Scorp was following the mutants trail like a bloodhound. At full speed he was running, quite strong in the belief that the mutant would not set up an ambush, because it was a good possibility that the Brotherhood would have send out a lot of men to hunt him down. The trail was still easy to follow, because the mutant did not yet stop to bandage his wounds. He soon would have to, even mutants get weak if they loose too much blood.
The mutant was moving south-west, so he was not retracing his steps. He was moving to a new destination, not the one where they had met the first time. However it was clear the mutant did not know the surrounding terrain, but Scorp did. He had once plagued these lands as a raider. If the mutant kept his heading he would hit a small canyon, which would force him to go south to continue his heading.
Scorp would use that to his advantage. It was quite a gamble to leave the trail, but it could mean Scorp would be able to intercept the mutant and Thorgrimm just before nightfall. On the other hand, if he was wrong, and the mutant fooled him, it would mean losing an entire day of tracking.
Scorp got to the canyon just before sundown. He set up position on a small hill next to the canyon. Hopefully the mutant would move along the canyon to try to spot a way over, instead of turning away from it. Scorp unfolded his bipod and quickly ran a check of his weapon. Then he just lay there waiting.
Time passed and uncertainty set in. What if the mutant had not bandaged his wounds and had already passed by? What if the mutant did know the terrain and fooled Scorp? What if the mutant had only held his heading for a short while and then changed course to fool any pursuers?
All doubts faded when the big mutant erupted from the woodland with Thorgrimm thrown over his shoulder. Scorp's position was perfect. The sun was setting in his back, making him hard to see. He also had the highground and all tactical advantages that accompanied it. Scorp waited for the mutant to get nearby. Unfortunately, being a bit nervous, he moved a bit and some rocks rolled down the hill.
The mutant immediately placed Thorgrimm on his feet, in front of him, reduced to nothing more than a human shield. Scorp had screwed up his opportunity, this would become a standoff.
"Who's there?!? Come out or I'll snap his puny little neck!" The mutant called out.
"Do that and you're gonna regret it for the rest of your life... Both seconds of it." Scorp replied without standing up or making his position known. The sun was his ally.
"The grenade throwing scumbag? You track fast for normie!" The mutant said while he slowly took aim in the general direction Scorp's voice had come out of.
Scorp did not have a clear shot. If only he had been a sniper, instead of a supportgunner. He might have been able to blow the muties head clean off... unfortunately this was not the case. Scorp could not see any way out of this standoff, not without harming Thorgrimm that is.
The mutants damaged huge hand was resting on Thorgrimms neck, ready to snap it like a twig. His intact hand was holding his big rifle pointed at the ridge Scorp was on.
Then out of nothing, Thorgrimms foot went up backwards and kicked the mutant square in the nuts. A splitsecond Scorp was expecting the mutants balls to pop out of his mouth. But the mutant only released his firm grip on Thors neck and enabled Thor to take a step aside. The mutant noticed and even in his pain he tried to aim his rifle to at least take Thorgrimm out.
Scorp didn't wait that long. A five round burst left his SAW. apparently some bullets hit the mutants rifle as a load metallic noise could be heard. The rifle was pressed to his chest and even a mutant could not withstand the stoppingpower. The mutant was pushed over the edge of the canyon, falling in and rolling down.
Scorp picked up his SAW and ran down the little ridge he was on as quickly as possible. When he reached Thorgrimm he quickly looked down the canyon to see the body, only, there was none... Only a large green stain on the canyon floor revealed what had happened. The mutant had survived...
On any other day Scorp would immediately gone after the damn mutie, but today he was just happy to have rescued his new friend. Friends were a rare thing for Scorp. He got along with very little people and even harder was it to find people that got along with him.
"I guess I was wrong about you, Scorpio. You're not an asshole after all." Thorgrimm said as Scorp was cutting his hands free.
"No, you were right. I'm just your kind of asshole." Scorp replied with a big smirk on his face as he kicked the heavily damaged mutants rifle down the canyon.
