Rylie Hunter

PERSONAL

Gender: Female

Kit: Physical

Location: San Francisco, California

AFFILIATION

Alignment: Villain

Team: The Wicked Garden

VITAL STATS

Strength: standard (rank 1)

Agility: standard (rank 1)

Mind: standard (rank 1)

Body: standard (rank 1)

Spirit: standard (rank 1)

Charisma: standard (rank 1)

RECORD

Infamy Points: 75

Personal Wins: 3

Personal Losses: 0

Team Wins: 0

Team Losses: 0

Tourney Wins: 0

Tourney Losses: 0

STATUS

Status: Active

Kate Awesome Is Awesome

I've lived my life quickly to the point where memories no longer exist. Experiences for me are simply moments and feelings and not long lasting photographs in my head. Yet there is one memory that I can never shake from my mind. I think it's there because it is the most important one. Or maybe it's there because it's a reminder of what I'm supposed to aspire to.

I was eight years old and I was watching Sailor Moon when I heard a knock on the door. Normally I ignored knocks on the door and door bell rings but the knocking was persistent. Whoever was outside refused to go away. I went into the hallway and stared at the front door as I heard a faint voice.

“Please Rylie open the door. I need to speak to your father on an urgent business matter.”

I'm still not sure why I opened the door that day. Maybe it was because the last time I missed an urgent business call for my father he was livid at me. Or maybe I just felt like breaking a rule. But I did open the door and I remember seeing the short sunken face man standing there smiling at me.

“Is your father in Rylie?”

I made a face as I replied “no, I don't know when he'll be back either.”

The man sighed as he said “geez I thought he'd be here. He's so hard to get a hold of and I had to drive all the way across town and you know how the traffic is. Do you mind if I just take a few moments and get a load off?”

I simply nodded as I guided the man to the kitchen. He sat down at the table as he asked “can you be a dear and grab me a glass of water.”

I nodded as I ran over to the sink and poured a tall glass of water. Setting it down at the table the man gestured me to sit with him. I pulled the chair back and slide on into it as he took a long gulp of his water.

“As you know Rylie I am a business associate of your father Craig Hunter. Now do you know what sort of business your father is in?”

I looked at him and said “no.”

“Your father is a hunter. He use to hunt animals in Africa until the regulations got to the point where it was impossible to keep poaching. So he decided to hunt something else.”

“Like what?”

“Men.”

“As in people?”

“Correct Rylie your father hunts people. Sometimes they are bad people. Other times it's good people who just so happen to know bad people. Regardless he got hooked on it. The additional money was seen by your father as a perk. The problem with hunting people though is well, we're a tribal species. A person isn't a rock Rylie. Some people are important to other people. Financially important, spiritually important or emotionally important. Now my brother did some rotten things but he didn't deserve to get stuck like a pig.”

I heard a click as I kept staring at the man's eyes. He looked deep into mine as he said “I wish your father was here so he could watch all this.”

Just as the man's hand shifted under the table I started smiling and giggling as he screamed at me “and what's so god damn funny?”

“Hi daddy!”

A quick flash from the steel blade shot into my eye and in a flash I saw my father with his square jaw and bristly mustache holding the knife against the man's throat as he pressed it against his skin.

“Rylie sweetie you go up stairs. Daddy needs to finish this up. But you did good today you hear me?”

I nodded and said “yes daddy.”

 

“I'm bored DAD! And I'm soaking wet.”

“You also need to shut up. You're scaring away the deer.”

Fourteen, I was a brat and these hunting trips where we use to bond were now becoming as bit of a chore for me. We drove up to Oregon and stayed in the middle of nowhere. It sucked because Dylan's parents went away to Europe and he was throwing this big party. From what I've been told the Bentley boys know how to party.

“Like you need another trophy.”

“No but you do. You've been slacking off and I'm not one to raise a slacker. If you wanted to go to that party so badly you should've been training during the week. No shut up or we're going to return home empty handed.”

I took a moment to simmer down when I saw a rustle in the bushes a few hundred feet away from me. It was hard to see at first but as it moved amongst the foliage the young doe barely made its presence known thanks to the white spots on the hind quarter.

“I see one” I whispered.

“Your eyes are getting better than mine. Breathe in, hold it, aim and take...”

Before my dad finished his advice I had fired my arrow as it struck the deer square in the legs. Its howl of pain caused a flock of birds to fly up out of the woods as I started to run towards it. When I finally arrived to where it had fallen I saw the arrow sticking out of its thigh as it desperately struggled to stand only to fall on the ground again.

“Excellent, got you a deer dad!”

My dad finally caught up with me as he leaned over, panting as he looked at me and said “I couldn't be more disappointed in you then I ever been.”

“What the hell! You told me to hunt a deer. I caught a fucking deer.”

“Exactly Rylie. I asked you to hunt a deer. There's something seriously missing hear and that's the death part.”

“So what dad? We can kill it now or let it bleed out...”

My last words seemed to have hit a nerve since my dad then grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face the deer. “Serial killers, untrained soldiers, suicide bombers, people with mental illness just let people bleed. Sadistic maniacs are ok with inflicting pain. Hunters kill Rylie and that's all they do. Look into that doe's eyes and tell me if you don't see its pain?”

As I stared into those dark pools I realized what my father meant. In my haste i disrespected the deer and due to my own laziness it's had to suffer. Suffer while a teenage girl and her fathered argued over the very nature of its pain.

“So dad what do we do?”

“The only thing we can do. Put it out of its misery.” Dad raised his bow, drew his arrow and fired it straight into the Doe's skull.

 

Keen Eye

     Enhanced Senses: standard (rank 1)

 

Dad was looking at me as I saw his mouth move. I pulled my headphones off as I asked “you saying something pops?”

