“How are we doing this?” Leta anxiously scratched her chin as she gazed at their target half a block away. If Hayato hadn’t stopped her, she would have walked into the path of the cameras.

“We wait.” His response was slow and even as his head swiveled from one direction to the other, looking in both directions of the road as if searching for something.

Leta looked around, confused. “For what?”

Before Hayato had the chance to reply, his phone abruptly vibrated in his pocket, prompting him to hastily retrieve it and commence typing.

In a somewhat absentminded manner, he answered, “Atreus and Allister are in place,” before returning to his surveillance of the road.

In exasperation, Leta pleaded with Hayato not to leave her hanging.

“Ah!” He motioned behind them as a Lorry truck started to creep around a corner, its indicator signaling that it would be turning in their direction. “Do you see that? That is our opportunity. Your speed is immense when required. Dart across the space and focus your storm into the transformer as soon as the Lorry is in front of the electrical pole. This will disrupt their power supply without alerting them to our presence.”

Leta’s gaze shifted between the oncoming Lorie and their target as she drew out the word, “Okay. And are we not concerned about a group of average individuals witnessing an unexpected lightning bolt in the heart of the city?”

Hayato casually mimicked an elderly man with a shrug. “How is it possible for something such as this to occur in such a modern city? It must have been a discharge from the transformer that exploded.”

He resumed speaking in his typically brief manner. “Furthermore, it seems that the rules that may pose a danger to us if we’re discovered don’t pertain to you, so you’ll remain unharmed.”

With a snap of his fingers, he directed her attention towards the vehicle.

It was approaching three in the afternoon, and workers were walking back to their offices from lunch or in their cars, causing some congestion on the road and forcing the vehicles to creep along the pavement.

Leta took a long breath as it gradually neared them. The driver at the wheel, who appeared middle-aged, let out a yawn before drinking an energy drink, as she observed.

She reminded herself to concentrate, bouncing on the balls of her feet like a boxer preparing to step into the ring.

Hayato warned her that she only had one opportunity. “Do not miss.”

Leta gauged the distance, her eyes fixed on the transformer pole, preparing herself mentally.

Stolen novel; please report.

‘It’s a block and a half. Your objective is to travel straight from here to there. Skip the effort of building up a charge. Just go for it. Don’t announce your presence. Thunder comes after a lightning strike, not before.’

With the Lorie’s shadow looming over their target, Hayato hissed and commanded, “Go!”

Leta’s body transformed into lightning, crackling and arcing through the air, freezing time. There was a moment when she stood beside Hayato and the transformer at the same time. It seemed as if space had folded, allowing her raised foot to reach its target before her other foot even lifted off the ground.

Leta, while maintaining her connection to her lighting, collided with the pole with great strength, her mind and spirit racing towards the transformer like a squirrel in a tree.

Leaving a black scorched trail where she touched, Leta climbed until her soul was completely focused on the transformer. Like a suffocating blanket, she enveloped the device with immense power and energy, causing the system to overload at a fast pace.

The interior components swiftly burnt out when they were heated to an extremely high temperature, causing the metal to become white hot and emit a high-pitched sound.

To Leta, it appeared as if minutes of work had passed, but to Hayato, it seemed like a mere second.

As she stood there, Hayato noted a concentrated expression evident in her determined blue eyes and tight lips.

Out of nowhere, it felt as if a tiny nuclear bomb had detonated beside him, with the intense light blinding his eyes and his skin growing uncomfortably hot, resembling a sunburn.

Beside him, the insurance company’s windows shattered, resembling spiderwebs. It was only because they were tempered that they didn’t break and send shards flying everywhere.

People on the entire block promptly ducked, with many screaming and covering their heads in astonishment as the lightning struck, causing the car alarms to go off.

Leta had no concept of the havoc she had unleashed on the small street.

Her mind and body comprised of energy and caught in an endless battle between positive and negative charges, she possessed no awareness beyond the electrical currents that surrounded her.

It required some effort for her to disconnect herself and reintegrate the power into her human form. Just as one’s fingers become stiff from gripping a rope for too long, she had to consciously let go and push the storm back inside her.

Leta had not been prepared for the power she unleashed as she separated herself. Electricity arched from the transformer to the power lines and pooled as hot sparks sprayed the concrete below.

In a graceful manner, she became aware of her surroundings as she floated above the road, her body a mix of lightning and energy, moving with elegance on a power line connected to HiTec.

“Oh, shit. Ahhh!" she shrieked as the atoms of her body finished putting themselves back together several meters above the roof line just as gravity began to pull her down to the pavement below.

Despite her fear of falling to her death, her need to live was stronger. She imagined herself connected to the pebble-covered roof below by a grappling hook.

Leta experienced a strong pull on her body as the visualization became clearer, causing her head to snap back as she was dragged towards the uneven rooftop.

Her descent suddenly changed, as if she was yanked horizontally against gravity by a massive lasso.

The pebble-covered roof rushed towards her, and she shrieked in surprise. If she hadn’t raised her hands to shield herself, the rough rock shards would likely have scraped off most of her face when she landed in an uncoordinated bounce.

“Ow! Fuck. Ow!” Leta grunted as her tumbling was cut short by the wall of the stairwell. After a loud ‘thump,’ her back and head made contact with the wall until gravity finally pulled her down to the floor.

Feeling the soreness in the back of her head, Leta attempted to blink away the black spots that were swimming in her vision. “Well, that could have gone better.”