Little Hunter

The bodies—and the parts—were collected last. They were lucky. While grievously maimed, not everyone Taylor attacked was dead. Though, those who lived were either barely alive or crippled. Missing pieces of arms and legs.

That wasn't like her previous attacks.

She didn't care about killing the men. She attacked them solely because they were in her way.

And Annette thought she had a good idea why.

The phones were fairly damning.

Devon was packed onto a gurney and taken to the hospital while Annette, Ethan, and Sam looked over the messages. The numbers changed, but their content was clear. Devon and Sophia never were very happy about the status quo in the city. They complained about it constantly. Usually in the form of snide remarks.

Annette didn't think they'd go so far as to ally themselves with a thinker working with Nazis. She supposed they bought the refrains that the Pure were merely a means to an end.

Still.

"Fuck," Ethan grumbled. "This is going to get ugly."

Sam nursed a bruised shoulder. "It was already ugly."

"Uglier."

"What were Night and Fog after?" Annette mumbled.

She felt cold saying it so… coldly.

They attacked Rose. Tried to hit her with a car and would have if her sister hadn't been there to shove her out of the way. Annette had seen the entire scene play out through her power. Watched Taylor push Rose hard and take the full brunt of the vehicle herself. If she weren't a brute she'd be dead.

Night and Fog could have still killed Rose though. Their movements were lazy. Slow.

They wanted to distract everyone, not actually kill her. What little solace that was.

But nothing had happened. The obvious reason was to provide a distraction to break Aster out. Fat chance of that. Even if they had someone on the inside, Aster was suspended above the ground—her power didn't work if she wasn't touching it—and the only way to deactivate the system was through Curtz and Hannah. So long as the system was in place, breaking Aster out was impossible.

So that obviously wasn't the plan.

A thinker of Lisa's caliber would know that.

And a thinker of Annette's caliber knew when she was trying to distract herself from something unpleasant.

"My expert opinion?" Ethan asked. "They want to force us to move Rain. Easier than trying to bust her out of a secure facility."

"Then we don't move her," Sam said.

"No can do. Night and Fog will just keep doing this, and we can't store her here forever."

"Too simple," Annette surmised. There was always another shoe waiting where a thinker was involved. "Night and Fog will have an easier time with a transport, but going after Rose is a significant escalation."

Ethan and Sam shared a glance.

Annette sighed. "Unless, that is, they know about Taylor. I.E. she killed the other Pure, including at least three in their own homes, and the unwritten rules have been broken."

"Probably what they'd say," Ethan agreed. He took a breath and looked her over. "How are you holding up?"

"How do you think?"

"In a word? Shittily."

"Close enough."

Annette raised her head and faced the street. It was littered with debris from the fight with Night and Fog. PRT vehicles were gathered collecting evidence, processing witness statements, and cleaning up. It was a mess, and the entire block looked like a warzone. Or the site of a plague.

There were hundreds of insects scattered about. Left-behinds from Nanku's swarm.

She could control insects. A true grab-bag cape.

Shawn approached with Hannah at his side. Missy trailed behind them with Micah and Stacy. Chronicle and Glimmer.

"Is Kid okay?" Stacy asked as they got near.

"Depending on the definition," Ethan answered in a low tone.

Hannah held her hand out and Annette relinquished both phones.

Hannah's glare was furious.

"How is Crystal?" Annette asked.

"She'll make it," Shawn answered. "Huntress went easy on her."

Why? She didn't go easy on anyone else.

"There's also the bad bad news." Missy scowled behind her mask. "We found Stalker."

It wasn't a long walk. Down a street and then an alley. Through a door into an old utility space.

Sophia was no one's favorite person. She was rude. Arrogant. Violent in a way usually associated with villains.

But they had known her.

A pair of medics were putting a tarp over her body when they arrived. Four troopers were looking over the room and a third medic stood off to the side with his arms over his chest. A rather large pool of coagulating blood still stained the floor.

"Worse and worse," Ethan said.

Beside Annette, Shawn's head turned. Hard to see under Dauntless' helmet. But Annette saw, and she could guess what he'd say.

Taylor had to be stopped.

He could only go so far, even if she was Annette's daughter, and even if she had saved Rose. The bodies were mounting too high.

But she was still Taylor.

"Why?" Annette asked.

"Because"—Ethan looked away—"and I don't mean it anything personal, she's nuts."

No. She wasn't.

There was rage and bitterness, but all of that was directed at Annette herself. Despite that, she'd never been the target. Taylor went out of her way to attack the Pure to protect her. Walked away from their confrontations. Controlled herself.

She wasn't a wild animal.

She was like—Like Rachel. Someone who triggered too young, too violently. Who walked out of the experience with something odd about them.

