Authors notes: Alright, been some time, sorry about that, been trying to wrap my brain around trying to get around writer's block, but I finally did it.

A Hunter in waiting

Interlude

POV: Taylor

As I got off the pay phone, I walked away from the area. I had to quickly finish up my costume faster than I had intended. The reason for this had taken the shape of an eight-foot-tall figure made up of worms. Now, here's why that I have to make this costume faster than I had initially planned: these worms were juvenile. In other words, they acted like a young toddler. Their name was Collaboration, who had seen me... as their mother.

Now, don't get me wrong here, I feel somewhat lifted by being called a mom. But since I was lacking anything in the emotional support, as it was neglected for some time, it could be reasoned as to why I was so conflicted when it came to the giant individual... individuals?

'I'm... just going to have to get used to calling Collaboration as they and them... since they're more of a group and not a single individual.' I thought. This was becoming complicated.

Collaboration was... unique. They were innocent, that was what my instincts told me... while also screaming at me to stay away from them. Collaboration was polite that they would risk getting caught by any of the factions of Brockton Bay. All I could think was that Collaboration was mentally vulnerable to that of anybody they could possibly encounter.

Now that I thought about them, I thought about what I should do and where Collaboration would go to if I were to ever need to find them. They did have a diet of metal. So, where would they go to avoid causing a lot of headaches for everyone without attracting attention? There was the boat graveyard... actually that would be the most likely place they would go in order to feed themselves.

Today was thankfully a Saturday, so, I didn't have to worry about the following: the trio, school, normal people. Using this to my advantage, I began controlling far more bugs than I normally did on my runs. I was going to have to for what I was planning.

Now, I did visit the library, found that Collaboration was there... and avoided them as much as possible. Hopefully, they were too busy interacting with PHO to notice my so called "connection".

Utilizing the internet, I searched up more on Faultline and her crew. They were a group of mercenaries that consisted of case 53's. That much was certain. Collaboration could possibly get along with them. They supported other case 53's as well. But from what I was seeing, they were commonly seen as villains for hire.

I only intended to work for them for a short period of time just for Collaboration's sake, hope that they would treat them with the best intentions. But I could only assume from what I already knew, I had to meet the person in charge of the group, Faultline.

But that could wait, but before leaving, I quickly searched for the place where Faultline and her crew hung out as a base of operations. It was a nightclub, so that just meant I had to be careful.

The reason for that was simple, really. I had to finish my costume up soon.

Later...

It was dark outside now. I had just finished enough of the costume rather quickly for what I had intended. There were some errors that were noticeable, but that comes with having to make a costume on short notice.

Now with that out of the way, I put the costume on, feeling that it was tighter than expected. That I can deal with, even if it was discomforting.

Now was the next part of my plan, dad was fast asleep, and the lights were out. Making it the perfect time to leave the house. As I snuck up the stairs of the basement, wearing a hoody over the made costume, with mask ready at hand.

Sneaking outside was easy. What next was the hard part was going through the city of Brockton Bay at night.

Surprisingly, I came to find no trouble as I made my way. Soon, I found myself in the shadows of an alleyway that was close to the nightclub that the group had made as a base. But there was a harder part than making my way here.

Convincing Faultline to help me help Collaboration... I just hoped that she would listen to me. But as I approached the bouncer, mask on my face, I had removed my hoody when I had left the house. The bouncer appeared to be a massive man, with tattoos, and a calm face. He raised an eyebrow when he saw me approach.

"State your business." the bouncer asked. He looked me up and down, seeing that he was speaking with a possible cape.

"I'm here to speak with Faultline. Cape business." I spoke, with a hint wariness. He then noticed the cloud of bugs following me, before he could ask if I really was a cape or if I was just someone pretending to be one.

He may have had an intense arachnophobia, as he started shaking and sweating. "Alright, then. I'll notify the people up ahead. Make sure to stay clear of Jerry." he said. I cocked my head, but before I could say anything, he answered what I was thinking, "Unlike me, Jerry has a... thing... for insects. Trust me, it would be for the best if one of our most frequented guests didn't catch wind of someone with your kind of power." he spoke, sounding grim. It almost sounded like the man knew this Jerry well.

