I soared through the midnight sky towards my target residence, far enough up to not be visible. Thanks to the interruption I hadn't got around to looking up how to manufacture chloroform, but that didn't matter; I wasn't intending to take prisoners tonight. I'd meant it when I said I wouldn't deliberately kill innocents if I could help it, and was intending to test Maximilian simply by turning up in front of him and watching his reaction. That was no longer needed; I'd heard more than enough over the last couple of hours to know that he was no innocent. So much so that two police officers had ignored a murder carried out right in front of them for the chance of taking him down. Admittedly, the fact that there was absolutely nothing they could do about me probably helped too, but I liked to imagine it was mostly because of them being on my side.

The structure wasn't huge, despite the vast grounds in which it was set. My enhanced eyes could spot a number of cameras, both on the land's perimeter and the building itself, but all pointed down. I had no idea why so little attention was given to flying opponents. Surveillance and military drones were things that existed, and while it would be difficult for the average civilian to get their hands on one of those spy flies or military hardware, even a toy helicopter would be sufficient for spying on this place. Or for dropping a small bomb on it.

I dropped over the roof, hovering a narrow distance above it to avoid making noises that might be heard by anyone inside. I needed some way to get in without loud noises or alarms, but the loop I'd flown around the place before landing had revealed a number of open upstairs windows. Again, security was simply not designed with fliers in mind. I picked one at random, listened for a bit, then risked sticking my head down to look. Nothing. I quickly somersaulted through the window, and easy as that, I was inside the sort of place that I'd expected to have to fight through a small army to get to.

Something deep inside me twitched. Some sense of unease that I couldn't identify. Because I was indoors, without the sky above me? Because I was in hostile territory? Some other reason? Something was off here, I was sure of it, and it wasn't Maximilian. I crept as quietly as I could, listening for the smallest sound. I was in a bedroom, but it was a small one with no personal effects in sight. Probably a guest room, currently unoccupied. The door was closed, but I heard nothing beyond it, and silently made my way out.

I found myself in a dim corridor, a number of closed doors in sight. I stalked down it, listening at each one. The first few were silent, but at the fourth I heard voices.

"So there were no signs of her regaining intelligence after all?" sighed an older sounding male.

That's Maximilian's voice. I recognised it from the videos I watched earlier. Found him! Unfortunately, the bad feeling I'd been getting seemed especially strong around here. What rotten luck.

"The behaviour since then has been... suspicious. But nothing irrefutable, and all eyewitness accounts have categorically denied it."

And that voice; that's Kholakel's mayor! I released the door handle, which I'd already grasped in my claws, and concentrated on eavesdropping instead.

"Damn. We were so close too. She was still speaking at the point of being fed live meals but then lost it right at the end."

Wait, are they talking about Lily?! That's one hell of a coincidence.

"Are you really sure you lost it?"

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what it sounds like. Everyone who saw her has described an inhuman monster, incapable of speech or rationality. Yet she just happened to not kill any of the police or other test subjects but did kill three of the lab personal. She attacked and killed three muggers, but didn't touch a hair on the head of their two victims. When ambushed, she flew straight up, avoiding our trap. Now, how do you think a monster incapable of rationality could do all that?"

"What the hell are you implying? You think I was controlling her? Why would I have her attack your men, but not the people who screwed up the whole experiment? No, wait, don't answer that one... But the muggers for sure. Why would I have done that?"

"So, you deny having any sort of control over her?"

I found myself struggling not to laugh at the misunderstanding. The mayor was right; I had been pretty mindless back then, but there sure as hell was no-one controlling me. Lily was simply giving me... suggestions.

"Damn right I do! She wasn't even chipped. Exactly how did you think I was controlling her?"

"Lily!"

My heart lurched; despite never having met her before personally, I knew full well that had been Alicia's voice. No further voices came from the room for half a minute, before the mayor spoke up again.

"So, seeing that, I'm sure you can understand why I'm suspicious."

Apparently he'd just played a video. Was it from during my escape? My own memories were fuzzy from back then. I'd wanted to attack the fools pretending to be my kin, but Lily had shown me... something. There was an intense feeling of loss, of having something important torn from her, and the fear of me taking more. I knew what had happened from Lily's perspective now, of course, and yes, me lurching to attack someone and then jerking back and running away from them would play into his misguided theory nicely.

"I admit, it is difficult to watch that and not share your suspicions."

"Then if you insist you were not involved, one can only assume that someone has access to your research."

"Someone from your lab; a control chip would need to be fitted while the physical part of the metamorphosis was winding down."

"That one I won't admit. It could just as easily have been someone with the police unit that broke in."

"Ha, yes. The unit that you so thoughtfully wiped out, along with the other experimental subjects."

"They were a waste of time and you know it. Barely good enough to hold this year's hunt."

I heard Maximilian heave a big sigh. "There's no point in arguing about it. It seems that we have holes on both of our sides, and I assure you that I'll be doing my best to plug mine. I suggest you do the same. So, where is our anomalous harpy now?"

"After escaping my ambush, she flew into the misty woods. She hasn't been seen since."

I'd walked into a shop on a crowded main street. I'd opened my door to cops! Well, a door, not my door, but my point still stands. Believe me, I've been seen!

"Ha, looks like you have a hunt this year after all." Despite the nasal laugh, and the fact that he'd supposedly participated in them, Maximilian sounded bitter about that. Did he not agree with them? Maybe his score of zero was deliberate?

"And I shall endeavour to enjoy it. Personally. I have a gap in my schedule three days from now, and the unknown makes it all the more interesting."

A click seemed to signify the end of the call, while I was left desperately trying to stifle my laughter. However do these people manage to keep their criminal empires running with that level of incompetence? Now they were both looking for non-existent moles in their organisations, while thinking that one of them was somehow puppeteering me? Plus they were looking for me in the wrong country.

With all this talk of control chips and controlling monsters, coupled with the supernatural abilities, I was starting to think that Lily had it backwards. It wasn't that we were created as weapons, but that we arrived some other way, and now they were trying to turn us into weapons after the fact. Although how transforming humans played into that, I had no idea. Perhaps I could find out? Let's see how talkative I could make this guy. I threw open the door and stepped into the room, causing Maximilian to spin around in surprise.

The two mantis-like creatures standing on either side of him spun around too. Ah, so that was where the bad feeling had been coming from.