many people.
Ushering Sunny off, Cassie stayed light on her feet. The highway was pretty smooth, and the trailer was one Rachel paid for specially. It was supposed to be pretty smooth inside. It still swayed a bit on big turns and tilted on steeper inclines.
Still. It wasn't so bad for her.
Moving toward the front, she sat down in a seat and sighed. Sunny rested her head on Cassie's lap and wagged her tail. Her eyes still glanced at Dusk and her throat rumbled. Dusk went to Dawn and cuddled alongside her.
The dogs and bugs were pretty used to one another, but sometimes animals just got into scuffles. It happened.
She pulled out her phone and checked on their progress via a GPS app.
Cassie wondered when it would set in. Not when she looked at the map on her screen. Not yet.
Brockton Bay wasn't even on it anymore. They'd moved south along the 495, headed toward Worcester. Not even Worcester. A smaller town just outside Worcester called Holden.
Bitch thought it was far enough from Brockton Bay they could rest, and far enough from Boston that the Boston Protectorate and PRT wouldn't notice them immediately.
Because they would be looking. Maybe. Probably.
Cassie never realized how much she appreciated the whole deal in the Bay before.
It was pretty chill. Tense, but chill. Way better than it had been in the early years when she'd first joined Bitch. That was when Coil was still around. Turned out he was some douchebag PRT contractor playing both sides. Those days could be tense, but nothing like this.
Nanku killed Shadow Stalker. That was bad. That was really bad.
Not because anyone liked Stalker. No one liked Stalker.
But with a hero dead, the other heroes were going to gun for Nanku hard. Probably send someone big to Brockton Bay since they couldn't trust Weaver. Nanku was tough and Cassie wasn't going to pick a fight with her, but she doubted Nanku could stand up to someone like Narwhal or Dragon or Legend.
That shit would get real bad.
Cassie sighed.
She really wasn't made for thinking this much. Didn't even feel like she was making sense. She was just meandering from one topic to the next and it was all goofy or whatever.
She didn't fucking know. She liked helping Rachel take care of her copious number of dogs and occasionally getting to feel like she was a positive force in the world.
Now she just felt like death was stalking her.
So annoying.
"We should play fetch," Cassie mused.
Sunny and a dozen other dogs all raised their heads.
"Not here, obviously, but later. Just unwind with the power of a stupid little colored ball that I throw, and you bring back."
Cassie sighed and closed her eyes.
"Yeah... That would be nice."
BONUS – Pe'dte
She was not one for melancholy. Least of all for the living.
But things were stiller without Nanku.
Pe'dte found it all over the ship, and not simply because they'd all suddenly realized the girl had been killing off the excess pest population without saying anything for years. Damned razer-legs were all over now. Getting into components. Chewing on trophies. Annoying little vermin.
It had only been three months.
And in her soul, Pe'dte wasn't sure if Nanku would want to come back.
Her life among the hunters was hard. She was smaller than them. Frailer under her skin. She had no prospect for a mate and was unlikely to ever advance into the leadership of the clan. The others could tolerate her, but they'd never follow her.
Pe'dte grumbled low in her chest.
She admitted to herself that Nanku might have an easier time if she returned to being human.
But that was her choice to make.
Pe'dte could only wait and fill her time. She was too old to go on far-ranging hunts anymore. She was hardly weak or decrepit, but her energy wasn't what it used to be. Her sons were still dead, but her desire to see some youths raised in her shadow endured. Her time was better spent raising the next generations. Making them smarter. Wiser. Keeping them from stupid deaths.
She focused on the youngest in the clan. Trained them. Prepared them for their first trials and to don their first armors and masks.
It was not the most respectable of tasks for a veteran hunter of her seniority, but she was old, and anyone who didn't like it could eat their own shit and drink piss.
Her own mother had always said that teaching a new hunter was a learning experience.
Teaching Nanku to be one of them had taught Pe'dte she found fulfillment in preparing the young.
Perhaps.
Maybe it was lingering melancholy she didn't want.
A quiet admission that if she'd paid more mind to the 'lowly' task of training new hunters with more dedication, her sons would have survived instead of dying as they had.
Life took strange turns as it weaved with death.
One never knew where they would end. All the more reason to pursu—
An alarm sounded suddenly and Pe'dte opened her eyes.
She rose from her meditations with a growl and turned toward the door.
The hall beyond her chamber was loud with the klaxon call and the engineers were already scrambling about the neck. Pe'dte grabbed one as he ran by and snarled at him.
"I don't know," he replied with a bowed head.
Of course he didn't.
"Go," Pe'dte ordered.
She pushed him on his way and started down the hall. Pe'dte was old, and towering. She dwarfed even other hunters as she strode through the hall.
Khrass crossed into the hall ahead.
"What is it?" Pe'dte snapped.
The young male stiffened, meeting her eyes for only a moment. "Earth."
Pe'dte tensed. "Nanku?"
He shook his head. "Old signal. Isotope tracker."
Pe'dte stilled. "Isotope tracker?"
Khrass nodded.
The kind they used to track R'ka eggs.
She'd missed one.
Somehow, she'd missed one and lost more than her sons.
She'd failed.
Pe'dte growled and shook the young blood. "Gather six others. Armor and weapons. Meet in bay four."
She turned and stormed down the hall to her chambers.
From the rack at the far wall, she grabbed hold of her mask and fit it over her face.
Nanku was good. She could survive. She would survive.
But if the R'ka broke out and spread, she would not be able to stop them from spreading like a plague. The parasite infesting the planet was bad, but many planets endured them once the hive was broken. They only needed to wait and in the meantime some hunters relished the challenge their presence provided.
That wouldn't matter if the R'ka swarmed the entire planet.
Donning her armor and weapons, Pe'dte left the chamber and hurried through the decks at a run. Her heavy steps rocked the grating, and the sound of her approach sent the lower castes scrambling out of her way.
The ship began to pitch. Another alarm sounded and cries echoed in the hall.
The clan ship decelerated abruptly. The nose began to pitch, the ship twisting around to go back the way it had come. It would take time. Most of a day to break their velocity and reverse course. And it would take weeks to reaccelerate safely. They were three months away from Earth and it would take three months to get back.
Unless they took a smaller ship.
Stepping through the sliding doors, Pe'dte stomped into the bay.
Eight others waited for her. Five males and three females; Khrass, Griv, Theer, Jaska, and Houri were all of Nanku's generation. Newly blooded hunters, young and eager. They saw her, human or not. The others were members of Pe'dte's family gathered behind her brother.
Rhaark snarled as Pe'dte approached.
He didn't stop her.
Instead, he fell in step behind her and tapped at the controls on his wrist-mount. One of the smaller shuttles was lowered from its rigging above, the engines sparking into life and the bay door under the nose opening.
The hunters boarded and moments later the shuttle launched from the underbelly of the clanship. It was still decelerating, the nose half-way into its twisting turn as it brought the main thrusters around to bring its massive hull to a stop.
The shuttle didn't wait.
Standing behind her brother, Pe'dte checked her arms and armor as Rhaark set a course for Earth and the shuttle's thrusters fired.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Wait 8.1
Little Hunter
Nanku supposed that once one had seen one middling human settlement, you'd seen all middling human settlements.
Minus the bay and the big pit of water, Worcester wasn't much different from Brockton Bay. A central district with schools, libraries, office buildings and such. Surrounding neighborhoods for residents and industries. Lots of storage. The town even had old railroads that people talked about a lot like those in Brockton Bay talked about the docks and the boat graveyard.
Holden was a poorer part of the area but it looked nicer. It didn't smell as bad but everything was more spread out with more trees. Houses were spread out and it was very easy to find a place for the dogs to get out and run around after the drive from Brockton Bay.
The forests were different. Less rising mountains and more rolling hills and plains. A lot of deer.
"Here."
Nanku turned, snapped from her thoughts by the sound of a large bag landing atop another large bag.
The man wiped the sweat from his brow and straightened. He was big. Yautja size even. Taller than Nanku with thick shoulders and bulging muscles. He shaved his head and on the whole looked fairly intimidating for a human.
The image was mostly undone by the bright pink shirt he wore with a cartoon dog on the front smiling and chasing a red ball.
"This should hold you over," he said to Rachel. "Least for a bit. Sorry."
Bitch stepped aside and let one of her henchmen push a dolly into place under the pallet the bags sat on.
"It's fine," she said. "Don't want all your food."
"All we can spare," the man said. "Can get some medications if you need them but we don't have a lot of that either."
"We're fine." Bitch got an annoyed look but she hid it well. "You?"
The man crossed his arms over his chest and looked slightly guilty.
He waited, watching as the man named Colt tilted his dolly back and pushed the pallet of dog kibble away, through the trees and over the grass toward a side road where the truck was parked. Cassie came toward them as he left, eyes on the phone in front of her face.
The man seemed to consider that private enough.
He looked at Bitch and lowered his voice. "Two. I hear you can—"
"Dangerous," Bitch interrupted. "Need space. And chains."
The man modded. "I've heard. Set some aside. Borrowed some heavy-duty stuff from a buddy of mine."
Bitch sighed. "Fair. Where?"
"This way."
The man closed the door behind him and pointed around the side of the building. Bitch walked with him, and Nanku walked with Cassie. The girl moved without looking up, eyes still fixed on her phone.
It was a kennel, not unlike Bitch's. Only larger. A dozen people were inside working with different packs of dogs, a storage room, and a clinic attached to one side. It was all clean and proper. Very nice.
Nanku took it upon herself to snoop around a bit and make sure no one was calling the local enforcers.
She'd heard that no one but the man—Bronson?—knew they were coming.
"We own the building out over here," Bronson said. "Told the volunteers we were having it fumigated. They cleared it all out."
"Good," Bitch replied.
"Should be far enough away no one can hear anything. Slipped the dogs in myself."
"Good."
Bronson nodded and led them.
Nanku swept the surrounding area with bugs
"Is this normal?" Nanku asked as she followed along.
"Hm?" Cassie looked up. "What?"
Nanku looked around the room. "Is this normal."
"What? Getting help from other dog lovers?" Cassie scoffed. "Rachel is like Alexandria to dog people. They were calling her a hero the first time she went after dog fighting rings and puppy mills."
Nanku grimaced. "People milled puppies?"
"Bec—Never mind. Sometimes ignorance is bliss."
Nanku couldn't fathom how flour made from puppies could possibly be appealing. It sounded disgusting.
She didn't see anything like that nearby. People went about their business. Mostly driving as the kennel occupied a forested area between two roads leading into town. No police vehicles or any surveillance vans. Nanku had kept her eyes out for any invisible drones. She'd not encountered any since the night with the Pure, though she wondered.
"Right over here." Bronson led them around a small slope and through a fence with a rusty gate.
The building ahead was a shed more than anything. Tin roofed but solid walls. A few spiders about. Nanku sent them to clean out a wasp nest she'd noticed that was growing dangerously large. Having them kill themselves before they stung any of the dogs was time-consuming.
There were two dogs inside the building.
And…
Nanku tilted her head.
That was interesting. She'd never thought to even look. The little things were so small and they registered so faintly in her power. Wormy things in their chests. Surrounded by pumping, though their senses were crude. Almost nonexistent.
Still.
They were there.
Bitch's dogs must all be healthy. Unsurprising. She took care of them. The closest human Nanku had found to understanding that humans weren't the only life that mattered and not being condescending about it.
Bronson took them inside and the two dogs eagerly approached the front of their cages. They barked happily, completely unaware of their infections.
Nanku stopped in the threshold, her blood running cold.
"That's them." Bronson reached through the cages and the dogs eagerly clamored to be scratched and petted. "Biscuit and Gravy. That's random, by the way. No relation."
"Huh." Cassie put her phone away. "Funny."
"Biscuit first," Bitch said. "Be easier with a smaller dog."
Nanku swallowed, fully aware of the squirming, crawling things. Growing inside. Parasites killing their hosts slowly. Clawing their way through the heart. Ripping out. Killing and growing and—
Bitch turned.
"Cassie, take that one outside. Everyone else out."
Nanku blinked. Cassie started to move at the command.
"Out now." Bitch looked away before Nanku could meet her gaze. "Dangerous with untrained dogs. One at a time. Don't wanna scare it."
Nanku stood in a daze, befuddled and annoyed. When she moved it was jerky and she nearly tripped over her own legs. Bronson brought the dog out of the cage and got a leash around it. The beast was Brutus' size, with a shaggy auburn coat and big eyes. It looked up at Cassie like nothing was wrong. Just going for a walk or to play.
But it was wrong.
Very wrong.
And Nanku felt pathetic.
She left as Bitch instructed. Wasn't anything she could do anyway. While she could sense the things, their senses were a jumble. Beyond her ability to move or do anything with unless it was tear the poor dog's heart apart.
Nanku paused once she was outside.
What was Bitch going to do about it?
Cassie led the second dog out and offered 'walksies.' While the parasites were growing, they clearly weren't dangerous enough yet to impact the animal's movement.
A little distance made it easier for Nanku to focus.
She maneuvered a few spiders inside the building. Bronson was chaining the dog down while it whined and Bitch was standing back. She snapped at a point and Bronson hurriedly backed away.
Then the dog started to grow.
That Nanku had seen before.
She'd never seen the dog react so madly before. It was subtle at first. Growling. Straining against the chains. It built into barks. Snarls. Snapping teeth. Then the dog was thrashing, fighting against the chains holding it while Bitch stared it down and used her power.
Metal strained and the animal gained a full foot. It kept struggling, fighting against its restraints and snapping its teeth wildly. Eyes focused on Bitch with a wild anger.
There was steam rising off the creature.
Nanku shifted her weight. She planted a few flies on the chain and searched it. The links were straining. Not breaking but if the dog got any bigger—
It didn't get bigger.
Bitch exhaled and the dog kept struggling, snapping, and yowling for a good half hour.
Then it stopped. Seemed to grow tired and lay down. Eventually, it went still and Bitch went forward with a knife and cut into the body.
It took time for Nanku to realize the weird aspect of Bitch's power fully. The dogs didn't really get bigger. They did, sort of, but they didn't. Instead, it was like she grew a shell around them. A suit of meat and bone while the dog withdrew inside. When her power was done she could wait for the body to start falling apart or simply cut into it herself. Either way, the dog just came out from inside, exactly as it had been.
Minus the parasites.
Whatever Bitch's power did, it had killed them.
She removed the dog from the meat and Bronson shuddered.
"Thanks," he said. "I mean, we have the medication but you know. Stuffs expensive as hell."
"I know."
Bitch set the dog down and ruffled her hand atop its head. The beast woke slowly, perfectly fine and friendly.
Nanku took a breath and sat down.
Cassie came around after a half-hour. Bitch had called her after cleaning up and the process repeated with the next dog. Nanku had little to do but sit and wait. And wait.
And wait.
"Still waiting?"
Nanku glanced back at Bronson.
The man smiled at her. "Sorry. Not trying to waste your time."
Nanku inhaled and stood. "It's fine."
"So." The man looked her up and down. "You're her? The one who killed all those people?"
Nanku frowned and started to reach for her pocket.
The man raised a hand and shook his head. "Dead Nazis are no skin off my back. Shame Bitch got sucked into the problem, but shit happens."
…
Maybe Bitch wasn't the only one with something resembling a balanced respect for life and death.
Nanku relaxed and looked away. Bitch and Cassie were on their way out of the building. Bronson turned and greeted them with a wave and they talked about dog stuff for a few minutes. Nanku supposed that was to be expected.
"There are two more," Nanku declared.
Heads turned her way.
"There are?" Bronson asked. "How do—"
"Where?" Bitch asked.
Nanku had to go into the kennels to actually show them. It was a big place. Giving directions would be overly complicated or require repeating herself.
From there, the process repeated. Bitch used her power. Killed the parasites. Nanku waited.
"Thanks again," Bronson said when they were finally done.
It was getting late and Nanku was tired of waiting.
"So." Bronson looked about nervously before settling his gaze on Bitch. "You available tonight?"
Cassie looked at Nanku and then quickly looked away.
"For what?" Bitch asked.
"I don't know. Whatever?"
Bitch got an odd look on her face. She seemed to consider it and Nanku started to scowl. She really didn't want to keep waiting for whatever it was.
Cassie waved at her for some reason.
Nanku's brow rose.
Cassie pointed a hand low by her hip. Toward Bitch.
Nanku had no idea what that meant.
Bronson noticed though and Looked at Cassie. Bitch followed his gaze and did the same. Cassie feigned to be looking at her nails at an impossibly uncomfortable angle. It just looked weird.
Then Bitch glanced at Nanku from the corner of her eye. Her shoulders slacked and she turned away.
"Not this time," she said.
"Oh." The man looked disappointed. "Sure. No pressure or anything. Thanks for the help."
"We're even," Bitch declared.
She started off and Cassie followed after her. Nanku did the same but watched Bronson through some bugs.
"He wanted to have sex?" Nanku asked.
Bitch hurried ahead and Cassie sighed.
"Yes," she answered. "That is the crude way of what he was propositioning."
Weird. "Does that happen a lot?"
"Dog people hitting on Rachel?" Cassie shrugged. "I mean, I did. She usually says yes."
Nanku frowned and looked back at the man.
She supposed he was good-looking. Strong jaw. Muscled. Tall. Big hands that looked like they could hang onto anything. That passed for attractive, Nanku presumed.
Maybe there was a time a few years ago when she was younger she'd have given it a try. She'd just started realizing then that she had no prospects for romance, sex, or children among her family. It had taken time to work though.
The kind of time where her mind wandered. Wondered what her life might be if it were all different.
But it wasn't, and she was older, and she found herself… disinterested.
The man noticed her staring and he seemed to give her the same assessing look he'd given Bitch. Nanku turned and hurried away. It was nice to know he'd at least considered it, but she couldn't find the interest to think about it any further.
She was just glad she didn't have to wait around while Bitch lay with him for however long that would take.
Biter waited by the truck as they approached. "Everything's all packed up boss."
"Give the dogs thirty more minutes and round them up."
Biter nodded and Cassie sighed in relief.
Biter wasn't someone Nanku had seen before, but he worked for Bitch. So Nanku heard. She wasn't sure and there was something odd about him. A dead sort of look for someone who was still breathing.
The dogs scampered about. The area was enclosed by fences on either side and they couldn't wander off too far, but Nanku found they'd spread as far as the space allowed. A wiry girl walked among them, scratching heads and throwing balls when the dogs brought them to her. Colt, Bitch's other henchman. Henchwoman.
She was young. Younger than Cassie but older than Rose. Fifteen or sixteen.
She was like Biter. There was an odd dead look to her eyes, but playing with the dogs seemed to make her happy.
Cassie went around to a fold-out chair she'd set up in a patch of grass. She sat in it, sighed in relief again, and tossed the first ball a dog brought her.
Nanku sat apart. From a nearby patch of trees, Dusk and Dawn slipped out. They settled around Nanku and rested their heads on the grass. Fidgeting.
They didn't like riding in the truck. They'd rather fly, or at least be where the wind was against them and they could see with their own eyes where they were going. Nanku scratched under their chins.
"They didn't like it." Bitch approached and stopped just out of Dawn's reach. "Dogs didn't either."
"Thought dogs liked car rides," Nanku mumbled.
Bitch huffed. "Cars. Not trucks."
Nanku didn't meet her eyes, though she felt them waiting. "Sorry."
"Not your fault."
No.
It was her mother's. Nanku still didn't know what to think about that. Anger and bitterness of course, but those sensations were numbing more than anything.
"It's not," Bitch said firmly. "Done is done. No point moping."
"I'm not."
"Then don't."
Nanku raised her head and Bitch smirked at her.
She turned. "Rest for a bit and then we'll go."
"How far?" Nanku asked.
"Other side of town. Have a place waiting. 'Til I figure out what to do."
Nanku blinked.
That was odd.
Of course she'd make arrangements. She had to with so many animals. Bitch couldn't simply jump up and run off with only Dusk and Dawn to worry about. She had Cassie too, and Colt was too young to have anyone else looking after her but Bitch and Cassie.
"What about me?" Nanku asked.
"Come along if you want."
And that was all Bitch said before being far enough away Nanku would have to raise her voice to be heard.
She didn't do that.
She sat and brooded.
And she looked at the sign at the far end of the dirt road they'd come in on. Dusty and rusted at the edges. It was old and clearly not very important. A green sign, listing the names of cities and the distance to them.
Nanku couldn't read the letters. It was too far away now but she'd gotten a good enough look when they passed by.
It was easy enough to remember.
Boston 54 Miles
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Nanku supposed that once one had seen one middling human settlement, you'd seen all middling human settlements.
Minus the bay and the big pit of water, Worcester wasn't much different from Brockton Bay. A central district with schools, libraries, office buildings and such. Surrounding neighborhoods for residents and industries. Lots of storage. The town even had old railroads that people talked about a lot like those in Brockton Bay talked about the docks and the boat graveyard.
Holden was a poorer part of the area but it looked nicer. It didn't smell as bad but everything was more spread out with more trees. Houses were spread out and it was very easy to find a place for the dogs to get out and run around after the drive from Brockton Bay.
The forests were different. Less rising mountains and more rolling hills and plains. A lot of deer.
"Here."
Nanku turned, snapped from her thoughts by the sound of a large bag landing atop another large bag.
The man wiped the sweat from his brow and straightened. He was big. Yautja size even. Taller than Nanku with thick shoulders and bulging muscles. He shaved his head and on the whole looked fairly intimidating for a human.
The image was mostly undone by the bright pink shirt he wore with a cartoon dog on the front smiling and chasing a red ball.
"This should hold you over," he said to Rachel. "Least for a bit. Sorry."
Bitch stepped aside and let one of her henchmen push a dolly into place under the pallet the bags sat on.
"It's fine," she said. "Don't want all your food."
"All we can spare," the man said. "Can get some medications if you need them but we don't have a lot of that either."
"We're fine." Bitch got an annoyed look but she hid it well. "You?"
The man crossed his arms over his chest and looked slightly guilty.
He waited, watching as the man named Colt tilted his dolly back and pushed the pallet of dog kibble away, through the trees and over the grass toward a side road where the truck was parked. Cassie came toward them as he left, eyes on the phone in front of her face.
The man seemed to consider that private enough.
He looked at Bitch and lowered his voice. "Two. I hear you can—"
"Dangerous," Bitch interrupted. "Need space. And chains."
The man modded. "I've heard. Set some aside. Borrowed some heavy-duty stuff from a buddy of mine."
Bitch sighed. "Fair. Where?"
"This way."
The man closed the door behind him and pointed around the side of the building. Bitch walked with him, and Nanku walked with Cassie. The girl moved without looking up, eyes still fixed on her phone.
It was a kennel, not unlike Bitch's. Only larger. A dozen people were inside working with different packs of dogs, a storage room, and a clinic attached to one side. It was all clean and proper. Very nice.
Nanku took it upon herself to snoop around a bit and make sure no one was calling the local enforcers.
She'd heard that no one but the man—Bronson?—knew they were coming.
"We own the building out over here," Bronson said. "Told the volunteers we were having it fumigated. They cleared it all out."
"Good," Bitch replied.
"Should be far enough away no one can hear anything. Slipped the dogs in myself."
"Good."
Bronson nodded and led them.
Nanku swept the surrounding area with bugs
"Is this normal?" Nanku asked as she followed along.
"Hm?" Cassie looked up. "What?"
Nanku looked around the room. "Is this normal."
"What? Getting help from other dog lovers?" Cassie scoffed. "Rachel is like Alexandria to dog people. They were calling her a hero the first time she went after dog fighting rings and puppy mills."
Nanku grimaced. "People milled puppies?"
"Bec—Never mind. Sometimes ignorance is bliss."
Nanku couldn't fathom how flour made from puppies could possibly be appealing. It sounded disgusting.
She didn't see anything like that nearby. People went about their business. Mostly driving as the kennel occupied a forested area between two roads leading into town. No police vehicles or any surveillance vans. Nanku had kept her eyes out for any invisible drones. She'd not encountered any since the night with the Pure, though she wondered.
"Right over here." Bronson led them around a small slope and through a fence with a rusty gate.
The building ahead was a shed more than anything. Tin roofed but solid walls. A few spiders about. Nanku sent them to clean out a wasp nest she'd noticed that was growing dangerously large. Having them kill themselves before they stung any of the dogs was time-consuming.
There were two dogs inside the building.
And…
Nanku tilted her head.
That was interesting. She'd never thought to even look. The little things were so small and they registered so faintly in her power. Wormy things in their chests. Surrounded by pumping, though their senses were crude. Almost nonexistent.
Still.
They were there.
Bitch's dogs must all be healthy. Unsurprising. She took care of them. The closest human Nanku had found to understanding that humans weren't the only life that mattered and not being condescending about it.
Bronson took them inside and the two dogs eagerly approached the front of their cages. They barked happily, completely unaware of their infections.
Nanku stopped in the threshold, her blood running cold.
"That's them." Bronson reached through the cages and the dogs eagerly clamored to be scratched and petted. "Biscuit and Gravy. That's random, by the way. No relation."
"Huh." Cassie put her phone away. "Funny."
"Biscuit first," Bitch said. "Be easier with a smaller dog."
Nanku swallowed, fully aware of the squirming, crawling things. Growing inside. Parasites killing their hosts slowly. Clawing their way through the heart. Ripping out. Killing and growing and—
Bitch turned.
"Cassie, take that one outside. Everyone else out."
Nanku blinked. Cassie started to move at the command.
"Out now." Bitch looked away before Nanku could meet her gaze. "Dangerous with untrained dogs. One at a time. Don't wanna scare it."
Nanku stood in a daze, befuddled and annoyed. When she moved it was jerky and she nearly tripped over her own legs. Bronson brought the dog out of the cage and got a leash around it. The beast was Brutus' size, with a shaggy auburn coat and big eyes. It looked up at Cassie like nothing was wrong. Just going for a walk or to play.
But it was wrong.
Very wrong.
And Nanku felt pathetic.
She left as Bitch instructed. Wasn't anything she could do anyway. While she could sense the things, their senses were a jumble. Beyond her ability to move or do anything with unless it was tear the poor dog's heart apart.
Nanku paused once she was outside.
What was Bitch going to do about it?
Cassie led the second dog out and offered 'walksies.' While the parasites were growing, they clearly weren't dangerous enough yet to impact the animal's movement.
A little distance made it easier for Nanku to focus.
She maneuvered a few spiders inside the building. Bronson was chaining the dog down while it whined and Bitch was standing back. She snapped at a point and Bronson hurriedly backed away.
Then the dog started to grow.
That Nanku had seen before.
She'd never seen the dog react so madly before. It was subtle at first. Growling. Straining against the chains. It built into barks. Snarls. Snapping teeth. Then the dog was thrashing, fighting against the chains holding it while Bitch stared it down and used her power.
Metal strained and the animal gained a full foot. It kept struggling, fighting against its restraints and snapping its teeth wildly. Eyes focused on Bitch with a wild anger.
There was steam rising off the creature.
Nanku shifted her weight. She planted a few flies on the chain and searched it. The links were straining. Not breaking but if the dog got any bigger—
It didn't get bigger.
Bitch exhaled and the dog kept struggling, snapping, and yowling for a good half hour.
Then it stopped. Seemed to grow tired and lay down. Eventually, it went still and Bitch went forward with a knife and cut into the body.
It took time for Nanku to realize the weird aspect of Bitch's power fully. The dogs didn't really get bigger. They did, sort of, but they didn't. Instead, it was like she grew a shell around them. A suit of meat and bone while the dog withdrew inside. When her power was done she could wait for the body to start falling apart or simply cut into it herself. Either way, the dog just came out from inside, exactly as it had been.
Minus the parasites.
Whatever Bitch's power did, it had killed them.
She removed the dog from the meat and Bronson shuddered.
"Thanks," he said. "I mean, we have the medication but you know. Stuffs expensive as hell."
"I know."
Bitch set the dog down and ruffled her hand atop its head. The beast woke slowly, perfectly fine and friendly.
Nanku took a breath and sat down.
Cassie came around after a half-hour. Bitch had called her after cleaning up and the process repeated with the next dog. Nanku had little to do but sit and wait. And wait.
And wait.
"Still waiting?"
Nanku glanced back at Bronson.
The man smiled at her. "Sorry. Not trying to waste your time."
Nanku inhaled and stood. "It's fine."
"So." The man looked her up and down. "You're her? The one who killed all those people?"
Nanku frowned and started to reach for her pocket.
The man raised a hand and shook his head. "Dead Nazis are no skin off my back. Shame Bitch got sucked into the problem, but shit happens."
…
Maybe Bitch wasn't the only one with something resembling a balanced respect for life and death.
Nanku relaxed and looked away. Bitch and Cassie were on their way out of the building. Bronson turned and greeted them with a wave and they talked about dog stuff for a few minutes. Nanku supposed that was to be expected.
"There are two more," Nanku declared.
Heads turned her way.
"There are?" Bronson asked. "How do—"
"Where?" Bitch asked.
Nanku had to go into the kennels to actually show them. It was a big place. Giving directions would be overly complicated or require repeating herself.
From there, the process repeated. Bitch used her power. Killed the parasites. Nanku waited.
"Thanks again," Bronson said when they were finally done.
It was getting late and Nanku was tired of waiting.
"So." Bronson looked about nervously before settling his gaze on Bitch. "You available tonight?"
Cassie looked at Nanku and then quickly looked away.
"For what?" Bitch asked.
"I don't know. Whatever?"
Bitch got an odd look on her face. She seemed to consider it and Nanku started to scowl. She really didn't want to keep waiting for whatever it was.
Cassie waved at her for some reason.
Nanku's brow rose.
Cassie pointed a hand low by her hip. Toward Bitch.
Nanku had no idea what that meant.
Bronson noticed though and Looked at Cassie. Bitch followed his gaze and did the same. Cassie feigned to be looking at her nails at an impossibly uncomfortable angle. It just looked weird.
Then Bitch glanced at Nanku from the corner of her eye. Her shoulders slacked and she turned away.
"Not this time," she said.
"Oh." The man looked disappointed. "Sure. No pressure or anything. Thanks for the help."
"We're even," Bitch declared.
She started off and Cassie followed after her. Nanku did the same but watched Bronson through some bugs.
"He wanted to have sex?" Nanku asked.
Bitch hurried ahead and Cassie sighed.
"Yes," she answered. "That is the crude way of what he was propositioning."
Weird. "Does that happen a lot?"
"Dog people hitting on Rachel?" Cassie shrugged. "I mean, I did. She usually says yes."
Nanku frowned and looked back at the man.
She supposed he was good-looking. Strong jaw. Muscled. Tall. Big hands that looked like they could hang onto anything. That passed for attractive, Nanku presumed.
Maybe there was a time a few years ago when she was younger she'd have given it a try. She'd just started realizing then that she had no prospects for romance, sex, or children among her family. It had taken time to work though.
The kind of time where her mind wandered. Wondered what her life might be if it were all different.
But it wasn't, and she was older, and she found herself… disinterested.
The man noticed her staring and he seemed to give her the same assessing look he'd given Bitch. Nanku turned and hurried away. It was nice to know he'd at least considered it, but she couldn't find the interest to think about it any further.
She was just glad she didn't have to wait around while Bitch lay with him for however long that would take.
Biter waited by the truck as they approached. "Everything's all packed up boss."
"Give the dogs thirty more minutes and round them up."
Biter nodded and Cassie sighed in relief.
Biter wasn't someone Nanku had seen before, but he worked for Bitch. So Nanku heard. She wasn't sure and there was something odd about him. A dead sort of look for someone who was still breathing.
The dogs scampered about. The area was enclosed by fences on either side and they couldn't wander off too far, but Nanku found they'd spread as far as the space allowed. A wiry girl walked among them, scratching heads and throwing balls when the dogs brought them to her. Colt, Bitch's other henchman. Henchwoman.
She was young. Younger than Cassie but older than Rose. Fifteen or sixteen.
She was like Biter. There was an odd dead look to her eyes, but playing with the dogs seemed to make her happy.
Cassie went around to a fold-out chair she'd set up in a patch of grass. She sat in it, sighed in relief again, and tossed the first ball a dog brought her.
Nanku sat apart. From a nearby patch of trees, Dusk and Dawn slipped out. They settled around Nanku and rested their heads on the grass. Fidgeting.
They didn't like riding in the truck. They'd rather fly, or at least be where the wind was against them and they could see with their own eyes where they were going. Nanku scratched under their chins.
"They didn't like it." Bitch approached and stopped just out of Dawn's reach. "Dogs didn't either."
"Thought dogs liked car rides," Nanku mumbled.
Bitch huffed. "Cars. Not trucks."
Nanku didn't meet her eyes, though she felt them waiting. "Sorry."
"Not your fault."
No.
It was her mother's. Nanku still didn't know what to think about that. Anger and bitterness of course, but those sensations were numbing more than anything.
"It's not," Bitch said firmly. "Done is done. No point moping."
"I'm not."
"Then don't."
Nanku raised her head and Bitch smirked at her.
She turned. "Rest for a bit and then we'll go."
"How far?" Nanku asked.
"Other side of town. Have a place waiting. 'Til I figure out what to do."
Nanku blinked.
That was odd.
Of course she'd make arrangements. She had to with so many animals. Bitch couldn't simply jump up and run off with only Dusk and Dawn to worry about. She had Cassie too, and Colt was too young to have anyone else looking after her but Bitch and Cassie.
"What about me?" Nanku asked.
"Come along if you want."
And that was all Bitch said before being far enough away Nanku would have to raise her voice to be heard.
She didn't do that.
She sat and brooded.
And she looked at the sign at the far end of the dirt road they'd come in on. Dusty and rusted at the edges. It was old and clearly not very important. A green sign, listing the names of cities and the distance to them.
Nanku couldn't read the letters. It was too far away now but she'd gotten a good enough look when they passed by.
It was easy enough to remember.
Boston 54 Miles
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Wait 8.2
Little Hunter
They settled in a place like the last two Nanku found Bitch at.
It was a big warehouse-like building, but clearly purposed for holding and caring for animals. Rooms absent furniture where dog beds, toys, and 'running wheels' were set up. A few rooms for storage and sleeping. Showers and baths that seemed more fit for dogs than people.
Unlike in Brockton Bay though they were surrounded by trees with good cover from the road. There was a lot of open space for the dogs to run around and Bitch had quickly set shifts for her people to work in to manage the animals.
"How long do we linger?" Biter asked.
"Till the PRT does or doesn't do something," Bitch answered.
That seemed to be enough for her people. There were even more of them now. About a dozen men and women, and another young girl besides Colt. Apparently, Bitch had a lot of dogs she took care of and more than one kennel in Brockton Bay.
The new location was temporary, but large enough for all the animals and her people.
Which somehow included leaving Nanku some space for herself.
She felt like she was imposing, especially since she'd made the mess for them.
Unhelped by the head looking over the top of the stall separating Nanku's naked space from other people's naked space.
Nanku ignored her.
Or tried to.
At least.
"Stop moping."
She wasn't moping, she was brooding. She knew the difference!
Cassie flung water at her, and Nanku scowled.
"That." She pointed over the stall, unashamed. "Stop doing that."
Nanku returned to cleaning her hair. The braids had to be undone every now and then, and she was overdue. It was time-consuming.
"I'm fine."
"Oh," she feigned. "They do that too where you come from."
"Do what?"
"Lie until they trick themselves into thinking it's true."
"Hunter's never—"
Nanku stopped herself.
She had lied. More than once. Far more than once, she realized.
She couldn't even tell where it started. It simply… Escalated, until she was even lying to herself. Going after Stalker like that was stupid. The coward's death was well deserved, but because of her, Bitch was in trouble. So were her dogs and people.
Nanku chastised herself and started soaking her hair under the water.
"Stop! I said stop!" Cassie began flicking her fingers with both hands. The stupid thing was that Nanku couldn't really feel it. Since they were in the shower. "Stop it!"
"No," Nanku refused.
Cassie rolled her eyes and got off whatever stool she was standing on. "Go ahead and pout then."
Nanku was glad for the peace for about two seconds.
"Why aren't you angry?" she asked.
"I am angry!" Cassie called. "It's like watching the one decent person on Survivor kick their own ass because the seasonal super-douche did a bad thing and they couldn't do anything about it!"
"What?"
"You know what I mean!"
Nanku really didn't. "I meant why aren't you angry about Brockton Bay."
"Huh? Oh. That. Eh. It's whatever."
"Whatever?"
"Yeah. Whatever. I mean, am I bummed a bit? I guess. I had a mani-pedi I'm going to miss now. That was scheduled six months ago!"
Nanku didn't know what that was either.
"But that's cape life. Or hench life. Whatever."
"But—"
Cassie looked over the top of the stall again. "I will find a hose. And I'll point it at you. And I will leave it on until you stop moping!"
"I'll have Dusk and Dawn eat you."
"Yeah, Bitch will love that."
Nanku grimaced.
Cassie smirked. "Besides. You don't hurt anyone who isn't going to fight you back. I paid attention, and I have your number. Come at me, and I fall on your sword in the most pathetic way possible."
"That's insane."
"And insanity beats crazy." Cassie vanished again. "I win, bitch."
"What?" Bitch called.
"Not you!"
Nanku grumbled and clapped her head against the wall.
This was her fault. This whole feeling. Entirely on herself.
She could have found another way. A cleaner way. One that didn't expose her swarm and blow back on Bitch. That was her fault and she had to do something about it.
If only she knew what.
There was time.
She had time.
From a phone, she'd checked the information Tattletale gave her and knew where Krieg was. It appeared to be truthful. The man in the pictures had a different name but it looked exactly like him. He'd obviously put on a new mask to hide himself at some point.
And he was her next step.
But she needed to be cleaner about it.
Nanku stood under the water for she didn't know how long. She busied herself gathering a new swarm. Spiders. Wasps. Bees. She'd grabbed what she could on the way from Brockton Bay. If the swarm was exposed she might as well build a better one. More stinging and biting.
She also kept an eye on the woods and roads around the kennel. Unlike the city, there were far fewer people and much less traffic. Anyone approaching or watching their location was far more obvious here.
…
How was it they'd slipped away? Were the enforcers that bad at finding things?
Nanku supposed they'd failed repeatedly to do anything about the Pure.
Cassie and Colt were outside, which meant they'd left the shower. Nanku had probably been in too long. Her fingers and toes didn't wrinkle up like they used to, but her hair probably needed to be dried off.
Nanku reached for the handle on the side wall.
And Bitch was there. Staring at her with an unreadable expression. Which was unusual. Nanku usually found Bitch more sensible than most humans.
She didn't explain it either.
Which left Nanku to stand there and try, and figure her out.
She did.
Eventually.
"You too?"
"Stop," Bitch said. "Would have happened either way."
"I could have—"
"Moment you were cornered, you'd use the swarm. Moment you used the swarm, everyone would know."
Bitch flicked water at her.
"Nothing to do about it. Stop moping."
Was everyone going to keep saying that?
She wasn't moping.
…
She wasn't.
Dusk and Dawn started pushing and Nanku let them skitter into the bath. They played with the puddles of water they passed but didn't linger. The Twins surrounded her protectively, despite the room being empty and both being intelligent enough to recognize no one nearby was a threat.
"I'm not moping," Nanku insisted.
Dusk and Dawn didn't say anything.
Nanku was certain they had no idea what moping was. They weren't that smart.
She did leave when she was tired of sitting. Dried off. Rang out her hair and combed it with her fingers. The weird hot air blower the other women used helped. That way she didn't have to wait for it to dry in the air.
Her room was tucked to the side with a door leading out behind the kennel. Bitch seemed to think she'd like that. Inside it was barren save for a sleeping bag and her equipment.
Nanku sat and started the labor of retying all her braids. One after the other. Each tight and neat and clean.
The process still took time. Nothing changed while she worked. The others were either relaxing or tending to the dogs, and Bitch was talking to someone on the phone. Nanku thought it was probably Tattletale but she didn't eavesdrop.
She wasn't moping but she needed to refocus.
Krieg was in Boston. She knew that.
Her father's killer could be anywhere.
So, Boston first. Maybe with some care this time, instead of an impromptu assault. Krieg's power seemed troublesome. Some kind of ability to manipulate movement and energy. Assault was a problem for that reason.
The plasma caster was an option but a lethal one.
She needed Krieg alive and conscious enough to answer questions.
She'd have to scout. More than she'd done for many of her previous attacks. It was possible the man would suspect he was being targeted. He wasn't part of the Pure but information had leaked. Maybe more than she knew.
Her connection to the camp. To Weaver. A warning from Rune or Night and Fog. Any of them could tip the man off, or the PRT itself. She'd just assume Krieg was expecting and plan for that.
Nanku needed to get her hands on the Internet.
With her last braid set, Nanku rose and dressed. She wore plain clothes. Ones that actually fit her for once. A top that seemed stylish but practical, jeans, and shoes that were a little hard but did their task. A shuriken and spear went into her pockets and Nanku left through the back door with Dusk and Dawn.
She started with a patrol around the grounds.
The forests were young. Replanted in the last twenty or thirty years. That meant they were thin and not the best cover. None of the branches could support any weight. An unfortunate terrain disadvantage.
Though Dusk and Dawn could still climb some of the taller trunks with their claws.
Before long, Nanku noticed Angelica following her.
The little one-eyed beast trotted at a distance. Never getting too close, but never falling too far behind. For being so small and missing an eye, she was a good tracker. Many of the domesticated animals lacked those old instincts from what Nanku had seen.
Maybe that was why Bitch liked her.
Hopefully, that's why Bitch was coming toward her. Just following Angelica.
"She likes you," Bitch said.
"Dusk and Dawn think she's a pet," Nanku replied.
Bitch looked at the Twins. "They have pets?"
"Their hive had these frog things they kept around for their spit."
"Where was that?"
Nanku shut her mouth.
So far, no one had said alien. She supposed in a world full of superpowers, those were a much more straightforward explanation for anything strange.
Bitch unfortunately was smart.
She noticed Nanku's apprehension immediately.
But she said nothing about it.
"What do you do now?" she asked.
Nanku held her tongue again.
Bitch came over and reached down to scratch Angelica's head. Dusk and Dawn tugged and Nanku let them scuttle over to her to demand equal treatment. Bitch started with Dusk but didn't stop scratching Angelica. Dawn turned to Nanku since her hands were free.
"You're not giving up," Bitch observed.
"No," Nanku confirmed.
