Chapter 592: The Bonds That Hold the Strike Force
Chapter: The Bonds That Hold the Strike Force
Ethan’s expression was uneasy. Astrid was undeniably powerful—perhaps even stronger than Blackie—but now that she had regained some measure of consciousness and stopped clinging to him, he found himself strangely unsettled by the change.
She had always been like a ticking time bomb in the back of his mind. Yet seeing her behave so tenderly toward Lyla, he couldn’t bring himself to interfere. He could only let them go, watching silently as the two disappeared through the doorway.
"You all should head out too. Stay in contact at all times," Ethan said to the others once Lyla and Astrid were gone.
Moments later, each squad collected their assigned lists and dispersed. The missions spanned every corner of the country—cities, states, even remote regions. Every team included at least one skilled fighter, and some had flyers, creating a mobile strike force that quickly spread out from the northern part of the country like ripples across water.
The Whitmore family compound, once filled with constant noise and movement, grew suddenly quiet. Matriarch Whitmore had already retired to her chambers to rest. Ethan had originally meant to give her one of the lists, but Lyla had claimed that responsibility instead.
Outside the shrine, several women lingered at the entrance, their eyes following Lyla, Dragon Child, and Astrid with troubled expressions. The truth weighed heavily on them. They were too weak to be of use, and worse than that, they were becoming burdens.
They glanced at one another, and in those brief looks, saw the same thought reflected: helplessness.
"You two should have a chat," Ethan said to Celeste and Leo, his voice tinged with teasing amusement.
Then he turned toward the man who had been standing silently in the corner. "Williams, come on. Let’s talk too."
Williams’s body stiffened, a visible tremor running through him. It wasn’t fear, Ethan realized, but shame.
Ethan gave him a faint smile and stepped outside first. As soon as he emerged, he found the women waiting for him, their faces etched with worry.
"What are you all still standing around for? Don’t we need to eat after a mission?" Ethan said with mock sternness. "You’re my logistics team. Go and prepare something good. When we return, we’ll celebrate our victory together."
He offered them a reassuring smile before walking off with Williams in tow. The women stood frozen for a moment, only snapping back to themselves once Ethan had gone some distance.
"We need to prepare too. We’re not useless—we’ve got our own battle to fight," Nora said firmly. The others exchanged smiles, their spirits lifted, and nodded in agreement.
Ethan led the way while Williams trailed behind. Several times, Williams opened his mouth to speak but swallowed the words again.
"Stop dragging your feet and pick up the pace. What are you, a woman?" Ethan finally snapped, halting to glare back at him.
"Boss... I..." Williams began, his voice unsteady.
"Enough with the ’I this’ and ’I that.’ If you want to save your wife, then move. Do you realize she might not have eaten or had water for three or four days already?" Ethan cut him off sharply, his pace quickening toward the entrance of the Whitmore family’s Hidden Territory.
The truth was, Ethan’s own guilt weighed as heavily as Williams’s shame. Wasn’t Williams’s predicament entirely because of him? Director Vaughn had taken Williams’s wife only to use her against Ethan.
When Celeste had first revealed Williams as a mole, Ethan had felt betrayed, even furious. But once he learned the full story, the anger had dissolved into guilt. If not for him, Williams’s wife would never have been captured in the first place.
Williams stopped in his tracks, staring at Ethan’s back with a swirl of confusion and pain. Slowly, that turmoil hardened into resolve.
’The boss doesn’t blame me...’
That thought gave Williams strength. He clenched his teeth, quickened his pace, and caught up with Ethan.
The two soon left the Whitmore family’s Hidden Territory and boarded the colossal Shatterstar mech. The sight left Williams dumbfounded, his jaw slack with awe.
"Williams, this is my biggest trump card," Ethan said with a meaningful smile.
Williams’s chest tightened. After a moment, he whispered, "Boss, you can trust me..." Just five words, yet they carried all the loyalty he had to give.
"If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have brought you here. But in the future, if anything happens, you tell your brothers—don’t carry it alone." Ethan clapped him on the shoulder.
"Yes, sir." Williams’s eyes reddened instantly at those words.
"Alright, enough with the waterworks. We’ve got a job to do."
Ethan stretched out in the virtual control pod. "Set destination: outskirts of Ashwick."
The mech acknowledged the command and launched into motion, ripples of light folding around it as it cut through space. Shatterstar lifted from Dragonvault Ridge and swept across the Ashhorn Mountains toward their target.
This time, Ethan kept the mech at a slower pace, deliberately holding back. While en route, he opened communications to check in with the other teams. Coordination was everything; if they attacked too soon, the plan would fall apart.
Although most of his people could fly, none came close to matching Shatterstar’s speed. Some had been dispatched to nearby cities, others to far-off states. They all needed to arrive at their posts together.
Ethan synced the mech’s comm system with everyone’s phones, opening a group line.
"Ethan, I’ve already reached the Zane family!" Lyla’s voice came through first, bright and breathless.
"What? Already? Aren’t they all the way out on Crescent Isle?" Ethan was stunned.
"That’s right, it’s the farthest one! But you don’t know how fast Astrid is. It only took us four minutes from the time we left!" Lyla’s voice overflowed with excitement.
"Damn... she’s even faster than me," Blackie muttered. His voice crackled through the line from Riverside City, where he was still en route. Blackie could fly using his electrical manipulation, yet Astrid had left him completely behind.
A dry voice chimed in right after. "As a man, is being fast really something to brag about?" Micah said, deadpan.
"We’ve arrived." Victor’s calm tone followed. He and Regis had been sent into the Badlands Territory. Regis, the strongest among them, didn’t waste words; the silence beside Victor’s voice said enough.
"I’m here too." That was Starfall, handling the Mountain Ridge state alone. Ethan paused at that. The distance he had covered wasn’t much less than Lyla and Astrid’s, yet he had arrived just as quickly. The man’s strength was in a different league.
"Hold positions. No one moves until all teams are ready. We strike together," Ethan ordered through the comms.
Half an hour later, another voice came through at last. "We... arrived too," Maria reported.
Ethan frowned slightly. Dragon Child was formidable, and in her Blue Dragon form her speed should have rivaled Astrid’s. Yet her team was the last to check in. Magnolia Valley wasn’t even the farthest assignment.
Before Ethan could ask, Markham’s voice broke in, exasperated. "Maria, I’m begging you—don’t get lost during the mission, alright?"