Simultaneously, the hangar staff submitted an urgent request to aviation authorities for an <i>open priority air passage</i>—a rare clearance that ensured the airspace would be cleared of civilian aircraft, allowing emergency military-grade flights to take off and fly uninterrupted.


    Typically, such clearance was only granted duringrge-scale disasters or top-tier rescue missions. But thanks to the Avery family’s longstanding influence and deep-rooted ties to the aviation sector—especially through their privately owned airport—the request was quickly approved.


    With the airspace cleared and coordinated, the Avery fleet would be able to move swiftly and safely toward their destination, ensuring Hera’s extraction team would arrive without dy.


    Knowing the hangar team would handle the situation, Cindy shifted her focus and contacted the armory to provide top-of-the-line weaponry for theirbatants.


    These advanced weapons were developed through research projects and military contracts funded by the Avery family. Because the Averys contributed heavily to various departments and charities—including research facilities and national defense—they were granted considerable privileges.


    Once weapon blueprints passed testing and development phases, the Avery family had early ess to the finished products. They were also given priority when it came to selecting retired military veterans and promising recruits.


    High-ranking officials would even send curated lists directly to the Averys for them to choose from.


    Why would the military allow such an arrangement? Because it ultimately served the nation as well.


    The military, after all, has a fixed budget to cover sries, maintenance of equipment, vehicles, and more. Once soldierspleted their required service time, they were eligible to retire—but for many, retirement meant slipping into civilian life and taking up mundane jobs, that aligned to their skills or experience.


    By absorbing these veterans into their own private army, the Averys not only ensured the soldiers continued doing meaningful work, but also helped the nation by easing the burden of reintegration and making use of elite, battle-hardened talent.


    Many of these soldiers couldn’t easily reintegrate into society after their service. Some ended up homeless, gued by mental health issues developed during their time in the military.


    After all, the most skilled among them often served in wartime, deployed to the most chaotic and violent regions—where fighting and killing were daily realities. It was no surprise that many returned home with PTSD and other psychological scars.


    Reentering civilian life and living "normally" again became nearly impossible for them.


    Recognizing this struggle, the higher-ups in the military began offering rmendation letters to help these veterans find new roles—as office workers within the military, or as bodyguards to influential families. In many cases, these bodyguard positions were essentially recruitment into secret private armies for those elite families.


    But the Avery family operated differently.


    While they, too, epted retired veterans into their ranks, they used them not for private power ys but to serve the public good—deploying them during disaster response, terrorist threats, and other emergencies when national departments were stretched thin.


    More importantly, the Avery family didn’t just employ these veterans—they supported them. They provided therapy, rehabilitation, and a purpose, ensuring these men and women didn’t fall further into darkness.


    At times, the Avery family also deployed these veterans to help de-escte private conflicts—such as territorial disputes between gangs or organized crime syndicates. Given the high-risk nature of these missions, they werepensated with generous sries.


    And when they reached an age where frontline participation was no longer viable, they weren’t discarded—they were transitioned into vital support roles.


    These veterans became strategists, instructors, and mentors to the younger generation, sharing their invaluable experience and guiding new recruits. Within the Avery family, their treatment resembled that of high-ranking military officials.


    However, entry into this elite circle was highlypetitive. The Avery family upheld rigorous standards—not only evaluating one’s skill and tactical ability, but also closely monitoring the quality of their character. Only the best were weed, and fewer still earned the trust to stay.


    It was precisely because of the Avery family’s immense power that they often became a target. Their influence came with great responsibility, and they had long entered into an agreement with the government that ced certain restrictions on their actions.


    While the Avery family could have chosen to reject the terms—like many other powerful families—they epted them as a gesture of goodwill, to prove they had no ill intentions.


    This agreement, however, also meant that even though they possessed a formidable private army, they couldn’t freely deploy it even when besieged from all sides. Their hands were tied.


    And this is also one of the reason of their downfall in the novel.


    But that was then. Now, Hera saw things differently.


    She knew that using the Avery’s private forces out of the blue would undoubtedly raise gs—especially among government departments and the opportunists circling the Avery like vultures and wolves.


    Still, she had no choice. Fortunately, the Avery family’s long-standing reputation as phnthropists had earned them a degree of leniency. The government, for the most part, had been more rxed with thempared to others.


    With only a short window of time, their priority ess to the air passage was granted. Hera knew this would be her only chance to save Leo, so she didn’t hesitate to use her family’s private army.


    Unlike before—when she quietly deployed a small team to rescue Rafael—mobilizing over a hundred elitebatants was no longer something that could be brushed off as a simple operation. This was a full-scale deployment, a clear signal that Hera was preparing for a serious confrontation.


    While Cindy handled the logistics, Hera was already racing through the streets toward the outskirts, heading straight for the location Cindy had sent her. Her anxiety was eating her up as she pushed the limits of her car, blowing past several red lights and pushing the gas pedal to the floor.


    Thanks to her exceptional driving skills, she arrived in under thirty minutes—but to her, it still felt like an eternity.