Haino City is a large metropolitan area made up of three main districts. The city center where the government and industrial sectors are located, the peaks where most of the city lives, and the ruins where the law doesn’t reach and monsters like to hide. “It’s a good thing the world ain’t safe,” Wone’s master used to say, “Because I’d be out of a job.”

Wone was currently in the city center wandering around the packed and noisy concrete streets, taking in the beauty of this grey stone and red brick monstrosity of a city. Black roads were filled with horse drawn carriages and energy powered cars alike as all manner of different people from all over the world marched about crowded streets going about their business. Even with his genetically altered big and tall frame and strange eyes he still fit in with the motley crowd.

One of the orders veteran hunters had picked up a bounty from a government official to investigate some missing people that were last seen in the slums that separated the peaks from the ruins. According to his handler, Wone was supposed to meet the official at a detective agency in the city center. After a half an hour of wandering through densely packed streets and reading sign after sign, Wone spotted the building he was searching for. There was a calligraphic sign out front in one of the common languages that read “Song’s Investigation Agency.”. The building stood alone, made up of three egg shaped towers stuck together.

“I hope they don’t expect me to go around trying to solve murders, that isn’t my fucking job,” Wone said through the thought transmitter embedded into the back of his head.

“Just get in there and do what I tell you,” replied Taps from inside of One’s head. He was the operator assigned to Wone’s mission and was using a terminal to track One’s location and offer him intelligence.

Wone sighed and pushed open the doors into the detective agency. He didn’t really like working with regular people, often they were anxious around Hunters, and they made dealing with strong and evasive creatures difficult. He hoped this mission wasn’t going to turn into a big creature hunt through the ruins with what Hunters referred to as the “unenlightened”.

Upon entering the office, Wone was met by a receptionist hidden behind a long brown desk in front of a picture and trophy covered wall that led to the main and back offices.

“Hello, do you have an appointment,” asked a small woman from behind the desk. Wone could just see her burgundy hat from behind the terminal that obstructed her face. She tapped a few keys on her keyboard, peered her plump face from behind the terminal, and gave Wone a smile.

“I suppose I do,” began Wone glancing around the office. “I’m supposed to be meeting with some lady official about a couple missing people. I’m with the order.”

“Oh yes, “exclaimed the small woman from behind the terminal. “The 7’o clock with Ms. Song, right this way.”

The small woman stood up from her chair and moved from behind her desk to the entryway leading to the rest of the offices. With a “come hither” gesture she led Wone through the offices until they reached a room with a mounted plaque on the door that read “Investigator Dunna”.

“Here we are, Ms. Song and Investigator Dunna are just inside mr. Hunter, best not keep them waiting!” The little lady gave Wone a bow and hurried off, presumably back to the front desk.

Wone gave two soft knocks to the office before opening the door and striding in. Song was sitting in front of Dunna who was behind his desk reclined in his chair.

“Hello,” declared Wone deeply before taking the seat beside Song. It was quite an awkward entrance and it seemed to leave Song and Dunna a little surprised because they both gave Wone a sideways look. He ignored it and remained silent.

“Uh, hello, I’m Investigator Dunna,” answered Dunna leaning forward in his chair and reaching his hand out to Wone. He grasped his hand and shook it firmly.

“And I am Song Ying, it’s a pleasure to meet you sir…?” Song said offering the back of her hand.

“I go by Wone, just Wone,” replied Wone gently taking her hand and kissing it.

“Before we begin, I’d like to handle another matter,” declared Song as she took her hand from Wone’s. “I know your order doesn’t really do tradition or pleasantry, but I wanted to ask anyway if we could talk about you for a little while before we get down to business? It would mean a lot to me.”

Song asked her question without breaking eye contact from Wone. She was smiling playfully with her chin in her hand, but despite her subdued appearance Wone felt like she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. This wasn’t going to stop Wone from trying his luck with her however, since he enjoyed conflict and verbal instigation.

“Entertain our client,” said the voice of Taps inside of Wone’s head. “She might pay us more.”

Wone rolled his eyes and tilted his head to his side to feign like he was annoyed and responded, “I guess I can sit and chat for a moment Lady Song.”

“Excellent,” she exclaimed smiling. “Firstly, I’d like to ask about your upbringing, is it true you all grow up in the wild?”

Wone considered her question for a moment. To lie or tell the truth?

“The Wild,” Wone replied in feigned annoyance. “My lady I am an educated man, fluent in four languages and familiar with the histories of each of the major nations. I did not grow up in the wild.”

