"I see that you all are getting along." The masked woman appeared as she floated down to the ground. "To understand what memories caused him to become violent, we'll look at a small moment of his past."
"What moment?" Lupa asked. Hearing that it was a memory he was recalling peeked her interest. She never knew much about him, but that was nowhere near his fault.
"What made him so cold when you met up after your separation." Lupa heard about what, but knew there was a lot more that went on than that. The detail he said that made her come to that conclusion was when he said it was at night.
"He had to kill a kid, right?" Nekonome asked, remembering the short description of his time in the forest.
"Yes, but it could have been much worse. Had Hunter not already been fighting in a war, he would have died there." The acknowledgement of a war he fought in made them unnerved. No one other than Lupa could believe it.
"What caused the war?" Vail asked. "I didn't know the United States went to war outside of the Middle East."
"Because he came from another reality. For you it's 2018, for him it's 2026." Hunter's students and colleagues jaw dropped. "Well, the war began with a preliminary attack from Russia."
"Why am I not surprised?" Mitsuya said as he placed his palm on his face. "What was the attack? An assault on a foreign base, an invasion on an allied country, or a cyber attack?"
"Nuclear strikes on Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, New York, and Washington DC." All the humans eyes widened at the admittion of a nuclear attack.
"What's wrong? What's a nuclear attack?" Cream said as she stepped behind her mother.
"A nuclear attack. It uses a specific weapon called a nuclear warhead. When the bomb detonates, it's explosive power is enough to annihilate entire cities and leave nothing left." Rais responded as she began to realize the severity of the battles he fought. "Does that mean..."
"Yes he was fighting in the third world war." Seeing all the Earth born occupants sharing a collective fear made the rest tremble. "However, he was already in Ukraine by the time that happened. Russia had invaded Ukraine about a year prior. Once China began supplying Russia with men and weapons after suffering defeat after defeat from Ukraine. The US got involved after the "insurgency" upped its lethality. Hunter would have his call sign changed from Hero to Black Cat after his few missions left him the lone survivor of all the teams he was left with. The military would give him solo missions and have him act as executioner. This is when the attack happened and the US officially went to war with Russia and China. It was after his last execution that he fell into a river that carried him into DarkWood, where the moment will take place."
"Wouldn't it be faster to watch?" Scourge asked, annoying by the explanation.
"No, because then we'd have to go into politics and the 'Spy Balloon' incident that heightened tensions." The masked woman said as she snapped her fingers. "This is the incident that made him close off his heart and learned how to kill without remorse."
The feed opened as it showed Hunter running through a dense forest. In his hand was a shotgun and he seemed to be wearing his camo pants, combat boots, and the issued tan shirt. Over his shirt was a dark brown foux leather jacket with a cotton hood sown on the back. A cotton collar stretched around the base of the hood and to the front of the jacket, but it didn't have a zipper on it.
"Shit, I was careless." He said. The screen focused on his left hand that had a digital watch that seemed to also work as a calculator. It said 1830. "It's almost dark."
"What's the issue for it being dark?" Liona asked as she looked at the masked woman.
"The forest is more dangerous at night. That's when the horrors really become active." Lupa responded. She was going weapons checks on her AK. No one knew what she was talking about, but they also didn't know how bad DarkWood was.
Hunter stopped as he heard crying. At this point, he was still trying to help everyone he could. Without a second of hesitation, he ran towards the noise. The screen focused on his face. His bluish gray eyes were holding a determined glare.
"Hold on, I'll be there soon!" He yelled, the oddly silent forest helping his voice echo far into the pitch black forest.
"Oh my goodness, I've never seen his eyes before!" Nekonome yelled a light blush on her cheeks. Rossweisse, Reiko-Sensei, and Miura-Sensei agreed, but weren't blushing.
"I forgot that he was blind when he became a teacher." The masked woman said, alarming the rest of the groups. "We'll get into that later."
"Hello?! I heard someone crying; are you okay?!" Hunter yelled. He looked around the dark house before walking further into the overgrown house. "Shit, this isn't good." He said as he stepped over a red writhing mass on the floor.
