Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 68: Preparation

The mayor arrived at the Defenders headquarters early in the morning and handed off the papers full of strategy to the ones that were in charge of the Defenders at the time.

It was a group of Defenders that could no longer fight due to injuries or had powers that weren’t fit for fighting the Crawlers that ended up doing this job.

The mayor could never remember who exactly worked there as the people in charge kept on changing every time he was down here, so he never bothered learning about them.

The man in charge today was someone he had seen before and interacted with before, but never knew the name of. Still, he talked with him as if he knew exactly who he was talking to.

"How many Defenders can we have on this?" the mayor asked the man.

The tall, bald man with a thick mustache and beard thought for a bit and answered. "We can have about 30 different Defenders on this. The rest will either be working in the veil or be tired from working all day. I don’t think we can have those ones do the work."

The mayor shook his head. "That’s not nearly enough," he said. "We need at least 80 people if not more."

The man frowned at the response. "I don’t see how we can do that. Unless we cut the number of Defenders working in the city completely, it’s not possible," he said.

"Cut the ones working in the veil," the Mayor said. "We most likely won’t be needed there for now."

The man couldn’t believe what he was hearing. "It’s been 3 months since the last attack. It’s about time for the next attack. We can’t possibly not have Defenders there."

The mayor’s face changed. "You’re right. Urgh, I’m so annoyed by this that I can’t even think straight," he said. "Okay, cut the number of people working in the city during the day. Stop giving missions to them and have them wait for the night."

The man finally agreed with the mayor. "That is most likely the best approach," he said. "Still, that only brings us to about 60 or so people. 70 if we push it a little far. Not the 80 that you’re hoping for. I hope that’s alright with you."

"Hmm... I am overshooting a bit with the numbers just in case the Defenders get overwhelmed which is why I said 80," the Mayor said. "But if 70 is all we could do, then that’s alright. We have no other choice, do we?"

The man looked at the paper in front of him and said, "Actually, we do have another choice, to increase the number I mean."

The mayor looked up. "Without lowering the people working in the veil?" he asked.

"Yes," the man said. "How about we have the 3rd years trainees work with us tonight? They might not be the best, but they’re only half a year away from becoming actual Defenders."

"Oh, you’re right," the mayor said. "That’s not a bad idea. However, we cannot just have any of the help us. We need the best of the best."

The mayor thought for a bit and said, "Look at their records from when they took the last exam and choose the 15 best trainees to help us. Those should be enough."

The man nodded. "Those should be enough."

* * * * *

After 6 days and resting and training, Stanley was surprisingly back to being in good health again. His body had recovered quickly, which he was able to do for a while now.

From what he guessed, that power of his was probably the reason why the muscle atrophy problem the mayor had talked about didn’t affect him as much.

That and his super strong body.

Along with those two powers, his Danger Warning still worked. It had only come up once or twice in the last 6 days, but every time they came, he still remember his mother’s death.

However, probably because he was so used to it by now, he was no longer affected as extremely as before. Still, if possible, he chose to ignore those feelings the moment they came.

They were danger warnings after all. Just knowing that he was in danger was enough for him. He didn’t have to force himself to understand every minute detail about those feelings certainly.

None of his 3 powers still had any activation requirement. None of them were powers he truly understood just yet either, which still confused him as to whether they were his powers or not.

Stanley was still stuck on the idea that his brother had planted in him. He liked to believe that his powers were still awakening and when it fully awakened, he would finally have the activation ritual along with fully understanding what his powers were.

Now that he was ready to work again, Stanley went down to get his schedule for the day.

He had no idea what he was going to do anymore or if he was even going to be part of the same team as Freddy or not.

He arrived inside the training arena and saw a group of students off to the side. He saw Desmond there, so he assumed that was Desmond and his friends, grouping together.

’Is it his day off today?’ he thought. ’Why are there so many of them?’

"Stanley!" someone shouted at him.

Stanley turned around and saw Aaron, his favorite teacher wave at him. He quickly went up to the teacher and asked, "Did you need something, sir?"

Aaron looked at Stanley up and down for a few moments. "I had heard you were injured, are you alright now?" he asked.

Stanley moved around his arm to show that there was no problem. "Yep, I’m perfectly healthy," he said.

"Good," the teacher said. "Then go there and wait. We have something to tell you all."

Stanley looked in the direction the teacher pointed and saw that it was Desmond’s group. He sighed, hesitating for a moment before over to that group in a reluctant manner.