After The Hunt [Finished]

[Hazel 'Hobbs' Yeung]

Hobbs had been to Finley's once before. With Moore, after that night at the park when they toasted to their partnership. Testing out gadgets and being two newbies in the world of hunting together. Moore could hold her liquor, Hobbs gave her that. The blonde surprised her at every turn. For Hobbs, that was a different story. She had been born and raised in England, where alcohol was a cultural phenomenon to ease the British cold shoulder. Hobbs could legally drink from the age of eighteen, but a few shady pubs had served her well before that age. She was a drinking juggernaut by the time she went to university.

Since losing her leg, however, that all changed. She was now a pint or two of blood down, and she couldn't hold her alcohol as well as she used to. She was still satisfactory, of course; practice and genetics doesn't change that, but she crumpled well before her time these days. That was probably why, despite her nostalgia for the good old English pubs, she didn't frequent these places anymore. It was a reminder of what she lost.

She stopped the motorcycle outside the bar, cut the engine. She sat there on the vehicle, out in the chill night air, breathing in the cold smells of the city and resting her shoulders from manoeuvring the bike. She had always found respite in this. The quiet after the ride. She'd ridden motorcycles in her youth, and if she'd stayed on in the police force she would have like to become a motorcycle officer.

Hobbs heaved a sigh, dismounted, and rocked the motorbike back onto its centre stand just as the purr of Stark's engine became audible.

[Dante Stark]

Dante had been following the road closely as Hobbs sped of past him and Dante smiled as he flipped on the radio, it'd always been nice to drive from the country-side to the city and Stark loved the journey. He'd unrolled his window and breathed in the beautiful country air after getting away from the stench of burning corpses, Dante sped down the road as he radio blared classic musical hits he wasn't far from the city and he wanted to enjoy his little trip while he can bringing his car up to 80mph as he sped past the tree lines his radio blaring; He had been listening to Air supply drumming on his steering wheel breaking out into song.
" m lying alone with my head on the phone
Thinking of you till it hurts
I know you hurt too but what else can we do
Tormented and torn apart
I wish I could carry your smile and my heart
For times when my life feels so low
It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring
When today doesn't really know, doesn't really know Dante paused and continued his drumming against his steering wheel keeping his eyes on the road...No other cars had come past him yet and he was still a fair few miles away from the city so he continued breaking out into his song.

" I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you
I know you were right believing for so long
I'm all out of love, what am I without you
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong

I want you to come back and carry me home
Away from this long lonely nights
I'm reaching for you, are you feeling it too
Does the feeling seem oh so right
And what would you say if I called on you now
And said that I can't hold on
There's no easy way, it gets harder each day

Please love me or I'll be gone, I'll be gone" Dante continued singing and sharp turned into the city limits as he slowed his car down he'd noticed the song had stopped and he'd been out of time but he didn't care he was close to the tavern and he'd be meeting up with Hobbs soon, he was close to the Tavern know he figured he'd risk and sped up as he turned his wheel performing a drag around the corner he slid into the parking space and rolled his window up stepping out to greet his amigo.

"Alright Hobbs, we've got one thousand dollars now let's spend it wisely and none of that pansy shit...." Dante smirked as he held the door open for her, he'd been to a few pubs in England but he'd always left them the same way drunk as a skunk and he smiled as they entered the tavern and assumed the closet table and Dante held out the chair for Hobbs before getting in his own.

[Hazel 'Hobbs' Yeung]

Hobbs rolled her eyes at the sound of Stark's voice on the air, wailing out some soppy love song at the top of his voice. Herself? She had something better stuck in her head, a tune that had been rattling around in there for a few days now. She hummed as she stood on the pavement waiting for him. This is for the ones who stood their ground, for Tommy and Gina who never backed down.

The cold was starting to make her scars hurt. She shifted her weight from leg to leg to ease the pain in her leg. And there he was, screeching around the bend in a drifting turn that couldn't have been good for the tyres. He parked abruptly and got out.