"Going back to Brockton Bay is stupid. They'll call in someone big. Alexandria. Narwhal. Dragon. Defiant."
"I'll manage."
Bitch frowned. "No. You won't."
"I'll manage." Nanku kept her eyes forward, toward the East. "Krieg is in Boston."
"How?"
"Tattletale told me."
Bitch got an odd look but seemed to accept it. "You'll go after him?"
"He knows something."
"And when the Protectorate comes after you?"
"I'll take more care. Try not to bring more trouble on you."
Bitch scoffed.
"Life is trouble." She looked over the woods and the relative silence. "It's nice here. Dogs will like it more."
"Bright side?"
"Sides are just sides. Stupid idiom."
She crouched, scratching at Angelica and Dusk.
"What about Krieg?" she asked.
"I'll find him," Nanku answered.
"When?"
Nanku frowned. She wasn't sur—
"Stupid." Bitch scoffed. "Don't need a babysitter."
A strange pang struck Nanku's stomach. She wasn't trying to imply Bitch was weak. "My fault."
"Get over it."
Nanku was over it. She was! "You wanted to stop me."
"Revenge is stupid. If you have to do it, do it. It's still stupid."
Maybe she was right.
Nanku took out her anger on Shadow Stalker and Kid Win. She didn't feel any better for it. It wasn't right. That's not how the Yautja did things.
It was too human.
"Besides," Bitch continued, "Nazi fuck knows about the camp."
Nanku nodded.
"Different. Not just revenge. Making sure it doesn't happen again."
Nanku doubted that, but she appreciated the distinction. The matter with her father was purely personal. There was something personal with the camp too, but Nanku did want to get justice for the other children. It wasn't just about herself.
She wasn't sure the distinction was enough. If she really thought about it, the camp too was about her. She wouldn't do anything if she hadn't been there.
There was no distinction that mattered.
"Stop the moping," Bitch said once again.
"I'm not—"
"Can't control Weaver. Can't control the Ambassadors. Did what you could. Didn't work out. Not your fault."
Nanku cocked her head to the side. "In Brockton Bay you wanted me to stop."
"Wanted you to stop chasing your dad. He's gone. Nothing to do about it."
"And Krieg?"
"Fuck the Nazis."
Nanku huffed. "And my father?"
"Revenge is stupid." Bitch glanced away, her brow furrowing. "I'm not stopping you. Do what you have to."
Nanku stared.
"Take a break and go," Bitch said plainly. "Probably be here for a bit."
That was different. Everything about Bitch was different. She just made sense. Why did she make so much more sense than other humans? Cassie was nice enough and Imp was okay, but they did things for reasons Nanku didn't understand.
Not Bitch.
Bitch was… Bitch.
Nanku looked back toward the kennel. The dogs. Cassie. Colt. Biter and the rest. All out in the sun looking fairly happy and content, but completely open and vulnerable.
"Heroes won't come?" Nanku asked.
"Heroes here are weak. One villain but he's weak too. Nothing you need to do anything about."
Nanku supposed she'd made enough trouble anyway.
Bitch rolled her eyes for some reason.
But… Maybe… Nanku was moping. Just a little bit.
She didn't like it. It wasn't like her and it definitely wasn't what she wanted to be doing.
"Done moping?" Bitch had an odd smile on her face.
Nanku rarely saw her smile. "Yes."
"Good."
"Experience?"
"I attacked people."
Nanku took a breath. "Pe'dte told me attacking in anger was foolish in all ways. I didn't understand until now."
"Sounds wise."
"She is."
"She going to help if the heroes get you?"
The heroes wouldn't, but, "No." And Nanku didn't expect her to.
Bitch nodded and rose to her feet.
That pang came back and Nanku watched her closely. There was something, but she didn't know the words for it. It was weird. Mildly annoying.
"Thank you," she offered instead.
"Nothing." Bitch waved Angelica off and the dog replied readily.
The feeling was still there. Warm and fuzzy. Low in her gut and in her throat. She wanted to say more, but what?
"You're different," Nanku opined. "You understand things most humans don't."
"Say that like you're not."
"Are you?"
Bitch shrugged. "Not a dog. Not that stupid."
"People think that?"
"People are dumb."
True. "People think they can control things. Control isn't real. It's…"
Nanku trailed off, her thoughts overtaking her words.
"Yeah," Bitch agreed. She glanced to Angelica while the dog trotted, and then Dusk. Her gaze lingered on Dusk for a while. "People do that."
Nanku supposed she was people too, however much she aspired to something different.
"Thank you," she repeated.
Bitch waved a hand. "Whatever."
Despite the word being dismissive in nature, it sounded warm.
Bitch went toward where Angelica waited. Dusk followed for a moment but quickly turned back to occupy Nanku's side opposite Dawn.
Nanku looked blankly into the woods.
She'd linger just a few more days. Make sure nothing immediately happened.
Then she'd got to Boston and get answers out of Krieg.
One way or another.
And then Cassie was there. She whispered something, twisted Bitch around, walked her back to Nanku and told her to sit.
Bitch didn't but Cassie left and took Angelica off herself.
"What was that?" Nanku asked.
Bitch stared forward, red in the face with what Nanku assumed was restrained anger. "No idea."
Nanku waited but no other answer came.
Bitch stood stiffly for a time. A good time. Longer than Nanku had ever seen her just stand. What had Cassie said? Nanku hadn't sent any bugs close enough. The whole encounter happened so quickly.
"She's weird," Nanku declared.
With that, Bitch's shoulders relaxed and she look down at Nanku. "She's weird?"
"Yes."
Bitch scoffed and looked forward once more.
She sat.
There was no explanation.
Nanku would have preferred an explanation.
"You're going to let her tell you what to do?"
"Nothing important to do anyway," Bitch replied cooly. She relaxed and leaned her chin into her own palm.
They sat a good while. Nanku kept expecting her to get up, but she didn't. She just kept sitting. When Dawn nearly jumped over Dusk and pushed against Bitch's hand, the girl responded by scratching but that was it.
Bitch yawned.
Nanku shrugged.
They sat in the shade of the trees in a pleasant breeze.
It was oddly relaxing.
***
I wanted to write more Nanku/Bitch time. Sue me.
Nanku's back off to plotting murder next week with a quick check on BB in the aftermath.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
They settled in a place like the last two Nanku found Bitch at.
It was a big warehouse-like building, but clearly purposed for holding and caring for animals. Rooms absent furniture where dog beds, toys, and 'running wheels' were set up. A few rooms for storage and sleeping. Showers and baths that seemed more fit for dogs than people.
Unlike in Brockton Bay though they were surrounded by trees with good cover from the road. There was a lot of open space for the dogs to run around and Bitch had quickly set shifts for her people to work in to manage the animals.
"How long do we linger?" Biter asked.
"Till the PRT does or doesn't do something," Bitch answered.
That seemed to be enough for her people. There were even more of them now. About a dozen men and women, and another young girl besides Colt. Apparently, Bitch had a lot of dogs she took care of and more than one kennel in Brockton Bay.
The new location was temporary, but large enough for all the animals and her people.
Which somehow included leaving Nanku some space for herself.
She felt like she was imposing, especially since she'd made the mess for them.
Unhelped by the head looking over the top of the stall separating Nanku's naked space from other people's naked space.
Nanku ignored her.
Or tried to.
At least.
"Stop moping."
She wasn't moping, she was brooding. She knew the difference!
Cassie flung water at her, and Nanku scowled.
"That." She pointed over the stall, unashamed. "Stop doing that."
Nanku returned to cleaning her hair. The braids had to be undone every now and then, and she was overdue. It was time-consuming.
"I'm fine."
"Oh," she feigned. "They do that too where you come from."
"Do what?"
"Lie until they trick themselves into thinking it's true."
"Hunter's never—"
Nanku stopped herself.
She had lied. More than once. Far more than once, she realized.
She couldn't even tell where it started. It simply… Escalated, until she was even lying to herself. Going after Stalker like that was stupid. The coward's death was well deserved, but because of her, Bitch was in trouble. So were her dogs and people.
Nanku chastised herself and started soaking her hair under the water.
"Stop! I said stop!" Cassie began flicking her fingers with both hands. The stupid thing was that Nanku couldn't really feel it. Since they were in the shower. "Stop it!"
"No," Nanku refused.
Cassie rolled her eyes and got off whatever stool she was standing on. "Go ahead and pout then."
Nanku was glad for the peace for about two seconds.
"Why aren't you angry?" she asked.
"I am angry!" Cassie called. "It's like watching the one decent person on Survivor kick their own ass because the seasonal super-douche did a bad thing and they couldn't do anything about it!"
"What?"
"You know what I mean!"
Nanku really didn't. "I meant why aren't you angry about Brockton Bay."
"Huh? Oh. That. Eh. It's whatever."
"Whatever?"
"Yeah. Whatever. I mean, am I bummed a bit? I guess. I had a mani-pedi I'm going to miss now. That was scheduled six months ago!"
Nanku didn't know what that was either.
"But that's cape life. Or hench life. Whatever."
"But—"
Cassie looked over the top of the stall again. "I will find a hose. And I'll point it at you. And I will leave it on until you stop moping!"
"I'll have Dusk and Dawn eat you."
"Yeah, Bitch will love that."
Nanku grimaced.
Cassie smirked. "Besides. You don't hurt anyone who isn't going to fight you back. I paid attention, and I have your number. Come at me, and I fall on your sword in the most pathetic way possible."
"That's insane."
"And insanity beats crazy." Cassie vanished again. "I win, bitch."
"What?" Bitch called.
"Not you!"
Nanku grumbled and clapped her head against the wall.
This was her fault. This whole feeling. Entirely on herself.
She could have found another way. A cleaner way. One that didn't expose her swarm and blow back on Bitch. That was her fault and she had to do something about it.
If only she knew what.
There was time.
She had time.
From a phone, she'd checked the information Tattletale gave her and knew where Krieg was. It appeared to be truthful. The man in the pictures had a different name but it looked exactly like him. He'd obviously put on a new mask to hide himself at some point.
And he was her next step.
But she needed to be cleaner about it.
Nanku stood under the water for she didn't know how long. She busied herself gathering a new swarm. Spiders. Wasps. Bees. She'd grabbed what she could on the way from Brockton Bay. If the swarm was exposed she might as well build a better one. More stinging and biting.
She also kept an eye on the woods and roads around the kennel. Unlike the city, there were far fewer people and much less traffic. Anyone approaching or watching their location was far more obvious here.
…
How was it they'd slipped away? Were the enforcers that bad at finding things?
Nanku supposed they'd failed repeatedly to do anything about the Pure.
Cassie and Colt were outside, which meant they'd left the shower. Nanku had probably been in too long. Her fingers and toes didn't wrinkle up like they used to, but her hair probably needed to be dried off.
Nanku reached for the handle on the side wall.
And Bitch was there. Staring at her with an unreadable expression. Which was unusual. Nanku usually found Bitch more sensible than most humans.
She didn't explain it either.
Which left Nanku to stand there and try, and figure her out.
She did.
Eventually.
"You too?"
"Stop," Bitch said. "Would have happened either way."
"I could have—"
"Moment you were cornered, you'd use the swarm. Moment you used the swarm, everyone would know."
Bitch flicked water at her.
"Nothing to do about it. Stop moping."
Was everyone going to keep saying that?
She wasn't moping.
…
She wasn't.
Dusk and Dawn started pushing and Nanku let them skitter into the bath. They played with the puddles of water they passed but didn't linger. The Twins surrounded her protectively, despite the room being empty and both being intelligent enough to recognize no one nearby was a threat.
"I'm not moping," Nanku insisted.
Dusk and Dawn didn't say anything.
Nanku was certain they had no idea what moping was. They weren't that smart.
She did leave when she was tired of sitting. Dried off. Rang out her hair and combed it with her fingers. The weird hot air blower the other women used helped. That way she didn't have to wait for it to dry in the air.
Her room was tucked to the side with a door leading out behind the kennel. Bitch seemed to think she'd like that. Inside it was barren save for a sleeping bag and her equipment.
Nanku sat and started the labor of retying all her braids. One after the other. Each tight and neat and clean.
The process still took time. Nothing changed while she worked. The others were either relaxing or tending to the dogs, and Bitch was talking to someone on the phone. Nanku thought it was probably Tattletale but she didn't eavesdrop.
She wasn't moping but she needed to refocus.
Krieg was in Boston. She knew that.
Her father's killer could be anywhere.
So, Boston first. Maybe with some care this time, instead of an impromptu assault. Krieg's power seemed troublesome. Some kind of ability to manipulate movement and energy. Assault was a problem for that reason.
The plasma caster was an option but a lethal one.
She needed Krieg alive and conscious enough to answer questions.
She'd have to scout. More than she'd done for many of her previous attacks. It was possible the man would suspect he was being targeted. He wasn't part of the Pure but information had leaked. Maybe more than she knew.
Her connection to the camp. To Weaver. A warning from Rune or Night and Fog. Any of them could tip the man off, or the PRT itself. She'd just assume Krieg was expecting and plan for that.
Nanku needed to get her hands on the Internet.
With her last braid set, Nanku rose and dressed. She wore plain clothes. Ones that actually fit her for once. A top that seemed stylish but practical, jeans, and shoes that were a little hard but did their task. A shuriken and spear went into her pockets and Nanku left through the back door with Dusk and Dawn.
She started with a patrol around the grounds.
The forests were young. Replanted in the last twenty or thirty years. That meant they were thin and not the best cover. None of the branches could support any weight. An unfortunate terrain disadvantage.
Though Dusk and Dawn could still climb some of the taller trunks with their claws.
Before long, Nanku noticed Angelica following her.
The little one-eyed beast trotted at a distance. Never getting too close, but never falling too far behind. For being so small and missing an eye, she was a good tracker. Many of the domesticated animals lacked those old instincts from what Nanku had seen.
Maybe that was why Bitch liked her.
Hopefully, that's why Bitch was coming toward her. Just following Angelica.
"She likes you," Bitch said.
"Dusk and Dawn think she's a pet," Nanku replied.
Bitch looked at the Twins. "They have pets?"
"Their hive had these frog things they kept around for their spit."
"Where was that?"
Nanku shut her mouth.
So far, no one had said alien. She supposed in a world full of superpowers, those were a much more straightforward explanation for anything strange.
Bitch unfortunately was smart.
She noticed Nanku's apprehension immediately.
But she said nothing about it.
"What do you do now?" she asked.
Nanku held her tongue again.
Bitch came over and reached down to scratch Angelica's head. Dusk and Dawn tugged and Nanku let them scuttle over to her to demand equal treatment. Bitch started with Dusk but didn't stop scratching Angelica. Dawn turned to Nanku since her hands were free.
"You're not giving up," Bitch observed.
"No," Nanku confirmed.
"Going back to Brockton Bay is stupid. They'll call in someone big. Alexandria. Narwhal. Dragon. Defiant."
"I'll manage."
Bitch frowned. "No. You won't."
"I'll manage." Nanku kept her eyes forward, toward the East. "Krieg is in Boston."
"How?"
"Tattletale told me."
Bitch got an odd look but seemed to accept it. "You'll go after him?"
"He knows something."
"And when the Protectorate comes after you?"
"I'll take more care. Try not to bring more trouble on you."
Bitch scoffed.
"Life is trouble." She looked over the woods and the relative silence. "It's nice here. Dogs will like it more."
"Bright side?"
"Sides are just sides. Stupid idiom."
She crouched, scratching at Angelica and Dusk.
"What about Krieg?" she asked.
"I'll find him," Nanku answered.
"When?"
Nanku frowned. She wasn't sur—
"Stupid." Bitch scoffed. "Don't need a babysitter."
A strange pang struck Nanku's stomach. She wasn't trying to imply Bitch was weak. "My fault."
"Get over it."
Nanku was over it. She was! "You wanted to stop me."
"Revenge is stupid. If you have to do it, do it. It's still stupid."
Maybe she was right.
Nanku took out her anger on Shadow Stalker and Kid Win. She didn't feel any better for it. It wasn't right. That's not how the Yautja did things.
It was too human.
"Besides," Bitch continued, "Nazi fuck knows about the camp."
Nanku nodded.
"Different. Not just revenge. Making sure it doesn't happen again."
Nanku doubted that, but she appreciated the distinction. The matter with her father was purely personal. There was something personal with the camp too, but Nanku did want to get justice for the other children. It wasn't just about herself.
She wasn't sure the distinction was enough. If she really thought about it, the camp too was about her. She wouldn't do anything if she hadn't been there.
There was no distinction that mattered.
"Stop the moping," Bitch said once again.
"I'm not—"
"Can't control Weaver. Can't control the Ambassadors. Did what you could. Didn't work out. Not your fault."
Nanku cocked her head to the side. "In Brockton Bay you wanted me to stop."
"Wanted you to stop chasing your dad. He's gone. Nothing to do about it."
"And Krieg?"
"Fuck the Nazis."
Nanku huffed. "And my father?"
"Revenge is stupid." Bitch glanced away, her brow furrowing. "I'm not stopping you. Do what you have to."
Nanku stared.
"Take a break and go," Bitch said plainly. "Probably be here for a bit."
That was different. Everything about Bitch was different. She just made sense. Why did she make so much more sense than other humans? Cassie was nice enough and Imp was okay, but they did things for reasons Nanku didn't understand.
Not Bitch.
Bitch was… Bitch.
Nanku looked back toward the kennel. The dogs. Cassie. Colt. Biter and the rest. All out in the sun looking fairly happy and content, but completely open and vulnerable.
"Heroes won't come?" Nanku asked.
"Heroes here are weak. One villain but he's weak too. Nothing you need to do anything about."
Nanku supposed she'd made enough trouble anyway.
Bitch rolled her eyes for some reason.
But… Maybe… Nanku was moping. Just a little bit.
She didn't like it. It wasn't like her and it definitely wasn't what she wanted to be doing.
"Done moping?" Bitch had an odd smile on her face.
Nanku rarely saw her smile. "Yes."
"Good."
"Experience?"
"I attacked people."
Nanku took a breath. "Pe'dte told me attacking in anger was foolish in all ways. I didn't understand until now."
"Sounds wise."
"She is."
"She going to help if the heroes get you?"
The heroes wouldn't, but, "No." And Nanku didn't expect her to.
Bitch nodded and rose to her feet.
That pang came back and Nanku watched her closely. There was something, but she didn't know the words for it. It was weird. Mildly annoying.
"Thank you," she offered instead.
"Nothing." Bitch waved Angelica off and the dog replied readily.
The feeling was still there. Warm and fuzzy. Low in her gut and in her throat. She wanted to say more, but what?
"You're different," Nanku opined. "You understand things most humans don't."
"Say that like you're not."
"Are you?"
Bitch shrugged. "Not a dog. Not that stupid."
"People think that?"
"People are dumb."
True. "People think they can control things. Control isn't real. It's…"
Nanku trailed off, her thoughts overtaking her words.
"Yeah," Bitch agreed. She glanced to Angelica while the dog trotted, and then Dusk. Her gaze lingered on Dusk for a while. "People do that."
Nanku supposed she was people too, however much she aspired to something different.
"Thank you," she repeated.
Bitch waved a hand. "Whatever."
Despite the word being dismissive in nature, it sounded warm.
Bitch went toward where Angelica waited. Dusk followed for a moment but quickly turned back to occupy Nanku's side opposite Dawn.
Nanku looked blankly into the woods.
She'd linger just a few more days. Make sure nothing immediately happened.
Then she'd got to Boston and get answers out of Krieg.
One way or another.
And then Cassie was there. She whispered something, twisted Bitch around, walked her back to Nanku and told her to sit.
Bitch didn't but Cassie left and took Angelica off herself.
"What was that?" Nanku asked.
Bitch stared forward, red in the face with what Nanku assumed was restrained anger. "No idea."
Nanku waited but no other answer came.
Bitch stood stiffly for a time. A good time. Longer than Nanku had ever seen her just stand. What had Cassie said? Nanku hadn't sent any bugs close enough. The whole encounter happened so quickly.
"She's weird," Nanku declared.
With that, Bitch's shoulders relaxed and she look down at Nanku. "She's weird?"
"Yes."
Bitch scoffed and looked forward once more.
She sat.
There was no explanation.
Nanku would have preferred an explanation.
"You're going to let her tell you what to do?"
"Nothing important to do anyway," Bitch replied cooly. She relaxed and leaned her chin into her own palm.
They sat a good while. Nanku kept expecting her to get up, but she didn't. She just kept sitting. When Dawn nearly jumped over Dusk and pushed against Bitch's hand, the girl responded by scratching but that was it.
Bitch yawned.
Nanku shrugged.
They sat in the shade of the trees in a pleasant breeze.
It was oddly relaxing.
***
I wanted to write more Nanku/Bitch time. Sue me.
Nanku's back off to plotting murder next week with a quick check on BB in the aftermath.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Wait 8.3
Little Hunter
If there was an upside to being suspended, it was that she could spend more time with Rose.
If there was a downside it was realizing just how much the girl didn't know how to do basic math.
"You just have to apply yourself," Annette said as she walked her younger daughter through the worksheet. "See?"
"Yes," Rose said stiffly.
It was basic multiplication. How had Rose been getting A's when she only knew the easy ones like two, three, and five? Children could be so odd, but that was part of the fun. Many of her best memories of Taylor were the odder kind.
Before Danny died, of course.
Rose worked at the sheet like Annette showed her and she started getting them right. Children. They were rarely stupid, just energetic. Focusing didn't come naturally to them.
While she did, Annette took the chance to look through report cards from Rose's teachers. She was usually so busy she couldn't give them more than a cursory glance. Missy kind of did her the favor of keeping an eye on things since she did so much babysitting.
A straight-A student even at her age.
How was it she struggled with multiplication then?
Annette lifted the report from the math teacher and gave it a quick read.
Her brow lifted.
While there is no rule against working with other students, Rose does need to be able to complete her own assignments. Often I find she struggles to answer questions in class, yet her tests and assignments are always excellent.
They're also virtually identical to those of other students in the class.
I am not accusing Rose of cheating. I'd considered that but I've watched her and she takes all her tests honestly and her homework is written in her own hand. Again, the students can work together, but I think Rose could use a little more attention to ensure she's properly absorbing the material.
Annette read it twice, uncertain what about it bugged her. There was nothing wrong with Rose working with other students. That was a good thing. She wasn't cheating. That was great.
But what was it—
Annette's phone rang and she set the paper aside.
The caller ID said 'PRT LA.'
The archives. They were all located there and while Annette was suspended, she still had access.
"I'll be right back, Rose."
"Okay."
Annette rose and went into her bedroom. Rose knew about her parents, but Annette still preferred to keep her at a distance from cape business. As much as she could, at least. The past week not even remotely withstanding.
Night and Fog still had a significant amount of retribution coming.
But first, it was time to get some answers about who the hell had trained Nanku and supplied her with her weapons. She was not a tinker. Someone made them for her and they'd been doing what they were doing a long time.
Annette raised the phone to her ear and slipped into another room.
"Weaver," she answered.
"Annette," the voice on the other side greeted.
Annette froze. She knew the voice. Well. Unfortunately well.
And she didn't like her.
The only people who thought Rebecca Costa-Brown was a hero were the people who didn't know her.
"Chief Director," Annette replied. "Sorry. I thought you were—"
"The archives, I know."
No. No no no no NO.
"I'm afraid I've put a stop to your record request," the liar in the Chief Director's chair explained. "You're on suspension, Annette. Let's not make it worse."
"Isn't that more Legend's area?" Anne asked.
"I've informed him of this decision and thought it would be better coming from me. Given our long relationship."
That relationship was mostly veiled threats about what would happen if Annette said anything she shouldn't. "I see."
"Good. I'm sorry, by the way. I'm sure the past few months have been tumultuous at best. For what it's worth, the PRT still quietly views the status quo in Brockton Bay as a net positive. Curtz is upset but that's why he's there. To make sure no one forgets that there are lines the PRT will not cross."
"Of course, ma'am. I understand."
"Good. Brockton Bay is low maintenance. The Undersiders are a sort of villain that can be tolerated so long as everyone stays in their lines."
"I said I understood."
"I'm only making sure. Have a nice day, Anne."
"You too, ma'am."
Annette expected the call to end there.
It didn't.
"And about your elder daughter."
Annette went stiff all at once, mind racing. What was this? Another threat or something else? Why was the woman getting involved now, or was she talking on behalf of another party? Curtz seemed to have some agenda. He knew something and was not doing nearly as good a job hiding that fact as he thought.
Was he just the front face of something else that was higher up the PRT's ladder?
"I wanted to offer some assurance," she began. "To keep you from doing anything foolish."
Annette didn't feel assured. Not even remotely. "Meaning?"
"We're taking circumstance into account. Clearly the trauma from her trigger event and the camp have left Taylor ill-equipped for normal society."
"… Meaning?"
"Meaning she doesn't have a kill order just yet."
The implied threat was not lost on Annette. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me. If this matter continues to escalate there won't be a choice, especially if it continues to interfere with the operation of the PRT and the Protectorate."
"I understood the threat."
"You really should be less paranoid. Do keep your head down, Anne. You're a valuable asset in the Protectorate. With the Pure gone, it'd be nice if Brockton Bay returned to some level of stability. Soon."
She left the 'you should focus on that' unsaid. "Of course."
"How is your other daughter?"
"Don't push your luck, Alex."
There was a brief silence. Enough to let Annette know the woman was considering. Maybe if Annette were even dumber than she was she'd have been killed years ago, but she'd made that a foolish move. She wasn't quite that dumb and there were a lot of ways to release information from the grave. A corpse simply made it easier to call attention to it.
"Have a good day," the Chief-Director concluded.
"Is this just about Nanku, or is it about my request to the archives too?"
"You should take your own advice, Annette. Don't push your luck."
The line died like that and Annette let her hand drop.
She looked out the window blankly for a long time. Long enough Rose came looking for her with the concerned uncertainty of a child who doesn't know what's wrong.
"Mom?" she called.
"Nothing," Annette lied. "Just a telemarketer."
~ ~ ~
Around the kennel it was late. Many dogs slept, lounged, or watched the colors on the TV. Cassie was watching another vapid reality TV show with Colt and a few others. They were occupied and Nanku figured waiting anymore would be pointless delay.
It was time to continue her business.
Nanku checked her equipment thoroughly.
She'd cleaned it all but not bothered to check it after the hunt in downtown. She'd taken several blows and fallen several times during the fight. She'd gotten too sloppy. Too distracted with her own familial drama.
It led to mistakes.
Mistakes she was done with making.
Mask check. Cloak check. Plasma caster check. Gauntlet. Computer. Shurikens. Spears. Knives and blades. All sharp and mechanisms intact.
Krieg's power was similar to Assault's and Assault's was a problem. Nanku needed to proceed carefully. The man needed to live long enough to answer questions and for that he also needed to be mostly whole.
She might only have as little as a single chance to try and test things on his power to see what worked.
Best none of her gear failed when she took her chance.
Nanku put on her equipment, fitted all her gear, and fed Dusk and Dawn for the night ahead.
While they gobbled down the meat provided to them, Nanku went to the door and pushed it open.
Bitch sat outside in a chair enjoying the night. The woman scratched Brutus behind the ears and another dog—one of the silly small ones—nestled in her lap. Not so close as to intrude but close enough she was interested in watching.
She understood things that way. Nanku appreciated it.
The night was cool and there was a slight wind rustling the trees. There were stars out. Far from a big city like Brockton Bay, they could see them a bit more clearly.
"Going?" Bitch asked.
"Yes," Nanku answered.
"Don't be stupid."
"You said revenge is stupid."
"Stupider than most."
Nanku gave a huff and drew Dusk and Dawn to her side.
"Promise."
She tilted her head and Bitch gave her a look that wasn't quite mocking, but not quite stern.
"Promise," she repeated.
Nanku glared behind her mask. "Promise what?"
"Not to be too stupid."
…
"I promise."
She felt stupider saying it.
It seemed to amuse Bitch to hear. It wasn't so bad. Though something about leaving Bitch in a bad spot still prodded her sides and stomach.
"Bye."
"You'll be back," Bitch declared.
"So sure?"
"Sure."
Maybe she'd be right. Nanku hadn't considered what she might do when she finished her business aside from some vague nations. Maybe hanging around Bitch when she was done would be nice.
Taking the Twins, Nanku strode into the dark and hiked as far as she could through the woods. Her pace quickened. A walk became a jog. A jog a run. A run a full sprint. She'd had a few days to heal and her injuries weren't as bad as the pain implied.
It was good to run again.
Nanku activated the cloak and shrouded herself.
She took some care to get as far from the kennel as possible before leaving the woods. Fortunately, the area was far more wooded than any part of Brockton Bay. Nanku gathered a swarm as she went and used it to extend the shadows of night and cover for herself.
When she did emerge, it was near an overpass with gas stations and a truck stop.
It took about an hour to find someone going toward Boston.
From there she simply crawled Dusk and Dawn—and a best of the swarm she'd gathered—under the trailer and climbed. The driver took some time but eventually, she came out, got in, and started driving.
Nanku had done her research on local villains and heroes. No Nazis, but there was a group called the Teeth she wanted to avoid. Tangling herself in one villain group had been enough of a distraction. She'd rather not repeat herself.
The drive wasn't too long. Fifty miles more or less on a highway was fairly quick.
Then she was in the city. A much cleaner place than Brockton Bay. Taller and more developed buildings and a large river running through.
It was late and the sun would rise in a few hours but Nanku wanted to find the address she'd been given first.
It was an office building. Not hard to find in the end since the name was in big white letters on the top floors.
Gertrude Pharma.
Nanku went out of her way to stay undercover as she approached. For all she knew every city around Brockton Bay was looking for her. They might all have measures in place to see through her cloak and that was another thing she didn't want to be drawn into.
When she did reach the building, she found that most of the floors lacked any meaningful security.
And a few of the office spaces were empty.
That would do.
She went inside and at four in the morning, the place was barren. Only a few office workers and none in any areas she worried about crossing paths with.
Eighth floor, she realized when she saw the office numbers.
There, Nanku did find security. Good security. The kind she wouldn't test and risk tipping anyone off. Sensor lasers. Cameras that tracked movement somehow—she had to switch up how she moved her bugs on noticing that. Some kind of sensor at every door and magnetic locks.
If she had to assault the place she could.
She took her time with a few bugs. Flies and gnats. Flies wouldn't draw too much attention if noticed, and gnats were so small they didn't trigger the cameras.
Nanku found his office after crawling around over the plates by the doors.
Using the bugs in the room, she searched the contents and at some point noticed none of the security was on the windows.
Nanku got back outside and scaled the building to get a look inside the room.
It was a risk, but she needed to be sure.
Fairly typical office. Nothing out of the ordinary. No costume hidden anywhere but there were some briefcases sealed too tight for a bug to get into. Her visor exposed nothing on various modes. No metals or electronics inside. Looked like paper.
Several photos sat on the desk and a computer. Nothing she could plainly see.
But the wall.
That's where it was.
An award to a 'Kyle Spetz' from Med-Hall, dated a year after the camp. There were other things there. All dated for after the camp.
As if Kyle Spetz simply popped into existence one day.
Nanku searched the room for any security she wanted to know about and withdrew. She found an empty office space and settled Dusk and Dawn down. The location seemed relatively secure and there was a street of stores nearby.
She gathered her swarm into corners and spaces where she could and switched into regular clothes.
Nanku worked her way down through the building and strode out of a side door. Walked like she belonged. No one paid her any mind.
Some food—water especially—and supplies for a few days. Nanku had the money. Now that her clothes fit her she went even more unnoticed as she went through stores and acquired what she needed. The line didn't even bother her.
The task was relaxing in an odd way.
Gave her some time to think. Ponder questions.
How to ensnare Krieg so that she might press him.
Nanku turned her head and watched the people on the street below. How did one trap a man who could turn aside blows launched at him?
She considered it awhile while the line ahead of her shuffled on at a slow pace.
The aisles were packed.
Nanku dropped her gaze and drew a line on the floor. Aisles. Halls. Doors. Narrow places people had to pass through to go anywhere. Choke points.
Everyone had to go through choke points sooner or later.
Nanku used a few bugs to measure. Bugs on the left. Bugs on the right. Then, she drew a few spiders out and had them spin some lines.
Not in the same store she was in, of course. That might be too obvious. She needed to test some silk lines. Figure out how strong one needs to be to cause someone to trip.
The solution could be that simple.
Simply let him walk into the blow, instead of sending it toward him.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide. Funny story. I accidentally PM'd the chapter to someone else with 'grim' in their name. Oops >.>
If there was an upside to being suspended, it was that she could spend more time with Rose.
If there was a downside it was realizing just how much the girl didn't know how to do basic math.
"You just have to apply yourself," Annette said as she walked her younger daughter through the worksheet. "See?"
"Yes," Rose said stiffly.
It was basic multiplication. How had Rose been getting A's when she only knew the easy ones like two, three, and five? Children could be so odd, but that was part of the fun. Many of her best memories of Taylor were the odder kind.
Before Danny died, of course.
Rose worked at the sheet like Annette showed her and she started getting them right. Children. They were rarely stupid, just energetic. Focusing didn't come naturally to them.
While she did, Annette took the chance to look through report cards from Rose's teachers. She was usually so busy she couldn't give them more than a cursory glance. Missy kind of did her the favor of keeping an eye on things since she did so much babysitting.
A straight-A student even at her age.
How was it she struggled with multiplication then?
Annette lifted the report from the math teacher and gave it a quick read.
Her brow lifted.
While there is no rule against working with other students, Rose does need to be able to complete her own assignments. Often I find she struggles to answer questions in class, yet her tests and assignments are always excellent.
They're also virtually identical to those of other students in the class.
I am not accusing Rose of cheating. I'd considered that but I've watched her and she takes all her tests honestly and her homework is written in her own hand. Again, the students can work together, but I think Rose could use a little more attention to ensure she's properly absorbing the material.
Annette read it twice, uncertain what about it bugged her. There was nothing wrong with Rose working with other students. That was a good thing. She wasn't cheating. That was great.
But what was it—
Annette's phone rang and she set the paper aside.
The caller ID said 'PRT LA.'
The archives. They were all located there and while Annette was suspended, she still had access.
"I'll be right back, Rose."
"Okay."
Annette rose and went into her bedroom. Rose knew about her parents, but Annette still preferred to keep her at a distance from cape business. As much as she could, at least. The past week not even remotely withstanding.
Night and Fog still had a significant amount of retribution coming.
But first, it was time to get some answers about who the hell had trained Nanku and supplied her with her weapons. She was not a tinker. Someone made them for her and they'd been doing what they were doing a long time.
Annette raised the phone to her ear and slipped into another room.
"Weaver," she answered.
"Annette," the voice on the other side greeted.
Annette froze. She knew the voice. Well. Unfortunately well.
And she didn't like her.
The only people who thought Rebecca Costa-Brown was a hero were the people who didn't know her.
"Chief Director," Annette replied. "Sorry. I thought you were—"
"The archives, I know."
No. No no no no NO.
"I'm afraid I've put a stop to your record request," the liar in the Chief Director's chair explained. "You're on suspension, Annette. Let's not make it worse."
"Isn't that more Legend's area?" Anne asked.
"I've informed him of this decision and thought it would be better coming from me. Given our long relationship."
That relationship was mostly veiled threats about what would happen if Annette said anything she shouldn't. "I see."
"Good. I'm sorry, by the way. I'm sure the past few months have been tumultuous at best. For what it's worth, the PRT still quietly views the status quo in Brockton Bay as a net positive. Curtz is upset but that's why he's there. To make sure no one forgets that there are lines the PRT will not cross."
"Of course, ma'am. I understand."
"Good. Brockton Bay is low maintenance. The Undersiders are a sort of villain that can be tolerated so long as everyone stays in their lines."
"I said I understood."
"I'm only making sure. Have a nice day, Anne."
"You too, ma'am."
Annette expected the call to end there.
It didn't.
"And about your elder daughter."
Annette went stiff all at once, mind racing. What was this? Another threat or something else? Why was the woman getting involved now, or was she talking on behalf of another party? Curtz seemed to have some agenda. He knew something and was not doing nearly as good a job hiding that fact as he thought.
Was he just the front face of something else that was higher up the PRT's ladder?
"I wanted to offer some assurance," she began. "To keep you from doing anything foolish."
Annette didn't feel assured. Not even remotely. "Meaning?"
"We're taking circumstance into account. Clearly the trauma from her trigger event and the camp have left Taylor ill-equipped for normal society."
"… Meaning?"
"Meaning she doesn't have a kill order just yet."
The implied threat was not lost on Annette. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me. If this matter continues to escalate there won't be a choice, especially if it continues to interfere with the operation of the PRT and the Protectorate."
"I understood the threat."
"You really should be less paranoid. Do keep your head down, Anne. You're a valuable asset in the Protectorate. With the Pure gone, it'd be nice if Brockton Bay returned to some level of stability. Soon."
She left the 'you should focus on that' unsaid. "Of course."
"How is your other daughter?"
"Don't push your luck, Alex."
There was a brief silence. Enough to let Annette know the woman was considering. Maybe if Annette were even dumber than she was she'd have been killed years ago, but she'd made that a foolish move. She wasn't quite that dumb and there were a lot of ways to release information from the grave. A corpse simply made it easier to call attention to it.
"Have a good day," the Chief-Director concluded.
"Is this just about Nanku, or is it about my request to the archives too?"
"You should take your own advice, Annette. Don't push your luck."
The line died like that and Annette let her hand drop.
She looked out the window blankly for a long time. Long enough Rose came looking for her with the concerned uncertainty of a child who doesn't know what's wrong.
"Mom?" she called.
"Nothing," Annette lied. "Just a telemarketer."
~ ~ ~
Around the kennel it was late. Many dogs slept, lounged, or watched the colors on the TV. Cassie was watching another vapid reality TV show with Colt and a few others. They were occupied and Nanku figured waiting anymore would be pointless delay.
It was time to continue her business.
Nanku checked her equipment thoroughly.
She'd cleaned it all but not bothered to check it after the hunt in downtown. She'd taken several blows and fallen several times during the fight. She'd gotten too sloppy. Too distracted with her own familial drama.
It led to mistakes.
Mistakes she was done with making.
Mask check. Cloak check. Plasma caster check. Gauntlet. Computer. Shurikens. Spears. Knives and blades. All sharp and mechanisms intact.
Krieg's power was similar to Assault's and Assault's was a problem. Nanku needed to proceed carefully. The man needed to live long enough to answer questions and for that he also needed to be mostly whole.
She might only have as little as a single chance to try and test things on his power to see what worked.
Best none of her gear failed when she took her chance.
Nanku put on her equipment, fitted all her gear, and fed Dusk and Dawn for the night ahead.
While they gobbled down the meat provided to them, Nanku went to the door and pushed it open.
Bitch sat outside in a chair enjoying the night. The woman scratched Brutus behind the ears and another dog—one of the silly small ones—nestled in her lap. Not so close as to intrude but close enough she was interested in watching.
She understood things that way. Nanku appreciated it.
The night was cool and there was a slight wind rustling the trees. There were stars out. Far from a big city like Brockton Bay, they could see them a bit more clearly.
"Going?" Bitch asked.
"Yes," Nanku answered.
"Don't be stupid."
"You said revenge is stupid."
"Stupider than most."
Nanku gave a huff and drew Dusk and Dawn to her side.
"Promise."
She tilted her head and Bitch gave her a look that wasn't quite mocking, but not quite stern.
"Promise," she repeated.
Nanku glared behind her mask. "Promise what?"
"Not to be too stupid."
…
"I promise."
She felt stupider saying it.
It seemed to amuse Bitch to hear. It wasn't so bad. Though something about leaving Bitch in a bad spot still prodded her sides and stomach.
"Bye."
"You'll be back," Bitch declared.
"So sure?"
"Sure."
Maybe she'd be right. Nanku hadn't considered what she might do when she finished her business aside from some vague nations. Maybe hanging around Bitch when she was done would be nice.
Taking the Twins, Nanku strode into the dark and hiked as far as she could through the woods. Her pace quickened. A walk became a jog. A jog a run. A run a full sprint. She'd had a few days to heal and her injuries weren't as bad as the pain implied.
It was good to run again.
Nanku activated the cloak and shrouded herself.
She took some care to get as far from the kennel as possible before leaving the woods. Fortunately, the area was far more wooded than any part of Brockton Bay. Nanku gathered a swarm as she went and used it to extend the shadows of night and cover for herself.
When she did emerge, it was near an overpass with gas stations and a truck stop.
It took about an hour to find someone going toward Boston.
From there she simply crawled Dusk and Dawn—and a best of the swarm she'd gathered—under the trailer and climbed. The driver took some time but eventually, she came out, got in, and started driving.
Nanku had done her research on local villains and heroes. No Nazis, but there was a group called the Teeth she wanted to avoid. Tangling herself in one villain group had been enough of a distraction. She'd rather not repeat herself.
The drive wasn't too long. Fifty miles more or less on a highway was fairly quick.
Then she was in the city. A much cleaner place than Brockton Bay. Taller and more developed buildings and a large river running through.
It was late and the sun would rise in a few hours but Nanku wanted to find the address she'd been given first.
It was an office building. Not hard to find in the end since the name was in big white letters on the top floors.
Gertrude Pharma.
Nanku went out of her way to stay undercover as she approached. For all she knew every city around Brockton Bay was looking for her. They might all have measures in place to see through her cloak and that was another thing she didn't want to be drawn into.
When she did reach the building, she found that most of the floors lacked any meaningful security.
And a few of the office spaces were empty.
That would do.
She went inside and at four in the morning, the place was barren. Only a few office workers and none in any areas she worried about crossing paths with.
Eighth floor, she realized when she saw the office numbers.
There, Nanku did find security. Good security. The kind she wouldn't test and risk tipping anyone off. Sensor lasers. Cameras that tracked movement somehow—she had to switch up how she moved her bugs on noticing that. Some kind of sensor at every door and magnetic locks.
If she had to assault the place she could.
She took her time with a few bugs. Flies and gnats. Flies wouldn't draw too much attention if noticed, and gnats were so small they didn't trigger the cameras.
Nanku found his office after crawling around over the plates by the doors.
Using the bugs in the room, she searched the contents and at some point noticed none of the security was on the windows.
Nanku got back outside and scaled the building to get a look inside the room.
It was a risk, but she needed to be sure.
