Hunted



It was time to bring it to an end. Nocturne was about to take down one of the
biggest crooks of the city, Victor Lawrence.

For years, Victor Lawrence had posed as the CEO of a company known as Helix
Institute. While in public the company posed as an entity whose goal was the
betterment of humanity and its CEO donned the guise of a philanthropist, they
were little more than a collective of people dabbling in drug trade in order
to support their experiments. Helix corporation was focused on human
enhancement, and while that might seem noble, their methods were far from it.

Helix made a unison with the crime groups that populated the city and much of
the human trafficking these groups got involved with had a lot to do with
Helix. Helix took these people the crime groups brought and experimented on
them, naturally against their will. Lawrence in exchange provided the
different groups with the drugs they trafficked. Thus Helix stood as a
pinnacle of everything Bethany was fighting.

However, conventional methods were not going to cut it for this, Helix and its
CEO were protected by corrupt officials. Thus any public claim she made as
Bethany would be denied and possibly put her in jeopardy. She would more than
likely not have the government's support, after all the experiments Helix
produced were more than likely tied to government support. Why? Simple, Helix
was working with things that could enhance a human being, things that could in
order words be used to create the perfect super soldiers. Thus, any government
would be interested in this, despite the public claims to the contrary.

Nevertheless, Bethany decided to investigate this and see if she could bring
down Victor Lawrence. For weeks she stalked Victor and Helix, learning any
possible ways to apprehend him. She gathered enough intel to publicly accuse
him, but to do so, she would need to do it in a grounds where the government
itself could not interfere. Her plan was to capture him in his office and then
bring him to the united nations. There the government itself would not be able
to protect him from the other nationalities. Any interest in getting his work
would be put to a stop, after all no nation was to admit in front of the world
that they want to create a super soldier army unless said nation is ready to
be under fire.

For weeks she prepared for a night where she would capture him, this was that
night.

Nocturne planned it all out. After weeks of stalking, she knew the patterns
she had to follow. She knew where the guards would be and the routes she would
pick to reach the top of the highly secured building. And so she did.

Everything was goings smoothly. She silenced the guards whenever she had the
opportunity, disabled the security cameras at the right moment and moved
through ducts and vents. All in all, Nocturne had been a ghost in the
building. In a matter of minutes she reached Lawrence's office, again it
seemed like everything was going smoothly, too smoothly.

Nocturne disable the door's security system and barged through it. Lawrence
was sitting in his desk, apparently writing something in his computer when the
heroine barged in. Before he could even react she had already pounced on him.

She grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall, yet Victor
remained calm.

"Good evening, my lady. What seems to bring our champion of justice into my
humble establishment?" Victor began to talk in calm tone unchanged by his
current predicament.

"You know quite well, why I am here? I know what you been up to and I am going
to give you what's coming to you" Nocturne seemed angry that he treated her
with indifference.

"Well I am quite guilty of admiring your curvaceous body, but I don't think
you can do anything about it," Victor grinned, "Unless, by giving me what I
deserve, you mean that you will get on all fours and put on a show"

She slapped him and then her grip on his neck got stronger.

"You know what I am talking, you son of a bitch! I know what you been really
working at with Helix and the united nations is going to hear about it."
Nocturne shot back.

Victor laughed, annoying Nocturne even further.

"I don't think you will be doing that, you see my friends here say
otherwise..."

"What friends?" Nocturne asked.

"Girls!" Victor shouted.

Nocturne looked back and much to her surprise, they were no longer alone.
Behind them a team of 5 women had formed. These women were clad in black
stealth armor, and seemed to portrait the embodiment of human physical
perfection. Their eyes were pretty peculiar as they seemed to give off a
peculiar glow, that wasn't all, oddly enough their face showed signs of human
augmentation.

"Nocturne, meet five lovely ladies that disagree with you, the Deadly
Araneaes!" Victor laughed, "On the far right corner we have mother Russia's
lovely Karakurt, next to her we have Egypt's dark skinned beauty, Solifugae.
On the left corner we have America's darling Micrathena and next to her is our
European beauty Latrodectus. Finally in the middle we have Japan's exotic
Jor-gumo."

Nocturne stood silent, analyzing the five women in front of her. She had not
seeing anything in her investigations about them, therefore she was unprepared
for any sort of conflict. Victor pushed Nocturne away, who made no attempt to
grab him again.