Song smiled and waved her hand in a defusing gesture. “I must apologize, I suppose that must just have been a rumor I heard, please forgive me. It’s just, with your order’s reputation I didn’t think it would be too farfetched.”

At this comment, Wone gave Song a genuine expression of annoyance, eliciting another laugh and more dismissive waves from the woman.

“That is to say, you hunters are particularly good at your job,” she continued evenly. “So good one might think you all grew up in a jungle.”

Her comments did little to allay Wone’s wounded ego, but she didn’t seem to care, and Wone didn’t consider it too great an insult.

“So, have you always been a hunter? Is it the only thing you’ve considered doing in your life,” asked Song.

“Really it’s the only thing I’ve ever known,” said Wone. “But honestly Song, the thing I’m most interested in is money and all that it can bring me.”

Song’s smile grew at Wone’s reply, and he swore he saw some genuine excitement glimmer in her eyes.

“Is this a personal interest or a value instilled in you by your order,” Song asked, leaning closer into Wone, and intensifying her already unshakable eye contact.

“Well,” Wone began. “It’s certainty a good deal of both, but honestly I’m just so greedy.”

Wone’s bluntness elicited a small giggle from Song. “Well, I can’t say I was expecting that,” her laughter continued, and Wone believed he had found a kindred soul, which made him smile.

“Well, I think that’s enough small talk for now, on to business,” she said after her laughter subsided.

“Indeed,” replied Wone smiling softly.

“The missing people I wanted your order to find seem to have been abducted by an arachnid, we have the location of its nest cordoned off to a section of the ruins a couple miles out of the slums. You and a few of our men will go in and secure the hostages, then destroy the nest.”

She looked at One expectantly, waiting for him to ask any questions.

“I can work with that,” replied One.

“Well, hurry on then please, Dunna just broke this out to me, I’ve already made the necessary arrangements. He’ll take you to where you need to go,” said Song briskly, rising to her feet and giving One and Dunna a bow.

Wone and Dunna got up and headed out of the room and towards the entrance of the agency building. As they walked, Wone looked the man beside him over. Dunna was a tall man, taller than Wone but not as wide or bold in stature. He moved with purpose and stayed silent as he led Wone though the city center streets until they reached Dunna’s vehicle.

“We’ll be driving to the slums, the men Song sent to the arachnid’s nest will be getting started without you. They’re supposed to force the thing into the center of its nest,” said Dunna climbing into his car.

Wone crossed the hood of the car and entered the passenger seat. “You guys have any idea how big this thing is?”

“We don’t have exact measurements but it’s an adolescent for certain,” replied Dunna. “Aside from abducting the three people we want you to save, we believe the beast is responsible for at least six other missing people and killing two police officers in the cordon effort.”

“Ask him how long ago and if they injured the spider when they cordoned it off,” ordered Taps from inside of Wone’s head.

“Is the thing injured? And how did it kill your men, an ambush? In a struggle,” asked Wone.

“The two officers were killed when we forced the creature into the building its currently residing in now. It mauled one officer to death and strangled the other one. I was informed that it had sustained multiple gunshot wounds before sealing itself into its nest,” replied Dunna. They had just passed a checkpoint that separated the slums and the ruins. They were immediately let through, which meant they were in a government vehicle and Dunna was a pretty important person.

Wone recalled all he knew about the ambush predators known as arachnids. They were basically huge, armored spiders that liked to hide in abandoned buildings and underground tunnels. They were highly mobile and resilient to gunfire and cutting or stabbing.

“This might be tough,” Wone said to Taps in his head. “We’ll have to try and burn it without setting the whole building on fire and killing the hostages.”

“Or you can save the hostages then light the building. I doubt you’re going to kill that thing with just a handgun and a saber,” replied Taps from inside of his head.

Wone and Dunna drove for around ten more minutes through sparsely populated ruins of buildings overgrown with vines and trees until they came upon an old mansion on a hill. At the foot of a set of stone stairs stairs were a group of police cars and armed men standing around smoking and talking around a hastily improvised table with what looked like a map on it.

“Here we are,” said Dunna killing the engine and taking the keys out of the ignition. He and Wone exited the vehicle and approached Song’s men who were talking about the layout of the building and where the hostages might be.

