Of Lightning, Flesh, and Swords Chapter 3

The Hunt

Also Disclaimer: I don't own inFamous, Prototype, and Claymore

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Please keep reviewing and I'll keep writing. They really do help motivate me.

"Macgrath" Alex said as he sat down in a seat.

"Hmm," Cole responded while drinking.

"I thought the word subtlety would be something that you would at least have a basic understanding of."

"Hey, I didn't say I'd be subtle, I said I would be stealthy and, damn-it, bars are stealthy."

Alex face-palmed. It had been an hour since they left the room and it was about midday. He had been looking around for any source of the Yoma, but it was a bitch to find. While he could tell the difference between Yoma and human, the problem was finding the person who was the Yoma in the first place. The village was decently sized and, as he preferred a more subtle approach to finding his targets, he couldn't just wreck the place and find the Yoma that way.

On the other hand, from what Alex could tell, Cole had clearly been drinking some liquor. The new environment had piqued his curiosity and the new drinks, as well as food, tempted him. Time wasted Alex thought.

"How much of our money did you even spend?" Alex hiss as his voice came to a quieter hiss.

"Seven of the stick thingys"

"SEVEN!" Alex exclaimed as silently as possible. "You spent more money on the food than the damn room!"

"Hey hey, calm down," Cole said as he reassured Alex.

"WHY, I can't just kill someone and steal their money especially since I agreed to your terms," Alex hissed, "Do you even have any real reason, as to why you're doing this? What happened to doing things the hero way?"

"First off I've got a damn good tolerance to alcohol."

"Oh that's absolutely wonderful," Alex spat back. "How the hell does that help find the damn Yoma."

"Let me finish," Cole lifted his drink and finished the beverage in one swoop. "Mmmm, Ok. the second thing, a Claymore's coming to the village."

"WAIT WHAT," Alex exclaimed. "How does that help us?"

"From what I could gather, the Yoma freaks always attack at night," Cole paused for a bit. He beat his chest with one fist and a small burp came out. "-cuse me. Anyways, the Claymore is gonna get here today and she'll just get rid of it for us. If we stay out of her way, no one gets hurt and we don't get caught up in the crossfire."

Alex leaned back and looked at him in shock and wonder. "Wait, where the hell was your damn enthusiasm before."

"Ehh, don't worry about it," Cole waved his hand in reassurance. "You said you wanted us to be undercover right? Well, since the Claymore's gonna get here, I don't think we're gonna have any more deaths before she finds it. They work fast I hear."

Alex sighed before he continued, "I appreciate the consideration on my feelings, but I think we're going to have some issues with that plan of yours."

Cole paused for a bit as he looked back at Alex. Cole set his drink down, studying Alex's face.

"What do you mean?"

"I think there's more than one Yoma in the town."

Cole stared at Alex whose deadpan expression seethed with seriousness.

"How many are there?"

"At least four or five," Alex answered. "That Claymore is gonna have a run for her money if she faces them all down."

"Shit, then we gotta work fast."

"I know. Finding five Yoma is going to be difficult in it of itself. But we're going to have to work fast anyways."

"What do you mean?"

"Once that Claymore gets into town, we have to avoid her at all costs. If we alert her of our presence or powers, she might be able to tell her damn organization everything."

Cole expression immediately changed into shock. The Claymore, that was once going to be the two's saving grace from violent afternoon, was now going to be an obstacle. If she was too much of an obstacle . . .

"If she does find out, I'm not going to let her live Macgrath," Alex spoke as if he read Cole mind. "I'm not letting anyone know a thing about us."

"Don't assume the worst on the get go Mercer."

"Better to assume and be prepared than unprepared and out of place."

Cole growled a bit, "Let's just find the freaks before they do any damage,"

Cole stood up as did Mercer and they quickly moved out of the bar, only to be greeted by a crowd of people. The group was facing an entrance of the town where soon the two found themselves facing as well. From a distance, the two saw a beautiful wispy woman about five and a half feet tall. She had a pageboy haircut and wore armor on her shoulders, waist, wrists, and feet. The most noticeable trait, however, was the large sword that she carried, indicating her Claymore status.

The appearance of the Claymore suprised the two men. They had expected a malformed monster that took orders like a drone, but instead they saw a beautiful figure dressed in light medieval armor. Despite her appearance, however, the two quickly tore their gaze away from the woman and moved away from the crowd and towards the most recent kill site.

As they moved through the crowd, the two men heard the crowd whisper things about the Claymore.