"These ladies you see here, are the pinnacle of my work. They represent the
human perfection! Look at them, each is the prime representation of what her
people can become! But right now.....right now......they are your worst
nightmare!" Victor laughed once more.

He went back to his chair and sat calmly.

"Ladies if you would be so kind, capture the intruder. I want to play with
her." Victor commanded and the women obeyed.

Nocturne was outnumbered and with the disadvantage of fighting super humans.
The five women moved closer to Nocturne, she didn't had much option. Either
she fought and got overpowered and captured or she tried to find an escape.
She chose the latter.

Nocturne threw one of her smoke pellets and with quick thinking charged
towards the window and used a flying kick to crash through the glass. She shot
her gripnel gun to the nearest building. Nocturne glided down to a rooftop and
began to frantically run. The Araneaes began to gave chase to Nocturne, they
jumped through the window as well, and with their enhancements they made a
enormous jump and landed on the rooftop as well. Nocturne continued running
while the five women chased er.

She jumped over rooftops, her heart beating faster with each step. The
Araneaes were on to her and she needed to find a solution to her problem,
fast. Karakurt jumped and landed in front of Nocturne, the latter didn't stop
however, she dodged her incoming attacks and slided over the floor dodging a
kick she then made a run for it. Nocturne descended from the rooftop and hid
in a nearby abandoned factory.

The Araneaes surrounded the place and began to search for Nocturne. They had
been given implants that allowed to see through walls, so unless Nocturne came
up with something, she would be discovered pretty soon. She tried the trick
she had performed earlier and surrounded the place with smoke pellets. Somehow
it seemed that the smoke affected their visors. Nocturne would have to rely on
this if she wanted to stay hidden. The women kept patrolling the place, a
direct contact would prove fatal. That said, one of Nocturne's greatest
talents is her ability to improvise.

As strong as these ladies were, they still were humans and as such, she could
defeat them. Nocturne used her surroundings; she noticed a nearby metal pipe.
She picked it up and hid. Micrathena was coming for her, so Nocturne took to
the shadows and waited. When Micrathena passed a corner, she struck her with
the pipe in her side, making her gasp for air.

Swiftly Nocturne swung the pipe again and struck her against the side of the
head, rendering her unconscious. The others didn't noticed, so Nocturne
quickly restrained her and hid her just to make sure she didn't pose a threat
in the future.

Nocturne threw smoke pellets once more, to distract the remaining 4. Her next
victim was Karakurt. This one had strayed too far from the others, however she
seemed much stronger than Micrathena. Nocturne launched off to the ceiling and
glided down, trying to hit Karakurt in the back.

However Karakurt somehow felt the attack comming and managed to dodge
Nocturne's boots aimed for her back.

"No more running now!" the Russian superwoman said as she attacked Nocturne
with a kick aimed for her gut she was barely able to block.

The woman was exceptionally strong, fast and every attack was performed from
perfect balance. However Nocturne was experienced.

Ducking underneath a spinning kick Nocturne punched Karakurt in her belly to
wind her. Then she quickly wrapped her arm around her neck and tripped her to
the floor.

Even though these women were augmented, they still shared most of the same
weaknesses than any other human. Therefore Nocturne kept her pinned on her
back. Keeping the Russian her own arm forced over her face to avoid her
screaming for help Nocturne had her arm tightly wrapped around her neck and
shoulder in a chokehold. The Russian struggled but after ten seconds of
pressure Nocturne rendered her unconscious. She then tied her up and hid her
out of view.

However Nocturne had ran out of smoke pellets, so therefore her tactics would
not work with the remaining three. She quietly made her way out and took to
the rooftops before the Araneaes even noticed.

She began her frantic run through the rooftops once more, but as she ran she
stumbled over a dark figure standing in front of her. Before she fell, the
strange figure picked her up by the hand.

"Ahh so you are the famous Nocturne, charmed!" the mysterious figure said, now
making itself more clear. The voiced belonged to a man.

"Are you another one of those chasing me?" Nocturne seemed worried.

"Ah no, lass. I have no intention of apprehending such a beautiful flower!" He
kissed her hand.

