Little Hunter
"You can't run through town killing people," Dauntless said firmly. He glanced at her mother. "And we can't turn a blind eye to it."
"Unless someone else tries to kill her"—Nanku looked pointedly at her mother—"I won't have to."
The fight was pointless.
Rachel and Missy remained quiet. Cassie rose and took Rose to another room. Nanku sent Dusk and Dawn with them in order to make Rose go more easily.
"You don't even know what you're looking for!" her mother tried. "I tried to find out who killed Danny! I tried for years! I failed, even with my power."
"Too bad," Nanku replied.
"Nanku! Curtz knows something." She waved a hand. "I know nothing and I still managed to find killings and strange incidents going back hundreds of years that are awfully similar to your weapons and equipment."
Nanku said nothing.
Yautja had hunted on Earth for centuries. Made sense some humans knew about it. That wouldn't change much. A hunter lived or died on their own merits. Not by hiding from all risk.
She had time.
Lay low for a bit longer. Finish healing. She wasn't entirely sure where to go from where she was anyway. There were tracks. Crumbs.
But she didn't know how it fit together. Rather, she didn't know how to proceed. If she'd had the skills and been able to follow earlier, maybe she could have found who was behind the shipping containers, or at least what was in them. If she knew that then she'd have something.
"You see things as they were," Nanku said to her mother.
She set the forms out.
"Who made these?"
Her mother's brow rose. Surprised, but not by the forms. She barely gave them a look.
She'd seen them before.
"You've followed this trail before," Nanku determined. And she didn't figure it out?
"I'm not debating this." Her mother shook her head. "Or discussing it. You need to leave. Curtz is gunning for you and even if you manage to somehow beat him and my friends who he sends after you, you'll have the entire Protectorate coming down on your head."
"I'll manage."
Dauntless shook his head in disbelief. "She's not going to listen, Anne."
"I'll make her."
Nanku rose. "Then make me."
She glared into her mother's eyes, and the entire exercise was as pointless as the conversation. Her mother couldn't make her do anything. Even if she had the means, she lacked the will. It was clear.
"Qualicare," her mother said then. "QC. The company you wanted to know about?"
Nanku scowled.
"They're a German company," her mother continued. "Were. They were shut down about a decade ago. The whole firm was never much more than a logo, some paper, and a few vehicles. A shell for a larger conglomerate."
"Who?"
"Leave Brockton Bay, and I'll tell you."
Her mother removed a phone from her pocket and set it on the table.
"Leave before this gets any worse, and I will tell you who was behind the camp massacre. They'll take you far away from here where no one is looking for you. I want whoever did it brought down too. Three dozen kids died at that camp and dozens more died in the crusade I started to avenge them."
Her mother's voice shook at the admission.
"You said you came back to finish what was left unfinished. You can't finish what happened to Danny. He's dead and he's never coming back and you'll never find who did it unless he comes right out and admits it."
"I'll find who did it."
"And how long will that take? With Curtz and the rest of the Protectorate hunting you? Plus the Thinker? She baited you. She never cared about the Pure or Aster's revenge. She wanted an incident. Something big and loud and wild that would get everyone watching."
"Everyone is watching," Missy said. "It's all over the news."
Nanku was aware.
Between Cassie's reality television and Rachel's children's shows about cute dogs with funny outfits, she'd gotten enough news. There had reportedly been a video, but that was all taken down. Suspiciously so. Enough that Nanku was certain someone wanted to hide what the videos had shown.
Someone on Earth absolutely knew about the Yautja, and they wanted to keep it very quiet.
The obvious answer was Curtz hoped to capture her and secure some alien technology. Nanku would never let that happen, of course. He could try all he wanted.
It didn't matter and it changed nothing.
Neither did this pointless conversation.
"Who found you at the camp?" her mother asked. "Who have you been living with all these years? Who trained you?"
Nanku walked around the table and moved to leave the room.
It was none of her mother's concern.
"A woman who encouraged me instead of locking me away."
The answer was longer than intended.
Her mother started to rise and Dauntless stopped her.
"Anne."
"Don't—"
"Listen to your husband," Nanku said. "Be happy. Take care of Rose. I won't be bribed and if that is what you want we have nothing left to say to one another."
Rose was playing with the dogs and the Twins with Cassie. Fetch wasn't normally something Dusk or Dawn did, but it entertained Rose so Nanku guided the insectoid creatures through the exercise. And kept them from hurting any of Bitch's dogs.
Rose saw her and started to call out. Nanku shook her head.
She let Dusk and Dawn play a little longer, then called them back to her and their small shelter under the kennel.