Fairly typical office. Nothing out of the ordinary. No costume hidden anywhere but there were some briefcases sealed too tight for a bug to get into. Her visor exposed nothing on various modes. No metals or electronics inside. Looked like paper.
Several photos sat on the desk and a computer. Nothing she could plainly see.
But the wall.
That's where it was.
An award to a 'Kyle Spetz' from Med-Hall, dated a year after the camp. There were other things there. All dated for after the camp.
As if Kyle Spetz simply popped into existence one day.
Nanku searched the room for any security she wanted to know about and withdrew. She found an empty office space and settled Dusk and Dawn down. The location seemed relatively secure and there was a street of stores nearby.
She gathered her swarm into corners and spaces where she could and switched into regular clothes.
Nanku worked her way down through the building and strode out of a side door. Walked like she belonged. No one paid her any mind.
Some food—water especially—and supplies for a few days. Nanku had the money. Now that her clothes fit her she went even more unnoticed as she went through stores and acquired what she needed. The line didn't even bother her.
The task was relaxing in an odd way.
Gave her some time to think. Ponder questions.
How to ensnare Krieg so that she might press him.
Nanku turned her head and watched the people on the street below. How did one trap a man who could turn aside blows launched at him?
She considered it awhile while the line ahead of her shuffled on at a slow pace.
The aisles were packed.
Nanku dropped her gaze and drew a line on the floor. Aisles. Halls. Doors. Narrow places people had to pass through to go anywhere. Choke points.
Everyone had to go through choke points sooner or later.
Nanku used a few bugs to measure. Bugs on the left. Bugs on the right. Then, she drew a few spiders out and had them spin some lines.
Not in the same store she was in, of course. That might be too obvious. She needed to test some silk lines. Figure out how strong one needs to be to cause someone to trip.
The solution could be that simple.
Simply let him walk into the blow, instead of sending it toward him.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide. Funny story. I accidentally PM'd the chapter to someone else with 'grim' in their name. Oops >.>
Wait 8.4
Little Hunter
To anyone else, Kyle Spetz might seem like a mundanely normal office laborer.
He arrived every morning at precisely seven-thirty. He stopped in the food court on the ground floor. One bacon egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. One orange juice. Lacking orange juice he simply acquired water. He ate and was finished by seven fifty at which point he proceeded up the stairs—bypassing the elevator—to his office on the high floor.
He stopped for nothing.
Greeted no one.
He walked into the room, set his briefcase beside the desk, and sat down.
After that, he engaged in hours of seemingly mundane phone calls, but Nanku noticed patterns in his speech. Phrases that didn't follow or make sense. Anyone simply walking by the room might think nothing of what they overheard, but listening to him all day until he left gave her a great deal of uncertainty.
Unable to really hear the other voices or see what he did on his computer and phone, Nanku wasn't sure of the context. He was up to something though and it was probably criminal.
At noon exactly he went to lunch.
The same food court in his own office building. Whatever the daily special was. After a week, Nanku could firmly say the 'daily' special was inaccurately named because it was always hamburgers. He got one of those with cheese and pickles, a diet soda, and some chips. After thirty minutes he was back in his office doing the same thing as before.
At two he left the same way he'd come.
The first day Nanku lost him. Extricating herself from the building came with more complications than expected and she gave up lest anything draw attention. She wasn't going to make that mistake twice.
She waited and the next day he was back, and she had a clear eye on how she'd get out of her hiding place to follow him.
After his work, he went to a warehouse. He didn't go inside. Didn't call anyone. He parked his car, got out, did a quick look around, and got back in. The containers inside seemed to contain nothing but drugs. Nanku wasn't well versed, but she assumed they were smuggled or something.
Boston was a much bigger city than Brockton Bay, but bigger made it easier for her to avoid heroes. She only came anywhere near any twice and they flew right by her without seeing anything.
Unless they wanted to trick her, the Boston Protectorate wasn't looking for her.
Admittedly, that would be interesting.
It was boring watching him.
After the warehouse, he went to a few different places. Haircuts once a week. A gym twice. Massage—and it was a massage, Nanku had checked—and parent-teacher conferences with the school board.
By any account, Kyle Spetz was a model man of upstanding and great character.
If you never knew about the fine collection of Nazi memorabilia in his basement. The man had a damn shrine. Nanku helped assemble the shrine on the clan ship after the elders decided to move some skulls around. They were less reverent about it than Kyle Spetz was about his Hitler picture.
A trophy room to a failed tyrant and his ideology of wanton murder.
Pathetic.
He barely ever even set foot in the room.
His wife and daughter did.
So, Nanku waited until Friday.
On Fridays, Kyle Spetz left the office and disappeared. She'd tried to follow him for three weeks but could never figure out where he went. The man got far too close to the Boston PRT building and she'd been unwilling to risk it.
That was fine.
Wherever he went, he was there for hours.
Hours was all the time Nanku needed.
She spent two weeks watching the family at home. Tracking their activities and routines and watching the neighbors. No slip-ups. Not this time.
On the sixth week since she entered Boston, Nanku approached the <> family home from behind.
A swarm covered her against the dark. Dusk and Dawn entered through an open window on the second floor to lay in wait. Using her wristblades Nanku cut the bolt on the back door and quietly entered the house.
The wife and daughter were in their sad little shrine watching some sad little movie. Nanku didn't care to even glance at the contents.
She drew a line. Readied black widows. Dozens of spiders were delivered by wasps and bees, and they began weaving the line she would need. She'd have if the usual schedule held.
Plenty of time.
Nanku entered the shrine silently. Easier with the door open. Creeping back and forth, she set her lines, used a heavy couch as a weight, and stepped between her hostages.
"Don't move."
They moved.
The daughter lunged to the side but the gun she wanted was firmly gunked up with wasps. Before a sound even left her throat Nanku pulled one line tight and gagged the girl with the sharp wire. The mother shot to her feet and directly into the noose Nanku had set over her head. She pulled it taut and hauled the woman back into her seat.
They kicked and thrashed, and Nanku deactivated her cloak.
"I killed Fenja. Menja. Crusader. Stormtiger. Cricket. A bunch I don't remember the name of."
The names gave both women pause.
"I'll kill you too," Nanku lied, "unless you sit down and be silent."
A lie in a lie.
But they didn't know that.
The mother started to resist but the daughter stopped her. Even with a line biting at the corners of her mouth and sending trails of blood down her cheeks. She shook her head and whimpered. That seemed to get the woman under control.
Nanku didn't even know their names.
She didn't care.
"Good. Sit down and shut up."
She wasted no time.
Dusk and Dawn entered the room and with their help, Nanku extended her lines and secured both women to the couch. She stuffed their mouths with rags to keep them silent and turned out all the lights.
All but a trail leading to the sad little trophy room.
Nanku made sure her hostages were well secured and then set her plan into motion.
"I don't kill those who can't defend themselves. You'll both survive tonight."
The words immediately got the women's attention and Nanku very visibly looked at the door. Their heads turned and they watched dozens of spiders crawl across the doorway.
They hauled a dark line across the threshold.
A fairly visible dark line cast against the light of the hall.
"Sit here. Be quiet. Maybe no one joins the other dead Nazis tonight."
Dusk and Dawn took either end of the line in their jaws and settled to wait. Nanku rigged a simple net trap in the dark.
And she settled to wait.
It took an hour. Nanku expected securing the house and keeping the women still would be more work than it turned out to be. The time wasn't wasted. It gave her more opportunity to firmly secure her trap in place.
Kyle Spetz drove up casually. Got out of his car. Checked his phone. The mailbox. Went to his front door.
He seemed to realize something was wrong when he opened it. Despite a brief pause and a quick look around, he didn't call out to anyone. No 'honey I'm home.' Do Nazis do that?
The women heard his arrival, and they watched Nanku with uncertain eyes.
Nanku pulled a spear from her belt and let it extend. A few more spiders hurried across the floor while they weren't looking. Nanku set one hand behind her back and hoped she appeared casual.
Kyle Spetz walked through his home and checked the rooms one at a time. From a drawer, he pulled a gun, but Nanku had already removed the bullets. He noticed and set it aside for a kitchen knife instead.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
He walked down the hall and focused on the open door.
Nanku activated her cloak.
The girl reacted first. As her father's shadow fell over the doorway she began wailing and shaking. The bleeding in the corners of her mouth started again. Nanku wasn't going to kill the poor thing, but if she killed herself that was her fault.
Kyle Spetz looked the room over and frowned.
Nanku had to hand it to him.
He was not a complete fool.
His wife however was.
She nodded her head and pointed her fingers as best she could. Down. Low near the floor.
Krieg looked down and spotted the line Nanku had set.
He hesitated a moment.
Nanku's swarm began releasing their held threads.
Krieg was not a fool.
He knew a trap when he saw one and he didn't take the bait.
The man turned and started back the way he'd come while reaching for his phone.
Only one number was dialed.
Dusk and Dawn threw themselves from their corners and yanked the line hard.
Dozens of threads of spider silk yanked with it. A fully woven and reinforced net came racing down the hall. Krieg cursed as the nets hit him and pulled him back into the room. Nanku pulled the line in her hand and more nets swung up and hoisted Krieg into the air.
A few of the strings snapped, but she'd set dozens upon dozens.
Krieg's power wasn't one she could deal with non-lethally.
So, she simply didn't bother to deal with it at all.
The man could hang in a net and spin about as Dusk and Dawn ran around the room, tightening the strings and binding them all into one big twist.
Krieg hung suspended and Nanku smirked behind her mask.
She'd tested it more than once. Thin lines of silk across doors and halls. Set them in his path for him to walk through. He never noticed, but she knew standing objects seemed unaffected by his power. Anything not moving directly toward him seemed unaffected.
Krieg could manipulate kinetic energy.
He did nothing to something that was just sitting there.
Nanku dropped her cloak and stepped across the room toward the man. He was still spinning as Dusk and Dawn pulled the lines in their mouths taut. He saw her a few times as he twisted.
"You," he grumbled.
"You know what I want," Nanku replied.
She grabbed the net and twisted. There was odd resistance. Like pulling at a magnet that was stuck and needed a little more force to move.
Nanku brought Krieg around and faced him.
The man was trying to cut the silk with his knife, but that wouldn't work. She'd tested it herself.
Stabbing her spear into the ground, Nanku raised her hands and unplugged her mask. She removed it and fixed the item to her belt. A swarm of bugs poured into the room. They buzzed and chittered to a deafening storm and silenced everything.
Krieg looked at her face impassively.
"You know who I am now," she said over the swarm.
"Weaver's long-lost brat," he replied. She could hear him well enough.
"Then tell me what I want to know."
"I can't."
"Liar."
Nanku drew the Swarm into a mass that divided the room. The women couldn't see or hear so if that was why he kept his mouth shut he needn't worry.
"Now?" Nanku asked.
The man scoffed.
"I can't. You think I know anything? I know nothing. I'm a doer. I get told to do something and I get it done. Used to be I did it for Max Anders. Now I do it for someone else."
Nanku leaned closer toward him and breathed through her nose. "Max Anders is responsible?"
There was a flicker in his eye. Confusion and surprise.
…
What did he think she was talking about?
"You're here about the camp," he said aloud. "That's why you're hunting us down? Revenge?"
"Justice," Nanku hissed.
The hiss became a roar.
"I was there! I watched them die one by one by one as those things tore through their chests and fed on them!"
Nanku pulled the net and slammed her fist into his face. The blow was light. A force repelled her and the contact wasn't as hard as she wanted.
She didn't care.
"They're dead! And I will have who killed them!"
Krieg hung in the net even more confused.
"It was an accident," he said. "The truck carrying the samples crashed on a mountain road and containment was breached."
For a moment she thought she heard actual remorse in his voice.
"Those kids weren't supposed to die. No one planned to kill them. The driver ignored safety regulations. He didn't take his nap. Fell asleep at the wheel. And he crashed."
Nanku believed him.
Krieg certainly looked like he wanted to believe it himself.
"By the time we tracked him down and found the truck, those things were already loose. We sent a warning to the Protectorate, but it was too late. The camp was ten miles away through the woods. It wasn't the first place anyone looked."
Nanku's hands balled at her side.
"Why?"
"I told—"
"Why did you have the eggs! Why did you steal them from the—From where you found them?"
He gave her another odd look, and said, "All I know, is that our partners in Europe found something in Africa and wanted to exploit it. They didn't tell us that their agents were dropping like Jew—"
Nanku punched him. Which again didn't work but it shut him up.
"Flies," he growled. "Happy?"
"Do I look happy?"
"If we knew whatever the hell your group is was trying to get those things back and was killing left and right, we'd never have taken possession. I'd have convinced Max not to do it."
"It was his idea?"
"He wanted better ties. More support." Krieg got a sad look, and added, "Changed his mind after your lot killed his wife."
"Fenja and Menja mentioned it," Nanku replied. "I don't care."
"You're wasting your time either way. I don't know where the last egg is."
…
"What?"
At that, his eyes went wide. "You—"
Nanku rammed her spear into his gut and pushed. His power was strong but apparently she was stronger. Not that Krieg was a slouch. He grimaced and inhaled with a ghastly sound, but he kept his face mostly straight.
"What do you mean"—Nanku twisted the spear—"the last egg?"
No.
No that was bad.
No that couldn't be right. Pe'dte was hunting the eggs. She would have tracked them all down. R'ka eggs used in hunts were marked. They were tracked!
Nanku released her weapon and quickly tapped at her computer. Her system wasn't wide-range, but if there was a tracking isotope actively—
Her mask pinged when she checked.
A steady beep. One dot after another and another and another and it wasn't stopping. That wasn't there before. The ship would have detected anything of the sort. Pe'dte wouldn't have left Earth if she wasn't finished. Not after her sons—
Her sons.
A tiny little girl who had to die because she'd seen too much.
And a mother who saw her children die.
"What have you done?" Nanku muttered.
"Nothing," Krieg spat. "After the camp, Max said bury what was left and it was buried. I couldn't find where if I tried."
"How?!"
"The point was to lose it!"
Damned fools.
Nanku grabbed her spear and ripped it from his stomach.
She called her swarm, Dusk, and Dawn, and rushed from the house. Her swarm covered her while she ran. The house vanished from her range, and she left the three of them there to be found by whoever bothered to give a damn about them.
Nanku had bigger problems.
She scrambled and stopped at the first phone she found.
Which was not the phone in Krieg's house or any of the houses she'd passed. Fuck.
She pushed loose coins into the stupid slot and quickly brought the number back up on her mask. Bitch had dialed it and Nanku saw.
The number rang and picked up far too late for Nanku's taste.
"If this is anyone in the Adepts—"
"Shut up," Nanku snapped.
"Nanku?" Tattletale asked. "Bitch is fifty miles away. Why the hell are you calling from Boston?"
"Wha—" Nanku stilled. "You sent me here!"
There was a pause.
"No," she said. "I didn't."
"What? Bu—"
"Fuck. That's why you let Kid Win live. She tricked you into thinking she was me."
"Who?"
"Why are you calling?"
"WHO?"
"Nanku. Why are you calling?"
"There's one egg left?"
"… Context?"
"The R'ka! The things that murdered everyone at camp. There's one left!"
"Okay. In the future, lead with the bad part that needs to be immediately dealt with because fuck Evil-Me probably has it already."
Nanku stared down the street.
"Evil you?"
"Long story."
"You're a villain."
"Semantics."
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
To anyone else, Kyle Spetz might seem like a mundanely normal office laborer.
He arrived every morning at precisely seven-thirty. He stopped in the food court on the ground floor. One bacon egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. One orange juice. Lacking orange juice he simply acquired water. He ate and was finished by seven fifty at which point he proceeded up the stairs—bypassing the elevator—to his office on the high floor.
He stopped for nothing.
Greeted no one.
He walked into the room, set his briefcase beside the desk, and sat down.
After that, he engaged in hours of seemingly mundane phone calls, but Nanku noticed patterns in his speech. Phrases that didn't follow or make sense. Anyone simply walking by the room might think nothing of what they overheard, but listening to him all day until he left gave her a great deal of uncertainty.
Unable to really hear the other voices or see what he did on his computer and phone, Nanku wasn't sure of the context. He was up to something though and it was probably criminal.
At noon exactly he went to lunch.
The same food court in his own office building. Whatever the daily special was. After a week, Nanku could firmly say the 'daily' special was inaccurately named because it was always hamburgers. He got one of those with cheese and pickles, a diet soda, and some chips. After thirty minutes he was back in his office doing the same thing as before.
At two he left the same way he'd come.
The first day Nanku lost him. Extricating herself from the building came with more complications than expected and she gave up lest anything draw attention. She wasn't going to make that mistake twice.
She waited and the next day he was back, and she had a clear eye on how she'd get out of her hiding place to follow him.
After his work, he went to a warehouse. He didn't go inside. Didn't call anyone. He parked his car, got out, did a quick look around, and got back in. The containers inside seemed to contain nothing but drugs. Nanku wasn't well versed, but she assumed they were smuggled or something.
Boston was a much bigger city than Brockton Bay, but bigger made it easier for her to avoid heroes. She only came anywhere near any twice and they flew right by her without seeing anything.
Unless they wanted to trick her, the Boston Protectorate wasn't looking for her.
Admittedly, that would be interesting.
It was boring watching him.
After the warehouse, he went to a few different places. Haircuts once a week. A gym twice. Massage—and it was a massage, Nanku had checked—and parent-teacher conferences with the school board.
By any account, Kyle Spetz was a model man of upstanding and great character.
If you never knew about the fine collection of Nazi memorabilia in his basement. The man had a damn shrine. Nanku helped assemble the shrine on the clan ship after the elders decided to move some skulls around. They were less reverent about it than Kyle Spetz was about his Hitler picture.
A trophy room to a failed tyrant and his ideology of wanton murder.
Pathetic.
He barely ever even set foot in the room.
His wife and daughter did.
So, Nanku waited until Friday.
On Fridays, Kyle Spetz left the office and disappeared. She'd tried to follow him for three weeks but could never figure out where he went. The man got far too close to the Boston PRT building and she'd been unwilling to risk it.
That was fine.
Wherever he went, he was there for hours.
Hours was all the time Nanku needed.
She spent two weeks watching the family at home. Tracking their activities and routines and watching the neighbors. No slip-ups. Not this time.
On the sixth week since she entered Boston, Nanku approached the <> family home from behind.
A swarm covered her against the dark. Dusk and Dawn entered through an open window on the second floor to lay in wait. Using her wristblades Nanku cut the bolt on the back door and quietly entered the house.
The wife and daughter were in their sad little shrine watching some sad little movie. Nanku didn't care to even glance at the contents.
She drew a line. Readied black widows. Dozens of spiders were delivered by wasps and bees, and they began weaving the line she would need. She'd have if the usual schedule held.
Plenty of time.
Nanku entered the shrine silently. Easier with the door open. Creeping back and forth, she set her lines, used a heavy couch as a weight, and stepped between her hostages.
"Don't move."
They moved.
The daughter lunged to the side but the gun she wanted was firmly gunked up with wasps. Before a sound even left her throat Nanku pulled one line tight and gagged the girl with the sharp wire. The mother shot to her feet and directly into the noose Nanku had set over her head. She pulled it taut and hauled the woman back into her seat.
They kicked and thrashed, and Nanku deactivated her cloak.
"I killed Fenja. Menja. Crusader. Stormtiger. Cricket. A bunch I don't remember the name of."
The names gave both women pause.
"I'll kill you too," Nanku lied, "unless you sit down and be silent."
A lie in a lie.
But they didn't know that.
The mother started to resist but the daughter stopped her. Even with a line biting at the corners of her mouth and sending trails of blood down her cheeks. She shook her head and whimpered. That seemed to get the woman under control.
Nanku didn't even know their names.
She didn't care.
"Good. Sit down and shut up."
She wasted no time.
Dusk and Dawn entered the room and with their help, Nanku extended her lines and secured both women to the couch. She stuffed their mouths with rags to keep them silent and turned out all the lights.
All but a trail leading to the sad little trophy room.
Nanku made sure her hostages were well secured and then set her plan into motion.
"I don't kill those who can't defend themselves. You'll both survive tonight."
The words immediately got the women's attention and Nanku very visibly looked at the door. Their heads turned and they watched dozens of spiders crawl across the doorway.
They hauled a dark line across the threshold.
A fairly visible dark line cast against the light of the hall.
"Sit here. Be quiet. Maybe no one joins the other dead Nazis tonight."
Dusk and Dawn took either end of the line in their jaws and settled to wait. Nanku rigged a simple net trap in the dark.
And she settled to wait.
It took an hour. Nanku expected securing the house and keeping the women still would be more work than it turned out to be. The time wasn't wasted. It gave her more opportunity to firmly secure her trap in place.
Kyle Spetz drove up casually. Got out of his car. Checked his phone. The mailbox. Went to his front door.
He seemed to realize something was wrong when he opened it. Despite a brief pause and a quick look around, he didn't call out to anyone. No 'honey I'm home.' Do Nazis do that?
The women heard his arrival, and they watched Nanku with uncertain eyes.
Nanku pulled a spear from her belt and let it extend. A few more spiders hurried across the floor while they weren't looking. Nanku set one hand behind her back and hoped she appeared casual.
Kyle Spetz walked through his home and checked the rooms one at a time. From a drawer, he pulled a gun, but Nanku had already removed the bullets. He noticed and set it aside for a kitchen knife instead.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
He walked down the hall and focused on the open door.
Nanku activated her cloak.
The girl reacted first. As her father's shadow fell over the doorway she began wailing and shaking. The bleeding in the corners of her mouth started again. Nanku wasn't going to kill the poor thing, but if she killed herself that was her fault.
Kyle Spetz looked the room over and frowned.
Nanku had to hand it to him.
He was not a complete fool.
His wife however was.
She nodded her head and pointed her fingers as best she could. Down. Low near the floor.
Krieg looked down and spotted the line Nanku had set.
He hesitated a moment.
Nanku's swarm began releasing their held threads.
Krieg was not a fool.
He knew a trap when he saw one and he didn't take the bait.
The man turned and started back the way he'd come while reaching for his phone.
Only one number was dialed.
Dusk and Dawn threw themselves from their corners and yanked the line hard.
Dozens of threads of spider silk yanked with it. A fully woven and reinforced net came racing down the hall. Krieg cursed as the nets hit him and pulled him back into the room. Nanku pulled the line in her hand and more nets swung up and hoisted Krieg into the air.
A few of the strings snapped, but she'd set dozens upon dozens.
Krieg's power wasn't one she could deal with non-lethally.
So, she simply didn't bother to deal with it at all.
The man could hang in a net and spin about as Dusk and Dawn ran around the room, tightening the strings and binding them all into one big twist.
Krieg hung suspended and Nanku smirked behind her mask.
She'd tested it more than once. Thin lines of silk across doors and halls. Set them in his path for him to walk through. He never noticed, but she knew standing objects seemed unaffected by his power. Anything not moving directly toward him seemed unaffected.
Krieg could manipulate kinetic energy.
He did nothing to something that was just sitting there.
Nanku dropped her cloak and stepped across the room toward the man. He was still spinning as Dusk and Dawn pulled the lines in their mouths taut. He saw her a few times as he twisted.
"You," he grumbled.
"You know what I want," Nanku replied.
She grabbed the net and twisted. There was odd resistance. Like pulling at a magnet that was stuck and needed a little more force to move.
Nanku brought Krieg around and faced him.
The man was trying to cut the silk with his knife, but that wouldn't work. She'd tested it herself.
Stabbing her spear into the ground, Nanku raised her hands and unplugged her mask. She removed it and fixed the item to her belt. A swarm of bugs poured into the room. They buzzed and chittered to a deafening storm and silenced everything.
Krieg looked at her face impassively.
"You know who I am now," she said over the swarm.
"Weaver's long-lost brat," he replied. She could hear him well enough.
"Then tell me what I want to know."
"I can't."
"Liar."
Nanku drew the Swarm into a mass that divided the room. The women couldn't see or hear so if that was why he kept his mouth shut he needn't worry.
"Now?" Nanku asked.
The man scoffed.
"I can't. You think I know anything? I know nothing. I'm a doer. I get told to do something and I get it done. Used to be I did it for Max Anders. Now I do it for someone else."
Nanku leaned closer toward him and breathed through her nose. "Max Anders is responsible?"
There was a flicker in his eye. Confusion and surprise.
…
What did he think she was talking about?
"You're here about the camp," he said aloud. "That's why you're hunting us down? Revenge?"
"Justice," Nanku hissed.
The hiss became a roar.
"I was there! I watched them die one by one by one as those things tore through their chests and fed on them!"
Nanku pulled the net and slammed her fist into his face. The blow was light. A force repelled her and the contact wasn't as hard as she wanted.
She didn't care.
"They're dead! And I will have who killed them!"
Krieg hung in the net even more confused.
"It was an accident," he said. "The truck carrying the samples crashed on a mountain road and containment was breached."
For a moment she thought she heard actual remorse in his voice.
"Those kids weren't supposed to die. No one planned to kill them. The driver ignored safety regulations. He didn't take his nap. Fell asleep at the wheel. And he crashed."
Nanku believed him.
Krieg certainly looked like he wanted to believe it himself.
"By the time we tracked him down and found the truck, those things were already loose. We sent a warning to the Protectorate, but it was too late. The camp was ten miles away through the woods. It wasn't the first place anyone looked."
Nanku's hands balled at her side.
"Why?"
"I told—"
"Why did you have the eggs! Why did you steal them from the—From where you found them?"
He gave her another odd look, and said, "All I know, is that our partners in Europe found something in Africa and wanted to exploit it. They didn't tell us that their agents were dropping like Jew—"
Nanku punched him. Which again didn't work but it shut him up.
"Flies," he growled. "Happy?"
"Do I look happy?"
"If we knew whatever the hell your group is was trying to get those things back and was killing left and right, we'd never have taken possession. I'd have convinced Max not to do it."
"It was his idea?"
"He wanted better ties. More support." Krieg got a sad look, and added, "Changed his mind after your lot killed his wife."
"Fenja and Menja mentioned it," Nanku replied. "I don't care."
"You're wasting your time either way. I don't know where the last egg is."
…
"What?"
At that, his eyes went wide. "You—"
Nanku rammed her spear into his gut and pushed. His power was strong but apparently she was stronger. Not that Krieg was a slouch. He grimaced and inhaled with a ghastly sound, but he kept his face mostly straight.
"What do you mean"—Nanku twisted the spear—"the last egg?"
No.
No that was bad.
No that couldn't be right. Pe'dte was hunting the eggs. She would have tracked them all down. R'ka eggs used in hunts were marked. They were tracked!
Nanku released her weapon and quickly tapped at her computer. Her system wasn't wide-range, but if there was a tracking isotope actively—
Her mask pinged when she checked.
A steady beep. One dot after another and another and another and it wasn't stopping. That wasn't there before. The ship would have detected anything of the sort. Pe'dte wouldn't have left Earth if she wasn't finished. Not after her sons—
Her sons.
A tiny little girl who had to die because she'd seen too much.
And a mother who saw her children die.
"What have you done?" Nanku muttered.
"Nothing," Krieg spat. "After the camp, Max said bury what was left and it was buried. I couldn't find where if I tried."
"How?!"
"The point was to lose it!"
Damned fools.
Nanku grabbed her spear and ripped it from his stomach.
She called her swarm, Dusk, and Dawn, and rushed from the house. Her swarm covered her while she ran. The house vanished from her range, and she left the three of them there to be found by whoever bothered to give a damn about them.
Nanku had bigger problems.
She scrambled and stopped at the first phone she found.
Which was not the phone in Krieg's house or any of the houses she'd passed. Fuck.
She pushed loose coins into the stupid slot and quickly brought the number back up on her mask. Bitch had dialed it and Nanku saw.
The number rang and picked up far too late for Nanku's taste.
"If this is anyone in the Adepts—"
"Shut up," Nanku snapped.
"Nanku?" Tattletale asked. "Bitch is fifty miles away. Why the hell are you calling from Boston?"
"Wha—" Nanku stilled. "You sent me here!"
There was a pause.
"No," she said. "I didn't."
"What? Bu—"
"Fuck. That's why you let Kid Win live. She tricked you into thinking she was me."
"Who?"
"Why are you calling?"
"WHO?"
"Nanku. Why are you calling?"
"There's one egg left?"
"… Context?"
"The R'ka! The things that murdered everyone at camp. There's one left!"
"Okay. In the future, lead with the bad part that needs to be immediately dealt with because fuck Evil-Me probably has it already."
Nanku stared down the street.
"Evil you?"
"Long story."
"You're a villain."
"Semantics."
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Truce 9.1
Little Hunter
Lisa rose from her seat and hurried toward the door.
"This is what you're going to do."
"You all try to command me."
"Fine! It's not a command! Whatever. But this is what you are going to do."
Lisa went down the hall and headed straight for security. She was glad she'd gone full bunker mode. Whatever her evil half was doing, the longer it took the worse Lisa felt and Nanku's explanation was a confirmation of all her fears.
Lisa knew what she was capable of.
No matter how bad people thought she was, she could be worse.
So much worse.
"Imp!"
Aisha craned her head over the back of the couch with a spoon in her mouth. "Huh?"
"Five alarm fire."
Aisha gawked. "Wait. Are you fucki—"
"Now."
"Holy shit..."
Lisa made nearly a dozen phone calls and twice as many text exchanges.
There was a silver lining. A way to spin everything that could clean up a whole lot of messes. Evil Lisa had done some shit and she'd done it well, but no plan was perfect. Lisa just needed to work fast.
And work fast she did.
Within two hours, she was stepping out of a van with four mercs, Sabah, and Lily.
Two giant stuffed bears stepped down from the roof of the van. Regent stepped out of a car alone and...
It was wrong that Bitch wasn't around, but maybe this could start fixing that.
If Lisa played the cards right, and Weaver didn't shove her foot in anything, Bitch and Nanku might come out looking like a shade of gray instead of pitch black. Gray was good. The PRT and the Protectorate dealt with gray.
Lisa inhaled and turned to face the rest of the parking garage. Nothing fancy. A mostly empty space on the edge of town with some privacy but no real room for a good ambush.
The place where you got everyone together to talk about frying bigger fish.
Faultline was already present with her team. Citrine and her Ambassadors. The Red Hands. A few independent villains and rogues from Brockton and the surrounding area. Even Lady Photon and Brandish showed up and they were basically retired.
For the Protectorate, Laserdream and Dauntless arrived first. Then Assault and Battery, and finally a truck with some troopers. Vista's power warped the ground and she led the Wards into the meeting with Miss Militia.
No Kid Win.
No Shadow Stalker.
And, "We need Weaver."
"She's suspended," Militia answered.
"Too bad," Lisa replied. "We need her. This is too important for a bunch of petty office politics."
"Understatement of the century," Assault mumbled.
That wasted another forty-five minutes.
When Annette arrived, she looked a bit flustered but not in a way anyone else would notice. She went right to Dauntless and stood beside her husband while the rest of her team and the Wards kept a very clear and obvious distance.
"She's here," Militia said. "What's so important?"
"First thing's first," Lisa replied. "We have a truce?"
"We just covered that," Faultline answered. "What is so important?"
"Just being sure before I bring our last member to the pow-wow."
Lisa took out her phone and sent a single text.
Five minutes later, Strider flashed into the garage.
And everyone lost their fucking minds when Nanku looked around with Dusk and Dawn at her sides.
Faultline stepped back. Shamrock brought out a shotgun. Dauntless aimed his spear. Laserdream and Lady Photon lit up like a laser show and Brandish flashed two swords into her hands.
"Truce," Lisa reminded.
"What is that thing doing here?" Citrine asked.
"Maybe saving our asses from our worst nightmare."
"Which is?" Rook asked.
Lisa held a hand out to Nanku while Strider stepped back.
"You're the one who called me like the world was ending," Lisa said. "So. What's the S-Class emergency?"
Nanku looked at her, but really it was because it meant she didn't have to look at her mother at all.
Weaver was stiff and silent. Miss Militia hadn't raised any guns at Nanku. Her hand was angled toward Weaver.
That was not good.
Raising her arm, Nanku began tapping at the computer on her wrist.
A moment later, her mask flashed and some beams shot out from the lenses.
They formed an image on the floor. Life-size, Lisa knew. A creature with insect-like features. Shaded green by the technology being used. A long segmented tail. Weird tubes on its back. An uncomfortable penile head and sharp teeth.
It was still at first.
When it moved it moved sharply, jumping and hissing. It ran wild. Jumped. Ducked. Coiled around something. At one point its jaws opened wide and another mouth shot out like a pistol. The tail stabbed and the claws cut.
"What is that?" Assault asked. "Looks—"
"That's what killed all the kids at the camp," Weaver said mutely.
"Nilbog's things?" Newter leaned forward. "Looks pretty fucked."
"What does it have to do with now?" Citrine asked.
"Not Nilbog," Nanku said. "R'ka. They're parasites."
"And?"
"And there's one left."
A few glances were exchanged.
"Meaning?" Leave it to Faultline to cut through the shit. "What of it?"
Nanku glared.
"One becomes two. Two become four. Four become eight. Eight become sixteen."
That finally got Miss Militia's attention. "How?"
"Because they take their victims and grow inside them," Weaver said. "That's something I discovered investigating the camp."
"There were no bodies at the camp," Rook recalled. "That's what I heard."
"There weren't," Citrine confirmed. "There was a near total lack of physical evidence."
"Because there's a group of capes who hunt these things," Lisa lied. "Go back and check. There was a string of murders across Europe ten years ago. Most of the companies involved were fronts for Gesellschaft."
Weaver stiffened and her hands dropped to her side. "Medhall."
"Technically it was a shell company called Qualicare," Lisa offered, "but yeah. It was Medhall. Citrine. Remember when Valkyrie was killed in Boston?"
"The Teeth—" Citrine stopped.
Lisa pointed at Nanku. "That was her big bad mentor, hunting after these things eggs."
Nanku gave Lisa a hard look.
Her body language was still hell to read. Defensive of course. Whatever her hunter mommy was, Nanku did not want anyone asking questions. She didn't want to be responsible. She also didn't like this meeting being sprung on her as a surprise but it was the only way to maybe pull her ass out of her own fire and save Bitch in the process.
"I've never heard of this," Faultline declared.
Which was a problem. Faultline was pretty in tune with the seedier and more secretive sides of the cape world. For someone who wasn't a thinker. Damn bitch knew things. Which was inconvenient when manipulating people based on what they didn't know.
"I can send you case files," Weaver said. "I started looking into it when—When she first appeared. There's dozens of cases. Too many similarities but too little evidence to draw attention."
"And you wouldn't lie," Citrine replied.
"Didn't the Teeth disavow any credit for killing Valkyrie?" Lisa crossed her arms over her chest. "Check it out if you want. Weaver and I aren't bullshitting. The moment she"—Lisa pointed at Nanku—"appeared like that, we started looking."
"Plus the PRT fucking knows about it," Imp declared.
Heads turned.
"We do?" Assault asked. He looked at Militia. "Since when?"
Miss Militia didn't answer, which was the worst thing she could do.
"They busted out new gear the other day," Lisa added. "Huntress here actually used it to capture Stalker and pump her for info on Evil Me."
Heads turned back Lisa's way.
Because sometimes, commanding a situation was really simple.
Throw shit no one knew about out there until they had no time to really think about it and just understand that things were fucking bad.
"Yeah." Lisa raised her hands. "I confess. I'm pretty damn sure we missed one of my clones from when Noelle went on a rampage and she's been behind all the shit for the past year. Including the Pure and I'm pretty damn sure she now has that thing"—Lisa pointed at the 'R'ka' image—"in her hands."
"Fuck," Faultline said.
"Mildly," Gregor agreed. "You didn't say anything before now?"
"Right to this moment half of you think I'm doing some crazy shit behind your backs"—to be fair that was just how it usually was—"and would have interpreted the truth as more crazy shit! Weaver's not-so-dead daughter coming back some kind of warrior badass and throwing her for an absolute loop isn't exactly helping."
Annette kept her mouth shut and instead looked annoyed, which was Thinker for embarrassed.
She'd had to have caught on by now to what Lisa was doing. Hopefully.
"But now Evil Me has that thing and that thing is bad. It's fucking Nilbog all over again and if it gets loose in a city the size of Brockton Bay we might not even be able to contain the situation before it's already an outbreak."
"They will lay low first," Nanku explained. "In such a crowded place they'll build numbers in their hive before making any appearances."
"Are they intelligent?" Rook asked.
"Smart enough."
Rook looked to his team. Cozen nodded and he sighed. "Alright. Let's say I'll entertain the idea this isn't all crap. What's the story? All this time Huntress has been murdering the Pure trying to find this egg before anyone else?"
Lisa shrugged.
"That and the Pure were trying to kill her mom and attacked her sister in broad daylight, so I think who crossed the uncrossable lines first is kind of academic and not even close to the point now."
"You're making it all up." Faultline was glowering behind her mask and she knew Lisa knew. "If any group like that existed, I'd know about it. This is—"
"No," Weaver said. "You wouldn't."
"Weaver," Dauntless warned.
"I put in a record request," Weaver revealed. "I'm suspended so I have nothing but time to try and figure out who they are."
Militia angled toward her. "Weaver."
"Shoot me," she replied. "That'll make it all go away. I was shut down. The Chief Director of the PRT called me instead of the archives and threatened me to quit while I was ahead."
Nanku's head jerked.
"Looks like news to her," Cozen said.
"She's young," Lisa deflected. "Their bosses probably don't tell her shit anymore than the Protectorate tells them."
"This is no longer a truce," Miss Militia declared. "You—"
Lisa raised her voice and stepped forward.
"I am telling all of you that we are in deep fucking shit! Evil Me sent Huntress on a not-very-wild goose chase in Boston to hunt down Krieg. Krieg is the one who buried Qualicare ten years ago. He knew where the skeletons were buried."
Nanku's reaction said he didn't. Bad luck but as long as she kept her mouth shut it didn't matter.
"She pretended to be me," Lisa continued, "and used that to get Huntress to cover her tracks! Now she has that egg and we are lucky we know about it! It's time to cut all this bullshit."
It really really was.
"We have been playing by Evil Me's fiddle for the better part of a year at least. She is trying to tear all of this"—Lisa waved her fingers—"down. And I don't mean this shitty abandoned garage. I mean the peace we built where kids can walk down the street in safety because we keep our bloody business off the street and no one is dealing at schools because we beat the shit out of anyone who so much as thinks about!"
"We cover for criminals," Laserdream grumbled. "We know."
"Find me a perfect fucking place and we can all move there and sing campfire songs!" Lisa snapped. "Until then, this isn't perfect, but it's better and we made it that way and however much you all hate me for whatever reason you hate me, a Noelle clone of me is a thousand times worse than I could ever be!"
It was, to be fair, the one thing everyone more or less had in common. Barring some exceptions.
Everyone fucking hated her, and Lisa knew it. Whatever. She'd paid worse prices and this was good enough.
"So." Lisa looked around. "Are we going to do this, or do we keep slapping each other? I gotta be honest. Dead Nazis don't really bother me."
"I feel like that's only half the point," Newter mumbled.
"I still say you're lying," Faultline declared.
"The question isn't, am I lying," Lisa replied. "It's do we care that this gives all of us a clean way to save face, end the bullshit an outsider started to begin with, and come together to clean our house?"
Behind her, Imp randomly appeared to gawk.
Brian was dead. But Brian was right. Face and reputation mattered, and not just to the Undersiders. Evil Lisa had used it to start tearing the alliance in Brockton Bay apart with little petty bullshit and the Pure and they'd played to that tune long enough.
"And if that's not good enough," Lisa added. "We're fucking villains! Who gives a shit if I'm lying?"
Faultline scoffed but Lisa could see it on Gregor, Shamrock, and Newter's faces. Rook and Cozen didn't hate her that much and the other little bands of villains benefited from restoring the order rather than continuing to see it decay.
"Am I allowed to applaud that?" Assault asked.
"No," Battery answered.
"Can I applaud her anyway?"
"The Director might get in the way," Vista warned. "But he doesn't command the Protectorate."
She looked at Miss Militia, who clearly wasn't happy.
"Night and Fog," Nanku said.
"What about them?" Lily asked.
"They talked to her."
"She means Evil Me," Lisa added.
"How bad is this in all seriousness?" Rook asked.
"They'll overrun the planet," Nanku answered. Her reaction was odd. Very of—
"How long do we have?" Lisa asked.
Nanku glowered.
"How long what?" Citrine inquired.
"Before the rest of her little club shows up to clean up the mess, and I'm not sure we'll like their method." Lisa pointed. "That computer on her arm? It's also a tactical nuclear device."
There were about a dozen 'what's' and a few 'holy shits' plus Assaults 'naturally.' It technically wasn't true but if it kept anyone from stupidly trying to take Nanku out, all the better. But Lisa could read enough of Nanku's body language to know that was her last resort.
If need be, she'd blow herself the fuck up to take the R'ka out.
Lisa glanced at Annette but couldn't tell if she was in it enough to notice.
"It's that bad?" Faultline asked.
"So we say," Lisa confirmed.
"Fine," Faultline relented. "Your ass if this ends up being bullshit anyway."
"That's fair."
"Night and Fog won't be involved in this," Annette said. "They couldn't care less about things before. They only showed up after Aster was arrested."
"We can flip them?" Sabah asked.
"Probably. They were loyal to Kayden, and they haven't been involved with much since she died until now."
"The attack three weeks ago was a distraction," Lisa added. "I think. Or maybe a commitment she couldn't change even after her plan shifted. I doubt she knew about this egg before Huntress showed up. Access to information on the other end meant she found it before we even knew it was there."
Lisa looked at Nanku.
Nanku was staring at her mother… Which she'd have to figure out later.
"Nanku."
That got her attention.
Lisa pointed at her wrist. "Can you track this thing?"
Heads turned back to her.
Lisa could guess. There had to be something that confirmed to her that the egg was out there. And something she thought would call the rest of her new family to Brockton Bay.
"I can," Nanku confirmed.
Shamrock pursed her lips. "And you didn't notice the egg before?"
"Hidden."
Rook nodded at the alien image still projecting from Nanku's mask. "What do we need to know about that?"
"Acid for blood," Nanku warned, as a start.
Assault threw his hands up. "Fuck it! Why not?"
***
I was actually quite happy to write this chapter.