He walked further into the house, being careful to avoid more patches of the red mass. The crying got louder and louder as he went deeper into the house.
In the farthest room in the house, he found a young boy crouched in the corner, crying. He looked relatively normal.
"Hey, kid. Are you okay?" Hunter asked as he knelt down to make himself look less imposing to the child. The kid didn't turn around and kept crying. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I'm here to help. Here." He held out a bag of M&Ms to the kid.
'He seems frightened. Hopefully this will help. I can always get more from an MRE.' He thought as he saw the kid shift a little.
"You don't have to be afraid. I'm Sargent First Class Hunter Herrero, of the United States Army. I'm here to help." The kid turned back around causing him to sigh. He put the M&Ms away after seeing how it didn't help ease the situation. "It'll be night soon, and it'll be dangerous. At least help me protect you for the night."
"I didn't expect him to be so soft to kids." Chryssi said as she looked at the screen with a soft smile.
"It's one of the skills he retained after loosing his memory. His family often had him watch the younger kids during the Family Reunions." The masked woman explained. They were surprised that he got that job, but it made sense with how gentle he was to Cream and the other children in their respective worlds.
Lupa didn't acknowledge it. She knew what was going to happen. The kid was acting. suspicious.
The kid turned around and looked at Hunter with tears in his eyes. He looked normal. He looked a little pale, but Hunter could agree that the forest was terrifying.
"There you go." The Soldier lifted his hand and reached for the child. "Here, just follow me." Hunter said as his hand got closer to the kid. The screen focused on his face, his kind smile beaming.
"Yup, that's Mr.Herrero." Tamamo said as she watched the video. The masked woman kept silent as the feed went on.
His expression soon changed to one of horror as blood flew from the bottom of the screen.
"Mr.Herrero!" His students yelled.
"Hunter!" His friends, colleagues, and lovers yelled.
"A... A... AAAAAHHHHHH! AHHHHH!!! FUCK, FU-UCK!!!" He yelled as the screen focused on the ground. Meer feet away was his severed hand. He gripped the base of his wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
He looked at the kid as the feed focused on him. He looked normal, but his features were blank and his eyes were unfocused. Then he opened his mouth and not the one at the bottom of his head. His skull split open before the kid let off a piercing screech.
"M-mommy!" Cream yelled as she ran to her mother. The horrifying scene of her pseudo father losing his hand, followed by the horrifying reveal of the monster, and the terrifying screech got to her. Despite all her adventures and her being one of the cornerstones for saving the world, she was still a child.
"Ho-holy..." Blitsø stuttered as he stared at the screen. Such a monster had never been seen before. Even in Hell, something like that wasn't something you'd see. Loona covered her mouth at her crushes suffering.
The divine massager trio and their goddess were speechless. The damage that has been done to Hunter seemed to be unreal to someone who was so kind. He showed no sign of suffering from that.
Those handling the worst were the people from Safe Heaven. They had known Hunter longer than anyone with the exception of Lupa. They knew the old Hunter and how he seemed to bring light into almost everything. His lovers were on the verge of breaking down.
"You piece of shit!" Hunter yelled as the creature lunged at him. With practiced swiftness, he raised his shotgun and fired. Half of the kid's head exploded in a mist of blood, gore, and grey matter.
Out of the shadows was another, then another, and another. Knowing that more would appear, he grabbed his severed arm and ran out the building as they screeched and gave chase. Through the display, it was just a little dark, but as the feed switched to first person; it was pitch black. He couldn't even see his own hand.
Eventually, the constant screeches faded and he finally stopped running. Placing a hand against something, he placed his back against it and slid to a sitting position. The feed switched to the ground as he placed his hand on the ground. It then showed a match before he lifted it and took a deep breath in. As he released it, a transparent cloud slipped into the top corner of the feed.
"Is it really that cold?" Iroha asked in a low whisper, remembering the night she ran off into the biting cold.
