Chapter XIX: Naivete


AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Apologies for the delay. I got a job and then got into uni and had to quit the job, so things have been hectic. Masters Degrees are frigging intense. I'm aiming to get this story written by the end of the year - no promises, though. Aiming to make this story 31 chapters in total, but it might be slightly less.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.


Ugh. Fucking Max with her fucking sad doe eyes and her wobbly fucking lip making me feel all shitty inside. I hate it, and I hate her, and I really, really have to fucking apologise. Ugh.

Fucking Max.

"Come on, Chloe." A bright voice inside my head said, "She was just being all caring and trying to look after you. She didn't mean anything by it. You jumped to conclusions, just like fucking always."

That voice could fuck right off.

I put out my smoke in the crappy ashtray on my dash and swing out of the truck. They should be getting out of some smart-kid shit any time now, I'll stop off, say my piece, and get the hell out of there. Nobody can give me any crap about that, right? Just gotta... be sincere?

Ooof. That's gonna be tough. Maybe I should just send it in a text? That's cool, right? Max needs the practice.

The sudden ringing of the bell drew me out of my random bullshit just as I hit the main hall. I thought for a minute and- oh, fuck. Right. Lunchtime. They'll be in the Cafeteria. Rach has this weird thing for seeing what horrible screwed up mess of a science experiment they serve for lunch each day.

So, I headed in. The place was loud as always - and not the fun loud where it's all pounding bass riffs and roaring crowds. No, this was the noise of a few dozen entitled shitheads yelling about how rich daddy is and how they're off to Malibu or Morocco or friggin' Mars for a nice weekend holiday. I could see a whole bunch of the bastards lining up (and who'd've thunk they had the manners to actually queue!) at the server racks on the far side of the room. Every one of the tables along both sides of the room between me and the racks was packed with pricks and prick-cesses (like Princesses, but prickish? Yeah, I didn't think that worked either - never saying that shit again).

And of course, Rach was right in the middle of the whole rotten, sodden lot of them. Ugh. Again.

I stuck my hands in my pockets, kept my head down, and turned up my swagger to warp factor ten as I started off toward 'em. And then, I stopped. Because Kate... uh... Mars? Marsh? was talking. About me. Without even thinking about it, I hid off to the side behind one of the tables of douchebags and craned in to listen just in time to hear Kate call me 'troubled'.

Which, y'know. Fuckin' rude, dude. Some frat-boy prick elbowed me in the side, so I elbowed back. Asswipe.

I quickly moved one or two seats closer. Again, it was hella loud in here.

Through the noise, I could hear Kate say... I'm. Oh. I'm not worth it? Really? Well fuck you too, bitch! Another elbow to my side sent a bolt of pain up my ribs - I thoroughly shoved the dickbag off the bench and onto the ground. The guy's meal followed him down, and I smeared the front of his letterman with mystery meat.

The room doesn't react, and I stormed out without anyone caring.

Just like always. Nobody noticed the useless little girl who couldn't do anything, right?

But there was something I could do about that, wasn't there?


Fuckin' Max. Fuckin' Kate. Fuckin' Rachel.

I put my foot down on the pedal and sped past some doddering old dude in a delightful blue car, chatting gaily to his equally doddering old wife. Or partner. Or casual sex friend. Old people fuck too, y'know.

I continued to blatantly mentally blather on about whatever bullshit comes to mind so I could avoid thinking of the inevitable. I swerved dangerously out of the way of a passing convoy of trucks and- wait, did that guy have a golden duck on his hood? And did it have a hat?

What the actual..?

Wait no, focus Price. It's... the next right here. I swerved equally dangerously in the other direction - ah fuck, the ashtray! I'm gonna have to clean that up later. Damnit. Well, it's not like the floor hasn't seen worse, I guess.

I followed along the wretched suburban street and parked up outside a wretched suburban house. I swung out of the truck and strolled right up to the door, rapping loudly on it and yelling "James! Jamie, you old dog!" I knocked again. "I'm here for my sister, I know she's here!"

The door suddenly hurled open and James Amber glared down at me. "What," He hissed. "are you doing, Miss Price?"

"Just trying to get your attention." I grinned. "Now, are you gonna let me in, or am I gonna have to yell some more? Might be time to tell everyone about Sera, huh?"

His jaw clenched way harder than is probably healthy and I could hear the grinding of his teeth. I just grinned wider. When he hadn't moved after a couple of seconds, I pushed my way past him and sauntered confidently into the front room. "So, I want all the information you have on The Stranger."

He promptly bristled wildly. It was odd - I've heard those weird metaphors about people being like animals, all growling and howling and shit like that. Never really seen it actually be properly right before. Could practically see his quills shivering. "What? I can't give you those files, they're classified!"

"Didn't stop you with Damon, eh?" I crossed my arms, and never broke eye contact. "I know exactly how I'll tell her and everything - Hey Rach, so your dad lied to you your whole life and even tried to kill your mom with the help of some low-down drug dealer. Totally fuckin crazy, isn't it? I know! You wanna destroy him for it? Me too."

He blanched. Almost went totally ghost-white. "I- I..." His shoulders dropped, and I knew I had the fucker.

Damn, I am good.


I watched my best friend enter the Amber household with a sigh. There goes the hope she'll leave this alone. I can't let her get involved. I won't let anyone else get hurt because of my mistakes. My mission. For a moment, I thought of following her in, taking them both down, and hoping the head trauma sorts out the revealing of my secret.

I shook my head. No. That's not the answer. You're not controlled by that thing anymore. I turned to leave. I have a secret meeting of my own to get to.

I dropped down just in time for worn eyes to look at me, blown wide with panic. Hmm. He looked tired-er than usual. He also seemed to have a new jacket and beanie. I nodded. "Stan."