"Look her eyes are silver"

"Yea, why do you think their called silver eyed witches?"

"I really just hope that she doesn't go after us"

"Well, she does have some Yoma in her so you can't be too careful."

In some sense, they could feel for the Claymore, who offered to kill creatures of death for the rest of her life and gain no sympathy or respect. It reminded Cole of his time in New Marias whenever he spotted a group of civilians demonizing him. It reminded Alex of his entire experience in the NYZ where despite his attempts in curing the virus, they public feared him and the military attacked him in whatever which way. Eventually, they found themselves at the edge of the crowd and they both moved out of sight. What they didn't notice, however, was the Claymore's silver eyes as it followed the two's movements around the corner.

The blood was quite dry at this point and some of pools of blood were starting to peel from the surface of the floor. Cole walked up to the body as Alex watched the Conduit do his thing. Cole felt some residing energy around the area and started to gather it. It was quite faint but eventually it gain substance and he felt himself receive a flashback.

~Flashback~

"Oh GOD Please DON'T NOoOo, -Aggghhh, ohh please help, a- . . ."

A gurgling voice was all that came out soon the beasts were on him. His guts were spill and the man soon felt his life slipping away. There were five beasts that surrounded him.

"Oh, yes. His guts were SUPERB"

"I could just keep hunting these humans forever"

"Oh yea, did you get any news on the Claymore"

"Yes, the town still thinks there's only one Yoma here."

"Good Good, heh heh heh, we'll kill the claymore then start killing the rest of the villagers off. That silver eye freak won't know what hit her."

"She's going to get here tomorrow, that's when we'll strike."

