Little Hunter

Nanku decided to do away with counting.

There wasn't going to be time for it. She kept her swarm hidden in shadows. Dusk and Dawn out of sight. She couldn't be sure neither had been observed, but she'd proceed as if they hadn't. The surprise would pay off if the drone operator missed the clues and be no less effective.

Dropping from the warehouse's rickety catwalk to the ground, Nanku bent her knees with the shock and broke into a sprint.

Three men were in the building but they were nothing important. Just busy bodies doing some work late at night. Nanku kept a few bugs on and near them just in case. One raised a head as she ran past but he didn't catch the flicker of her cloak.

At the side exit, Nanku slowed and slipped out. The drone didn't turn to face her but she decided to presume it could see more than just in front of it. The user was clever to always front it at whatever their focus. It created a good false impression.

Hopefully, they didn't expect her to know she was expected.

That was its own sort of surprise.

"See… us."

She could dream.

Crusader maintained a relaxed stance. Long spear in one hand and his finger to his helmet. The ghosts Nanku didn't see until Dusk got a direct look at him. Two misty figures that looked like him and stood silently. Partially see through but the notes she found online implied they were very dangerous.

Stormtiger and Cricket were nearby. The bulky man had his arms crossed and Cricket sharpened the blades on a pair of sickle-like weapons. Taylor saw them on some TV show as a child and they had a name. She just didn't care to remember.

Such weapons were messy. Awkward to use but awkward to fight against. Nanku presumed Cricket knew how to use them.

The cape she was taking to be Othala sat impatient with her guards.

Nanku set her path. Toward Crusader's group in the open first. Several buildings offered a good vantage for an attack. Nanku picked one and simply took the most direct route. As though she were unseen.

There was little reaction in her prey.

Crusader was talking to someone though.

"East," he said. "Five hundred feet. Tall building on the right."

The Drone definitely saw her.

"About time," Stormtiger replied. "Tired… shit."

"The plan… until this… started on us."

Cricket raised a hand and made a sign. Stormtiger nodded in response.

"Stupid," he said, as if agreeing.

So Cricket couldn't talk and used hand signs instead. Interesting.

Nanku ran down a row between two fences and turned left. Behind her presumed target building.

"Two fifty feet," Crusader said. "Get ready."

Men grabbed their guns. Cricket stood and brandished her weapons. Stormtiger rotated his shoulders.

They looked ready for a fight.

Good.

This one might be worth taking some trophies from.

Nanku brandished her blades and drew a spear from her belt. Leaping the fence, Nanku kicked off the top and grabbed the sill of a window. The building was old bricks. Refurbished recently. She scaled the side by the corner.

Othala was on her feet.

"Nearest corner," Crusader directed. "Roof."

Near the roof, Nanku readied to throw herself over the lip.

"Now."

At Crusader's command, guns rose and Stormtiger raised a hand.

Nanku kicked off and twisted about in the air.

Crusader snapped 'fire!'

The sound of thunder rattled in the air and the bricks behind Nanku exploded.

"Wait." Stormtiger turned his head. "She's—"

Nanku crashed through the window of the next building and rolled. Under her feet the men facing the windows looked up and Othala moved.

Her visor mode switched, exposing the skeletal structures below. Nanku looked at each in quick succession, marking the targets while her hand reached behind her back.

"Above!" one man shouted.

The others stepped back from the windows and raised their weapons.

Overconfidence was also an advantage to exploit.

Nanku threw the Smart-Disc into the air and left the whistling device to fly through a window, curve down, and fly back into the building. Glass shattered as the floor below erupted and the first of the gunmen below screamed.

The Smart-Disc tore through his chest and continued into the stomach of the next target.

The next two stepped back and lowered their guns, firing wildly while the disc shot toward them.

Throwing herself out the next window, Nanku threw a spear aimed at Crusader's head.

A wind erupted from Stormtiger and he blew the projectile aside with one hand.

The other pushed its palm at Nanku and she felt the force of the blow slam into her body and throw her back. Her back struck another window a floor down, and Nanku crashed into the floor. She rolled with the blow, taking another spear and swinging it about as she came to her feet.

Her cloak flickered as bullets struck her armor but the sharp tip of her weapon opened her target's throat and sent blood spraying against the wall.

Othala glared with fury and Nanku flipped the spear in her hand.

Two men moved between her and her target. Nanku ignored them even as a bullet struck her stomach. The pain was sharp but her skin didn't break. She lined up her throw and let the Smart Disc swing around to remove the obstacles.