But Rachel wasn't a wild animal either. She was human and she had a rationality to her. It only needed to be figured out and managed because she wasn't dangerous so long as she was understood and respected.

"Why spare Laserdream but not Stalker?" Annette asked again. "What was different?"

It couldn't just be the texts. Annette had seen enough of the phones to put pieces together there. Sophia was directed at Taylor. Sent to her with bad information as if whoever sent her wanted her to die.

"Stalker tried to kill me."

Heads turned.

The third medic in the room watched as Sophia's corpse was carried away.

"What?" Shawn asked.

The medic shuffled. "She saved me?"

"Stalker?" Ethan asked.

He only seemed to notice them then. The man was in his armor and still had his helmet on so Annette couldn't see his face. He was unusually stiff and his movements jerky. Lazy reactions.

"No," he mumbled. "Huntress. Stalker was going to put a bolt in my head. Don't even know why."

Annette could guess.

"So…" Ethan turned to her and Shawn. "She obeys the Geneva Conventions?"

"Stalker pointed her bow at you?" Sam frowned. "For no reason?"

"I do—I mean, I was with Kent's team. We were chasing Huntress."

"And then what?" Shawn pressed.

"Bugs everywhere and—I mean those giant bug things she had were right there and—"

Annette turned away.

She could see for herself.

Delving into her power, colors flooded the world around her. They formed shapes and forms as if swept by a wind, and Annette followed the trail leading to Sophia's death back the way it came. Taylor dragged her along surrounded by a swarm so thick Annette still wouldn't be able to see it if they weren't color-coded.

Taylor and swarm were dark and red. Bloody.

Sophia was black like mist and just barely stood out in the jolting yellow net.

Curtz's damn net guns. Annette warned him they wouldn't work. Even if he managed to trap Taylor in one, she'd undoubtedly break free. Just because she spared Ethan the first time didn't mean she'd do it again and the cannon she was carrying on her back was powerful…

Her powers didn't make sense.

Brute. Some kind of low-level thinker ability—hyper-awareness—No. Not hyper-awareness. It was the bugs. She didn't just control them She saw through them. Moved them as her own body. A master power.

But what about the armor?

A master, and a tinker? It wasn't impossible but it was phenomenally rare, and usually, it was the tinker power that provided the master ability. Did she have some device that let her control the bugs?

Annette continued following the trail and shook her head.

That wasn't right.

There was something very wrong. Where did the armor come from? Why was she so violent? The one who found her at the camp? How did they fit in with the massacre?

Too many questions and too many distractions. It didn't matter. Keeping Taylor alive was more important and after killing Sophia and attacking PRT troopers she'd be up for a kill order. With the corpses of the Pure at her back, she'd definitely get one.

And for what?

Why was she doing any of it?

Annette kept following. Down the street, as Stalker pretended to try and stop her and she just tore through troopers. But not the medic. She started to attack the medic but stopped. Looked him over and turned away. Then Sophia pointed a weapon at him and Nanku warned her before attacking.

She did save that medic, but why? She showed no hesitation with everyone…

Everyone who was armed.

They had weapons.

She only attacked people who had weapons.

Annette began reviewing reports and witness statements in her head. Yes. Not everyone she killed had a weapon, but they'd fought her. They'd attacked. She didn't kill anyone who wasn't willing to try and kill her back. In her mind at least.

She didn't recognize a difference.

She literally treated people who lived by the sword as ready to die by the sword. She probably looked down on anyone who tried to pretend they would only hurt or maim. She had so many edges, and they were all violent. An all-or-nothing outlook. Kill or prepare to be killed.

Was that why she killed Sophia? Because she'd dared to point a weapon at someone who didn't fit that?

It was so odd. Following the trail further back, Annette eventually came to the part where Sophia's cloak was cut. One of the large bugs was fishing through it. Searching for a phone it took between its mandibles.

Nanku already suspected Sophia was a traitor, and Devon too.

She went after them because Rose was attacked.

Continuing along the trail all the way to an empty rooftop, Annette watched as Sophia looked over a map created by bugs. Nanku went after her from the start. Wanted her phone. She was looking for the thinker.

And she was after her father's killer and closing in.

Annette needed to do something about that. Sooner rather than later. For all the good it would do now. Shadow Stalker was no one's favorite hero, but she was a hero. According to the PRT and the Protectorate at least. That was the only definition the law would act on.

Taylor needed to be removed from Brockton Bay immediately before hell came down on her. Annette was already in no position to do anything. She'd managed to convince Curtz she could force Nanku back—by infuriating her, apparently—but she'd not be invited to act again.

The entire Brockton Bay Protectorate and Wards might be removed from dealing with her at all.

Shawn stood behind her.