With that, the bouncer let me in. Walking into the nightclub, I managed to make my way to the other half of the building, without any guests and more of the case 53's and other capes. I just avoided them and went straight for Faultline.

Standing there, across from me was her, Faultline. She had her hands on a table, staring down out onto a map of the city. She was most likely focused on trying to figure out the whereabouts of Collaboration.

"Ok, who is it that wants to see me." Faultline asked, looking up at me. Her mask was one of the things you would typically wear when you wear dealing with blowtorches and metal in the same room and on the same items.

"It's about the case fifty-three that I told you about." I spoke, sounding indifferent. It was then that Faultline had recognized my voice.

"Well, if it isn't miss anonymous. I recognize a voice when I hear it, and you're the same one that called me earlier. Say why are you here, seeking me for case fifty-three. Give me details." she asked me, almost as if she was interrogating me. But I didn't shift in posture.

"Their name is Collaboration, a name that they chose. They're around eight-feet tall... and growing. The reason that I'm here is because I'm afraid for their safety... and I don't trust the protectorate or the PRT well enough to know that they have the best intentions for them." I informed her, who had her hand on the chin of her mask.

"Hm... anything else?" Faultline asked as she looked at me.

"They act almost like a child when I first met them... they even saw me as a mother figure... but most importantly... they eat metal." I told her, placing down the remains of what seemed to once be a rusted wrench... that had many bites in the side of it. Collaboration might've devoured several other pieces of metal in order to not have finished the wrench, but who knew if it was intentional or not.

Faultline picked up the wrench, turned it around a bit, observed it. "Gregor, come here... we might have found an interesting case fifty-three. Is there any reason why this is important though? You also keep mentioning them as a they... is there a reason for that?" She asked me, tilting her head.

An obese, pale man with small growths covering his skin, approached Faultline and took the wrench in question, turning it around several times before making the comment, "Sure was hungry."

"Well, to answer your second question, I refer to them as a gender-neutral pronoun because they consist of many, and I mean many, worms. Orange worms, sure, but worm's, nonetheless. But to answer your first question... the closest place that would be a buffet for them... would be the boat graveyard. And the graveyard is the most likely place for them to go to for rest... and food." I spoke, remaining unphased.

Faultline seemed to be surprised by this. "Hm, this is starting to become an interesting situation for all of us... let me guess, you want to me, to help you, help Collaboration?" to which I nodded, "Alright... I'm in. If it means helping another case fifty-three, then I'll help you with finding the mass of worms that believes you to be a mom to them." She commented.

'I expected there to be more...' before finishing that thought, I spoke up, "There's a catch isn't there?" I asked her.

She nodded her head, "Yes. In order to help you, it might be for the best for you to join up with my crew when we get Collaboration, for two reasons. First, they might not be open to listening to me, and secondly there might be the whole problem of independents not lasting that long in the cape scene." she spoke, almost sounding like she winced on that last part.

If it meant ensuring the safety of Collaboration, then so be it.

"Deal." was all I said.

Later, at the Boat Graveyard...

For some reason, it took a long time for Collaboration to finally reach one of the boats, the one they entered having been the one that I and Faultline and Gregor were inside. Instead of wearing a cloak, the colony of worms now wore armor... which was possibly the cause of the hinderance of movement of the colony.

'Are they wearing a car?' I thought, as they entered the boat. Apparently, I wasn't the only one stumbled by this, as Gregor had just chuckled at this.

"I think our lad... well, lad's, appropriated someone's car." Gregor commented.

But in the distance, with my bugs, I spotted several people approaching the scene. Lung and Oni-Lee, Hook wolf... Kaiser, and last but not least, Miss Militia.

"We got ABB, E88 and a Protectorate cape approaching the scene... each important figures to each gang." I commented, to which Faultline made some grumbling.

This was going to be a big fight, wasn't it?

Authors notes: And there we go, leave feed back, it is appreciated, and I hope you all have a nice day.