Except the Disc struck one man's chest and bounced off.

Nanku blinked.

"Kill it," Othala snarled.

The men fired their rifles and Nanku shielded her self with one arm. Bullets pinged and bounced off her armor. Her mask returned a fatal error from the Smart Disc.

That had never happened before.

Othala could grant temporary invincibility.

And—

Nanku ducked as a man sped toward her. A barrel pressed to her mask and fired, throwing her onto her back with a painful pop in her ears. The man pumped the rifle and Nanku kicked his knee. He tried to move but the limb shattered from the blow and his body struck the floor.

Nanku grabbed him and rolled.

Bullets pattered against his body and Nanku cursed.

She reached for her gauntlet and began a quick sequence of keys, but her shield pulled away.

Another gun was pressed to her chest and she had no time.

A quick swing of her leg hooked the man's arm and she pulled him forward onto her wristblades. The edges slid over his clothes and the gun fired. The floor beside Nanku exploded and she hooked the back of his neck and pulled him down. When the bullets ran out he released the weapon and tried punching, but Nanku caught him in a lock and held on as bullets struck her armored forelegs and his back.

Othala might have made him invincible but he wasn't any stronger.

Nanku pressed the second command and then sent a signal for her Smart-Disc to change targets.

Raising her head, she looked over her struggling grappler's back.

Othala stepped out of the room with the other two men. Her hand released a canister that struck the wall and fell.

Nanku saw the icon for fire only a moment before the grenade exploded. Heat raced across her body. She kicked her grappler back and rolled away, cursing as she switched her visor to a mode not distorted by the material the grenade had burst across the room.

She was beginning to regret the overconfidence thought.

The Pure were more prepared than she expected.

But she could lament momentary arrogance later.

Shaking her head, Nanku threw herself through and door into a hall. She rolled and shook her head as licks of flame burned their fuel away and left her skin covered in the residue.

R'ka blood didn't burn her.

As if a mere incendiary device could. Even her armor and weapons survived.

The invincible man ran at her, as unphased as she was. Raising her arm, Nanku fired a line dart and let it coil around his legs. The man dropped face-first into the still-burning room, and Nanku ran down the hall.

She wiped her lenses clear and snarled.

Othala and her guards were moving outside on the opposite side of the building.

Dawn moved her position and Dusk dropped from the sky.

The drone shook under him and his claws swung wildly at the rigging. The device was held aloft by four encased motors and Dusk struck until the machine fell.

Heads rose and Nanku darted up the stairs. She shouldered through the door on the other side and threw her spear. Cricket ducked under the blow and Crusader's ghosts moved to her flanks just as the Smart Disc zipped toward him.

A gust of wind blew the weapon slightly off target and Stormtiger held a hand toward Nanku.

She moved to avoid another gust only to find all the air sucked from her lungs.

Her cloak began to flicker wildly, sparking and exposing her as more than a passing.

A loud bang echoed in the distance and a large bullet struck her hip. Nanku dropped to a knee as pain shot through her body. Another bang and Nanku felt the bullet strike her thigh and blow through the muscle under her skin.

The pain was secondary.

She needed to breathe.

Stormtiger closed his fingers and the wind tightened. An invisible blade tried to cut her throat and failed.

The man laughed. "She's a brute."

"It would explain how she got Victor and Alabaster. That invisibility isn't good enough."

Crusader's ghosts closed in. Six of them, with gunmen behind them.

Cricket brandished her sickles and made a strange motion with her thumbs.

"She's saying good luck," Stormtiger declared. "Not that—"

Dawn swung low and the man turned. Her wings fluttered and she darted away before the gust of razor-sharp wind could strike her. From the other side, Dusk's claws stabbed through the fence and cut into a man's back. There was another bang and Nanku feared for a moment.

Neither Twin felt pain and Nanku felt nothing.

A miss.

"What was that?" Crusader asked. "It was big."

Stormtiger's focus held.

Nanku choked.

She knew his power let him manipulate wind. That he could choke the breath from her lungs never crossed her mind. Her bio-mask was sealed!

Good trick.

With a snarl, Nanku pressed the last command on her gauntlet and reached for the swarm.

Cricket continued her advance as Stormtiger looked again. "Now wha—"

The swarm rolled through the air. A wave of black wings and legs. The gunmen fired wildly but the bullets meant nothing to a mass of thousands. The light of night turned pitch black

Stormtiger's grip weakened and Nanku sucked in a breath.

