Chapter XV: This is War - Saturday, Two Weeks later, then Sunday
AN:
Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!
There are unfortunately quite a few flashbacks in this chapter. I needed 'em all to be in the same one to get this sequence over with quickly so I can slow them down a little more in later chapters again and get both plot threads to where I need them to be. Apologies to those of you who aren't into the flashbacks. If you like 'em, apologies to you guys/gals/otherwise too. I feel like I kinda half-arsed the things to try and get this chapter done for this update (I spent most of the delay working on the latest chapter of Firewatch).
Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.
The next two weeks were difficult as I spent the time healing, rather than working towards my mission. I hadn't been idle in five years, and being... laid-back rubbed at me. Luckily, my abilities had kept my injuries easily hideable, and the few slip-ups I'd had in front of Chloe and Rachel were even easier to pass off as sleeping badly, or injuries from my 'clumsiness'.
I snort, leaning back against the tree I was waiting for Stan by. Clumsiness had been the first things the Prescotts had 'trained' me out of. Even Perceptive Rachel hadn't seen through me, thanks to Chloe's grins and references to old injuries. Or, at least, I didn't think she had. My... leaving had happened before they'd taught me the social skills needed for my designed role.
I didn't get much opportunity to try what little I had out, anyway. Most of my time on the Island was spent fighting. Or planning to fight. So much planning.
*flashback begins*
It took several weeks of training and late-night conversation before Artemis brought up the Sheriff once again. The afternoon had been filled with visits from Artemis' small animal friends, and the old mutant had a contemplative air to her musings that Max and her newfound awareness quickly picked up on. She did not ask, though. Merely waited for Artemis to bring it up by herself.
And so she did, late that evening. She called Max over to the overlook, and invited her to sit. "Tell me, do you recall our last conversation about Sheriff Stone?"
Max nodded. "Yes."
Artemis smiled at Max's terseness. "The Sheriff is moving again. My friends amongst the creatures of the forest have seen Offshoots among their trees, acting towards some purpose."
''What purpose?"
Artemis shrugged. "We don't know. But we suspect she's trying again."
"Again?"
Artemis gave the girl a significant look.
"Oh. Killing you, again."
"Indeed." Artemis waved out a hand in the direction of the Sheriff's town. "The Offshoots are congregating in the valley, only a short way from here. It seems she is marshalling her forces for an attack."
Max blinked, her mind going over the possibilities of an attack. Artemis seemed certain but... if they'd been gone for so long..? "Would they really attack you?"
Artemis nods. "I've been a thorn in their side for years. If the Prescotts demanded it, she would have to take action. If they are indeed coming for us..." After a sigh, the old woman pulls herself up straight, and declares "If they are, then we will be ready. I have had years to prepare for this."
She turned to an owl that had been hovering on the edges of discussion, calling it over much as she had with Max. "Call to the others. The first sign of unity, and you return to me." The owl nodded, then flew off into the evening, its pale white feathers contrasting with the deep black skies until it disappears. "I believe the Sheriff will take the day to bring together the rest of her forces, then attack tomorrow night, under the cover of dark."
Artemis rolled out a map onto the table between them, and began to guide Max through the defences and protections she had laid into the treehouse and the surrounding grove.
*flashback ends*
The faint ringing of a door bell pulls me out of my thoughts and I look up across the street to a small, independent coffeeshop we'd arranged for the pick-up. Stan was inside, sat at a table with two people in suits.
I watch as Stan exits the coffeeshop and skitters across the road towards the empty park I was hiding in. The two FBI agents he was meeting stayed at their table, chatting. He halted just inside the gate, hissing "Stranger? Stranger!"
I stepped out of the bushes. "Stan. Did you get it?"
He nods, grinning. "Jesus, I've never had so much freaking money."
I smile. "You earned it, Stan."
We divide up the earnings into two, 75 thousand for him, 125 thousand for me. I immediately begin organising the list of things I have to purchase for the base. I look up to Stan. "Thank you for your help." And I really was. Thankful. Because of his help, I could start what I'd come back to do.
I turn to leave, but he stops me before I can. "Uh, Stranger?"
I turn back, stare.
