Eric stared at the document for a long moment before carefully placing it face down on the desk.

He picked up his shattered coffee cup without a word and set the broken pieces aside with the same deliberate calm.

"Seal this report. No copies leave this office." His voice carried none of its usual warmth.

Dana nodded quietly.

"And Dana—" Eric didn’t look at her. "If the council gets wind of this before we understand what we’re dealing with, things will move faster than we can manage. And make sure you seal off that lab, any further information regarding this should reach me first"

"Understood, sir."

The silence that followed said everything the words didn’t.

Dana left the office, locking the door behind her as she left.

Eric let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead, "Who is doing such research? And what does he hope to achieve with it?" A deep frown cut across his face, they had to get to the bottom of the issue and they had to do so fast.

****

’What happened, she was fine a few minutes ago. Tsk’

Nicholas gritted his teeth as he moved, but the distance was wrong.

He knew it before his foot left the ground. A fraction too slow, a fraction too far.

The gun was already at the firing point and Selena was directly in line.

Then the air folded.

A spatial rift opened between the barrel and Selena’s body, just wide enough. The bullet entered and exited in a completely different direction, burying itself harmlessly into the concrete wall.

The girl’s arm locked in place before she could fire again. An invisible pressure wrapped around her entire body, rooting her where she stood.

The air split apart like something had torn straight through reality itself.

And from that distortion, a hero casually stepped out.

Nicholas quickly recognised the face, it was one of the faces he’d seen in the email from the hero association. It was Vixen, but more than anything a bothering thought lingered, ’How long has she been here?’

Vixen stepped forward calmly, her white cape settling around her as she studied the girl’s face.

The dull gaze. The purple hue circling the pupils like smoke trapped behind glass.

"Mind control... and he wasn’t even in the building." She’d encountered strong impures before. Ones that required proximity to maintain their hold. Whatever this was operated differently.

It reached across distance, planted itself inside someone, and waited.

That was a different category of threat entirely.

The purple faded slowly, draining from the girl’s eyes like ink dissolving in water.

She blinked. Once. Twice.

Then the horror of what her hands had done hit her all at once.

"I’m s-sorry.. I didn’t ... I couldn’t stop—" She broke apart completely, the words dissolving into sobs.

"It wasn’t you," Vixen said quietly, releasing the binding. The girl crumpled forward and Vixen caught her without hesitation. "None of it was you."

Vixen turned toward Nicholas. "You handled this well. Especially for someone I’ve never seen before."

Nicholas adjusted his coat collar calmly, ’So she’s been here this whole time?’ Nicholas couldn’t help but feel wary of Vixen’s abilities.

Not only was he unable to sense her, but the ease and accuracy she used to deal with everything so casually, ’Her abilities are really dangerous’

"Thank you," he said flatly, moving toward the exit.

"Wait." Selena stepped forward. "The media is outside. You need to be present. this is how the association tracks your performance, how you get your next payment—"

"I have no interest in that."

Selena’s eye twitched. "You fought through an entire mafia operation, almost died twice, and you’re going to walk away before anyone even knows your name?"

Nicholas paused at the door.

He turned slightly. Not fully. Just enough.

"I didn’t do it for honour. I did it because it’s important. Isn’t that the point of being a hero?"

Selena felt something move in her chest. Vixen went still beside her.

Then he continued—

"And because I want my money."

The door swung shut behind him.

The two women stood in silence for a moment.

Selena opened her mouth. Closed it. Then opened it again, ’And I was actually about to compliment that brat.’

"...I genuinely cannot tell if that was profound or infuriating."

Vixen stared at the door for a long moment before the corner of her mouth moved, "Both, I think. We should get them out of here" she shifted her gaze to the girls who still looked terrified and confused about everything that was happening.

With the presence of a hero they all knew, they seemed less scared and a bit more comfortable.

****

"I’m here live at the Draco Nidum Brothel, where a dangerous mafia operation was just taken down by our very own heroes—" the reporter was still speaking when she noticed the door open behind her, she quickly turned to see Vixen, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

The sirens and camera flashes hit simultaneously the moment the doors opened. The girls were guided out carefully, each wrapped in emergency blankets, faces turned away from the lights.

A reporter thrust a microphone toward Vixen immediately.

"Vixen! Can you confirm you were the hero who handled the Draco Nidum operation tonight?"

Her earpiece crackled instantly. "Say yes. This is exactly what we needed."

Vixen looked at the camera for a moment. Then at the girls being helped into the ambulances behind her.

’Wasn’t that the point of being a hero’ Nicholas words echoed in her mind again.

"No," she said clearly. "I wasn’t."

The reporter blinked, confused "Then who—"

"A new hero handled this operation. I arrived late." She paused. "Make sure that’s what gets reported."

The reporter stood there for a moment, stunned.

Then she quickly turned back toward the camera, "And there you have it. It seems we have a new mysterious hero in town. And he has taken down one of the largest mafia groups around! Is this the rise of a new star?"

Hearing the reporters reports, Vixen felt a soft smile climb up her face.

"Vix—" Her earpiece exploded. She turned it off, ’I’ll listen to their rants later’ She said with a sigh as she left the scene.

For today, someone else deserved the praises and it wasn’t her, ’And where is he?’ she thought looking around, they didn’t spot Nicholas when they came out of the building and it seemed the media didn’t either, ’He doesn’t like attention does he?’ Vixen thought, scanning the area.

Behind the building, Nicholas stepped into the alleyway. The moment he did, he noticed faint traces of miasma lingering in the air.

It wasn’t any different from the one he noticed inside the building swirling above the heads of everyone whose minds were being tampered with, but it was more prominent.

[Mind Attack detected!]

Nicholas frowned seeing the systems notification, he quickly closed his nose, "An impure?" He thought, scanning the area.

He couldn’t see anyone.

But whoever had controlled the people inside the brothel had definitely been here moments ago.