The monstrous humanoids swiftly moved and the soon the memory faded.

~~~Flashback End~~~

Cole found himself staring at the body and as he turned around. The green ghostly apparitions soon tore his gaze.

"You ok? You looked like your mind was in a whole 'nother place."

"Yea, I guess you know how it looks now when you start remembering memories that aren't yours."

Alex stared in wonder as Cole continued, "If someone's died, I can actually relive the moment that they died and detect the residual energy of the killers. By the way, you were right. There are five and I got all of their locations."

Alex smirked realizing their luck. "Good, let's get to work in getting rid of these freaks."

Inside the office of the town's Chief, an older man sat in his chair. The many wrinkles and ripples on his face presented his age and the sweat that had appeared on said wrinkles glistened. His face turned into a nervous smile as he came face to face with the claymore. Her eyes were cold. A silver eye witch indeed.

"Uhhmmm, here's the payment for your services," The old man stuttered barely containing his fear. "Please, you can check it's all there."

The cold gaze of the claymore pierced his face and moved as he felt it cutting through his body.

"No,"

The old man went wide eyed. Did she just deny her services? Luckily it was not the case as the Claymore continued to speak in the same cold tone as before.

"Once the job is complete, a representative will come by and collect it. I can't accept payment myself"

The chief found himself barely able to stand as he spoke. "O-Ok. Whatever you say."

Surprisingly the Claymore started to elaborate, to the chief's horror. "It means if I fail you and die in the process, you are not obligated to pay anything."

Her words shook him. So close to death and so accepting of such conditions. It made him shake.

"Oh, I understand." He uttered. His fear got the best of him as he decided to speak again, this time to ask a question. "So what do you think? Will you be able to find the Yoma today or maybe tomorrow?"

"Of course, that will depend on the Yoma," The claymore answered still in her emotionless tone. "If it's taking extra care to hide its yoki, then it can prove difficult. Eventually, either its corpse or mine will wind up in the streets of your village."

The Claymore started to turn as the chief stood still. The claymore stopped, however, and spoke in a questioning tone. "I would also like to know something. Has there been any suspicious figures lately?"

The question racked him as he struggled to remember if anyone had appeared lately. Suddenly a memory struck him, "Y-YES, um yes, one of the local innkeepers told me about two strange figures that took a room even though there was a Cla- I mean Yoma."

The Claymore stood in place and turned her head back to the chief, "I see, thank you for your assistance," and with that she walked out the door.

As soon as she left the door, the chief fell to his knees as his wife came to his aid.

"My god that was my first Claymore," He muttered, he could barely continue speaking as he felt his life lose a couple years. "I was expecting her to be more human but . . . but she . . . was . . . just like a monster."

The Claymore walked down the street and watched as the streets cleared for her. No sane human would not steer clear from her silvery gaze. Women picked up their children, men moved towards their houses, shops were cleared and soon the street had become completely empty. This Claymore's name was Claire. She had always preferred this lonely feeling. She could always work better alone than with someone else or when there were other around her for that matter. The quiet streets comforted her, but she still had some bits of sorrow in her heart.

Soon she reached the scene of the crime and she could tell others had been here. She recalled the two strange figures that went around the corner as she entered the town, remembering how they had acted. As she looked at the dried blood, she could smell a scent that came from some portions of the blood. The smells were foreign, like they didn't belong. As much as she didn't like a lack of information, this would have to do. At that, she sprinted down the road that the scent was leading to.

Claire was going to find these Yoma because she was a Claymore.

And that's what Claymores did.

The second Yoma that they found had not died as easily as the first one they found. The first one had been milling about inside a random house. It had no idea that it was being hunted until two men crashed into the door and immediately attacked him. Two blasts of electrical energy hit the creature's chest sending it in to 'shock' (Cole had laughed at that for a bit before Alex told him to shut up).

After consuming the first one, Alex managed to easily locate another one of the Yoma that were hidden. This one had sensed his brother die and was far more prepared. However, after attempting to fling a table only for it to come back towards him, the Yoma soon let his guard down and was also promptly consumed.

Alex swiftly searched the creature's memories and had gotten nothing. The two men still had no idea where the ambush would take place. The leader had everything planned and he would be the one to send the signal to kill the Claymore.

Because they had no information on where the next Yoma was, both Cole and Alex ran towards the scene of the crime again.

"So let me get this straight," Alex said as they ran down the stone path. "You can only locate the killers by going back to the scene of the crime?"

"Yea, I know it's tedious, but hopefully, one of the guys will have some info on the next guys' location."

Soon the afternoon sun turned into an orange glow as the sun started to set. Cole and Alex was about to turn the corner when Alex spotted something and pulled Cole back. The Claymore was resting next to the crime scene and FACING TOWARDS THEM.

'Crap, how the hell did she know we were here?' Alex thought.

Alex narrowed his eyes as he attempted to figure out how she had found their trail. He sniffed a bit to clear his nostrils and realized he smelled blood. He turned to Cole and whispered as quickly as he could.

"Macgrath, do you have any blood on you?"

Cole searched himself. There wasn't any sort of blood that she could see at first, but then he lifted his shoes and checked his soles. The soles had a faint hint of dried blood from the scene of the crime.

"Shit," Cole exclaimed. Alex looked at him furiously.

"How the hell did you get blood on your shoes from a crime scene?!" Alex hissed.

"I wasn't paying attention, I'm sorry. Damn."

The sound of shifting metal caught their attention as the realized the sound got closer. They formulated a plan and started to move. The sound of the metal clanks quickened as Claire started to run to the hiding spot. She knew where they were and were just about to find them as soon came face to face with . . . nothing.