The feed went back to his face as it showed him lifting a shaking hand to a lit cigarette. He lifted the cigarette up to the object he rested on. It showed the creepiest, but thankfully dead, thing they saw so far.
"So that's where I am." Hunter commented, completely unphazed to the disturbing tree.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Rebel said as she looked onto the twisted scene.
The rest of the resistance looked away or threw up as the scene was frozen on the corpse tree.
Hunter looked down at his dimly lit hand and picked it up. He took off his backpack and placed his hand inside before strapping his gun to the side of the bag. The scene changed beside his knee as he stuck a hatchet in the ground. It was covered in black dried blood, clearly seeing use, but not recently.
"Might as well find her. If she reattached it once she can do it again." Hunter's tone was monotone as he hefted the bag onto his shoulders before grabbing the hatchet.
He nursed the cigarette for as long as he could; it was his only source of light. The familiar burn in his lungs kept him alert. He then hid behind a tree as he looked on at a person on their knees. It was dimly lit, but he could still see it clearly. He had already seen it before.
The brutal scene didn't phase him. He had already seen it several times before. He looked a little to the right and saw the monster looking in his general direction, but not acting.
"Idiots." He said looking down at the pile of corpses beneath the monster. "Wondering into the Whips hunting ground is a death sentence. Only the insane would do that."
He then smiled as he sprinted at full speed towards the monster before jumping up. He had studied it thoroughly beforehand and knew it always swept low if it was responding to a sneak attack.
*CRUNCH*
The blade of the hatchet went all the way through the monster as it fell to the ground. The feed panned up his body, showing his arm bent in the wrong direction and hunched over the monster.
"Hehehe, if you still have those mental limiters, unlike me." He seemed to thoroughly enjoy killing that creature. And his face said it all.
"How... How can he even act normal?" Kalawarner asked, now terrified of the human who sheltered her an her companions.
"Have you noticed bandages on his arm?" The masked woman asked. Almost all the adults immediately understand the implications.
"He... You're lying!" Ms. Nekonome yelled, disgruntled by the implications.
"People often use self harm to keep themselves in check. He only stopped after he took it to an even further extreme." She wasn't going to go into it any more than she had too. They'd see it soon.
He made his way to a small camp that was empty. He finished his cigarette and three it into a fire pit. He used the opportunity to place a little bit of tinder on it and poured a bit of alcohol to help it burn better. He then built the campfire up so it wasn't just working on quick fuel.
"I guess she's not her-!?!" He cut himself off as he noticed drag marks on the ground. "Normally, it was too dry for any permanent indention to be made of the ground so it had to be after or during it rained... Four weeks ago." He growled to himself before running in the direction of the drag marks.
He lit another cigarette to light his way. Despite it being night and nearly pitch black, he managed to weave between the trees without clipping one with shis shoulder. A testament to his senses or his time in the forest.
He came across a lit warehouse off to the side of the forest border. It was clearly made after the forest wall grew since it seemed to naturally mold into said wall.
A man stood outside, taking a long drag of a cigarette. He didn't have any clothes on, but the totems of both monsters and human corpses was a rule for everyone, monster and humans, to follow; don't trespass. He was fine since no one was crazy enough to break that rule... Hunter was.
"That bitch was feisty. Most break or kill themselves already." The man chuckled as he took another long drag. "Maybe I should bring a chomper to break her."
"Let me speed up the process then." Hunter said, appeared behind the man and swung up, slicing the man's little buddy in half.
The man screamed as he fell to the ground, clutching his destroyed dick. Hunter placed a leg on his stomach and left arm, pinning the man down.
"Who the hell are you?!" He screamed as Hunter looked down at the man. He couldn't swear he saw a wolf's eyes stare deep into his soul.
Many of his enemies gulped at the silent rage bubbling behind his gaze. They now understood why several human villains the Villain's Alliance summoned ran away. He had the reputation of every villains dream; absolute infamy.
"How did he not become a villain?! He'd be great as one!" Eggman yelled, doing anything to ignore the annihilation of the man's genitals.
