"Andrex was the one who approached Mali and made a deal with him." Rion was telling Arnold whatever he could remember from the brief conversation he and Mali had years ago, "It was a pretty straightforward deal. As long as we managed to take the Blacks down, he'd help us get revenge on Nicholas. I told Mali that it was a bad idea, but he didn't listen as you belonged to that family as well. But even before he had a chance to make a move against your family, Nicholas got us for good."

Arnold patiently recorded the conversation as he knew the syndicate would request him to present evidence to back up his accusations. But even though he had a straight face on, on the inside, Arnold was burning with rage and Rion's words were acting like fuel to it. 

Since the syndicate might not trust the man's words, thus Arnold had Amanda by his side. She was acting as a living lie detector for him and so far she had confirmed that Rion was indeed telling the truth. 

"I don't know what happened after that. But judging from the way you're trying to suppress your anger, I think the rest of the wolves did end up attacking y'all." Rion mumbled in a sad voice, "That's all I know."

As soon as Rion said those words, Arnold got up, took the recording and left the infirmary. His eyes were ablaze with rage. He immediately called Nathan and informed him about his findings. 

"Arnold, I know Andrex hates us but even I doubt he'd do something as reckless as this." Nathan said in an attempt to calm Arnold down, "That man is the personification of cowardice, after all. Also, are you sure we can trust the guy who told you this?"

"I had a personnel with lie-detecting abilities present in the room while interrogating him. But if you don't believe me, then fine. I'll take care of the mess like I always do." Arnold replied. 

"Arnold, there's a lawful way to do this," Nathan told Arnold. His voice shaking a bit, "Don't forget about the law, we can't attack another family just like that-"

But Arnold wasn't in the mood to listen to Nathan about political and ethical crap. Andrex had wronged them and now he was going to pay Arnold back with his blood. That was all to it. But first, Arnold needed to make sure that Nina was safe. So he called Talos. 

"Yes, master?" Talos' voice echoed through the speakers. 

"T, where's Nina?" 

"She's here with me. The family got an emergency call from the Andrex, requesting back up to clear a dungeon." Talos responded, "Then master Nathan sent mistress Nina to aid them so I, along with 30 automatons went with her-"

"Where are you? I'll get over there right away. Just make sure Nina is safe till I get there!"

"Master is something wrong?"

"Just answer the damn question! WHERE ARE YOU!? I can't get a signal from Nina's locator."

"In the dungeon under the Griffith observatory. Master is everything alright?"

"TAKE NINA AND GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" Arnold yelled over comms, "I don't care if you have to kill the people around you. Just get Nina to-"

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, following which, the call disconnected. Arnold frantically tried to connect with the other automatons but none of the automatons that went along with Nina were responding. 

"Talos!? Anyone!? ANDREX, YOU MOTHERFUCKER! I SWEAR I'LL DESTROY YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY IF THERE'S AS MUCH AS A SCRATCH ON NINA." Arnold yelled in rage before disappearing into a travel portal. 

***

Moments ago, in Los Angeles... 

"Talos? Who are you talking to right now?" Nina asked the automaton before slashing a ghoulish creature's throat with her sword. 

"Mistress, we have to leave. This all may have been a set up-" Talos began speaking but even before he could complete a sentence, he was blown into the wall next to them. 

Nina rushed over, kneeling next to him while looking at the one who did it. It was Adrian, the man who was the leader of the party and the one who had specifically requested for her assistance to clear the dungeon. 

Standing 5' 9" tall, this fair-skinned man has a very aggressive feel about him and it was evident by the way he had been bashing the monsters with his fist till now. A particularly notable feature of him were his strangely dark freckles. He had a square face with a round chin, big nose, thin lips, and his hazel eyes were narrow making him look a bit intimidating. His long black hair had been dip-dyed halfway with shades of dark blonde and looked very messy.

In his party were 12 other people, 6 of whom were mages, 3 brawlers and the remaining were tanks. And right now, all of them were smiling at Nina. 

"Are your eyes so narrow that you can't even recognise who is your ally and who's the enemy?" Nina lashed out at him while pointing her sword at the man's throat. 

Adrian was the one who had punched Talos and sent him flying. His strike was too precise to be a misfire and his smirk also gave his intentions away. 

"Have you suddenly gone deaf or dumb?" Nina asked the man once more, "Why did you do it?"

Adrian didn't respond to her and threw a fit of laughter. His teammates joined in. Nina knew something was off ever since they entered the dungeon, but she couldn't make any rash decisions because of that stupid law forbidding the families from clashing amongst themselves. 

"Why did I do it? Well, it's clear, isn't it? He was here to protect you that's why he had to go first." Adrian smiled before stretching his fingers. 

As soon as he uttered those words, the remaining automatons jumped on his party. Ready to kill them if necessary. But before the automatons could even lay their fingers on his party, Adrian snapped his fingers and the automatons fell one after another. 

Nina couldn't understand what was going on, and Adrian was more than willing to clarify her doubts. 

"Concentrated electromagnetic pulse bomb. Always works like a charm." He smiled, "I wasn't so sure it'd work on these robots, but looks like it did! And don't even try to contact anyone, your communicator won't work now either-"

Bang! 

Just as Adrian and his company of assassins were all smiles, a bullet made a hole in the head of the man standing next to Adrian. None of them was laughing anymore as Talos shot once again, killing yet another one of the enemies. 

"I think you overestimated your capabilities." Talos said as he transformed into the ogre king, "You're the one's who'll meet their end tonight."