Chapter 470: Meeting Master Red Mask.
At the remote part of the Green Mist Sea where the regional headquarters of the Demon Inter-racial bounty organization was located.
Today started like usual for the headquarters of this inter-border bounty organization. As one of the most established organizations in Oceania as a whole, the Demon Inter-racial bounty organization had an established set of rules.
They had an established modus operandi that they always followed in their day-to-day activities that have been tested and proven to work.
Today, this bounty organization started operations like usual.
The main work of the headquarters of this bounty organization in each of the Great Seas that they inhabited was mostly to serve as the control tower of all the operations going on in the organization.
The headquarters were responsible for accepting bounty missions, processing them, and selecting the good from the bad bounty missions which would then be assigned to the necessary bounty hunters.
This was the same way that the bounty mission to hunt down Sebastian was issued, they almost always followed the same routine in assigning missions.
Today, like usual, the workers in the headquarters locked up in their small ivory towers worked with the powerful computers that were provided to them as they accessed all the bounties that were being released across the Great Sea.
Due to the sheer size of Oceania as a whole, and the disputes and crimes that happened daily, there was no lack of bounty missions.
As the workers locked up in their small ivory towers worked, the others also did their work that ranged from providing food to guarding the headquarters, as even more bounty hunter teams were sent out on missions.
The headquarters of this bounty organization was a hive of activity.
The headquarters was built in a simple ring shape. Most of the minor activities happened in the outer rings such as the deployment of bounty hunter teams, while core activities like the workers accessing bounties worked in the inner rings.
The living quarters of the great leader of the Green Mist Sea branch headquarters, Master Red Mask was also located in the inner rings.
At this moment, inside his living quarters, Master Red Mask was experiencing a bout of anxiety and uncertainty for the first time in decades.
Just about a week ago, he lost contact with some of his strongest bounty hunters that were assigned to the current most important mission of this headquarters branch of the bounty organization.
The last thing that Master Red Mask received from his subordinates was that the location of the Megalodon was already pinpointed and that they were about to go in, smash everything apart and apprehend him.
On hearing that, Master Red Mask was relieved as he felt that the mission was finally about to be fulfilled, only one concern remained in his mind.
From the first day that he had no choice but to allow his hunter team to take in the company of the Atlantian Captain, his life became uneasy as the threat of Atlantis kept on nagging at the back of his mind.
This was like going in bed with a Tiger, there were bound to be injuries. Despite knowing the danger, he went in, hoping that the Tiger would not bite.
Master Red Mask never felt at ease again after cooperating with the Atlantian Captain. Experience told him not to ever trust an Atlantian soldier, but the sincerity displayed by the captain and the catch at stake here made him relent.
Till the last moment of communication with his bounty hunters, Master Red Mask expected to suddenly receive a distress signal of an ambush.
In his opinion, an Atlantian ambush was already waiting for his bounty hunters but to his shock, this never happened. Rather, Captain Omega was extremely cooperative as everything went on without any hiccups.
This continued until they finally engaged the Megalodon.
That was the last time that Master Red Mask ever heard from his subordinates. Even the 2 warships were cut off from the mother processor A.I, making them not trackable by the mother processor.
After 3 days of waiting and not getting any results, Master Red Mask hypothesized and became sure that the Atlantians already devoured his hunters.
In his opinion, the Megalodon was already caught by Atlantis so he shouldnβt be too afraid since the mighty Empire was too big to target them but it was when his danger intuition said otherwise that he was shocked.
Was Atlantis about to target his organization?
Instantly, Master Red Mask was alarmed. He knew all his bounty hunters, they were good but not really committed to the cause, they only came for the money and if the money ever left, they would leave too.
He knew that if they were pressured, his bounty hunters would not hesitate much before revealing everything that they knew about the bounty organization.
This was why Master Red Mask put the headquarters on yellow alert.
On yellow alert, the headquarters became prepared for an attack without making it too obvious.
Master Red Mask contemplated informing overall headquarters, but since he didnβt confirm the danger yet, he declined from doing so.
This way, he waited anxiously for one week now while trying to guess what happened. The more time passed, the more he feared for the worst.
The scenarios were too numerous to count. It may be that his bounty hunters completed the mission but were now being pursued, so they decided to lie low and wait till all the hype to capture them died down.
It may be that Captain Omega really ambushed his bounty hunters, and a mighty Division Atlantian Fleet was already heading his way.
Or it may even be the mighty Great White Kingdom that intervened.
Master Red Mask held his chin as he looked at the glowing water outside through his glass window while contemplating. "What exactly happened there?"
Immediately after he asked this question, Master Red Mask squinted his eyes as he looked outside through his window. By squinting his eyes, his reptilian orange eyes seemed to glow, forming a contrast to his blue skin.
Runes seemed to appear in his eyes as he could now see everything clearly. The next moment, his eyes relaxed but there was puzzlement inside them.
"Send a strike team out there, intercept the warship!"
Without wasting a moment, Master Red Mask grabbed his communication device and gave orders to his subordinates.
This was when the guards finally discovered the lone warship.
Wom! Wom! Wom!
Alarms immediately started blaring loudly as this organization headquarters entered a state of high alert. To the surprise and happiness of the bounty hunters, when the warship came close, it was theirs.
"They came back!"
"They came back!" All of them cheered loudly the next moment.
All of them knew of the recent most important mission of the organization.
The Black bounty issued by Atlantis on Sebastian was so important that no other bounty mission could eclipse it, every one of them knew the warships and the bounty hunters that were sent to go on this mission.
This was why when this warship came closer, they recognized it.
At this moment, this warship was scarred with battle damage which was effects of having gone through a great battle.
As the other bounty hunters cheered loudly, the hatch of the warship finally opened as the weary bounty hunters who survived the great battle came out.
They all sustained serious injuries, but what mattered was that they survived.
Bzzz!
Like the flash, a blue-colored humanoid figure appeared before the 4 bounty hunters who apparently were the survivors of this high-grade mission.
Master Red Mask looked critically at the 4 survivors like his eyes could penetrate their souls and know the secrets hidden within, but yet, despite looking hard, to his surprise, he saw no guilt in them, only sincerity.
This was weird, but this veteran predator variant human held his thoughts to himself as he asked the next moment.
"Where is the target?"
"Here he is". One of the bounty hunters gestured towards the warship.
Master Red Mask turned to look, and once he looked, his orange eyes clashed with a pair of pitch-black eyes that almost seemed to paralyze his soul.
This was all the hint that he needed to confirm what he wanted. Now furious, Master Red Mask turned his head to face his 4 subordinates.
"You dared to lie to me...?" He stopped mid-way in shock as, before his very eyes, the 4 bounty hunters before him dissipated into nothingness.
Then, he heard a voice that chilled his heart.
"Donβt bother, they are my doppelgangers".
"Nice to meet you, Master Red Mask".
"..."
