Little Hunter

"You stabbed daddy!" Rose snapped. "That's mean! Sisters shouldn't stab sister's daddies!"

Nanku pressed a hand to the new sore spot in her flank.

Strong.

Far, far, too strong for her size.

And in the absence of their mother, or anyone else, Nanku felt the instinct clearly. The sensation of a predator. Danger. She paid it little mind. Aside from the first day, the parahumans she encountered were obvious.

But she'd missed it from Rose before.

"You have a power."

Rose's next complaint died in her throat. Her lip quivered and her eyes started to swell.

"Don't tell mom."

Nanku blinked and her breath caught.

"When?"

Rose dropped to a squat and wrapped her arms around her legs. She buried her face in her knees. No answer came.

Nanku winced and pulled herself up.

"Rose," she pressed. "When? How long?"

It couldn't have been the previous night. Nanku grimaced at the thought. That wasn't what she wanted. It wasn't supposed to happen. Was it because of the threat to their mother? To her? Because she'd stabbed Dauntless to escape?

Nanku hobbled to the bed and sent Dusk and Dawn back. They retreated, giving Rose space as Nanku stood over the girl.

Her sister.

The girl was her sister.

"Rose." Nanku dropped her tone to a soft voice. One like Taylor remembered when she was young. Before it all went wrong. "You're not in trouble. Tell me. When?"

Rose looked up for a moment. Eyes big and puffy.

"When I was littler," she said.

Not last night then.

Nanku exhaled and her shoulders relaxed.

With the release of the sudden—annoying—fear, her curiosity took over.

"How did you find me?"

Rose averted her eyes.

"Good hunters don't lie," Nanku said.

"I'm not a hunter," Rose replied.

"Found me."

Rose gave her a quizzical look. Nanku kept her face straight and wondered why she thought that would work. Pe'dte said it so many times. It just came naturally with the idea of chiding a child.

Rose's expression began to crack and Nanku stuck to her spear.

She'd made the thrust.

She might as well see if it worked.

It took time. Several minutes before Rose broke eye contact and huffed. "I can see people. If I want to."

"See people?"

She nodded. "And I know where they are."

Her power. "Your power lets you see people, and track them?"

Rose nodded again.

Nanku's eyes widened. "You found me here like that?"

"Daddy said you stabbed him!" Rose's face turned red and her back straightened. "That's mean!"

Nanku looked away. "He'll be fine."

"That's what he said."

"He wi—How do you know I stabbed him?"

Rose pursed her lips. "I told you! I see people!"

Nanku grit her teeth. "You were watching me."

"No. I was watching Daddy!"

Nanku started to reply but stopped herself.

Her father was Dauntless. She had to know. If she knew, "You worry about him."

Rose's eyes provided the answer.

Nanku looked over her shoulder. "How did you kick me so hard?"

"I don't know."

"Good hunters don't lie," Nanku repeated.

"I don't!" Rose buried her face in her knees again. "I was angry so I kicked you… I didn't mean to hit so hard."

"I'm fine," Nanku lied. "My body is hard."

Did she have more than one power? Nanku wasn't sure how that worked. She had more than one power but knew most parahumans didn't. And hers were weird. Her control of insects was her strongest ability. The others were useful but small. Minor.

Rose could locate anyone and track them down, and she could kick Nanku across a room.

It wasn't like Assault's blows. His blows could throw her but there was oddly little pain in them. The impacts weren't real. It was like he simply wanted to move her and did.

Battery hit harder, but was that because Rose's blows were weaker or because Battery was older?

"Don't tell Mom," Rose pleaded. She surrendered and Nanku could see it on her face. "She was scared and had to hide me, but hiding me made me scared and I couldn't sleep! I wanted to be brave but…"

Her face flushed and Nanku could tell there was more. Something worse.

Whatever it was, Rose seemed unable to say it.

"Why did she hide you?" Nanku asked, as a distraction.

"Because a bad man named Coil was looking for me."

Coil. "He's still out there?"

Rose shook her head. "Auntie Lis is Coil now. That's what Mom said."

Lis? "Tattletale."

"I don't see her much. Mom said she's not a good person."

"She's not."

"But she's Mom's friend."

Nanku tilted her head. Her legs were tired and her ribs hurt. She directed Dusk to make some room and turned to sit on the bed. It wasn't the softest, but it was better than the ground, and getting the weight off her scared legs felt better.

An edge faded from her voice as she spoke, and she straightened her back. "Not all friends are good. Shouldn't be here."

Rose pouted and looked away. "You shouldn't be mean."

Nanku sighed. "I shouldn't."
She's let Rose have that one. Children should get to win an argument from time to time. Especially against adults.

"Does anyone know?"

"Aunt Miss—" Rose shut her mouth. "Not supposed to talk about that."

Nanku frowned but let it go.

Her mother had no sisters. Neither did her father. Maybe Rose's father did?

"She didn't tell anyone?"