The man was cloaked in a black and red, hooded robe. However he seemed to be
prepare for any occasion, given the great plethora of tools he seemed to have
in the chest and not to mention, he had body armor. His facial features could
not be seen given that his hood covered most of it.

"Flattering, but who exactly are you?" Nocturne pondered, standing now on her
own.

"I go by many names, but you my lady, may know me as Hawke." Hawke explained
himself.

"Well Hawke as nice as it is to meet you, I am curious, why are you here?"
Nocturne asked.

"Miss Nocturne, I represent an order that seeks to protect others. I am partly
here, because my order has gathered interest in meeting you, you have powerful
allies." Hawke explained, "And also, we heard talk of something weird going
down here, so I am here investigating"

"Well Hawke, don't look now, but that weird thing you mentioned is coming at
us!" Nocturne pointed as two of the remaining Araneaes launched at them.

"Ahh we have company! I been itching for a fight!" Hawke exclaimed.

This time a fight was out of the question. Nocturne had no other option, but
at least she had back up. Solifugae attacked Nocturne while Latrodectus
attacked Hawke. Nocturne tried to block her attacks, but was barely able to
land an attack herself. Solifugae was attacking with swift blows and began to
target the abdomen of the heroine. The attacks were not that powerful, but she
moved swift as lightning. It almost looked like she teleported, as she moved
forward in a blur, struck Nocturne in the body and was already gone before
Nocturne could respond.

Nocturne was unable to stop the blows and each time she connected with her
tummy Nocturne's wind got knocked out.

Nocturne tried to counter but each time her strike fell short as Solifugae
moved just out of range.

Solifugae had a sattisfied smile on her face and Nocturne realized the
superwoman was not in a hurry to finish her off. She was enjoying the
advantage of her speed and she was planning to slowly wear down Nocturne, not
giving the heroine any change to lay a hand on her.

The constant blows to her abdomen were quickly taking a toll on her stamina,
she had to find a way to bring her down or otherwise she would get worn down
and rendered helpless.

Meanwhile Hawke was handling his own with Latrodectus, she was very fast,
however Hawke was skilled. He managed to hit her on multiple occasions using
the vast arsenal of gadgets he had at his disposal.

On the other end, Nocturne had managed to recognize when Solifugae would
strike. It was just a small tell, a slight twitch in her stance before she
lashed out to punt Nocturne in her body. However this tell was all Nocturne
needed. As the superwoman moved forward with a punch to her tummy Nocturne was
already on the move. Dodging the punch she caught the arm of the European
woman and spinning around she threw her over her shoulder on the hard floor.

After a short struggle Nocturne put Solifugae in a submission hold, she was
bringing her down, however Solifugae managed to slip out of her hold and
retaliated by throwing Nocturne against the floor. The two women struggled but
Solifugae ended up on top, wrapping her long legs around Nocturne's neck and
started to choke her.

Pinned down Nocturne tried to escape but the superwoman's thighs were around
her neck like a vice. Slowly the lack of oxygen began to weaken her and she
realized it would not take long before she would pass out.

As Nocturne her resistance was fading Solifugae used her free hands and
started to hyperextend her arm, aiming to dislocate her elbow.

Hawke was there however and he managed to hit Solifugae, giving Nocturne a
chance to escape the hold. Holding her throat while breathing in fast Nocturne
watched as Hawke kept Solifugae away from her so she could recover. However as
Hawke fought her Latrodectus approached him from behind with a combatknife.
She was about to stab Hawke from behind. However Nocturne got up and
intercepted her, using the momentum of the superwoman to throw her to the
floor and making her drop her knife.

The two heroes teamed up and with a winning combination of teamwork and
Hawke's gadgets, the Araneaes proved no match. Not long after, both women were
tied down and secured.

"So Helix is working on human augmentation, interesting. It seems to be a
popular trend nowadays..." Hawke paused, "This isn't the first time I have
dealt with augmented super soldiers."

"Then this is far worse than I imagined," Nocturne contemplated, "With the
continued increase in hostilities around the world, every nation is going to
try to get their very own super soldier team"

"Thus creating another race much like the nuclear race of the Cold War." Hawke
paused once more, "By the way you said there were two more that you captured,
right? I like to take these ladies under custody, my order would like to have
the chance to see what we are dealing with"

"Yeah, they are down in the nearby abandoned factory," Nocturne moved closer
to Hawke, "Here I'll mark it down"

"But you said that there was another one as well, so that means one is still
free." Hawke said.

