Little Hunter

The guns erupted and Nanku's swarm surged forward.

She threw her spear and kicked Cricket back. The plasma caster fired and fired again. Dawn grabbed a man from behind and dragged him to the ground. Dusk grabbed another and ran. Crusader turned, his ghosts forming a guard around him.

He searched for the threat and began mumbling.

The words were incomprehensible under the swarm and gunfire.

Nankut fixed her gaze on his back and readied to fire.

Cricket spun, swinging her scythe for Nanku's throat. She ignored the bites and stings along her exposed arms. There was a fury in her eyes. A deep rage.

Nanku supposed she liked Stormtiger.

She punched the Nazi woman's shoulder and let the blade slide against her shoulder-guard. Her knee struck Cricket's stomach and she brought her foot down to break the woman's balance.

Instead, Cricket charged forward with a snarl. Her shoulder met Nanku's chest and she pushed, barreling them back into the swarm as it flowed over the yard. Dozens of bees and wasps stung but Cricket didn't stop.

Nanku's back struck the wall and she pushed off with both feet. The plasma caster whirled over her shoulder and she marked Cricket's back as a target. Throwing herself away, she set a quick command and leaped back from Cricket's blades. The woman pursued and Nanku slipped into her swarm.

She cycled her mask to filter small chitinous bodies and turned on her heel.

Running along the fence, she surveyed the gunmen firing wildly into the swarm. One fell and convulsed after a few bee stings. Another gunman dropped as wasps scuttled down her throat and Dusk and Dawn attacked another from both sides.

The next three stood firm.

Bites and stings slid over them. Nanku snatched a shuriken from the air and rethrew it. Then the next. Both weapons struck the lead man in the leg. He didn't cut or bleed, but the force of the blows sent the bladed weapons into the ground and dropped him to a knee.

Othala shouted to Crusader. He didn't hear her and Nanku parted the swarm and looked directly at Othala.

The woman noticed the gap and stared straight into the red lights zeroing on her chest.

She ducked as a bolt of plasma burned the air and dozens of insects as it shot through the air. The bolt missed. Dusk didn't.

The insectoid grabbed the woman's ankle in his mandibles and pulled. Dawn shouldered her invincible gunmen back. A jolt of pain burned through Dusk's mind as a knife struck his shoulder and Dawn's mandibles closed on Othala's arm.

The Twins yanked her away, vanishing into the swarm.

Escaping the first attempt on her life came with an upside.

Othala was easily contained. Maybe she knew where Iron Rain—or the thinker—was.

Cricket gave chase as Nanku moved. It wasn't blind, but not direct. She was feeling out the swarm. Swiping at it and moving closer to Nanku as she went.

Nanku smiled behind her mask and kicked off a stack of crates.

They clattered behind her and Crusader turned as she moved past two of his ghosts. Both the spirits were hard to see in her visor. The swarm was easier. The transparent figures were like a heavily pressured fog as any insect moved through them.

Until the swarm began crashing into them.

Crusader stepped back between his other ghosts and both thrust their long spears at Nanku. The two behind her swung the butts of their weapons up and one struck her pained hip. Nanku rolled away, throwing herself to the side before the spears could strike her.

Making another gap in the swarm, the plasma caster whirled and fired at Cricket behind her. The woman ducked and Nanku swept one of her shurikens from the ground. She threw the weapon and Cricket barely avoided it. Her bicep bled as the blades passed but she kept up her dogged pursuit.

Nanku smirked under her mask.

That was someone worth killing.

She'd hate to be further interrupted.

Nanku spun away from a series of ghostly thrusts. Sloppy thrusts. Crusader couldn't see her as well as Cricket could.

Swinging her spear wide, Nanku took the legs out of a man. Her wrist blades stabbed into the back of his skull as he fell. Ripping the head from his shoulders, she threw it at Crusader and struck him in the head.

His ghosts still struck out with something resembling precision, but Nanku rolled away onto Crusader's flank.

Her wrist blades cut the back of his leg. Her spear pieced the other leg's knee. Through a gap in the swarm the plasma caster fired at Cricket again and the woman fell back to avoid it.

Crusader turned. His ghosts flanked and he snarled.

"Bitch!"

"I prefer bugs," Nanku replied. "They're simple."

Grabbing a shuriken from the ground, she rose and swiped the weapon upward and gutted the knight-themed Nazi. His ghosts still made an attack. Two more materialized behind him, spears thrusting through his chest at her.

Nanku leaped back and snarled as a ghostly edge cut through her inner thigh. Not deep. Far too shallow a cut to bleed her to death.

She'd not felt anything cut her so easily since the Camp.