For those who haven't picked up on it; Tattletale is one of my favorite characters in Worm. I just really like Tattletale. But, in most of my fics she ends up being a butt monkey/total bitch because that's how it plays out or what works. I really enjoyed making this chapter instead where Lisa plays big thinker in town, spins events to try and at least get Bitch off the hook while giving some shielding to Nanku, and has the gal to say 'Even if I'm lying, it's convenient for all of us to just go along with it so who cares.'
Real 'depends on what your definition of is is' moment XD
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Lisa rose from her seat and hurried toward the door.
"This is what you're going to do."
"You all try to command me."
"Fine! It's not a command! Whatever. But this is what you are going to do."
Lisa went down the hall and headed straight for security. She was glad she'd gone full bunker mode. Whatever her evil half was doing, the longer it took the worse Lisa felt and Nanku's explanation was a confirmation of all her fears.
Lisa knew what she was capable of.
No matter how bad people thought she was, she could be worse.
So much worse.
"Imp!"
Aisha craned her head over the back of the couch with a spoon in her mouth. "Huh?"
"Five alarm fire."
Aisha gawked. "Wait. Are you fucki—"
"Now."
"Holy shit..."
Lisa made nearly a dozen phone calls and twice as many text exchanges.
There was a silver lining. A way to spin everything that could clean up a whole lot of messes. Evil Lisa had done some shit and she'd done it well, but no plan was perfect. Lisa just needed to work fast.
And work fast she did.
Within two hours, she was stepping out of a van with four mercs, Sabah, and Lily.
Two giant stuffed bears stepped down from the roof of the van. Regent stepped out of a car alone and...
It was wrong that Bitch wasn't around, but maybe this could start fixing that.
If Lisa played the cards right, and Weaver didn't shove her foot in anything, Bitch and Nanku might come out looking like a shade of gray instead of pitch black. Gray was good. The PRT and the Protectorate dealt with gray.
Lisa inhaled and turned to face the rest of the parking garage. Nothing fancy. A mostly empty space on the edge of town with some privacy but no real room for a good ambush.
The place where you got everyone together to talk about frying bigger fish.
Faultline was already present with her team. Citrine and her Ambassadors. The Red Hands. A few independent villains and rogues from Brockton and the surrounding area. Even Lady Photon and Brandish showed up and they were basically retired.
For the Protectorate, Laserdream and Dauntless arrived first. Then Assault and Battery, and finally a truck with some troopers. Vista's power warped the ground and she led the Wards into the meeting with Miss Militia.
No Kid Win.
No Shadow Stalker.
And, "We need Weaver."
"She's suspended," Militia answered.
"Too bad," Lisa replied. "We need her. This is too important for a bunch of petty office politics."
"Understatement of the century," Assault mumbled.
That wasted another forty-five minutes.
When Annette arrived, she looked a bit flustered but not in a way anyone else would notice. She went right to Dauntless and stood beside her husband while the rest of her team and the Wards kept a very clear and obvious distance.
"She's here," Militia said. "What's so important?"
"First thing's first," Lisa replied. "We have a truce?"
"We just covered that," Faultline answered. "What is so important?"
"Just being sure before I bring our last member to the pow-wow."
Lisa took out her phone and sent a single text.
Five minutes later, Strider flashed into the garage.
And everyone lost their fucking minds when Nanku looked around with Dusk and Dawn at her sides.
Faultline stepped back. Shamrock brought out a shotgun. Dauntless aimed his spear. Laserdream and Lady Photon lit up like a laser show and Brandish flashed two swords into her hands.
"Truce," Lisa reminded.
"What is that thing doing here?" Citrine asked.
"Maybe saving our asses from our worst nightmare."
"Which is?" Rook asked.
Lisa held a hand out to Nanku while Strider stepped back.
"You're the one who called me like the world was ending," Lisa said. "So. What's the S-Class emergency?"
Nanku looked at her, but really it was because it meant she didn't have to look at her mother at all.
Weaver was stiff and silent. Miss Militia hadn't raised any guns at Nanku. Her hand was angled toward Weaver.
That was not good.
Raising her arm, Nanku began tapping at the computer on her wrist.
A moment later, her mask flashed and some beams shot out from the lenses.
They formed an image on the floor. Life-size, Lisa knew. A creature with insect-like features. Shaded green by the technology being used. A long segmented tail. Weird tubes on its back. An uncomfortable penile head and sharp teeth.
It was still at first.
When it moved it moved sharply, jumping and hissing. It ran wild. Jumped. Ducked. Coiled around something. At one point its jaws opened wide and another mouth shot out like a pistol. The tail stabbed and the claws cut.
"What is that?" Assault asked. "Looks—"
"That's what killed all the kids at the camp," Weaver said mutely.
"Nilbog's things?" Newter leaned forward. "Looks pretty fucked."
"What does it have to do with now?" Citrine asked.
"Not Nilbog," Nanku said. "R'ka. They're parasites."
"And?"
"And there's one left."
A few glances were exchanged.
"Meaning?" Leave it to Faultline to cut through the shit. "What of it?"
Nanku glared.
"One becomes two. Two become four. Four become eight. Eight become sixteen."
That finally got Miss Militia's attention. "How?"
"Because they take their victims and grow inside them," Weaver said. "That's something I discovered investigating the camp."
"There were no bodies at the camp," Rook recalled. "That's what I heard."
"There weren't," Citrine confirmed. "There was a near total lack of physical evidence."
"Because there's a group of capes who hunt these things," Lisa lied. "Go back and check. There was a string of murders across Europe ten years ago. Most of the companies involved were fronts for Gesellschaft."
Weaver stiffened and her hands dropped to her side. "Medhall."
"Technically it was a shell company called Qualicare," Lisa offered, "but yeah. It was Medhall. Citrine. Remember when Valkyrie was killed in Boston?"
"The Teeth—" Citrine stopped.
Lisa pointed at Nanku. "That was her big bad mentor, hunting after these things eggs."
Nanku gave Lisa a hard look.
Her body language was still hell to read. Defensive of course. Whatever her hunter mommy was, Nanku did not want anyone asking questions. She didn't want to be responsible. She also didn't like this meeting being sprung on her as a surprise but it was the only way to maybe pull her ass out of her own fire and save Bitch in the process.
"I've never heard of this," Faultline declared.
Which was a problem. Faultline was pretty in tune with the seedier and more secretive sides of the cape world. For someone who wasn't a thinker. Damn bitch knew things. Which was inconvenient when manipulating people based on what they didn't know.
"I can send you case files," Weaver said. "I started looking into it when—When she first appeared. There's dozens of cases. Too many similarities but too little evidence to draw attention."
"And you wouldn't lie," Citrine replied.
"Didn't the Teeth disavow any credit for killing Valkyrie?" Lisa crossed her arms over her chest. "Check it out if you want. Weaver and I aren't bullshitting. The moment she"—Lisa pointed at Nanku—"appeared like that, we started looking."
"Plus the PRT fucking knows about it," Imp declared.
Heads turned.
"We do?" Assault asked. He looked at Militia. "Since when?"
Miss Militia didn't answer, which was the worst thing she could do.
"They busted out new gear the other day," Lisa added. "Huntress here actually used it to capture Stalker and pump her for info on Evil Me."
Heads turned back Lisa's way.
Because sometimes, commanding a situation was really simple.
Throw shit no one knew about out there until they had no time to really think about it and just understand that things were fucking bad.
"Yeah." Lisa raised her hands. "I confess. I'm pretty damn sure we missed one of my clones from when Noelle went on a rampage and she's been behind all the shit for the past year. Including the Pure and I'm pretty damn sure she now has that thing"—Lisa pointed at the 'R'ka' image—"in her hands."
"Fuck," Faultline said.
"Mildly," Gregor agreed. "You didn't say anything before now?"
"Right to this moment half of you think I'm doing some crazy shit behind your backs"—to be fair that was just how it usually was—"and would have interpreted the truth as more crazy shit! Weaver's not-so-dead daughter coming back some kind of warrior badass and throwing her for an absolute loop isn't exactly helping."
Annette kept her mouth shut and instead looked annoyed, which was Thinker for embarrassed.
She'd had to have caught on by now to what Lisa was doing. Hopefully.
"But now Evil Me has that thing and that thing is bad. It's fucking Nilbog all over again and if it gets loose in a city the size of Brockton Bay we might not even be able to contain the situation before it's already an outbreak."
"They will lay low first," Nanku explained. "In such a crowded place they'll build numbers in their hive before making any appearances."
"Are they intelligent?" Rook asked.
"Smart enough."
Rook looked to his team. Cozen nodded and he sighed. "Alright. Let's say I'll entertain the idea this isn't all crap. What's the story? All this time Huntress has been murdering the Pure trying to find this egg before anyone else?"
Lisa shrugged.
"That and the Pure were trying to kill her mom and attacked her sister in broad daylight, so I think who crossed the uncrossable lines first is kind of academic and not even close to the point now."
"You're making it all up." Faultline was glowering behind her mask and she knew Lisa knew. "If any group like that existed, I'd know about it. This is—"
"No," Weaver said. "You wouldn't."
"Weaver," Dauntless warned.
"I put in a record request," Weaver revealed. "I'm suspended so I have nothing but time to try and figure out who they are."
Militia angled toward her. "Weaver."
"Shoot me," she replied. "That'll make it all go away. I was shut down. The Chief Director of the PRT called me instead of the archives and threatened me to quit while I was ahead."
Nanku's head jerked.
"Looks like news to her," Cozen said.
"She's young," Lisa deflected. "Their bosses probably don't tell her shit anymore than the Protectorate tells them."
"This is no longer a truce," Miss Militia declared. "You—"
Lisa raised her voice and stepped forward.
"I am telling all of you that we are in deep fucking shit! Evil Me sent Huntress on a not-very-wild goose chase in Boston to hunt down Krieg. Krieg is the one who buried Qualicare ten years ago. He knew where the skeletons were buried."
Nanku's reaction said he didn't. Bad luck but as long as she kept her mouth shut it didn't matter.
"She pretended to be me," Lisa continued, "and used that to get Huntress to cover her tracks! Now she has that egg and we are lucky we know about it! It's time to cut all this bullshit."
It really really was.
"We have been playing by Evil Me's fiddle for the better part of a year at least. She is trying to tear all of this"—Lisa waved her fingers—"down. And I don't mean this shitty abandoned garage. I mean the peace we built where kids can walk down the street in safety because we keep our bloody business off the street and no one is dealing at schools because we beat the shit out of anyone who so much as thinks about!"
"We cover for criminals," Laserdream grumbled. "We know."
"Find me a perfect fucking place and we can all move there and sing campfire songs!" Lisa snapped. "Until then, this isn't perfect, but it's better and we made it that way and however much you all hate me for whatever reason you hate me, a Noelle clone of me is a thousand times worse than I could ever be!"
It was, to be fair, the one thing everyone more or less had in common. Barring some exceptions.
Everyone fucking hated her, and Lisa knew it. Whatever. She'd paid worse prices and this was good enough.
"So." Lisa looked around. "Are we going to do this, or do we keep slapping each other? I gotta be honest. Dead Nazis don't really bother me."
"I feel like that's only half the point," Newter mumbled.
"I still say you're lying," Faultline declared.
"The question isn't, am I lying," Lisa replied. "It's do we care that this gives all of us a clean way to save face, end the bullshit an outsider started to begin with, and come together to clean our house?"
Behind her, Imp randomly appeared to gawk.
Brian was dead. But Brian was right. Face and reputation mattered, and not just to the Undersiders. Evil Lisa had used it to start tearing the alliance in Brockton Bay apart with little petty bullshit and the Pure and they'd played to that tune long enough.
"And if that's not good enough," Lisa added. "We're fucking villains! Who gives a shit if I'm lying?"
Faultline scoffed but Lisa could see it on Gregor, Shamrock, and Newter's faces. Rook and Cozen didn't hate her that much and the other little bands of villains benefited from restoring the order rather than continuing to see it decay.
"Am I allowed to applaud that?" Assault asked.
"No," Battery answered.
"Can I applaud her anyway?"
"The Director might get in the way," Vista warned. "But he doesn't command the Protectorate."
She looked at Miss Militia, who clearly wasn't happy.
"Night and Fog," Nanku said.
"What about them?" Lily asked.
"They talked to her."
"She means Evil Me," Lisa added.
"How bad is this in all seriousness?" Rook asked.
"They'll overrun the planet," Nanku answered. Her reaction was odd. Very of—
"How long do we have?" Lisa asked.
Nanku glowered.
"How long what?" Citrine inquired.
"Before the rest of her little club shows up to clean up the mess, and I'm not sure we'll like their method." Lisa pointed. "That computer on her arm? It's also a tactical nuclear device."
There were about a dozen 'what's' and a few 'holy shits' plus Assaults 'naturally.' It technically wasn't true but if it kept anyone from stupidly trying to take Nanku out, all the better. But Lisa could read enough of Nanku's body language to know that was her last resort.
If need be, she'd blow herself the fuck up to take the R'ka out.
Lisa glanced at Annette but couldn't tell if she was in it enough to notice.
"It's that bad?" Faultline asked.
"So we say," Lisa confirmed.
"Fine," Faultline relented. "Your ass if this ends up being bullshit anyway."
"That's fair."
"Night and Fog won't be involved in this," Annette said. "They couldn't care less about things before. They only showed up after Aster was arrested."
"We can flip them?" Sabah asked.
"Probably. They were loyal to Kayden, and they haven't been involved with much since she died until now."
"The attack three weeks ago was a distraction," Lisa added. "I think. Or maybe a commitment she couldn't change even after her plan shifted. I doubt she knew about this egg before Huntress showed up. Access to information on the other end meant she found it before we even knew it was there."
Lisa looked at Nanku.
Nanku was staring at her mother… Which she'd have to figure out later.
"Nanku."
That got her attention.
Lisa pointed at her wrist. "Can you track this thing?"
Heads turned back to her.
Lisa could guess. There had to be something that confirmed to her that the egg was out there. And something she thought would call the rest of her new family to Brockton Bay.
"I can," Nanku confirmed.
Shamrock pursed her lips. "And you didn't notice the egg before?"
"Hidden."
Rook nodded at the alien image still projecting from Nanku's mask. "What do we need to know about that?"
"Acid for blood," Nanku warned, as a start.
Assault threw his hands up. "Fuck it! Why not?"
***
I was actually quite happy to write this chapter.
For those who haven't picked up on it; Tattletale is one of my favorite characters in Worm. I just really like Tattletale. But, in most of my fics she ends up being a butt monkey/total bitch because that's how it plays out or what works. I really enjoyed making this chapter instead where Lisa plays big thinker in town, spins events to try and at least get Bitch off the hook while giving some shielding to Nanku, and has the gal to say 'Even if I'm lying, it's convenient for all of us to just go along with it so who cares.'
Real 'depends on what your definition of is is' moment XD
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Truce 9.2
Little Hunter
Nanku did not understand people.
One week they were trying to capture her or kill her or she didn't really know. They certainly weren't happy with her.
The next, they decided none of that mattered. Nanku was running freely over the city with Dusk and Dawn. Dauntless, Lady Photon, and Laserdream were there and Vista was using her power to warp space and move a pack of a dozen others.
Humans didn't make sense.
No sense at all.
"How much farther?" Dauntless asked.
Nanku leaped a gap between two rooftops and checked the signal with her mask. "Ahead."
"How far ahead?"
"Ahead."
"Why didn't you just explain this before?" Laserdream asked with a sour expression. "Could have avoided some dead people. And maiming."
Nanku was not sorry. "No one wanted to ask what I wanted."
And Tattletale was talking like Nanku had been hunting the eggs the entire time. Which was a lie.
Bitch though.
Nanku wouldn't call the lie out. If it was some kind of play to get the heroes and other villains to leave Nanku be—or at least stop chasing her so much—then Nanku didn't care. But if it benefited Bitch then maybe she'd be able to go back to Brockton Bay despite Nanku making a mess of things for her.
Didn't change that Nanku had no idea any eggs had survived.
How did it even survive?
She'd not even thought to look—surely the ship would have picked up the signal if it was there. The isotope would have triggered a deep space sensor immediately. It must have been shielded somehow. Hidden until someone—an 'evil' Tattletale—found it.
Now it was out and the only hunter on the planet was Nanku as far as she knew. Any others running around wouldn't necessarily jump to help. That wasn't the Yautja way.
Pe'dte would come.
If this was bad, they needed Pe'dte to come.
Nanku could not fight a runaway infestation of R'ka on her own and the longer it existed—in a city the size of Brockton Bay no less—the worse things would get.
Running from roof to roof and along streets, Nanku found herself searching the shore in the southeast of the city. It wasn't an area she'd done much in before. The Pure hadn't been active. It was territory that belonged to the Ambassadors.
Many of the buildings were newer. Lots of glass and concrete, built around a ferry terminal that connected either end of Brockton Bay's bay.
"Are you sure that whatever you have is working?" Laserdream floated as Nanku stopped to look around. "I don't see anything."
That was a good thing.
Or a horrific thing.
Nanku zeroed in on the signal. A four-story building. Apartments. High end. Large suits.
"Where—Hey!"
Laserdream exclaimed as Nanku broke into a sprint. She ran to the edge of the roof and jumped. Dusk flew by with a lowered limb and helped Nanku swing herself over the gap.
She landed on a balcony with her wrist blades and one hand. Her swarm was already spreading across the floors and walls and flying about in search.
"Nanku." Dauntless flew over to her. "Is this it?"
"Yes." Why else would she be climbing it?
Nanku scaled the balcony and brought herself over the railing. The sliding door was not locked. She saw immediately it wasn't closed completely.
"Here?" Laserdream asked. "I don't see anything."
Nanku reached for the door while her mask cycled vision modes. One after the other. A line zipped back and forth before her eyes, changing color, definition, and highlights as it went.
"Empty."
Nanku pushed the door open and entered.
"Empty?" Lady Photon frowned from the air. She'd been mostly quiet. "If it's empty—"
Nanku ignored her and walked into the living room. Her mask continued cycling and stopped only when it found something.
The residue marked the floor. A trail of it leading from the door to one of the rooms. Bedroom. Bed. No sign of struggle. The trail itself led under the bed.
Nanku bent down and looked under where a huge splotch sank into the carpet.
…
Preposterous.
The egg couldn't have fit under the bed, and who would set it there? To say nothing Nanku already knew it wasn't there. The bugs she was searching the entire apartment with would have found it.
The surrounding apartments were even more empty, or peacefully occupied.
Nanku rose and held her tongue.
"Hey." Laserdream floated after her. "You can't just—"
"What do you see?" Dauntless asked. "Talk to us."
"False trail," Nanku said. "The egg wasn't here."
"But you said you were tracking it!"
She was.
Nanku checked her system but there was no error.
If the egg hadn't been here, then there was something else.
Nanku turned and started following the trail.
Dauntless stepped into her path.
"Talk," he insisted.
"Following the trail."
Nanku went around him and past Lady Photon and her worthless frown.
The trail went down the hall toward a garbage chute.
Nanku sighed. She began adjusting her computer and fixed the trail on her mask.
"What now?" Laserdream asked.
"There was nothing back there," Lady Photon added. "No blood. No sign of struggle."
"Skitterers don't crawl away," Nanku replied.
She locked her mask on the trail and looked through the walls and floors. The trail went all the way to the bottom of the building. Evil Tattletale was just being a bitch.
Nanku had to descend the building she'd just ascended. Stairs were the fastest way. She went all the way to the bottom where everything was far less pleasant in appearance. Pipes. Lines of wires bundled together. Flickering lights. Rough concrete walls.
It was damp and warm. The kind of place the R'ka would enjoy.
Nanku started along the trail again and followed it into a boiler room.
The skitterer lay on the ground, legs curled in like a dead spider.
Dauntless stepped to her side and frowned. "Is that it?"
"Already dead."
The thing had no bones. It wasn't meant to be sturdy or survive real harm. The flesh had been stripped off in layers. The color was pale white. Devoid of blood. Small holes punctured parts of it. As if it had been drained and then prodded repeatedly.
That must have been a messy exercise, but it was long ago.
Nanku snarled. She removed a silver canister from her belt and popped the lid.
"What's that?" Lady Photon asked.
"This didn't come from the egg. She's playing with us."
Nanku turned the canister and let the blue liquid spill out in a few drips. The drops landed on the corpse and began eating it into a gray paste.
"That's evidence!" Laserdream snapped.
"Not anymore."
Nanku looked around the rest of the boiler room. There was a side door with a broken lock. There wasn't a trail but Nanku doubted there would be one.
"Fake trail," Nanku said. "This one was already dead."
"What was it?" Dauntless asked. "It didn't look like what you showed us."
"First stage," Nanku explained. "Comes out of the egg and seeks a host to carry eggs."
Was there more than one egg, or merely samples that were already dead? Maybe there was no egg and she'd overreacted. No. Would Krieg be in league with the Evil Tattletale to make that work? He didn't seem to be. Her arrival was legitimately unexpected and if he'd been betrayed why not reveal all he knew?
"This was a ploy," Nanku said. "This building is being watched."
"Waiting for us to come looking," Dauntless said. Her frowned. "Why?"
"Ask Tattletale."
There was no other signal.
Had they put the eggs back into containment?
Nanku only had the one signal. It should work anywhere on the planet. "She's hiding the real egg."
"Messing with us." Dauntless shook his head. "That was something Tattletale would do if she were evil."
"She's a villain," Lady Photon said.
"Eviler."
"Too bad we don't have any evidence," Laserdream grumbled with an accusing eye.
Nanku ignored her.
"There's a camera in my helmet," Dauntless revealed. "We have proof it was here. Disposing of unknown biotinker material is standard procedure anyway."
"You don't have to defend her," Lady Photon said.
"We have more important things to do than bicker."
He turned and began speaking to someone called 'console.'
Outside, vehicles had arrived and the capes with Vista were watched from rooftops. Nanku avoided walking into the group of PRT and heroes. She stayed off to the side where she had a clear escape route. The whole idea of the 'truce' struck her as odd, even if it was familiar.
Clans did the same thing often enough. It usually ended in one clan stabbing the other in the back when the alliance had run its course.
While the heroes and troopers and others talked, Nanku thought.
The whole scheme had to be for a purpose. Leaving the corpse was a taunt, but it couldn't just be a taunt.
Nanku pointedly kept her eyes down on the ground and swept the air with small packs of bugs as far as she could.
How many invisible drones could one bad blood have?
"Now what?" Vista asked as the heroes gathered.
"She says she doesn't have any others on her equipment," Dauntless replied. "This was a taunt."
"She wants us to know what she has," Battery agreed.
"Eviler Tattletale." Assault shook his head. "Are there any Endbringer's available? I know it's more deadly, but it's way less stressful."
"She might be hoping we won't believe anything Tattletale or Huntress said," Vista offered.
"Nah." Tattletale walked up and joined the group. "She's just fucking with us. I like being the smartest person in the room. She has an even more overbearing need to prove it than I do."
Assault pointed. "Or she's the humblest thinker ever and is just messing with you."
"Eh. Horseshoe effect. On the other hand, we're all out and about searching town and she's probably free to move where we're not looking."
"Ah. Sun Tzu."
"You have not read Sun Tzu," Battery claimed.
"Maybe I want to sound smarter?"
"Not a bad plan." Dauntless looked up at Nanku. "Draw us all out search and then drop the egg somewhere."
"Nanku will pick it up the moment it's taken from whatever shielding is hiding it," Tattletale said. "She'll have to grab someone and bring them to the egg."
"Kidnappings and disappearances happen all the time." Dauntless sighed. "We'd have a hard time picking any one out from the rest."
"Exactly."
Nanku kept herself as unassuming as she could manage.
Maybe the thinker just wanted to toy with them. Maybe she had another motive. After all, capes and enforcers were scattered across the city. Potentially vulnerable. Their dens and nests empty.
It was an old hunting trick.
Lure prey from its home so you could lay in wait where it thought itself safest.
Nanku looked over the sheer number of people involved in the search.
Too many.
But the thinker had to be watching.
Nanku set her mask to cycle and swept out with bugs.
She waited. There were conversations. Some doubts were raised but Nanku didn't care. The body—even destroyed—seemed enough to convince the rest of the force to continue cooperating.
The armored men who were watching Nanku closely made no move to assail her.
She was watching. Just like before, but the drones could clearly hang outside of her swarm's range. How did she find them without making it clear she was looking?
Or… Maybe she needed to look like she was looking.
Nanku rose and broke into a sprint. That drew attention from below but she ignored it.
Spreading her swarm wide, Nanku ran as fast as she could and felt out for any—
Dawn swooped up and dove from above to tackle the disrupted air. Her first attempt missed but Nanku had the trail and chased. Dusk flew into what she assumed was the Drone's path and Dawn dove again.
The thin blades broke against her hide harmlessly and she drove the machine into the ground.
Heads turned at the crash.
Dawn jumped up and down, thrashing her claws at the thing and biting at it with her teeth. She mauled the shell fairly well, but Nanku stopped her before she broke through. Dusk circled with snapping jaws and Nanku walked down the street toward the downed drone.
Was there another still watching?
Nanku looked into the lens as she went near.
Was the downed drone still watching, and did it find what it wanted?
"Can we track that?" Lady Photon asked.
"Kid Win could," Laserdream said bitterly.
"Traitor," Nanku replied. Stupid. She hadn't made that up, and it wasn't her concern.
She left them to brood and examined the drone. Eventually, some PRT men came and took it. Nanku wasn't sure what to do with the thing. Maybe she could make the enforcers actually work for her for once.
The sooner she found the thinker, the sooner she found the egg. Better for everyone.
"This is a ploy," Tattletale said. "I know me."
"She knows you," Nanku noted.
"Yeah. A 'I know that you know that I know that you know.' I fucking hate it. But, it is what it is. Stakes are too high to be paralyzed in inaction."
Nanku didn't disagree. "Night and Fog."
"She'll know we'll seek them out."
"Too obvious."
"No wonder you and Bitch— Fucking, Bitch."
Nanku stiffened and turned.
That… That—"Where is the teleporter?"
"Hold on. I'll call her first."
"Now."
"Calm down."
"What's wrong?"
Nanku bristled as her mother approached.
Tattletale kept dialing. "We were considering what Evil Me might do knowing that I know that she knows that I know."
"Don't remind me," Weaver replied. She didn't look at Nanku directly but it was transparent. "Bitch?"
"Yeah. Nanku is here hunting monsters. Bitch is isolated and some of her people and dogs are vulnerable."
"It's clever enough," her mother said. "But we'd know immediately. Someone would get a warning out. We'd react. Witness isn't going after Rachel."
Nanku did not feel better.
"Witness?" Tattletale asked.
"Our name for your clone. For now."
"Clever."
Tattletale raised the phone and waited.
Nanku only heard the line pick up.
"Bitch? It's me... No... We're still hunting but it occurred that you might be a target. Yeah... Weaver said the same thing. Just keep an eye out, okay?… Nanku's fine. Truce is in effect."
Tattletale looked about discretely.
"And between you and me," she said in a lower voice, "I'm spinning this as Nanku was hunting monsters the whole time. Won't put her on anyone's good side, but it'll call off the dogs. Pun intended."
Nanku thought that was what she was doing. "I don't need you to lie for me."
"It's what people do," Weaver said. "For people we love. Even if we… make mistakes."
…
"We should seek out Night and Fog anyway," her mother said to Tattletale. "Even if it's obvious, there's the off chance they'll be targeted because we'll assume they're too obvious."
Tattletale hung up and nodded. "Yeah. Probably. You know they'll want Rain if we want their help."
"The PRT will never authorize releasing Aster," Weaver replied. "But, it's possible we can get her on a Ward team given the circumstances. With medical support for her condition."
"Think they'll accept that?"
"Night promised Kayden she'd look after Aster. She's not remotely fit and she knows it, but I think so long as Aster is safe and has a chance to get by, she and her husband will wait on the sidelines."
"No skin off our back. Wards would keep her from going after you again and that vendetta is about the only crime she's ever tried.
"And the mitigating circumstances are enough."
"I'll see if I can reach them."
"I might have a way. But we need to keep looking for these creatures."
Nanku turned her head.
A man came rushing over. Gratefully.
Weaver turned. "What is it?"
"Night and Fog," Tattletale guessed.
"They're attacking the PRT building."
Her mother was already going. "They're going for Aster."
"Distraction," Tattletale warned.
"She'll know we know."
"Fucking thinkers."
They went on and a flurry of activity began. Nanku slipped back into the dark and turned away. Thinking.
What people do for people they love.
Even if they make mistakes.
…
That was the answer to why her mother would protect them. It couldn't just be anyone. That would be absurd. It had to be someone she'd cared about before hunting them down.
And that was only one person.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Nanku did not understand people.
One week they were trying to capture her or kill her or she didn't really know. They certainly weren't happy with her.
The next, they decided none of that mattered. Nanku was running freely over the city with Dusk and Dawn. Dauntless, Lady Photon, and Laserdream were there and Vista was using her power to warp space and move a pack of a dozen others.
Humans didn't make sense.
No sense at all.
"How much farther?" Dauntless asked.
Nanku leaped a gap between two rooftops and checked the signal with her mask. "Ahead."
"How far ahead?"
"Ahead."
"Why didn't you just explain this before?" Laserdream asked with a sour expression. "Could have avoided some dead people. And maiming."
Nanku was not sorry. "No one wanted to ask what I wanted."
And Tattletale was talking like Nanku had been hunting the eggs the entire time. Which was a lie.
Bitch though.
Nanku wouldn't call the lie out. If it was some kind of play to get the heroes and other villains to leave Nanku be—or at least stop chasing her so much—then Nanku didn't care. But if it benefited Bitch then maybe she'd be able to go back to Brockton Bay despite Nanku making a mess of things for her.
Didn't change that Nanku had no idea any eggs had survived.
How did it even survive?
She'd not even thought to look—surely the ship would have picked up the signal if it was there. The isotope would have triggered a deep space sensor immediately. It must have been shielded somehow. Hidden until someone—an 'evil' Tattletale—found it.
Now it was out and the only hunter on the planet was Nanku as far as she knew. Any others running around wouldn't necessarily jump to help. That wasn't the Yautja way.
Pe'dte would come.
If this was bad, they needed Pe'dte to come.
Nanku could not fight a runaway infestation of R'ka on her own and the longer it existed—in a city the size of Brockton Bay no less—the worse things would get.
Running from roof to roof and along streets, Nanku found herself searching the shore in the southeast of the city. It wasn't an area she'd done much in before. The Pure hadn't been active. It was territory that belonged to the Ambassadors.
Many of the buildings were newer. Lots of glass and concrete, built around a ferry terminal that connected either end of Brockton Bay's bay.
"Are you sure that whatever you have is working?" Laserdream floated as Nanku stopped to look around. "I don't see anything."
That was a good thing.
Or a horrific thing.
Nanku zeroed in on the signal. A four-story building. Apartments. High end. Large suits.
"Where—Hey!"
Laserdream exclaimed as Nanku broke into a sprint. She ran to the edge of the roof and jumped. Dusk flew by with a lowered limb and helped Nanku swing herself over the gap.
She landed on a balcony with her wrist blades and one hand. Her swarm was already spreading across the floors and walls and flying about in search.
"Nanku." Dauntless flew over to her. "Is this it?"
"Yes." Why else would she be climbing it?
Nanku scaled the balcony and brought herself over the railing. The sliding door was not locked. She saw immediately it wasn't closed completely.
"Here?" Laserdream asked. "I don't see anything."
Nanku reached for the door while her mask cycled vision modes. One after the other. A line zipped back and forth before her eyes, changing color, definition, and highlights as it went.
"Empty."
Nanku pushed the door open and entered.
"Empty?" Lady Photon frowned from the air. She'd been mostly quiet. "If it's empty—"
Nanku ignored her and walked into the living room. Her mask continued cycling and stopped only when it found something.
The residue marked the floor. A trail of it leading from the door to one of the rooms. Bedroom. Bed. No sign of struggle. The trail itself led under the bed.
Nanku bent down and looked under where a huge splotch sank into the carpet.
…
Preposterous.
The egg couldn't have fit under the bed, and who would set it there? To say nothing Nanku already knew it wasn't there. The bugs she was searching the entire apartment with would have found it.
The surrounding apartments were even more empty, or peacefully occupied.
Nanku rose and held her tongue.
"Hey." Laserdream floated after her. "You can't just—"
"What do you see?" Dauntless asked. "Talk to us."
"False trail," Nanku said. "The egg wasn't here."
"But you said you were tracking it!"
She was.
Nanku checked her system but there was no error.
If the egg hadn't been here, then there was something else.
Nanku turned and started following the trail.
Dauntless stepped into her path.
"Talk," he insisted.
"Following the trail."
Nanku went around him and past Lady Photon and her worthless frown.
The trail went down the hall toward a garbage chute.
Nanku sighed. She began adjusting her computer and fixed the trail on her mask.
"What now?" Laserdream asked.
"There was nothing back there," Lady Photon added. "No blood. No sign of struggle."
"Skitterers don't crawl away," Nanku replied.
She locked her mask on the trail and looked through the walls and floors. The trail went all the way to the bottom of the building. Evil Tattletale was just being a bitch.
Nanku had to descend the building she'd just ascended. Stairs were the fastest way. She went all the way to the bottom where everything was far less pleasant in appearance. Pipes. Lines of wires bundled together. Flickering lights. Rough concrete walls.
It was damp and warm. The kind of place the R'ka would enjoy.
Nanku started along the trail again and followed it into a boiler room.
The skitterer lay on the ground, legs curled in like a dead spider.
Dauntless stepped to her side and frowned. "Is that it?"
"Already dead."
The thing had no bones. It wasn't meant to be sturdy or survive real harm. The flesh had been stripped off in layers. The color was pale white. Devoid of blood. Small holes punctured parts of it. As if it had been drained and then prodded repeatedly.
That must have been a messy exercise, but it was long ago.
Nanku snarled. She removed a silver canister from her belt and popped the lid.
"What's that?" Lady Photon asked.
"This didn't come from the egg. She's playing with us."
Nanku turned the canister and let the blue liquid spill out in a few drips. The drops landed on the corpse and began eating it into a gray paste.
"That's evidence!" Laserdream snapped.
"Not anymore."
Nanku looked around the rest of the boiler room. There was a side door with a broken lock. There wasn't a trail but Nanku doubted there would be one.
"Fake trail," Nanku said. "This one was already dead."
"What was it?" Dauntless asked. "It didn't look like what you showed us."
"First stage," Nanku explained. "Comes out of the egg and seeks a host to carry eggs."
Was there more than one egg, or merely samples that were already dead? Maybe there was no egg and she'd overreacted. No. Would Krieg be in league with the Evil Tattletale to make that work? He didn't seem to be. Her arrival was legitimately unexpected and if he'd been betrayed why not reveal all he knew?
"This was a ploy," Nanku said. "This building is being watched."
"Waiting for us to come looking," Dauntless said. Her frowned. "Why?"
"Ask Tattletale."
There was no other signal.
Had they put the eggs back into containment?
Nanku only had the one signal. It should work anywhere on the planet. "She's hiding the real egg."
"Messing with us." Dauntless shook his head. "That was something Tattletale would do if she were evil."
"She's a villain," Lady Photon said.
"Eviler."
"Too bad we don't have any evidence," Laserdream grumbled with an accusing eye.
Nanku ignored her.
"There's a camera in my helmet," Dauntless revealed. "We have proof it was here. Disposing of unknown biotinker material is standard procedure anyway."
"You don't have to defend her," Lady Photon said.
"We have more important things to do than bicker."
He turned and began speaking to someone called 'console.'
Outside, vehicles had arrived and the capes with Vista were watched from rooftops. Nanku avoided walking into the group of PRT and heroes. She stayed off to the side where she had a clear escape route. The whole idea of the 'truce' struck her as odd, even if it was familiar.
Clans did the same thing often enough. It usually ended in one clan stabbing the other in the back when the alliance had run its course.
While the heroes and troopers and others talked, Nanku thought.
The whole scheme had to be for a purpose. Leaving the corpse was a taunt, but it couldn't just be a taunt.
Nanku pointedly kept her eyes down on the ground and swept the air with small packs of bugs as far as she could.
How many invisible drones could one bad blood have?
"Now what?" Vista asked as the heroes gathered.
"She says she doesn't have any others on her equipment," Dauntless replied. "This was a taunt."
"She wants us to know what she has," Battery agreed.
"Eviler Tattletale." Assault shook his head. "Are there any Endbringer's available? I know it's more deadly, but it's way less stressful."
"She might be hoping we won't believe anything Tattletale or Huntress said," Vista offered.
"Nah." Tattletale walked up and joined the group. "She's just fucking with us. I like being the smartest person in the room. She has an even more overbearing need to prove it than I do."
Assault pointed. "Or she's the humblest thinker ever and is just messing with you."
"Eh. Horseshoe effect. On the other hand, we're all out and about searching town and she's probably free to move where we're not looking."
"Ah. Sun Tzu."
"You have not read Sun Tzu," Battery claimed.
"Maybe I want to sound smarter?"
"Not a bad plan." Dauntless looked up at Nanku. "Draw us all out search and then drop the egg somewhere."
"Nanku will pick it up the moment it's taken from whatever shielding is hiding it," Tattletale said. "She'll have to grab someone and bring them to the egg."
"Kidnappings and disappearances happen all the time." Dauntless sighed. "We'd have a hard time picking any one out from the rest."
"Exactly."
Nanku kept herself as unassuming as she could manage.
Maybe the thinker just wanted to toy with them. Maybe she had another motive. After all, capes and enforcers were scattered across the city. Potentially vulnerable. Their dens and nests empty.
It was an old hunting trick.
Lure prey from its home so you could lay in wait where it thought itself safest.
Nanku looked over the sheer number of people involved in the search.
Too many.
But the thinker had to be watching.
Nanku set her mask to cycle and swept out with bugs.
She waited. There were conversations. Some doubts were raised but Nanku didn't care. The body—even destroyed—seemed enough to convince the rest of the force to continue cooperating.
The armored men who were watching Nanku closely made no move to assail her.
She was watching. Just like before, but the drones could clearly hang outside of her swarm's range. How did she find them without making it clear she was looking?
Or… Maybe she needed to look like she was looking.
Nanku rose and broke into a sprint. That drew attention from below but she ignored it.
Spreading her swarm wide, Nanku ran as fast as she could and felt out for any—
Dawn swooped up and dove from above to tackle the disrupted air. Her first attempt missed but Nanku had the trail and chased. Dusk flew into what she assumed was the Drone's path and Dawn dove again.
The thin blades broke against her hide harmlessly and she drove the machine into the ground.
Heads turned at the crash.
Dawn jumped up and down, thrashing her claws at the thing and biting at it with her teeth. She mauled the shell fairly well, but Nanku stopped her before she broke through. Dusk circled with snapping jaws and Nanku walked down the street toward the downed drone.
Was there another still watching?
Nanku looked into the lens as she went near.
Was the downed drone still watching, and did it find what it wanted?
"Can we track that?" Lady Photon asked.
"Kid Win could," Laserdream said bitterly.
"Traitor," Nanku replied. Stupid. She hadn't made that up, and it wasn't her concern.
She left them to brood and examined the drone. Eventually, some PRT men came and took it. Nanku wasn't sure what to do with the thing. Maybe she could make the enforcers actually work for her for once.
The sooner she found the thinker, the sooner she found the egg. Better for everyone.
"This is a ploy," Tattletale said. "I know me."
"She knows you," Nanku noted.
"Yeah. A 'I know that you know that I know that you know.' I fucking hate it. But, it is what it is. Stakes are too high to be paralyzed in inaction."
Nanku didn't disagree. "Night and Fog."
"She'll know we'll seek them out."
"Too obvious."
"No wonder you and Bitch— Fucking, Bitch."
Nanku stiffened and turned.
That… That—"Where is the teleporter?"
"Hold on. I'll call her first."
"Now."
"Calm down."
"What's wrong?"
Nanku bristled as her mother approached.
Tattletale kept dialing. "We were considering what Evil Me might do knowing that I know that she knows that I know."
"Don't remind me," Weaver replied. She didn't look at Nanku directly but it was transparent. "Bitch?"
"Yeah. Nanku is here hunting monsters. Bitch is isolated and some of her people and dogs are vulnerable."
"It's clever enough," her mother said. "But we'd know immediately. Someone would get a warning out. We'd react. Witness isn't going after Rachel."
Nanku did not feel better.
"Witness?" Tattletale asked.
"Our name for your clone. For now."
"Clever."
Tattletale raised the phone and waited.
Nanku only heard the line pick up.
"Bitch? It's me... No... We're still hunting but it occurred that you might be a target. Yeah... Weaver said the same thing. Just keep an eye out, okay?… Nanku's fine. Truce is in effect."
Tattletale looked about discretely.
"And between you and me," she said in a lower voice, "I'm spinning this as Nanku was hunting monsters the whole time. Won't put her on anyone's good side, but it'll call off the dogs. Pun intended."
Nanku thought that was what she was doing. "I don't need you to lie for me."
"It's what people do," Weaver said. "For people we love. Even if we… make mistakes."
…
"We should seek out Night and Fog anyway," her mother said to Tattletale. "Even if it's obvious, there's the off chance they'll be targeted because we'll assume they're too obvious."
Tattletale hung up and nodded. "Yeah. Probably. You know they'll want Rain if we want their help."
"The PRT will never authorize releasing Aster," Weaver replied. "But, it's possible we can get her on a Ward team given the circumstances. With medical support for her condition."
"Think they'll accept that?"
"Night promised Kayden she'd look after Aster. She's not remotely fit and she knows it, but I think so long as Aster is safe and has a chance to get by, she and her husband will wait on the sidelines."
"No skin off our back. Wards would keep her from going after you again and that vendetta is about the only crime she's ever tried.
"And the mitigating circumstances are enough."
"I'll see if I can reach them."
"I might have a way. But we need to keep looking for these creatures."
Nanku turned her head.
A man came rushing over. Gratefully.
Weaver turned. "What is it?"
"Night and Fog," Tattletale guessed.
"They're attacking the PRT building."
Her mother was already going. "They're going for Aster."
"Distraction," Tattletale warned.
"She'll know we know."
"Fucking thinkers."
They went on and a flurry of activity began. Nanku slipped back into the dark and turned away. Thinking.