"I had to." Lupa began. The villains looked at her with absolute anger which left her completely unphazed. "The last thing DarkWood needed was a Serial Killer."
"How'd you manage that?" Flora asked, many of the teachers and students leaning in. If it worked for someone as dangerous as how Hunter used to be than it can work on almost anyone.
"How's the saying go? "Absence make the heart grow fonder". The same goes for lust." She said before gaining a lustful look. "Best three weeks of my life."
"T-three weeks?!" Whisper asked astounded by how long he went.
"He was pent up and after a month of - how'd he put it? - edging; we couldn't stop. And if you went a round with him, you'd know he has plenty of stamina to spare." Lupa didn't care if it was too personal for most people, it was something she developed during her near 100+ years in the forest.
"I know all too well." Yorokobi said with a similar look. Most of the groups were surprised when they found Yuri, Sora, Alice, Alex, and Amanda with the same look.
"You don't have to blurt it out!" Lilac yelled as she blushed. She looked away bashfully while rubbing her legs together. "Even if it is true." Now it was Mirga who wasn't expecting the young man to claim a water dragon. Not only her, but Carol, Milla, Neera, and Corazon.
"Wait, you too!" Carol yelled. "B-but you're my sister! do you know how wrong that sounds?!"
"Carol, you do realize that Alice and I are sisters, right? Hell, Amanda's our mother." Alex said with a raised brow.
"Holy shit, Sensei's a Casanova!" Issei yelled, before he placed his hands over his mouth. "I should take his advice more."
"This is too weird." Hikari said.
"To answer your question, Carol, I had to see if he was good enough for you so I put on a little show for him, I didn't expect him to change so drastically. He became so... Dominant. I couldn't resist." The masked woman laughed as Corazon sinished her explanation. "What's so funny?!"
"Those were all ment to intimate not seduce! It just backfired so hard that it worked out for him!" The masked woman explained. No one expected the Casanova to be nothing more than a complete accident from a failed distancing attempt.