Nanku sat on the bed.
Then she laid down.
Her body and the pain were not agonizing, but the aches built up. She realized how badly only once she rested herself on the bed. Dusk and Dawn crawled to her sides and settled themselves.
Above, an argument started between her mother and Dauntless. The two were quiet at first but Nanku caught a few words. The fight was naturally about her, and about how to handle her. Dauntless wanted to deliver an ultimatum. He couldn't abide going any further than that.
A man with a code. Or a semblance of one. That was good.
Bitch spoke up as their voices rose and looked in Rose's direction. Then Vista spoke. Nanku only caught a few words as they quieted.
It went on and one word caught her ear through the swarm.
"No."
Bitch looked the three 'heroes' in the eye.
She said it again.
"No."
Nanku focused. Picking the words out was still hard but she was getting better at it.
"Why?" Vista asked. "Rachel, if Curtz finds out you're hiding her then he'll come after you. What about your dogs?"
"They'll fight."
"Rachel," her mother pleaded. "You don't have to turn her in—I don't want you to—but you're screwing yourself if you harbor her."
"I'm not a hero."
Rachel said the words like it was annoying to state it out loud.
"I'm not you," she said. "I don't care. I do what I want."
"You can—"
"Watch me." Rachel stood up. "Pure had to die. Only way it ended."
"No one likes Nazis," Vista declared.
"Then stop caring when they're killed. They think everyone else should die or they're just stupid. Either way, they get what they deserve."
It was the longest sentence Nanku had ever heard Bitch say.
Cassie continued to entertain Rose but it was clear the girl had become aware of the argument. Maybe she had been from the start.
"You know it might actually screw Rachel if they find you here, right?"
Nanku glanced over to Imp. The girl sat on the steps, a slice of pizza in one hand and her phone in the other.
"I'm all for a good throwdown. Don't get me wrong, but Rachel's stubborn. She doesn't back down easy. If she makes a stand, she makes a damn stand. She could get hurt. Or worse."
"That's her choice," Nanku replied.
Bitch hardly needed anyone to tell her the exceedingly obvious.
She wasn't dumb.
She knew there were consequences, and if she accepted them Nanku wasn't going to disrespect the woman.
"Damn you two are cute together," Imp mumbled.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing in particular. Not like I'm going to interfere. I only do that when I really want to fuck things up so." She shrugged. "I need to go talk to Tattletale. Won't be surprised if she tries to find her own way to bribe you."
"She can try."
Nanku wasn't leaving.
What was the point? She'd just have to come back later. There was no point walking away until she discovered who killed her father and dealt with them. She could try searching for 'Qualicare' on her own now that she had the name.
"Alright." Imp waved her pizza. "Good luck."
Nanku stared at the stares and tilted her head.
Bitch was still saying the word.
"No," she declared. "This is my place. Don't like it, get out. And keep Rose away. She doesn't belong here."
With that, the conversation ceased.
Bitch got up and left. Vista hung around and listened to Dauntless and Weaver argue. Rachel joined Rose and Cassie briefly.
Eventually, Dauntless came for Nanku's sister and the heroes all left. Nanku's mother lingered outside. She left too and followed her husband and younger daughter to a car.
They left and Nanku could see Bitch counting down a minute before she turned and proceeded to the stairs.
"They're gone," she said.
"I heard."
Bitch descended the steps and eyed her critically. "Could have said yes."
"I don't lie."
"You say so."
Nanku huffed and Bitch stopped beside the bed.
She dropped a bag of dog food on the floor. Dusk and Dawn prodded the cover but knew better than to rip the bag open and scarf it down. Nanku forced herself up and winced.
"Stupid." Bitch pushed her back onto the bed. "Off."
"Off?"
"My clothes."
Nanku shugged and removed the clothes. If she wanted them back fine. Nanku wasn't sure she needed them again. Her injuries still hurt but it was becoming annoying more than disabling. She'd be able to leave soon, and she'd find her own space. Bitch had been… generous. But Nanku didn't want to keep imposing. She could take care of herself.
Bitch collected the ball of garments and said, "Get your own."
Nanku huffed, and jested, "Want to shower?"
Bitch looked her over and shrugged. "If you want to."
Nanku froze.
She didn't expect her jest to be answered so earnestly. Or with a blatant assessment.
Bitch waited a moment and Nanku didn't speak she asked, "Going to kill them?"
Nanku still didn't answer, though not for lack of hearing the question.
Bitch took her silence as a response and said, "Won't help."
"Help what?"
"Don't know." Bitch turned. "But it won't."
"The Pure still a problem?"
"Fuck'um. They're Nazis."
