Garren stood before the bomb in the underground parking lot with a technician working on it.

The parking lot was empty except for a few vehicles that they had come with. The members of the Azure Clan stood close by, waiting for him to get done with dealing with the bomb.

The bomb itself was a square box about half a meter in length. It was mostly covered in metal, with a few wires pulled tightly through the side. There was also a simple screen on the side, which the technician was working on.

"Master, I’ve fitted it to go off right at 1 P.M. today," he said.

"Are there chances of it exploding on its own? We don’t want any mishap," Garren said.

"No, you need an unnatural amount of charge to detonate the core inside. It’s not something that can easily be done," the technician said. "Should I make any more adjustments?"

"No, that’s enough," Garren said, looking at the time on his watch. He made sure the two clocks were synchronized. "Are the wires fitted as I asked?"

"Yes," the technician said. "There is one in almost all sections of the plaza, and I believe more are being added."

"Good," Garren said. "You all should leave. Go to the edge of the city. Actually, no, even beyond. Who knows how far the debris from this gets thrown off."

The technician nodded and walked off.

"Ogre!" he spoke softly.

"Yes master?" the giant man responded from the side.

"My sister should be arriving soon right? Make sure to prepare to take her away before the explosion. You need to be able to leave at least 15 minutes before the explosion. I don’t want—"

"ARGH!" someone cried out.

Garren turned around just in time to see what had happened.

Stanley jumped into the scene, firing at 4 different people at once in the underground parking lot, one of which was the technician who was making his way out.

3 bullets hit Garren as well, with another 2 hitting the ogre in the arm as he blocked his master’s head. Instantly, everyone activated their shields, ready to fight.

Garren felt the pain burn through his thigh, right shoulder and left lung. The bullet had missed his heart, but nearly. He was bleeding out.

Thankfully, his powers worked to counteract that. As long as he wasn’t instantly killed, his lightning would regenerate him from all kinds of wounds. The holes and burns left by the plasma shots slowly mended themselves and he no longer had to hide behind the giant Ogre.

Garren’s eyes buzzed with lightning, his nerves feeling its effect as well. He could take in every piece of information as quickly as he got it, and the speed improved by his technique. He saw Stanley and he saw him fire his gun again.

Garren rushed forward, not afraid of the gun thanks to his shield, but suddenly stopped.

Nova walked down the staircase to the side as well, a gun in her hand pointed at someone.

"Sister?" Garren paused.

Nova turned toward Garren. "Hello brother," she said, staring directly into his shocked eyes. "I’ve come to kill you."

She shot him 3 times before she realized it wasn’t working.

Fred walked in after her, his gun ready to shoot as well.

"What... are you doing here?" Garren asked, completely ignoring the fact that he was shot by her.

Nova looked at her brother with anger in her eyes, but she did not ignore the thing that she had come here for. She saw the metallic box next to Ogre, far behind her brother.

"Slaughtering a city just to make yourself strong," she spoke with thick venom in her voice. "How much further will you fall, brother? You killed our parents, but that wasn’t enough for you, was it? Now you want to destroy an entire city. What next, the entire world?"

"How did you..." His brain’s computational powers had multiplied dozens of times, but even he couldn’t understand how she could’ve possibly figured out what he was doing.

Who gave her this info? Was it his men? Or was it the other Nova’s group? No, they wouldn’t know who she was. Maybe the senior? Garren couldn’t think of anyone.

"Dammit!" Stanley said softly, looking at the bomb in the distance. "If I knew the bomb was here, I would’ve killed him the moment I came." Not that he hadn’t tried to kill him. He had shot for his head, but the other big guy had protected him.

"I should’ve used my sword," Stanley said, putting the guns aside and pulling the sword out of its case. "If only I knew."

Fred looked around the room. "So many shields," he said. "It will be hard for me to be useful here."

"Deal with the bomb then. See if you can shut it down somehow," Stanley said.

"I have no idea how to do that," Fred said.

"Shut it," Nova said from the side before looking toward her brother. "Shut down that bomb, or we will kill everyone down here."

"Nova, you need to leave this place," Garren said. "It’s dangerous. We can talk later."

"We have nothing to talk about," Nova said, the metal wires around her arm coming to life.

Garren looked at his sister and sighed. "You are hellbent on killing me, huh?" he said. "Very well. I did not want to do it the hard way, but if I must."

Nova raised an eyebrow.

"Ogre! Take my sister away from here. The rest of you, kill those two," Garren said. "I will be in the hall upstairs, waiting for the guests."

"You won’t be leaving here, you bastard!" Nova shouted, shooting at him. However, in a flash of lightning, Garren disappeared, leaving only the 3 of them down below.

Ogre walked forward. "Young miss, come with us," he said in a deep voice.

Nova looked at Stanley and Fred. "I’ll go find my brother. You two deal with the people here," she said.

Stanley and Fred both nodded at the same time.

"Got it."