She stared at the last known position and looked around. The scent had disappeared and the only thing that was left was a slightly cool breeze that brushed up against her skin. She took one last look around and went back to her spot. She knew they would come back, so why move?

Up on top of a roof, Cole and Alex laid back down against the stony tiles. Cole had managed to quickly ice jump up to the roof and the ice had luckily melted before the Claymore had reached their position. Cole breathed a sigh of relief and Alex still continued to glare at him.

"Great job, how are we supposed to get to there now?!"

Alex had now flipped through his vision and identified the living being that stayed near the crime scene. The claymore was now firmly stuck between them and where they needed to go and from the looks of it, she wasn't going anywhere for a while. Alex grumbled as Cole spoke.

"If she's gonna stay there, we may as well stay here." Alex gave a questioning look before Cole continued, "Look, those Yoma were gonna ambush her. We may as well just wait here and watch over her."

Alex looked at his fellow traveler with surprise, "When in the hell were we ever going to help the damn Claymore?"

"When you agreed to go it my way remember."

"I agreed to killing Yoma and staying away from the Claymore, not helping her stay alive." Alex snarled.

Alex turned away from Cole in frustration. He shook his head from side to side wondering what was going on in Cole's head. Fortunately Cole answered quickly yet firmly. "You heard all those guys. They all feared her and demonized her even though she came to help those people. Don't you know hate that feeling? To be hated by the people you protect."

Alex turned around and walked towards Cole, pointing at him accusingly. "This shit again. It's always gonna be about you and your dead girlfriend isn't it."

Cole narrowed his eyes and stared, "Mercer, don't try to pin the blame on me or Trish. You know how this feels."

Alex rushed up to Cole and raised Cole by the collars of his shirt, "Bullshit. I've always had to care for me and me only. Every other living shit has been an insect compared to me. I've never relied on ANYONE and I definitely don't need any heroic support now."

Cole stayed calm and looked into Alex's eyes, "You don't have anyone you cared for?"

"No one,"

"Then you're no better than a monster,"

"I guess I am then," Alex sneer. He let Cole go and stared back at him. "I guess I am a monster."

Cole looked at him for a bit, "Wasn't there anyone there to give you that chance. Someone that still believed you were human."

Alex opened his mouth to speak but no words could be found. He found himself in a bind as soon as he thought of Dana. While Alex wasn't human, Dana had found every reason to believe that he was. No matter what had happened, Dana was there to comfort him. But now, she was gone. Stuck on another world, stuck in a coma, and stuck with a Doctor that he didn't fully trust. He really was a monster.

Cole watched as the viruses features changed from a scowl to a sorrowful expression with guilt. Cole walked over the Alex and placed an arm around the virus. "Who was it?" Cole questioned in an understanding tone.

Alex looked down towards his feet as he whispered, "Dana. She was Alex's sister and the only person that still believed that I had something left."

Alex walked away from Cole as he continued on, "I guess I really am a monster Macgrath. I couldn't even protect the one person that I could give any damn about," Alex gave a small chuckle. "How can I protect some random person on the street when I can't protect the one I do care for?"

That was when Cole stopped him. "You practice,"

Alex gave a glance at him, "What?"

"Do you think I was a hero day one? Hell, I even told you that my first reasons for being a hero were to impress Trish," Cole swallowed a bit before continuing. "It was hard, but I learned to be a real hero in the end. I just kept acting like a hero, doing heroic things and then finally, I just lived with my heroics through and through."

"What does that even mean?"

Cole took out his amp and the silver tuning fork shaped metal rod flashed blue with electricity. "Alex, are you a monster. Did you ever believe yourself to be some flesh eating psychopath?"

"No?"

"Did you care for Dana,"

". . . yes."

"Would you do anything to make her proud,"

Alex closed his eyes and shook his head, "yes, but whats that got to do with-"

"Be a hero,"

Alex flinched a bit before Cole continued, "be the best damn hero you can god damn be. Even if you fall a couple times trying, even if you did failed someone else, and even if you had to sacrifice yourself. . . Be A Damn Hero."

Cole stared into the virus' eyes and asked him, "do you accept?"

A long silence fell through only to be punctuated by the electrical static of the amp. A solid minute passed before Alex answered in a quiet whisper and a smile.

"Yea, I do."

Cole smiled, "Good, then I want you to know this," Cole lowered his amp as he moved in closer, "Even though this ain't our world or anyone we know, we got a duty as heroes to be the best heroes we can be."

"All life is precious and any bastard that tries to tell you otherwise can shove it up their ass. We got powers that people can only dream of. We were given these things for a greater purpose than just sitting our asses and hoping for the best. We need to be damn symbols for everyone show everyone that we can be symbols."

The silver amp soon attached to Cole back and, at the same time, Cole moved towards the edge of the roof. "Let's go be damn heroes."

Alex smiled and chuckled in confidence. "Cole," the conduit faced him as the virus continued, "Thank you for believing in my humanity"

Cole watched Alex. Even though Alex smiled, Cole could tell that there was sadness in his expression.

"Cole,"

"Yea?"

"Call me Alex,"

"And?"

Alex smirked, "Lets go be damn heroes"

The two men smiled at each other, their new found confidence as heroes fueling their enthusiasm. Suddenly, the two men changed their expression as they felt a hostile energy signature. The flash of Yoki was large and noticeable to the point where even they could determine the location easily. The Yoma had begun to move.

Ok time for some explaining. The reason why I wanted Alex and Cole to sort of have these arguments now was because I wanted them to be heroes. Cole is easy to understand but Alex is hard to shift into a hero role. He mostly massacred people for the hell of it and ate random bystanders to heal himself. Now that this has happened, you can expect Alex to take on a full hero role with him trying to actively save people lives rather than take them as collateral damage.

However, Alex will still prefer the more subtle stealth consume approach and still be a bit weary of Claymores. Cole will be a bit more of a free spirit and hopefully help Alex learn to just live life like a normal human himself.

I still haven't mentioned the pairings yet and I can't wait to set them up.

Thanks for reading everyone.