“Hey Dunna,” said an older man who seemed to be the leader. He was the only one not wearing a blue cap and he had a silver badge on his chest that the other officers didn’t have. “We went in to get a layout of the building and try to find the hostages with no luck. We think they’re in the basement, but it’s a big mansion and the thing didn’t give us a chance to completely search the east wing or any of the lower floors.

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“The building is falling apart, when you get in there’s a large open room with two staircases to the wings. There’s a way into the basement in the east wing, but the kitchens and everything else in the center of the mansion have collapsed. The place is also full of webs.”

“You hear that Taps? What do you think,” Wone asked in his head.

“Could be in the basement, probably up in the attic if there is one. Ask if it’s a male or female, the food will be with the eggs and the eggs would definitely be in the basement,” said Taps. “I’m tagging everyone through your nerve network right now so I can keep tabs on everyone.”

“Do we know if this thing is a male or female,” Wone asked as he took a spot around the table.

“It’s a male,” said the older officer from the head of the table. “Not very big and isn’t as territorial as it would be if there were eggs around.”

“Then the hostages are probably in the top floor, males like to have a quick escape route if things go from bad to worse, have you guys gone all the way up,” asked Wone.

The old man shook his head, “No, but there’s a way up in the west wing.”

They continued to plan a course of action, and ultimately decided that Wone would enter first and try to get the arachnid out of the attic and into the east wing, while the rest of the group cut the hostages out. When they escaped, Wone would set the building alight and escape out of a window in the east wing.

“Alright, everybody know what they’re doing,” asked Wone looking back at the officers as he pushed the mansion doors open. They gave a collective nod, and he slowly entered the building with his gun in hand.

The interior was dilapidated, once intricately designed walls and carpets soiled and torn up from time, ruined shelves and furniture littered the foyer, and both staircases leading to the wings looked unstable.

“What a mess,” muttered Wone under his breath. “I’m heading up, wish me luck.”

Wone crept up the west wing stairs careful not to step into any holes as he made his way. As his vision adjusted to the darkness, he noticed webs shimmering in the lowlight, covering much of the foyer. Stepping on the webbing could alert the arachnid to his presence, but it almost certainly already knew his group had entered its territory. The question now was if the creature was watching them directly, and if it would begin stalking the straggler or retreat to its nest. Wone planned on using the webbing to get its attention after reaching the hostages and making sure they were safe. He continued deeper into the mansion, passing room after room looking for the way into the attic. The old man said the ladder was broken and the normal entrance had collapsed, meaning Wone would have to improvise. As he searched the floor for a way up, he caught the scent of the arachnid and heard the subtle sound of the creature moving about above him.

“Eight thumps,” Wone thought to himself, the smell beside it confirmed his suspicion. He turned his head upwards and found the ceiling had cracks and holes in it, which the monstrosity was using to spy on him with.

“Did you tag it,” asked Wone in his head.

“No, but I picked it up. Get a better beat on it and I can tell you where its going,” Taps replied.

Wone continued as if nothing had happened, kicking open doors, and searching rooms for an opening into the attic he could climb through, listening all the while for the subtle sound of the arachnid stalking him from above.

“Set the oil,” Taps said from within Wone’s head. Wone pulled out the canister of oil he had on his hip and began to cover the room he was in with clear, flammable, liquid. The smell stung his nose and made it difficult to make out the sent of the arachnid above him. He would have to be more cautious as he moved about the mansion.

Wone retraced his steps leaving a trail of oil behind him as he prepared the mansion to burn while continuing to search for a way into the attic. He didn’t use very much oil, since the wood and webs would make for good tinder even without the oil’s help.

“Where have you gone,” muttered Wone anxiously as he made his way back to the staircase. He had lost the beast’s footsteps in the midst of his preparation. He peered down at the group of officers waiting in the foyer for his signal to move into the attic. The signal being the noise of him engaging the creature. Wone turned his back and reentered the west wing, this time with more caution since he had lost the sound of the creature and now couldn’t smell it over the scent of oil.

“I think you’ll have to make your own entrance,” said Taps. “Go into one of the rooms near the staircase and jump through the ceiling. It’ll be dangerous but the suspense is killing me and watching you amble around is boring.”

Wone shook his head in annoyance at Taps’s response and began to follow his advice. He quickly moved to one of the rooms nearest to the surface and looked for a weak point in the ceiling he could jump through without injuring himself or bringing down the whole room. Eyeing a hole in the ceiling and two rotting support beams, Wone crouched down and exploded upwards, his dense and heavy body bringing him through the wood of the ceiling and sending him into the dark attic.

