Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 207: The Hideout

Stanley stared at the bag he was holding with a strange expression. "Guns?" he asked.

"And bullets, grenades, and some large blasters," Sol said. "Let’s go."

He walked forward, letting Stanley follow him. Nova walked next to Sol, in front of Stanley as well.

Stanley only then got to properly look at them now that he was out of the car.

Sol was huge, with a large build and tall height. His head was bulky with the sides of his shaved and brown hair remaining at the top.

He wore a leather jacket and gray pants that seemed to hug his large legs.

Stanley couldn’t see anything any mechanical upgrades done to the man, but there was no way of telling exactly.

Nova had her face hidden behind the hood, but her tied-up bright blue hair was striking in color when compared to everyone else Stanley saw walking around.

She wore a tight leather suit and was currently hiding the metal chain that wrapped around her arm.

Her build wasn’t that big. Especially when walking next to Sol, she looked practically like a child. However, she was about the same height as Stanley, just thinner.

Stanley looked at the two with curious eyes and continued following them. He also looked around the place he had come to.

Dirty streets, grafitti filled walls, corners filled with trashes, dark and desolate, snow that wasn’t cleared in days.

"What is this place?" Stanley asked with a wondering look.

"This? This is the Low, a place where those in the High don’t want to visit," Nova said. "This is the sort of place that cops don’t visit. The type of place where if someone dies, the media doesn’t cover it."

"This is the type of place where you could die a dog’s death and no one would mourn for you."

"Essentially," Sol spoke. "This is the crime-filled section of the city that the others see as a diseased wound to cut off than treat it."

"So... it is just the slum," Stanley asked.

"Oh no," Nova said. "People here aren’t poor like in the slum. They are quite rich, or at least well off. It’s just that most of them are criminals and thus the ones in power don’t like it so much."

"I see," Stanley said.

"Here," Nova gestured toward a building and they quickly went toward it. However, instead of taking the front door, they walked into the alleyway, going past the pile of snow and trash.

In the end, there was a metal door that Sol banged on three times and then twice, and then once.

After waiting for a while, the door opened a little and a man peered from the crack.

"Oh, you guys are back quickly," he said, opening the door entirely.

The young man that stood there was curly-haired, and was wearing simple baggy jeans and a tank top with some thick golden necklaces around his neck. He had tanned skin, more tanned than Sol’s, and had two earrings on him.

"Fred, meet John," Nova said, walking in quickly. "He’s part of the gang now."

"Oh, new guy? Hey! How’s it going?" the young man spoke.

Stanley paused for a second, a little taken aback by the name. It jogged a few memories that made him feel a little melancholic.

"Are you just gonna stand there?" Fred asked. "Cause it’s kinda cold."

Stanley got out of his stupor and quickly walked in through the door, greeting Fred as he went past the.

"You guys came back kinda quick," Fred said. "I thought you wouldn’t be coming for another 3 hours at least."

"Well, we didn’t have to waste much time in with the Vandalizers once I showed off a little," Nova said. "Sol, stash those guns. Fred, show John around. I’m tired, so I’m gonna go take a nap."

"Whatever you say, boss," Fred said before turning toward Stanley. "Come on, new guy. Let me show you the place."

Stanley nodded and looked around the place.

The inside of the building was dark with cyan and magenta lights filling everything. It looked as if the light fixture inside had a neon sign stolen from outside and that was what was being used to light up the place.

The place looked cramped with barely any maintenance done to it at all. Stanley followed Fred, looking everywhere, and saw that most of the place had metal shelves, all of which had rusted mostly.

"This is the hall. This used to be an old storage facility for some big companies. When the Low became lawless, they had to leave and this place got left behind," Fred said. "There’s the kitchen, but you won’t find much food there. We order most of what we eat."

He pointed to another room to the right of the kitchen.

"There’s the training room, but it is small so probably won’t be of much help to you. That right there is Sol’s room, that is mine, that is Vera’s and I suppose that empty one is yours now."

"Vera?" Stanley asked.

"Yes," Fred said quickly walking to the room and knocking on it a few times before opening. What they saw inside was a mess of a place with single-use dishes lying around, some half eaten.

There were clothes everywhere as well, and it was hard to tell what was trash and what was normal.

In the corner of the room was a girl with her hoodie on, laying on her bed while swinging her legs behind her.

She was on her computer, looking at something. Stanley looked to the wall adjacent to where the bed was and saw a load of computers that covered the walls.

"Vera!" Fred shouted. "VERA!"

The girl quickly pulled down her hood and took off her headphones to look at Fred with baggy eyes.

"We got a newcomer to the team. This is John," Fred said.

"Oh, hey!" Vera said. "It’s good to see you." Then, she put on her headphones and ignored the two.

"She’s like that," Fred said. "Come, let me show you the rest of the place."