"Something is wrong," Alex mumbled. 

He was surveying the area where two Inhumans had disappeared along with a dozen or so lizardmen. They were supposed to be on a routine patrol when all of a sudden all communications with them came to an abrupt end. Thus, Alex gathered up a few of his best men to go and investigate the area around which the members disappeared. But so far, they couldn't uncover a thing. 

"I agree," Ajek, one of Alex's loyal followers chimed in, "Just look at this place... No sign of a skirmish or anything. It's odd."

Alex turned to Ajek, waving his hands dismissing his theory, "It's not the skirmish that bothers me. But the fact that someone managed to make a fool out of our security measures and take down two of our elites along with a dozen lizardmen. That too without making a mess. Whoever did this... No. It not them who's out of their heads. It's us who think we can stop them."

To Alex's remarks, Ajek thought it was best to stay out of it, 'I'm way out of my depth here... It's better to keep my mouth shut and let Alex do his job.'

"Moreover," Alex continued, "The two who are missing weren't just any inhuman either. They were highly trained assassins. Even Johnny Black would've had trouble taking care of them on his own. Not to mention they had elite lizardmen with them as well. Not even the SS ranked hunters would've managed to take care of them so swiftly."

"Maybe it was the nagas?" Despite his resolve, Ajek couldn't keep his mouth shut for long. 

Alex shook his head, dismissing Ajek once again. 

"Nagas would never dare to pull such a stunt. Not this deep into the lizardmen territory. They have a hard time protecting their own asses, why would they take such unnecessary risk?"

"Then what about the syndicate? They are here right? They can do something like this." Ajek countered but only to realise that he had been spewing nonsense. 

"They could but there are two issues with this theory of yours." Alex replied while scanning the marshy forest floor to see if anything was out of place, "but first answer my question. How many people do you think it'll take to take on 2 S ranked Inhumans and 12 S or maybe A ranked monsters?"

Ajek couldn't give Alex an answer. Which was expected. He had enough muscle on his body but sadly his brain was... As smooth as a playboy's sweet talk. 

"I'd say it'd take more than 25 warriors just to subjugate the lizards. Now, do you think, the lizardmen wouldn't know if more than 20 humans just randomly decided to take a walk in their territory? They would know it sooner than you expect."

"..."

"But just for the sake of it let's say they somehow managed to fool the lizardmen and sneak past them. Don't you think if a group of over fifty people and monsters alike were to fight to the death, all hell would break loose? Now, look around you. Does it looks like there has been a skirmish here?"

"It doesn't." Ajek bluntly replied while the other looked for clues. 

"Exactly. That's why I'm saying it was the work of someone formidable. Someone who could cleanly strike his enemies down with batting an eye. But no one is perfect. That's why we're looking for clues to find out more info about them."

"Right. But-" Ajek wanted to explain his reasons but Alex was having none of it. 

"Whatever it is, just shut it and tell everyone to keep looking for clues. There has to be something to tell us what happened to those two. In the meantime, I'll inform the leader about the situation here." Alex mumbled as the rest started walking deeper into the woods, hunting for clues. 

***

Somewhere in a distance, Arnold was sitting over a tree monitoring the situation in front of him. He had already disposed of the corpses inside his void and thanks to his nature affinity, he was able to hide his tracks. Well... Apart from one thing which he left for the soldiers to find- The treehouse. 

"At least one of them has some brain cells left with him." Arnold whispered while staring intently at Alex, "Too bad. That's going to be the reason for their downfall."

The nagas gave him the location where they thought Devon was hiding with his people. Sadly that information was incorrect. There was nothing there. No humans or man-made structures. Just nothing. Arnold thought he had been tricked but then he realised it wasn't possible. Since he had blooded Alleiah, she couldn't lie to him. Thus, the only possibility was... That the nagas didn't know the accurate location of Devon's hideout. 

Arnold had been wondering what to do next when the Inhumans and the lizardmen appeared. They were patrolling the area and found Arnold. Earlier it might have been a difficult task for Arnold to take care of them as quickly and quietly as possible. But since his ascension, these creatures were like flies to him and he easily dispatched the lot with minimal effort. 

However, he couldn't get any information out of them because... Dead men tell no tales. No matter how clean and swift he was, he ended up killing them with nothing more than a punch or a kick. But then again, he quickly thought of a plan.

The fact that they were on a patrol meant one thing: Devon was closer than Arnold thought. Which meant sooner or later, there would be more people who'll come looking for their missing comrades and when they did, Arnold would just have to follow them back to their base. 

But Arnold also knew that these soldiers wouldn't return until they finally find something. Thus he left a little surprise in the treehouse for them to discover. So far everything had been going according to his plan and it seemed unlikely for the things to go south. All he had to do was to wait patiently while all hell breaks loose and then rain more hell upon them. 

"The prey has taken the bait. Now, the hunt begins."