Immediately upon entering the attic he heard the screech of the arachnid as it moved around in panic. Wone scanned the room for the sounds source and found eight pitch black gleaming eyes staring at him from across the attic. He immediately drew a knife from his belt and sent it flying into the beast’s eye, causing it to let out a pained screech and come chasing after Wone. He leapt back down into the room he came from and tried to make his way back into the hallway but was caught by the arachnid as it came crashing down into him from the attic, sending them both to the first floor.

“I tagged it,” came the voice of Taps through the sounds of creaking and splintered wood and skittering legs.

Too occupied with fending off the arachnid’s gnashing fangs, Wone didn’t respond and continued to force away the monstrosity’s mouth as the two struggled in the rubble of the room they came crashing down from. Wone wretched the knife he had thrown earlier out of the monster’s eye and used it to stab into its neck, striking its armor over and over until the blade forced its way into the creature’s body. This sent the creature off of Wone, allowing him to scramble onto his feet and make his way into the east wing. As he ran, he continued to pour more oil from the canister on his hip, the monster crawling after him all the while.

He was caught by the creature once again as he climbed the east wing stairs, narrowly avoiding a bite on his back as he wriggled out of the beasts’ fangs just before they closed. Trying to wrestle himself out from beneath the creature, he drove his elbow into its soft stomach while kicking at its abdomen over and over until he created enough space to slip through and crawl up the rest of the stairs with.

“Can you see if they got the hostages yet,” Wone asked Taps anxiously from within his head.

“Yeah, they’re dragging them down the west wing stairs, get that thing a little further before it notices them,” replied Taps calmly. “I’ll let you know when they’re out and you can escape from one of the windows after tossing a match. Don’t worry where it lands, this building is plenty flammable between the oil and the cobwebs.”

Wone continued through the east wing with the arachnid in hot pursuit. He felt his heart pumping as he ducked into rooms and crashed through thin walls to avoid the creature. The disgusting sound of eight legs twitching about as the creature pursued Wone helped to fuel his body as he crouched, ducked, and dove around the east wing. As he ran around the east wing like a madman, Wone tossed furniture, paintings, knives, and anything else he could get his hands on to slow the arachnid’s pursuit, anxiously awaiting Taps to tell him the hostages had been safely secured.

“Are those fuckers almost out,” cried Wone from within his head, getting more annoyed than anxious about being chased around the mansion It felt like he had been avoiding the creature for at least ten minutes, but for all he knew only a few seconds could have passed by.

“Yeah, they’re out,” replied Taps still unfazed. “Light the building up and hop out the window.”

Doing just that, Wone forced his way through a door and burst through a glass window leading into a courtyard. As he sailed out of the mansion, he tossed the oil can he had on his hip through the broken window and drew his gun. Lining up his sights with the cannister as he fell through the air, he squeezed the trigger and watched as the room he had leapt from exploded into flames, barely making out the shape of the arachnid dashing backwards as the cannister erupted.

Propelled forward by the blast, the excitement Wone felt was cut short by the hard surface of a brick path as he landed from his heroic effort. He hit the ground hard and rolled a few times before finally coming to a stop on the brick path.

“Ahghk,” Wone groaned as he met the ground. He laid there for a moment to catch his breath, before getting his hands beneath him and slowly rising. He turned back to the now smoking mansion. All the second-floor rooms were now bellowing smoke and there was no doubt both wings were now engulfed in flames. Soon the building would begin to collapse in on itself and the arachnid would hopefully be cooked.

“Good riddance,” Wone muttered. He followed the path he landed on to the front entrance and climbed down the front steps to meet Dunna, the officers, and the now rescued hostages.

“How’s the goods, they alive,” asked Wone as he approached the group. They were currently cutting them out of the webs the arachnid had wrapped them in.

“It seems like they’ll live at least,” replied the old man from over one of the shiny gossamer cocoons. He pulled out a syringe and injected each of the three sleeping bodies, likely some form of adrenaline or a booster to make sure they stayed alive.

“Another piece of history lost,” said Dunna stoically while watching the mansion steadily burn up brighter and brighter and begin to collapse in on itself. Under the crackling flames and falling debris Wone could hear the high-pitched screech of the arachnid as it burned up within the flaming ruins of the mansion. “Captain, take those three to a hospital and call up Lady Song and tell her they’re safe. I’ll stay here with the hunter and make sure that thing is dead.”