"A thousand dollars? Where the hell do you get that kind of money?" She dealt with hunter tech every day of the week and she didn't come across money like that. She was fairly well funded, yeah, but a grand in cash?
Hobbs followed him into the pub and all over again was pleasantly surprised with what she saw. It was a more traditional joint than most, although the beer here still tasted watered down compared to how it was across the pond.

She wasn't interested in taking a seat at the bar as she wasn't interested in drinking at the counter the way some others did, mostly because once she had her pint she wanted to quietly fuck off back to a corner and enjoy it. She didn't need the steady stream of alcohol that sitting at the bar provided, and she wasn't the kind of person so sit blind stinking drunk right in the middle of the establishment anyway. Only attention whores did that, and Hobbs was actually the sensible type to deal with her problems rather than drink them away. Not that problems like relationship bothers or unhappy family lives warranted drinking away in the first place. Seriously. There were far worse things in life than that.

She would know.

Hobbs flagged down the pretty barmaid and ordered a whisky mac, made with a scotch old enough to order its own scotch. "He'll be paying," she added, gesturing clearly to Stark. And with that she plopped down into the chair Stark had held out for her, rather unhappy that he had done in the first place. She was quite capable of getting her own chairs, thanks.

[Dante Stark]

Dante opened his wallet and pulled out the wads of dollar bills and handed them towards the waitress with a smile as he looked at her; "Set us up with a couple of everything you've got.. and I'll have packet of crisps too." Dante wasn't really looking to eat a lot so he'd suffice with a cold one and a some drinking with Hobbs.. Sure they'd probably talk about things irrelevant but they were away from enough of the punters so they could freely talk about their jobs without worrying about anyone overhearing them, as the Waitress left Dante looked at Hobbs.

"So, Hobbs i haven't been one to interfere and read peoples personal files i prefer to warrant my opinions after spending time with them, pieces of paper aren't great judges of character and I'd wondered what had brought you into this kind of lifestyle and so far.. so in a way I'd like to get to know many of the people i work with build up relations with them so we can all function together as one sort of happy family.. " Dante smiled softly as the waitress had brought the first tray over with an assortment of various beers and said just call if they wanted more.

Dante picked up the glass and brought the rim of it to his lips and began to drink the ice cold fluid, his body could feel the relief of having the hydration and he sighed happily as he placed the glass back down on the table looking towards Hobbs as she had her drink.. She seemed the type of person who had seen their fair share of danger and Dante respected Hobbs as she had shown him the same respect, he was one to treat people how they would like to have been treated and in a sense this was his way to get to know Hobbs better than any file could.

[Hazel 'Hobbs' Yeung]

Hobbs smiled. Other than Logan, there wasn't a soul who'd read her file, and after Logan had burned the paper copies and deleted the digitals there wasn't a person who could. Hobbs had made copies of the digitals, of course, mere days before Logan went on his 'fresh start' rampage and so now the only records on file were in Hobbs' possession.

She laughed as she crossed one leg over the other knee, where she began to fiddle with the laces of her Docs. Here they could talk freely without being listened in on. "If you're wondering what my sob story is, I don't have one. I flew over from England to try find a decent leg since all the specialists are in the Big Apple, and I ended up being attacked by a Vampire. No harm done though, since a hunter swooped in at the last moment and saved my sorry ass. He was how I got into the hunting gig. But that's why I'm so against Logan's 'misunderstood immortals' rule. They're not misunderstood, most of them, they just running around unchecked. If the hunters aren't proactive, like he was, then I'd have been killed."

She rolled the drink around in her glass, the ice cubes clinking gently against the crystal. "So what's your story? Troubled childhood? Hunting was a family business, or did you get recruited from the army?" She sipped her whiskey mac and eyed him knowingly with dark, kohl-lined eyes. "It's one of the three isn't it? It always is." She didn't mention that she'd read his file, not that she could remember much of it but it was invasion of privacy that many people weren't happy about. But she didn't need to know his file to read him like a book. Hunters were so predictable these days. It was a sense of curiosity, lack of belonging anywhere else, or an overriding vendetta that made them hunt.

