Chapter 8

Hunted Hunters

After her talk with Robert Kartz, Dana and Kyne went out to start their search for the other Bio-Gladiators. The two of them were now in the detective’s car with the boy looking over the files that Shane had given to Dana. Since Kyne knew about their enemies, he could look at the photos of the crime scenes and tell which other Bio-Gladiator had been responsible.

At the moment, he was looking at the files that were gathered in regards to the disappearance of Jennifer Harris and her friends. The detective also told him about the things she had seen at the crime scene herself, such as the monstrous insect that had attacked her.

“So do these things tell you anything?” Dana asked. “I’d like to go after this one first, as it is most likely the one responsible for the missing girl I’m looking for.”

“With the information you’ve provided me, I don’t think there is any doubt over which of us Bio-Gladiators was responsible for this one,” Kyne answered. “Considering what you encountered in the forest, we are dealing with Hive Queen.”

“Hive Queen? Is she some sort of a bug or something?” the detective asked.

“While that is a very fitting description, I’m afraid that she is something far more dangerous,” the boy began to explain. “Even if she is already dangerous on her own, Hive Queen’s true danger comes from her ability to create loyal drones that she controls through telepathy. With enough time, she can create an entire army to overrun this whole city.”

“I’m guessing the thing I encountered in the forest was one of those drones of hers, right?” Dana asked to which Kyne nodded. “If that’s the case, why did she only leave one of the kids back there with a drone inside of him and take the others with her? And is there still a chance to save them?”

“While I can’t say for certain, the one left behind could have been left there as a trap for another Bio-Gladiator. Even if we are equipped with a device to track each other, some of us are more skilled at using our natural instincts to hunt,” Kyne explained. “As for whether the others are still alive, that could be possible. It depends on how long they’ve been captive and what Hive Queen is planning to do with them.”

“What do you mean?” the detective asked.

“Hive Queen can make several types of drones for her use. However, in order for her to make stronger drones, she needs more time for that,” the boy began to explain. “The drone you encountered was one that grows in just a couple of days within a host body, which are the most common and weakest type of her drones. When it comes to the stronger ones, she has her victims actually turn into her drones that are far stronger and smarter, but they take much longer to make.”

“How do you know about this?” Dana asked.

“Back in the laboratory, each of us had our caretakers that looked over our well-being. They would also spy on the groups looking after the other Bio-Gladiators and bring that information to us. The better a Bio-Gladiator performed in battle, the better the rewards for their caretakers. We were also allowed to watch over the battles that were conducted before this event,” Kyne explained. “Through that I was able to gain information on all of the others.”

“Robert Kartz also said something about you not being able to locate the others anymore,” the detective continued. “What was that about?”

“This,” the boy replied and pulled a smartphone out of his pocket. The device had numerous large cracks spreading over it and it seemed to be bent a bit as well. “This was designed to act as a way to track the movements of the other Bio-Gladiators through microchips implanted in our bodies. Unfortunately, it was damaged in my fight against Acidspring, so it’s no good to us.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. I mean, if we get it to someone who can-” Dana began to say as she took the smartphone from Kyne, only for it to break into pieces and fall from her hand. “...Never mind. So any ideas on how we find the others?”

“If you have a map and information of recent killings caused by the other Bio-Gladiators, I could probably figure out where each of them are hiding or moving towards,” Kyne explained. “Not only do I know about their abilities, but also their personalities. While I can’t fully guarantee anything, it is better than nothing.”

“So I guess we’ll be doing some detective work then, huh?” Dana said with a small grin and handed Kyne a map of the city. “Okay then. Where should we head first?”

The boy looked at the map and the files he had been given. He found the spot where Jennifer had disappeared with her friends and started to inspect the areas close to it. His eye soon fell upon a single building.

“This place,” Kyne said while pointing a finger at the place on the map. “Any idea what it is?”

“Oh that place? It’s an old sawmill,” Dana answered. “That place went under a couple of years ago, but the buildings were left there.”

“It’s rather close to the area those people disappeared and looks like the perfect spot for Hive Queen to spread her minions from,” the boy explained. “Since it’s so far away from most people and still provides shelter to build her strength, I’d say this is the perfect spot for her to make her base.”