What people do for people they love.
Even if they make mistakes.
…
That was the answer to why her mother would protect them. It couldn't just be anyone. That would be absurd. It had to be someone she'd cared about before hunting them down.
And that was only one person.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Truce 9.3
Sorry this stopped getting cross-posted for so long. The past month has been wild and I kept saying 'I'll do it tomorrow' and obviously tomorrow is today XD
Little Hunter
It would wait.
For now.
The eggs were more important and Nanku would not confuse her priorities again.
Night and Fog were either directed or relied on to attack while everyone was away. They broke into the PRT building and hurried inside with the help of two local villains. Independents who didn't belong to the larger groups.
Nanku didn't bother to hear their names.
It looked like someone drove a truck into the building when they arrived. And then blew it up. There were pieces of truck and building all over, and a fire raging along one side of the building.
Workers were evacuating from inside and Nanku heard the faint sound of gunfire.
The Protectorate and Wards rushed in. The villains were warned not to enter the building. Tattletale and Faultline directed them to stay in pairs and surround the building at a discrete distance.
Something about public relations.
Nanku thought the heroes simply didn't want to be seen working with their presumed enemies. That probably suited the villains fine.
It didn't suit her.
She couldn't be seen anyway.
Miss Militia led Laserdream and Dauntless inside. Battery and Assault went in ahead and split up. They were relied on to manage themselves and keep Night and Fog from readily escaping.
Weaver waited outside with Vista. The girl was warping space around the building which made things a little annoying.
It was actually easier to leap from the highest building and land on the roof. Jarring, but not that much of an obstacle. Dusk and Dawn waited outside and loosely in sight at the corner of a building.
That would fool anyone for a little while.
Nanku entered the building alone. She went down the steps leading from the roof and didn't find anyone barring her path. Throughout the building, people were moving in large groups. The security was clearly damaged. Many of the obstacles that prevented her swarms from reaching halls or corridors were damaged or cracked.
They had an expansive basement. Several floors extended into the ground under her feet.
There was a lot of smoke below.
Assault and Battery were already going that way. Miss Militia's team was going down a central stairway and there were teams of men with guns set up at choke points. Others were evacuating unarmed men and women. Directing them around damaged halls or the fire.
Nanku found Night near the bottom. Her swarm moved toward her but until they filtered through the building she only had a few bugs to explore the area.
A long hall. A few men and women with their wrists bound behind their backs. They didn't look willing but Nanku supposed they were hostages. Along the length of the hall were several sealed rooms with only a single way in or out. Only one of the rooms had an occupant. A thin girl with long hair.
Iron Rain.
They'd already reached her… That seemed quick.
Nanku had only descended three floors from the roof when Fog somehow got the room open.
Night rushed inside and Iron Rain hugged her desperately. Almost enough to forget they were Nazis.
The would-be rescuers wasted little time. They ushered Iron Rain from the room and got their hostages moving with the threat of a gun. Then Night began throwing smoke grenades into their path.
The beast appeared in the obscuration and Nanku remembered. Night was fast. Strong. Sharp.
She seemed to heal whenever she switched from one form or the other. And it seemed to be triggered by whether or not she could be seen. Nanku kept that in mind.
She stopped at an intersection and let a group of armed and armored men pass by. One paused and Nanku slipped around a corner to hide in a small alcove. The man looked down the hall.
He had a helmet on with a visor.
Were they still using those things to see through her cloak? Annoying.
The man probably caught her from the corner of his eye but on seeing an empty hall he followed when one of the others shouted at him.
Nanku slipped behind them and forced a door to a stairway open. She descended with her eyes fixed on Night and Fog.
The Nazis cut through the first group to try and stop them like butter. Battery came up behind them and struck, but Fog turned to fog. Night swung back with several bladed limbs, her body obscured by the smoke swirling around her. Others shielded Iron Rain and moved her along.
She hadn't used her power once since being released.
She moved stiffly.
Confused.
Assault came from the other side of the hall and Night wiped out to strike him while Fog reformed enough to shoot a gun. Battery darted back and Assault began talking about a Truce.
There was a pause in the fight.
Nanku was certain only she noticed, thanks to a fly stuck to Iron Rain's sweater. The girl was pushed by night into a side hall and Fog formed his head. He gave her instructions and told her to escape.
Iron Rain hesitated, but Fog urged her on and took one of the hostages close in hand.
She was a woman. Roughly the same size as the girl he was trying to save.
They were Nazis, but Nanku respected the choice. Iron Rain—Aster--was clearly more important to them than anything else. The impression of Night and Fog she'd gathered was that of murderous marauders.
Nanku supposed even they had someone they loved, and they loved her enough to do one good thing.
Once Iron Rain began moving, Fog pulled a fire alarm.
That set the whole building off.
Kid Win, Nanku guessed. The building couldn't possibly be so poorly designed as to go wild when the fire alarm was pulled. Flashing lights. Flickering sirens. Electric doors opening and closing.
Nanku used it to her own advantage.
She quickened her pace and began taking flights of stairs in whole jumps.
With her mask, she looked through the halls and corridors. Rain's route was easy to predict. Out of the way and avoiding any path fighters might use to intercept Night and Fog. Those two were talking to Assault and Battery—mostly Fog and Assault did the speaking.
Rain kept running.
The sprinkler system sparked and water began to shower through the whole building. Nanku's bugs were disrupted and she switched her mask's mode.
Nanku stepped into the girl's path.
Iron Rain stumbled back from her and fell onto her back.
Nanku stepped into the hall and turned. She walked through the shower of water quenching the fire. It rolled off her cloak. Flickered the system and sent bolts of energy coursing over her form.
Iron Rain really was a child.
For all her power, and all her apparent age, Iron Rain shook in her prison clothes and scrambled back until she fell.
Nanku stood over her and glowered.
"The thinker," she said. "How do I find her?"
Maybe the girl knew nothing.
Maybe she knew something.
Whatever she knew, she had to actually speak to reveal it. She shook too much. She'd bite her tongue off before she spoke.
Nanku reached down and grabbed her by the neck.
"Get up."
She pulled and lifted Iron Rain to her feet.
"Stop shaking."
Nanku set her atop her feet and growled.
"Stop whimpering!"
Iron Rain stilled.
Good. That was a start.
Nanku eased back, loosening her grip but only enough to be gentle rather than rough.
"Tell me," Nanku said in slow and even words. "Where. Is. The thinker?"
"I—I don't know."
Iron Rain was hoarse as she spoke. Water ran down her face and the only emotion was fear. Pure and blinding fear. Nanku's annoyance died.
A memory came to her.
The look of a terrified little girl looking death in its red visor.
In an instant, Nanku's grip loosened. Her grip. She tilted her head and looked Iron Rain—Aster, over.
"She will kill everyone," Nanku said firmly. "Tell me where to find her."
Rain didn't reply.
She was too afraid.
Nanku sighed.
Taking the phone Tattletale had provided, she pressed the first button and lifted it to her ear.
"Where did you go?" Tattletale asked.
"Tell Night and Fog that if they help, I will ensure Iron Rain's escape."
"… Can we back up and—"
"Tell them and tell me where to find the teleporting man."
"Strider? Wait—Seriously, back—"
"Now. Building to the west."
Nanku pulled Aster behind her and started walking.
Not so different from a decade before, when a giant carried Taylor Hebert away.
Nanku kept her promise. Bugs struggled to move and fly while water flooded the building. Many drowned. She kept enough alive to track patrols. Groups of people. All of them.
Circumventing any interception wasn't hard.
Night and Fog had clearly intended her to go one way. Whatever they'd triggered in the building's security it opened and closed several doors and locked them. There was a mostly cleared path out a side door. From there an alley and from there Nanku wasn't sure.
Maybe they intended to meet Aster outside before she ran into the people surrounding the building.
Nanku went a different way.
She hauled Iron Rain up the stairs and up some more. Then came the hard part.
"Don't fuss."
Nanku grabbed Iron Rain and lifted her. The girl jerked and flailed. She yelped and started to beg Nanku not to hurt her.
"Silence."
She shut up.
"Arms around me."
She obeyed, cradled against Nanku's back with her arms around her shoulders.
Nanku balanced the girl and readied herself.
She ran.
"What—" Iron Rain looked forward. "Wait!"
Nanku kicked off the edge of the roof and jumped. Her wrist blades shot out and she extended a spear.
Both pierced the wall of the neck building and Nanku's arms strained as gravity tried to drag her down. She grunted and strained. Nanku kicked one foot hard into the building and pushed. Iron Rain was paralyzed into stillness. That did help.
Nanku climbed the side of the building slowly at first, but then quickly. One arm over the other. Pushing with one foot and then the other.
She reached the top soon enough and pulled herself over the side.
Strider stood waiting, arms crossed and a confused set to his lips. He wore a costume of blue like a long coat and a mask that covered the top half of his face. Tattletale said he was neither a hero nor a villain. A 'rogue' who did things for money
Whatever.
"Nice climb?" he asked.
He jerked as Dusk and Dawn flew to Nanku's flanks. Iron Rain turned stiff as stone.
"Take me back," Nanku demanded.
He looked at Iron Rain. "I do a lot of things, but one thing I don't do is help fugitives escap—"
His phone donged and he looked at it quickly.
For about a second.
He put it away and straightened. "So, Newton?"
"Wherever."
Nanku set Iron Rain down and straightened the shaking girl.
Strider's power was weird. Blue and disorienting. Nanku jolted and then she wasn't on the roof anymore. She was in an empty lot filled with potholes and two rusting cars.
Dusk and Dawn took off to hide in the night sky.
"I'm not going any further," Strider said.
Nanku didn't care. She grabbed Iron Rain and started pulling the girl away. She called Tattletale again and said that she'd removed Iron Rain from the city.
"Night and Fog are backing down," Tattletale revealed. "Your mom is talking to them via phone now. They say they shot Evil-Me when they were done with her but it sounds like they didn't double tap properly."
Figured.
"And," Tattletale continued, "I can't find Rune."
"The one that escaped me?"
"She was smart enough to never fight you. Girl is a machine for making bad life choices, but she's not completely stupid… So I assumed. I wouldn't put it past Evil Me to get her to find the eggs and maybe…"
Nanku could imagine.
She needed to be quick. "I'll call back."
Nanku dragged Iron Rain away. Strider left of his own accord. There wasn't time to screw around.
Turning on Rain, Nanku advanced and the girl screamed. She fell back and covered her head shaking.
"Tell me about the…"
Damn it.
Nanku looked down at her and it was pointless. This child plotted her mother's murder? Had she been this pathetic the entire time?
Crouching over her, Nanku breathed and tapped at her head.
"Look at me… Aster."
The girl stiffened.
"Look up," Nanku commanded.
She did.
"Where is the thinker?"
"Who?"
"The thinker!"
Aster recoiled at her tone
Damn it.
"You tried to kill my mother. You blame her for what happened to your mother. Fine. Do that." Not that Nanku would let her. "The thinker who helped you? She is going to kill everyone. Everyone, Aster. She has a weapon she cannot control and she will unleash it just because she can."
Aster's shaking slowed. She was listening. Nanku's biometric scans of her confirmed it. She reacted to her words.
She had the girl's attention.
"I need to find her. She has to be stopped."
Aster looked up once but quickly looked away.
"Um."
"Tell me." Nanku softened her tone as best she could, remembering for a moment what it was like to be alone and afraid. Terrified beyond all reason. She'd forgotten. "I have to know, Aster, or there will be countless just like us."
That got her attention.
"Us?" she asked.
Nanku scowled behind her mask. "We died. And we came back. But we can't go back."
The girl paled and her shaking eyes focused. "I don't know. I—Sarah only came to me. I never went to her."
"Night and Fog found her."
"There was a location, but she said to never go there."
She wouldn't still be there. No way… And if Nanku had to guess the place was probably some kind of trap. Tattletale and her mother were smart enough to figure that out.
This wouldn't work.
Nanku sighed.
Aster had calmed, but she looked like a lost fucking puppy.
"Follow."
Actually moving her was hard.
Dusk and Dawn could fly. Nanku all but had to drag Aster around. Fortunately, she mostly did whatever Nanku told her to do.
Like, get on a bus.
Nanku changed into plain clothes and stuffed her equipment into a bag. The drive was agonizing. Too many people staring and wondering. Aster couldn't walk around with the clothes she'd had on. The letters literally spelled 'PRT' and 'Prisoner.' Nanku had to steal a sweater for her to wear but it didn't fit and she looked ragged and worn down in the light.
The ride at least was short.
Once they got off in the right city, Nanku marched her to the kennel.
Colt was outside on lookout and raised her head as Nanku approached. The six dogs around her were guarded until a breeze blew Nanku's scent their way.
Dusk and Dawn landed and skittered over the familiar ground.
Colt looked at Aster curiously. "Who's she?"
"Stray," Nanku answered.
"More the merrier."
Aster was reaching for one of the dogs when Nanku grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside.
"Hurt anyone and you die," Nanku threatened.
Aster bowed her head sheepishly and murmured something.
Cassie was watching TV. Another vapid reality—Cartoon?
"See, the funny part"—she said to some other girl—"is that Chris McClane is a total psychopath who just likes seeing people suffer."
"So… Reality TV?"
"Exactly!"
"Where is Bitch?" Nanku asked as she approached.
Cassie turned. "Oh hey. Nanku's back." She leaned over and looked curiously at Aster. "Who is that?"
"Watch her."
Nanku sat Aster on the couch. Cartoons were good for children. That would occupy her while Nanku kept an eye with bugs.
"Where's Bitch?" Nanku already knew but she asked anyway.
"Napping," Cassie answered. "We got the warning from TT. Biter and Horse are looking around to be sure and Colt is on watch, but I don't think Bitchtale is coming after us."
Bitchtale.
That was funny.
Nanku turned and went through the halls toward a room at the back.
A dozen dogs sat along the hall watching guard. They let Nanku pass with sniffs and happy yapps. Not too loud.
In the room beyond, Bitch lay in a tangle of sheets with Brutus and Angelica. Both dogs gave Nanku a cursory look. They didn't stop her from crouching and exhaling in relief.
For some reason, she'd been unable to push it from her mind. Tattletale and her mother's logic made sense. Bitch's group was too large. Bitch herself too protected. It would be hard to target her with one of the R'ka.
All the same.
Nanku found old memories surging to the surface again, and the idea of Bitch suffering the fate of all the kids at camp…
It was good to see her.
Nanku's eyes fluttered.
She pondered how long it had been since she slept right before face-planting on Bitch's floor.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Little Hunter
It would wait.
For now.
The eggs were more important and Nanku would not confuse her priorities again.
Night and Fog were either directed or relied on to attack while everyone was away. They broke into the PRT building and hurried inside with the help of two local villains. Independents who didn't belong to the larger groups.
Nanku didn't bother to hear their names.
It looked like someone drove a truck into the building when they arrived. And then blew it up. There were pieces of truck and building all over, and a fire raging along one side of the building.
Workers were evacuating from inside and Nanku heard the faint sound of gunfire.
The Protectorate and Wards rushed in. The villains were warned not to enter the building. Tattletale and Faultline directed them to stay in pairs and surround the building at a discrete distance.
Something about public relations.
Nanku thought the heroes simply didn't want to be seen working with their presumed enemies. That probably suited the villains fine.
It didn't suit her.
She couldn't be seen anyway.
Miss Militia led Laserdream and Dauntless inside. Battery and Assault went in ahead and split up. They were relied on to manage themselves and keep Night and Fog from readily escaping.
Weaver waited outside with Vista. The girl was warping space around the building which made things a little annoying.
It was actually easier to leap from the highest building and land on the roof. Jarring, but not that much of an obstacle. Dusk and Dawn waited outside and loosely in sight at the corner of a building.
That would fool anyone for a little while.
Nanku entered the building alone. She went down the steps leading from the roof and didn't find anyone barring her path. Throughout the building, people were moving in large groups. The security was clearly damaged. Many of the obstacles that prevented her swarms from reaching halls or corridors were damaged or cracked.
They had an expansive basement. Several floors extended into the ground under her feet.
There was a lot of smoke below.
Assault and Battery were already going that way. Miss Militia's team was going down a central stairway and there were teams of men with guns set up at choke points. Others were evacuating unarmed men and women. Directing them around damaged halls or the fire.
Nanku found Night near the bottom. Her swarm moved toward her but until they filtered through the building she only had a few bugs to explore the area.
A long hall. A few men and women with their wrists bound behind their backs. They didn't look willing but Nanku supposed they were hostages. Along the length of the hall were several sealed rooms with only a single way in or out. Only one of the rooms had an occupant. A thin girl with long hair.
Iron Rain.
They'd already reached her… That seemed quick.
Nanku had only descended three floors from the roof when Fog somehow got the room open.
Night rushed inside and Iron Rain hugged her desperately. Almost enough to forget they were Nazis.
The would-be rescuers wasted little time. They ushered Iron Rain from the room and got their hostages moving with the threat of a gun. Then Night began throwing smoke grenades into their path.
The beast appeared in the obscuration and Nanku remembered. Night was fast. Strong. Sharp.
She seemed to heal whenever she switched from one form or the other. And it seemed to be triggered by whether or not she could be seen. Nanku kept that in mind.
She stopped at an intersection and let a group of armed and armored men pass by. One paused and Nanku slipped around a corner to hide in a small alcove. The man looked down the hall.
He had a helmet on with a visor.
Were they still using those things to see through her cloak? Annoying.
The man probably caught her from the corner of his eye but on seeing an empty hall he followed when one of the others shouted at him.
Nanku slipped behind them and forced a door to a stairway open. She descended with her eyes fixed on Night and Fog.
The Nazis cut through the first group to try and stop them like butter. Battery came up behind them and struck, but Fog turned to fog. Night swung back with several bladed limbs, her body obscured by the smoke swirling around her. Others shielded Iron Rain and moved her along.
She hadn't used her power once since being released.
She moved stiffly.
Confused.
Assault came from the other side of the hall and Night wiped out to strike him while Fog reformed enough to shoot a gun. Battery darted back and Assault began talking about a Truce.
There was a pause in the fight.
Nanku was certain only she noticed, thanks to a fly stuck to Iron Rain's sweater. The girl was pushed by night into a side hall and Fog formed his head. He gave her instructions and told her to escape.
Iron Rain hesitated, but Fog urged her on and took one of the hostages close in hand.
She was a woman. Roughly the same size as the girl he was trying to save.
They were Nazis, but Nanku respected the choice. Iron Rain—Aster--was clearly more important to them than anything else. The impression of Night and Fog she'd gathered was that of murderous marauders.
Nanku supposed even they had someone they loved, and they loved her enough to do one good thing.
Once Iron Rain began moving, Fog pulled a fire alarm.
That set the whole building off.
Kid Win, Nanku guessed. The building couldn't possibly be so poorly designed as to go wild when the fire alarm was pulled. Flashing lights. Flickering sirens. Electric doors opening and closing.
Nanku used it to her own advantage.
She quickened her pace and began taking flights of stairs in whole jumps.
With her mask, she looked through the halls and corridors. Rain's route was easy to predict. Out of the way and avoiding any path fighters might use to intercept Night and Fog. Those two were talking to Assault and Battery—mostly Fog and Assault did the speaking.
Rain kept running.
The sprinkler system sparked and water began to shower through the whole building. Nanku's bugs were disrupted and she switched her mask's mode.
Nanku stepped into the girl's path.
Iron Rain stumbled back from her and fell onto her back.
Nanku stepped into the hall and turned. She walked through the shower of water quenching the fire. It rolled off her cloak. Flickered the system and sent bolts of energy coursing over her form.
Iron Rain really was a child.
For all her power, and all her apparent age, Iron Rain shook in her prison clothes and scrambled back until she fell.
Nanku stood over her and glowered.
"The thinker," she said. "How do I find her?"
Maybe the girl knew nothing.
Maybe she knew something.
Whatever she knew, she had to actually speak to reveal it. She shook too much. She'd bite her tongue off before she spoke.
Nanku reached down and grabbed her by the neck.
"Get up."
She pulled and lifted Iron Rain to her feet.
"Stop shaking."
Nanku set her atop her feet and growled.
"Stop whimpering!"
Iron Rain stilled.
Good. That was a start.
Nanku eased back, loosening her grip but only enough to be gentle rather than rough.
"Tell me," Nanku said in slow and even words. "Where. Is. The thinker?"
"I—I don't know."
Iron Rain was hoarse as she spoke. Water ran down her face and the only emotion was fear. Pure and blinding fear. Nanku's annoyance died.
A memory came to her.
The look of a terrified little girl looking death in its red visor.
In an instant, Nanku's grip loosened. Her grip. She tilted her head and looked Iron Rain—Aster, over.
"She will kill everyone," Nanku said firmly. "Tell me where to find her."
Rain didn't reply.
She was too afraid.
Nanku sighed.
Taking the phone Tattletale had provided, she pressed the first button and lifted it to her ear.
"Where did you go?" Tattletale asked.
"Tell Night and Fog that if they help, I will ensure Iron Rain's escape."
"… Can we back up and—"
"Tell them and tell me where to find the teleporting man."
"Strider? Wait—Seriously, back—"
"Now. Building to the west."
Nanku pulled Aster behind her and started walking.
Not so different from a decade before, when a giant carried Taylor Hebert away.
Nanku kept her promise. Bugs struggled to move and fly while water flooded the building. Many drowned. She kept enough alive to track patrols. Groups of people. All of them.
Circumventing any interception wasn't hard.
Night and Fog had clearly intended her to go one way. Whatever they'd triggered in the building's security it opened and closed several doors and locked them. There was a mostly cleared path out a side door. From there an alley and from there Nanku wasn't sure.
Maybe they intended to meet Aster outside before she ran into the people surrounding the building.
Nanku went a different way.
She hauled Iron Rain up the stairs and up some more. Then came the hard part.
"Don't fuss."
Nanku grabbed Iron Rain and lifted her. The girl jerked and flailed. She yelped and started to beg Nanku not to hurt her.
"Silence."
She shut up.
"Arms around me."
She obeyed, cradled against Nanku's back with her arms around her shoulders.
Nanku balanced the girl and readied herself.
She ran.
"What—" Iron Rain looked forward. "Wait!"
Nanku kicked off the edge of the roof and jumped. Her wrist blades shot out and she extended a spear.
Both pierced the wall of the neck building and Nanku's arms strained as gravity tried to drag her down. She grunted and strained. Nanku kicked one foot hard into the building and pushed. Iron Rain was paralyzed into stillness. That did help.
Nanku climbed the side of the building slowly at first, but then quickly. One arm over the other. Pushing with one foot and then the other.
She reached the top soon enough and pulled herself over the side.
Strider stood waiting, arms crossed and a confused set to his lips. He wore a costume of blue like a long coat and a mask that covered the top half of his face. Tattletale said he was neither a hero nor a villain. A 'rogue' who did things for money
Whatever.
"Nice climb?" he asked.
He jerked as Dusk and Dawn flew to Nanku's flanks. Iron Rain turned stiff as stone.
"Take me back," Nanku demanded.
He looked at Iron Rain. "I do a lot of things, but one thing I don't do is help fugitives escap—"
His phone donged and he looked at it quickly.
For about a second.
He put it away and straightened. "So, Newton?"
"Wherever."
Nanku set Iron Rain down and straightened the shaking girl.
Strider's power was weird. Blue and disorienting. Nanku jolted and then she wasn't on the roof anymore. She was in an empty lot filled with potholes and two rusting cars.
Dusk and Dawn took off to hide in the night sky.
"I'm not going any further," Strider said.
Nanku didn't care. She grabbed Iron Rain and started pulling the girl away. She called Tattletale again and said that she'd removed Iron Rain from the city.
"Night and Fog are backing down," Tattletale revealed. "Your mom is talking to them via phone now. They say they shot Evil-Me when they were done with her but it sounds like they didn't double tap properly."
Figured.
"And," Tattletale continued, "I can't find Rune."
"The one that escaped me?"
"She was smart enough to never fight you. Girl is a machine for making bad life choices, but she's not completely stupid… So I assumed. I wouldn't put it past Evil Me to get her to find the eggs and maybe…"
Nanku could imagine.
She needed to be quick. "I'll call back."
Nanku dragged Iron Rain away. Strider left of his own accord. There wasn't time to screw around.
Turning on Rain, Nanku advanced and the girl screamed. She fell back and covered her head shaking.
"Tell me about the…"
Damn it.
Nanku looked down at her and it was pointless. This child plotted her mother's murder? Had she been this pathetic the entire time?
Crouching over her, Nanku breathed and tapped at her head.
"Look at me… Aster."
The girl stiffened.
"Look up," Nanku commanded.
She did.
"Where is the thinker?"
"Who?"
"The thinker!"
Aster recoiled at her tone
Damn it.
"You tried to kill my mother. You blame her for what happened to your mother. Fine. Do that." Not that Nanku would let her. "The thinker who helped you? She is going to kill everyone. Everyone, Aster. She has a weapon she cannot control and she will unleash it just because she can."
Aster's shaking slowed. She was listening. Nanku's biometric scans of her confirmed it. She reacted to her words.
She had the girl's attention.
"I need to find her. She has to be stopped."
Aster looked up once but quickly looked away.
"Um."
"Tell me." Nanku softened her tone as best she could, remembering for a moment what it was like to be alone and afraid. Terrified beyond all reason. She'd forgotten. "I have to know, Aster, or there will be countless just like us."
That got her attention.
"Us?" she asked.
Nanku scowled behind her mask. "We died. And we came back. But we can't go back."
The girl paled and her shaking eyes focused. "I don't know. I—Sarah only came to me. I never went to her."
"Night and Fog found her."
"There was a location, but she said to never go there."
She wouldn't still be there. No way… And if Nanku had to guess the place was probably some kind of trap. Tattletale and her mother were smart enough to figure that out.
This wouldn't work.
Nanku sighed.
Aster had calmed, but she looked like a lost fucking puppy.
"Follow."
Actually moving her was hard.
Dusk and Dawn could fly. Nanku all but had to drag Aster around. Fortunately, she mostly did whatever Nanku told her to do.
Like, get on a bus.
Nanku changed into plain clothes and stuffed her equipment into a bag. The drive was agonizing. Too many people staring and wondering. Aster couldn't walk around with the clothes she'd had on. The letters literally spelled 'PRT' and 'Prisoner.' Nanku had to steal a sweater for her to wear but it didn't fit and she looked ragged and worn down in the light.
The ride at least was short.
Once they got off in the right city, Nanku marched her to the kennel.
Colt was outside on lookout and raised her head as Nanku approached. The six dogs around her were guarded until a breeze blew Nanku's scent their way.
Dusk and Dawn landed and skittered over the familiar ground.
Colt looked at Aster curiously. "Who's she?"
"Stray," Nanku answered.
"More the merrier."
Aster was reaching for one of the dogs when Nanku grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside.
"Hurt anyone and you die," Nanku threatened.
Aster bowed her head sheepishly and murmured something.
Cassie was watching TV. Another vapid reality—Cartoon?
"See, the funny part"—she said to some other girl—"is that Chris McClane is a total psychopath who just likes seeing people suffer."
"So… Reality TV?"
"Exactly!"
"Where is Bitch?" Nanku asked as she approached.
Cassie turned. "Oh hey. Nanku's back." She leaned over and looked curiously at Aster. "Who is that?"
"Watch her."
Nanku sat Aster on the couch. Cartoons were good for children. That would occupy her while Nanku kept an eye with bugs.
"Where's Bitch?" Nanku already knew but she asked anyway.
"Napping," Cassie answered. "We got the warning from TT. Biter and Horse are looking around to be sure and Colt is on watch, but I don't think Bitchtale is coming after us."
Bitchtale.
That was funny.
Nanku turned and went through the halls toward a room at the back.
A dozen dogs sat along the hall watching guard. They let Nanku pass with sniffs and happy yapps. Not too loud.
In the room beyond, Bitch lay in a tangle of sheets with Brutus and Angelica. Both dogs gave Nanku a cursory look. They didn't stop her from crouching and exhaling in relief.
For some reason, she'd been unable to push it from her mind. Tattletale and her mother's logic made sense. Bitch's group was too large. Bitch herself too protected. It would be hard to target her with one of the R'ka.
All the same.
Nanku found old memories surging to the surface again, and the idea of Bitch suffering the fate of all the kids at camp…
It was good to see her.
Nanku's eyes fluttered.
She pondered how long it had been since she slept right before face-planting on Bitch's floor.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Truce 9.4
Little Hunter
She rarely dreamed, but when she did it started the same way.
Forests and running. A thousand different night skies over her head. Landscapes and vistas from dozens of worlds. Wind bracing her face and the heat of the sun in her bones.
Freedom.
Liberation from locked windows, closed doors, and poisoned embraces. Tight hands on her shoulders and arms around her back like iron bars. They hadn't always been that way. They'd been warm once, and comforting. Protection, not incarceration.
There were no bars under an open sky and amid wild woods.
Only her and what she could give and take for herself.
She controlled her fate. No one else.
She chased myriad creatures. Stalked them. Laid traps. Studied to know their habits. Grew her own abilities. Protected her own life and faced death without fear. There was so much power in that.
And she drove her fist toward her target, the blades cutting through flesh as she made her kill.
Her father's eyes looked back at her. Milk spilled over her feet and flowed through the cabin.
The boy with sandy hair clawed at the wood, screaming, and pleading for help. Cold black fingers closed over his face and dragged him into the night. A girl tried to run, hand outstretched. The black limbs ripped through the floor and dragged her beneath while the milk spilled into the whole and drowned her.
Nanku stepped back while her father's corpse fell and found Taylor there.
Under a bed. Shaking and covering her mouth and wanting nothing but an iron cage to surround and protect her. Trapped, realizing her mother had been right. The world was terrible and frightening and she never should have left home.
Nanku didn't remember Taylor breaking but she felt it.
Hiding did nothing.
The terrors of the world didn't vanish because she tried to shut herself away.
No barrier was eternal.
The serpents came for her, no matter how she wished them to stay away. And she stabbed and kept stabbing and stabbing while burning blood, claws, and spiked tails slid across her skin. She kept stabbing even when the hand grabbed her throat and wrenched her into the air. She kicked and flailed, wild and afraid.
Nanku squeezed Taylor's throat and squeezed and squeezed and willed the stupid, scared, broken little girl to just disappear and stop haunting her dreams.
Bitch restrained her thrashing.
Dusk and Dawn chortled beyond the door. Their wings fluttered and they watched the room beyond for danger with Brutus and Sunny. The kennel was quiet despite the rising sun. The dogs slept and the people too. Aster was in a bed with Cassie and Colt and five dogs surrounding them in quiet slumber.
Nanku held herself still.
Sweat ran down her face and soaked the bed. Her muscles shook and her legs twitched. Bitch's arms tightened, squeezing her close.
Nanku turned.
If Bitch was awake, she didn't show it. There was no response to Nanku clinging to her and shaking as her heart thundered in her chest and unfamiliar heat filled her skin. She must have woken at some point. Nanku's armor was in the corner and she was in the bed instead of on the floor.
Her arms squeezed tighter.
Nanku couldn't remember the last time she'd been hugged and felt safe instead of terrified. Pe'dte didn't hug. It wasn't her way.
And Nanku never realized how desperately she wanted to be touched by someone.
She was still tired.
When she next woke Bitch was dragging her out of the bed. Nanku stumbled and blinked. First, she swept the building and surrounding woods with a swarm. It had built up over the night. Growing in size and intensity, though some of the bugs had eaten one another while she slept. A lot in plain terms. Technically.
"Time," Nanku asked.
"Bath time," Bitch replied.
She lifted and Bitch shuffled her along. Nanku didn't notice when the sheet was pulled off. She was still tired.
Nanku stumbled blearily into the shower. Bitch held her upright and got the water started.
The splash of heat woke her and the steam soothed tense muscles. She'd been living out of cramped rooms and slipping in and out of buildings for weeks. It felt like ages ago after the rush to find the egg, but it was only a few—
"The egg." Nanku started. "Have to—"
Bitch's hold was tight around Nanku's waist and prevented her from leaving without making it a contest.
"Tattletale called," she said. "No egg. Said to call when you woke up."
Nanku frowned and looked down at herself. And at Bitch.
"I'm up," she said.
"Been weeks. Probably too late."
…
She was probably right.
Nanku couldn't know for sure when the other Tattletale found the egg, but it had to be far enough back. She might have already released the R'ka. Somewhere contained—not that it would stay that way—where any of the tracking isotopes weren't detectable.
That meant an outbreak was already starting.
Worse, someone wanted to help it get along.
"Can't stand here," Nanku mumbled. "I'm clean."
"Use soap," Bitch replied. "You stink."
Nanku sniffed, but she only smelled wet dog.
Bitch grabbed a bar of floral-smelling animal fat and pushed it to Nanku's chest.
Nanku fumbled with Bitch's hand to grab the bar and at some point, they were both holding it before it slipped from their fingers.
They frowned.
The damn bar was perfectly balanced.
One slip and it would fall.
Nanku worked her other hand up and pinched the bar from the top.
"Is Cassie here?" Bitch asked.
In the bath? "No."
She was still asleep.
"Good."
"Why?"
"She'd make something out of nothing."
Nanku's brow rose as she took the bar. "What?"
"She thinks you're interested."
"In what?"
"Me."
Nanku glanced down.
They were still holding hands.
"Why?"
Bitch scoffed. "You're the one stalking me."
She said the words in jest.
Nanku stiffened.
She wasn't stalking Bitch. That was absurd… Absurd…
Was she? No. Why would she? The only reason to stalk anyone and not kill them for the effort was to find a mate and Nanku clearly couldn't mate with Bitch. She couldn't mate with anyone she knew.
So why would mating matter in her considerations?
No. The Yautja didn't have 'love.' Not like humans. Couples only stayed together long enough to have a child or two. Maybe more if the first few were very promising, but it was a fleeting thing. 'Hot and fast' Pe'dte had explained the one and only time Nanku asked and received an entirely too lengthy explanation.
Pe'dte's children were all male. Nanku got the feeling she'd never had a daughter to talk to about it so she overloaded Nanku despite both of them knowing that was never going to be part of her life.
…
So why limit herself at all to Yautja attitudes on partnership? She had considered the idea of having sex while on Earth. Just once to see what it was like. But that meant finding someone and Nanku didn't really know how to do that.
Didn't matter. Bitch was female.
…
And human females coupled with other human females sometimes. She'd not considered that option. Not really. How did that even work? Did human females pursue each other the same way a male might? No. Stalking was 'creepy' on Earth. Taylor had been warned about it when she was young while her mother feared everything.
Except she was raised by Pe'dte and she'd understood why Grix followed Jaska around that one time. She also understood when she found him beaten bloody when she turned down his advances.
Bitch hadn't beaten her. If anything, her tone seemed to encourage Nanku's 'stalking.' But she couldn't possibly mean it that way.
This was confusing.
Nanku didn't like it. It was stupid. That couldn't be how Bitch understood anything and until she said what she said Nanku hadn't given it thought. She liked Bitch. Bitch was strong and firm and she didn't let anyone tell her what to do or how to think. Those were great things and Nanku liked them but she didn't—The was stupid.
She should just say something.
Clear the air.
Tentatively, Nanku squeezed Bitch's hand. Which she was still holding.
And then her damned mouth opened.
"We only stalk females we want to couple with."
Nanku paled.
She was bad at some things. Basic human interactions were confusing. She could admit that. She didn't quite 'get' people anymore. If anyone did.
And that was the absolute worst way to say anything.
Bitch choked a laugh. It was far and away the most unnatural thing Nanku had ever seen her do.
"Stalk?" she asked.
"Yes…"
"What if you're not interested."
Nanku tensed. "The male gets thrown into a wall. Or off a cliff. If he's lucky."
She choked on another laugh. "You're not male."
…
What did that mean?
"What does that mean?"
Bitch didn't answer.
Nanku became concerned, which was a harsher thing than she ever expected. She hardly needed anyone's approval outside her clan. Not even Bitch's. But she still wanted…
She wanted…
Shit.
"I—"
"Ask if you want to," Bitch said.
Nanku strained to know how to respond to that. How did humans initiate sex? Was it different if they were both women? Did Bitch want a skull or something? A hide? Something nice or something rough? She was overthinking this. Or not thinking about it enough?
Wait, did she want to? "Want to what?"
Bitch scoffed and released her. Nanku was alert enough to stand on her own legs.
"You asked," Bitch said. "Ask clearer."
She scrubbed her hair with soap, cleaned her pits, and left.
Nanku took some time to admire the tiles. For a building that seemed somewhat abandoned when Bitch moved in, the grout still looked new.
"Stupid," she chastised herself.
She turned the water off and got out. There were tiles stacked by the door and Nanku dried off while she went back to Bitch's room and found clothes set out for her. They weren't Bitch's or Cassie's. They fit her.
Did they get clothes in case she came back?
In the kitchen, the big man named Biter was cooking at a stove. He wore an apron with a heart on it and the word 'chef' underneath.
There were three different pans sizzling and the rest of Bitch's people were at the table surrounded by dogs. Including Bitch. Fully dressed in a plain shirt and jeans.
Aster shot to her feet as Nanku entered. Her clothes had been changed and her hair was a mess. For some reason, she grabbed onto Colt as she stood.
Colt seemed as surprised as Nanku.
"Sit down," Nanku said.
Aster did.
"Wow," Cassie exclaimed.
Nanku huffed and took a seat. She didn't look at Bitch. Who was sitting right next to her. It was the only open seat.
"Bacon or sausage?" Biter asked.
"Don't care," Nanku answered.
"Bacon then."
Cassie's brow rose while Nanku sat.
Bitch brought out a phone while they sat.
She pressed a button rather than dialed and the phone rang.
Naturally Tattletale answered. "Bitch. I take it Nanku is up?"
"She's up."
"Catch up then. We checked the location Night and Fog gave us. Surprise surprise there was nothing, but someone was using it at least a week ago. I've talked to Aster. Nothing turning up there, but Night and Fog are willing to cooperate so long as she's somewhere safe."
"Yey," Cassie groaned. "Working with Nazis."
"S-Class shit is S-Class shit," Tattletale replied. "That they both have perfect powers for dealing with the crawlies is just a bonus."
Nanku decided to take the distraction.
"What about the drone?" Nanku asked.
Tattletale didn't immediately answer. "Did something—"
"Now," Nanku demanded.
"Fine. Fine. The main thing we got from the drone was that the range on it isn't that big. Two miles tops. So somewhere in the city. It's made by Toybox. We're trying to get them to talk to us now but I doubt it'll tell us much more than how many of the things Evil Me has."
"Nothing, then."
Damn it.
Nanku rose and went to Bitch's room again. She found her computer and mask and checked both.
Nothing.
With a scowl, Nanku returned and said, "My tracking may be useless. The egg could have been hatched by now."
"You tracked that corpse."
"The isotope used to track them is on the eggs. It was transferred."
"Then these things could already be multiplying."
"They can't be many." They'd have started revealing themselves by now.
"We can still try to track Evil Me," Tattletale said.
Biter began dishing out plates to the table. He didn't seem to care about the conversation at all. Most of the room was quiet. Listening absently or not at all in the case of Colt. Aster listened intently with wide and confused eyes.
"We did get a picture of her," Tattletale continued. "Traffic cameras. Go figure. Only came up when the PRT really started digging so three cheers for the white hats."
"Can't you still find the egg?" Bitch asked softly.
Nanku shook her head. "Special materials can hide it."
"Hasn't shown by now," Tattletale mused, "probably won't. And she taunted us by leaving that corpse. What kind of materials."
"Anything that would stop trace radiation. Exotic sorts. Nothing on Earth's periodic table."
"… That's an odd way of putting it."
Nanku set her jaw and closed her eyes. It wouldn't matter if the planet became a giant hive. "It would be odd materials."
"Toybox," her mother said. "Brokers. We can track that and we have a time frame."
"Evil-Me couldn't have known about this before she found the egg," Tattletale said. "So we're maybe looking at a one-month period. This is S-class. We can lean on everyone."
"What about Endbringer shelters?" The voice was Assault's. "Aren't those basically made for nuclear fallout, except, you know. Endbringer?"
There was a brief silence.
"Night and Fog said she was using an Endbringer shelter as a base," Weaver said.
"That one's a dud now, but obviously." Tattletale tapped a finger against something. "There's maybe twenty of those in Brockton Bay that were decommissioned but not dismantled now?"
"It's the third place we'd look," Battery noted.
"She must plan on us finding these things eventually. She's probably not even there anymore, but that's fine. It's these creatures we need to stop."
"What about disappearances," Nanku proposed. "People going missing."
"People go missing in a city like Brockton Bay every day," Miss Militia said.
"Abnormal patterns," Nanku pressed.
"I can check on that." The voice was new. A woman's but it sounded slightly off.
"Who is that?" Nanku asked.
"I am Dragon. Hello, Huntress. I'd say it's a pleasure but… Circumstances."
Nanku huffed and looked at Bitch.
"Big-time hero," Bitch said. "She's Canadian."
"She's the one who found the pictures," Tattletale added. "We still have a chance of tracking Evil Me down. Problem is it'll take time and we might not have much now."
Nanku thought. "You have a picture?"
"Hm? Yeah. Bad one but with how many cameras there are these days it's basically impossible not to be caught on one at least once."
"Show me."
The picture came through a moment later. It was hard to see on a phone's screen. A grainy bluish image of a street. The girl—if it was a girl—was misshapen. Thin stunted legs twisted the wrong way. One arm longer than the other. A hunched back and a face with a lump on one side. Despite that, her face was more or less Tattletale's face. Nanku had seen it enough times to recognize her.
The girl however used a wheelchair to move. One controlled with a stick.
Nanku examined the image closely and warred with herself.
There might be a way to find Tattletale's clone.
It depended on how Rose's power worked.
***
The two people who guessed where this was going at the start get a cookie XD
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
She rarely dreamed, but when she did it started the same way.
Forests and running. A thousand different night skies over her head. Landscapes and vistas from dozens of worlds. Wind bracing her face and the heat of the sun in her bones.
Freedom.
Liberation from locked windows, closed doors, and poisoned embraces. Tight hands on her shoulders and arms around her back like iron bars. They hadn't always been that way. They'd been warm once, and comforting. Protection, not incarceration.
There were no bars under an open sky and amid wild woods.
Only her and what she could give and take for herself.
She controlled her fate. No one else.