"Is that it? Are we... done?" He sounds... disappointed.
I grin. Good to see I'm not the only one enjoying this. "No, Stan. We're only just getting started. I'll find you again."
He smiles and nods, heading out of the park and keeping his head down. I head in the opposite direction, staying off the main streets. Being masked and armed in public was just asking for police attention.
So, I stuck to the alleys, quietly working my way towards the city outskirts. It was going smoothly, until right when I'd almost made it to my destination. That's when I ran into trouble.
There were two men, obviously drunk, and a woman, obviously terrified, in the alleyway. She had her back up against the wall, her clothes were torn, and she was crying quietly.
One of them was a little way away from her, swaying as he waved a knife around. The other was up against her, one hand under her dress, the other planted on the wall above her shoulders.
When I looked closer, the girl wriggling around ever so slightly, unconsciously trying to get away from her attackers. But her eyes never left the knife. The asshole assaulting the girl called back to the other. "Look at her wriggle, Davey. Bitch knows she can't do shit." 'Davey' cackles as the first one crows in the girls face "Can't do shit, you hear me!"
The girl cries harder, tries to shove the guy back, but he's too strong and keeps hold of her easily despite his drunkenness.
The Hunter watched with satisfaction. The Strong survive, the weak perish.
"But," A little voice in my head muttered. "we were weak. Artemis helped us. Those rules don't apply here."
Before I'd even thought about it, I'd slipped into the alleyway and approached them, clicking on the little voice modulator I'd found on the cutest corner stall. "Leave the lady alone."
The two men whirled, but the one with the woman never took his hands away from her. 'Davey', the one with the knife, snorts. "She's no lady. She ain't nuthin' but a streetrat whore." He catches sight of my outfit and laughs. "And what the fuck're you s'possed t'be? Some kinda cowboy, ridin' in to save the lil' whore?"
I take a deep breath before speaking again. "You've had one warning. You will not get a second."
Davey scoffs. "Fuck you, bitch."
These two really need to get better, slightly less sexist insults. Maybe 'brigand'? 'Meddling kid'? Even 'you motherfucker' would be slightly more imaginative then 'bitch'.
I get distracted from my mental rambling by a knife coming in low at me. It doesn't take much effort to dodge out of the way. The alcohol covered this man's presumably already awful reflexes in metaphorical molasses. I sigh as he stumbles past me, only narrowly catching himself against the other wall of the alley.
I turn back to the other man. "Are you going to let her go, or not?"
He spins the girl around in answer and pulls her up against him in a surprisingly solid hold. Turns out this guy holds his drink far better than Davey. "I think you're going to let us go."
His eyes flick to my left just as he finishes he speaking and I roll my eyes, catching Davey's knife-hand mid-thrust and twisting, causing him to let out an agonised scream and let go of the knife. I catch it and fling it into the wall next to Davey's friend, where it embeds itself to the hilt and sticks.
Both of them eye the knife in shock, and I see my opening. I grab Davey and spin, throwing him head-first into the wall. The guy holding the girl was slightly more difficult, I had to avoid hurting her, but a punch to his kidneys causes him to groan and instinctively push out the girl towards me. I catch her and spin again, standing her out of the way of the fight. I catch her eyes and smile. "Stay here, please."
They both come at me then, with large, roundhouse sweeps that I see coming a mile away. It's one of the few times that the Hunter and I are in perfect agreement.
For what they were trying to do, they deserve far worse, but...
These idiots aren't worth it.
I step into Davey's swing, taking the blow to my side in exchange for open access to his ribs. I pepper him with punches, just like Tiny, grinning when he crumples. His friend goes down after a simple downward swipe onto his neck. Hardened criminals they are not. I just hope this experience will encourage them not to do this again.
After stacking the two men to the side of the alley, I turn back to the girl, who's staring at me in open shock as I finally get a decent, uninterrupted look at her...
Oh god, she's just a kid. Basically my age.
"Are you okay, miss?"
She stares at me for a second longer, then blinks and says something in what I'm pretty sure is Spanish before shaking her head and trying again in English. "Um. Sorry. What?"
"Are you okay?"
