Frustrated Predator (The Enforcer POV)

The Enforcer was frustrated. He wanted to go after his prey, The Gamer and her posse. He was delighted when he heard that the Burgess girl was on the menu for him and his boys. He would take immense satisfaction in catching her and defiling her corpse. Her worm of a father would know exactly what he had done to her, and it made him smirk every time he thought about it.

His smirk vanished when his mind returned to the situation at hand. He couldn’t go after them. Mathias hadn’t allowed him to. While he cared little for what Mathias wanted and wasn’t particularly loyal to the man, he knew that as strong as he was, as much fun as he had dominating over others, Mathias could squash him like a metaphorical bug.

He knew his place, and so he chose not to go against orders, as much as it displeased him. It would be so easy to track them down too. He’d heard the intel that they’d abandoned the apartment they fled to. Nobody was quite sure where they’d gone, and most people had different priorities.

They’d gone and busted up a mana factory in the west, but that wasn’t of much concern to Mathias and the bigger players in Sydney. Mathias had shrugged at the news, saying that it helped his scheme. None of the people who cared much about the Gamer had the power to track her down. The people who did have the power, didn’t care to.

The Enforcer had both, of course. He was angry about the ripe young meatsacks ripped from his grip, and he wanted what he was owed. He could have had his technomancer scour footage from the cameras around the Gamer’s apartment, tracing where they’d gone. It wouldn’t be hard.

“Any news from the spies?” Mathias’ gravelly sounding voice dragged The Enforcer out of his thoughts and back to the reality of the meeting. The representative for the vast network of spies they had all throughout Sydney, looked through his notes and gave the report.

“The Legion seems to be getting a bit too comfortable. There are rumours of plans to stage an attack on our base of operations. We haven’t been able to confirm much beyond the rumours yet, as they suspect that there are spies within their ranks, and they’re very careful about discussing things privately.” The representative reported.

Mathias stroked his beard thoughtfully, contemplating what to do with this information. “Could they be dangerous to us?” He asked. The spy shook his head. “They’re powerful, but not powerful enough to overthrow you. They could do some damage though.” The spy replied.

Mathias turned to The Enforcer and nodded. “You will lead a raid on them once this meeting is over. Ransack their home, take some of their slaves, keep a couple and sell the rest in Darling Harbour, kill a few of their more powerful members. Do enough to weaken them, but not destroy them entirely. Show them their place. Understood?” The leader of the Soul Searchers guild ordered.

The Enforcer simply nodded. “Good. Any news from the Readers?” Mathias continued. The representative for the Readers replied in the negative. “How’s the construction of our new underground wing coming along?” Mathias asked the Slavemaster. “A little behind, but we’ll make it up.” The woman promised. Mathias raised an eyebrow.

“How far behind?” He asked. “Only a week.” She reassured him. “Would more slaves help you?” Their leader asked, and the Slavemaster nodded. Mathias turned back to The Enforcer. “Take a few of their stronger slaves for the labour.” He ordered, and The Enforcer nodded.

“I believe that’s everything in our agenda. Anybody have any other business to discuss?” Mathias asked, looking around the room. Everybody shook their heads. “Meeting adjourned.” He said simply, and everybody got up from their seats to go back to whatever they were doing before. The Enforcer just waited until everybody left the room.

He walked quickly up to Mathias to address him. Mathias turned before he could speak, and smiled at him. “What can I do for you?” He asked. Mathias usually kept his aura suppressed, but it was a lot more palpable up close. He wore a white suit with a black undershirt and red tie, which stuck out in contrast to The Enforcer’s own black suit.

On first glance, Mathias didn’t look particularly special. He was a lot less physically intimidating than The Enforcer. But he was a powerful warrior, possessing many different types of abilities and many decades of war experience. He outmatched The Enforcer in speed, though not in strength.

But the true danger of their leader was the sheer number of abilities he possessed. His right hand man wasn’t even sure if he’d seen all of them in action. Who knew what tricks Mathias had up his sleeve? Certainly not his right hand man, even despite being in the high ranking inner circle of their guild.

Possessing the face of a middle aged man, with a very slightly greying beard and hair to go with it, Mathias looked like a normal, albeit well dressed, man in every aspect, save for his eyes. His eyes were completely black, vortexes of sorrow, pits of despair. He often muted this around confidants, to make them feel more comfortable.

