My Scumbag System Chapter 627: An Alliance of Vipers

Her face went pale.

Good.

They took her away. I turned back to Reyna. The medics had her on a stretcher now. IV in her arm. Monitoring equipment attached to her temples.

She looked so small. So fragile. The woman who’d thrown lightning around like party favors reduced to this.

Veronica appeared at my side. I hadn’t heard her approach. Her face was a mask of carefully controlled fury.

"Report," she said. "Everything. Now."

I told her. The ambush. The devices. The Valerius connection. The woman’s admission that Reyna was a test subject for experimental technology.

Veronica listened without interruption. When I finished, her expression hadn’t changed. But her hands had curled into fists so tight I could see the tendons standing out against her skin.

"The Valerius family," she said slowly. "Just declared war on Olympus Rising."

"Looks that way."

"They used a Gate crisis. Endangered civilians. Attacked my sister while she was defenseless after saving those same civilians." Her voice was still calm. Still controlled. But there was something beneath it now. Something that reminded me very much of Natalia when she was truly angry.

Cold. Patient. Deadly.

"I’m going to destroy them," Veronica said, each word carefully enunciated, deliberate. "Every single asset. Every connection. Every scrap of influence they’ve ever accumulated over generations. I’m going to tear it all down piece by piece until there’s nothing left but ashes and regret and the bitter memory of what they lost."

I believed her. Every word. This wasn’t rage talking. This was a promise. This was a CEO outlining a business plan where the product was vengeance and the timeline was "until they’re buried."

"But first." She turned to face me fully, and the intensity of her gaze was like being pinned under a spotlight. Her eyes searched my face with the precision of someone who’d spent years reading people for a living. "You protected Reyna. Those devices should have worked on you. Any normal Hunter would have been incapacitated within seconds. I watched the footage on the way here—you didn’t even slow down."

Ah. There it was. The question I’d been dreading since the moment I’d realized just how thoroughly those dampeners had failed against me.

"I’ve always been resistant to unusual energy signatures," I said, keeping my voice level, matter-of-fact. Half-truth. The best kind of lie. "Something about my Aspect’s nature. The VHC thinks it’s why I was able to absorb that lightning blast during the tournament without getting fried."

Veronica’s eyes narrowed fractionally. She didn’t believe me. Not entirely. I could see the calculations running behind those bright green eyes, the pieces being assembled, the questions being filed away for later.

But she also wasn’t going to push. Not now. Not when her sister was being loaded into a medical transport with tubes and wires attached to her body. Not when there were prisoners to interrogate and evidence to secure and a war to plan.

"We’ll discuss this later," she said, her tone making it clear that "discuss" was a polite euphemism for "interrogate until I get real answers." "After Reyna is stabilized and out of danger. After I’ve had a chance to review the complete footage and personally interview the prisoners. After I’ve ripped through every frame of security data from this entire operation."

She turned to leave, her blonde curls swaying with the motion. Took three steps toward the edge of the rooftop. Stopped.

"Thank you," she said without looking back, her voice softer now, the CEO mask slipping just enough to reveal the terrified older sister beneath. "For protecting her when I couldn’t. Whatever secrets you’re keeping, Nakano-san, that debt is real. I don’t forget debts."

Then she was gone, following the medical transport down the stairwell, her heels clicking against the concrete in a rapid, purposeful rhythm.

I stood alone on the rooftop. The sounds of the cleanup operation drifted up from below. Hunters calling to each other. Equipment being packed. The occasional distant scream of a monster being put down.

The pendant pulsed against my chest. Natalia.

I pulled out my phone. One new message.

I typed back.

Her response was immediate.

A long pause. Then:

I could almost hear her voice. The wheels turning in her head. The implications being sorted and categorized and filed away for future analysis.

her next message said.

Family. The word hit different than it used to.

I typed back.

The pendant warmed against my skin. Love and rage and promise all tangled together in that supernatural connection.

I sent.

Her response came after a long moment. Three words that somehow carried more weight than any elaborate declaration could have.

I smiled despite everything. Put the phone away.

The city spread out below me. Millions of people going about their lives. Most of them had no idea how close they’d come to disaster tonight. How many had almost died because a Gate opened in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And now the Valerius family had added a new wrinkle to an already complicated situation. Experimental tech that could suppress Aspects. Political maneuvering during a crisis. A direct attack on one of Valoria’s most beloved Hunter prospects.

Thursday’s meeting with Seraphina suddenly felt a lot more dangerous.

Nel’s voice drifted through my mind.

Wonderful. I was putting on a good show for the gods while my girlfriend lay in a medical transport with her powers possibly gone forever.

I asked silently.

Sleep. Right. Like that was going to happen.

I took one last look at the city below. At the smoke still rising from the Gate location. At the distant lights of the Olympus Rising compound where Reyna was being rushed to their medical facility.

Two days.

Two days to figure out how to face Seraphina with the knowledge that her organization had created me.

Two days to find a way to help Reyna recover from what the Valerius tech had done to her.

Two days to prepare for whatever Julian and his family were planning next.

No pressure.

I touched the pendant one more time. Felt Natalia’s presence like a warm hand on my shoulder.

Then I headed for the stairs. The real work was just beginning.