She nods, numbly. "I think so. I..." She looks down at herself. "I know what they were going to do. And you stopped them from doing it. So, thank you." She smiles, sweet and self-deprecating, as she shrugs. "I know it's not much, and it doesn't even scratch the surface of what I owe you right now, but it's all I have. Thank you."
I blink behind my mask, finding her... emotion getting to me, more than I expected. "It was no trouble. They were assholes." I tilt my head. "Do you have a phone?"
She nods. "Y-yes. Why?"
"So you can call the police. These men might not've gotten as far as they wanted, but it doesn't mean they won't try again. If they're charged, it might stop them from doing it again. And can help them be convicted, if they do." (AN1)
The girl nods, but makes no move for her phone. She still seems kind of... numb. And I have no idea how to help.
"What's your name?"
"E-Emily." She takes a deep breath, forcing the words out. "Emily Cabello."
"Nice to meet you." I spare a look back at the two men. "As nice as it can be, under the circumstances, I guess."
She laughs, but it gets choked into a sob as she starts to really understand what could've happened here. They had a knife. And they had... intent. Pushing through every instinct I have, all of which were screaming bloody murder, I stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Emily. Listen to me. I need you to call them now. Okay?"
She nods, still crying, but does as I ask, pulling out her phone and dialling. "He-hello?"
I listen to the call, rubbing her shoulder in what I think might be a soothing way until she hands up. "They'll..." Another breath. "They'll be here in five minutes."
I nod, and step back, heading away to leave, to fade back into the shadows where I should probably have stayed, when the girl... when Emily calls out. "Are you, are you going?" I turn to look back at her. "What if they wake up?"
I shake my head. "They won't." Then, I realise how that sounds and add "Not soon enough."
There's a pause as she takes that in before asking "What do I tell them? About you?"
I shrug. "Whatever you like. I can't stop you."
"But..." She sounds... unsure? now. "What do you want me to say? I owe you, but they're not going to believe I took them out on my own."
I think for a second. I'm fully healed now, and the shipments that've arrived for the lair over the last two weeks have finished, so I'm fully equipped too. Once I begin, I'm not going to be anonymous for long. So, I tell her. "I go by Stranger."
"What?"
"Stranger. It's my name. Well, my handle." I amend.
I need to shut up now.
She nods, her face spreading into another smile. "Thank you, Stranger."
That smile stays with me, even after I'm far from the alleyway.
I settle back into the cave, making sure to run a feeding check with the critturs before settling in with my computer to research the first target on the List. It's a small building, relatively unsecured. One of the Prescott garage and motor pools for their shipping vans. Prescott was a businessman, before all else. Targeting his production and logistics would get his attention.
That made it Step One.
A format borne of advice from Artemis; think of each step as a separate goal, rather than steps toward one. Rome may have burned in a day, but the Prescott Foundation wouldn't be destroyed in one.
Over the next hour, I studied blueprints, timetables, and in-house memos of the facility, and I made a plan. Once I had that, there was nothing more I could do until I actually went there tomorrow, so I turned my sights to Kate's investigation. I'd done a little poking over the last couple of weeks, but found very little. I'd kept Kate apprised at our weekly tea-meeting (the girl really knew her teas) and, while she was disappointed, she seemed to be reassured when I told her I wouldn't stop looking.
Unfortunately, unlike the Prescott files, I didn't have enough access or enough computer ability to find much more than I already knew. I'd have to start asking people soon, if I hoped to find more.
A bleep from my phone alerts me to the time. Shoot. I promised Chloe and Joyce I'd be there for dinner. I'd have to start running now to make it, so... I sigh, giving my computer one last forlorn look as I switch it off and stow it in a small bag. After one last check over my creatures, I turn and leave for Chloe's.
I glare at the familiar logo emblazoned on the huge wall in front of me.
Prescotts.
The warehouse was exactly where the files had said it'd be. Right on the waterfront, near to the airport. It was tucked away behind a few other buildings, out of easy view.
Nice and quiet.
I went in through the roof access. Breaking the lock was a breeze, and I crept in. The stairs lead down into a largish room, some sort of lounge. The walls were lined with crappy couches, and a square TV sat on a stained wood coffee table. Two of the walls, left and right, were windowed. Luckily, both sets of blinds were closed. I crept up to one, and peeked out.
