“You can’t throw up. You can’t throw up. It’s just a game, so you can’t throw up.” Kaleb had to keep reminding himself as Claire took a turn at dangerously high speeds.

He was surprised that no cops had tried to pull them over as they raced toward Blue Bluff. Two Gun seemed annoyingly calm about the way his wife was barreling through the streets. Kaleb was almost happy when he saw the giant boar outside the car’s front windshield.

Claire spun the car into the curb, coming to a dead stop. Kaleb practically fell out of the car as Claire and Two Gun eased themselves out and glanced around the street. He took a big breath and tried to swallow what he was sure was virtual vomit.

“Y’all go ahead. I’ll be here, waiting for the world to stop spinning.” Kaleb groaned, doubled over near the sidewalk.

Claire glanced back at him before smirking. “Suck it up, dear. There’s a pig to barbecue.”

“Looks like we won’t get the chance.” Two Gun said as he gestured up the street.

The street had been fairly deserted when they arrived. But now a group of people had shown up behind the boar. From the way they were positioned, they had obviously been chasing it. Kaleb studied the new group and realized that they all were armed with the same weird armor and weapons as Julius had been.

The ex-Hunter Association hunter had been kitted out in parts of the monsters he had slain. This group had nothing as impressive or grotesque as Julius had, but their armor and weapons were obviously made from animal or monster parts. If the color and texture of their weapons was anything to go by.

“Ex-Hunters?” Kaleb guessed.

Claire and Two Gun shrugged at the same time.

Kaleb took another large breath and stood up before walking toward the rampaging boar. The other two joined him as he strolled down the street. The group of Hunters had spread themselves out behind the pig and were talking animatedly to each other. Movements on the rooftops near the street drew Kaleb’s attention as Two Gun spoke.

“They’re just kids.”

Kaleb looked over at the group of Hunters again. Sure enough, none of the group looked older than Roy. Something moved on the roofs again and he saw two people in purple mantles jump between rooftops. The pair stopped on the roof of some kind of general store. They were both staring fixedly at the kids.

“I think this is some kind of test.” Kaleb said, pointing at the pair.

“Seems like it,” Claire said, gesturing toward a nearby side street.

A man just a little smaller than Mass stood in the middle of a nearby side road with a giant shield. He barely cast a glance at them as they edged closer. The man was clearly guarding the side road from something.

Which made Kaleb think out loud, “Where are the cops?”

“Maybe these guys scared them off.” Two Gun answered, casting a weary eye around the rooftops.

The boar was snuffling around some cars as the youthful hunters were edging closer. The group had unraveled a large net and were spreading out in a half circle. Kaleb was trying to decide on a course of action when he heard a loud twang from nearby.

*Fwip*

*Bang*

A small clatter sounded on the street just to the right of Kaleb. Glancing over, he saw the two halves of an arrow. One of Two Gun’s revolver was smoking as he gestured at another rooftop. Another hunter in a purple mantle stood on the rooftop of a diner. Purple and orange longbow clutched in their hands, Kaleb thought he could see the figure shake their head.

“None too friendly, are they?” Two Gun muttered as he loaded a round into his gun.

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Kaleb just shook his head and stopped moving. “Par for the course, really. Should we give the kids a chance?”

Two Gun and Claire glanced at each other. Coming to an unspoken agreement, the pair nodded before looking at Kaleb. Kaleb gave a lazy wave to the archer and moved off to the sidewalk. The boar let out a loud squeal as the group of Hunters had thrown their net around its back legs.

They watched as the pig bucked and roared as the young hunters tried to move in closer with multi-colored melee weapons. Swords, spears, axes, large mallet like clubs, all fell on the boar’s tough hide. The boar spun, catching one blonde-haired youth in the side, sending the poor kid careening into the curb. Another caught a back kick with his shield and went flying over the roof of a car.

“We thank you for stepping aside as the kids get some experience.”

Kaleb almost leapt out of his skin as a soft female voice sounded behind them. Claire and Two Gun both started as well. All three turned to see another of the purple cloaked hunters. This one had her hood down, revealing dirty blond hair that had been cut short, framing a round, almost cherubic, face. She almost looked apprehensive. Kaleb tried for his best diplomatic smile.

