Selena’s heels clicked against the polished floors as she moved with haste. She had rushed straight to the Hero Association after leaving the apartment, hoping Nicholas would be there, but as her eyes scanned the crowd of heroes trouping in and out of the building, she still saw no signs of Nicholas.

’Just where could he have gone? And who in their right mind would do something this ridiculous?’ Selena thought, gritting her teeth hard as her gaze scanned the room.

She had absolutely no idea where Nicholas had disappeared to and after seeing the look on his face before he disappeared, she had a terrible feeling about it.

"Supervisor Selena, I was expecting you. Sir Eric told me you’d be coming," Dana’s voice echoed as she walked up to Selena, however her brows furrowed as she noticed Nicholas absence and the strange look on Selena’s face.

"Why do you look that way, is anything wrong? And why is Phantom not with you?" Dana asked her brows raised.

Selena took a deep calming breath, "Dana, I think we might have a big problem" Selena said her expression turning grim.

"What could that be?" Dana asked, wondering what could possibly make Selena so flustered.

Selena went on to tell her everything that had happened since they left Denvi Town and what they’d met when they got to the apartment.

As the story continued, Dana’s expression grew darker with every second, ’Why do I have a bad feeling about this?’

"... I don’t know where he is and that’s why I came here, hoping that he’d be here or at least someone would know where he is"

Dana frowned, "I haven’t seen him since the mission from Denvi town, and he didn’t stop by here for anything at all. But who could possibly kidnap his siblings? And why would they do that...?" Dana’s voice trailed as the question left her mouth.

Eric had already told her his meeting with the council the other day and knowing what type of people they were.

’I really hope my instincts are wrong’ Dana thought with a frown, she hadn’t been at Denvi Town, but as soon as the heroes that were came back, the rumours had spread like wildfire.

She had heard it, and even confirmed from Eric herself.

While the two were locked in their discussion, a loud voice boomed from the side, "Supervisor Selena! How cruel of you to leave me! Both you and Phantom Tsk! Do you know what privilege it is to have your faces on my camera" Julie said as she ran to their side her breath ragged.

Selena’s brows twitched in annoyance as she heard Julie’s voice, she could take it any other time but now definitely wasn’t the time for her drama.

"Julie now—!"

"But wait, why are you here! I thought you’re meant to be with Phantom at the Raystar Headquarters?" Julie asked.

Selena felt her stomach drop and her eyes widened as she heard Julie’s words, "The Raystar Headquarters? How did you get that information?"

"Hehe, Julie always has her eyes on her star. I watch everything he does" Julie said her lips curving into a mischievous grin.

"Julie where did you get the information!" Selena yelled, causing the Julie to jolt in fright.

"The heck! Relax, I have a few sources I use to keep track of things going on around the town, I just happened to come across a message from someone saying they saw Phantom appear right in front of the building" Julie said with a shrug.

Dana’s expression shifted, a shiver running down her spine, ’Ronald, that idiot! What has he done?’

"The Raystar Headquarters..." Selena muttered and without a word she turned on her back leaving the two, Dana also didn’t waste anytime as she hastily went back to the receptionist desk.

"Hey! What’s going on? C’mon at least tell me what’s going on" Julie yelled in annoyance as the two left her standing there.

Dana pulled out the phone on the desk, it rang softly before connecting with the other side.

"Dana misses me already? We just finished talking a while back. Didn’t we?" Eric’s playful voice came from the other end.

"Sir Eric, councillor Ronald might’ve just let off a nuke" She said her expression grim.

Eric’s face hardened instantly, any matter concerning the council wasn’t one he took lightly, "What happened?" He asked with a firm voice and as Dana narrated everything to him, the frown on his face grew even deeper.

He could almost sense the danger in the air.

-----

The air crackled with tension as the two stood facing each other.

Nicholas looked calm, but yet, there was a certain aura that he carried that felt different. An energy that made her skin crawl just from looking at him.

’Why does he feel different today?’ Vixen thought, staring at him.

No.

This wasn’t the same Phantom she’d met before.

Standing in front of him felt less like facing a hero and more like standing before an assassin. Just his gaze alone made her feel like she could die at any moment.

Vixen swallowed nervously, ’I have to do this for mom’ her eyes shone with resolve as she looked at Nicholas, unwilling to back down despite the unnerving feeling crawling down her skin.

’It seems he can’t use the ability cancellation skill that he used back then, or maybe it has a certain condition that must be met? But that doesn’t matter, I guess it’s to my favour. He mainly deals with close combat, as long as he doesn’t get close to me I should be fine. And while he might also have my ability he hasn’t used it as long as I have’

Seeing that Nicholas had yet to act, she took the initiative.

Her hands moved fast the air rippled as space bent and reality fractured, a spatial tear sharp enough to rip anything in shreds.

But right before it could get to Nicholas, a spatial tear much larger than that appeared. With an explosive bang the two clashed at the center, sending a ripple through the air as the space and time seemed to bend in the center.

But that was only a distraction.

From every angle, spatial distortions ripped through the air like fractures in reality.

Sucking in the air around them with Nicholas standing in the center of it all.

This was one of her most powerful techniques, submerging her opponent in a barrage of spatial tears, even if Nicholas could alter the space around himself to stop her from directly injuring him, the spatial tears would rip any opponent apart.

It was similar to having them sandwiches between several black holes.

Vixen looked at Nicholas as he stood in the center of her attack, "Surrender now, and your punishment will be light." Vixen said with a stern voice, behind her several guards also arrived, all their gazes fixed on Nicholas and ready to act.

Nicholas slowly removed the X-glasses, revealing his cold blue eyes as he stared her deep in the eyes, Vixen was slightly taken aback by his actions but didn’t falter in her stance.

Nicholas glanced around seeing all the spatial tears around him.

"I would’ve loved to play around with you. But I don’t have that time Vixen"

While she seemed to have an advanced understanding in the use of her own abilities, he was more than certain that she wouldn’t have any knowledge on the ability he was about to use.

{Ability Copied}