Authors notes: ok there is the next chapter of a hunter in waiting.
at the bottom I would like to say there is something I need to address, but that can wait.
A hunter in waiting
1.3
We regained consciousness at... 5:00 am in the morning. We felt like this was not the norm, as we still felt tired. We got right back up, and then we felt Taylor's connection, she was awake, for some reason. We decided that it was unimportant. We then grabbed our cloak and equipped it on ourselves.
We then moved to the stair well, and ascended. And then we opened the door, and then walked out of the basement, we decided that it would be for the best that we should leave right then and there. Attempting to find our way to the entrance that we came through earlier, we felt our way around the house.
As we did this, we then picked up some noise from behind us, and looked to see, to the best of our ability, where or what caused the source of the noise.
Only to find our mother standing right there, on the stairs to the upstairs, most likely doing what most mothers do when they catch their children sneaking off to somewhere, crossing her arms.
She also made a coughing sound that was the cause of the noise that we had heard. From the connection we shared, it told us that she wasn't very happy with our choices, as leaving in the morning without a guide, or any awareness to the environment that is Brockton Bay, was a bad idea. But, knowing that the protectorate could quite possibly also find out about her parahuman abilities... which was one of the main reasons we wanted to leave so that the PRT wouldn't take a too much of a deep look into Taylor's life.
It would ruin her chances of proving herself that she can do big things, so taking on Lung on her own is much needed... but we intend to aid Taylor in taking out the notorious criminal known as lung, just before the undersiders get involved and Armsmaster the stubborn arrive to the scene and take the spotlight for taking out Lung, whatever he tries to say, he's already in a good position, tempting death at the leviathan fight just tells us that the man is blind to obvious win-win or lose-lose situations.
But we hoped that they would send someone more competent to investigate, like Miss militia... 'Hmmm... should we try and get Miss Militia and Danny Hebert together? Hmmm... thoughts to be decided on later... But who should we ship mother with? Gallant is off the ship list, Clockblocker could be a funny individual, Aegis probably still dies, Vista is a hard no, Shadow Stalker... hmmm... that's gonna be on 'FUCK NO!', Kid win? Maybe... just maybe... Grue... a maybe we suppose. Regent? No thanks, we don't want to think about that... Tattletale? Maybe just to mess with her, but not actually do it. Maybe Panacea... that reminds us, we gotta help her cope with her life and all that, because she is not doing so well.' we thought... then we realized that we were silent for a while.
Leaving mother standing there, glaring at us, for our stupid plan of leading the PRT to go on a wild goose chase... in our case, a wild worm chase. Of course, we needed to see and all that, but we couldn't find all the supplies in one house.
So, we decided to acknowledge her being up, and spoke up.
"Good morning, Mama." we greeted her. We then felt her glare at us.
"Where... do you think you'll go? You don't even know where to go." she lectured us. 'Oh no, what did we do- oh, of course, we said that we would leave in the morning... without not knowing where to go.' we thought.
"Places..." we stated. We didn't exactly know the layout of Brockton Bay, or any monuments as this was a fictional city up until this point.
"Do you know any of the local gangs?" mother asked us. Now that we thought about it, all we knew was that there were Neo-Nazi's, Asian supremacists, Drug addicts and stupid coil. But we couldn't tell her that we already knew of the dangers already present in this house, so we shook our head.
Then Mother shook her head and sighed, "Well, if you're going to go out there, might as well warn you of the local gangs. First there's the E88, white supremacists. Watch out for capes like krieg, hookwolf, and alabaster, it's the fact that you're not human that concerns me if you do come across any of them." she let out a breath that she was holding, "There's the merchants, the typical drug crazed criminals, they only have a few capes alright... then there's the ABB... if you see lung or any of his subordinates, please don't engage him or them." she taught us. "Then there's... Faultline's crew, a cape mercenary group... if I remember correctly, they have fellow case 53's working for them... so if you don't decide to join the Protectorate, then please join them to at least have someone back you up." she pleaded us.
"Do not worry, mother, we will be safe. And who knows, maybe we will come back to see you mother, or we see each other out on the streets..." we then leaned forward, and whispered, "And hopefully we won't be fighting each other after you debut, mother."
This of course startles her, "How did you know?" she whispers to us.
"Easy, our connection, your signal is poking at us. We can feel it coming from you, as well as it's connecting to other small lifeforms. The only reason you cannot control us is because of the gestalt that is the result of us collaborating together to form this body. We are not deaf to certain things mom, so do not fake it towards us. Do not worry, your secret is safe with us." we revealed. It was simple, really. One cannot control a group if that group is already controlled by a gestalt that the group is working to form. Or whatever nonsense that lek'golo come up with, really.
We then turned to leave the house, but before we left, we turned our head to face our mom, "Do not worry, we promise to come back when we have found the right time." we reassured her.
But before we could leave, mom then commented on something, "Before you leave, could you explain why you're 8 ft tall now?" she asked.
This was going to be complicated to explain, how to explain it to her?
"That... is a story for another day" we referenced, without even knowing what the reference was based on. And then left.
"Wait, here, take this." she then handed us something, a walking stick? We suppose that could work until we build ourselves eyes.
Later...
