Chapter 232: They Got Baited
We returned from the beach and left the suit wearing people cleaning up after the carnage.
It was still quite a mess especially with the dead terrorists and cars that were crushed by Ava’s giant meteorite.
"Right... So... Why were we not told about this?" I asked, looking straight at my Guardians who were all gathered in front of me in the living room of our villa.
Also, yes, I’m not happy about it and I’m giving them a lecture right now which I’m sure Diana and Siti were also doing on their side of their own villas.
Olivia hesitated before straightening herself, "We did not want to endanger you anymore than you already were, my Lord."
I raised an eyebrow, "So did it work?"
"... No, my Lord. We were not expecting them to be attacking us so early in the day. We thought they would only approach us at night and we did not want you to be disturbed."
I crossed my arms, "And you thought it would be a good idea to keep me out of the loop of your plans? That it would be better that I was not informed about this?"
"My apologies, my Lord... It will not happen again."
I tapped my finger on my arm before narrowing my eyes at her, "Did those people from the Bureau tell you guys to keep it from us?"
There was a slight pause before she nodded, "Yes, my Lord."
My frown deepened when I heard that and I gestured towards my Guardians, "Are you seriously telling me that you would listen to them over me?"
Olivia seemed to balk a little at that, since I was quite literally accusing them of placing the Bureau above me.
I was expecting her to explain what actually happened when Dan stepped forward while scratching his cheek awkwardly.
"Yeah... Err... About that... We were kind of led on by them actually."
I raised an eyebrow at him, indicating he should explain.
"Well... It was kind of obvious it was a taunt but... Someone in their group basically said something about us letting you three do all the work and not being able to protect you properly... So I guess we kind of took that personally, you know?"
I stared at him for a good long while before slowly shifting my gaze to Olivia, silently asking if this was true.
There was another pause before she slowly gave me an almost imperceptible nod.
Seriously? You guys really got ragebaited by those guys just because of this?
I let out a sigh, "You guys really just let yourselves be used like that?"
Olivia bowed her head, "We did not want to be a burden to you, my Lord."
"I will never think that any of you were a burden. Alright, spill it. What else did they try to put in your heads?"
There was a short pause before Sergei spoke up, "They found where their hideout is. We were supposed to be heading out tonight to clear them out."
I raised an eyebrow, "Really? You guys were going to assault a terrorist base and leave me here on my own without inviting me? I’m shocked."
"We did not think that something like this was worthy of your attention, my Lord," Olivia bowed her head, clearly ashamed.
Ok, now I feel a little bad for lecturing them like this... But I felt this was definitely something that was necessary since the last thing I wanted was for them to get themselves involved in something stupid without me knowing and end up getting themselves hurt.
I jerked my head at them, "You’re not going without me."
Olivia did not even protest as she lowered her head in a bow, "Understood, my Lord. We shall share what we know with you."
She then straightened herself and brought out a tablet which she swiped to activate the screen, showing me a picture of a location on a map as well as pictures that showed what looked like warehouses arranged in a row.
"We managed to recover information that they are operating out of a warehouse here. We intend to hit that place with a group sent by the Rift Management Bureau and wipe out this cell for good tonight."
I hummed before picking up my mask and attaching it to my face, "Change of plans then. We go and wipe them out right now."
My Guardians all blinked at me in surprise, probably not expecting this at all.
"My Lord?" Olivia called out, as though to make sure that I meant what I said.
"You heard me. I’m not going to let a couple of suit wearing idiots think they can manipulate my own Guardians to do their work for them," I seethed.
I could already tell this was exactly what they were trying to do from the start. They clearly weren’t confident of their own powers and just wanted the Guardians of the three Mortal Gods to follow along as backup without us finding out so they didn’t have to deal with us.
Then they could also claim credit for being able to clear out the terrorist hideout so that they can clear their embarrassment of failing to secure the summit.
They really think they can pull a fast one on us huh? Too fucking bad. They shouldn’t have tried to do this behind my back.
I led the way out of our villa, my Guardians quickly recovering from their surprise to follow after me as I stepped outside the building.
"Wait here," I ordered before walking over to Diana’s villa.
I stepped inside without hesitation, finding almost the exact same scene where she was seated on the couch and looking at her own Guardians with a disappointed expression on her face.
She raised an eyebrow when she saw me, silently asking what I was doing there.
"Did they tell you about the hideout yet?" I asked.
"They just did," She confirmed with me.
"I’m going there to burn it to the ground right now. You coming?"
Her lips curled up into a grin and I thought she might actually follow along but surprisingly, she waved at me, "You go ahead. I still have to punish these guys who think they can do things behind my back. Have fun."
I shrugged and went over to Siti’s side as well, finding her in a reversed position where she had her Guardians sit on the couch while she stood in front of them and pouted in disappointment.
She perked up when she saw me, "Qi-- Ahem... Oh hello. Did something happen?"
I asked the same question. "Did they tell you about the terrorist hideout yet? I’m planning to go there and burn it to the ground right now. You wanna come with?"
She gave me a look that told me she had not heard about the terrorist hideout and turned to look at her Guardians.
One of them bowed her head, "Goddess... We intended to tell you just now but... You didn’t let us speak..."
Siti scowled at them for a moment before she turned to me, "Did you ask Diana?"
"She said she’s staying behind."
"Can you handle them yourself?"
I nodded, "I can. I just wanted to see if you want to follow along."
She nodded and jerked her head at her Guardians, "In that case, I’m afraid I have some bad girls to discipline. You can have the glory all for yourself."
Ah.
I honestly only thought about inviting them just to take out our frustrations on these terrorists so I was surprised that Diana turned down the offer.
Now I understand that this was also an opportunity for me to gain some renown for dealing with them and having me do it with my own group instead of involving Siti and Diana will grant me more attention than if I went with them.
Diana already knew how strong I was and believed I could take them down on my own which was why she decided to let me go by myself as well.
I’m quite surprised that these two would actually have that much consideration for me.
Welp... Since they gave me that chance, I guess I’ll accept it.
I gave her a wave and stepped outside to rejoin my Guardians who were all just standing outside the villa waiting for me.
"Alright. We’re going there on our own. And we’re not relying on the Bureau for this. Any ideas on how to get there?"
All of them turned to look at Leena who had already stepped up with her chest thrust up in pride.
No... I am not going to let her run through the city while carrying all of us on a wooden platform... We are going to stand out so much doing that and we might as well be waving flags and blaring out sirens as we make our way to their hideout.
Come on... There has to be another way for us to get there without standing out so much...