“Well, your message was kinda hard to miss.” He said, glancing at her gear.

She, too, was decked out in obvious monster parts. Some strange brown armor made up her chest and leg armor while her arms were decked out in some yellowish red plates. She wore two long daggers on either hip and Kaleb swore he could see purple liquid shining on them.

The woman grinned at him. “We have found that most HLO stooges don’t respond to just words.”

Kaleb raised his wrist, showing the lack of an HLO communicator. “We are an independent group.”

The woman raised her eyebrows but stayed quiet as they all watched the melee happening in the middle of the streets. The kids were doing their fair share of damage to the boar, but they had taken some losses too. Kaleb didn’t think any of them had died, but more than a few were laying in the street, unconscious.

“Won’t they get stepped on?” Claire asked, sounding worried.

The woman gave a curt nod. “They have trained to fight as a unit, but accidents can happen. One of the dangers when hunting magical creatures.”

Kaleb glanced at the woman’s face, seeing a tinge of worry in her eyes. “At what point is it ok for us to get involved?” Seeing the woman snap him a dirty look, he added. “Just in case.”

The woman huffed before grumbling. “Either when they are all dead or we deem they have failed. But, even then, WE will handle it. There is no need for unaffiliated Supers to get involved.”

Kaleb shook his head as he pulled his temporary permit from his coat pocket. “I’m afraid we aren’t unaffiliated. As of this afternoon, we are the designated Super Group for this area... if we can convince whoever owns the contract to let us have it.”

The woman’s eyes widened slightly as she read over his permit. Controlling her facial expressions, she smirked. “We weren’t aware of anyone stupid enough to compete with the HLO. But getting the Contract won’t be easy.”

Kaleb glanced at Two Gun and Claire as the pair seemed to edge nearer toward the street. Kaleb was about to ask more questions when another kid took a particularly bad hit. The boar had slowed considerably, but that just made it more dangerous. Kaleb took a couple of steps closer as well.

“If you are talking about Julius, we have met. He didn’t tell you about us?” Kaleb asked as the woman took a couple steps with them.

“Hmph, like that asshole, would deign to tell us anything.” She snorted.

Kaleb gave a nod as their group was now walking up the street. “Well, we are here. Working out of an air hangar to the south. There’s not many of us now, so we could use all the…”

Kaleb trailed off as a sudden deluge of magic assaulted his senses. The woman seemed to pick up on it too, as her eyes darted up and down the street. Kaleb felt the magic in the air but he couldn't home in on a direction. Luckily, one hunter on a nearby roof seemed to have spotted whatever it was and gave a shout.

“PORTAL!”

The man was pointing down another side street across from where he stood. Just to the west of the youthful hunters and the boar. The woman cast a scared glance at the young Hunter still fighting the dying boar before firming up and staring hard at Kaleb and the others.

“Help.”

It wasn’t a demand or even a scared plea. It was just a simple statement. One Kaleb and the others didn’t really need. Barely sharing a glance, Two Gun and Kaleb drew their weapons as Claire moved.

“Yep.” Kaleb said.

“Of Course.” Answered Claire.

“Ma’am, I am insulted you thought you’d have to ask.” Two Gun said.

All four were into a full on run as they made their way across the street and into the narrow side street. Two purple cloaked individuals met them at the entrance to the street, but barely spared them a glance as they turned toward the portal. The long, single lane, side street was deserted except for one large bright green and brown portal hanging in the air in the middle of the road.

“Well, that’s a different color.” Kaleb muttered as he watched the open portal.

“Fae.” said the female Hunter, who had drawn her long daggers.

“This isn’t right.” Said a male voice from under one of the hoods. “Two portals from the Fae so close together?”

Kaleb was about to ask about the significance as loud growling and unintelligible snarls came from the portal. Soon, a veritable tidal wave of short green humanoids flooded through the gate. Kaleb was sure he knew what the little things were. Hell, anyone who had played a game knew what a goblin was. Looking at his friends, he could see that Claire looked exasperated and Two Gun looked annoyed.

“Oh, good.” Said the female hunter. She looked extremely happy as more and more goblins poured through the portal. Turning to Kaleb, she grinned even wider.

“It’s just a Goblin Horde.”