"No one special, just your death." Hunter said, the venum in his words were palpable as came down on the man's face; splitting his skull in half. "Now let's see..." He paused as he wore another creepy smile.
"W̵̨̢̢̼͔͍̩̗̥͇̜̙͕͓̪͙͍͓̥̗̖̗̻͎̝̭̘̋͒̽̊̿͆̀̿̇͊́͋̊̐͒̓̃̋͐͂̒̉̏̓̈̇͆̄͌̚͠͠͝ͅh̵̨̧̧̛̛̖͍͍̭͖̼̺͍̥͙͚̤̘͉̺̜̟͚̫͎̬̝̭̹͉̲̥̙͊͛͐̄̓̍̈̈́̅̑͋͐́͛̓̊́̾̒́͋̑̓̌͌̕̚͘͜͜͝͝ơ̵̢̥̯̙̞͉͓̜͕̟͔̦̲̫̠̭̬͇̦̝̥͖̗͉̗͇̲͖̆̓̃͊͊̍̃̍̾̆̔́̐̓͆̀͗̓͊̓̃́̊͐̽̚̕͘͜͜͝͠ ̸̨̛̝̬̳̰͙̻̫͉͈͉̿̀̓́̈͗̿̈́́̒̌͘̚͝t̵̨͙̯̘̬̤̲͇̲̪̟͂̈̈̐͐̈́̓̉͗͛̀͑̐͘̚ḩ̴̨̢̢̛͇̯̬͙͓̻̣̤͔͍̦̱͉̞̺̙̦̖̅̅̔͌͛́̐̏̎̍̽͒̐̚͜͝͠ͅi̵̧̛̻̩̱̤̬̩͍̖͚͈͖̱͎̪̗̼̖̗̻̖͊̈͂͊̐̿̍̃͊̇́̃͛̓̿̌̒͐͗͊̄̽̈́̇̀͋̉͘͘͝͝n̶̨̯̙͔̯̳̞̫̠̣͖̭͈̗̖̦̭̥̟̟̤̲̗̼̪̱̉̒̐͋̍̏͗̒̉̈̉͐͗̽́̽̈́̀̃́̓͆̎̽̅̆̓̾́̚͘ͅk̶̨̛̳̩̦̮̝̪͎̳̣̭͎̩̎̈̽̍̏̿͋̅̏͆̚͝s̸̨̧̨̢͙̭̥̠̹̙̠̖͍͍̜̘̺̞̫͖̘͇̮̲͎̥̻̖̏̾̈́͌̓̓͐͆̏͐̋̉͒́́̇͗͊̉̋̽́͒̋̉̿̒̿̚͜ͅ ̵̛̛̳̫̰̗̦͔̙̲̻̗̥̊͊̏̈̌̉͗̇̂̌̍̓́̐͛͜ͅͅt̴̬̹͙͙̠̥̗̻̠͉̤̗̲͗͛̎͐̎͊͐̚ḩ̴̡̨̨̦͇̮̫̩̥͍̜̥̮̪̟̦͓͉̮͖̠̲̘͎̓̂̇͐̿̔͐̎͝ͅę̶̢̤̲̜͈̦̻̲̠̤͓̖̤̟̰̭͚̰͇̯͎͎͓͖̻͛́̂͋̆͛̌̋̔͒̇̓͑̊̿̑̆͂̓̽̓͋͛͝ͅͅÿ̸̨̧̹͍́̌ ̷̢̢̙͉̰̺̯̼͎̰̗͓̱͖̘̻̠̟̲̦̫̞͉̞̰̦͐͊͑̂̅̃̽̒͑͑̓̅̔͆̈́͗̓͛͌̚͘͜͠͝͝c̴̡̛͕̭̹̙̣̫̫͓̙̣̺̠̥̲̙̻͈͇̝̳̱̬̥̟͈̹̦͔̽̀̅̈́ͅa̵̡̧̬̞̮̮͙̳͍̮̭̗̻̤͉̹͙͔͈̼͙̼̬̋̏͜͜n̷̡̡̻̹͚͎̔͊͑͆̃͆͆͊̍̉͌̈̿͐͐̀̃̚ ̷̡̛̘͉̫̺̫͕̬̼̺̬̪̺̝͇̫̖͈̙̣̙̱̝̥̪̈́̊̿̊̔̿̀́͛͌͂̄̅̀̍̅̽̅̈́͘͜͝͝t̶̨͕̱̺̘̲̳͓̭͉́͆̊̂̎̅̀̈̍̃̆̄͐̏̚͝͝a̷͙̘͎͍̱͈̺̜̜̝͙̣͉̟̟͍͎͔̜̤͔̼̖̯̯̘͇͍̯͑̏ͅk̵̡̨̡̢̼̳̪̭̘͍̥͚̬̼̲̣̩̭̳̗̫͔̙͚̫̮̯̱̱̖̺͉̈́̀́͑̓̓͂̂̋̿̾̅̇͝͝ͅe̴͈̖̪͉̱͖̘̗͙͕̽͆͑̿̿̀̋̉̈́̏̈̒͠͠ ̶̡̨̢̧̧̛̛̜̳̻̠͙̮͙̖̼̰̟̻̪̭̦̪͈̙̪͕̞̝̱̟̼̖̎̎̿̓̈̽̑̅̏̆̅̾̊̓̋̅̄̑̿̾̏̓́̎̏͘͜͠w̵̖̝̻̗͍̰̥̟͚͙̬̼̠̫̟̹̘̌́̏̃͆̈́͊͑̓͒̃̅̍͋͗̕̚̚͝͠h̶̛̦͉̤̭̊͒̀̓̀̍́̃͆͊̈́̔̊̿ͅà̵̧̨̜͚̠̪̻͚̭͓̤̩̿̿̕͝ͅṫ̶̡̛͇̩̳̩̪̬̦̪̳̫̖̍̃̓̐̑́̾̐́̋́͒̈́͋̿̃͗̅̇̏͗̆̐͐̚͜͜ͅ'̸̨̡̨̧̠͉̫̞̠̩̞͖̤̭͕̘̹͓͍͚̺͕̝͖̞̬̱͙̬̲͛̅̇̋̓̃̌̅̾͋̈̍̎̽̀͒̀͝s̴̢̢̛͓͕̮͇̳̝̞̪̩̹̟̙̣̺͈̪̘͇̑̔̄̈́̍͋͛͐͂̂̌͒͊͆̾̍̐̈́̐̄͑̚͠͠ ̸̧̧̧̡͚͔̩̣͈̠͙̞̪̦͙̟̩̺̙̳̻͔̝̆̽͋̔̓̃̎̈́͊̑̔̑̎̊̉̎́̾̕͜͠m̴̧̨̛̛̛̬̳̼͇̤͓̭̬̭̼̤̞̦͉̺̖̀͗̀̂̿̇̉̽͋͂̓́̎̉̉̉͆̈́̇̓͐̈́̋̒̋̎̚͘͝į̴̧̢̢̛̭̝̮͓̦̼̲̬̝̮̟̬̘̦̤̱͇̬͔̼̯͙̫͇̠̹̣̺͌ͅn̴̡͈̺̳̼͐̂͊͑̍͒͊̈́̓̃͂̊̅̌̀̓̅̽̐̈́͊̀͌̒̉̈́̚͝͝͝ȩ̶̛̹̲̟̦̦̞̔͋̃͆͐̊̇͌̊̿̓̃̌͐͌̓̑̔̑̂̃͛̄̐̔̀̏͜͝ͅ."
He walked into the building, not bothering to hide himself. There were several other men and women. Most were tied to small trees, some were dead, but weather dead or alive; they were still being used.
"People like you make me disgusting to consider myself human." He walked forward as many of the free ones took up weapons that were close by. the look he had terrified them.
That single eye was enough to make many second guess their decision. He was well known in the forest as the outsider.
"S-shit, it's the butcher!" One yelled as he dropped his weapon and ran away.