[Dante Stark]

Hobbs had made Dante think back when she asked him history, it was a long dull painful experience even for him having lived it.. Did she really give a damn or was she only looking for weakness in him. Either way Dante didn't want to tell Hobbs the truth but it was the best she deserved having saved his life. He'd edited his personal file when he first assumed control after The Commander had brought him in so nobody but he and the commander knew the truth about Danticus.. He didn't need people giving him sympathy or remorse he just wanted to do his job.. Because he gave a damn and that's why he did it. Dante sighed deeply listening to Hobbs tell her story and she'd made a reference to it always being one of the three choices... She was so wrong in a sense and Dante didn't want to fight her on her own beliefs and he placed his beer down on the table and looked at her.


"Well Hobbs, I'd like to state even if you have glanced over my files they are all forged and for a decent reason.. These reasons stay between me and you.. I want you to promise me at least that giving that i trust you and respect you as a hunter." Dante sighed and twiddled with his thumbs and looked at her with his cold eyes gazing over her.


"I started out as a normal kid with an average family, well i guess in turn they didn't want me cause one day i woke up in an empty house with a note that read freak.. And then when the people came to collect me i went from foster home to foster home, i grew up in different parts of England always been tossed away like one of those kids that nobody gave a damn about.. I had a family once and then once i was old enough having learnt a few things from these foster people that in the end grew tired of the problem child... I enrolled in the army.. " Dante paused for a moment taking in his own breathes he could feel his throat swelling at the thought of the young child version of him standing there for the first time always in a new place.. Never fitting in... Never making friends...

Dante looked down at the floor for a moment before looking back up almost a hint of a tear in his eye; "After I'd made it through the selection process , i was trained to take orders.. I thought maybe now I'd finally look forward to something new i made a few friends in my until.. But week by week i learned not to grow attached sometimes they went home in a box... Sometimes they never went home at-all ." Dante removed his hands from the table and gripped a hold of his leg.. Why was he doing this time himself...Why did he have to remember.. Why did it have to go forth like this.


Dante uncaused by his own emotion and looked away from Hobbs not wanting to make eye contact with her anymore; "I had my one friend who'd been with me our entire tour of duty.. We'd been out in the field and we got ambushed by something that was far from human... My friend was left in a pile of his own blood as i watched this thing.. Eat at him before i finally took my shots.. It kept coming at me.. I fired a damn clip into the thing before finally beating it to death with my rifle.. I knelt beside my friend .. i told him he wasn't going to die alone..


I told him it was going to be alright.. and do you know what he told me... He told me thank-you... and then he died right in my fucking arms Hobbs.. I was discharged a few weeks later, i couldn't take it anymore i became an alcoholic and nearly jumped off countless bridges.. every fibre of my body wanted to end it Hobbs but i just kept thinking back to my friend... And i took it upon myself to find out what had happened to him and what that creature really was..That's when i learned the truth about monsters Hobbs." Dante felt the lump in his throat and he looked towards his drink and felt disgusted with himself, he used to be passionate about the job and used to feel remorse for killing the monsters that plagued his dreams.. But now he was this cold-hearted killer that had changed so much and he felt sick to the brim knowing his life had been full of pain.


"You might think good things do happen... I've learned that in my experience they don't. I didn't deserved to be saved today Hobbs.. You should have let me die... " Dante's words were like daggers to his own soul he'd been corrupted by the job.. now all that remained of the poor innocent kid that had been abandoned had been lost to a world of pain and anguish... Dante wanted to break down into tears... But not here... Not in front of Hobbs.

[Hazel 'Hobbs' Yeung]

So Stark had forged his records on the database? He couldn't alter the recovery files, the ones that made routine sweeps and logged it in some dusty far corner of the system. Even if he had changed it, there were ways of recovering what it had once been. She wasn't called a technological goddess for nothing.

