"Lamb!? Lamb, can you hear me!? Fuck." Kaeron was out of Ratfords spy van in an instant. Lex would have his head if he let anything happen to the girl. Even if the helpless little brat has been the cause of most, if not all, of their problems of late.
"Kaeron, wait." Ratford insisted, stepping in his way. "Are you sure you want to do this? It's not as if her cover is blown. We could still use her as bait."
"As bait." Kaeron laughed half heartedly. "If it were anybody else, I'd be saying the same thing, but you and I both know what that bastard does to the girls he takes a shining too, and I can't risk that, not with her."
Ratford looked at him with that same question, burning in his eyes that everybody else has had ever since he agreed to escort the brat, and hell, he couldn't blame them. Who the hell was this girl that he had promised to protect.
A question for another time.
"Ratford. Either help me extract the girl or get out of my way." Kaeron growled, giving the thief the look that made larger men piss themselves.
Ratford, however, didn't back down (no surprise there), and for a brief moment, Kaeron thought he would have to make the thief move, but then Ratford sighed and shook his head like this was nothing more than an inconvenience.
"Put the guns down, boys. Let calm heads prevail." Ratford said, looking away from Kaeron but still not backing off.
Kaeron didn't even acknowledge the others' existence. "Move." He repeated himself. "I won't say it again."
Ratford scoffed and faced him again. "I was talking about you as well when I said let calm heads prevail. I was the one who sent her in there, so of course, I will help in getting her out if that's what you want to do. All I'm saying is that as soon as we enter that club, one of his spies in the crowd will spot us and alert Leonidas, and all hell will break loose. You understand what I'm saying?"
Draefin. Rather, they succeed in killing the scum or not. If any of this ends up on the news, Draefin would have questions, and this time, he might go after Lex to make Kaeron talk.
Steam began to rise from off his skin at the thought.
"Hey, calm down, I get it. We're going in." Ratford said, throwing his hands into the air like he was surrendering, obviously misunderstanding Kaerons anger. "For one of the most powerful beings on this planet, you have a very big weakness, Fire Breather."
Kaeron wholeheartedly laughed. "Now that's a good one. Was that your plan to calm me down? Tell a joke?"
Ratford didn't laugh, however, and the way he was looking at Kaeron made a dark part of Kaeron tick. "I wasn't joking."
Great. Now, people were beginning to get it into their heads that he. Kaeron Lucian Deitas. The ultimate war machine had a weakness. This girl was more of a hassle than she was worth.
"What about the people you have on the inside? Can't they just go and extract her?" Kaeron said, taking a breath and changing the subject.
Ratford stepped out of his way and spoke. "Not with the girl being in the state that she's in. They'd be under heavy fire while simultaneously trying to keep the girl.."
"Safe leaving them effectively screwed, yeah, I get it, so what? Do you have some kind of master plan, or are you just wasting my time on purpose?"
Ratford snorted a laugh. "The plan is to raise hell." He turned and faced his crew. "Ladies, we're going in."
The response was immediate.
"Aww, man." Said one lacky.
"You think it'll be tougher than that job down in Ortho?" Another asked.
"Who knows, maybe this time, though, you won't use Mandrake as a human shield." Ratford laughed.
"Fuck you, for the last time I didn't use that 5 foot 6 paper weight as a shield." The lacky fired back.
"Right. You were just conveniently right behind him the entire time the spells were flying at us." Another said voice dripping with sarcasm, making the entire crew laugh.
"Hey!" Kaeron growled, effectively shutting them up. "Stop fucking reminiscing, get your gear together and let's get this over with."
Ratford huffed. "Never any fun. You heard him. Bring the armor piercing rounds and take extra, but not enough to way you down. We need to be able to move unhindered through the crowd and remember. As soon as shit hits the fan, people will panic, and they will start heading for the exits, making our job even more difficult. Try for little to no innocent casualties, but you have my permission to take down any perceived threat." He paused for a second and looked around before clearing his throat and continuing. "It's us against the world, boys. Never forget it."
They erupted with cheers and applause, some even going as far as stomping their feet, and Kaeron could see why Draefin saw Ratford as a possible threat. He was a natural born leader. Fair, lenient, and loved by those under his command. He was the complete opposite of the man Draefin was. The type of man Kaeron had become.
Ratfords spy vans double doors suddenly propped open, revealing a woman with a mean looking scar that went from the bottom of her ear, down past her jawline, and disappeared underneath her black Juggernaut one-piece suit.
The Juggernaut suit. It was the signature for Ratfords crew, and for good reason. It was lightweight and flexible, and thanks to the Fae genius Sybilla Norma, the Juggernaut one-piece suit is able to absorb even some of the most powerful of spells, and the suit made it possible to survive even a sniper round with nothing more than a bruise.
The girl smiled at the rest of them and hopped out of the van, first tossing an assault rifle to Ratford. "You called for the good stuff."
Kaeron looked back up into the van, where two wooden crates sat, undoubtedly filled with armor piercing bullets.
"Load up, ladies, it's time you slackers earn your keep." Ratford ordered, inspecting the rifle.
They moved quickly, pulling out the crates, opening them, and grabbing for as many loaded clips as each individual wanted. Ratford was the last to go, but there were more than enough even after he finished.
Ratford grinned and looked at Kaeron. "Any words of inspiration?"
Kaeron scoffed as the group gathered around the two. "Get in my way and get shot, or worse."
The group of ingrates laughed, making Kaeron scowl.
What a bunch of morons.
He turned from them and strode toward the club entrance.
The laughing died immediately, and they moved into formation, quickly catching up to him moving as a unit.
It came as no surprise to Kaeron that nobody paid them any attention until they reached the doors where the bouncers flinched as soon as they noticed the weapons and suits.
"You can't..." One started.