“Well, it’s decided then!” the detective declared as she turned on her car’s engine. “Let’s go there and investigate!”

Dana began to drive her car towards the outskirts of the city, where the old sawmill was located. However, neither she nor Kyne realized that they were being followed, as a figure was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, keeping up with the vehicle.

Back in the car, silence had fallen over the two occupants, as neither spoke even a single word. Dana wasn’t sure if Kyne was normally like this or if he was feeling as uncomfortable as she was, but she needed to figure out some way to end the silence between them. It was pretty much driving her insane how they both had suddenly gone completely mute.

“So… What type of music do you like?” the detective asked, hoping to start a conversation. “You can turn on the radio, if you want. It would make this trip feel much nicer.”

“No need for that,” the boy replied. “I’m not even all that familiar with the subject of music, so I doubt I’d be able to choose anything good.”

“Hey, I was just trying to make this trip pass more comfortably,” Dana said with a shrug. “Besides, I doubt you messing with the radio is going to cause any harm.”

“I appreciate the thought, but there is no need to concern yourself with me.”

The detective was about to say something in response, only for a faint and familiar sound to catch her ears and stop the words in her mouth. It was difficult to hear, but it was a sound that was all too familiar, the growling of a stomach that had not been fed. It didn’t take Dana much to determine the source of the noise, as she herself had a rather nice breakfast not too long ago.

“You hungry?” the detective asked bluntly. “We can stop by some place to grab some grub, if you want.”

“I thank you for your concern, but I must decline,” Kyne said politely. “Not only is our mission much more important, you shouldn’t have to-”

The rest of the boy’s words were cut off, as Dana made a sudden turn. Before Kyne could ask what she was doing, the detective had stopped at the parking lot of a burger restaurant.

“Wait here a minute,” Dana said as she exited her car. “I’ll be back soon.”

Kyne watched as the detective walked into the restaurant before making himself comfortable on his seat. Since there was nothing else to do, the boy decided to do as he was told and waited for his partner’s return.

However, while the two of them were at the restaurant, the person following them was presented with an opportunity, which he was fully intent on using. Nimbly and gracefully like a cat, he made his way down from the rooftops he had been using to follow his target and landed in an alleyway between two buildings. His eyes immediately locked on to the car Kyne was sitting in, as he prepared himself for his attack by producing a blade from the back of his hand.

This person was one of the 16 Bio-Gladiators currently in the city, nicknamed Boneblade. As his name suggested, he had the ability to create blades from within his body, which he then could use as weapons. His appearance was that of a young man in either his late teens or early 20’s. He had a messy mop of white hair on his head and red eyes. For clothes he had a dark blue vest over a light gray sleeveless shirt, dark green cargo pants and white sneakers. While he looked mostly like a normal human, he had numerous scars all over his body. Some of them were the result of the battles he had fought so far, but some of them had come from self-mutilation.

Boneblade, much like many other Bio-Gladiators, had a very bloodthirsty personality and enjoyed killing others greatly. Where he was different compared to the others was that his desire to cut others with his blades was so great that if he didn’t get to cut apart someone for too long, he would turn his blades towards his own body instead. Once this had been noticed by the Kartz Company, he was placed on battles more regularly and was even provided with living beings, whether creatures or people, to vent out his desires on. Robert Kartz wasn’t exactly willing to let a precious investment like him go to waste, after all.

The Bio-Gladiator had used his smartphone to track Kyne to the apartment building where Dana lived. Not wanting to walk into a possible ambush, he had decided to wait until his prey came out. He was surprised by the fact that Kyne didn’t come out alone, but it didn’t matter all that much. All he needed was one opportunity and victory would be his.

The reason Boneblade was being so cautious was because he had actually faced Kyne in battle before and had lost miserably. While the telekinesis using boy refused to kill for the amusement of others, he was still a formidable opponent. That’s why the blade-user hoped to use a surprise attack to take down Kyne.

With a sadistic smile on his face, Boneblade licked the blade sticking out of his arm, drawing a bit of blood from his tongue. This didn’t matter, as all he wanted to do was cut someone. He longed to see his blades plunged into the soft flesh of an unsuspecting victim, drawing blood and letting internal organs spill on the ground.

