Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 233: Attack on the Gang

Ulia stared at Stanley for a while before it all clicked. "So... you didn’t betray the association?" she asked.

"No!" Stanley said. "I’m offended you all even thought that."

"Not all of us," Ulia said. "Sheila refused to believe, and the Director said nothing about it, so I don’t know what he was thinking."

"Anyway, can you talk to the headquarters and tell them not to kill these gang members please?" Stanley said, sighing in relief that he got here.

However, Ulia’s face changed a little. "I already sent them to attack," she said.

"What?" Stanley asked.

"The scouting ended this morning. Tonight we attack," she said with a solemn face.

"But you told Fred that tomorrow..." Stanley paused as he realized what was happening.

He was such an idiot. He believed Fred’s words, which came from Ulia who was lying to him. If she told him that tomorrow was a big day, then it was not because she was trying to attack them tomorrow.

But because he wouldn’t be alive by tomorrow. She had planned for it all to end today.

"Quick! Tell them to fall back," Stanley said. "You should still be in contact with them right?"

Ulia quickly nodded and tapped the back of her ear. "Mission Abort. Return from there at once. We need to reevaluate the mission," she told the people who could hear her.

They waited for a second and Ulia spoke again. "Yes, new information has come up. Our targets appear valuable for another mission. Abort for now and return. We’ll need to wait for the headquarter’s—"

She paused and stared at Stanley with a weird look on her face.

"What?" Stanley asked with a fearful look.

"I... I told them, and all of them will return," Ulia said. "But one won’t."

"It’s alright," Stanley said. "Why do you look afraid."

"Because... the one that won’t return... is Hank," she said.

Stanley paused for a bit and remembered the handsome man he met back a month and a half ago.

Hank... of The 5.

He knew about the 5, as much as he was allowed to at least, and the one thing he knew about Hank was that when he started, no one could stop him.

And it seemed he had already started.

"Shit!" Stanley thought and turned around. "Does he know where we live?"

"Yes, they know everything," Ulia said. "I fear... it might be too late."

"No," Stanley said. "I won’t let that happen."

He pushed the ground so hard that it made a crater and dashed. His sudden movement left behind a cloud of snow and a sonic boom that rattled the glasses on the windows around the city.

Ulia could feel her ears pop as her eardrums were no more. No matter though, they would grow back in a day, and while they were gone, the medical nanomachines in her bloodstream would help her hear for now.

"Everyone, fall back. You will find someone coming toward you, do not engage," she said and cut out.

Stanley didn’t breathe and just ran. There was no point for him to breathe at all. It was difficult to do so when time was slowed down, and it would only ruin his concentration.

He momentarily stopped slowing down time instead and let the air flow into his lungs as he ran. While he was slowed down and running, each snowflake that landed on him felt like a rock had hit him.

The lights around him shimmered in various different ways as the layer of air around him twisted it in different ways.

Sounds hit his face as he was faster than sound itself.

Never before had he run this far, for this long at this speed. The experience was unique, even though it had most likely caused a lot of trouble for the ones he had passed.

He had certainly left behind a gust of wind that could blow away even men who were trying to brace for it.

Even with the world around him seemingly distorted, he arrived close to the Blue Oasis’s headquarters, where he saw people surrounding it in secret.

He wondered why they hadn’t left already when he saw something bright coming from the building’s windows. And then something smashed through and a person fell to the ground.

He stopped along the snow and saw someone... or something stir on the ground. The bright lights around the road showed blood on the ground. Had someone died?

He quickly ran up and saw the pool of blood before he even got close to it. The side of the body made him think it was Fred.

However, when he got close, he realized that it wasn’t Fred, Sol, or even Nova.

It was a beast of a man with facial muscles that seemed contorted, hair that was in a mess, mouth with blood on it. His hands suddenly moved and Stanley moved along with it.

He stepped back and looked as Hank, the one from The 5, tried to attack him.

"Hank," he spoke softly so that no one else could listen to him speak. "You need to go back."

However, the man who was more monster right now didn’t listen. Having missed Stanley, his hands landed on the snow on the ground where he grabbed a handful of the bloody red snow and chomped on it.

Stanley stood back seeing the horrifying look. He knew little about Hank’s power, so this was his first time seeing this. Hank ignored him and continued eating the bloody snow until he got back up.

Stanley looked at his clothes and saw a ripped plastic bag from where the blood still dripped.

’So it wasn’t his or anyone else’s blood,’ Stanely thought. That was safe.

"John?" someone shouted from the broken window above him. "Is that You?" Stanley looked up and saw Fred looking down on him.

He shook his head constantly while looking down and the gun in his hand didn’t point straight. Something was wrong with him, even though outwardly, it didn’t look like he was hurt at all.

"Fred!" Stanley answered back. "What’s happening?"

"It’s you? Kill that monster," Fred shouted. "He hurt Sol."

Sol. Stanley only then realized what the bright flash of light was from before. It was Sol’s powers.

The bright flash of light was probably what had just blinded him and was causing him problems with targeting.

Was that what was causing Hank to not attack him as well? Now that he looked at Hank carefully, it didn’t look like he was going off of sight, but off smell.

That was why he was eating the snow which had a bloody smell right now.

Stanley heard Fred asking him to kill the man once again and hesitated. There was no way that he was going to kill Hank here, but... how could he let him go?

As he was thinking, Hank suddenly looked up. His eyes were wide as a beast, his pupils dilated to the point where the pupil was the entire iris.

Then, he smiled as a bloody fang showed itself.

Stanley was surprised. Hank had already healed from the previous attack. Stanley didn’t know it yet, but blood healed any and all wounds that Hank got, and it gave him incredible strength and speed too.

The man suddenly launched at him and Stanley casually pushed him to the side. He landed on the snow, but quickly turned and came at him with a rather quick speed.

Aside from Max, this was the fastest person Stanley had encountered upto date. There were many faster kids back in the Defenders program for sure, but none were as fast as him.

And few were as strong either.

Hank didn’t punch or grapple. He clawed. His nails were long and sharp like that of a beast, and he used them to claw at Stanley.

Stanley dodged at the last moment and punched Hank slowly at the side of the head. He didn’t want to hurt Hank, of course, so he could only throw out weak punches that looked strong.

However, to his surprise, Hank dodged it.

He moved his head at the last second and slammed his head onto Stanley at the last moment. Stanley felt the full force of the head slam and found himself flung back.

He landed on a pile of snow and broken glasses. None of them hurt him, not even the headbutt he had taken to his chest. But he was most certainly surprised. After all, he hadn’t expected Hank to hit him this hard.

’So, he is strong, huh?’ he thought and got up right as he was attacked again.

Stanley grabbed onto Hank’s palm as it clawed toward him. Hank tried to claw even when his hand was interlocked with his. The long nails tried to dig into Stanley’s skin, but they weren’t able to.

Unable, Hank tried to attack with his other hand. An instinctual move that proved useless again. Once again, he tried to dig into Stanley’s hands, and that proved useless too.

Stanley stopped his leg from landing on him and pushed it to the side while stepping on his other leg before it could even move.

Then, he looked at Hank as he went in for a headbutt.

Hank tried his hardest to slam his head onto Stanley, but it proved fruitless as Stanley propped up his head to take the brunt of the damage. Hank felt the pain in return and Stanley felt nothing else.

As he felt dizzy, Stanley looked at Hank and spoke once more. "Are you ready to listen to me?" he asked. "I need you to fall back."