“I was telling you to take those damn headphones off! This is serious! You're eighteen now and since I have no sons it's up to you to take on the family name's mantle. The Hunters have existed since medieval England. We have a long history of being good at what has become out god given talent. The blood line has to remain strong and the next generation has to be trained with diligence. I know what we're about to do isn't easy but it has been done for thousands of years and will continue to be done with your children and your children's children.”

I sighed and just said “let's get this over with.”

Father huffed as he continued “you know the rules. Six hours, you go east, I go west. After that the hunt begins. Now turn around and start marching.”

As I turned my back to my father I started to dart out across the field and headed for a wooded area. I kept peaking back behind me. Even with everything established and my father's twisted sense of honor I didn't trust him. It was something instilled in me since I could remember by my dad to never truly trust anyone. He also had a knack for telling me that rules were meant to be broken. I waited in some brush letting a few minutes pass before

I turned back making my way back across the field.

As I reached the woods on the other end of the field I caught the gleam of metal in the air as I hit the ground. The arrow flew over my head as I heard it stick into the ground a few feet behind me. Looking back I noticed the paper note attached to it as I crawled on my belly to read it.

“Good work so far princess. Make your father proud. Love daddy” I read out loud as I crumpled the note in my hand.

 

Tracker's Instinct

     Enhanced Tracking: standard (rank 1)

 

As the morning mist settled the path through the trees slowly became clear. Even an expert tracker and hunter can’t avoid human nature. When someone goes bushwhacking they tend to take the path of least resistance. Natural alley ways where branches and shrubs seem to push aside to offer easy access are much too enticing for a tired and beleaguered target. As I leap over a seat of bushes I drop down to see a small set of rocks pushed onto their side indicating a hard foot step down. He was here. If he was here he had to be closed.

As I looked forward I noted a few branches bent and broken in front of me. Someone was in a rush to get somewhere. Was my father getting sloppy in his old age? These were the sort of obvious clues an amateur should know about. Still I followed the path presented to me as I slide down a fairly steep hill.

When I got to the bottom I noticed the slightly worn muddy path in front of me. Distinct footprints were in the mud but they seemed very odd. Normally the toes are pressed down hard ever so slightly but on these foot prints the heels were. Someone was trying to trick my by running backwards or using reverse soles.

I followed the opposite path of the footsteps as I noticed the foliage start to become thinner. For a moment there was a flash of the sun as I looked up at an open clearing when all of the sudden I felt the arrow pass right by my ear and hit into a tree with a loud thunk.

 

Compound Bow

     Weapon Master: standard (rank 1)

  • Ranged Attack
  • Long Ranged Attack

 

I saw him sitting in a tree as he cursed on his missed shot. Pulling out my bow I quickly drew my bow back and took a shot as the arrow flew through the air in an arc. It hit the tree where he was sitting as he dropped from the branches and landed on the ground with a loud thud. I heard him curse as I reached for my quiver for another arrow. Drawing it again I dashed out into the clearing as I saw the rustle of my father in a set of bushes.

He quickly peaked out as he fired at me with another arrow allowing me only enough time to fire mine back. The clanging of metal rang through the clearing as the two arrows collided in mid air. I watched my father grab an arrow from his back as I grabbed two, pulling them both back into the bow string and firing off before he could get his arrow ready.

He quickly dodged my double shot as he pulled his arrow up firing through the air in a straight shot as I tried to slide down onto the ground to duck under the arrow. My pants covered in grass and mud as I watched the arrow whiz over my head as I heard my dad talk.

“If you’re going to spend this whole hunt on your back you might as well die now.” I heard the sound of my dad pulling back his bow as I desperately reached for another arrow.

 

Flash Arrow

     Senses Manipulation: standard (rank 1)

  • Ranged Attack
  • Area Affect

 

Desperate I pulled my arrow back as I shifted my head down so the brim of my baseball cap covered my eyes. The arrow was shot blind as it wavered in the air. My father’s laughter was audible as it bounced off the trees. It quickly gave way to a scream.

“God damn it what did you do?”

As I lifted my brim I saw the last remnants of the bright light flash from my arrow as it stuck into a tree high in the canopy. My dad stumbled out into the clearing as he held onto his eyes. He was screaming the whole time as he pawed around the ground in an attempt to orient himself. Realizing he was in the clearing he pulled his hands away as he opened his red blood shot eyes and started running down the field.

 

Net Arrow

     Binding: standard (rank 1)

  • Ranged Attack

 

As he ran I got down to one knee to square myself as I reached back into my quiver. Pulling back slowly I took aim at my father as he started to pick up the pace. I let go of the arrow as I sailed towards him, opening up just as it got close as it tangled the old man up in a thick rope net. He screamed and struggled as I slowly made my way up to him.

When I finally got up to him he was a struggling mess. His body twisted in the netting as I looked down at him. He pathetically thrashed about as I watched him go about for a few minutes before he finally gave up and simply lay trapped on the grass.

“You got me” he said through ragged breaths.

“So it seems.”

“I never thought those little trick arrows of yours would work.”

“Gotta get with the times dad” I said as I reached down and started to undo the netting.

“Did you forget the family motto Rylie?”

“Dad...”

“Did you forget child?”

“No. To be the best you must beat the best.”

“Precisely. There can only be one apex predator. There can only be one hunter. Do what hunters are supposed to do.”

I cried. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that. I knew that if I didn’t do it he would. As I looked down at my father’s dark eyes I reached for an arrow and drew it back.

“Are you proud of me dad?”

My father sniffed as he tried to hold back his own tears. “More then you could ever imagine.”

As he words escaped his lips I let go of the arrow and watch it sink right into his skull.