It shocked her. For a moment.

She swiped the shuriken back through a man's throat and kicked another in the leg. Ripping her spear from Crusader's corpse she drove the weapon through his chest and lifted him as a shield.

The ghosts stopped moving and faded.

Dusk and Dawn held Othala down, teeth and mandible snapping at her body while she struggled vainly to escape.

She'd probably kill herself trying to get free.

Dusk and Dawn released the woman. They screeched and snapped their mandibles. Wings fluttered loud and wide. Othala covered her wounds and scuttled back and forth between the two.

No one was coming to help her.

Without an ally, she was no more dangerous than any typical human. Which in Nanku's determination wasn't very dangerous at all.

Amid her swarm, Nanku cut, stabbed, and snapped. The plasma caster fired through gaps and kept Cricket at bay but aware of where she was. The woman was covered in bites and stings.

It was amazing she was still standing.

Another man succame to the bites and stings. Nanku cut open a throat and shielded herself from a lucky spray of bullets with her arm. Peering over her gauntlet, the plasma caster spun about and fired.

Only two gunmen remained.

One lost his stomach when the plasma bolt struck him. The other lost his head.

The bodies fell and the sounds of gunfire stopped. Nanku took a breath and rotated her shoulders. Her hip ached and her thigh stung. There was a cut along her inner thigh as well as numerous smaller aches and pains all across her body.

The fight was harder than she expected.

All the better.

One hunter against five presumptive ambushers and two dozen of their petty soldiers. Rhaark would tell her to say six and three dozen. It would make for a better story. Pe'dte always said a good hunter didn't have to lie.

Nanku agreed.

This story required no embellishments. Only a proper ending.

Nanku turned back to Cricket. She straightened her back and rolled her shoulders.

One last target.

With a thought, she dismissed the swarm. It pulled away as one mass. Flying and crawling out of the yard and clearing the space.

Crick froze, searching left and right for only a moment. She registered Crusader's corpse along with Stormtiger's. And all the rest.

Only Othala still drew breath, pinned by Dusk and Dawn as they corralled her into a corner and kept her from escaping.

Nanku let the woman have a moment to conform herself.

Their eyes met briefly. Nanku's shielded by her mask. Cricket's barely visible through the slits in her head-cage. There was a lot more anger there than the strange hoarse scream suggested. Outright fury.

And complete focus.

Damn.

She was the best challenge since Bitch.

And unlike Rachel, Nanku didn't care for her one bit.

She tapped the control on her gauntlet. The plasma caster whirled around and Cricket flinched into a ready guard. Coiled. Blood seeped from bites and stings across her body. Bumps swelled and color distorted.

The woman looked like half a corpse already, but she still stood.

The weapon didn't fire.

Nanku never liked it. Too easy. No real skill. The system essentially operated itself. She'd never have proved herself if she used the plasma caster too much. It was her willingness to do things the hard way that earned her the recognition of a hunter.

And the hard way was funner.

The weapon snapped up and the actuating arm retracted. The smart disk was damaged and she'd have to recover it.

Shuriken in one hand. Spear in the other and wristblades at the ready. That was all she needed.

Cricket's eyes flicked with recognition. She relaxed a bit, but not enough to signal security. She was taking her moment. Readying herself. Nanku had seen it before in more intelligent prey.

They saw the shadow of their death, and they reconciled themselves with it.

Discovered who they really were. How far they could go. What they were capable of.

Let the Nazi have her final peace, Nanku decided. Her savagery was no reason for Nanku to respond in kind.

The woman raised her sickles and leaned forward on her legs.

Nanku turned her spear and tucked the weapon under her arm. The hand with her shuriken she pointed forward. Swiping her visor clean and removing all bugs from the area, she had only her eyes to see by. She wouldn't call them back.

Nothing was going to spoil this kill.

Cricket lunged forward and Nanku flicked her shuriken into the air.

The woman rolled under the blades losing only a few strands of hair as she did. Her sickle swung as she came up and slid along her knee. Nanku lifted a leg and brought her foot down. The weapon clattered and Cricket punched her in her injured hip.

Nanku winced.

She kept her balance but waivered. Just a moment.

It happened quickly.

No time to think.

Nanku thrust her spear. Cricket ducked to the side. Grabbed her wrist. Hooked the sickle she still held behind Nanku's leg. Wristblades pierced Cricket's forearm. The sickle pulled.

Striking the ground hard, Nanku hooked a leg behind Cricket's leg and pulled her forward. She released her spear. Swiping out with a knife, Nanku aimed for Cricket's throat but got her shoulder instead.

Cricket gave a silent whistling scream.