Rose shook her head and uncurled slightly. "Mom's always scared. I can tell. If she knew how scared I was, she'd be sad."

"So you didn't tell her?"

"No."

Then no one else knew where she was, though Nanku guessed someone could figure it out. Clearing her mind, she reached out through the swarm and searched the surrounding block. The streets were normal. Nothing unusual.

Above, the dogs were eating eagerly. They'd just been fed and Bitch was—

Nanku looked up.

The hatch above flung open and Bitch came down the steps.

"The fuck you—"

She stopped, eyes fixing on Rose and jaw dropping.

"Hell is she doing here?"

"It's not nice to swear!" Rose chided.

Bitch stared at her and turned to Nanku. "You bring her here?"

Rose paled.

"Yes," Nanku lied.

Bitch's eyes narrowed at the answer. She looked back and forth between them and Nanku could smell the suspicion. Briefly, the girl looked around the room and seemed to notice something when she turned away.

"Keep it down," she said. "And don't cause trouble."

Rose relaxed and Nanku gave an affirming snort Bitch seemed to understand.

"Cassie went for Chinese," she continued. Over her shoulder, she glared at Rose. "Leave before she gets back."

"Okay," Rose hiccuped.

Bitch huffed and left the room. "Should be in school anyway."

"There's no school on Saturday," Rose said.

Nanku blinked. "How long?"

"Five days," Bitch answered. "I fed your bugs. They're well trained."

Nanku reached over and scratched at Dusk's throat.

They were hungry, but not too hungry. Better to underfeed them than overfeed them.

And five days.

She still had the far better part of a year, but five days laying in bed was far too many.

Rose pushed her lips out. "You said good hunters don't lie."

"I didn't."

"But you said—"

"You were looking for me because I hurt your father. That I brought you here unwittingly is meaningless." Nanku huffed. "He will be fine. The wound was superficial."

"It was still mean," Rose insisted.

"Yes," Nanku conceded. "You should go. If they come for me, you aren't safe here."

Rose watched her with curious eyes. Familiar eyes. Nanku saw them in reflections whenever she looked.

"Why did you kill people?" Rose asked. "Everyone knows killing is bad."

"Chickens don't want to die to feed you," Nanku answered. "They die anyway."

"But they're chickens."

"Death is part of life. If the Nazis didn't want to die, they should have done a better job living."

Rose gave her a queer look. She didn't understand but Nanku didn't expect her to. She was human and she was better off staying that way.

"Go home," Nanku insisted.

"What if I tell Mom."

"Your choice."

Rose huffed and stood up. She glanced at Dawn for a moment and stepped off the bed. Her steps were slow. Lingering. Like she wanted to stay, or was waiting for Nanku to tell her too.

She wouldn't.

Killing the Pure was for her, and their mother.

But she didn't need to know that.

Nanku pondered the thought as Rose plodded up the stairs. Rose looked like Taylor. Sounded like Taylor.

But she wasn't Taylor.

Before her father died, Taylor had been energetic and talkative. Loud. Nanku's memory was hazy but she remembered some moments. The happiest ones in particular. The sad too.

Rose was… Different from Taylor. And she had talent.

Nanku pushed the thought away and started to bed forward.

"I won't tell Mom," Rose said. "Promise."

Nanku tilted her head and watched Rose vanish up the steps.

She waited a moment and Dusk scuttled after her. Rose left the same way she entered, running when Bitch shouted at her not to touch dogs she didn't know. She was out the door and going down the street, and Dusk took off and followed.

Nanku couldn't follow her all the way to wherever she was going but—

In the kennel above, Imp appeared and groaned.

"I'll do it," she said. "How the hell did the kid even find this place?"

"Nanku brought her," Bitch answered.

"She have a phone?"

"She has lots of stuff."

Imp shook her head. "Just keep her here. Whole town is still hunting her ass, and at this point even the Ambassadors are after her."

"Lisa?"

"Lisa is pointedly not asking the very obvious question so that when asked she can semi-honestly say the words 'I don't know.' Just keep her down there."

"She's too hurt to move."

"Then it'll be easy."

Nanku blinked and shook her head.

Rose left at a steady pace.

Dusk stuck low after taking off. It was light out and any flying parahumans could spot him if he rose too high. Nanku directed him to scuttle over the rooftops and leap once he was far enough along.

Rose went to a bus stop and sat down to wait.

A girl with dark skin and purple streaks in her hair came out of an alley a moment later.

An alley where no one had been moments before.

Dusk turned his head and Nanku drew bugs close to Imp to listen.

"Hey," Imp said with a smile. "You okay, kid?"

Rose stared at her. "Mom says not to talk to strangers."

Imp held in a laugh. "Well, she sounds smart. You okay?"

"I am waiting for the bus and I can scream. Really, really loud."

"How about you don't do that"—Imp sat down on the bench with space between them—"and I'll just sit here and make sure you get on that bus. Deal?"

