Chapter 151- Kingmaker 6
2 days later
Morning
Capital City of Eldorado
A Certain Community Building
Theo sat on one of the public benches just outside the City Hall's main entrance. Beneath the facade of boredom was a nigh uncontrollable excitement.
Miguel Baroque will be having press conference later in the afternoon. There he would announce the start of the hunt.
Sadly, Theo will not be joining the opening salvo in the war against the cartels.
While this entire operation was nothing more than an excuse to legally go on a killing spree, he had more than enough self control to prioritize the mission over his vices.
And besides, the first day was the perfect opportunity for his Reformants to show their stuff.
Just to clarify, though Theo kept referring to this escapade as 'HIS' plan, he was only involved in approximately 5% of the planning. All he did was set the objective and provided some info related to the targets.
The rest were arranged by his Eisenritter unit.
All he asked was to have his share of fun.
So far, he was relatively satisfied with how they have set things up.
However just like any well crafted plan, there will always be situations that no one could have ever possibly predicted.
One such situation suddenly manifested itself on Theo.
While watching the employees of said community building prepare for Miguel's press conference, he received a communication from the one in charge of his operation.
"My lord, this is ER46. A convoy of 3 black cars with no licence plates are currently making their way to your location. Unknown affinity." said a 30-ish year old man.
ER46 was one of Theo's earliest 'recruits' in the days where the Reformant unit was minuscule compared to its current size. As far as he could tell, ER46 has always been in a leadership role even way back then.
It was quite a surprise given ER46's origin. The leader of the Eisenritter was once a murdering hobo with a fetish for necrophilia and bestiality.
His favorite animal was cats.
What he did with those dead cats in his spare time was something best left unsaid.
Nevertheless, ER46's existence proved Theo's firm belief that humanity was a basket of untapped and misused potential.
While he was not the chosen one to guide humanity onto the proper path, he embraced his role as the world's janitor.
As long as humanity's savior was still not present, he would continue to 'take out the trash'.
"It's too early to be Miguel. Guests maybe? We have the complete list, but did someone decided to come early? .... Hmm.... Contact Miguel's camp asap. Ask them if there are any unexpected guests that we should look out for. The snipers in my position are to hold their fire unless I say so." replied Theo via coms.
"Understood my lord."
Minus his chainmail that he always wore underneath his clothing, Theo was unarmed at the moment. But his healthy level paranoia made sure that he had a certain level of protection no matter where he went.
This time around there were the following:
10 Reformant snipers armed with Barrette M82A1s. They were stationed on roof tops and inside buildings approximately 500 meters away.
5 of Theo's standard stealth spy drones flying around 200 meters away. They were unarmed but they had powerful cameras, sensitive microphones to detect even the faintest of whispers and were capable of tapping to phone calls.
Last but not the least was 1 car sized Scorpion Combat Drone with HF blade pincers and a minigun for its stinger. It was hidden underneath a pile of wooden crates on a nearby parking lot 50 meters away from Theo. This was in case that he was forced to go up against a person with superpowers.
For the next 3 minutes, the information network of the Eisenritters were showing its chops.
Within that span of time, they found out that there was no one in Miguel's circle of friends, relatives or acquaintances were within the immediate vicinity.
They also discovered that the cars were often used by the more corrupt government officials when they were doing business with the cartels.
"Hoo~. So whoever these guys are, they have deep connection with the swamp and the scums. And they're just going to waltz up into enemy territory? Ballsy move." said Theo.
Truth be told, he was impressed of the opposition's arrogance.
Theo decided to let the events unfold just for the heck of it.
5 minutes later, the 3 car convoy stopped in front of the community center. 8 men and 4 women got off one by one and made their way to the building.
Aside from 1 man and 1 woman, the rest of them looked like a run-of-the-mill bodyguard unit.
The woman looked like a stereotypical sex-cretary.
The man on the other hand was an entirely different matter. Theo couldn't hide his shock the moment he saw him.