He went on to describe a problem childhood, a sense of not fitting in, and enrolment in the army. So Hobbs had been bang on there. And from there, it got dark. He started telling her about the people who never went home, the people who lost their lives right on the battlefield in front of you. He began to tell her the kind of things she didn't want to hear. Hobbs wasn't good with back stories in the first place; she wasn't nosy, she often didn't give a fuck, and she hated having to stick around while they got tears in their eyes and made things uncomfortable. And this was quickly turning unbearable. If not for the reason that she couldn't stand hearing him recount death and destruction right there in front of her, but it was coming too close to touching nerves that should never be touched.

See, Hobbs and her subconscious had an agreement worked out. They don't go there, not in her waking hours. Sleep was fair game, which was why she suffered chronic insomnia these days, but when she was awake they didn't touch her. But now Stark was inches away from pressing those points and Hobbs didn't want to think about it.

"Shit happens in war, Stark," Hobbs said, and it shocked her to find that she sounded so cold. This guy had serious issues, the last thing he needed was her brushing him off. She reeled mentally, backtracked. "Listen, I know better than most what it's like to fall apart after coming home from war," she chewed on her bottom lip, thinking. The memories came back to her now, of her lowest point, of how her brother pulled her out of that. "Believe me, I do. But it's not worth dwelling on." There was a reason why she didn't talk about her past, why she shed every last remnant of that, even down to her name. "There's no point reliving that shitty part of your life over and over again, no point in wallowing in the guilt. And hell, if I can leave that behind even with phantom pains reminding me every hour of every day, then so can you."

Hobbs lay a hand on her mechanical knee. To others it was a sign of weakness. To her it was a symbol of what she had survived, and what she had yet to survive. Beneath Stark's skin was a man waiting to fall apart, and beneath hers was a woman who refused to. Noah had helped her up when she'd fallen, and now at Stark's lowest point she felt obliged to do the same.
"Now, at the risk of sounding like a guru, good things do happen, and they're worth waiting for. You've got decades of your life ahead of you and it's stupid wanting to cut short your life or wish for death when you have no damn idea what could happen in a year or a month or even next week. Maybe it's already happened and you just couldn't see it."

[Dante Stark]

Stark should have been feeling numb inside, the truth was he was dead. He'd died long ago and all that remained of that boy all those years ago was the corpse that kept walking and kept fighting a losing battle. Hobbs had tried to reassure Dante that life was truly worth living and that it took decades for the hunters to get their own rewards.. He didn't want a reward he did what he did because he cared about those that got hurt.. Those people that slept soundly not knowing the existence of the supernatural beings, those who thought vampires and werewolf's didn't exist..

In Dante's mind it was quiet, all he cared about was the meaning of his job and how he'd die to save those closest to him.. Hobbs had been here for Dante and he wouldn't forget that but for now he casually stood up and threw some money on the table, he looked towards Hobbs his dead eyes meeting hers; "Keep your momentum Hobbs.. Save it for somebody who isn't dead inside. " Dante folded his wallet back up and walked towards the door opening it and not looking back towards her.

As Danticus stepped out into the streets in his mind he was ten years old again walking down to where he parked his car.. He felt so alone.. So cold.. but that didn't faze him as he opened his car door he sat there for a few minutes before turning the keys and starting the ignition of his car.. The purr of his engine distanced off as he drove away.

Dante had driven off into the distance as he slowed his car down bringing it to the edge of the point, he turned the ignition off and he walked over towards the edge looking down at the beautiful city that lay before him.. In a way he wanted to jump here and now but he knew that he still had work to do before he could finally rest, even if he couldn't relax there had been days between hunts when he could free himself up and try and re-adapt into the society that threw him out.. But the truth was Dante was made of ice and nobody had yet to breach his thick skin.. As the man stood there in the cold shadows he felt himself blur back to the moment his friend had been ripped apart and Dante just stood there no words spoken staring up at the sky.. "You didn't die alone.. I died with you.. " He muttered to himself as he closed his eyes and stood there.