"Wow you are quite perceptive, Hawke!" Nocturne teased him.

"World's greatest detective material?" Hawke shot back smirking.

"Maybe, though you might need to be a bit more serious!" Nocturne laughed.

"Well in any case I am going to take these four into custody, here is my link
in case we need to communicate" Hawke paused once again, "And be very careful,
if you encounter the remaining one, send a distress signal and I'll be there!"

"Thanks!" Nocturne smiled.

With that Hawke left and Nocturne stood alone in the rooftop. She stood there
for a few minutes trying to think about everything that transpired, and just
when she was about to leave, Jor-gumo jumped from a nearby rooftop and landed
in front of Nocturne. Nocturne took a battle stance.

"My sisters might have failed, but I took the opportunity they gave me to
finish the job." The Araneae spoke with a cold tone, she was pointing a gun at
Nocturne, but seeing that her opponent was unarmed she decided to sheath her
weapon and fight honorably.

Jor-gumo was unlike any other Araneae, there was no denying that she was the
best one. The battle began with Nocturne trying to attack the Japanese with a
swift combination of strikes, however Jor-gumo easily parried and avoided all
of her attacks resulting in Nocturne throwing herself off balance while it
seemed like the Japanese was not even trying. Nocturne attempted a whirling
kick which got dodged however she followed up with a punch to the face of the
Japanese. Jor-gumo perfectly deflected her attack and Nocturne's own momentum
made her fall of balance and she clumsilly dropped to the floor.

Swiftly Nocturne got back up and looked at Jor-gumo who looked at her with a
curious look on her face.

Nocturne tried to figure out her opponent. It seemed like the superwoman was
using some form of Aikido to deflect her attacks and use her own energy
against her.

A bit more cautious Nocturne came at her again. She feigned a punch and a kick
and Jor-gumo did not even blink.

Feigning another kick she then suddenly lashed out with a punch to the face of
the Japanese. However this time Jor-gumo moved and Nocturne missed, while at
the same time taking a jab to the chin that made her stagger backwards.

This superwoman was somehow able to perfectly react to her attacks. Taking a
step back Nocturne refused to engage and waited for the Japanese to come
towards her.

Jor-gumo smiled and then moved towards Nocturne.

Nocturne tried to read the body language of Jor-gumo to predict what she
would do, however it was like reading a blank piece of paper. Nocturne
instinctively blocked the punch at her face, however to late she realized this
was merely a opening move. She took a punch straight to her solar plexus that
made her wince. A knifehand to the throat made her drop to her knees as she
held her throat, gasping for air. Fighting for air on her knees Nocturne was
an easy prey however Jor-gumo simply stepped back and allowed Nocturne to
recover.

"He said you were a great fighter, I want to give you the chance to prove he
is right."

Taking a deep breath Nocturne rose to her feet and moved into her fighter
stance.

The next five minutes Nocturne fought the superwoman with everything she got,
using every technique and trick she knew. However it was of no use as
Jor-gumo parried and dodged everything Nocturne tried.

Jor-gumo seemed to realize Nocturne was running out of ideas and after a
short pause she began to attack. Nocturne tried to defend but it was
impossible.

There was no tell in Jor-gumo's movements, she did not even twitch as she
moved smooth like silk and Nocturne was unable to stop her.

Jor-gumo slapped Nocturne across the face, the slap was not that hard but it
disturbed her equilibrium enough to unbalance her and nearly make her fall
over.

With her fingers Jor-gumo jabbed Nocturne in the inside of her thigh.
Instantly Nocturne felt her leg go numb and dropped to a single knee as her
leg was paralyzed.

In a reflex Nocturne raised her arm to protect her head. However her wrist got
grabbed and twisted painfully. A loud pop and then Nocturne realized her wrist
had been dislocated and was positioned in a strange angle.

Jor-gumo had barely moved and the entire attack had only lasted a few
seconds. However Nocturne was now immobile as she was on her knees with her
leg paralyzed and her wrist dislocated.

Jor-gumo grabbed Nocturne by the back of her neck and dug her fingers
painfully at the base of her neck.

Nocturne felt the strength leave her body and slumped to the floor in a prone
position.

"Your resistance was pointless, you are my prey." Jor-gumo continued talking
in her cold tone.