She chased myriad creatures. Stalked them. Laid traps. Studied to know their habits. Grew her own abilities. Protected her own life and faced death without fear. There was so much power in that.
And she drove her fist toward her target, the blades cutting through flesh as she made her kill.
Her father's eyes looked back at her. Milk spilled over her feet and flowed through the cabin.
The boy with sandy hair clawed at the wood, screaming, and pleading for help. Cold black fingers closed over his face and dragged him into the night. A girl tried to run, hand outstretched. The black limbs ripped through the floor and dragged her beneath while the milk spilled into the whole and drowned her.
Nanku stepped back while her father's corpse fell and found Taylor there.
Under a bed. Shaking and covering her mouth and wanting nothing but an iron cage to surround and protect her. Trapped, realizing her mother had been right. The world was terrible and frightening and she never should have left home.
Nanku didn't remember Taylor breaking but she felt it.
Hiding did nothing.
The terrors of the world didn't vanish because she tried to shut herself away.
No barrier was eternal.
The serpents came for her, no matter how she wished them to stay away. And she stabbed and kept stabbing and stabbing while burning blood, claws, and spiked tails slid across her skin. She kept stabbing even when the hand grabbed her throat and wrenched her into the air. She kicked and flailed, wild and afraid.
Nanku squeezed Taylor's throat and squeezed and squeezed and willed the stupid, scared, broken little girl to just disappear and stop haunting her dreams.
Bitch restrained her thrashing.
Dusk and Dawn chortled beyond the door. Their wings fluttered and they watched the room beyond for danger with Brutus and Sunny. The kennel was quiet despite the rising sun. The dogs slept and the people too. Aster was in a bed with Cassie and Colt and five dogs surrounding them in quiet slumber.
Nanku held herself still.
Sweat ran down her face and soaked the bed. Her muscles shook and her legs twitched. Bitch's arms tightened, squeezing her close.
Nanku turned.
If Bitch was awake, she didn't show it. There was no response to Nanku clinging to her and shaking as her heart thundered in her chest and unfamiliar heat filled her skin. She must have woken at some point. Nanku's armor was in the corner and she was in the bed instead of on the floor.
Her arms squeezed tighter.
Nanku couldn't remember the last time she'd been hugged and felt safe instead of terrified. Pe'dte didn't hug. It wasn't her way.
And Nanku never realized how desperately she wanted to be touched by someone.
She was still tired.
When she next woke Bitch was dragging her out of the bed. Nanku stumbled and blinked. First, she swept the building and surrounding woods with a swarm. It had built up over the night. Growing in size and intensity, though some of the bugs had eaten one another while she slept. A lot in plain terms. Technically.
"Time," Nanku asked.
"Bath time," Bitch replied.
She lifted and Bitch shuffled her along. Nanku didn't notice when the sheet was pulled off. She was still tired.
Nanku stumbled blearily into the shower. Bitch held her upright and got the water started.
The splash of heat woke her and the steam soothed tense muscles. She'd been living out of cramped rooms and slipping in and out of buildings for weeks. It felt like ages ago after the rush to find the egg, but it was only a few—
"The egg." Nanku started. "Have to—"
Bitch's hold was tight around Nanku's waist and prevented her from leaving without making it a contest.
"Tattletale called," she said. "No egg. Said to call when you woke up."
Nanku frowned and looked down at herself. And at Bitch.
"I'm up," she said.
"Been weeks. Probably too late."
…
She was probably right.
Nanku couldn't know for sure when the other Tattletale found the egg, but it had to be far enough back. She might have already released the R'ka. Somewhere contained—not that it would stay that way—where any of the tracking isotopes weren't detectable.
That meant an outbreak was already starting.
Worse, someone wanted to help it get along.
"Can't stand here," Nanku mumbled. "I'm clean."
"Use soap," Bitch replied. "You stink."
Nanku sniffed, but she only smelled wet dog.
Bitch grabbed a bar of floral-smelling animal fat and pushed it to Nanku's chest.
Nanku fumbled with Bitch's hand to grab the bar and at some point, they were both holding it before it slipped from their fingers.
They frowned.
The damn bar was perfectly balanced.
One slip and it would fall.
Nanku worked her other hand up and pinched the bar from the top.
"Is Cassie here?" Bitch asked.
In the bath? "No."
She was still asleep.
"Good."
"Why?"
"She'd make something out of nothing."
Nanku's brow rose as she took the bar. "What?"
"She thinks you're interested."
"In what?"
"Me."
Nanku glanced down.
They were still holding hands.
"Why?"
Bitch scoffed. "You're the one stalking me."
She said the words in jest.
Nanku stiffened.
She wasn't stalking Bitch. That was absurd… Absurd…
Was she? No. Why would she? The only reason to stalk anyone and not kill them for the effort was to find a mate and Nanku clearly couldn't mate with Bitch. She couldn't mate with anyone she knew.
So why would mating matter in her considerations?
No. The Yautja didn't have 'love.' Not like humans. Couples only stayed together long enough to have a child or two. Maybe more if the first few were very promising, but it was a fleeting thing. 'Hot and fast' Pe'dte had explained the one and only time Nanku asked and received an entirely too lengthy explanation.
Pe'dte's children were all male. Nanku got the feeling she'd never had a daughter to talk to about it so she overloaded Nanku despite both of them knowing that was never going to be part of her life.
…
So why limit herself at all to Yautja attitudes on partnership? She had considered the idea of having sex while on Earth. Just once to see what it was like. But that meant finding someone and Nanku didn't really know how to do that.
Didn't matter. Bitch was female.
…
And human females coupled with other human females sometimes. She'd not considered that option. Not really. How did that even work? Did human females pursue each other the same way a male might? No. Stalking was 'creepy' on Earth. Taylor had been warned about it when she was young while her mother feared everything.
Except she was raised by Pe'dte and she'd understood why Grix followed Jaska around that one time. She also understood when she found him beaten bloody when she turned down his advances.
Bitch hadn't beaten her. If anything, her tone seemed to encourage Nanku's 'stalking.' But she couldn't possibly mean it that way.
This was confusing.
Nanku didn't like it. It was stupid. That couldn't be how Bitch understood anything and until she said what she said Nanku hadn't given it thought. She liked Bitch. Bitch was strong and firm and she didn't let anyone tell her what to do or how to think. Those were great things and Nanku liked them but she didn't—The was stupid.
She should just say something.
Clear the air.
Tentatively, Nanku squeezed Bitch's hand. Which she was still holding.
And then her damned mouth opened.
"We only stalk females we want to couple with."
Nanku paled.
She was bad at some things. Basic human interactions were confusing. She could admit that. She didn't quite 'get' people anymore. If anyone did.
And that was the absolute worst way to say anything.
Bitch choked a laugh. It was far and away the most unnatural thing Nanku had ever seen her do.
"Stalk?" she asked.
"Yes…"
"What if you're not interested."
Nanku tensed. "The male gets thrown into a wall. Or off a cliff. If he's lucky."
She choked on another laugh. "You're not male."
…
What did that mean?
"What does that mean?"
Bitch didn't answer.
Nanku became concerned, which was a harsher thing than she ever expected. She hardly needed anyone's approval outside her clan. Not even Bitch's. But she still wanted…
She wanted…
Shit.
"I—"
"Ask if you want to," Bitch said.
Nanku strained to know how to respond to that. How did humans initiate sex? Was it different if they were both women? Did Bitch want a skull or something? A hide? Something nice or something rough? She was overthinking this. Or not thinking about it enough?
Wait, did she want to? "Want to what?"
Bitch scoffed and released her. Nanku was alert enough to stand on her own legs.
"You asked," Bitch said. "Ask clearer."
She scrubbed her hair with soap, cleaned her pits, and left.
Nanku took some time to admire the tiles. For a building that seemed somewhat abandoned when Bitch moved in, the grout still looked new.
"Stupid," she chastised herself.
She turned the water off and got out. There were tiles stacked by the door and Nanku dried off while she went back to Bitch's room and found clothes set out for her. They weren't Bitch's or Cassie's. They fit her.
Did they get clothes in case she came back?
In the kitchen, the big man named Biter was cooking at a stove. He wore an apron with a heart on it and the word 'chef' underneath.
There were three different pans sizzling and the rest of Bitch's people were at the table surrounded by dogs. Including Bitch. Fully dressed in a plain shirt and jeans.
Aster shot to her feet as Nanku entered. Her clothes had been changed and her hair was a mess. For some reason, she grabbed onto Colt as she stood.
Colt seemed as surprised as Nanku.
"Sit down," Nanku said.
Aster did.
"Wow," Cassie exclaimed.
Nanku huffed and took a seat. She didn't look at Bitch. Who was sitting right next to her. It was the only open seat.
"Bacon or sausage?" Biter asked.
"Don't care," Nanku answered.
"Bacon then."
Cassie's brow rose while Nanku sat.
Bitch brought out a phone while they sat.
She pressed a button rather than dialed and the phone rang.
Naturally Tattletale answered. "Bitch. I take it Nanku is up?"
"She's up."
"Catch up then. We checked the location Night and Fog gave us. Surprise surprise there was nothing, but someone was using it at least a week ago. I've talked to Aster. Nothing turning up there, but Night and Fog are willing to cooperate so long as she's somewhere safe."
"Yey," Cassie groaned. "Working with Nazis."
"S-Class shit is S-Class shit," Tattletale replied. "That they both have perfect powers for dealing with the crawlies is just a bonus."
Nanku decided to take the distraction.
"What about the drone?" Nanku asked.
Tattletale didn't immediately answer. "Did something—"
"Now," Nanku demanded.
"Fine. Fine. The main thing we got from the drone was that the range on it isn't that big. Two miles tops. So somewhere in the city. It's made by Toybox. We're trying to get them to talk to us now but I doubt it'll tell us much more than how many of the things Evil Me has."
"Nothing, then."
Damn it.
Nanku rose and went to Bitch's room again. She found her computer and mask and checked both.
Nothing.
With a scowl, Nanku returned and said, "My tracking may be useless. The egg could have been hatched by now."
"You tracked that corpse."
"The isotope used to track them is on the eggs. It was transferred."
"Then these things could already be multiplying."
"They can't be many." They'd have started revealing themselves by now.
"We can still try to track Evil Me," Tattletale said.
Biter began dishing out plates to the table. He didn't seem to care about the conversation at all. Most of the room was quiet. Listening absently or not at all in the case of Colt. Aster listened intently with wide and confused eyes.
"We did get a picture of her," Tattletale continued. "Traffic cameras. Go figure. Only came up when the PRT really started digging so three cheers for the white hats."
"Can't you still find the egg?" Bitch asked softly.
Nanku shook her head. "Special materials can hide it."
"Hasn't shown by now," Tattletale mused, "probably won't. And she taunted us by leaving that corpse. What kind of materials."
"Anything that would stop trace radiation. Exotic sorts. Nothing on Earth's periodic table."
"… That's an odd way of putting it."
Nanku set her jaw and closed her eyes. It wouldn't matter if the planet became a giant hive. "It would be odd materials."
"Toybox," her mother said. "Brokers. We can track that and we have a time frame."
"Evil-Me couldn't have known about this before she found the egg," Tattletale said. "So we're maybe looking at a one-month period. This is S-class. We can lean on everyone."
"What about Endbringer shelters?" The voice was Assault's. "Aren't those basically made for nuclear fallout, except, you know. Endbringer?"
There was a brief silence.
"Night and Fog said she was using an Endbringer shelter as a base," Weaver said.
"That one's a dud now, but obviously." Tattletale tapped a finger against something. "There's maybe twenty of those in Brockton Bay that were decommissioned but not dismantled now?"
"It's the third place we'd look," Battery noted.
"She must plan on us finding these things eventually. She's probably not even there anymore, but that's fine. It's these creatures we need to stop."
"What about disappearances," Nanku proposed. "People going missing."
"People go missing in a city like Brockton Bay every day," Miss Militia said.
"Abnormal patterns," Nanku pressed.
"I can check on that." The voice was new. A woman's but it sounded slightly off.
"Who is that?" Nanku asked.
"I am Dragon. Hello, Huntress. I'd say it's a pleasure but… Circumstances."
Nanku huffed and looked at Bitch.
"Big-time hero," Bitch said. "She's Canadian."
"She's the one who found the pictures," Tattletale added. "We still have a chance of tracking Evil Me down. Problem is it'll take time and we might not have much now."
Nanku thought. "You have a picture?"
"Hm? Yeah. Bad one but with how many cameras there are these days it's basically impossible not to be caught on one at least once."
"Show me."
The picture came through a moment later. It was hard to see on a phone's screen. A grainy bluish image of a street. The girl—if it was a girl—was misshapen. Thin stunted legs twisted the wrong way. One arm longer than the other. A hunched back and a face with a lump on one side. Despite that, her face was more or less Tattletale's face. Nanku had seen it enough times to recognize her.
The girl however used a wheelchair to move. One controlled with a stick.
Nanku examined the image closely and warred with herself.
There might be a way to find Tattletale's clone.
It depended on how Rose's power worked.
***
The two people who guessed where this was going at the start get a cookie XD
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Truce 9.5
Little Hunter
"What about her?" Bitch asked.
Nanku fixed her gauntlets onto her arms. She didn't look at Aster. She'd tagged the girl with some flies to keep an eye on her, but so far it was nearly comical how harmless Aster seemed to be. Cassie led her around the kennel and the oversized child followed her meekly. Listening and looking about frightfully.
That child had tried to murder her mother? Was everything just that thinker goading her along? Maybe imprisonment for several weeks had an impact on her. Even children could contemplate how they ended up where they were.
"Watch her," Nanku said. "Night or Fog will want her."
Bitch stared.
Nanku stared back.
"Didn't take her before," Bitch reminded.
Nanku frowned.
"Know what they are," she continued. "They won't take her."
Nanku turned her head in Aster's direction.
She didn't have time or energy for this. The R'ka had to be stopped. That was her priority. Not a cast-off orphan child with nowhere to… go…
Nanku took a breath and fixed her mask over her face. Dusk and Dawn skittered out of a side room to her side and Nanku collected bundles of venomous spiders, bees, and wasps onto their shells. The Twins could each carry a good load of smaller insects between them without much burden.
"You found her," Bitch said. "Not my problem."
"Watch her," Nanku insisted. "I'll be back."
Bitch didn't look happy, but she said nothing more on the topic.
She followed Nanku outside. Dogs ran about and plenty rushed Bitch on sight. They slowed her while Nanku continued on. Focused. Not distracted. Not. One. Bit.
Stopping in a cleared area absent any animals aside from Dusk and Dawn, Nanku drew out Tattletale's phone. She sent a message to Tattletale. Ten minutes later Strider reappeared. He looked her over and then turned his gaze to Bitch.
"Bitch," he said.
"You," Bitch replied.
"Fan. I'm a dog person."
Bitch huffed and Strider turned his attention back to Nanku. "Back to Brockton?"
Nanku stared at him, and he sighed.
"The personal side of this business just isn't what it used to be," he lamented. "Ready?"
Nanku glanced over her shoulder.
Bitch met her gaze.
…
Did she say something? Nothing? Was one worse than the other? This was awkward. Nanku didn't like it.
"Make it simple," Bitch said unprompted.
Nanku tilted her head. Bye? No that was too—Too something. Stupid. This was annoying.
"Be back later," she said.
Bitch huffed and waved her off.
There was a flash and Nanku wasted no time. Activating her cloak, she ran across the roof and jumped. The sun was setting and with the 'truce' Nanku gambled she wouldn't be shot in the knee at random. It would be best if she got to her destination before anyone noticed her.
Which was clearly asking for too much.
Nanku was about halfway to her destination when she saw Laserdream, Lady Photon, and someone she didn't recognize rise into the air and begin moving toward her. The new cape wore a blue costume with ruffled furs over her forelimbs. White in color and a cape that matched.
They approached but Nanku didn't slow.
She kept running, making as straight a line as she could while Dusk and Dawn flew at her flanks. Nanku almost made it.
Unfortunately, they could fly.
"Huntress," Laserdream called as she drifted into Nanku's path.
Nanku slowed.
Lady Photon flew up beside her daughter. The third cape took a standoffish position above, arms and legs tense in the air.
"We can see you," Laserdream insisted. "The mask upgrades Kid Win made still work. For now."
Of course they did. But that was a useful bit of information. 'For now.'
Nanku tapped her computer and her cloak peeled away.
"The Director wants to see you," Laserdream continued. "Said—"
"No."
Nanku continued on her way.
She wasn't stupid. If it was important, they could talk about it themselves. Nanku wasn't dumb and she'd gathered the Director—likely the PRT as a whole—knew something of the Yautja. Probably inevitable. Not all hunters were careful and while many no longer came to Earth there must still be enough to have caught interest.
Nanku also recalled her mother's comment about Pe'dte's pursuit of the eggs. If she knew others had to know. Nanku wasn't going to feed more details than were already getting out.
"It's not a request," the new cape said from above.
"Then don't ask." Stupid.
The women did not move to stop her. The new one spoke softly to someone. She didn't sound happy, and she looked less happy as she appeared to listen to someone.
Nanku had better things to do. If they weren't going to attack—
Rose was looking out the window by the balcony with wide eyes. Mostly she was looking at the new cape with a look of awe.
Nanku sent Dusk and Dawn ahead. She dispersed the swarms they carried. Sent the wasps and bees away and used them to carry the spiders. They tucked into various corners and spaces to wait, and Nanku ran at the edge of the roof.
Laserdream and Lady Photon watched and the other cape didn't try to stop her.
Nanku jumped and grabbed onto the balcony railing on the other side. She climbed two floors and hauled herself over.
Rose opened the door readily. Dusk and Dawn skittered inside, and Nanku followed. She glanced toward the bathroom and then checked other corners of the house. No security she hadn't previously noted and nothing she was presently concerned about.
"Do you know Rime?" she asked.
"Who?"
She pointed.
The trio outside were starting to garner attention. Rose must have used her power to notice Nanku because she was already looking as Nanku approached. Now other people were noticing but their attention was firmly fixed on the three flying women who pointedly weren't looking at Rose's apartment.
"Rose?" Vista stepped out of the bathroom. "Did I hear—"
She stopped and stared at Nanku. Then she leaned over and noticed Laserdream, Lady Photon, and Rime moving to a more discrete location in the air a few buildings away.
"One of those fucking nights," she grumbled.
There was no one else present in the apartment. Good. Vista already knew about Rose's power.
Rose grabbed her hand. "No. How do you know Rime?"
"I don't."
Nanku looked down at her sister.
She felt guilty. Rose was too young to be involved in anything like this. Too innocent.
But if Nanku didn't find the eggs, or what hatched from them, and end it quickly, Rose might not have a world to grow up in.
Dusk and Dawn moved out of sight behind the couch and settled themselves.
Vista watched them warily. "So. Why did you sneak on in?"
Nanku pulled the curtains on either side of the balcony doors closed.
She moved Rose to the side and crouched. "What do you need to find someone with your power?"
Rose blinked and Missy went stiff.
"Someone has something bad," Nanku said. "Very bad. I have to destroy it."
"You had no idea, did you?" Missy sighed. "I knew TT was spinning some bull—Lying. If you were this serious about something this bad you'd have said something way before now."
Nanku let the comment hang. Tattletale's lie was for Bitch's benefit. If others thought Nanku was trying to stop the world from ending, they'd care less about some dead Nazis. Bitch would be in less trouble for harboring her.
The lie could stand for Bitch's sake.
Nanku kept her focus on Rose. "I have to find this person."
She used the phone to find the picture. It wasn't much but if Rose could search by seeing a face—
Vista's hand grabbed the phone and covered the screen.
"No," she said firmly.
Nanku's hair whipped out as her head snapped to face the girl.
"Oh yeah. Threaten me in front of your sister. That'll fix everything."
Nanku scowled.
Rose started to speak. "But—"
"We have to find the eggs," Nanku said firmly.
"She's a kid," Vista said back. "And how do you explain this afterward, huh? Three capes just saw you come here! If you magically leave with new intel, they'll wonder how you got it."
"It won't matter if the R'ka take over a large area," Nanku replied.
The equivalent of a city block, she'd guess. If a hive that large grew, Nanku would have no way to contain an outbreak. There'd be too many over too large an area. That would take weeks to achieve, and Nanku would find the location by then. She hoped.
Best they never danced that close to the end of the planet.
"The R'ka don't stop," Nanku said. "They don't know what stop is. They're hunger and greed and they will consume everything."
"Sounds pretty bad," Vista replied. "The kind of thing you don't drag kids into it."
"The R'ka—"
Rose wiggled the phone out from between their hands and looked at the screen. How had she don—Her power worked on objects too. She wanted the phone, and she somehow got it. Just like she managed to wiggle her way out of her father holding her or Missy watching her.
She held the phone up curiously. "Why does she look like Tattletail but punched a lot."
"Rose." Missy reached for the phone. "Don—"
Nanku grabbed her wrist.
She understood. She wasn't happy. But Rose would be as dead as everyone else on the planet if something wasn't done.
"Is that enough to find her?" Nanku asked.
Rose lowered the phone and looked past Nanku. Her head turned, eyes jerking left and right as if searching for something.
After a moment, Rose grimaced. "No. I have to see her. Or see someone who sees her."
Then a picture wasn't good enough. That was so strange. Rose's power could find anyone she'd seen once anywhere, but she couldn't find someone through a picture? What was the distinction?
"I'm sorry," Rose offered sheepishly.
"Not your fault." Nanku retrieved the phone and thought. "Have you ever seen Rune before?"
"Stop," Vista snapped.
"No." Nanku looked to Rose. "Do you know who Rune is?"
Vist wrenched her hand free and tried to get between Rose and Nanku.
"What? You want her to find a dead body?"
"I've seen that already," Rose admitted.
Vista turned. "When—"
"I don't know. A lot?"
Rose tapped for the phone and Nanku gave it to her. She spelled the name incorrectly, but it still returned an image of the cape. A teen Nanku or Vista's age in a green robe with a hood.
"I've seen her before," Rose declared.
Raising her head, she looked again and fixed her eyes toward the southwest. So her power was sight-based, not name-based?
"I see her," she announced.
"Where?" Nanku asked.
"In a room." Rose pointed. "That way."
Nanku looked. "Do you know how far?"
Rose pursed her lips. "Far. I can't walk there."
"You know that?"
"Mhm."
"Are there signs? Words?"
Rose watched unblinking. "Piece of paper." She set the phone down and found a paper scribbled with math. On the side, she wrote while looking into the distance and then lifted the paper. "This."
'Motel Nine.'
So she was alive. "Is she alive?"
"Yes."
"What's she doing?"
"Watching TV."
Probably not distressed then. Did she even know anything Nanku wanted to know? Might be a waste of time, and Vista had a point. How would Nanku use this information without exposing Rose?
"She's alone?" Nanku asked.
Rose nodded.
Not enough.
She needed to find the thinker, or the…
Nanku raised her arm and tapped at her computer. Nothing. She was looking now so she'd have been warned at even the slightest signal. And she hadn't been. Still.
"Why does she look like Tattletale?" Rose asked again.
"Clone," Nanku answered absently.
Rose's head turned one way. Then her brow rose and she looked a different way.
She tugged at Nanku's netting. "I see her."
"Who?"
"The other one!"
Rose pointed. "That way. Far. Um—"
"What?" Vista gawked. "You've never seen her. How can you—"
Nanku looked in the direction Rose pointed. "A clone."
How did—Fenja and Menja had the same power. Nanku tilted her head at the thought, unsure. She didn't really have the time to care.
"Can you tell where she is?"
Rose blinked and looked harder. "In a room. With lots of computers. It's dark."
Vista sighed and her face signaled resignation. "Any pamphlets? Take out menus?"
Rose's eyes looked about and she smiled.
"Pizza Box!" she said. "Um. Little lizard with a hat. Pivo's?"
"You can't read it?" Nanku asked.
Rose flinched. "It's dark. I can't see it very good."
Nanku frowned behind her mask. "I see." She hadn't meant to snap.
Vista produced her phone. "Pizza. Lizard hat. New Hampshire."
"Oh." Rose pointed at something else only she could see. "Door dash!"
"What?" Nanku asked.
"Of course she fucking door dashes." Vista rolled her eyes. "A pizza place that doesn't deliver." She kept tapping at her phone. "Carry out then."
Nanku didn't bother chasing her down the same trail. Instead, Nanku asked her sister, "What else? What's in the room? A window?"
Rose's eyes turned. "She closed the curtains."
"Tall? Narrow?"
"Um. Tall and narrow? There's two beds."
A hotel. Nanku had seen enough of them. "How many doors?"
"Two."
Definitely a hotel.
"Anyone else in the room?"
"No."
"What's on the screens?"
"Um. Youtube. A map. Some rooms and streets."
"Can you read any of the signs? The map?"
Rose shook her head.
"Are the buildings old or new?"
"I don't know."
"Glass? Brick?"
"Rock?"
Not as helpful as Nanku wanted.
Rose diminished slightly. "I'm sorry."
"No." Nanku breathed deeply. "Nothing to be sorry for."
"Found it." Vista turned her phone out. "Lizard Larry's Pizza. Terrible name but they only have a dozen locations in New England. She must be near one of them."
She could work with that. To Rose, Nanku asked, "That direction?"
Rose nodded.
Nanku oriented herself and needed a moment to think. "South-South-west."
Vista looked at her phone. "So nowhere North or too west. That narrows it to… Four locations."
"All I need." Nanku knelt and dropped her hands on her sister's shoulders. "That's enough. You did well."
Rose smiled. "Like a hero?"
"Yes."
Vista rolled her eyes but said nothing. "How are you going to use this without telling everyone she has a power?"
"I'll lie," Nanku declared.
She started to rise, but stopped. Thinking back to the loose contentment when she woke, Nanku hugged Rose and squeezed. Dusk and Dawn scuttled past her and she rose to turn back to the door.
At a thought she turned on her heel and went the other way. Those other three were still outside waiting. They'd probably see her but Nanku could gain a head start.
She left the apartment through the front door, went down the empty hall to another, and used her knife to cut the lock. No one was inside and the space was dusty. Nothing stopped her from hurrying through with Dusk and Dawn and leaving through a different balcony door on the opposite side of the building.
Lazy Larry's Pizza. Four locations in the direction Rose indicated. 'Bitchtale' was near one of them. Nanku only needed Strider. With him to take her to the stores, she could search the surrounding areas. How far could the clone really be? Wherever she was, the egg—or its unleashed contents—must be close.
Nanku could stop everything before.
Click. Click. Click.
Climbing onto a roof, Nanku froze.
She listened.
Click. Click. Click.
Nanku's blood ran cold.
She rose but kept Dusk and Dawn hidden.
Her visor cycled rapidly. Searching. She caught only a glimpse.
Not her clan. She wasted no time considering it. Even if they'd turned back the moment they'd detected the isotope, they must still be two or three weeks away. Even if their fastest shuttles. They couldn't have come back so quickly.
But there were other clans.
Any could have detected the signal.
Whoever they were, they were careful. Knew she had a Biomask. Of course they knew. Announcing themselves while otherwise hiding…
"Hey." Laserdream flew toward her with Lady Photon and Rime. "Don't try to—"
"The Director insists," Rime said. "You need to—"
"Idiots," Nanku cursed.
Lady Photon turned her head. "Did you he—"
The metal stake flew out of the dark and struck the woman through the throat. Blood sprayed into the air. She reeled back and started to fall.
"Mom?" Laserdream asked.
"Run!" Nanku snapped.
Her plasma caster fell over her shoulder.
Two sets of red lasers cut the dark air at once.
Nanku fired and the other hunter fired back.
***
Next week might have two updates. In my tried and true tradition of not wanting to leave things on total downers so we can leave on a better note XD
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
"What about her?" Bitch asked.
Nanku fixed her gauntlets onto her arms. She didn't look at Aster. She'd tagged the girl with some flies to keep an eye on her, but so far it was nearly comical how harmless Aster seemed to be. Cassie led her around the kennel and the oversized child followed her meekly. Listening and looking about frightfully.
That child had tried to murder her mother? Was everything just that thinker goading her along? Maybe imprisonment for several weeks had an impact on her. Even children could contemplate how they ended up where they were.
"Watch her," Nanku said. "Night or Fog will want her."
Bitch stared.
Nanku stared back.
"Didn't take her before," Bitch reminded.
Nanku frowned.
"Know what they are," she continued. "They won't take her."
Nanku turned her head in Aster's direction.
She didn't have time or energy for this. The R'ka had to be stopped. That was her priority. Not a cast-off orphan child with nowhere to… go…
Nanku took a breath and fixed her mask over her face. Dusk and Dawn skittered out of a side room to her side and Nanku collected bundles of venomous spiders, bees, and wasps onto their shells. The Twins could each carry a good load of smaller insects between them without much burden.
"You found her," Bitch said. "Not my problem."
"Watch her," Nanku insisted. "I'll be back."
Bitch didn't look happy, but she said nothing more on the topic.
She followed Nanku outside. Dogs ran about and plenty rushed Bitch on sight. They slowed her while Nanku continued on. Focused. Not distracted. Not. One. Bit.
Stopping in a cleared area absent any animals aside from Dusk and Dawn, Nanku drew out Tattletale's phone. She sent a message to Tattletale. Ten minutes later Strider reappeared. He looked her over and then turned his gaze to Bitch.
"Bitch," he said.
"You," Bitch replied.
"Fan. I'm a dog person."
Bitch huffed and Strider turned his attention back to Nanku. "Back to Brockton?"
Nanku stared at him, and he sighed.
"The personal side of this business just isn't what it used to be," he lamented. "Ready?"
Nanku glanced over her shoulder.
Bitch met her gaze.
…
Did she say something? Nothing? Was one worse than the other? This was awkward. Nanku didn't like it.
"Make it simple," Bitch said unprompted.
Nanku tilted her head. Bye? No that was too—Too something. Stupid. This was annoying.
"Be back later," she said.
Bitch huffed and waved her off.
There was a flash and Nanku wasted no time. Activating her cloak, she ran across the roof and jumped. The sun was setting and with the 'truce' Nanku gambled she wouldn't be shot in the knee at random. It would be best if she got to her destination before anyone noticed her.
Which was clearly asking for too much.
Nanku was about halfway to her destination when she saw Laserdream, Lady Photon, and someone she didn't recognize rise into the air and begin moving toward her. The new cape wore a blue costume with ruffled furs over her forelimbs. White in color and a cape that matched.
They approached but Nanku didn't slow.
She kept running, making as straight a line as she could while Dusk and Dawn flew at her flanks. Nanku almost made it.
Unfortunately, they could fly.
"Huntress," Laserdream called as she drifted into Nanku's path.
Nanku slowed.
Lady Photon flew up beside her daughter. The third cape took a standoffish position above, arms and legs tense in the air.
"We can see you," Laserdream insisted. "The mask upgrades Kid Win made still work. For now."
Of course they did. But that was a useful bit of information. 'For now.'
Nanku tapped her computer and her cloak peeled away.
"The Director wants to see you," Laserdream continued. "Said—"
"No."
Nanku continued on her way.
She wasn't stupid. If it was important, they could talk about it themselves. Nanku wasn't dumb and she'd gathered the Director—likely the PRT as a whole—knew something of the Yautja. Probably inevitable. Not all hunters were careful and while many no longer came to Earth there must still be enough to have caught interest.
Nanku also recalled her mother's comment about Pe'dte's pursuit of the eggs. If she knew others had to know. Nanku wasn't going to feed more details than were already getting out.
"It's not a request," the new cape said from above.
"Then don't ask." Stupid.
The women did not move to stop her. The new one spoke softly to someone. She didn't sound happy, and she looked less happy as she appeared to listen to someone.
Nanku had better things to do. If they weren't going to attack—
Rose was looking out the window by the balcony with wide eyes. Mostly she was looking at the new cape with a look of awe.
Nanku sent Dusk and Dawn ahead. She dispersed the swarms they carried. Sent the wasps and bees away and used them to carry the spiders. They tucked into various corners and spaces to wait, and Nanku ran at the edge of the roof.
Laserdream and Lady Photon watched and the other cape didn't try to stop her.
Nanku jumped and grabbed onto the balcony railing on the other side. She climbed two floors and hauled herself over.
Rose opened the door readily. Dusk and Dawn skittered inside, and Nanku followed. She glanced toward the bathroom and then checked other corners of the house. No security she hadn't previously noted and nothing she was presently concerned about.
"Do you know Rime?" she asked.
"Who?"
She pointed.
The trio outside were starting to garner attention. Rose must have used her power to notice Nanku because she was already looking as Nanku approached. Now other people were noticing but their attention was firmly fixed on the three flying women who pointedly weren't looking at Rose's apartment.
"Rose?" Vista stepped out of the bathroom. "Did I hear—"
She stopped and stared at Nanku. Then she leaned over and noticed Laserdream, Lady Photon, and Rime moving to a more discrete location in the air a few buildings away.
"One of those fucking nights," she grumbled.
There was no one else present in the apartment. Good. Vista already knew about Rose's power.
Rose grabbed her hand. "No. How do you know Rime?"
"I don't."
Nanku looked down at her sister.
She felt guilty. Rose was too young to be involved in anything like this. Too innocent.
But if Nanku didn't find the eggs, or what hatched from them, and end it quickly, Rose might not have a world to grow up in.
Dusk and Dawn moved out of sight behind the couch and settled themselves.
Vista watched them warily. "So. Why did you sneak on in?"
Nanku pulled the curtains on either side of the balcony doors closed.
She moved Rose to the side and crouched. "What do you need to find someone with your power?"
Rose blinked and Missy went stiff.
"Someone has something bad," Nanku said. "Very bad. I have to destroy it."
"You had no idea, did you?" Missy sighed. "I knew TT was spinning some bull—Lying. If you were this serious about something this bad you'd have said something way before now."
Nanku let the comment hang. Tattletale's lie was for Bitch's benefit. If others thought Nanku was trying to stop the world from ending, they'd care less about some dead Nazis. Bitch would be in less trouble for harboring her.
The lie could stand for Bitch's sake.
Nanku kept her focus on Rose. "I have to find this person."
She used the phone to find the picture. It wasn't much but if Rose could search by seeing a face—
Vista's hand grabbed the phone and covered the screen.
"No," she said firmly.
Nanku's hair whipped out as her head snapped to face the girl.
"Oh yeah. Threaten me in front of your sister. That'll fix everything."
Nanku scowled.
Rose started to speak. "But—"
"We have to find the eggs," Nanku said firmly.
"She's a kid," Vista said back. "And how do you explain this afterward, huh? Three capes just saw you come here! If you magically leave with new intel, they'll wonder how you got it."
"It won't matter if the R'ka take over a large area," Nanku replied.
The equivalent of a city block, she'd guess. If a hive that large grew, Nanku would have no way to contain an outbreak. There'd be too many over too large an area. That would take weeks to achieve, and Nanku would find the location by then. She hoped.
Best they never danced that close to the end of the planet.
"The R'ka don't stop," Nanku said. "They don't know what stop is. They're hunger and greed and they will consume everything."
"Sounds pretty bad," Vista replied. "The kind of thing you don't drag kids into it."
"The R'ka—"
Rose wiggled the phone out from between their hands and looked at the screen. How had she don—Her power worked on objects too. She wanted the phone, and she somehow got it. Just like she managed to wiggle her way out of her father holding her or Missy watching her.
She held the phone up curiously. "Why does she look like Tattletail but punched a lot."
"Rose." Missy reached for the phone. "Don—"
Nanku grabbed her wrist.
She understood. She wasn't happy. But Rose would be as dead as everyone else on the planet if something wasn't done.
"Is that enough to find her?" Nanku asked.
Rose lowered the phone and looked past Nanku. Her head turned, eyes jerking left and right as if searching for something.
After a moment, Rose grimaced. "No. I have to see her. Or see someone who sees her."
Then a picture wasn't good enough. That was so strange. Rose's power could find anyone she'd seen once anywhere, but she couldn't find someone through a picture? What was the distinction?
"I'm sorry," Rose offered sheepishly.
"Not your fault." Nanku retrieved the phone and thought. "Have you ever seen Rune before?"
"Stop," Vista snapped.
"No." Nanku looked to Rose. "Do you know who Rune is?"
Vist wrenched her hand free and tried to get between Rose and Nanku.
"What? You want her to find a dead body?"
"I've seen that already," Rose admitted.
Vista turned. "When—"
"I don't know. A lot?"
Rose tapped for the phone and Nanku gave it to her. She spelled the name incorrectly, but it still returned an image of the cape. A teen Nanku or Vista's age in a green robe with a hood.
"I've seen her before," Rose declared.
Raising her head, she looked again and fixed her eyes toward the southwest. So her power was sight-based, not name-based?
"I see her," she announced.
"Where?" Nanku asked.
"In a room." Rose pointed. "That way."
Nanku looked. "Do you know how far?"
Rose pursed her lips. "Far. I can't walk there."
"You know that?"
"Mhm."
"Are there signs? Words?"
Rose watched unblinking. "Piece of paper." She set the phone down and found a paper scribbled with math. On the side, she wrote while looking into the distance and then lifted the paper. "This."
'Motel Nine.'
So she was alive. "Is she alive?"
"Yes."
"What's she doing?"
"Watching TV."
Probably not distressed then. Did she even know anything Nanku wanted to know? Might be a waste of time, and Vista had a point. How would Nanku use this information without exposing Rose?
"She's alone?" Nanku asked.
Rose nodded.
Not enough.
She needed to find the thinker, or the…
Nanku raised her arm and tapped at her computer. Nothing. She was looking now so she'd have been warned at even the slightest signal. And she hadn't been. Still.
"Why does she look like Tattletale?" Rose asked again.
"Clone," Nanku answered absently.
Rose's head turned one way. Then her brow rose and she looked a different way.
She tugged at Nanku's netting. "I see her."
"Who?"
"The other one!"
Rose pointed. "That way. Far. Um—"
"What?" Vista gawked. "You've never seen her. How can you—"
Nanku looked in the direction Rose pointed. "A clone."
How did—Fenja and Menja had the same power. Nanku tilted her head at the thought, unsure. She didn't really have the time to care.
"Can you tell where she is?"
Rose blinked and looked harder. "In a room. With lots of computers. It's dark."
Vista sighed and her face signaled resignation. "Any pamphlets? Take out menus?"
Rose's eyes looked about and she smiled.
"Pizza Box!" she said. "Um. Little lizard with a hat. Pivo's?"
"You can't read it?" Nanku asked.
Rose flinched. "It's dark. I can't see it very good."
Nanku frowned behind her mask. "I see." She hadn't meant to snap.
Vista produced her phone. "Pizza. Lizard hat. New Hampshire."
"Oh." Rose pointed at something else only she could see. "Door dash!"
"What?" Nanku asked.
"Of course she fucking door dashes." Vista rolled her eyes. "A pizza place that doesn't deliver." She kept tapping at her phone. "Carry out then."
Nanku didn't bother chasing her down the same trail. Instead, Nanku asked her sister, "What else? What's in the room? A window?"
Rose's eyes turned. "She closed the curtains."
"Tall? Narrow?"
"Um. Tall and narrow? There's two beds."
A hotel. Nanku had seen enough of them. "How many doors?"
"Two."
Definitely a hotel.
"Anyone else in the room?"
"No."
"What's on the screens?"
"Um. Youtube. A map. Some rooms and streets."
"Can you read any of the signs? The map?"
Rose shook her head.
"Are the buildings old or new?"
"I don't know."
"Glass? Brick?"
"Rock?"
Not as helpful as Nanku wanted.
Rose diminished slightly. "I'm sorry."
"No." Nanku breathed deeply. "Nothing to be sorry for."
"Found it." Vista turned her phone out. "Lizard Larry's Pizza. Terrible name but they only have a dozen locations in New England. She must be near one of them."
She could work with that. To Rose, Nanku asked, "That direction?"
Rose nodded.
Nanku oriented herself and needed a moment to think. "South-South-west."
Vista looked at her phone. "So nowhere North or too west. That narrows it to… Four locations."
"All I need." Nanku knelt and dropped her hands on her sister's shoulders. "That's enough. You did well."
Rose smiled. "Like a hero?"
"Yes."
Vista rolled her eyes but said nothing. "How are you going to use this without telling everyone she has a power?"
"I'll lie," Nanku declared.
She started to rise, but stopped. Thinking back to the loose contentment when she woke, Nanku hugged Rose and squeezed. Dusk and Dawn scuttled past her and she rose to turn back to the door.
At a thought she turned on her heel and went the other way. Those other three were still outside waiting. They'd probably see her but Nanku could gain a head start.
She left the apartment through the front door, went down the empty hall to another, and used her knife to cut the lock. No one was inside and the space was dusty. Nothing stopped her from hurrying through with Dusk and Dawn and leaving through a different balcony door on the opposite side of the building.
Lazy Larry's Pizza. Four locations in the direction Rose indicated. 'Bitchtale' was near one of them. Nanku only needed Strider. With him to take her to the stores, she could search the surrounding areas. How far could the clone really be? Wherever she was, the egg—or its unleashed contents—must be close.
Nanku could stop everything before.
Click. Click. Click.
Climbing onto a roof, Nanku froze.
She listened.
Click. Click. Click.
Nanku's blood ran cold.
She rose but kept Dusk and Dawn hidden.
Her visor cycled rapidly. Searching. She caught only a glimpse.
Not her clan. She wasted no time considering it. Even if they'd turned back the moment they'd detected the isotope, they must still be two or three weeks away. Even if their fastest shuttles. They couldn't have come back so quickly.
But there were other clans.
Any could have detected the signal.
Whoever they were, they were careful. Knew she had a Biomask. Of course they knew. Announcing themselves while otherwise hiding…
"Hey." Laserdream flew toward her with Lady Photon and Rime. "Don't try to—"
"The Director insists," Rime said. "You need to—"
"Idiots," Nanku cursed.
Lady Photon turned her head. "Did you he—"
The metal stake flew out of the dark and struck the woman through the throat. Blood sprayed into the air. She reeled back and started to fall.
"Mom?" Laserdream asked.
"Run!" Nanku snapped.
Her plasma caster fell over her shoulder.
Two sets of red lasers cut the dark air at once.
Nanku fired and the other hunter fired back.
***
Next week might have two updates. In my tried and true tradition of not wanting to leave things on total downers so we can leave on a better note XD
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Truce 9.6
Little Hunter
Nanku turned her body to the side but didn't take her eyes off her target.