The room below was filled with vans. Mostly panel vans, but I could see a few larger trucks mixed in. All of them were marked with different decals: exterminators, transport services, flower delivery...
A small group was crowded around the side-door to one, laughing and smoking.
Distracted.
I checked the other blinds, finding an empty office room. One of those modernist open ones, with everyone able to see each other. The perfect corporate panopticon. A door on the opposite side of the room was marked 'stairs', so I hurried over and pushed on it. Not locked. Jeez, these people really need to improve their security.
I quickly headed down to the basement, trying to find the electrical room. It wasn't hard, especially compared to navigating caverns. For one thing, caverns didn't have signs. Those were helpful.
The room was nothing extravagant, a simple room containing machinery to power the flights upstairs. I toss a zappfly at the generator, smile as it immediately fizzles out in a cloud of sparks, and settle in to wait.
Barely five minutes later, a man strolls in. He's grumbling, and not really paying attention to his surroundings.
His mistake.
I dart out of the corner and grab him in a headlock. He struggles for a second but I'm too strong for him. Eventually, he gives up and tries to talk. "Who-"
That's as far as I let him get. I hold my hand firmly over his mouth and start to talk. "Don't say anything. Nod if you understand."
He nods.
"Good. I'm going to ask you some questions. Nod for yes, shake for no. Understand?"
He nods. Good.
"This building is owned by the Prescotts, right?"
He nods.
"Are there people in the building other than the group in the motor pool?"
He shakes his head.
"Is there a ventilation system running in the pool?"
He shakes his head. There goes that plan.
"Can they get out of the building in less than five minutes?"
He nods.
I smile.
Excellent.
I lean in. "If you're asked about this, tell them the Stranger was responsible. Understood?"
He nods.
"Repeat it."
"The Stranger was responsible."
I nod.
"Good."
I release him, and pull open the door. "Run now. I'm going to blow up the building."
*flashback begins*
The Sheriff's force came, exactly as expected, under the cover of nightfall. The stealth effect was somewhat ruined by the whooping and hollering and poor woodcraft. The horde of offshoots was the antithesis of uniform, every weapon, every outfit, even every physiology was different. Huge, hulking offshoots stomped along next to tiny skittering rat-like offshoots that darted between the legs of the larger creatures.
Artemis rolled her milky-white eyes as she 'watched' their approach from a crossbow-lined balcony on the treehouse. "Predictable as ever, Stone. Max?"
"Yes?" Max looked up from the ground below where she'd been modifying one of Artemis' traps. She'd seen something similar done back in the mountain, and knew exactly how it could be improved. The Prescotts may have been monsters, but they knew their technology.
"They're off to the east, coming in from the grove. Are you both ready?"
Max smiled, looking down at the panther coiled and ready beside her. "We are. Let's do this."
The Offshoots, lacking the sense for tactics and unvalued by Stone as anything more than shock troops, never bothered to hide, or dodge. They simply charged straight for the grove. Artemis was unfazed and simply walked down the line of crossbows, firing quarrels into the horde. Many offshoots fell, but the mass simply kept coming.
Neither Max nor Artemis expected otherwise. The quarrels were simply there to provide a first strike, and thin the enemy forces.
As the offshoots got closer, they set off trap after trap. Barrels of strong chemicals exploded in bursts of burning liquid that stuck to all it could, logs fell and crushed offshoots beneath their mass, and... well.
They couldn't leave the critturs out of the fight, could they?
Offshoots fell into concealed pits filled with fuzzles that promptly tore into the panicked food that had 'wandered' into their newfound lairs. Zappflies and stingbees buzzed through the trees, picking off whichever offshoots were unlucky enough to wander into their path.
Several dozen managed to reach Max at the foot of the treehouse and, in response, she let the reins ono the Hunter go slack, just a little, using the control she'd learnt from her friend and mentor.
They never stood a chance.