He'd quietly followed the entire time, saying nothing.

"You know why," he said.

"I know," Annette confirmed.

"You can't help her anymore. It's gone too far, and trying to get Tattletale or the Undersiders to do it will bury them."

Annette bowed her head. "I know."

She waited, doing her best to look dejected. It wasn't hard. She was dejected.

Shawn sighed. "I know you're waiting for me to leave."

"Then you should leave." He knew her too well after so many years. "Check on Rose. She was nearly killed."

And despite everything else, her sister saved her.

Shawn lingered stubbornly, but if Annette learned anything across two marriages, it was that a woman could always win through attrition.

And Annette did win.

Shawn shook his head and turned. "You know you have a habit of taking things too far."

"I know."

She supposed it was how she ended up in most of the messes of the last twelve years. Never stopping, even when she knew she should. But she couldn't stop.

Once Shawn left, Annette took out a burner phone and dialed quickly. She was undoubtedly being watched but it didn't matter. She'd already burned the bridges and she'd be suspected of being involved in anything that happened now.

Raising the phone, she waited as it rang.

It picked up.

"Cassie here," Cassie said.

"I need to talk to Rachel."

"Okay. One sec."

"Why do you have her phone?"

"Because she's bathing the dogs and we don't bring any electronics into the bath. Electrocution hazard. Water. Some of them are bitey."

For phones? Annette could figure for hairdryers, but—No matter.

"I need to talk to Rachel."

"I'm going. Hey, Bitch!"

There was some shuffling and a very large number of barks. It took about a minute.

"Weaver," Rachel answered. "Saw the news. Tattletale is calling everyone up tonight."

She was. The Ambassadors were going to be a real problem now… Which was entirely Annette's fault.

With a breath, Annette just started talking.

"I'm the one who got the Ambassadors to attack you. I sent a tip to the PRT, knowing they'd intercept and act on it."

Rachel was not one for outbursts. Not anymore, so much. That didn't mean she couldn't be furious and in the sharp breath on the other side of the phone, Annette heard no small amount of fury.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I wanted them to catch Nanku with you. I was going to use you. Maneuver her into leaving the city before things escalate any further. She has a code, and rough as she is she'll feel guilty you suffered for helping her. She'd try to pay you back."

Fortunately, none of the dogs got seriously hurt. Rachel might be less restrained in that case.

"I'm sorry, Rachel," Annette offered. "I—I have to protect her."

"I don't think she wants your protection."

"She doesn't."

The line was silent and Annette could imagine. She'd seen Bitch angry plenty of times.

"I didn't know she could control bugs," Annette continued.

Classic thinker backfire. It always came from the unknown and overlooked details and unraveled even the most intricate plot in an instant. Hers wasn't even that complicated, but it didn't matter. She'd been trying to force Taylor out of the city from the start with Rachel to help keep her safe.

"I thought—I assumed that even if she came running to help you because she wasn't there at the start, she'd have no way to help you but to engage."

Maybe they'd stick together.

There was something about them. Kindred spirits. Two people who triggered too young and came out too different for the world around them.

"And… And as long as you were with her and didn't know it was me, I'd have a way to reach her."

"That's fucking stupid," Rachel said.

"Have a child and…" That was petty, stupid, and pointless. "Yes. It is stupid."

"Fucking stupid."

Because she wasn't a killer. She was, but not a mad beast or a wild killer. She had reason. Control.

…

Control.

That's what it was all about. Control.

Not freedom from Annette. Not freedom from pain, or guilt, or trauma. The entire time since she'd reappeared, Annette had been trying to figure out what Taylor was running from. She was a cape. They were all—all of them—running something they couldn't face.

That's what triggers were, in Annette's mind.

The product of a broken mind trying to escape its pain.

But Taylor wasn't trying to escape. Nanku didn't want freedom. Not really.

She wanted control.

"I need you to help her, Rachel. Find her. Get her out of the city. You too. Now that her power to control bugs is exposed the Ambassadors will figure out she was at the kennel. They'll come after you. Maybe less violently than last time but you need to leave Brockton Bay too. Grab your dogs and go."

Bitch grumbled something.

"I didn—"

"No wonder she's so pissed at you," Rachel said in a coldly even tone.

The phone hung up and Annette stood on the roof for a time staring out.

Every cape was running away. Usually.

Annette didn't have to run away.

She knew her problem.

She just couldn't let anything go, even long past the point she should have stopped, and looked back long enough to realize she was twenty feet under and still sinking. She needed control, and she chased it no matter how stupid it became.

It was all about a helpless pursuit of control, even when there was none.

Annette supposed the apple didn't fall that far.

Hopefully Nanku learned to let go faster than Annette ever did.