Ratford lashed out immediately, slamming the butt of his rifle into the giant man's nose and dropping him like a bug.
The people still waiting to get in gasped, and Kaeron shoved his beretta into the second bouncers mouth.
"Plea downt." The bouncer begged, but the gun in his mouth made it difficult to understand.
"Listen up, everyone." Kaeron demanded, not looking away from the bouncer. "Leave and live. Stay and die." He said, pulling free his beretta from the horrified man's mouth. He didn't need to repeat himself. Everyone booked it, including the bouncer, leaving the group alone with the incapacitated one.
"Let's go." Kaeron ordered, stepping over the unconscious man. They fell in line behind him as he entered the club, immediately assaulted by the dizzying lights, the ear splitting music, and the nauseating array of smells (smells of which would be unpleasant even to somebody with a regular nose).
He moved quickly, pushing a wolf couple out of his way, earning him a "watch where you're going." If it were any other day Kaeron would have made the pup kiss his shoes and beg for forgiveness or get put into a coma in front of his date, but it was the pups lucky day, he didn't have time to teach the bastard manners right now. So he ignored the weakling and continued bulldozing his way through the crowd.
The first spell came when they were halfway to the booths, in the form of a storm of guided ice sickles that Kaeron had little problems melting with a breath of flames.
And then all hell broke loose.
The party goers lost their shit. Screaming, running, and pushing. The enemy fired more spells without a thought to whom they might strike, as Ratford and his crew began to open fire, while Kaeron laughed at the mayhem, a part of him happy for the fight.
He dashed forward, breaking away from the others, knocking down whomever was dumb enough or unfortunate enough to be in his way.
"You're mine, Fire Breather!" Kaeron barely had enough time to duck before a sweeping blow from a battle axe raced above him, taking out five bystanders in the process.
"Damn, I missed." Spat a tough looking saytr that Kaeron hadn't...
Kaeron moved on instinct, diving to the right, just nearly avoiding being split in half again by a second battle axe from a second saytr.
He rolled for a heartbeat before bouncing up to his feet, but the saytrs were already moving to close the distance, at speeds that were way beyond normal even for those filthy beasts, no doubt thanks to the Virpetro that bastard Leonidas hands out like fucking candy.
He avoided the first swipe, but instead of moving away, Kaeron charged the attacker, wrapping his arms around the beast and using the bastards own momentum against him Kaeron spun lifting the saytr off the ground and used him like a battering ram slamming him into the other saytr. The two were launched through the crowd of fleeing bystanders knocking over a lot of them and crushing even more when they landed.
Shit that was short-lived.
His instincts had him whipping his head around just in time to see the bullets headed straight for him.
"Tsk."
It was as if time slowed to a crawl. He inhaled slowly, deeply. He could probably just dodge the incoming bullet storm, but where would the fun in that be. Instead, he quickly holstered his barettas and waited. Counting down the seconds as they inched closer... and closer... and closer, until... he grabbed the first one out of air when it was only an inch or two from his nose, followed by one headed for his right shoulder. Then, his chest, neck, arm, forehead, stomach, his shoulder again, his nose again, and he repeated this until the bullets stopped coming.
"Holy shit Deitas." Ratford exclaimed, appearing at his side. "Even I've gotta admit that was badass!"
Kaeron let the bullets drop to the floor with more than a little pride flaring in his chest.
"What the fuck! I didn't sign up to fight a fucking monster!" The shooter screamed before dropping his weapon and bolting.
Ratfords head suddenly jolted towards the direction Kaeron had sent the two saytrs and from the bloodlust wafting from that direction Kaeron assumed the two had already recovered from his attack.
Any other day he would be ecstatic that his play things weren't easily breakable, but he was in a hurry, and he was already having a tough enough time pinning down Lambs scent, so every second he wasted with these lackies was another second that Leonidas had to escape amidst the chaos, with the princess and he couldn't allow for that to happen.
"I've got these two Kaeron, just go get your girl, and kill that bastard Leonidas." Ratford said as if reading his mind. Ratford pulled out and tossed two grenades at the beasts.
The closest to the grenades sliced it them in half, causing them to explode right in front of him.
Kaeron turned his attention from them to Ratford. "Are you sure? Those two aren't no joke. I know you can hold your own, but you are only mortal."
Ratford scoffed. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
Kaerons dragon senses flared to life once again, as the two saytrs moved at their ungodly speeds toward the two.
Ratford dived to the ground, rolled tossing the last two grenades on his belt, and opened fired. "Go!" He roared, and Kaeron let the disrespect slide. There was no time, so he took off toward Lambs quickly, diminishing scent.
There were too many smells, and Kaeron was having trouble locking in on Lambs. He cursed the girl for making him use that form again, but if he wanted any chance at tracking her, he'd need it.
He battled to keep himself from vomiting and didn't stop moving as the wave of nausea from the shift came and went, and he became aware of everything. Every footstep, every heartbeat, every scream and even the spital that hit the clubs floor from those screams.
He blocked it all out, not slowing his stride as he closed his eyes and sniffed. He caught wind of that strawberry shampoo Lamb and his sister loved using and moved. He ran into the emergency door, not bothering to open it first. His skin was so hot to the touch that he just ran straight through it, leaving a Kaeron shaped hole in it.
He caught sight of a saytr holding an unconscious Lamb, rushing her, Leonidas, and three others to a black Lamborghini.
The saytr looked back and stopped. "Sir. It's the Fire Breather!"
Leonidas froze, and the fear in wafting from off the walking deadman made Kaeron smile.
"Give me the girl." Leonidas demanded.
The saytr nodded, but faster than the beast could even blink, Kaeron was there, moving at what most would call impossible speeds as he jammed his baretta down the saytr's throat, and fired repeatedly.