He could no longer contain himself. He needed to see blood and gore, feel the life of someone slipping out of them through his blades. And he needed to feel it now.

“You know, you shouldn’t get so hung up on a single target. It leaves your behind exposed,” a feminine voice called out to Boneblade from behind in a mocking tone.

The Bio-Gladiator quickly spun around and swung his blade at the same time, hoping to cut down whoever was behind him, but hit nothing. The person mocking him jumped backwards, easily avoiding the attack. This did allow Boneblade to see who the person sneaking up on him was and immediately recognized the familiar beast-like woman.

“Slaywolf… I should have recognized that damn voice of yours,” Boneblade said with hate dripping from his voice.

“Come on, no need to be like that,” the beast-lady said with a wide grin. “Also, could you please not use that stupid stage name of mine? I’d like it if you referred to me by my real name, Miriam.”

“You’re still doing that? Why? Why do you feel the need to use your old name?” the blade-user asked. “You should know by now that we are no longer human. We are all just monsters created to give some people entertainment. The names given to us are now our new identity. Just embrace it and accept the truth.”

“Do you really think I’m like that? Really? I’m not like that. I just hate the stupid name I was given,” Miriam said. “Besides, even before I became a part of your group, I had already given up on being human. Now I’m just trying to enjoy myself to the fullest through using my abilities.”

“Is that so? Guess we’re quite similar,” Boneblade said and licked the blade sticking from his arm again. “Anyways, would you mind waiting a bit? I was planning to cut you apart at some point, but I have something else that I want to do first. I’ve got a score to settle with Telekyne and then I’ll be more than happy to deal with you.”

“You’re making me feel quite jealous here. Aren’t I good enough for you?” the beast-lady asked playfully. “However, I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, as I have business with those two and I’m not into sharing.”

“FINE BY ME!” the blade-user yelled as he shot the blade out of his arm towards Miriam, who easily dodged the projectile.

“Gotta do better than that to get me!” Miriam taunted as she made her way to the roof by jumping from wall to wall, quickly making her way upwards.

Boneblade soon followed after the beast-lady, as he wanted to finish this fight fast and go after his real target. He produced two more blades from his arms that he then used to climb the wall of the building Miriam had gotten on top of. Once he made it to the top, he took a combat stance with his weapons at the ready.

However, much to his surprise, the beast-lady was nowhere to be seen. He looked around and saw the entrance to the roof was open. With silent and careful steps, the blade-user walked up to the broken door and looked inside. There was no one at the staircase, giving the impression that Miriam had gone further down into the building. This was obviously a trap, where the beast-lady was trying to lure her opponent indoors and then ambush him there. The problem was that once inside she could appear from essentially anywhere, making the prospect of going in seem like a suicide. Regardless, Boneblade knew that if he wanted to take Miriam’s head, he would have to walk into this trap, whether he liked it or not.

Just as he was about to take his first step in, the blade-user realized something. Despite being so close, he hadn’t heard the door get broken. If that was the case, the it meant Miriam had broken it before even meeting him. But why would she do this?

As soon as he realized this, Boneblade heard the sound of movement from behind and turned just in time to see Miriam running towards him. The beat-lady had a psychotic smile on her face as she raced towards her opponent.

It was at this moment that Boneblade realized what had happened. Miriam had never gone down the stairs and had broken the door as a distraction. After she had disappeared from sight the first time, she had hidden herself by hanging on the side of another wall while waiting for the blade-user to take the bait and turn his back towards her. And he had walked into her trap perfectly.

Boneblade responded to Miriam’s charge by throwing the two blades he had at the beast-lady, who simply knocked them away without even stopping. Before the blade-user could do anything else in order to defend himself, he received a powerful punch to the face that sent him flying backwards and down the stairs leading to the roof. His back hit the floor painfully, but he wasn’t allowed a single moment of rest, as Miriam was quick to jump after him. Boneblade managed to just narrowly roll out of the way, as the beast-lady’s fist smashed into the place his head had been at just a moment ago.