It has been many years since he has seen this man, but he could never mistake the bastard for any other.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The man was a smart looking businessman in his late 20's. He gave off the impression of a cunning individual that would most certainly betray you in the future.
However, the most striking feature of the man was the appearance that was very close to Theodore, Bartholomew and Danarius Lorne.
This man was Gregorio Lorne, the eldest son of Danarius and oldest brother of Theo.
And based on the swagger on Greg's walk and his impossibly smug face, it seemed that he knew that Theo was somehow involved in Miguel's campaign.
Who he worked for and how much he knew were the problems.
"Well well. If it isnt little Theo. It's been a long time." said Greg in a confident manner as he approached with his 10 bodyguards.
Though Theo has long recovered from his shock, he decided to play the dumbfounded kid. Those who were completely assured of their superiority had a habit of gloating.
And Theo had every intention of making them pay for it.
"G-greg?! What the hell are you doing here?!" replied Theo
"I'm here as the Union of Nation's Human Rights Inspection team. And it seems that you've been in cohorts with Miguel a man of many crimes. Sexual assault, rape, pedophilia, the works."
"Bullshit! The Eldorado trash media and the congress tried to pin those shit 6 months ago. Even with all the 'investigations', the only evidence they could muster were hearsays and rumors! So worthless was that sham that even the corrupt courts had no choice but to throw it out!"
"True, but remember that I am from the Commission of Human Rights. You'd be surprised how much weight our condemnations are. I have destroyed more powerful individuals with a single false accusation. Miguel Baroque is just another name in the pile. You on the other hand have a proven record of mass murder."
Theo's face became stone cold.
It was not a face of fear, but a facade of some preparing to kill someone.
Greg's bodyguard caught on to this and tried to escort their boss away.
And like the overconfident dumbass that he was, Greg commanded them to stand down.
Fool.
"Now now. Dont like at me like that. We may not be in good terms, but we are brothers. I cant make all those things go away if you help me with Miguel Baroque. Just say a few things during the press conference and you'll be all good. I may even recomend you a position in the Human RIghts Commission depending on your peformance. What do you say?"
Im response to this, Theo pulled out a smart phone and hit the play button. The portion of Greg's damning speach was there for everyone to hear.
"Did you seriously believe that I didnt expect to meet you here? You gave me exactly what I wanted." replied Theo with the cockiness he didnt have.
He may be lying about having a plan, but that did not mean he had no options.
His phone was not store bought. It was something he created that was compatible with his weird OS. The recording came directly from his ears, digitized by his cybernetic spine then sent to the phone.
A useful trick when bluffing was required.
Naturally, said recording was sent to the nearby Reformant unit which will then be given to Miguel Baroque to do as he pleased.
Theo decided to push Greg's group over the edge.
"Fun fact: Video evidence is right here." said Theo while pointing at his cybernetic eye. "Facial recognition is an interesting technology you know?"
One of Greg's bodyguards understood what his words ment and immidietly lunged at Theo.
Theo knocked said bodyguard with a well placed right hook to the chin.
You dont need physical strength to knock someone out. All you need is to make the brain smash into the sides of the skull hard enough.
"I may be a drop out, but I was trained in the superhero curiculum. A bunch of rent-a-cops are nothing to me."
Theo used Taunt.
It was super effective!
Some of the enraged bodyguards drew their Glock 17s.
"NO GUNS!" roared Greg and rightfully so.
While it was still an hour or so before noon, there were already people walking about. In fact, there were already civilians watching and taking videos of their conflict.
Social media would destroy them if they fired their guns here.
Theo had the upperhand simply because he cared not for anyone's opinions, especially from a bunch of faceless netizens.
And besides, not using guns on Theo was not wise.
Theo rushed towards the nearest bodyguard and threw a boxing style jab.
Said bodyguard seemed to have a background at boxing because he instinctively took a standard boxer's guard.
This was a mistake.
