After about fifteen minutes of waiting, the distant thrum of a helicopter grew louder, cutting through the quiet night air. Luke immediately spotted the arrival of the team.
"Well, it looks like those guys finally showed up," Luke said, stepping out of the car and shading his eyes as he watched the helicopter circle above the collapsed building.
On the cleaners' side,
The cleanup crew had already arrived at the cordoned perimeter. Their faces were serious as they took in the scale of the destruction.
One of the officers leaned closer to the commander, his voice low but tense.
"Commander, this one's going to take some time. The damage is... it's bad. Worse than usual. The foundation has been obliterated—completely shattered."
The commander took a slow, assessing look at the mess before him. Whole walls had pancaked into heaps, support beams twisted like brittle wire. Dust still hung in the air, shimmering under the floodlights. His voice came out calm but firm.
"Gather all visible bodies. Call in reinforcements and bring in heavy equipment. We'll clear it down to the last brick and bury whatever's left. No loose ends. If this gets out, it'll spark questions we don't want answered."
The officer hesitated, shifting uneasily before speaking again.
"But sir… don't you think it's strange? Only this building went down—nothing around it was touched. And right now, just before they're supposed to go to war with the vampires? Feels… too deliberate."
The commander's gaze drifted toward a gap in the debris where something unnatural caught his eye—long, jagged spikes of stone piercing upward through shattered concrete, skewering what little was left of a Lycan. The sight made his frown deepen.
"Yeah… and strange, how that one ended up being impaled. Those spikes look like they came out of the earth itself."
"You think someone did this?" the officer pressed, his tone cautious.
"It's possible," the commander said slowly, "but explosives don't do this. And why here, in the Lycans' own stronghold? This… doesn't add up."
Around them, the rest of the crew exchanged wary glances. The commander's words only deepened the unease already hanging over the site.
They all knew the signs of a standard hit, and this wasn't one of them. Something had taken down that building—something outside their understanding—and that meant trouble they weren't prepared for.
"That was caused by me," a voice said, breaking through the tense chatter like someone casually admitting they spilled a drink.
Every head turned instantly. Guns snapped up, barrels locking on the source without hesitation. Soldiers tensed, eyes narrowing, fingers brushing over triggers.
Out of the dim shadows stepped Luke and Selene.
Luke… looked like a guy who'd just borrowed a rifle from a friend and wasn't sure which end did the damage. His stance was loose, his hands slightly off-position, and the barrel swayed a little—just enough to make a couple of the more trained men twitch in irritation.
"Psshhh… Selene," Luke muttered, leaning toward her with a sideways glance, "uh… does this thing have the safety on, or…?"
Selene exhaled through her nose, that tiny sigh that meant she was already done with this conversation. "Yes. It's off. And if you don't know how to handle it, maybe just stick to your magic tricks."
"Hehe." Luke smirked, clearly not taking the hint. "I just wanted to try it."
In his head, he thought, Come on, guns and mechs are every guy's romance. Even if he had no idea what half the buttons or switches did, the weight of it in his hands made him want to at least fire it once.
The commander narrowed his eyes, giving Luke and Selene a slow, measured look. His gaze lingered just a little longer on Selene, recognizing the kind of danger that didn't need explaining.
Then he looked back at Luke, whose grip on the rifle didn't exactly scream "professional."
"Who the hell are you two? And what are you doing here?" he asked, voice firm and wary.
One of the soldiers at his side muttered under his breath, "What is this, a sitcom? We're in a warzone…"
Luke didn't even glance at him. He was here for one thing, and he decided to get straight to it.
"Well, I just want one thing—meet your boss," Luke said casually, like he was asking for directions to the nearest café.
The commander's eyes didn't soften. "What if we refuse?" His rifle stayed perfectly steady, the barrel pointed right at Luke's chest.
He'd seen enough armed idiots to tell that Luke wasn't a pro, but the woman beside him? She was dangerous. And dangerous people have a way of making situations spiral fast.
"Oh, right… I forgot you do have that option," Luke replied, nodding slowly, as though this was a real back-and-forth negotiation instead of a standoff.
The truth was, he didn't expect them to agree easily. That's what bluffing is for.
"But here's the thing," Luke continued, his voice taking on a colder edge, "all around you… I've set up bombs. The same kind of power that levelled the entire Lycan lair—now quietly sitting right under your feet."
It was a complete lie. Not even a small grain of truth in it. But lies worked when people have no way to confirm them, and humans have been using that trick for centuries. If they didn't know he was bluffing, then for all practical purposes, it might as well be true.
The commander's eyes flickered down, just briefly, to the cracked asphalt and scattered debris under them. His fingers tightened on his rifle grip.
Beside him, an officer shifted uneasily, scanning the ground like he half-expected to see blinking red lights poking out from between the rubble.
Now it makes sense to them. Why only one building had collapsed? Why it looked unnatural. They assumed it was bombs that had brought the Lycan lair down, and if there were more bombs hidden here… well, that was a problem.
"If you're lying…" the commander began, his tone low and threatening.
Luke smirked faintly. "Then you'll just hear one loud boom, and you won't have to worry about me lying ever again."
A few soldiers exchanged uneasy glances. The air felt heavier, like everyone was holding their breath. No one here wanted to be the one to find out if the strange guy with the bad rifle stance was bluffing. They all knew they might've just kicked an iron plate