But once he let his aura out and let people feel how powerful he truly was, trying to meet his eyes was next to impossible. If you managed to, it was like looking into an endless pit of black darkness, sucking in all hope and life. The Enforcer had once, and he’d seen himself die a thousand times over from the sheer despair written within the man’s eyes.

It was not a pleasant experience.

“I still wish to pursue The G-” The Enforcer started, before Mathias swiftly cut him off. “The Gamer yes, we’ve talked about this old friend. I need you elsewhere for now. That nuisance Belle is upsetting the balance, and I need you ready for when she strikes next.” Mathias shook his head as he thought about her.

“Damn that woman. She doesn’t have the potential we need, but she’s just powerful and competent enough to irritate us. She’s too good at covering her own tracks, and she’s always gone before we get there. We need to be alert.” The Enforcer kept quiet as Mathias vented. He shook his head again. “You can go after your pet project after she is dealt with. Until then, I need you here.” Mathias said.

The right hand man tried one more time. “But what if The Gamer is who you’ve been looking for? She’s a latebloomer, so we know she’s more powerful than average.” The Enforcer said. “Until we hear from the Readers that she is a candidate, I will not devote resources to her. If she truly is the one I’ve been looking for, she will prove herself in time.” Mathias said.

Arrogance, laziness, and complacency, The Enforcer knew. If The Gamer was who he was looking for, it would have been far better to go after her while she was still weak. But that would be a lot more work, and as their leader had said before, if he spent his time personally chasing every possible lead they had over the past 80 years, he’d never rest.

Mathias was sure that somebody who suited his goals would show themselves eventually, and if he wanted to let the spies and Readers handle it, who was he to say otherwise? Especially since The Enforcer really didn’t care about Mathias’ goal one way or the other. He was a part of this guild for the stability, position and freedom it got him, not Mathias’ grand plan.

Simply nodding, The Enforcer turned and walked away to assemble his men. As much as he wanted to go after The Gamer, and take the prize that he’d been so cruelly denied, he would enjoy the **** of a raid. It didn’t take long to get his men together, and they headed to the neighbouring barrier, the Botanic Gardens, home of their new rival.

They wouldn’t be rivals for long.

He entered the barrier with his men in tow, walked right up to the large ornate front gates of the gang’s mansion, and smashed it open effortlessly. The gates flew off their hinges and clattered to the ground with a loud BANG! A man came running out of the building ahead of them to see what the commotion was. “Shit! We’re under attack!” He yelled.

The Enforcer cared little to wait, and charged forward at the man, his men following behind him. The man fired some kind of spell at him, but he barrelled through it and knocked the man aside, sending him flying into a tree with a kind of squishing thud noise.

Within seconds, he and his men were rampaging through the mansion. They were careful not to destroy any essential supports so they wouldn’t bring the entire structure down, but destroying furniture, knocking down the occasional wall or two, upturning the entire place and killing a few rival gang members here and there were all on the table.

The Enforcer stormed through the mansion in a controlled rage. He wasn’t allowed to let loose fully, not this time. He knew the upper story could be destroyed too, without taking the whole building out, so he flew upwards, barely taking the time to look at the bodies, **** or dead, that he left in his wake.

He found their leader, staring helplessly out at the destruction they were causing. The man knew not to interfere. He’d have been killed if he did. The Enforcer grabbed the gaping moron and held him up by the throat. It gave him immense satisfaction to do this. It reminded people just how much stronger he was than them.

“We heard you were planning to try to attack us. Isn’t that right?” The Enforcer asked. Struggling to breathe, the man answered. “N-no sir-” The Enforcer tightened his grip slightly, and the man’s eyes almost seemed to bulge out of his skull. “Good. Know your place. Don’t dare try to attack my guild, boy. You cannot win.” He said.

The Enforcer tossed him at the nearest wall, the man smashing through the brick with a crash. The snivelling man moaned at the pain, and The Enforcer, satisfied that he was still alive, jumped high into the air, busting through the roof and landing a few seconds later on the ground a few stories below. He dusted off his suit jacket and walked to see which slaves his men had rounded up.