A woman tried attacking him, only to have her head severed in a heavy slice. The massicor continued as he broke limbs and ribs, severing arms and legs, and crushing skulls with little effort. It all ended as he used the spike on the back of the hatchet to impale the last one through the bottom of the head and tearing it off, spine and all.
He freed everyone else before taking Lupa. He held her close as if she was going to disappear.
"Stay here for the night. The light will keep you safe." He said, his tone was low and devoid of emotion.
One of the people he just saved was angry after being told to wait where they were being tormented or used. "Like hell! I'm not spending another second here." The woman yelled before Hunter got closer.
Hunter did not hesitate when cutting her head in half, killing her instantly. His eyes were cold and the only thing his body language pointed towards in terms of any kind of emotion was how Lupa was held close to him.
"If you want to die quicker, I'll just do it now and save you the effort." He responded. His tone was as cold as ice, yet as sharp as a sword. "I'm leaving. Follow me and I'll kill you."
He walked into the pitch black forest. The only difference was the few rods of orange light filtering through the trees. It didn't matter since he vanished anyway.
"Wow, I expected more." Ms.Nekonome said as the feed closed.
"I already told you what we did." She smiled again. "Worth not walking for a few days." Those that had been with him nodded.
"Y-yeah. I can't say I tried. We have to remain strictly professional for both the students and our jobs." Lupa chuckled before leaning close.
"Just relax and go for it. He looks scary, but he's a big softy." Ms.Nekonome blushed a little and retreated to the back of the groups. She was followed by Vanilla, Blaze, Whisper, Tangle, and Raynare. Kalawarner had a light blush. She knew she didn't say it quietly; that was the point."
"Let's hold off before we see the present. Let the ladies cool off." The feed vanished as Lupa walked to the small group that went to the back. She was going to talk to them and maybe get some time with them if she played her cards right. After Hunter vanished, she had been waiting for him to appear once more, but they would have to do until he appeared.