He refocused and shielded his eyes.

He should have shielded his mouth.

Crick and Crusader swiped at the swarm and Stormtiger gagged.

At her command, dozens of wasps, bees, and flies swarmed into Stormtiger's mouth. He screamed silently. Gagged. A sudden gush of air ripped up his throat and blew the mass out, but Nanku jumped to her feet.

Ignoring the pain in her thigh and blinding her foes amid the swarm, she turned and leaned for the wall.

A gust of wind slammed into her side and Nanku flipped around.

Stormtiger reeled his other hand back, a grin on his lips.

"That was nasty."

She barely heard his words amid the swarm. Winds sliced around him, shredding into the swarm and protecting his body.

Fool.

Nanku slapped her heel into the wall and a blade shot back from her boot.

She swung upside down. A bullet bounced harmlessly off her mask. Another struck her shoulder but bounced off her skin. Grasping the wall with one hand and closing the other in a fist, she looked directly at the man and flicked her wrist.

From either side of her mask a duo of lasers projected and centered on Stormtiger's chest.

Crusader's head turned.

"Storm—"

Over her shoulder, the actuator whirled and lifted from her back. The barrel swung under her shoulder. A loud hiss filled the air.

The lines converged and Nanku's mask signaled a lock.

"—tiger!"

The caster sparked and a ball of super-heated plasma shot out and set the air ablaze with blue heat.

Stormtiger stiffened, registering the discharge for a moment before it slammed into his chest, through his ribs, and out through his spine.

Several heads turned and for a moment all gunfire stopped.

Nanku withdrew the blade on her boot and flipped herself around before she hit the ground.

Stormtiger dropped like a weight. There was little blood. The plasma cauterized the wound as it struck. Not that it did him any good without a heart.

Nanku felt the change in air pressure instantly.

Much better.

In the distance, just outside her power's range but vaguely in sight, Dusk lunged from above. He grabbed the sniper by his throat. Dawn struck his partner from the other side.

No more snipers.

No more Stormtiger.

Problems solved.

A wordless scream—more of a whistle—filled the air. Cricket charged and Nanku spun to face her. At the same moment, she threw shurikens with both hands. The weapons spun into the air and she blocked Cricket's hand-scythe with her wristblades. The woman threw her knee forward and Nanku met it with her own.

The armor pad on her knee won in an instant. Cricket flinched and Nanku thrust her spear in the same moment it expanded. Cricket let herself drop to avoid the blow and Nanku twisted the scythe out of her hand. The spear spun and Cricket threw her free hand up. The spear drove through her palm but she pushed the blow aside.

Nanku readied her wristblades for a follow-up. Quickly she fixed her gaze over Cricket's head. A man with a heavy rifle. Then another with a grenade. A third with a device she couldn't recognize in hand.

She locked the targets and the actuating arm slid out over her shoulder.

The plasma caster fired and the bolt blew through her first target's shoulder.

Cricket shot up on both feet and slammed her cage-mask into Nanku's.

The blow shot to the back of her skull and Nanku swiped her blades and missed.

She spun away from Cricket's counter and the plasma caster whirled around and fired again.

As her second target screamed, Nanku caught a shuriken. She stumbled back and threw it. The plasma caster fired its third shot and Nanku blocked an attack with her blades and set two more. The second shuriken spun back and she swiped it from the air at Cricket's throat. Cricket dodged and Nanku pointed her gauntlet. She fired a line-dart that struck another man in the shoulder and began squeezing the limb off as the line tightened.

Cricket dared a look back. Crusader and his ghosts stood motionless.

Two bodies dropped to the ground. One man clutched his shoulder and screamed. Othala crouched over Stormtiger's corpse. Dusk flew from a shadow and struck a man from behind. Dawn dropped a corpse from the air. One of the snipers.

For Nazis, they seemed shocked by death.

Maybe they weren't used to being killed so readily.

Other men stared with wide eyes and looked about in confusion. One's head left his shoulders as a shuriken spun through his neck. Another lost his leg and fired wildly into the air.

Bullets blew the wall behind Nanku to dust and the plasma caster fired another bolt.

Nanku met Cricket's eyes.

She glanced at Stormtiger's body. Focused on him. Blinked and let her mask transpose the dead man's voice over her own while her swarm massed at her back. A sea of winds, eyes, and chittering black.

"Good luck."