The blade-user had now managed to regain his bearings enough to get up and start a counterattack by shooting multiple smaller blades out of his arms at Miriam. However, this did little to stop the beast-lady’s assault, as she only used her arms to block the blades from hitting her eyes and kept charging at her opponent, delivering another powerful blow upon reaching him. The hit left Boneblade laying on the floor, completely dazed from the damage he had taken. This opportunity was seized by Miriam, who quickly wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You know, I’ve always wondered if your bones were as strong as your blades,” the beast-lady said while applying more pressure on her opponent’s neck with a grin on her face. “Why don’t we test it out?”

“Instead of that, how about you get a feel of how strong and sharp my blades truly are?” Boneblade asked while struggling in his attacker’s hold. “How about you get a feel for that? WITH YOUR OWN BODY!”

Before Miriam could even blink, her body was suddenly impaled by over a dozen blades that burst out from the blade-user’s back. The beast-lady’s eyes went wide from shock, as she coughed up blood. She managed to only let out a couple of gurgles before falling to the floor completely lifeless.

Boneblade turned to look at his victim with a smirk on his face. Back in the battles he had fought before coming to the city for this battle royale, he had made sure to never reveal that he could produce blades from other parts of his body. This made it so that his opponents would only concentrate on his arms, leaving them unaware of the deadly weapons that could come from other places as well. Now all the struggles to keep that secret hidden had paid off, as he was one step closer to becoming the winner.

“So, the big favorite has finally been taken down, huh? I wonder how many of your fans are crying over this? Not that I care that much,” Boneblade said in a mocking tone as he began to walk away from his defeated opponent’s body. “Gotta say, though, that you were easier to defeat than I thought. But I guess that’s what happens to those that get too cocky for their own good.”

“I could say the same about you.”

Before the blade-user could do anything, an arm burst from his chest. With his remaining life, he managed to look behind him to see Miriam standing there with her arm burrowed into his back.

“I’m a bit harder to kill than that,” the beast-lady said with a grin before pulling back her arm, allowing Boneblade’s lifeless body to fall down to the floor.

With her enemy dead, Miriam started to head back to the roof. There was still something she wanted to do.

Back with Kyne, he had been waiting for Dana to come back for some time now and was starting to get worried. There were all sorts of abilities within the Bio-Gladiators, so one of them could have sneaked inside the burger place and attacked the detective without him knowing, especially when he lacked the tools needed to see if any of his enemies were nearby.

His worries were washed away, when he saw Dana finally come out of the restaurant with a brown paper bag. The detective entered the car and turned her attention to Kyne.

“Sorry I took so long. The line was longer than I thought. Here you go,” Dana said with a smile, as she handed the bag to the boy. “I know it’s not exactly the best food out there, but it should help get rid of your hunger.”

Kyne looked inside the bag and saw that there was a burger, some fries and a soda.

“You didn’t need to-”

“Oh, stop that. You’re my partner, aren’t you?” the detective said as she started the car and began driving. “We are in this together and I’m going to need your help in taking down the loonies that have turned this city into a killing field. How are you supposed to help me on an empty stomach? Eat up and get ready. We’re in for quite the ride.”

“...Thank you,” Kyne said quietly as he started eating his meal. Dana heard his words of gratitude and simply smiled in response as she kept driving.

However, what the two of them didn’t know was that they were being watched as they drove off. Miriam was standing on top of a roof, staring at the vehicle the duo was in with a grin on her face. The beast-lady wanted to jump down and attack them. Tear them apart and spread their organs everywhere while laughing like a maniac. She wanted to watch them die and feel the life slipping out of them.

Yet despite these desires of hers, Miriam refused to do so. Instead, she dug her claws deep into her arms in order to calm her urges.

“No… Not yet. It’s way too soon,” the beast-lady said as her claws drew blood. “I can’t just go and dig into the best part just yet. I need to save the best for last. That way it will taste all the more sweeter, when I finally get it done.”

The truth was that Miriam hadn’t come to simply take out Boneblade. While that was something she intended to do at some point, she was mostly interested in making sure that the blade-user didn’t get the prey that she wanted for herself.

“Only I’m allowed to kill you. No way is some little shit mutant going to come and ruin what we’ve built between each other. So you better survive until then,” Miriam said as the car disappeared from her sights and she began to leave. “I’ll see you later, Dana. It’s good to be back.”