As Max pushed forward, so too did Artemis' stronger animal friends enter the fray. Several Great Bears appeared from a dense grove in the midst of the horde, attacking offshoots with claw and bulk. From above, Hooter and a formation of owls dropped sharp and heavy rocks onto the heads of the offshoots below. Even a small formation of boars had come to help, gouging and tearing with their tusks as they charged through the enemy host.
The battle was going immensely well, and so neither of the defenders realised that a new problem had arisen until it was on their doorstep.
To either side of the main host, Stone had sent in the hounds as a flanked ambush. Amongst the Tak Hounds there were other beasts that Max had never seen before. Either they were new products of Ratigan's experiments, created in the months since she had left, or they were dangerous enough that the Prescotts had left her training with them until later.
If Max's prior luck was any indication, it was likely the latter.
The Tak Hounds howled, their calls causing as much pain in the nearby offshoots as in Max and Artemis. In response, Max ducked her head, and put in the two small cotton buds she had fashioned earlier that day. After all, if she could not hear, they could not hurt her. The painful screams were the Tak Hounds' only weapon. So, Max let herself be drawn away from the treehouse, trusting in her friend to protect their home, and the Hunter to protect herself.
When she began cutting into the ranks of Hounds, the beasts did not know how to react. Nobody had been able to stand against them before. Almost a third of them fell before they broke ranks, yipping and barking in terror as they ran from the flashing blade. As they retreated, and their screams died down, the offshoots pressed their attack again, and a flood of them came at Max and Holly, both of whom were happy to greet them with blade and claw.
Having run out of traps and crossbow bolts, Artemis leapt down from the treehouse and strode into the mass of Offshoots, swinging her sword gleefully as she cut down all before her. With Max and Holly's support, along with that of Artemis' animal friends, they began to turn the tide.
Until a group that Max did not recognise appeared from the Horde. Stone and her Clan had come; the Sheriff had collected many brutish and violent companions to help her in her oppression, though none had the deadly skill of the Prescott agents they were dangerous in their own rights.
Artemis, almost on instinct, found her eyes meeting those of her old enemy. The leathery-skinned old Sheriff grinned ferally when she spotted Artemis, looking forward to finally ending the threat the old Child of Ratigan posed to her rule.
"Stone!" Artemis' sword never stopped moving as she called out her challenge, striding forward towards the Sheriff and her companions. "You got over your cowardice, I see. Finally willing to face me fairly, and in the open?"
The Sheriff's clan fanned out, targeting each of the animals Artemis had recruited. They cut cruelly into the fur hides of the bears, shot arrows through the wings of the owls. Even the critturs were not immune to their hard methods, as vials of acid were tossed into the fuzzle's pits.
Artemis' face fell in shock and horror at the blatant cruelty, immediately rushing forward to save her friends. The Clan in its entirety met her charge. She put up a good fight, but she was cut down before Max could even close on the group. Like Artemis, she was blinded by anger, and when she finally did reach the clan, she wasn't even given the mercy of a quick death. They hit her to the ground, and left her in the dirt. Then, Stone raised a hand, pointing to Artemis' home. "Take it down."
Max looked behind her in mounting horror as the treehouse, her sanctuary, and the one place she had felt truly at home in for three years, exploded. Her anger rose, not the familiar cold embrace of the hunter, but perfectly normal burning rage, and she charged towards Stone and her Clan, intending on revenge. She was quickly swallowed by the Offshoot horde as they pressed in at her from all sides, and she was even more quickly left unconscious.
When she finally awoke, and remembered what had happened, both the Sheriff, her Clan, and her army, had gone. Max sat alone on the battlefield, and let her head fall in grief.
*flashback ends*
He runs. Whimpers, too. The Hunter growls in satisfaction before I push it back down again. Not now.
I reach into my satchel and pull out a boombat. The little furball giggles as I toss it under the generator. I leave the room and head back down the corridor, dropping boombats as I go.
The first one (temperamental little guy) explodes as I reach the end of the corridor, and the rest go just as I get back to the lounge room.
Boombat fire spreads quickly and, by the time I'm out and on the road, the entire building is up in flames and the group from the motor pool are standing out the front yelling and cursing loudly.