The old man nodded and departed with two officers and the hostages leaving Dunna, Wone, and two other officers in front of the burning mansion.

“This’ll take a while,” said one of the officers as he pulled out and lit a cigarette.

After about an hour and a half the fire finally died out leaving the charred remains of a once dilapidated mansion. They waited around for another hour for the ruins to cool down then Wone sifted through the ashes for the arachnid’s corpse. He found it in the open room by the entrance, charred and smoking, its legs pointed towards the sky. After calling the other three over to confirm the creature was dead, Dunna pulled out a camera and took a picture of the arachnid’s charred corpse.

“Oh, get one with me in it,” said one of the officers after Dunna flashed his camera. They wasted another fifteen minutes getting shots for the paper as both officers made different poses around the monster’s corpse. Just before they finished, Wone caved into his own desires and asked Dunna to take a picture of him crouched down in front of the corpse.

“Say spider,” said one of the officers from beside Dunna as he prepared to take the picture. Wone put on a mean face and picked a spot behind Dunna to look at as he snapped the picture. “Hey that came out really good.”

Wone walked over to Dunna and leaned over his shoulder to see how the picture turned out. He saw himself crouched in front of the smoking arachnid; his face fierce as he looked off into space. He smiled at how cool he looked hunched over in front of his triumph.

“Like a cat who caught a mouse, good job my friend, good job,” said Taps condescendingly from within his head. “But we have some cash waiting for us, and I would very much like to see it.”

“Let’s start heading back shall we,” said Wone walking towards Dunna’s car. They left the smoking remains of the mansion behind and climbed into Dunna’s vehicle. The two officers got into their car and escorted Dunna and Wone back to the detective agency. Dunna parked the car and popped open the trunk, motioning for Wone to come over.

“Here is your payment,” he said handing Wone a briefcase. Wone looked at him with a sly grin on his face and popped open the latches for the suitcase and looked inside. His eyes were met with the gleaming sight of two thousand dollars’ worth of golden credits.

“Oh yeah, this’ll do,” said Wone with deep satisfaction. As he stood there basking in the feeling of getting paid, Dunna tapped him on his shoulder and handed him a letter. Placing his finger in front of his lips he mouthed “shhh” before turning away from Wone and walking off. Wone found this odd but did not call out to the man to see what he meant.

“I’ve got the cash, headed back now,” said Wone through his thought transmitter.

“Alright,” responded Taps. “See you when you get here, I’m hopping off of the terminal.”

He felt his minds connection with Taps sever and his head was filled with sweet silence. “Mission accomplished,” thought Wone. As he walked about the city headed towards his groups Haino city outpost, a realization struck Wone. Dunna asked him to be silent because he knew someone was in his head. Clearly, he didn’t understand that Wone could choose what the person on the other side of his transmitter heard, but he knew someone was there all the same. He pulled out the letter he was given and read its front.

“To Wone, from Song,” it read. He opened the envelope and peered over the letter inside. The letter read:

“Dear Mr. Wone,

Our conversation earlier greatly intrigued me, your life and motivation so interested me I can hardly find myself thinking of anything else. I feel that your skills and your mindset would be a wonderous boon for my operations, and I think that I can reward you far better than the order can. If you are interested in making more money than you can even count, as well as status you could only dream of, please meet me at this address tomorrow night at 9:30.

-Ying Song”

Wone found himself grinning from ear to ear. The opportunity of a lifetime had just found its way into his lap, and he planned on taking it. He knew that Song’s proposition was sketchy, she had just met him. What’s more, based on his interaction with Dunna and her questions, she understood things about the order and hunters that she simply shouldn’t. It was obvious she wanted to use Wone, but at the prospect of getting filthy rich he just didn’t care. He had every intention of hearing Song out and either double dip with her and the order or quit being a hunter and take Song’s better offer. It wasn’t all too uncommon to see Hunters quit the order and go off on their own. The only rules they had to follow were to return to the order when they were under attack and not to divulge any order secrets, which he was conditioned not to do.

Wone found himself so giddy he couldn’t contain his laughter. He all but skipped around the city center thinking about the prospect of a wealthy future. “What shall I do with myself once I’ve gotten rich,” he thought to himself. “I guess I’ll find out when I can count the money in my hands, no use worrying over things that haven’t happened yet.”

He lit a match and burned the letter Song gave him after memorizing the address, flicking the ashes into the street, and walking off into the city.

“I wonder what we’ll be having for dinner tomorrow,” he thought aloud.