Plasma bolts lit the rooftops. Nanku ducked and stepped. Bolt after bolt fired. How air sizzled and lightning crackled. A swarm moved through the dark canyons between the rooftops. Dusk and Dawn launched into low flight and Nanku heard a familiar sound. Metal sliding against metal.
Nanku didn't have time for whatever Rime was shouting.
She drew her own spear and swung it out as a stake shot through the air. The metals clanged. The stake started to move as it spun, and Nanku grabbed it from the air. She fired again and again and refused to let her attacker drive her into a corner.
There was a Yautja here.
A hunter from another clan drawn by the signal from the eggs. One misstep was death, and she didn't have time for that.
Rime was still shouting and the Laserdream had gone after her mother's body. Nanku—still holding the stake—leaped into a roll and slid. She fired two shots.
Her target was cloaked and she only caught shimmers of him, but she knew his location from his return fire. She forced him to move to her right and then jumped to her left. While she crossed the gap she expected something to be thrown at her.
Dusk tackled the air from behind the hunter.
He struck something solid and hard. Another stake was fired but struck the ground and Nanku flicked the one in her hand.
Dusk pushed off the hunter while its cloak flickered and flew away from a swipe of the male's hand. Nanku's throat stake struck him in the back. She'd missed her intended target but the roar of pain was encouraging.
Nanku grabbed the lip of the next roof and dropped.
There was a glimpse of him while his cloak sparked.
An older male but younger than Uncle Rhaark. He was shorter and lean. His armor was of a completely different style. Crested with embossed bronze-colored metals in overlapping patterns. Not a style Nanku recognized.
Which was bad.
She had no idea what clan she was dealing with. Was there more than one?
Her legs coiled as she landed on the ground hard. Laserdream was on the ground on the street with a crowd gathering. Her mother was gripping her arm and choking on blood with a hole in her throat.
The woman was dead.
Rime was retreating through the air and talking to someone with a hurried voice.
All Nanku needed was to know if they'd interfere. For now? No.
She ran down the alley and switched her mask's vision mode.
Two alleys over the hunter landed. She'd tagged him with a dozen flies. It wasn't hard. He'd already turned and started for her, and Nanku pulled her swarm like a tide. At the end of one alley, she turned into another and kept running.
The hunter followed.
Dusk and Dawn flew parallel lines and Nanku kept her eyes forward.
There were sirens in the distance. Flashing lights in the night. Rime didn't follow—odd—and Laserdream was distracted by her mother. For all the good it would do.
Nanku leaped a fence and grabbed onto the rung of a fire escape. Swinging with the momentum, she threw herself forward and ran out onto the street. Heads were looking toward the sirens and there were only two cars.
One crunched. The hood collapsed and the alarm went off while the driver shouted.
The hunter fired a single stake from a device in his right hand. Nanku saw it coming up and threw herself around a parked vehicle. The stake pierced the flimsy covering but became lodged in the engine block.
Her mind whirled while she threw herself into another alley and kept running.
No concern for revealing himself. Leaving evidence behind. The stakes weren't anything special. In Nanku had to guess from the one she'd grabbed they were mostly simple steel with a magnetized tip. Strongly charged. Enough to be guided by a sight.
But that was an old-fashioned weapon. From centuries ago, before plasma casters had been perfected into something reliable and able to take real punishment without breaking completely.
A family heirloom, or…
Nanku turned and pulled a shuriken from her belt. With a flick, the blades extended, and she swung them through some pipes along the back of a building. Steam hissed from whatever they were and disrupted the sighting laser enough that the next stake missed.
Her pursuer picked up his pace and scaled a building to gain a terrain advantage.
Nanku ran into the next street and rapidly raced into a park.
It wasn't big. Half a square mile at most. It was big enough.
And sufficiently deserted.
Pulling herself around a tree, Nanku readied her shuriken.
The hunter was not a complete fool. He stopped at the corner of the roof and looked down on the park. Under the canopy, even a biomask would struggle to pick Nanku out.
He would see that she was lying in wait. Watching.
Nanku didn't feel like giving him the time. Dusk flew out first and his head turned toward him. Then Dawn, and he aimed his stake-thrower.
Then the buzzing filled the air and the hunter turned.
A mass of black wings, legs, and bulbous eyes poured over the roof and slammed into the hunter. He was tall and strong. Bugs were hardly water. The biting and stinging Nanku inflicted were largely pointless.
A Yautja's hide was thick. Some irritation wouldn't stop him.
But in the swarm, he couldn't see much of anything. Dusk and Dawn barreled through their tinier fellows and slammed themselves into the hunter's chest. His hand grabbed at Dawn's arm and she roared and bit down at his armored shoulder as he fell.
Nanku breathed and threw her shuriken. Stepping out the other way, she guided Dawn into striking the hunter mid-fall in the head. His grip slipped and Dawn broke free, but Nanku felt pain through her power. Like a pulled muscle.
The caster over Nanku's shoulder fired.
The hunter twisted himself. He'd anticipated her strike.
Her shot went over his other shoulder and he fired his own before landing sloppily on the ground. Nanku sidestepped and drew a spear. Her swarm kept pace, following their quarry and blinding him.
Had he watched her?
The hunter swung an arm out and struck her shuriken as it spun toward him. The blades cracked into the brick of the building behind him and stopped and he fired another plasma bolt that went wide.
His instincts were good. Where weapons were concerned. Perhaps a weapon master in training.
While he recovered his balance, Nanku slipped deeper into the woods. Dusk and Dawn flew through the branches and hurried along those thick enough to hold their weight. Dawn strained to movie on her pained limb. Nanku kept her moving through the ache. She couldn't stop.
On the street, her swarm parted.
She wanted him to follow.
His cloak flickered and sparked. The mask over his face was elaborate. Raised along the edges with a flared brow and tusks jutting from along his jaw. Claws were set into fittings. Trophies. Polished ivory.
The visor was a single piece, but narrow at the bridge of the nose with additional sensors set under the eyes.
Not at all a clan Nanku knew.
She retreated further into the trees.
The Hunter followed. When a chance presented it, Dusk jumped out and grabbed her shuriken from the wall with his teeth.
The hunter offered no words.
No offer of peace.
Nanku kept her trail barely perceptible. Led him along.
She'd always thought this would happen. Her own clan had some who she thought would kill her given the chance. Pe'dte's role in her life stayed their hands. The one time Nanku had met other hunters from other clans, none had taken her seriously.
They either were insulted by her very presence or seemed to jokingly accept her as a pet.
Nanku breathed deeply and used her wrist blades to mark a tree. She climbed the trunk, went over a branch, and dropped back down. One step forward and a quick leap back. Dawn hurried forward through the brush, but carefully. A trail to follow. Nothing more.
The hunter stalked after Nanku. Followed her trail and reloaded his stake-thrower. The plasma caster was still out but he'd deactivated the sighting laser.
He was careful.
Nanku braced her spear and waited behind the tree.
One step after another.
Twice he threw his voice. A click click click that echoed from another direction. Attempts to draw a reaction.
He did.
But it was Dawn that reacted.
The hunter followed and Nanku could almost smell him.
He came up to the other side of the tree and spotted her marks. He looked up then down to check. There was a low rumble in his throat. Annoyance. Dismissal. Fool.
Looking ahead to where Dawn skittered about just out of sight, the hunter took one step.
Then he turned, following the line of her fall from the branch. Looked toward it.
Stepped out with his back to her.
With a single movement, Nanku thrust. Green blood splattered and a roar filled the air.
She drove her spear into his back, tisking as she narrowly missed his spine. Last-second instinct. A quick jerk.
The towering male spun, striking while his wristblades slid out. They were long and curved with a hook at the back. Nanku ducked and, with one hand still on her spear, rammed her own wristblades into his thigh.
Another last-second instinct. She missed the groin.
The stake-thrower started to rise and Nanku jammed it aside with her elbow. Dusk lunged and clamped down on the weapon with her teeth and wrenched it free.
The towering wall of muscle looked down at her. His head jerked to the side when she jabbed her wrist blades at him. She gained a clear sight of her target.
Nanku scoffed and triggered her plasma caster.
The weapon fired and the shot blasted over his shoulder. Molten metal sparked and burst into the air. Another pained cry. His plasma caster flew off its guiding arm and began to fizzle on the ground.
The smell of cooked flesh filled the air as a scoured hole was sliced through the man's collar.
She kicked his leg inside the knee and pulled her wristblades back. A hand slammed into her chest and threw her back. Her weapons ripped free, and the male roared again. He didn't stop.
Rolling, Nanku drew her swarm from the woods. The bugs exploded and flooded into the woods. The male kept coming, charging with blades ready while he reached for his belt. Nanku fired her plasma caster again before drawing it back. He turned his side to her to avoid the bolt and Nanku's jabbed spear.
Dawn lunged with Nanku's shuriken still clutched in his mandibles. The blades cut into the male's arm and more blood splattered. Nanku heard the slicing of bone under the flesh. Dawn dove from behind and the male turned to strike her as pain addled his senses.
Nanku spun and wiped her spear out.
The tip scraped over his breastplate and Dawn ducked under the blow and rushed by.
Nanku readied for another strike while she retreated. Wear him down. Use her size to advantage. Keep him—
The male did the smart thing.
He barreled into her, and let her blades cut his bicep and stomach. He took the blows and drove Nanku hard into the ground.
Damn it.
It was easy to underestimate a Yautja. They were tall. Hard skinned. Walled muscle.
Nanku was strong and tough for a human, but smaller and thinner and—
A fist struck her mask with the force of a truck. Another blow followed and another. Nanku tried to catch him, but a knee pressed to her breastplate and pinned her. Blow after blow fell. Her wristblades caught his and forced the weapons away so she wouldn't be cut.
His other hand kept falling. Striking over and over in spite of his wounds.
Nanku got her knife and stabbed him. Blood splattered. Green and slick. Nanku swarmed him in bugs. Crawled them into his wounds and bit at the softer flesh. She fired her plasma caster once. Twice. Aimed for the head but he threw a punch at the device and snapped the weapon's arm. Nanku's third shot flew into the woods and struck the ground before spitting fire against the dark.
He didn't stop. He was going to die from his wounds and he wanted to kill her too.
Nanku fought and fought and still, he kept coming. Using everything that he was against her.
Another blow. And another. She stabbed and fought to keep his blades away. Dusk and Dawn tackled him on command, but he kept striking.
Pe'dte's distant voice, warning her to never let a Yautja—a real Yautja—pin her. Leverage their weight and height against her. Use it to pin her and start pounding. Her vision began turning black. Skipping. Darkness clawed its way from the back of her mind and tried to swallow her.
Because she wasn't Yautja… She was just human…
A screech and a flurry of motion flew over her.
Dusk and Dawk lunged wildly, and her control of them slipped for a dazed moment. They weren't like Earth's bugs. They were smarter. More aware. They obeyed because it was their instinct to obey a queen.
And it was their instinct to defend the queen.
Nanku nearly blacked out, but she clawed her way to consciousness. Followed the frenzied presence as Dusk and Dawn jumped. Bit. Clawed wildly while their claws stabbed. Teeth bit. Wing fluttered.
There was pain and Nanku forced herself up.
Dusk and Dawn drove the male down with their attack. Forced him onto his back.
Dusk got the hunter's throat into his teeth. He bit and bit harder.
The Yautja wrisblades stabbed back. Over and over again until Nanku ran and grabbed his wrist. She cut his arm at the elbow and kept cutting. He made a familiar movement at the last second. One Nanku was taught.
She grabbed his hand and severed that arm at his already cut bicep. She wrenched his computer free before he could activate the implosion device and threw it aside.
"Dusk."
Dusk didn't let go. He kept biting, stabbing with his talons and beating his wings.
He wouldn't let her take control.
He bit and bit harder even as a blade was popped from the hunter's knee and stabbed into his underbelly.
"Dusk!"
Nanku reached over him and rammed her wristblades into the hunter's skull. Then again. And again.
She grabbed Dusk and tried to pull. Reached with her power and tried to make him let go.
There was nothing left.
Nanku couldn't find him.
"Dusk."
She shook him. Muscles still spasmed in his limbs. His jaws still didn't let go.
Taylor pried at him. Shook and pulled. Uttered his name over and over again.
It didn't matter.
Nanku expected someone to come and interrupt her. She knew it but couldn't focus enough to ponder them. Until they didn't.
Then she wondered where the fuss was.
Then she wanted nothing more than to not deal with any of that—That human nonsense.
With a shaky breath, Nanku found the phone Tattletale gave her and found his number on the Dockworker's website.
She dialed it and had no patience for whatever excuse Kurt might give.
He owed her.
He owed her anything she damn wanted.
~ ~ ~
They were four in total. A simple party.
They hadn't searched for the isotope. It merely pinged their system and they responded. Whatever clan had lost the eggs, or allowed them to slip by, was unknown to them and they didn't care. It was a chance that rarely came to their clan.
A R'ka. One of the most prized forms of prey. In the wild.
They followed practice. Surveyed the planet. It was known them vaguely but they weren't elders or particularly close to their clan's leaders. But their ship was large for four and they had supplies. A cloaked approach. A single scout to go in search of the signal.
The other three waited and went about their business.
For a few days.
When Laxt returned, they didn't go running.
The Yautja lived in clans, but they tended to their own business in a solitary way. Especially as adults. They made no rush to check the hatch or who had actually entered the ship.
The eldest of the four was a female named G'jen. She walked down a hall looking for the youngest of their troop. A scrawny male named Beave.
She found him with his spine half ripped out and his face plunged into a mixer of blue fluid.
The armory door was open, and she turned in time to see Nanku raise a plasma caster in one hand while two more aimed over her shoulder.
All three fired and blasted burning holes through G'jen's skull, chest, and shoulder. The throttled bolts struck the wall behind her falling corpse and the metal popped and fizzled from the heat. It wasn't an exterior wall. Nanku didn't care.
G'jen hit like a rock and Nanku turned away from the console.
She repositioned quickly. Scaled the wall and climbed over the door into the chamber. Waited.
Soon enough, Horrex came to investigate. He ran into the room where the corpse lay. Looked around.
Nanku fired.
The bolts slammed into the deck, and he fell atop G'jen's corpse.
Nanku dropped to the deck and discarded the extra caster while the other two folded over her back.
She went out and grabbed the bundle of equipment she'd taken from Laxt's corpse. His body-net worked well enough as a makeshift pack. He was a puddle of organic muck in a park.
Nanku wished she could have thought of worse but mutilating a corpse was beneath her.
She tossed the pack into the ship and stalked out across the clearing they'd landed on. It wasn't far from the city. Laxt's computer had been helpful in finding it.
Getting there had been harder.
Nanku wasn't sure why no one had come after her. No PRT. No heroes. No villains. No one.
She didn't linger on it.
It was hard getting out of the city with two loads.
Dawn pressed her brow to Dusk's side. Over and over. Trying to coax her brother into motion. She was smart, but not quite smart enough to comprehend death.
Nanku sat beside her and put an arm around Dawn's back to still her flapping wings. Nanku hugged her tight. Said nothing. Dawn wasn't smart enough to understand speech.
"Um."
Kurt squinted at the door of light in the air. The cloak wasn't perfect. Aware of something out of place, his eyes noticed other things. Odd lines in the light. Depressions in the ground. There was something in the clearing. Larger than a semi-truck and still.
"Taylor," he mumbled. "I—Ah—"
Nanku took a breath and set a hand over Dusk's body.
"Why did you kill my father?"
Kurt stilled for a moment. Only a moment. Then he bowed his head and reached for the flask in his pocket.
"Answer," Nanku demanded. "Now."
His hand stopped.
He didn't respond quickly.
But there was a resignation in his voice. She expected something else.
"I didn't mean to," he said. "You—Danny, was my best friend. I never wanted to hurt him."
"Why?"
"Lacy," he answered. "I just wanted her to… I wanted to be with her, as long as I could. Fucking cancer. Paid… It doesn't matter."
"It does."
She'd put a frame of it together.
Manipulating timecards. How much people were working. That manipulated how much they were paid. How much money was that even worth? Maybe a night of drinking and fornicating for someone like Trent.
Maybe a lot more to someone like Kurt, who could cover it up for a lot of people all at once. Get a cut of it.
Nanku raised her head.
"Lacy?" she asked.
"Yeah." Kurt lifted his flask without care. "I needed money. We needed money but she would never steal. Never thought I would either, but I did."
"My father found out."
"He figured it out in the end. Fake billings. Exaggerated work orders. Little stuff. Should have stopped when the gangs found out. Not sure how they did. They did."
"That container that went missing."
"Never found out what was in it. Told myself that would be the only time, but Danny caught on after that kid reported something weird."
"And you killed my father."
"I meant to talk to him. Imagine a lot of guys in prison say that."
"You think you're going to prison?"
"No." Kurt drank. "Life of me, no idea why Anne never… She could, you know. When she came to me after she figured it out—can't fathom why it was so hard—I thought she would. Danny had the temper but your mom? Anne's no flower."
The police investigation. The shipping container. Gangs. Nanku could guess why the investigation didn't find him even though her mother had, and Nanku later. It took her what? Four months? That couldn't be that impossible. It had to come down to interference.
"It's okay," Kurt said dryly. "Not going to beg for mercy… Piss on me. Killed my best friend."
Nanku looked down at Dusk. "How long?"
"It does—"
"Lacy. How long did killing him get you with her?"
Kurt stared at her back.
"Thirty-six months," he said. He sniffled a moment and looked away. "I know it's three years, but it was thirty-six months."
Nanku slid her hand over Dusk's back. Recalled how small he'd been at the beginning. Tiny enough to fit in her hand. How many months ago had that been?
"Was it worth it?"
Kurt drank.
"The money was worth it," he said. "Lacy was worth it. Danny wasn't."
Nanku kept thinking she'd work herself up to something.
She didn't.
She hurt. She'd somehow come out of the fight without any blood spilled, but she hurt. Her head throbbed. Her vision blurred a bit at the corners. There were sores all over and she still had the fucking fool's blood on her.
"What now?" Kurt asked.
"Why not confess if you're so guilty?"
Kurt smiled grimly. "I'm pathetic, I guess."
"Why?" To live in an alcoholic daze? Oblivion? "Kill yourself."
"Don't want to die," he replied.
…
No. Nanku supposed he didn't. Nothing in its right mind did.
Everything that breathed wanted to keep breathing for as long as it could.
She stroked Dawn's neck, and said, "Go."
"Go."
"I'm thinking."
He didn't leave but Nanku ignored him. She kept expecting some kind of interruption from someone who could fly or run fast but no. Still nothing. What to even do if someone did show up? She wasn't on her edge. Not now.
She didn't want to be.
She wanted Kurt to leave, which he eventually did, and she wanted to sit with her dead friend and… think.
Think about how this wasn't supposed to happen. She'd been attacked by another hunter. In the middle of a crisis. For what? He'd said nothing and their ship computer knew nothing of her or her clan. Was he simply incensed seeing her in Yautja armor? With Yautja weapons? Why weren't any of the local enforcers doing anything about it?
…
Why was Dusk dead? He wasn't supposed to be dead. He wasn't—He wasn't supposed to be dead. It wasn't supposed to happen. None of it was supposed to happen. There was still the egg, or what else, and Kurt and—
Nanku heaved a slow breath.
Only the Black Warrior wins every battle.
Nanku thought she finally understood the meaning behind the words.
***
*salutes Dusk* He was a good bug.
Wasn't actually sure I could do it. I'm a softie apparently. There's too many dead pets in media but... Yeah. It felt right in this one. Had to be done >.> Still sucks though. I hope I sufficiently captured a fullborn Yautja's general badassery though. Tough SOB just wouldn't go down until Dusk and Dawn really went in to make him go down.
Also yeah. It was Kurt. Kurt did it. To pay for Lacy's cancer treatments. Nanku's gonna have to deal with that latter but I don't think she's in the mood.
Another chapter tomorrow because.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide
Nanku turned her body to the side but didn't take her eyes off her target.
Plasma bolts lit the rooftops. Nanku ducked and stepped. Bolt after bolt fired. How air sizzled and lightning crackled. A swarm moved through the dark canyons between the rooftops. Dusk and Dawn launched into low flight and Nanku heard a familiar sound. Metal sliding against metal.
Nanku didn't have time for whatever Rime was shouting.
She drew her own spear and swung it out as a stake shot through the air. The metals clanged. The stake started to move as it spun, and Nanku grabbed it from the air. She fired again and again and refused to let her attacker drive her into a corner.
There was a Yautja here.
A hunter from another clan drawn by the signal from the eggs. One misstep was death, and she didn't have time for that.
Rime was still shouting and the Laserdream had gone after her mother's body. Nanku—still holding the stake—leaped into a roll and slid. She fired two shots.
Her target was cloaked and she only caught shimmers of him, but she knew his location from his return fire. She forced him to move to her right and then jumped to her left. While she crossed the gap she expected something to be thrown at her.
Dusk tackled the air from behind the hunter.
He struck something solid and hard. Another stake was fired but struck the ground and Nanku flicked the one in her hand.
Dusk pushed off the hunter while its cloak flickered and flew away from a swipe of the male's hand. Nanku's throat stake struck him in the back. She'd missed her intended target but the roar of pain was encouraging.
Nanku grabbed the lip of the next roof and dropped.
There was a glimpse of him while his cloak sparked.
An older male but younger than Uncle Rhaark. He was shorter and lean. His armor was of a completely different style. Crested with embossed bronze-colored metals in overlapping patterns. Not a style Nanku recognized.
Which was bad.
She had no idea what clan she was dealing with. Was there more than one?
Her legs coiled as she landed on the ground hard. Laserdream was on the ground on the street with a crowd gathering. Her mother was gripping her arm and choking on blood with a hole in her throat.
The woman was dead.
Rime was retreating through the air and talking to someone with a hurried voice.
All Nanku needed was to know if they'd interfere. For now? No.
She ran down the alley and switched her mask's vision mode.
Two alleys over the hunter landed. She'd tagged him with a dozen flies. It wasn't hard. He'd already turned and started for her, and Nanku pulled her swarm like a tide. At the end of one alley, she turned into another and kept running.
The hunter followed.
Dusk and Dawn flew parallel lines and Nanku kept her eyes forward.
There were sirens in the distance. Flashing lights in the night. Rime didn't follow—odd—and Laserdream was distracted by her mother. For all the good it would do.
Nanku leaped a fence and grabbed onto the rung of a fire escape. Swinging with the momentum, she threw herself forward and ran out onto the street. Heads were looking toward the sirens and there were only two cars.
One crunched. The hood collapsed and the alarm went off while the driver shouted.
The hunter fired a single stake from a device in his right hand. Nanku saw it coming up and threw herself around a parked vehicle. The stake pierced the flimsy covering but became lodged in the engine block.
Her mind whirled while she threw herself into another alley and kept running.
No concern for revealing himself. Leaving evidence behind. The stakes weren't anything special. In Nanku had to guess from the one she'd grabbed they were mostly simple steel with a magnetized tip. Strongly charged. Enough to be guided by a sight.
But that was an old-fashioned weapon. From centuries ago, before plasma casters had been perfected into something reliable and able to take real punishment without breaking completely.
A family heirloom, or…
Nanku turned and pulled a shuriken from her belt. With a flick, the blades extended, and she swung them through some pipes along the back of a building. Steam hissed from whatever they were and disrupted the sighting laser enough that the next stake missed.
Her pursuer picked up his pace and scaled a building to gain a terrain advantage.
Nanku ran into the next street and rapidly raced into a park.
It wasn't big. Half a square mile at most. It was big enough.
And sufficiently deserted.
Pulling herself around a tree, Nanku readied her shuriken.
The hunter was not a complete fool. He stopped at the corner of the roof and looked down on the park. Under the canopy, even a biomask would struggle to pick Nanku out.
He would see that she was lying in wait. Watching.
Nanku didn't feel like giving him the time. Dusk flew out first and his head turned toward him. Then Dawn, and he aimed his stake-thrower.
Then the buzzing filled the air and the hunter turned.
A mass of black wings, legs, and bulbous eyes poured over the roof and slammed into the hunter. He was tall and strong. Bugs were hardly water. The biting and stinging Nanku inflicted were largely pointless.
A Yautja's hide was thick. Some irritation wouldn't stop him.
But in the swarm, he couldn't see much of anything. Dusk and Dawn barreled through their tinier fellows and slammed themselves into the hunter's chest. His hand grabbed at Dawn's arm and she roared and bit down at his armored shoulder as he fell.
Nanku breathed and threw her shuriken. Stepping out the other way, she guided Dawn into striking the hunter mid-fall in the head. His grip slipped and Dawn broke free, but Nanku felt pain through her power. Like a pulled muscle.
The caster over Nanku's shoulder fired.
The hunter twisted himself. He'd anticipated her strike.
Her shot went over his other shoulder and he fired his own before landing sloppily on the ground. Nanku sidestepped and drew a spear. Her swarm kept pace, following their quarry and blinding him.
Had he watched her?
The hunter swung an arm out and struck her shuriken as it spun toward him. The blades cracked into the brick of the building behind him and stopped and he fired another plasma bolt that went wide.
His instincts were good. Where weapons were concerned. Perhaps a weapon master in training.
While he recovered his balance, Nanku slipped deeper into the woods. Dusk and Dawn flew through the branches and hurried along those thick enough to hold their weight. Dawn strained to movie on her pained limb. Nanku kept her moving through the ache. She couldn't stop.
On the street, her swarm parted.
She wanted him to follow.
His cloak flickered and sparked. The mask over his face was elaborate. Raised along the edges with a flared brow and tusks jutting from along his jaw. Claws were set into fittings. Trophies. Polished ivory.
The visor was a single piece, but narrow at the bridge of the nose with additional sensors set under the eyes.
Not at all a clan Nanku knew.
She retreated further into the trees.
The Hunter followed. When a chance presented it, Dusk jumped out and grabbed her shuriken from the wall with his teeth.
The hunter offered no words.
No offer of peace.
Nanku kept her trail barely perceptible. Led him along.
She'd always thought this would happen. Her own clan had some who she thought would kill her given the chance. Pe'dte's role in her life stayed their hands. The one time Nanku had met other hunters from other clans, none had taken her seriously.
They either were insulted by her very presence or seemed to jokingly accept her as a pet.
Nanku breathed deeply and used her wrist blades to mark a tree. She climbed the trunk, went over a branch, and dropped back down. One step forward and a quick leap back. Dawn hurried forward through the brush, but carefully. A trail to follow. Nothing more.
The hunter stalked after Nanku. Followed her trail and reloaded his stake-thrower. The plasma caster was still out but he'd deactivated the sighting laser.
He was careful.
Nanku braced her spear and waited behind the tree.
One step after another.
Twice he threw his voice. A click click click that echoed from another direction. Attempts to draw a reaction.
He did.
But it was Dawn that reacted.
The hunter followed and Nanku could almost smell him.
He came up to the other side of the tree and spotted her marks. He looked up then down to check. There was a low rumble in his throat. Annoyance. Dismissal. Fool.
Looking ahead to where Dawn skittered about just out of sight, the hunter took one step.
Then he turned, following the line of her fall from the branch. Looked toward it.
Stepped out with his back to her.
With a single movement, Nanku thrust. Green blood splattered and a roar filled the air.
She drove her spear into his back, tisking as she narrowly missed his spine. Last-second instinct. A quick jerk.
The towering male spun, striking while his wristblades slid out. They were long and curved with a hook at the back. Nanku ducked and, with one hand still on her spear, rammed her own wristblades into his thigh.
Another last-second instinct. She missed the groin.
The stake-thrower started to rise and Nanku jammed it aside with her elbow. Dusk lunged and clamped down on the weapon with her teeth and wrenched it free.
The towering wall of muscle looked down at her. His head jerked to the side when she jabbed her wrist blades at him. She gained a clear sight of her target.
Nanku scoffed and triggered her plasma caster.
The weapon fired and the shot blasted over his shoulder. Molten metal sparked and burst into the air. Another pained cry. His plasma caster flew off its guiding arm and began to fizzle on the ground.
The smell of cooked flesh filled the air as a scoured hole was sliced through the man's collar.
She kicked his leg inside the knee and pulled her wristblades back. A hand slammed into her chest and threw her back. Her weapons ripped free, and the male roared again. He didn't stop.
Rolling, Nanku drew her swarm from the woods. The bugs exploded and flooded into the woods. The male kept coming, charging with blades ready while he reached for his belt. Nanku fired her plasma caster again before drawing it back. He turned his side to her to avoid the bolt and Nanku's jabbed spear.
Dawn lunged with Nanku's shuriken still clutched in his mandibles. The blades cut into the male's arm and more blood splattered. Nanku heard the slicing of bone under the flesh. Dawn dove from behind and the male turned to strike her as pain addled his senses.
Nanku spun and wiped her spear out.
The tip scraped over his breastplate and Dawn ducked under the blow and rushed by.
Nanku readied for another strike while she retreated. Wear him down. Use her size to advantage. Keep him—
The male did the smart thing.
He barreled into her, and let her blades cut his bicep and stomach. He took the blows and drove Nanku hard into the ground.
Damn it.
It was easy to underestimate a Yautja. They were tall. Hard skinned. Walled muscle.
Nanku was strong and tough for a human, but smaller and thinner and—
A fist struck her mask with the force of a truck. Another blow followed and another. Nanku tried to catch him, but a knee pressed to her breastplate and pinned her. Blow after blow fell. Her wristblades caught his and forced the weapons away so she wouldn't be cut.
His other hand kept falling. Striking over and over in spite of his wounds.
Nanku got her knife and stabbed him. Blood splattered. Green and slick. Nanku swarmed him in bugs. Crawled them into his wounds and bit at the softer flesh. She fired her plasma caster once. Twice. Aimed for the head but he threw a punch at the device and snapped the weapon's arm. Nanku's third shot flew into the woods and struck the ground before spitting fire against the dark.
He didn't stop. He was going to die from his wounds and he wanted to kill her too.
Nanku fought and fought and still, he kept coming. Using everything that he was against her.
Another blow. And another. She stabbed and fought to keep his blades away. Dusk and Dawn tackled him on command, but he kept striking.
Pe'dte's distant voice, warning her to never let a Yautja—a real Yautja—pin her. Leverage their weight and height against her. Use it to pin her and start pounding. Her vision began turning black. Skipping. Darkness clawed its way from the back of her mind and tried to swallow her.
Because she wasn't Yautja… She was just human…
A screech and a flurry of motion flew over her.
Dusk and Dawk lunged wildly, and her control of them slipped for a dazed moment. They weren't like Earth's bugs. They were smarter. More aware. They obeyed because it was their instinct to obey a queen.
And it was their instinct to defend the queen.
Nanku nearly blacked out, but she clawed her way to consciousness. Followed the frenzied presence as Dusk and Dawn jumped. Bit. Clawed wildly while their claws stabbed. Teeth bit. Wing fluttered.
There was pain and Nanku forced herself up.
Dusk and Dawn drove the male down with their attack. Forced him onto his back.
Dusk got the hunter's throat into his teeth. He bit and bit harder.
The Yautja wrisblades stabbed back. Over and over again until Nanku ran and grabbed his wrist. She cut his arm at the elbow and kept cutting. He made a familiar movement at the last second. One Nanku was taught.
She grabbed his hand and severed that arm at his already cut bicep. She wrenched his computer free before he could activate the implosion device and threw it aside.
"Dusk."
Dusk didn't let go. He kept biting, stabbing with his talons and beating his wings.
He wouldn't let her take control.
He bit and bit harder even as a blade was popped from the hunter's knee and stabbed into his underbelly.
"Dusk!"
Nanku reached over him and rammed her wristblades into the hunter's skull. Then again. And again.
She grabbed Dusk and tried to pull. Reached with her power and tried to make him let go.
There was nothing left.
Nanku couldn't find him.
"Dusk."
She shook him. Muscles still spasmed in his limbs. His jaws still didn't let go.
Taylor pried at him. Shook and pulled. Uttered his name over and over again.
It didn't matter.
Nanku expected someone to come and interrupt her. She knew it but couldn't focus enough to ponder them. Until they didn't.
Then she wondered where the fuss was.
Then she wanted nothing more than to not deal with any of that—That human nonsense.
With a shaky breath, Nanku found the phone Tattletale gave her and found his number on the Dockworker's website.
She dialed it and had no patience for whatever excuse Kurt might give.
He owed her.
He owed her anything she damn wanted.
~ ~ ~
They were four in total. A simple party.
They hadn't searched for the isotope. It merely pinged their system and they responded. Whatever clan had lost the eggs, or allowed them to slip by, was unknown to them and they didn't care. It was a chance that rarely came to their clan.
A R'ka. One of the most prized forms of prey. In the wild.
They followed practice. Surveyed the planet. It was known them vaguely but they weren't elders or particularly close to their clan's leaders. But their ship was large for four and they had supplies. A cloaked approach. A single scout to go in search of the signal.
The other three waited and went about their business.
For a few days.
When Laxt returned, they didn't go running.
The Yautja lived in clans, but they tended to their own business in a solitary way. Especially as adults. They made no rush to check the hatch or who had actually entered the ship.
The eldest of the four was a female named G'jen. She walked down a hall looking for the youngest of their troop. A scrawny male named Beave.
She found him with his spine half ripped out and his face plunged into a mixer of blue fluid.
The armory door was open, and she turned in time to see Nanku raise a plasma caster in one hand while two more aimed over her shoulder.
All three fired and blasted burning holes through G'jen's skull, chest, and shoulder. The throttled bolts struck the wall behind her falling corpse and the metal popped and fizzled from the heat. It wasn't an exterior wall. Nanku didn't care.
G'jen hit like a rock and Nanku turned away from the console.
She repositioned quickly. Scaled the wall and climbed over the door into the chamber. Waited.
Soon enough, Horrex came to investigate. He ran into the room where the corpse lay. Looked around.
Nanku fired.
The bolts slammed into the deck, and he fell atop G'jen's corpse.
Nanku dropped to the deck and discarded the extra caster while the other two folded over her back.
She went out and grabbed the bundle of equipment she'd taken from Laxt's corpse. His body-net worked well enough as a makeshift pack. He was a puddle of organic muck in a park.
Nanku wished she could have thought of worse but mutilating a corpse was beneath her.
She tossed the pack into the ship and stalked out across the clearing they'd landed on. It wasn't far from the city. Laxt's computer had been helpful in finding it.
Getting there had been harder.
Nanku wasn't sure why no one had come after her. No PRT. No heroes. No villains. No one.
She didn't linger on it.
It was hard getting out of the city with two loads.
Dawn pressed her brow to Dusk's side. Over and over. Trying to coax her brother into motion. She was smart, but not quite smart enough to comprehend death.
Nanku sat beside her and put an arm around Dawn's back to still her flapping wings. Nanku hugged her tight. Said nothing. Dawn wasn't smart enough to understand speech.
"Um."
Kurt squinted at the door of light in the air. The cloak wasn't perfect. Aware of something out of place, his eyes noticed other things. Odd lines in the light. Depressions in the ground. There was something in the clearing. Larger than a semi-truck and still.
"Taylor," he mumbled. "I—Ah—"
Nanku took a breath and set a hand over Dusk's body.
"Why did you kill my father?"
Kurt stilled for a moment. Only a moment. Then he bowed his head and reached for the flask in his pocket.
"Answer," Nanku demanded. "Now."
His hand stopped.
He didn't respond quickly.
But there was a resignation in his voice. She expected something else.
"I didn't mean to," he said. "You—Danny, was my best friend. I never wanted to hurt him."
"Why?"
"Lacy," he answered. "I just wanted her to… I wanted to be with her, as long as I could. Fucking cancer. Paid… It doesn't matter."
"It does."
She'd put a frame of it together.
Manipulating timecards. How much people were working. That manipulated how much they were paid. How much money was that even worth? Maybe a night of drinking and fornicating for someone like Trent.
Maybe a lot more to someone like Kurt, who could cover it up for a lot of people all at once. Get a cut of it.
Nanku raised her head.
"Lacy?" she asked.
"Yeah." Kurt lifted his flask without care. "I needed money. We needed money but she would never steal. Never thought I would either, but I did."
"My father found out."
"He figured it out in the end. Fake billings. Exaggerated work orders. Little stuff. Should have stopped when the gangs found out. Not sure how they did. They did."
"That container that went missing."
"Never found out what was in it. Told myself that would be the only time, but Danny caught on after that kid reported something weird."
"And you killed my father."
"I meant to talk to him. Imagine a lot of guys in prison say that."
"You think you're going to prison?"
"No." Kurt drank. "Life of me, no idea why Anne never… She could, you know. When she came to me after she figured it out—can't fathom why it was so hard—I thought she would. Danny had the temper but your mom? Anne's no flower."
The police investigation. The shipping container. Gangs. Nanku could guess why the investigation didn't find him even though her mother had, and Nanku later. It took her what? Four months? That couldn't be that impossible. It had to come down to interference.
"It's okay," Kurt said dryly. "Not going to beg for mercy… Piss on me. Killed my best friend."
Nanku looked down at Dusk. "How long?"
"It does—"
"Lacy. How long did killing him get you with her?"
Kurt stared at her back.
"Thirty-six months," he said. He sniffled a moment and looked away. "I know it's three years, but it was thirty-six months."
Nanku slid her hand over Dusk's back. Recalled how small he'd been at the beginning. Tiny enough to fit in her hand. How many months ago had that been?
"Was it worth it?"
Kurt drank.
"The money was worth it," he said. "Lacy was worth it. Danny wasn't."
Nanku kept thinking she'd work herself up to something.
She didn't.
She hurt. She'd somehow come out of the fight without any blood spilled, but she hurt. Her head throbbed. Her vision blurred a bit at the corners. There were sores all over and she still had the fucking fool's blood on her.
"What now?" Kurt asked.
"Why not confess if you're so guilty?"
Kurt smiled grimly. "I'm pathetic, I guess."
"Why?" To live in an alcoholic daze? Oblivion? "Kill yourself."
"Don't want to die," he replied.
…
No. Nanku supposed he didn't. Nothing in its right mind did.
Everything that breathed wanted to keep breathing for as long as it could.
She stroked Dawn's neck, and said, "Go."
"Go."
"I'm thinking."
He didn't leave but Nanku ignored him. She kept expecting some kind of interruption from someone who could fly or run fast but no. Still nothing. What to even do if someone did show up? She wasn't on her edge. Not now.
She didn't want to be.
She wanted Kurt to leave, which he eventually did, and she wanted to sit with her dead friend and… think.
Think about how this wasn't supposed to happen. She'd been attacked by another hunter. In the middle of a crisis. For what? He'd said nothing and their ship computer knew nothing of her or her clan. Was he simply incensed seeing her in Yautja armor? With Yautja weapons? Why weren't any of the local enforcers doing anything about it?
…
Why was Dusk dead? He wasn't supposed to be dead. He wasn't—He wasn't supposed to be dead. It wasn't supposed to happen. None of it was supposed to happen. There was still the egg, or what else, and Kurt and—
Nanku heaved a slow breath.
Only the Black Warrior wins every battle.
Nanku thought she finally understood the meaning behind the words.
***
*salutes Dusk* He was a good bug.
Wasn't actually sure I could do it. I'm a softie apparently. There's too many dead pets in media but... Yeah. It felt right in this one. Had to be done >.> Still sucks though. I hope I sufficiently captured a fullborn Yautja's general badassery though. Tough SOB just wouldn't go down until Dusk and Dawn really went in to make him go down.
Also yeah. It was Kurt. Kurt did it. To pay for Lacy's cancer treatments. Nanku's gonna have to deal with that latter but I don't think she's in the mood.
Another chapter tomorrow because.
Beta'd by @Grim Tide
Truce 9-PRT
Litte Hunter
"I know what the Chief Director said," Curtz snapped. "I want to know how it makes any damned sense!"
"He is not happy," Ethan said. "How many doors are between us and him?"
"Three," Sam answered.
Annette kept hoping he'd slip something but every time he came close he didn't.
He wasn't wrong.
It didn't make any sense.
"What about Crystal?" Shawn asked. "Is she—"
"Basically ditched the hospital as soon as she got Photon there," Rime answered stiffly. "I'm not—"
"She's already waited in rooms to hear if her family is dead or alive," Annette offered. "She won't do it a third time."
"Where'd she go?" Ethan asked.
"I called Brandish," Sam answered. "Only thing I could think of."
Shawn nodded. "Is she going to make it?"
"She was still alive when we got her to the hospital," Rime explained. "Laserdream used her power to keep the airway clear and I froze the skin shut. Stopped the bleeding."
Annette watched the woman closely.
Nearly a dozen capes had been sent to Brockton Bay to 'help' with a potential S-Class crisis, but Rime was off. Something about the way she carried herself. She'd almost immediately spoken with Curtz and it hadn't sounded like either of them enjoyed whatever they talked about.
She was also Alexandria's second in command in LA and Annette knew which face was behind that mask.
A face that knew something.
And it didn't make sense.
Nanku was attacked by a 'giant' with her same kind of weapons and cloak, and the moment Rime reported the fight orders came down to stay out of it? Especially with Lady Photon wounded in the crossfire, that was nonsensical.
And where was Nanku?
The fight had moved and there were calls and reports of shouting and screaming in a park. Giant bug swarms. That was her power.
Then nothing.
And no one was investigating. It was wrong. The PRT never operated this way, nor the Protectorate. Not that Annette had ever sensed. Which wasn't to say they couldn't be shady. She was shady herself at the end of the day, but this was far too blatant.
And where was Taylor? Why hadn't she come back, and why had she gone to see Rose? Something happened there too but Missy wasn't talking and Rose was shaken by something.
"What the hell happened?" Sam sighed. "And why aren't we responding?"
Curtz continued shouting in the other room. Clearly he wasn't getting the answers he wanted.
Annette looked at her phone. The moment the attack happened Tattletale mobilized the entire truce. It included Night and Fog now, along with several independents from the areas around Brockton Bay. Those things were still out there.
Why—
The phone rang and Annette answered. "Tattletale?"
Around her, Shawn, Sam, and Ethan quieted.
"Hey," Tattletale greeted. "So. I got my hands on some footage. Don't ask how."
"Is she okay?"
"She's alive."
Annette exhaled. "Where—"
"I'm pretty sure Dusk is dead. She carried him out of a park and… Well. Giant bugs have blood and guts and I won't paint a grimmer picture than that."