Rose watched her warily and then stared at the empty ends of the bench in confusion.

Nanku kept watch until the bus arrived and in the meantime she had Dawn retrieve her mask. She tried to get it herself, but getting on the ground and reaching under the bed hurt before she'd gotten halfway down. Dawn's talon caught the rim and she pulled the mask out enough to close her jaws over it.

The insect held the mask out and Nanku retrieved it.

She settled back on the bed and eased herself onto the bed. Dawn went back under the bed and retrieved the gauntlet with her computer.

It felt much better to lay down.

Fitting the mask over her face, Nanku plugged the cord into her implant and waited for the device to restart.

Always a long wait waiting for the system to boot from a depowered state. Once it did, Nanku ran quick diagnostics. Refitting her gauntlet she opened the panel and started being productive.

She still had the scans of her father's file. The papers themselves might be around. She'd left them in the kennel five days ago. A quick sweep of the building didn't find them.

That's what she had scans for.

With a sigh, Nanku decided to focus on the pages about the scene. The building was gone. The images and words in the report were all that remained.

She read through the report quickly and tried to build the image in her mind. And she compiled questions she needed to answer.

Her father left the Dockworker's building late after checking in. Why did he check in? Did he do that often?

A note clearly stated he regularly parked in the building. Most Dockworkers did. Were there none who'd seen his death?

He died within thirty minutes of leaving. The body was found an hour later. The detectives had dismissed the coroner's report and apparently made their own determination.

Thirty minutes.

"Thirty minutes," Nanku mumbled.

Why didn't he simply leave? He wasn't killed in his car. He never made it to his car. He was near the restroom, but why not go before leaving the Dockworkers?

"You stopped," Nanku realized. "You stopped. Why did you stop, Daddy?"

The last word caught her for a moment.

"You stopped," she affirmed. "What made you stop? Not get in your car."

She scrolled through the pages in search. Surely someone else asked that question. It didn't take thirty minutes to get into a car. He had milk. It was late. He had to get back to Taylor. She was waiting for him.

Thirty minutes.

Thirty minutes.

Did it take that long to kill him? No. Not with his injuries. So what? Did the killer…

"You talked to them," Nanku determined. "Who was it?"

Nanku went looking for who specifically found the body and when.

Lacy.

Lacy found him.

And Lacy was dead.

Did Kurt know something?

Nanku continued looking through the records in detail and compiling questions. Some were answered as she went. He checked in because someone called him. Something about missing containers at a work site. Nothing came of it. The enforcers tracked it down and found it to be a clerical error.

That was a dead end.

Othala.

Where was Othala? Did Tattletale take her too?

Nanku snarled.

She'd killed the rest. Othala was her only link left to…

It took a moment to remember the name.

"Quality Care. That's what they called it."

QC.

The trap door opened as Cassie returned with bags of food.

Bitch came down the steps and Dusk scurried after her. Rose was on the bus and riding back into the city. It was as far as Nanku could follow. She'd be alright.

The girl kicked her across the room.

Pity on anyone who tried to hurt her.

"Need help." Bitch reached out.

"I'm fine," Nanku replied.

"Not a question."

She grabbed Nanku's shoulder and pulled.

"And take off the mask."

"Why?"

"In case."

Nanku grimaced but the smell of food spread through every bug in the building.

Her stomach roiled.

Nanku removed her mask and her gauntlet and leaned against Bitch up the stairs. The girl all but lifted her over the last few steps.

Cassie eyed Nanku suspiciously. "She's not going to murder us, right?"

"We're not Nazis." Bitch eased Nanku into a seat at the table. "Don't eat the sweet and sour."

Nanku looked over the boxes and containers, unsure what was what. Taylor had Chinese food but it had been a long time. Nanku only remembered the taste of beef and broccoli. The arrangement smelled of a range of spices, all richer than she was accustomed to. Dusk and Dawn sniffed curiously and patiently waited for their chance to eat.

Cassie and Bitch took their own seats.

"How did she get here?"

"Don't know," Nanku answered.

"Who?" Cassie asked.

"No one," Nanku and Bitch answered.

Cassie looked at them and shrugged. "Fine."

She filled a plate and left the room.

"Don't mind me. It's a nice day out. I'll eat outside."

Nanku retrieved her own plates. She loaded two with the contents of chicken and broccoli and offered them to Dusk and Dawk. They continued sniffing at first, wary of something so unfamiliar.

Bitch glowered. "Got no phone. No computer. You didn't bring her."

"I sent Dusk to get her."

"Don't drag her in." Bitch's tone was serious. Warning. "Too little for this shit."

Nanku stabbed a fork into her food. "I know."

"Then don't bring her here again."

Nanku shrugged and stuffed the first mouthful into her lips. She froze, brow furrowing as the flavors melted over her tongue.

Her mouth chewed slowly and swallowed. "That's disgusting."

Bitch scoffed. "Told you not to eat the sweet and sour."