BANG!

Nicholas jumped at the last second, dragging Selena down with him as both crashed face-first onto the floor.

A dark grin spread across Draco’s face as the explosion resounded through the hall. The concrete wall exploded apart, sending rubble flying in every direction.

"You’re good, I’ll give you that! But you’re still just a kid where I come from!" Draco yelled while unloading his rifle wildly, laughing maniacally.

Bullets tore through the hallway wildly, shredding through walls and leaving holes everywhere.

The strong scent of sulphur filling the air, ’There’s no way he saw any of this coming! I might even kill him before that impure gets here!’Draco grinned wildly, convinced the fight was already over.

"A kid where you are? You should learn to shoot first"

Suddenly—

WHOOSH!

He only caught sight of it for a split second.

A bladed boomerang tore through the smoke and rubble like a twisting serpent.

Swish!

Splat—

Silence followed for a brief moment.

Then the pain hit.

"My hand! My hand ahh!" a pained scream tore through the air. Draco lost hold of the rifle... or rather, his sliced hand no longer could.

A pool of blood gathered below the severed hand.

Draco writhed on the floor, gritting his teeth as he desperately tried to stop the bleeding.

"Now then..." Nicholas’ voice dragged his attention forward.

He looked ahead and slowly saw Nicholas frame emerge, limping while covered in bruises and blood, a stream of blood leaking from the side of his head.

Draco held the bleeding arm, his eyes shaking with fear as he met Nicholas cold blue eyes.

Blood streamed down the side of Nicholas’ head.

Slow steamy breaths escaped his lips as he limped forward with a half-dead gait. Draco felt intense fear ripple through his body, questions spiraling through his mind.

’How did he survive, he didn’t spot the grenade on time.. the bullets should’ve gotten him!’ For a moment, Draco completely forgot about his severed hand.

Compared to the fear Nicholas gave him, the pain from his arm felt almost nonexistent.

"Please! Wait, I’ll tell you everything!" Draco pushed his feet against the earth, trying to get away from Nicholas.

Nicholas stared at Draco silently.

Steady, unblinking and filled with killing intent.

"I should wait? You almost killed me... If I wasted just another second in my reaction time, I would’ve been blown to shreds."

Although Nicholas avoided the full impact of the grenade, he still sustained serious injuries. Selena hadn’t escaped unharmed either.

Fortunately, the smoke from the explosion worked in their favor. It blocked the guards’ line of sight and gave Nicholas an opening to counterattack.

Nicholas slowly closed the distance between them and soon he stood staring down at Draco’s shivering form, "So tell me, why should I wait to listen to anything?"

Normally, anyone who tried killing him would’ve already been dead.

It was only a miracle that he was still alive past another second.

Draco’s lips parted, "Please I’ll—zzzss"

Zap!

"Being a hero seems more difficult than my previous job.. I might have to quit sooner than I expected" Nicholas muttered as he slid the taser gun back into his pocket.

He shifted his gaze to Selena who was resting by the side of the wall, still in a daze and trying to process everything that had happened.

Selena let out a long sigh of relief before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

She took a long drag before turning toward Nicholas.

"Thank you," she admitted quietly. "I would’ve died back there if it wasn’t for you." Selena confessed, she couldn’t help but admit, even she didn’t expect the sudden grenade but Nicholas was fast enough to react and save them both.

"I believe we still have work to do, let’s get this over with" Nicholas said, shifting his gaze to the door.

Selena pushed herself up the ground, her legs dripping with blood, "Yeah let’s finish this" she said as she limped towards him. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

****

Outside the building, just behind the building in front of an alleyway a large delivery van drove up the street coming to stop just a distance away from the building.

Thanks to the ruckus from Nicholas and the mafia inside, the police had long since arrived and placed a warning banner in the area and also evacuated the people.

Since the back of the building faced a less busy street, barely anyone paid attention to it.

The police placed warning signs around the area before focusing most of their attention toward the front entrance.

The driver came out of the van, wearing the delivery company hat. He hopped out of the car, moving to the back of the truck and carrying out a package.

But just as he turned toward the building, the space in front of him suddenly warped.

A figure slowly emerged from the distortion.

Clad in her elegant white suit, Vixen appeared before the man calmly.

The man jumped back startled.

"Sir, this area is prohibited" Vixen stated, pointing at the warning tapes around the building, "Please move to another location till we’ve secured this area" she added.

"Vixen!" The man said, his eyes shining with admiration as he looked at the hero, "Ma bad, I didn’t know the place was closed off. Ma poor old eyes can’t see too well no more. Hahaha, thanks for the information... I’ll just have to check in later" The old man said moving the box back towards the van.

Vixen had her gaze on him as he arranged the box back in place in the van.

She scanned the area once more, checking to make sure there was no one around, ’The information said there was an impure in the building, but I’ve checked the entire area and I didn’t find one. Were we misinformed?’ Vixen thought, shifting her gaze back to the old man’s van.

She let out a sigh, ’I guess this was all for nothing. I’ll hang around for a bit though’

The space around her began to warp as she disappeared from sight.

The old man who was in the van stared at the spot where vixen had once been through his car side mirrors a deep frown appearing on his face.

A small black fog circled around his head.

Through the rearview mirror, another figure could be seen at the back of the van, a younger boy with thick miasma of black clouds seeping out of him.

The boy curled strands of his hair around his fingers before slowly ripping them out, his dull hazel eye staring at the old man’s figure through the rear view mirror.

’Did Draco think he could lure us here to meet an S-rank hero? Did he intend to deceive me?’ A wide smile cut across his face.

"Draco" he spoke into the telecom in his hands, his voice croaked and deep. A far cry from the gentle look he portrayed.

But he received no reply.

With a gentle squeeze, he destroyed the telecom in his hands.

The miasma around him surged violently, thick black clouds filling the back of the van and slowly leaking outward. He stared into the ceiling of the van as though staring through the abyss and slowly another vision came to him... One that wasn’t his.

"I see.... So that’s what happened. Since they’ve ruined our plans, I’ll leave one last present for them." The boy thought, letting out an uneven chuckle, as though he was trying to laugh but couldn’t get it quite right.

{A/N: My deepest apologies for late Chapters}