Chapter 53

Wild Hunt 11

-:-

As the chorus of steel and very rude curses rang out through the decks of the cruise ship Sanctuary, Theo was a silent shadow that slithered through the battlefield unnoticed.

He moved quickly and silently as he stuck to cover while making an effort to avoid getting dragged into the whirlwind of combat that raged on.

His goal was never to win the battle, but to secure the target and get out.

The lives of the Volsung raiders were none of his concern. He was not obligated to save them, but he did need enough hands to help with the transport of his targets back to the Norscan Islands.

As such, while Theo proceeded to the target, he never stopped giving orders to the raiders.

He also made sure to turn off his internal microphone to keep his voice from exiting his power armor. Even if he screamed on the top of his lungs, no noise will be heard outside his armor.

Thanks to the battle raging on, he was able to move very quickly and unopposed through the hallways.

He made damn sure to stay away from the vampire knights that just joined the fray.

Though down to 2 of their original 5, the vampire knights were able to grind group 11 down to 5 of their original 10 man team.

If it wasn’t for the Ulkov honor guard, none of group 11 would be left breathing.

With a shrug, Theo snuck through the battle and proceeded to the areas where his spy drones couldn’t access earlier.

For some reason, a portion of the mid to lower decks were sectioned off from the rest of the populace.

Anyone who tried to enter this area was turned away by an armed guard.

This was clearly a ‘Here lies the targets!’ sign and Theo would be a fool to ignore it.

…. Or it could be a trap for potential assassins….

Either way, Theo had no choice but to go in and find out.

There were a few dozen rooms on 3 floors that had this type of security level and Theo had no clue which one held the targets.

For now, he swept through the highest floor with all due caution and haste.

He probably could find clues to the targets’ whereabouts if he took his time and searched carefully, but time was a luxury he simply didn’t have.

With his power armor’s audio receptors and infrared systems cranked to the max, Theo ran a quick check of the rooms on the floor.

After concluding that there were no lifeforms on the deck, he went to the nearest elevator.

He didn’t bother calling the elevator and forced the door open.

He fired his grappling gun skywards and used it as a rope to descend onto the next floor.

He stealthily exited the elevator area, cranked up all of his sensors to its highest settings and began a fresh sweep of the second floor.

Almost immediately, his sensors picked up 2 hot spots and 5 cold spots in a room 3 hallways away from his current location.

1 of the hot spots had a higher temperature than the other.

Theo knew from Diego that mages that specialized in shapeshifting had higher internal body temperature than normal beings due to their body in a constant state of readiness to cast their shapeshift magic.

As such, Theo knew that one of his enemies was an oversized dog.

The 5 cold spots were obviously vampires.

That only leaves the last one as his primary target.

“1 vs 6 + 1 dead weight…. I like them odds” Thought Theo as he crept closer towards his targets.

Just to be on the safe side, he took out one of his silver frag grenades and pulled the pin.

All he needed to do was to let go and BOOM.

As he slowly moved forward, the heat signature of the shapeshifter suddenly stood in alert.

“…. There’s someone in the floor….”

If it wasn’t for the cranked up settings of Theo’s sensors, he would not have been able to hear the shapeshifter speak.

He returned his audio receptors down to normal settings as he continued his approach.

The enemy probably thought that he wasnt aware of where they were.

Theo could use this to his advantage.

Theo proceeded to stealthily check the rooms one by one despite knowing exactly where his targets were.

This was to enforce the idea that Theo had no idea where they were.

About 5 minutes later, Theo reached the room right next to his target.

He pretends to discover something and began ‘searching’ the room.

Theo stopped in front of a wall that separated him and his targets.

The 7 targets remained unmoving in an attempt to hide themselves from him.

This was a big mistake.

With the silver frag grenade on his left hand, he aimed for a spot that was farthest away primary target from his primary target, used up one of the archon battery charges and punched through the wall.

While the wall wasn’t particularly thick, it was enough to shield Theo from the shock and shrapnel of the explosion.

Theo’s Z49 Scout Armor wouldn’t even receive a scratch from getting hit by the grenade, but his fleshy bits would definitely be hurting from the shock.

However, his targets weren’t as fortunate.

The 2 vampires closest to the epicenter of the explosion immediately died from the hailstorm of silver shrapnel that peppered their bodies. Some of which entered their heads, thus resulting in instant death.

After the 2 vampires was the shapeshifter.

Unlike the werewolves, shapeshifters had no inherent weakness to silver. As such, the grenade tore a bit of the shapeshifter to shreds, but nothing his regeneration couldn’t repair.

The 3 remaining vampires and the primary target were relatively unscratched aside from a few scratches, having the wind knocked out of them and maybe an annoying level of dizziness.

At this point, Theo realized his error.

While it was easy to spot Michele Sway based on her body temperature, the same couldn’t be the same with his secondary target: Vander Cullet.

“SHIT! I hope I didn’t accidentally kill Vander Cullet!” said Theo as he rushed out of the room to check his target’s wellbeing

Upon entering the room, he immediately spotted Vander Cullet hugging Michele Sway in his arms.

He was alive and well.

Theo breathed a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, this calm was short lived as the teenage shapeshifter stood up in rage.

“YOU BASTARD!” roared the shapeshifter as he pounced at Theo.

While at mid jump, the shapeshifter changed from his human form into a car sized wolf.

Theo quickly jumped out of the room as the wolf’s jaws slammed shut on his previous location.

Theo open fired with his FN P-90.

The wolf desperately ran out of the room in order to avoid getting hit in the head. This haphazard move resulted in the wolf getting peppered on the side of his body.

Before Theo could capitalize on this, one of the vampires rushed out of the room and threw a punch into Theo’s head.

Theo dodged and fired a single shot into the vampire’s gut.

The vampire screamed in agony and went down on his knees when the burning pain of the silver bullets wreaked havoc on his regeneration abilities.

Before Theo could capitalize with a head shot, he dodged as Vander Cullet’s fist flew just beside his ear. Naturally, Theo shot Vander in the leg as he dodged rolled to safety.

The last vampire attacked Theo just as he regained his posture.

Unfortunately for the vampire, Theo was ready this time around.

Theo blocked the fist with his left arm.

If that punch landed anywhere aside from his adamantium left arm, shattered bones was the only outcome.

The next thing that happened was so fast that most people would think that it was choreographed

Theo jabbed the vampire in the face with his left arm. At the same time, Theo shot the vampires other hand to disable it.

His adamantium arm squeezed the vampire’s good arm until it shattered from the mechanical pressure, while shooting the poor slob in both legs.

And in classical hostage taker situation, Theo used the vampire as a shield with the barrel of his P-90 on the poor guy’s head.

“You already lost quite a lot of friends. Do you want to lose more?” said Theo with his voice synthesizer active.

The Cullet group froze in place as they threw death glares at Theo.

“You already killed 2 of us and now you want to parley?! Bullshit!” roared Vander.

“This guy is just a bodyguard. No need to get your panties in a bunch”

“DON’T PUT US IN THE SAME LEVEL AS SCUM LIKE YOU!”

However, the Cullet group didn’t move a muscle.

What admirable comradery.

“I’m only here for one purpose. I accomplish that, I’ll leave without a fuss.” Said Theo

“What are your demands?” asked one of the bodyguards as he stopped Vander from talking.

“Give me Michele Sway. In return, I and the entire raid group will leave immediately.”

“DON’T FUCK WITH ME! If you think-!”

Before Vander could finish his piece, Theo blew the bodyguard’s brains all over the floor.

With a swift reload, Theo pointed his P-90 at the Cullets

“Wrong answer”