The man stood, stock still, staring, for a few shocked seconds before shaking his head. "Stranger. You scared the daylights out of me."

I grinned beneath my mask. "Sorry."

He shook his head again. "No, no. I..." He started rubbing his hands together. "I got the information you wanted. On the new lab?"

"Good work. Where is it?"

"San Francisco."


*flashback begins*

The crowd of offshoots were muttering petulantly. The stage remained empty. The day had begun barely an hour before and the entire area was awash in hazy reds and dim yellows. Max watched quietly from a nearby rooftop, senses alert as she lay coiled in wait.

She felt another presence climb up onto the roof and slink over to lay beside her. A faint tickling along her side tipped her off to the identity of her companion. "Rell."

The Bird Woman let out a low sound, somewhere deep in her throat. Her eyes pierced into Max, as they had more and more recently. Max's hackles never raised though - she felt something she couldn't name, but threatened certainly was not it. "They're almost here."

Another few minutes passed before several people - full humans - walked up onto the stage. The crowd's murmurs quieted further until the area was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

And they did. One single pin landed on the stage with a high twing that drew everyone's attention just in time to catch the grenade that followed it.

The explosion was even louder for the silence that had preceded it, and the new reds and yellows cast a lively vibrancy to the colours of the morning light.

The screaming was markedly less picturesque.

"Now!" Max yelled, standing and leaping from the rooftop to grab onto a clothesline. She rode it down to the stage, swinging wildly all the while. At the very last minute, she let go and rolled onto the stage, coming up into a combat pose.

She brought up her sword.

The humans on stage looked up from the ground, heads shaking as they struggled to keep their eyes from the point of the blade focused on them. Every last one of them was covered in blood and burns. She grinned. Prescott goons. The triplets hopped onto the stage from behind her. The other half of her party crept from the shadows. They had them surrounded.

Valli gestured and the triplets swept forward to pull up three of the fallen - each put a blade to the throat of their hostage. Valli walked forward and leaned down in front of the first, a pleasant grin across his face. The worms crawled beneath his skin. "Hello," he started. "My name is Saardari Valli. You are Arthur Nails, a Prescott hireling under Kyle Sandal-." A gesture to one of the still-free fallen, unmoving on the ground. "-and thus you will know a few things I'd quite like it if you shared."

Nails shook his head, what little he could. "I- I can't!"

"Oh no," Valli laid a hand on Nails' shoulder with a thoroughly sympathetic expression. "Why would you be unable to share? You seem a strong, capable individual - aren't you a strong, capable man, Mr Nails?"

Nails shook his head once again. Hinder held him tighter, almost roughly jostling the man. Valli frowned, an open and cajoling expression that reminded Max of her stricter childhood teachers. One that asked you to please tell the truth because they knew you were better than the lies. "Please be careful with our new friend here. It's only polite. He can't share anything if you throw him about like that."

"I'm not sharing anything, you freak!"

Valli sighed, oh so regretfully. "I'm very sorry to hear that, Mr Nails."

In a flash, he stood and stepped back. Hinder promptly buried his knife up to the hilt in the man's clavicle. After a moment, Valli took the blade from Nails and cleaned it off on the corpse's shirt.

The air filled with a metallic tang that sent Max's stomach roiling. Her cheeks felt wet and warm. A growl filled her ears, and the warmth vanished.

Valli looked down at the body and shook his head. Then, he walked over to the next goon. "Hello! My name is Saardari Valli, as I'm sure you heard me tell your colleague over there." A gesture to the cooling corpse. "Now, I have some information I'm sure you'd be delighted to share with us. Would that be something you're interested in?"

"Right!" Valli said brightly, jamming his blade into the throat of the final goon the moment his confession was made. The goon bubbled and boiled as he cursed Valli for his oath-breaking. Valli said nothing, letting the sound of the body hitting the ground make his point so very sharply. There was a pause of silence.

Suddenly, Valli exploded into motion, his hands flying up as his face split in triumph. His eyes never changed, but his smile turned companionable. Motivating. "That is a perfect route into the main lab for this entire region! We have our first step towards ridding this island of the Prescott Scourge!"

He suddenly peered off behind us and his already sunny expression flared into a solar storm. Raising his voice, he pushed past us and walked to centre-stage. He spread his arms wide in greeting, in bold supplication. An orator beseeching his audience - why don't they come in from the cold and sit awhile, and he'd be ever so grateful if they listened for a few moments to what he had to say. If they let him sooth their souls for just a little while. "Hello, my friends! Please, come forward, we have vanquished the Prescott presence here!"

Several Offshoots peeked out of doorways and windows, heads tilted and eyes narrowed as they set on Valli's presence. A few came forward, but most stayed back. Valli's smile never changed. Never criticised. Never feared. "I know you're worried - the vile, virulent scourge that has plagued you so long, it's hard to believe they'll ever be defeated. But you saw what they sent here - six people." He laughed. "There are more than ten dozen of you in this town alone! And now," He reached down and swept up a rifle from one of the bodies. "You have their technology! You have proof they're all too human-" He gestured back to the bodies. "And you have proof that you are more!"

He threw his hands in the air, pulling a raucous cheer from the building crowd. "You have the chance to truly throw off the yoke of Prescott oppression, and to take the power you deserve for your own! To take the freedom you are owed!"

The crowd cheered again.

Max tuned out the rest of the speech.

She tuned out the reaction that followed. She tuned out the mob that built, the strikes they made, and the rebellion they started. She tuned out many things over the coming months, all the blood and violence and horror, but the Hunter paid close attention. Each and every time.

*flashback ends*