[Hazel 'Hobbs' Yeung]

He left. Just got up and left, leaving Hobbs there, her glass frozen halfway between the table and her mouth. Any normal human being would have felt overwhelming sympathy, a desperate need to reach into his dark pit and pull him out, but as he left, Hobbs just felt... angry. A fire had erupted in her chest and it burned with indignation. She could barely even fathom why his response left her feeling like this, but there it was. Horrible, horrible anger.

Did he honestly think this was reasonable? That seeing a friend get torn apart by a werewolf was reason to want to die? And he, he was selfish enough to think that he was alone in this? When Hobbs had come home she'd fallen apart. She didn't eat, she couldn't sleep or she'd have to suffer the nightmares again. She had been a serious case of PTSD and she never let anyone in. She should have. When things were at their worst Hobbs should have told someone how bad it got, what she was thinking of doing. Instead she suffered in silence while the walls came closing in. It wasn't noble, it was stupid.

Hobbs had watched three of her men - three of her friends - die right in front of her. Not just die, they were blown to bits. She never got the chance to hold them or say goodbye. She didn't get those precious few seconds where you know it's the end and you have moments to accept it or else. They were just gone, and she relived that moment every time she slept. You don't just walk off something like that.

And he thought there was nothing left for him? No. That was just... wrong. A bitch slap to those who had died while they wanted to live. And he was selfish enough to be given the second chance to live and he squandered it by wallowing in self-pity. Hobbs took personal offense to that.

She finished off her drink and slammed it down onto the table so hard that the ice cubes bounced out across the table and onto the floor. She strode out after him, in time to see him start the car and pull away. Hobbs swung a leg over the motorbike and roared after him. He didn't have the right to drop a bombshell like that and not expect repercussions.
And so she tailed him across the city, cutting the headlamp, keeping a reasonable distance, and going easy on the throttle so that in the darkness and with the gentle purr of the engine she wouldn't be noticed. He came to a cliff top, got out, and stood overlooking the city. Hobbs parked the bike, sat watching him for a few moments.

She didn't know why she had come after him. Her mother used to say that what binds people in this life is sometimes neither the links of metal nor the coils of a chain. It could be what they hold faith in, what they believe. It could be made of words, of prayer, or promises. The chains people forge for themselves are almost impossible for anyone else to break. Given the chance, you may want to save them, but would they want to save themselves?

Unless Stark wanted to save himself, there was nothing that Hobbs could do.

And then, as she dismounted, he said something that made her furious. You didn't die alone. I died with you.
"No you didn't," she growled, striding towards him with fire in her eyes, looking about ready to knock him off that cliff herself. "Life is short and cruel, but you're here and they're not. Don't spit in the face of their memory by falling apart."

[Dante Stark]

Dante had no right to had left Hobbs like that sometimes he wished he had a more nicer approach to his way of venting, he'd been bottling it up for awhile and Hobbs didn't need to see that she was right in so many ways he just never confronted his issues.. Instead he saved them like bullets to use on himself and that wasn't right.

"You're right.. I'm being an idiot.. It's just your the first person I've opened up to and well it all just spilled out.. Why don't we just go back and continue drinking... I mean if you want to cause I've got a cool box in the back filled with ice and some cold ones we can always just kick it back here and watch the empty sky and just be silent.." Dante shrugged his feelings away once more he had been given his shot at life to improve it upon himself he had to make do with the way he did it.. Dante didn't want to argue about this anymore with Hobbs he'd said his peace and now he wanted to be done with it.

He moved towards his boot and opened it slugging the cool box out and he laid it by his tyre pulled out a ice cold beer and popped the cap off.. He was a complex man and just like that any feelings he had washed away and he resumed his friendly banter with Hobbs.. He wasn't going back to those memories and that was his story done.

"Let's just forget the whole ordeal.. This stays between us and i live on a happier man giving a damn about the job i do.. To a decent nights work.. That's all" Dante smirked and drank his beer hopping onto the hood of his car, Had Hobbs tried to come near him in an attacking manner he'd sit there and take it... Anything to prove he wasn't afraid of her.. But luckily the beer had washed his regrets away he felt like the man he once did.. Or so he'd pretend.