As much as Nocturne wanted to continue fighting, her body had betrayed her and
Nocturne had been rendered helpless by Jor-gumo's pressure point attack.
Nocturne kept panting as she was unable to move, meanwhile Jor-gumo began to
tie down the defeated heroine.

"What are you doing!? NO! Please stop!! Nooooo!" Nocturne screamed as she was
tied down.

"You are defeated, you are now under my control" Jor-gumo's mood seemed to
change to a more perverse one. She seemed to be enjoying the idea of owning
the defeated Nocturne.

Not long after, Nocturne was completely tied down and in a very strange
manner. Jor-gumo had made sure that her prey would not be able to escaped by
hog tying her, but she had also made sure to tie down her body in a way that
it passed through all of Nocturne's delicate parts. And to conclude she
blinded her eyes and gagged her, she then seized Nocturne's wrist and with
trained precision popped it back in her joint. Nocturne moaned through her gag
but was surprised by the skilled way the Japanese treated the injured wrist.
The superwoman grabbed the tied Nocturne and left. Nocturne feared that she
would be brought back to Victor Lawrence and forced to do horrible things, but
Jor-gumo seemed to have other plans.

The effect of the pressure point attack had passed and Nocturne felt she was
able to move again, however tied up she was still helpless.

Jor-gumo took the bends off Nocturne's eyes once they have arrived at their
final destination. Nocturne quickly tried to gather the details of where she
was, but she had no clue. She was in a small room that had no paint and whose
furniture consisted of a twin bed, in which she was resting, a chair and an
end table. She didn't have much time to think as Jor-gumo pulled the rope,
making it rub the fabric of Nocturne's costume against her womanhood.

"Mhgmgggmghgg" Nocturne was gagged unable to express herself.

"My conquest, you are my conquest. Not Mr. Lawrence's, you are mine. I have
never felt this thrill" Jor-gumo's tone seemed twisted, "This thrill of
having my prey right were I want to, being able to do whatever I want to it!"

Jor-gumo began to fondle Nocturne's breast and while at it, she made sure
that the rope kept torturing Nocturne's womanhood.

"MGHCNCVBDHS!" Nocturne kept muttering to no avail.

"You are my hunt. My toy. I earned you. Not Mr. Lawrence. Mine, mine, mine!"
Jor-gumo kept talking like a lunatic.

She began to rub Nocturne in her womanhood, making sure that both the fabric
of her costume and the rope, torture the defeated heroine. Nocturne was
completely helpless to all of this. Jor-gumo then began to unzip her costume,
preparing her for what was to come, but just when it all seemed over for
Nocturne, the door came crashing down and Hawke stood there. He kicked
Jor-gumo who had been distracted by being focused on her "prey". The two had
a quick fight of sorts, but Jor-gumo for once was at the disadvantage.
Despite the close quarters Hawke, managed to overpower her with his gadgets
from a distance, but when it seemed like he could have a fighting chance, the
smart Jor-gumo decided to flee the battle. She looked at Nocturne and said:

"I'll be back for you, my prey! Don't forget, you now belong to me, be on your
toes, I will always stalk you!" With that Jor-gumo jumped through a small
window and disappeared.

Hawke quickly untied Nocturne. Though he didn't resist making some jokes about
it, much to Nocturne's dismay.

"Thanks, but how exactly did you managed to find me?" Nocturne wondered.

"Well after you sent the signal, I tried to get back to the rooftop as fast as
I could, but by the time I got there you were gone. So I tracked down the
signal and found you here, tied like a Christmas present, doing that bondage
thing you girls seem to be into!" Hawke smirked.

"Hey! I am not into that sort of thing, it was done against my will!" Nocturne
pouted.

"Whatever makes you sleep at night, princess" Hawke kept smirking!

"Uggggh! But anyway, thanks for helping me out, it means a lot," Nocturne
moved closer to him and placed one of her hands in his shoulder, "When the
time comes, I'll be there for you as well!" Nocturne smiled.

"I'll hold on to that promise!" Hawke looked at her and smiled, his smile
being the only facial feature that could be seen. Nevertheless it was a pretty
one.

Nocturne looked back at the window and realized she now had another major
threat roaming the streets, hunting her down. But at least she now also had a
good ally to even the game.