I turned the corner of the Blackwell road at a full sprint, breaking to a jog when I spot silhouettes walking down the main stair. I focus on them, trying to stay to the dark and out of sight.
I'm so intent on them, that I don't notice the other silhouette creeping out of the parking lot, and collide with it with a thunk. The other person gets knocked to the ground and... uh... doesn't seem pleased. I guess. He swears. Like, a lot. Without stopping to breathe, either.
"What the fuck how fucking dare you damn fucking shit well do that you fuck..."
I blink, half shocked, half impressed, down at Nathan Prescott, sprawled out on the ground. I reach out to help him up, muttering out "Oh dog, I'm so sorry, I di-" and stopping mid-word as he slaps my hand away with a growl and stands up on his own.
He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, and I frown as I recognise one of the calming, meditation-ish techniques that I had been taught to deal with the Hunter.
Nathan's face flashes up and his eyes narrow as he spots my frown. "What the fuck are you frowning at, Island Girl?"
I shrug. "Nothing."
He eyes me harder, focusing on my face. It's weird, I feel like he's looking through me, but at me at the same time? "What're you doing out this late, Island Girl?" Before I can answer, his face twists and he suddenly asks "What the fuck was your name, anyway?"
"Max." I say, still having no idea where this conversation was going.
He nods, repeating my name to himself like he's trying to commit it to memory. "Max. What are you doing out this late, Max?"
I shrug. "Just out for a walk."
He raises an eyebrow. "A walk?"
Even I can tell he knows I'm lying.
But does he know that I know that he knows?
Calm down, Max. Don't overthink this.
I go with it. "Yeah. I like walking at night. It's quiet, it's dark." I pause at his expression. It's almost... empathetic? "People are loud." I offer, hesitantly. Maybe I could... make a friend here? Or at the very least, not make another enemy.
Achievable goals, Max. Achievable goals.
He frowns appraisingly at me again, then nods. "Yeah. They are." After another pause, he leans back, and his hands go into his pockets. "What did you do to piss Vic' off?"
"Vic?"
"Victoria. She really doesn't fuckin' like you." He tilts his head. "So what did you do?"
"She doesn't seem to like that I go walking." I shrug, not bothering to hide the lie this time. If he picked up the last one, I'm never gonna get anything past him so why fucking bother. Hell, maybe he'll appreciate the reference.
Turns out he did because, after a second where he gives me a dark stare, he grins. "Yeah, well. Vic' never did handle people well. Try not to piss her off more, okay? I'm the one that's gotta deal with it if you do, so..."
I nod. "I'll do my best. No promises. She's very... loud."
The boy gave me another wolfshark grin as he walked away.
I watch him disappear around the corner before my face splits into a strange smile. That was... He was...
Huh.
I turn and I head off towards my room, no longer bothering to stick to the shadows.
*flashback begins*
She sat by the body for what felt like days. Artemis was gone. The accursed sheriff had seen to that. To her great shame, Max found herself slipping away too, once more giving herself over to the cold anger and primal fury of the Hunter. So, she gathered up her things, strapping her sword to her waist and the crossbow to her wrist, then headed out into the wild.
The sun beat down mercilessly, as The Hunter walked into town.
She came down main street, simply walking, making no more noise than would a gentle breeze. She never raised her voice, and never raised her sword. But anyone who saw the look on her face got the hell out of her way.
They knew someone was going to die that day, and it wasn't going to be them.
Shutters closed, curtains were drawn, doors were shut and locked. The Hunter kept walking down the road, advancing toward the last house. Stone's place stood tall at the head of the street, a proud structure gifted to them by the Prescotts.
She stopped, just short of the house, and looked up at it, all quiet-like. After a few moments, she calls out, and her voice carries across the town. "Stone! Sheriff Stone! Come out, come out, or I'll blow your fucking house up." Down. Max couldn't remember how the original line went, and the Hunter didn't care. Either way, she wasn't one to bluff.
The silence after she finished speaking was palpable. You could cut it with a blade, if you were inclined to such.
Moments passed, and then more. Shutters opened throughout the town as curious Offshoots peered out of their homes to see if the Sheriff would answer the challenge.
And answer she did.