She pushed herself off the ground hard and the pair rolled over the ground.

Nanku's next strike buried her knife in the concrete.

Cricket pressed the barrel of a gun to her mask.

The weapon fired once. Twice. Thrice. And a fourth time. Each impact bounced off Nanku's mask but the force shot through her forehead into the back of her skull. She rattled, pressing down hard with her teeth to avoid biting off her own tongue.

Throwing a knife up she broke the hold and sent Cricket sprawling.

They both rolled to their feet.

Nanku spun to face Cricket, hand held back to catch her shuriken.

Cricket turned.

And ran.

Nanku gawked.

Cricket kept running. She didn't turn. Or ready an attack. She grabbed the top of the fence, hauled herself over, and tumbled down the other side.

She was fleeing.

Nanku snarled.

"Keep her there!" she snarled, spear pointed at Othala and left Dusk and Dawn to keep her.

Grabbing her weapons from the ground, Nanku retracted her spear and slipped it back to her belt.

She ran, giving chase to the fleeing woman while she pressed the controls of her gauntlet.

The plasma caster whirled to life in her ear and the actuator arm lifted. The barrel dropped over her shoulder. Her mask's targeting system came online at once. Stabbing her knife and wristblades into the brick, she scaled the building rapidly and scrambled over the roof.

If Cricket wanted to run like a coward, she could die like a coward.

With her back turned.

Fixing her gaze on the woman, Nanku locked the target and set the plasma caster to autofire.

A bolt of plasma burst out and shot through the air. Cricket jumped to the side, rolling over her shoulder to her feet, and continued running.

Nanku chased.

The only thing more annoying than a complete coward was a complete coward who was good at running. Some hunters might take that for what it was. Nanku was too disappointed to care.

Without Dusk and Dawn she leaped to the ground and ran, chasing Cricket on foot through alleys and narrow roads.

The plasma caster fired at each opening. Bolts burst against brick walls. Fences. Windows. Cricket jumped, rolled, and dodged, avoiding the projected energy every time.

Nanku vaulted a fence and fired again. Again Cricket dodged, but the gap closed.

At the corner of the street and group of men with bottles turned. One pointed and the others scrambled back. The plasma caster's next shot sent them ducking for cover. The bolt hit the ground and threw molten pieces of cement into the air. Asphalt scattered and a piece struck Cricket's leg and she stumbled.

Nanku threw a shuriken ahead of her next shot.

Cricket ducked and rounded the corner just as the caster fired.

The men who'd ducked ducked again as the next bolt hit. They shouted in Spanish and Portuguese. Their eyes searched. Some following Cricket. Others spotting Nanku's cloak flicker.

She ignored the rabble and jumped onto the wall.

Scaling it hand over hand rapidly and pulling herself up the lip.

The shuriken curved and cut the air just shy of Cricket's neck. The woman had leaned out of the way. Dodged the blades moments before they'd sever her spine.

Nanku caught the weapon on its return and threw it again.

She aimed ahead and the caster fired.

Cricked dodged left and nearly fell backward while she dodged the shuriken.

Along the street people screamed and shouted. They took cover behind cars and tables. Windows and doors. Anything that made their panicked minds feel more secure.

"Why did you have to be a coward?" Nanku lamented.

She ran along the rooftops, firing and throwing her weapon as she did. The bolts carved a pattern of small craters in the street and the shuriken kept Cricket from getting too far ahead.

The woman fixed her gaze on a truck at the end of the street.

The driver climbed inside with clumsy motions.

Nanku leaped off the roof and gave her shuriken a final throw. Enough to force Cricket's path one way. The caster fired and secured the route.

The woman's hand reached out as she lunged.

The truck started. A large one with a trailer built over the bed. Handles on the back and a wide lip. Perfect for hitching a ride on.

Nanku planted her feet and took aim.

The light flashed in the corner of her eye and Nanku raised her arm as it struck her.

She slid across the ground, boots gripping and scrapping scars into the street.

Her cloak sparked and dropped completely. Cricket grabbed hold of the truck and swung herself around behind it. The guiding lasers locked and fired.

The bolt struck the side of the vehicle and blew the rear corner apart. Blood splattered across the ground. A second later, Cricket's corpse dropped.

Nanku sighed.

Finally.

To her flank, the man in bronzed armor hovered in the air. A shield in one hand and a shimmering spear in the other. His armor was stylized. A motif Nanku recognized but couldn't recall the name of. A helm with a Y-shaped visor, and chest plate molded to replicate a fit male's torso.

Dauntless fixed his eyes on Nanku and his hands tightened.

"Fuck."