Chapter 14: What a Twig...

Auron plodded through the forest, his face downcast. Nero's arrogant babbling had faded into white-noise long ago. 'To think, couple of days ago- no... This morning! Has it really been only that long? I was trying desperately to find this guy and ask him about what is going on. Now he won't shut up. Well, at least I know I can get him to talk...'

"... And, after all," Nero droned on, "What's the point in just wandering through life when you can grab life by the throat, strangle it into submission, and then ride it into the sunset? Right? No sense in going through the motions. That's no way to live your life. To go with the flow is a no show! No one will remember you that way."

Auron decided to dignify the statement with a response, "Is that how you want to be remembered? As a hustling barfly?"

"Hey now, that was for kicks, not for the history books. Strictly off-the-record. I thought we swept that whole incident under the rug anyway. Why do you have to open up these emotional wounds after all of the work we did to mend them?" Nero brought his hands up to his head in mock despair.

Auron's eyebrows lowered, "Uh, 'We' never mended anything. We put a hold on the issue, and I expect a full apo-"

Nero's hand snapped over Auron's open mouth with an audible *pop*.

"Shh," Nero whispered harshly, "Stop your yammering. You'll give away our position."

Auron's eyes widened in an intense fury as hands curled into fists at his sides, but the off-character seriousness in Nero's silver eyes kept him from shouting.

He traced Nero's outstretched finger. It led towards the edge of the dense forest that they had spent the past twenty minutes walking through. They had nearly made it to their destination. In the clearing ahead, engraved arches of an ancient structure enclosed a set of pedestals. On these pedestals sat small gleaming objects, but they were too small to see from this distance.

However, right in the path of the two Huntsmen-in-training was a twenty-five foot long scorpion, covered in a thick, cragged, bone-like exoskeleton. A large golden stinger hung perilously above the scorpion, twitching slightly as if it was preparing to snap forward. It hissed quietly, almost as it was asleep with its eyes open.

A DeathStalker. Nero mouthed, being sure to over-enunciate each syllable.

Auron rolled his eyes. I know what it is! he shouted silently.

Nero unblinkingly studied the DeathStalker, the silver in his eyes gleaming like a mirror.

"Okay," Nero finally whispered, "I have a plan."

"What, you'll challenge it to BlackJack?"

Ignoring his teammate, Nero carried on, "Grimm aren't terribly clever, they respond to stimulus mostly. They sense a target, and then they attack. DeathStalkers are especially like this - they're essentially single function robots. This guy probably didn't even mean to show up to ambush us."

The sudden complexity in this delinquent's speech caused Auron to start to rethink his opinion of Nero. He decided to humor him for a moment.

"So, what does that mean for us?"

"He'll attack his prey the same way every time. If he's close, he'll use his pincers to snap us like twigs. If we're just a touch farther away, he'll stab us with its tail. If we're too far away, he'll walk closer," Nero took another look at the large arthropod, "Basically, this means we know its attack patterns."

"Alright Mr. MMO," Auron replied in a whisper, "What do we do from here?"

"Heheh," Nero chuckled, "So you do have a sassy side."

"I do have my moments now and then, but they seem to be showing up more the longer I'm around you."

Nero's whispered laughter was quickly shut down by Auron's curt answer. A short moment of silence followed.

"...*ahem*..." Nero cleared his throat and composed himself, "Here's my plan. You stand about ten feet away from him, just in range if his stinger. Meanwhile, I'll sneak behind him and prepare to snag his tail with my chains. You get its attention, and I'll grab his tail. Without his weapon of choice, it won't know what to do. You then will have the opening to deal with him as you will."

Auron thought this out, "So basically, you just snag its tail from behind, and then I have to deal with the rest of it?"

"If my calculations are correct, you'll be the safest of either of us."

"... You'll understand if I don't completely trust you."

"Oh, don't be a baby, I'm giving you the kill here. Do you want to grab the tail?"

Auron sighed, "Fine." Slinging Splitter from over his shoulder as it sat in it's standard wood-splitting axe configuration, Auron spoke softly again while glancing to Nero. "Let's squash this bug."

The two recruits moved into position. As Auron stepped away from the brush, the DeathStalker suddenly stirred from its motionless state. The cold, dead eyes showed no thought or emotion.

The pincers clicked impatiently, but the prey was too far away. However, the stinger would reach the target. Strike fast, kill the prey. The stinger stretched back, preparing to skewer the victim standing just out of claw's reach.

Auron watched as the tail reached back. 'All right, don't get flashy. Just grab the tail.'

Nero was nowhere to be found.

'Nero? Nero... No sense in waiting till the last second, just grab the darn tail!'

The stinger reached its apex. It would strike in any second.

"Nero!"

Just before the Grimm could attack, a flash of light emanated from behind the DeathStalker. Silver chains wrapped around a joint in the scorpion's tail. A smug laughter echoed from the distance.

"What's the matter Auron? Did you miss me? You thought I dumped you for a prettier -Aaaaaaahhhh!"

Nero's arrogant remarks were warped into a scream of terror as the DeathStalker's tail snapped forward. The weight of Nero did nothing to stop the attack. The silver-haired recruit's feet were wrenched from the ground as he was sent dozens of feet through the air. He flew beyond the tops of the trees, and his high pitched scream faded into the distance.

Auron dove back as the golden stinger embedded itself into the ground.

He shook his head. Despite losing his teammate and having to fight the DeathStalker alone, he couldn't help but chuckle, "Now this is going to be fun."