"And?"
"Muggers want food. Addicts want drugs. Stupid kids do stupid shit." Bitch shrugged and started up the stairs. "Everyone ain't a Nazi."
Human sentiment. "Killing is killing."
"Yeah."
Nanku's brow rose. Bitch uttered the agreement far more casually than she expected.
"But killing them won't help." Her eyes took on a depth. "Still gonna suck inside."
"I'll see."
"Good luck. Don't always get answers."
Nanku waited but Bitch turned without another word.
"Why?" she asked.
"Why what?" Bitch asked back.
"Why let me stay?"
"Why not?"
"They could hurt you. Your dogs."
"Maybe."
So she definitely knew. "Why?"
"I'm no one's bitch."
Nanku watched her leave with no idea what that meant. Was it a joke? It sounded like a joke.
"Is she okay?" Cassie asked above.
"Leave her," Bitch replied.
"Sure?"
"Leave her."
Good.
Nanku didn't need or want their pity.
She was a hunter. She'd stalked more dangerous creatures across frozen mountaintops. She should be able to find the piece of shit who murdered her father!
She fed Dusk and Dawn and after they'd eaten enough to restore their calories, she set them to the bed. They'd gotten a lot of rest the past week and it was good for them. Their biology wasn't meant for flying across the whole city every night even if they could do it.
And Nanku still hurt.
With a breath, she dropped herself onto the bed and closed her eyes to think.
She pushed her mother from her mind. And Director Curtz. And Dutch. Whoever they were. Didn't matter. Nothing in her mission had changed except the Pure were dead and her mother and sister were safe. She was finally free to do what she came to do and she'd finally gotten started.
The invoices.
The invoices and the shipment. That was the key.
She managed to find some of the men Kurt gave her easily. They lived in roughly the same area. One recognized her. The others didn't and didn't want to talk with her until Bitch said 'school project.' Which somehow opened their mouths.
The stories they gave didn't add up.
Two insisted it was all a misunderstanding. Another spent nearly an hour fumbling over his own words and talking about things other than what Nanku asked. Three claimed there never was a missing shipment, no matter what Nanku said.
Nanku turned it over again and again.
Until she realized she was going in circles.
Looking back over the day, in the end, she learned nothing except that the invoices were still suspicious and after twelve years no one seemed to remember anything right.
She had a trail but it didn't go anywhere.
She had a cause but no idea what it was.
The killer had a vague shape. Someone her father knew. Someone he let get close. Someone he didn't initially think would attack him.
But who?
And how would she find them out?
Nanku kept thinking. Her mind paced and circled. Over and over again.
The shipment was real. She'd assume that.
So the shipment went missing and someone faked the invoices Lacy filed. So what? That gave her a single footprint in a forest with no sign of where the trail actually went. There were no other sprints. No droppings. No signs of passage.
Maybe Lacy knew something, but she was dead.
Invoices. Shipments. Kurt. Lacy. Her father didn't run for his life. He struggled but didn't fight. He was caught up unexpectedly. Stabbed first before he realized the danger. They had to be connected but how did she find who was behind it.
Everyone she talked to said it was a misunderstanding, but that was impossible. It couldn't be that much of a coincidence.
Never trust coincidence. It'll betray you sooner or later.
The shipment.
She needed to focus on the shipment. Who it was for. What was inside it. Why they'd try to hide it—Who in the Dockworkers helped to cover it up. They killed her father for that. He died to hide whatever was inside those containers and who helped move them.
Unable to sleep, she sat up and returned to the file.
Nanku tore through the file. She turned the pages. Flipped them. Searched.
It was her only trail. The murder was ten years ago. Paper and words were the only tracks that remained.
Did the knife matter? A basic fishing knife wasn't special. There must be hundreds in the docks… But using that weapon would suggest it was the most immediate at hand. It wasn't a good weapon for killing. Why use it unless it was the first thing in sight?
Spontaneous, Nanku realized.
There was no plan to kill her father.
Danny died because of the shipment. Because the piece of paper he had revealed something, and someone had to take it back. Someone he knew. A Dockworker. It had to be a Dockworke—
Nanku paused, hands sliding over a single piece of paper.
Ambush. Spontaneous. Someone her father knew.
A Dockworker had to be the killer.
The paper was a timesheet. A list of all the men and women who worked the day her father died.
It was one of them.
It had to be one of them.
Someone he trusted. Someone he'd let close. Someone in the Dockworkers who could cover up what they did.
One of them.
It was one of them.
A Dockworker.
A traitor. A betrayer. A bad blood.
And she still intended to skin them alive.