Normally, a boxer's weaker arm was the one that threw jabs.
In Theo's case, his left arm was significantly stronger than his right.
The bodyguard's found this out the hard way as both of his arms shatter from the force.
Theo shoulder rammed this bodyguard, grabbed the Glock 17 from the man's houlster and threw it at another bodyguard using his left arm.
The force was strong enough to knock the wind out of the man and forced him to the ground.
A knife wielding female bodyguard lunged at Theo from his left and stabbed him in the gutt.
Theo caught the knife wielding hand with his left arm and crushed it. Before the woman could scream, Theo judo flipped her to the ground before kicking her in the head soccer style.
A large man went behind Theo and tried to suplex him.
Theo responded by crushing one of the man's hand before following with a right spinning elbow to the chin to knock the poor man out.
Theo quickly rushed towards the man who was on his knees and threw a drop kick into the poor man's face
This time, two knife wielding female bodyguards rushed him from the front and back and stabbed him in the gutt. Unfortunately for them, his chainmail armor was built to withstand guns.
Knives were nonissues.
Theo used his left hand to grab the one behind him by the hair and violently threw her into the ground face first. Naturally, a bit of her locks were torn from her head in the process.
At the same time, Theo headbutted the one in front before following up with a right open palm strike and a violent drop kick to the face.
Before Theo could recover, another man was able to spear him to the ground. The man quickly mounted Theo and unleashed a rain of punches at him.
Unfortunately for the man, Theo used his left arm to block the strike. The only thing that hurt was the man's hands as he repeatedly struck adamantium steel .
Theo used his right arm to grab the man by the balls and squeezed it with all of his might. Theo mentally apologized to the man for doing this.
As the man squeeled in agony, Theo threw the man off him before quickly kneeing him on the side of his head.
Before Theo could catch his breath, he was shot 3 times on the stomach by the panicking sex-cretary.
He pretended to faceplant.
Mind you, Theo was definitely in pain but he did his best to hold scream of agony in.
This was in order to show the bystanders that the Human Rights Commision not only gang up against a single unarmed person, they also shot him mercilessly.
And from the looks of it, Greg knew this as well.
"YOU STUPID BITCH! I told you no guns!" roared Greg at the sex-cretary.
"B-but-!"
"Shut up! Damn it! This is a disaster! The media is gonna have a field day on us!" said Greg before turning to his 2 remaining bodyguards. "One of you take Theo's phone and give him first aid! If he dies, getting fired is the least of our worries!"
A female bodyguard flipped Theo over to asses his wounds.
As thanks for her concern, Theo used his left arm to grab her by the neck and threw 5 right straights into her face until she was knocked out.
The panicking sex-cretary once again took aim and fired, but Theo was ready this time.
He used his left arm to ricochete the shot back at her.
Luckily, the bullet simply destroyed the sex-cretary's gun. If it was off by 1 cm, she would be dead.
Theo calmly stood up and brushed off the dirt on his clothes.
"Bullet proof vests. Never leave home without it." said Theo in a calm manner. "Here's what's going to happen. You are going to take your bodyguards, and you will leave. If you do that right now, I wont attack you."
Greg thought for a second and gave the signal to retreat.
"Let's negotiate for the video. I'm sure there's something you want that I can provide." asked Greg.
"After trying to stab father, you think I'm in any mood to negotiate with you? No way. Get lost." replied Theo
"That was years ago when I was a stupid brat!"
"I know and I keep getting reminded every time I look at father's scared face. While father may have no desire for revenge, I do. So I will destroy everything you hold dear one by one until no one will dare come to help you. And once you have nothing left YOU'RE NEXT."
Theo's words made Greg realize who was the main culprit of the murder that made him run away from home all those years ago.
The older Lorne also realized that by reminding Theo that he existed, he has just poked a sleeping dragon in the eye.
And so, Greg ran.
Thus began a low key battle that resulted in many mysterious deaths for the next few years.
But that was a story for another time.