As we passed a coffee shop, that could possibly be the same one as the one where Tattletale goes to people watch. We had earlier asked for directions to an antique shop, and thankfully mother decided that it be a good idea to give us some money, so we don't have to rob it. Which is a pretty good idea.
We then turned to face the shop of our destination, this would be the place of our interest, we should be able to find the parts for our eyes.
Meanwhile...
POV: Danny Hebert.
'Pick up, pick up...' I thought as I was on the phone. I was currently calling the PRT, and it was taking a long time.
Then finally, they pick up, "Parahuman Response Team, receptionist Jill speaking, what is your purpose of your call?" the receptionist asked.
"Well, you see, I'm calling in to report a new Case 53, they're about six feet tall, last I checked, uh... made up of a lot of worms. And intimidating as a matter of fact." I told.
"Alright, when was the last time you saw them?" she asked, with interest.
"Last night, my daughter brought them in, and they said they would be staying in our basement for the night, they're long gone, I'm afraid." I told them the truth, as I fidgeted my phone.
I then heard a sigh from Jill, "Alright then, I will inform my superiors. Thank you for informing us." she said, before I hung up.
'Phew, hopefully they'll be cooperative with the government.' I thought to myself.
Meanwhile...
POV: Faultline
Today was going to be a long day, Faultline just knew it. Ranging from accepting contracts, to cape fighting, but who knew what could happen today.
As I sat down, a phone of mine rang, meaning a possible client. I then picked the phone up and answered the call.
"Hello?" I asked, and from the other end of the call, a distorted voice responded.
"Is this Faultline?" they asked, with the distorted voice speaking out to her.
"Yes, this is her... who is this? And what do you want?" she asked, curious to who could've found this number. If this was Tattletale, then she would track this call and slap her.
"It doesn't matter who I am, but from what I've seen in my research, you are a vocal supporter of rights for case 53's or whatever it's called, I'd like to inform you of a new case 53 who has joined the scene that is Brockton Bay. They are eight feet tall, appear to be made up of several hundred giant worms. They seem to be very vocal for the right to slap someone into orbit. Don't ask me, that's what I heard." they told me.
"Thanks for the information, I'll see what to do with this information." I replied before ending the call.
'Hmmm... a new challenger has approached our city, who knows what they'll do.' I thought.
Meanwhile...
POV: Miss militia...
Miss militia was having a rough start for the day, as she was called in at an early time for an assignment. From what was given, a new case 53 had been spotted, but from what she heard, the protectorate only heard of this until very recently, as it was reported that this case 53 had been around since yesterday. Why they weren't reported to the protectorate yesterday could be anyone's guesses.
"Thanks to a concerned citizen, we have discovered a new case 53 has been spotted. That's why we're sending you to attempt to find this case 53 before they get picked up by any of the gangs, alright miss militia?" Piggot told me.
"It's fine by me, I'll head out." I responded.
"Remember, around six feet tall, mass of worms, talks in fourth person, possible brute." Armsmaster said.
"I got it." I say, noting down the description.
'Yup, this is going to be a long day for her.' Miss militia thought to herself.
Meanwhile...
POV: Collaboration.
As we finally finished working on our eyes, we then applied them to our head, and then... there was light, and we could finally see for the first time. Then we layed our eyes on a mugger approaching us, holding a knife.
"HAND OVER ALL OF YOUR MONEY!" they shouted, their eyes red... 'Hmm... addict...' we commented. They were vigorously pointing their tiny knife at us, without even realizing that they were threatening an individual around eight feet tall, but then again, they were probably high on something that they are overlooking all the red flags.
"We would refrain from pointing that knife at us, ADDICT. It would be unwise of you to poke the bear with a stick." we warned them. Though this did not convince them at all.
"I SAID HAND OVER ALL OF YOUR MONEY!" they shouted again, ignoring our warning. It was then they moved to attempt to stab us... which was quickly caught by our large hand.
We grabbed his arm and proceeded to twist it, most likely dislocating from the way we grabbed it, and broke it by how hard we were holding the limb. The addict then screamed in pain, as we then activated our emerald, green eyes to shine a vibrant green. Then we spoke to the human.
"WE TRIED TO WARN YOU ADDICT, now, we have to deal with you and your assorted mess." we growled with rage, then... we moved our other arm to put our hands over his face, adding onto the intimidation factor.
After we incapacitated the addict, we thought of what next to do...
'Hmm... perhaps now is the best time to attempt to find Coil's car and turn it into body armor for us.' we thought, as we moved to find a library to search up where Coil's civilian Identity lived. It was time to torment the snake, first with his property, next his mind... then his body.
A psychopath like him deserves what's coming to him.
Authors notes: and there, I hope you enjoyed. feedback is appreciated, now, onto a little thing I want to address.
A very personal thing happened over the weekend, and it caught me off guard, like getting hit by a freight train, this being losing a family member. it was not a great weekend, and there was a lot of crying, as this person had a big impact on my life, is the main reason I learned how to speak.
but I'm not going to go on a hiatus, as doing that just makes me feel terrible for leaving you guys on hold like that without even explaining what went on. also, the family member that passed away would've not appreciate me from taking a break like that. if I am going to take a break, I'm going to do it on my own terms rather than the circumstances of my environment. also, the fact that I attempt to ignore all of my mental problems through escapism.