Suddenly, the doors to the Sheriff's house exploded open and a dozen men and women rushed out, and every weapon they carried was pointed at the now-smiling Hunter.
Her Prey had arrived.
When her clan had assembled out into a semi-circle that spanned out to either side of the building, the Sheriff swaggered out of her home, a long rifle cradled lovingly in her arms. Her eyes, cats-irised, blinked in amusement at this... interloper that dared to challenge her in her own territory. "Ah. It's you. I remember you, failure. You were with the Old Bitch, up in that shack treehouse o' hers. How's the place lookin'? Get your friend buried yet?" She grinned around at her clan, and they shared in a perverse laughter.
The Hunter stayed silent.
Stone frowns. "So, what manner of idiot doin's brings you down here? What? You want revenge or somethin'?"
The clan are getting nervous now. Antsy. They shuffle about from foot to foot, and readjust their aims. The Sheriff's eyebrows bunch up, and she shouted out one last warning. "You wanna live, Failure, then you better get out of here. This is your last warning."
The Hunter finally speaks.
"No."
She looks up.
"It's yours."
The Sheriff and her clan all laugh at that. "Our last warning? We outnumber you, thirteen to one. What the fuck are you gonna do?"
There was a beat of silence as they awaited her answer. None of them, Max included, expected... laughter.
Suddenly the Hunter's arm raised up and, before any of the Sheriff's clan can move, two bolts flash out and embed themselves in the eyesockets of two on the periphery. She spun around, tossing out four Stunkz that instantly envelop the clan in their potent clouds.
The clan, instinctively or in panic, fire their shots. Most of them go wild, but two bullets scrape against the Hunter as they pass, taking a layer or two of skin with them. The Hunter spins out to the left as they fire another volley, missing her entirely in the dark clouds. She loads two stingbees, firing them into the right flank, and two more of the clan go down.
A lucky shot from the biggest of the clan, a tall, broad Offshoot with jet black skin and ears like claymores, hit the Hunter in the shoulder and went straight through. Her Blood Haze faltered for a mere second before returning, harder and more thirsty than before. Another two bees were loaded, and another two clan members fell.
The cloud began to clear, and the Hunter could see the remaining clan take stock of their losses, and focus their sights on her. They seemed angry, but confident. She was within their sight, and far enough that she couldn't reach them before they could shoot.
Or so they thought.
She unclenched her fist, letting the crossbow disassemble itself on her wrist, and drew the sword.
What happened next, none could really say. The Offshoots that bore witness claimed she moved like lightning, blinking from one spot to another as she swung again and again and again. Those that later examined the bodies noted that she never hit the same place twice. Her kills were inventive, stabbing into kidneys, slicing blood vessels; she even took the limbs of two clansmen.
These men and women were all feared by all on the island, taking any liberty they wished throughout their reign of terror and pain, and crushing all who challenged them into dust, but they all fell, until finally, only Stone was left.
The Hunter didn't hesitate, raised her crossbow and fired a single bolt into the woman's lower spine, going straight through her belly to reach it. The shot left the Sheriff kneeling, holding herself up only by sheer strength of will; the sheer, stubborn grit that'd enabled her to dominate so much of this region. She laughed, a sound of perverse amusement, and spat out a gob of blood and bone.
The Hunter walked forward slowly, the Sheriff's feared enforces lying bloodied on the floor around her, and stops, just short of Stone, glaring down at the woman who'd killed her friend. She raised her crossbow, pointed it at her, but, at the very last minute, found herself hesitating. The shot had weakened her control, and left an exploitable opening.
Max took it, and tried to fight back against the Hunter, begging it not to do this.
She almost succeeded.
The sheriff cracked her neck and looked back up at her, still grinning, still bloody, still complete and utter fury. She spat out another gob of blood and growls "Do it you piece of shi-!"
*flashback ends*
AN1 - I'm not sure if this is true elsewhere, but it is true in England. If you file a report for one crime, you can build up the case for a more severe penalty for later crimes, or even make a conviction more likely where it might not otherwise be. Hella unfortunate that this kind of thing isn't taken more seriously, but until it is we have to do our best to target the full might of the system against arseholes like these.
