A Hunters Prey

Chapter 5: Merciful

Ariadne was dead. Ariadne was dead. Ariadne was dead.

I allowed that thought to run through my head for three last times before moving on. Now that she was gone, there was no need to linger on why she was absent for so long. I guess I never really noticed until now.

Holmes had been out in the field for almost a year, it happens, so I never worried about her. Never thought I needed to. Once I reached my apartment tonight, I would give myself until sunrise to mourn my friend, someone who was like a mentor to me.

And then I would move on, because that's what we all needed to do.

"Every agent in this room has something to contribute to this operation; whether you know it, or not." Mr Hall continued, moving on so swiftly from the mention of a dead Huntress. Because it didn't matter to him like it did to me, "You are here because this effects us all; which is why this is a diverse task force."

I'll say. I don't think history had ever heard of a Huntress working alongside a Syndicate before but I guess there was a first time for everything, it just so happened that this one was not a woman I was particularly fond of in the first place.

As far as I knew, she had killed seven Huntresses, and we had only killed six Syndicates. I think everyone would be satisfied if she'd be our seventh.

"In regards to the importance of this situation, the Syndicate Institution are willing to call a cease fire with the Huntress Society." The woman, perched beside the Syndicate agent announced. Her tone severe as she met the penetrating gaze of Lady Hume, "Until this is over, we cannot risk exposure of any kind. Nor can we afford conflict between us."

My fingers stopped drumming on a table as I frowned a little, "That won't work. Syndicate's have always been vocal in their scores with us." I said to Lady Hume, because she was the communicator, "If they suddenly shut up, god forbid, other's will notice; questions will arise."

The woman pursed her lips at the blatant insult; I had basically just said to the table that the Syndicate's arrogance and ego were the only reason that this 'cease-fire' wouldn't work. But it's not like I was wrong, and that seemed to annoy the Syndicate's communicator even more.

Good.

"Perplexing." Mr Hall commented, knowing that it was the only problem that had risen thus so far, "You will need to arrange a more suitable strategy between yourselves. However, it is time that we discuss the current issue at hand. Mr Cooper, would you like to share your findings?"

Cooper? That was the surname of the lame Superman wannabe? Part of me was surprised at just how bland his name was but it would make sense in a couple of minutes.

"Agents from several different associations have dissipated without trace, and shown up dead all over the map. Normally, it would not show for concern but the Fellowship Service has reason to believe that it is an anomaly." Mr Cooper began in that same smooth voice that I remembered from a couple of years gone, "No other association has taken credit for these deaths, and the patterns are too irregular to go unnoticed. Not to mention that remains of the bodies show signs of distress, trauma, and torture infliction. Now, there is reason to believe it is the work of this rogue operation."

The Fellowship was not a band of hobbits like the one J. R. R. Tolkien had famously written. They were a more self-titled, prestigious, agency, with heads rammed up asses like no other I had ever encountered before.

I used to think the Huntress Society was disciplined. We were like kids running a riot in a playschool in comparison to the agents of the Fellowship Institution. Everything about them was bland, except from their methods.