"But Nanku?"
"Looked battered but alive. Bigger issue is who she got to come get her and drive her out of the city."
"Who?"
"Kurt. Showed up in a truck and drove her off."
Annette's heart stilled.
"I think she knows, Anne," Lisa continued. "Must have figured it out somewhere, but this monster business took priority for her."
No.
Villains were one thing. Shadow Stalker was one thing. Those were bad enough, but it was cape against cape. Killing Kurt would be the end.
"We need to find her," Annette said. "Before—"
"She's already called me. I have her on another line now."
"Let me—"
"No. I'll try and see where we're at with Nanku. You need to figure out what the hell is going on in the PRT. That response just now made no sense. Everyone is asking questions about what the fuck just happened."
"Lisa—"
"No. We're still in the middle of an S-Class threat, Anne. This is no more time for family drama. The city and everyone in it comes first."
Dusk was dead.
How would Nanku respond to that? What would she do to Kurt if she—Did she even know why he did it? Would she even care?
"We have to—"
"Anne." Shawn touched her arm. "Secret time is over."
Annette looked and found a crowd had gathered. Aside from Sam and Ethan, Rime was present along with Prism, Cache, and a dozen others. Weld had been brought in along with Tress and—Defiant stepped off an elevator with Dragon beside him. They wore matching armor—knightly with some dragonesque flourishes, of course—and walked with an almost mechanical purpose to their steps.
Lisa hung up without another word and Annette lowered her phone.
With a heavy sigh, Annette faced the Director.
He was angry. He was always angry but he wasn't bothering to hide it at the moment.
Nanku had told them nothing… The PRT's response was more telling. Whatever the group, or groups, Nanku was associated with, the PRT knew about them. Alexandria and the Protectorate leadership knew about them.
But why the secrecy? How could a group with this sort of efficiency and technology go unnoticed? The world was big but it wasn't that big. There had—
"Ma'am."
Deputy Direct Grand looked at Annette and ignored Curtz.
"Chief Director Costa-Brown wants you. Dauntless. Defiant. Dragon. And Rime. Closed meeting with her and Alexandria."
Annette's gaze narrowed.
Curtz looked angry before.
Now he looked furious.
"That's not—"
"Chief Director's orders, Director. I'm sorry."
The deputy director didn't look sorry. She didn't look anything. The woman was a statue by an open door and she stayed there until Annette entered. Shawn followed her in. Then Rime. Defiant and Dragon came in last.
"Is Lady Photon alright?" Dragon asked. "We were on our way here when it all happened."
"She'll survive," Rime said.
As soon as Defiant entered, Grant closed the door.
They were alone with the same woman on two different screens at the far side of the room. Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown, and Alexandria. Annette wasn't sure if anyone aside from herself knew. She'd pointedly never told Shawn to protect him.
"This meeting is classified," Costa-Brown said. "What we say and see here doesn't leave this room or be discussed more broadly without direct permission. Understood?"
Defiant spoke up, asking, "Is this about the creatures Huntress described, or what happened tonight?"
"Both." Alexandria appeared to move on the screen and the display changed.
It took Annette a moment to identify it. Waving trees. A mountain slope. Whatever filter the camera was using it wasn't normal. Some odd night-vision sort of thing that cast the world in green with start shadows and exaggerated lighting. The image was oriented from above.
A low orbit satellite?
"What is that?" Dragon leaned closer.
Amid the image, something shimmered. Annette squinted. It was long and thin. Shapes like a talon or a feather.
"Remember," Costa-Brown said. "Classified. This isn't just a PRT secret. It's a US Government secret. Our very treaty agreement with the Yautja includes provisions about not explicitly exposing them to the world at large."
"I'm unfamiliar with that name," Dragon said.
"Good. You're supposed to be."
On the screen, the odd shape appeared to move. Light seemed to roll over it like water. Annette watched closely, reminded of the cloaking device Nanku used.
"Our last direct contact with the Yautja," Alexandria said, "was about ten years ago. They told us to stay out of an incident in Africa. That they were sending someone to clean something up."
Ten years. "The eggs?"
"Apparently so," Costa-Brown said. "As of this moment, we've received no communication from them. For that reason, the US government has decided not to stay out of it."
Annette stilled. "What does that mean?"
"Per our treaty agreement, the Yautja may hunt on Earth. We are permitted to pursue, so long as we respond proportionally."
"Odd treaty," Defiant said.
"The Yautja do not operate by human morality," Alexandria answered. "They have their own codes."
"In other matters," Costa-Brown picked up, "the Yautja did provide a significant service that remains classified. We have paid a price for that aid. 'Fair play' dominates our reactions to Yautja hunters when they appear. It is, under the table, policy and we are not empowered to change it."
The craft—it was a craft of some sort—lifted off the ground then. It rose up and swayed. One pylon housing an engine brushed a row of trees aside as the ship turned and the nose pointed.
Ship.
A ship.
Annette's breath caught.
"What does this have to do with what happened tonight?" Rime asked.
"The Yautja are not a single entity," Costa-Brown continued. "They live in clans. Family groups. Tonight, it appears Lady Photon was caught in the crossfire of one group of hunters deciding to take a run at Huntress."
"In the aftermath," Alexandria spoke up—maintaining the ruse. "It seems Huntress has killed the group and taken their ship for her own purposes."
Aliens.
Aliens.
Aliens?
Her daughter was taken by aliens what was she supposed to do with that? They'd—They'd found her at the camp? Taken her? Raised her themselves? Why?
"Why?" Annette asked aloud.
"We're not sure." For a moment there was sympathy in Costa-Brown's face. "We had no idea this was something they might do until Huntress appeared in Brockton Bay."
"Do what?" Shawn asked.
"It seems, Taylor Hebert was found and taken by a Yautja hunter."
Alexandria's face reappeared and the image of the ship was minimalized into a corner of the screen.
"For what it is worth," she said, "in the past the Yautja have shown clear patterns. They don't hunt the sick. The elderly. Children. It's possible this hunter decided to take Taylor Hebert rather than leave her free to report what she'd seen. A way to remove a witness while sticking to their code against the killing of the young."
"You've said hunting a lot," Dragon said. She looked at Defiant as though they were speaking to one another in their helmets. "They hunt people?"
"It's what the Yautja do. Per our treaty, we do not try to stop them from doing it, but we do intervene where we can."
"We've left Huntress' activities to local responses," Costa-Brown explained. "Struck to the treaty, but this situation has escalated. Lacking any contact from their elders, the presence of the Xenomorph is an S-Class event and the PRT and Protectorate are now intervening."
Annette was still catching up with everything they said.
It was a terrible explanation.
But how often did anyone explain aliens were real while talking about her daughter? Aliens. Taylor was taken by aliens? What was the name she used? Pead-something? Xenomorph? Was that a name for—They had their own name for the R'ka? They knew what the R'ka were?
"Why are we being informed of this now?" Dauntless asked.
"So that you understand what you're walking into," Alexandria answered. "We're attempting to contact the Yautja now, but their decentralized politics may take too long to give us a—"
Costa-Brown react. Alexandria did not.
Costa-Brown looked at something off-screen. Something she could read. A phone or a screen. Unfortunately, the woman was far too practiced for Annette to get anything from just watching her reactions.
"We are prioritizing the elimination and destruction of the Xenomorph," she said cooly. "Huntress will be ignored for the time being."
Annette's heart seized.
"These creatures are too dangerous, and we cannot trust outside parties to prioritize the safety and well-being of Earth over selfish gains. Every trace of these creatures will be destroyed. Understood?"
Defiant and Dragon looked to one another.
"Defiant will command this team. Help Huntress. Go around her. Use her. The Xenomorphs are the priority."
"What just happened?" Annette asked. "Who were you talking to?"
Costa-Brown didn't meet her eyes. The sympathy was gone.
"Classified."
"You haven't explained the Xenomorph," Dragon replied.
"Huntress has provided most of our information on it. The rest comes from the urgency with which the Yautja respond to potential outbreaks. Get it done. All other priorities are not your concern. Alexandria and I will handle it."
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
"I know what the Chief Director said," Curtz snapped. "I want to know how it makes any damned sense!"
"He is not happy," Ethan said. "How many doors are between us and him?"
"Three," Sam answered.
Annette kept hoping he'd slip something but every time he came close he didn't.
He wasn't wrong.
It didn't make any sense.
"What about Crystal?" Shawn asked. "Is she—"
"Basically ditched the hospital as soon as she got Photon there," Rime answered stiffly. "I'm not—"
"She's already waited in rooms to hear if her family is dead or alive," Annette offered. "She won't do it a third time."
"Where'd she go?" Ethan asked.
"I called Brandish," Sam answered. "Only thing I could think of."
Shawn nodded. "Is she going to make it?"
"She was still alive when we got her to the hospital," Rime explained. "Laserdream used her power to keep the airway clear and I froze the skin shut. Stopped the bleeding."
Annette watched the woman closely.
Nearly a dozen capes had been sent to Brockton Bay to 'help' with a potential S-Class crisis, but Rime was off. Something about the way she carried herself. She'd almost immediately spoken with Curtz and it hadn't sounded like either of them enjoyed whatever they talked about.
She was also Alexandria's second in command in LA and Annette knew which face was behind that mask.
A face that knew something.
And it didn't make sense.
Nanku was attacked by a 'giant' with her same kind of weapons and cloak, and the moment Rime reported the fight orders came down to stay out of it? Especially with Lady Photon wounded in the crossfire, that was nonsensical.
And where was Nanku?
The fight had moved and there were calls and reports of shouting and screaming in a park. Giant bug swarms. That was her power.
Then nothing.
And no one was investigating. It was wrong. The PRT never operated this way, nor the Protectorate. Not that Annette had ever sensed. Which wasn't to say they couldn't be shady. She was shady herself at the end of the day, but this was far too blatant.
And where was Taylor? Why hadn't she come back, and why had she gone to see Rose? Something happened there too but Missy wasn't talking and Rose was shaken by something.
"What the hell happened?" Sam sighed. "And why aren't we responding?"
Curtz continued shouting in the other room. Clearly he wasn't getting the answers he wanted.
Annette looked at her phone. The moment the attack happened Tattletale mobilized the entire truce. It included Night and Fog now, along with several independents from the areas around Brockton Bay. Those things were still out there.
Why—
The phone rang and Annette answered. "Tattletale?"
Around her, Shawn, Sam, and Ethan quieted.
"Hey," Tattletale greeted. "So. I got my hands on some footage. Don't ask how."
"Is she okay?"
"She's alive."
Annette exhaled. "Where—"
"I'm pretty sure Dusk is dead. She carried him out of a park and… Well. Giant bugs have blood and guts and I won't paint a grimmer picture than that."
"But Nanku?"
"Looked battered but alive. Bigger issue is who she got to come get her and drive her out of the city."
"Who?"
"Kurt. Showed up in a truck and drove her off."
Annette's heart stilled.
"I think she knows, Anne," Lisa continued. "Must have figured it out somewhere, but this monster business took priority for her."
No.
Villains were one thing. Shadow Stalker was one thing. Those were bad enough, but it was cape against cape. Killing Kurt would be the end.
"We need to find her," Annette said. "Before—"
"She's already called me. I have her on another line now."
"Let me—"
"No. I'll try and see where we're at with Nanku. You need to figure out what the hell is going on in the PRT. That response just now made no sense. Everyone is asking questions about what the fuck just happened."
"Lisa—"
"No. We're still in the middle of an S-Class threat, Anne. This is no more time for family drama. The city and everyone in it comes first."
Dusk was dead.
How would Nanku respond to that? What would she do to Kurt if she—Did she even know why he did it? Would she even care?
"We have to—"
"Anne." Shawn touched her arm. "Secret time is over."
Annette looked and found a crowd had gathered. Aside from Sam and Ethan, Rime was present along with Prism, Cache, and a dozen others. Weld had been brought in along with Tress and—Defiant stepped off an elevator with Dragon beside him. They wore matching armor—knightly with some dragonesque flourishes, of course—and walked with an almost mechanical purpose to their steps.
Lisa hung up without another word and Annette lowered her phone.
With a heavy sigh, Annette faced the Director.
He was angry. He was always angry but he wasn't bothering to hide it at the moment.
Nanku had told them nothing… The PRT's response was more telling. Whatever the group, or groups, Nanku was associated with, the PRT knew about them. Alexandria and the Protectorate leadership knew about them.
But why the secrecy? How could a group with this sort of efficiency and technology go unnoticed? The world was big but it wasn't that big. There had—
"Ma'am."
Deputy Direct Grand looked at Annette and ignored Curtz.
"Chief Director Costa-Brown wants you. Dauntless. Defiant. Dragon. And Rime. Closed meeting with her and Alexandria."
Annette's gaze narrowed.
Curtz looked angry before.
Now he looked furious.
"That's not—"
"Chief Director's orders, Director. I'm sorry."
The deputy director didn't look sorry. She didn't look anything. The woman was a statue by an open door and she stayed there until Annette entered. Shawn followed her in. Then Rime. Defiant and Dragon came in last.
"Is Lady Photon alright?" Dragon asked. "We were on our way here when it all happened."
"She'll survive," Rime said.
As soon as Defiant entered, Grant closed the door.
They were alone with the same woman on two different screens at the far side of the room. Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown, and Alexandria. Annette wasn't sure if anyone aside from herself knew. She'd pointedly never told Shawn to protect him.
"This meeting is classified," Costa-Brown said. "What we say and see here doesn't leave this room or be discussed more broadly without direct permission. Understood?"
Defiant spoke up, asking, "Is this about the creatures Huntress described, or what happened tonight?"
"Both." Alexandria appeared to move on the screen and the display changed.
It took Annette a moment to identify it. Waving trees. A mountain slope. Whatever filter the camera was using it wasn't normal. Some odd night-vision sort of thing that cast the world in green with start shadows and exaggerated lighting. The image was oriented from above.
A low orbit satellite?
"What is that?" Dragon leaned closer.
Amid the image, something shimmered. Annette squinted. It was long and thin. Shapes like a talon or a feather.
"Remember," Costa-Brown said. "Classified. This isn't just a PRT secret. It's a US Government secret. Our very treaty agreement with the Yautja includes provisions about not explicitly exposing them to the world at large."
"I'm unfamiliar with that name," Dragon said.
"Good. You're supposed to be."
On the screen, the odd shape appeared to move. Light seemed to roll over it like water. Annette watched closely, reminded of the cloaking device Nanku used.
"Our last direct contact with the Yautja," Alexandria said, "was about ten years ago. They told us to stay out of an incident in Africa. That they were sending someone to clean something up."
Ten years. "The eggs?"
"Apparently so," Costa-Brown said. "As of this moment, we've received no communication from them. For that reason, the US government has decided not to stay out of it."
Annette stilled. "What does that mean?"
"Per our treaty agreement, the Yautja may hunt on Earth. We are permitted to pursue, so long as we respond proportionally."
"Odd treaty," Defiant said.
"The Yautja do not operate by human morality," Alexandria answered. "They have their own codes."
"In other matters," Costa-Brown picked up, "the Yautja did provide a significant service that remains classified. We have paid a price for that aid. 'Fair play' dominates our reactions to Yautja hunters when they appear. It is, under the table, policy and we are not empowered to change it."
The craft—it was a craft of some sort—lifted off the ground then. It rose up and swayed. One pylon housing an engine brushed a row of trees aside as the ship turned and the nose pointed.
Ship.
A ship.
Annette's breath caught.
"What does this have to do with what happened tonight?" Rime asked.
"The Yautja are not a single entity," Costa-Brown continued. "They live in clans. Family groups. Tonight, it appears Lady Photon was caught in the crossfire of one group of hunters deciding to take a run at Huntress."
"In the aftermath," Alexandria spoke up—maintaining the ruse. "It seems Huntress has killed the group and taken their ship for her own purposes."
Aliens.
Aliens.
Aliens?
Her daughter was taken by aliens what was she supposed to do with that? They'd—They'd found her at the camp? Taken her? Raised her themselves? Why?
"Why?" Annette asked aloud.
"We're not sure." For a moment there was sympathy in Costa-Brown's face. "We had no idea this was something they might do until Huntress appeared in Brockton Bay."
"Do what?" Shawn asked.
"It seems, Taylor Hebert was found and taken by a Yautja hunter."
Alexandria's face reappeared and the image of the ship was minimalized into a corner of the screen.
"For what it is worth," she said, "in the past the Yautja have shown clear patterns. They don't hunt the sick. The elderly. Children. It's possible this hunter decided to take Taylor Hebert rather than leave her free to report what she'd seen. A way to remove a witness while sticking to their code against the killing of the young."
"You've said hunting a lot," Dragon said. She looked at Defiant as though they were speaking to one another in their helmets. "They hunt people?"
"It's what the Yautja do. Per our treaty, we do not try to stop them from doing it, but we do intervene where we can."
"We've left Huntress' activities to local responses," Costa-Brown explained. "Struck to the treaty, but this situation has escalated. Lacking any contact from their elders, the presence of the Xenomorph is an S-Class event and the PRT and Protectorate are now intervening."
Annette was still catching up with everything they said.
It was a terrible explanation.
But how often did anyone explain aliens were real while talking about her daughter? Aliens. Taylor was taken by aliens? What was the name she used? Pead-something? Xenomorph? Was that a name for—They had their own name for the R'ka? They knew what the R'ka were?
"Why are we being informed of this now?" Dauntless asked.
"So that you understand what you're walking into," Alexandria answered. "We're attempting to contact the Yautja now, but their decentralized politics may take too long to give us a—"
Costa-Brown react. Alexandria did not.
Costa-Brown looked at something off-screen. Something she could read. A phone or a screen. Unfortunately, the woman was far too practiced for Annette to get anything from just watching her reactions.
"We are prioritizing the elimination and destruction of the Xenomorph," she said cooly. "Huntress will be ignored for the time being."
Annette's heart seized.
"These creatures are too dangerous, and we cannot trust outside parties to prioritize the safety and well-being of Earth over selfish gains. Every trace of these creatures will be destroyed. Understood?"
Defiant and Dragon looked to one another.
"Defiant will command this team. Help Huntress. Go around her. Use her. The Xenomorphs are the priority."
"What just happened?" Annette asked. "Who were you talking to?"
Costa-Brown didn't meet her eyes. The sympathy was gone.
"Classified."
"You haven't explained the Xenomorph," Dragon replied.
"Huntress has provided most of our information on it. The rest comes from the urgency with which the Yautja respond to potential outbreaks. Get it done. All other priorities are not your concern. Alexandria and I will handle it."
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Hunter 10.1
Little Hunter
Nanku wasn't in the mood for patience, which was unfortunate.
The controls were a tad too large for Nanku. Clearly designed for users taller and with longer arms.
Phone in one hand and a spherical display in the other, she rolled her thumbs and tried to find where Hartford was. Human positioning and survey systems were so preposterously primitive, but at least they had the names of everything on them! The hunters had done a basic survey on their way into the Sol System but 'Hartford' meant nothing to them.
There were plenty of cities and places marked and charted but actually aligning the display with where she wanted to go took at least thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes that could have been spent doing something.
"Nanku?" Tattletale asked.
More productive.
"Busy."
She'd at least found the coast of Connecticut. Or was that Rhode Island? Which one was on the right?
"Nanku. What did you do with Kurt? I know you know."
Nanku stopped for a moment.
Strange.
She thought she'd be angry. Furious. Vindicated or excited. She'd found the man who did it. Confronted him. Asked him why…
And she just felt empty.
A drunken beat down husk of a man who hated himself. Drank himself into oblivion most nights because he felt guilty. That's who killed her father.
She wanted it to be someone else. A villain. A monster. Some beast she could put down and feel triumphant about.
Even that felt stupid and empty.
It was just a man who didn't want his wife to die and what? Killed her father with whatever was on hand in a scuffle, hastily tried to cover his tracks, and then stewed in it?
Was that why her mother let him go? Because there was no satisfaction in the revelation? No anticipation of justice to come?
"He's fine," Nanku mumbled. "Deal with him later."
"Alright. Good."
Nanku thought she'd found the city. It looked to be in the right place. Rightish shape. The street layout was similar on both displays. She needed to find the right location.
Lizard Larry had four locations. Nanku dismissed two. They delivered. There was no need to pay someone to bring the food. The other two locations were both in Hartford on either side of the city. Nanku would think they'd want to deliver but she didn't care.
The clone was in Hartford somewhere in a hotel with tall narrow windows.
Nanku wondered.
"What about that cape that attacked you?" Tattletale asked. "If it was a cape."
"Dealt with."
"They seemed like they had your same gear."
"Dealt with."
"Are there going to be more?"
"Not anymore."
She'd disposed of the bodies. Permanently. Their own fault for being so lazy with their security. The communications systems were behind Nanku. She'd opened the panel and ripped out most of the components. She had no interest in any kind of dead switch or failsafe informing their clan. She couldn't know how close they were except that they weren't in the solar system.
"That's not a good enough answer," Tattletale said.
"Too bad."
Nanku left the navigational display and focused on the phone.
Hotels in Hartford. Tall and narrow windows.
Nanku's thumb swiped through images in search. Too wide. Too set apart. Too tall. Rose would have said if the windows were three stories high.
"The PRT has completely shut up. That doesn't just happen, Nanku. What do they know that I don't?"
The Yautja. There was a treaty. Nanku was vaguely aware of it. The PRT must know about it too. Two hunters brawling in the street. Did they decide to leave Yautja business to the Yautja?
Except Nanku wasn't Yautja… Not really… Maybe she never would be, no matter the armor she wore or how much she tried to think like them.
She stamped down on those thoughts. Distraction. Pointless.
"The other you is in Hartford," Nanku said.
"And you know that… Wait—"
"The others were looking for the eggs. They have equipment I didn't."
"Didn't?"
"It's mine now."
It was convenient, as excuses went. No need to drag Rose into anything.
She thought she found the right street on the display. It was a round net mesh. The streets were displayed fully in three dimensions, perfectly to scale, and easily manipulated by her fingers. Nanku surveyed the exterior of the building and the surrounding streets, but only briefly.
It would take at least thirty minutes to get there.
Nanku turned away from the display and faced the control room.
The ship was a sloop. A sleek and narrow vessel designed for small parties spending extended amounts of time and distance away from a clanship. Seventy or so meters long. Twenty-six at its widest, shaped like a long talon with pylons holding the engines out from the main hull. Three decks. Two cargo spaces—the largest bay on the belly with a descending floor. The ship was just barely big enough to carry a smaller shuttle inside it.
The design was alien to Nanku though. The layout distinct, right down to the position and arrangement of the control room.
The chamber was round and set near the center of the ship along its underside. A single door and stairway led to the room. Windows stretched along the wall and showed the forest around the ship. Three seats could be moved across the floor on a rail freely, and two more were situated by the door.
She managed.
The communications display was undone until she could think of what to do with it. The reactor display was normal. Damage to the decks was minor and nothing to be worried about. There was equipment on board to fix that but Nanku wasn't an engineer. She barely knew how to use the ship itself.
Her capacity to pilot it amounted to turning on the auto-navigator and telling it where to go.
Nanku looked at the phone. Tattletale was quiet.
Did she hang—
"I've told the PRT about Hartford. They have locals there. Anything more specific."
Nanku looked at the navigation display. "No."
"Okay, see, I can tell you—"
Nanku hung up and discarded the phone.
It clattered over the floor and Nanku went back to the ship's navigational display. Turning it, she searched the areas around Hartford and picked on. Then she activated the auto-navigator.
In an instant, the hull shook and rumbled. The engines flared and the power flowing into the massive cloak obscuring the craft flickered. Fortunately, they were in the woods and far away from anyone. No one would notice the imperfections and Nanku could move around without relying on Strider.
Nanku could work with that.
The bridge was well positioned for flying over an area. Sensors and survey equipment aside, nothing was as comfortable as seeing terrain with your own eyes. She had a decent view as the ship lifted with Brockton Bay to one side and mountains to another. The nose of the ship turned south and the engines flared to propel the craft forward at a comfortable pace.
Nanku stayed long enough to be sure the ship wouldn't crash and left through the door.
The deck rattled under her feet, but the space between the grate and inner hull gave her plenty of space to store her bugs. On the clanship, she'd been 'unofficially' fumigating for years. Keeping the pests under control and such.
She always figured no one wanted her keeping whole nests of anything useful around.
But, this might as well be her ship.
She'd do what she wanted with it…
…
She'd rather have Dusk.
Nanku bowed her head as she passed into the prep room. The holes in the deck and wall from the plasma caster still smoked and sizzled on their edges. Some burnt blood splattered the floor.
It didn't compromise the ship.
Turning into the armory, Nanku helped herself. The hunters had a full stock. Spears. Knives. Smart-discs. Shurikens. Plasma casters. Everything Nanku could ask for. They even had a ready supply of oils that would resist the acidic blood of the R'ka. Nanku hadn't brought any, but they'd prepared plenty using their equipment.
Dawn wandered into the room while Nanku secured a second plasma caster to a hand rig. The charge wouldn't hold as well, but she wasn't going to play. The hunters had mines. Nets. Wires.
Everything.
Dawn nipped at her belt.
A small cylinder. An addition. Dawn tried to grab it with her teeth but warily pulled back before pulling it from Nanku's person.
Nanku dropped a hand to her head and breathed.
At a mental command, Dawn settled and sat while Nanku finished the work of arming herself. One of the three hunters she'd killed had used an odd skirt-like contraption. A trio of plates that hung from the underside of his pack and held extra weapons.
Most Yautja technology was plug-in-out. She fitted the contraption to her own pack and loaded it with knives, spears, and shurikens. Small mechanical arms would eject them and make them available via her mask.
That was a nice toy.
The ship turned twice as it moved, no doubt avoiding human air traffic to remain hidden.
Nanku used the time oiling edges and sections of her armor. When the ship began to slow and ease into a descent, she knew her time was up.
With a breath, she secured everything in the armor, all her gear, and she checked the link-up on the plasma casters.
Two dropped over her shoulders and a second laser sight projected from her mask. Good. She'd fired blind before for lack of time. No need now.
Dawn remained seated as Nanku turned to leave.
She hesitated at the door. Her hands closed and opened and finally, she stepped through and slapped the panel.
The door slammed shut and locked Dawn inside.
It was for the best. Dusk was already dead, and Dawn's arm was still strained. She could—
With a surge of energy, the door behind Nanku jolted against its frame. Dawn slammed her shoulder into it. Once. Twice. Scraping noises followed.
Dawn clawed at the door and roared.
Nanku flinched.
Dusk was dead. Dusk was—He was more than a pet. More than a prize or a tool. He was hers.
She didn't want to lose Dawn too.
Nanku tried to reign Dawn in with her power, but Dawn refused. That was—Had she grown too big? No. Nanku was careful. She kept them at their current size. She wasn't any bigger.
But Nanku couldn't compel her. Unlike every other bug on the ship, Dawn refused to do what Nanku wanted. Refused to stop clawing at the door. To stop crying.
Nanko growled. "Stop it."
Dawn refused.
"Stop it."
Nothing.
"Please."
Had—Had they always been able to refuse her control? That was—Was it? Did they follow her out of instinct the entire time? Or…
Nanku heaved a breath and turned back to the door.
It opened and Dawn scuttled out with a churl. She circled Nanku and beat her wings, eyes searching the hall for threats.
Nanku dropped a hand to her head and scratched between Dawn's brow. She raised it on command. Folded her wings. Spread them. Folded again. Her hand pressed down, splayed.
The ship rocked as it slowed. The hull turned and twisted, the computer angling to set the craft down.
"Come then."
Nanku started toward the nearest side hatch. Dawn followed on command, obedient again.
Had they chosen to do as she commanded the entire time?
Did Dusk choose to die, killing her attacker at the cost of his own life?
The door opened and a swarm of bugs spilled from the ship's interior. Nanku stepped out among them. Used the bodies to obscure the light of the door until she'd cleared it and Dawn along with her.
The field was empty and in a poor state. Whatever farmer used it clearly wasn't using it much anymore. The ship would go unnoticed for long enough here.
Nanku raised her head and searched the faint stars. Dawn circled her. Guarding.
…
If that was what she wanted. What they wanted. Regardless of the end.
Her hand rose and Nanku removed her mask. The door had closed, and she dispersed the swarm into the night. Standing with only Dawn, Nanku looked at the world with naked eyes on a cold winter night.
It was cold.
When had it gotten so cold? She'd hardly even noticed.
Like she'd never noticed Dusk or Dawn could choose? Why hadn't they ever fought her before? Instinct? Nature? More consciousness than she'd ever accepted or realized?
Something Pe'dte said came to her.
"Not ours to judge," she'd said. "Life is life."
Nanku frowned at herself.
She'd been obsessed with death. With understanding it. Finding—hunting—some way to live with it. That she would die sooner or later. That everything died… Taylor died, except she didn't. She didn't want to die, so she became someone else. Tried to become something else.
Only the Black Warrior wins every battle…
And there was a battle.
There had to be a battle.
…
And she would lose. Everyone lost sooner or later because they couldn't win. She'd always thought the longer she lived, the harder she fought, the easier it would be when death came for her.
She was wrong.
Death simply was.
And it wasn't worth obsessing over.
Pulling the cylinder from her belt, Nanku undid the cap and shook the contents into an open palm. A few of Dusk's teeth. All that remained after she'd destroyed his body.
Pushing the teeth with her thumb, Nanku looked to Dawn and let go.
Dropped everything.
All pretense of control or command. It was hard. Her power couldn't exactly turn off. It was always on. But for Dawn Nanku did her best to be blank. To give no direction. No instruction.
Dawn froze a moment.
Then she chittered and launched herself into the air. She flew forward and back, surveying the ground. Of her own volition.
Nanku knelt and used her knife to dig a furrow in the ground. She set the teeth inside and buried them. The Yautja did not bury their dead, but Dusk wasn't Yautja.
And neither was Nanku.
The Yautja could not answer her fear of death. They couldn't set her free. They couldn't give her control. She put them—and becoming one of their number—on a pedestal and tried to clamber atop it.
Pointless.
By whatever means it would live, and find its own death in living. Nanku could almost see it. Maybe not what the Yautja saw—if she could ever see what they saw—but her own answer. Blurry along the edges and black at the center.
Nanku buried Dusk and donned her mask.
Activating her cloak, she strode into the night, and the numbness faded.
The Black Warrior wins every battle.
Everything died.
Everything lived first. For as long as it could. However it wanted to live.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.
Nanku wasn't in the mood for patience, which was unfortunate.
The controls were a tad too large for Nanku. Clearly designed for users taller and with longer arms.
Phone in one hand and a spherical display in the other, she rolled her thumbs and tried to find where Hartford was. Human positioning and survey systems were so preposterously primitive, but at least they had the names of everything on them! The hunters had done a basic survey on their way into the Sol System but 'Hartford' meant nothing to them.
There were plenty of cities and places marked and charted but actually aligning the display with where she wanted to go took at least thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes that could have been spent doing something.
"Nanku?" Tattletale asked.
More productive.
"Busy."
She'd at least found the coast of Connecticut. Or was that Rhode Island? Which one was on the right?
"Nanku. What did you do with Kurt? I know you know."
Nanku stopped for a moment.
Strange.
She thought she'd be angry. Furious. Vindicated or excited. She'd found the man who did it. Confronted him. Asked him why…
And she just felt empty.
A drunken beat down husk of a man who hated himself. Drank himself into oblivion most nights because he felt guilty. That's who killed her father.
She wanted it to be someone else. A villain. A monster. Some beast she could put down and feel triumphant about.
Even that felt stupid and empty.
It was just a man who didn't want his wife to die and what? Killed her father with whatever was on hand in a scuffle, hastily tried to cover his tracks, and then stewed in it?
Was that why her mother let him go? Because there was no satisfaction in the revelation? No anticipation of justice to come?
"He's fine," Nanku mumbled. "Deal with him later."
"Alright. Good."
Nanku thought she'd found the city. It looked to be in the right place. Rightish shape. The street layout was similar on both displays. She needed to find the right location.
Lizard Larry had four locations. Nanku dismissed two. They delivered. There was no need to pay someone to bring the food. The other two locations were both in Hartford on either side of the city. Nanku would think they'd want to deliver but she didn't care.
The clone was in Hartford somewhere in a hotel with tall narrow windows.
Nanku wondered.
"What about that cape that attacked you?" Tattletale asked. "If it was a cape."
"Dealt with."
"They seemed like they had your same gear."
"Dealt with."
"Are there going to be more?"
"Not anymore."
She'd disposed of the bodies. Permanently. Their own fault for being so lazy with their security. The communications systems were behind Nanku. She'd opened the panel and ripped out most of the components. She had no interest in any kind of dead switch or failsafe informing their clan. She couldn't know how close they were except that they weren't in the solar system.
"That's not a good enough answer," Tattletale said.
"Too bad."
Nanku left the navigational display and focused on the phone.
Hotels in Hartford. Tall and narrow windows.
Nanku's thumb swiped through images in search. Too wide. Too set apart. Too tall. Rose would have said if the windows were three stories high.
"The PRT has completely shut up. That doesn't just happen, Nanku. What do they know that I don't?"
The Yautja. There was a treaty. Nanku was vaguely aware of it. The PRT must know about it too. Two hunters brawling in the street. Did they decide to leave Yautja business to the Yautja?
Except Nanku wasn't Yautja… Not really… Maybe she never would be, no matter the armor she wore or how much she tried to think like them.
She stamped down on those thoughts. Distraction. Pointless.
"The other you is in Hartford," Nanku said.
"And you know that… Wait—"
"The others were looking for the eggs. They have equipment I didn't."
"Didn't?"
"It's mine now."
It was convenient, as excuses went. No need to drag Rose into anything.
She thought she found the right street on the display. It was a round net mesh. The streets were displayed fully in three dimensions, perfectly to scale, and easily manipulated by her fingers. Nanku surveyed the exterior of the building and the surrounding streets, but only briefly.
It would take at least thirty minutes to get there.
Nanku turned away from the display and faced the control room.
The ship was a sloop. A sleek and narrow vessel designed for small parties spending extended amounts of time and distance away from a clanship. Seventy or so meters long. Twenty-six at its widest, shaped like a long talon with pylons holding the engines out from the main hull. Three decks. Two cargo spaces—the largest bay on the belly with a descending floor. The ship was just barely big enough to carry a smaller shuttle inside it.
The design was alien to Nanku though. The layout distinct, right down to the position and arrangement of the control room.
The chamber was round and set near the center of the ship along its underside. A single door and stairway led to the room. Windows stretched along the wall and showed the forest around the ship. Three seats could be moved across the floor on a rail freely, and two more were situated by the door.
She managed.
The communications display was undone until she could think of what to do with it. The reactor display was normal. Damage to the decks was minor and nothing to be worried about. There was equipment on board to fix that but Nanku wasn't an engineer. She barely knew how to use the ship itself.
Her capacity to pilot it amounted to turning on the auto-navigator and telling it where to go.
Nanku looked at the phone. Tattletale was quiet.
Did she hang—
"I've told the PRT about Hartford. They have locals there. Anything more specific."
Nanku looked at the navigation display. "No."
"Okay, see, I can tell you—"
Nanku hung up and discarded the phone.
It clattered over the floor and Nanku went back to the ship's navigational display. Turning it, she searched the areas around Hartford and picked on. Then she activated the auto-navigator.
In an instant, the hull shook and rumbled. The engines flared and the power flowing into the massive cloak obscuring the craft flickered. Fortunately, they were in the woods and far away from anyone. No one would notice the imperfections and Nanku could move around without relying on Strider.
Nanku could work with that.
The bridge was well positioned for flying over an area. Sensors and survey equipment aside, nothing was as comfortable as seeing terrain with your own eyes. She had a decent view as the ship lifted with Brockton Bay to one side and mountains to another. The nose of the ship turned south and the engines flared to propel the craft forward at a comfortable pace.
Nanku stayed long enough to be sure the ship wouldn't crash and left through the door.
The deck rattled under her feet, but the space between the grate and inner hull gave her plenty of space to store her bugs. On the clanship, she'd been 'unofficially' fumigating for years. Keeping the pests under control and such.
She always figured no one wanted her keeping whole nests of anything useful around.
But, this might as well be her ship.
She'd do what she wanted with it…
…
She'd rather have Dusk.
Nanku bowed her head as she passed into the prep room. The holes in the deck and wall from the plasma caster still smoked and sizzled on their edges. Some burnt blood splattered the floor.
It didn't compromise the ship.
Turning into the armory, Nanku helped herself. The hunters had a full stock. Spears. Knives. Smart-discs. Shurikens. Plasma casters. Everything Nanku could ask for. They even had a ready supply of oils that would resist the acidic blood of the R'ka. Nanku hadn't brought any, but they'd prepared plenty using their equipment.
Dawn wandered into the room while Nanku secured a second plasma caster to a hand rig. The charge wouldn't hold as well, but she wasn't going to play. The hunters had mines. Nets. Wires.
Everything.
Dawn nipped at her belt.
A small cylinder. An addition. Dawn tried to grab it with her teeth but warily pulled back before pulling it from Nanku's person.
Nanku dropped a hand to her head and breathed.
At a mental command, Dawn settled and sat while Nanku finished the work of arming herself. One of the three hunters she'd killed had used an odd skirt-like contraption. A trio of plates that hung from the underside of his pack and held extra weapons.
Most Yautja technology was plug-in-out. She fitted the contraption to her own pack and loaded it with knives, spears, and shurikens. Small mechanical arms would eject them and make them available via her mask.
That was a nice toy.
The ship turned twice as it moved, no doubt avoiding human air traffic to remain hidden.
Nanku used the time oiling edges and sections of her armor. When the ship began to slow and ease into a descent, she knew her time was up.
With a breath, she secured everything in the armor, all her gear, and she checked the link-up on the plasma casters.
Two dropped over her shoulders and a second laser sight projected from her mask. Good. She'd fired blind before for lack of time. No need now.
Dawn remained seated as Nanku turned to leave.
She hesitated at the door. Her hands closed and opened and finally, she stepped through and slapped the panel.
The door slammed shut and locked Dawn inside.
It was for the best. Dusk was already dead, and Dawn's arm was still strained. She could—
With a surge of energy, the door behind Nanku jolted against its frame. Dawn slammed her shoulder into it. Once. Twice. Scraping noises followed.
Dawn clawed at the door and roared.
Nanku flinched.
Dusk was dead. Dusk was—He was more than a pet. More than a prize or a tool. He was hers.
She didn't want to lose Dawn too.
Nanku tried to reign Dawn in with her power, but Dawn refused. That was—Had she grown too big? No. Nanku was careful. She kept them at their current size. She wasn't any bigger.
But Nanku couldn't compel her. Unlike every other bug on the ship, Dawn refused to do what Nanku wanted. Refused to stop clawing at the door. To stop crying.
Nanko growled. "Stop it."
Dawn refused.
"Stop it."
Nothing.
"Please."
Had—Had they always been able to refuse her control? That was—Was it? Did they follow her out of instinct the entire time? Or…
Nanku heaved a breath and turned back to the door.
It opened and Dawn scuttled out with a churl. She circled Nanku and beat her wings, eyes searching the hall for threats.
Nanku dropped a hand to her head and scratched between Dawn's brow. She raised it on command. Folded her wings. Spread them. Folded again. Her hand pressed down, splayed.
The ship rocked as it slowed. The hull turned and twisted, the computer angling to set the craft down.
"Come then."
Nanku started toward the nearest side hatch. Dawn followed on command, obedient again.
Had they chosen to do as she commanded the entire time?
Did Dusk choose to die, killing her attacker at the cost of his own life?
The door opened and a swarm of bugs spilled from the ship's interior. Nanku stepped out among them. Used the bodies to obscure the light of the door until she'd cleared it and Dawn along with her.
The field was empty and in a poor state. Whatever farmer used it clearly wasn't using it much anymore. The ship would go unnoticed for long enough here.
Nanku raised her head and searched the faint stars. Dawn circled her. Guarding.
…
If that was what she wanted. What they wanted. Regardless of the end.
Her hand rose and Nanku removed her mask. The door had closed, and she dispersed the swarm into the night. Standing with only Dawn, Nanku looked at the world with naked eyes on a cold winter night.
It was cold.
When had it gotten so cold? She'd hardly even noticed.
Like she'd never noticed Dusk or Dawn could choose? Why hadn't they ever fought her before? Instinct? Nature? More consciousness than she'd ever accepted or realized?
Something Pe'dte said came to her.
"Not ours to judge," she'd said. "Life is life."
Nanku frowned at herself.
She'd been obsessed with death. With understanding it. Finding—hunting—some way to live with it. That she would die sooner or later. That everything died… Taylor died, except she didn't. She didn't want to die, so she became someone else. Tried to become something else.
Only the Black Warrior wins every battle…
And there was a battle.
There had to be a battle.
…
And she would lose. Everyone lost sooner or later because they couldn't win. She'd always thought the longer she lived, the harder she fought, the easier it would be when death came for her.
She was wrong.
Death simply was.
And it wasn't worth obsessing over.
Pulling the cylinder from her belt, Nanku undid the cap and shook the contents into an open palm. A few of Dusk's teeth. All that remained after she'd destroyed his body.
Pushing the teeth with her thumb, Nanku looked to Dawn and let go.
Dropped everything.
All pretense of control or command. It was hard. Her power couldn't exactly turn off. It was always on. But for Dawn Nanku did her best to be blank. To give no direction. No instruction.
Dawn froze a moment.
Then she chittered and launched herself into the air. She flew forward and back, surveying the ground. Of her own volition.
Nanku knelt and used her knife to dig a furrow in the ground. She set the teeth inside and buried them. The Yautja did not bury their dead, but Dusk wasn't Yautja.
And neither was Nanku.
The Yautja could not answer her fear of death. They couldn't set her free. They couldn't give her control. She put them—and becoming one of their number—on a pedestal and tried to clamber atop it.
Pointless.
By whatever means it would live, and find its own death in living. Nanku could almost see it. Maybe not what the Yautja saw—if she could ever see what they saw—but her own answer. Blurry along the edges and black at the center.
Nanku buried Dusk and donned her mask.
Activating her cloak, she strode into the night, and the numbness faded.
The Black Warrior wins every battle.
Everything died.
Everything lived first. For as long as it could. However it wanted to live.
***
Beta'd by @Grim Tide.