Marina set her fork down slowly.

"Nicholas." Her voice was careful. Measured, "The Hero Academy isn’t a normal school. The children there have abilities they can barely control. One accident a single moment where someone loses their grip on what they can do — and Katherine is in the middle of it without any way to protect herself."

"Then the association protects her," Nicholas said simply, reaching for another portion of rice.

"You can’t guarantee that."

"I can." He said it the same way he said everything. Flat. Certain. Like the possibility of being wrong hadn’t occurred to him. "And if anything happens to her, the association answers to me."

Marina stared at him. "You’ve been a hero for one day."

"And I’ve already made more than you earn in a month."

The table went silent.

Katherine’s eyes moved carefully between them like she was watching a tennis match and had no idea who she was supposed to support.

Marina let out a long breath through her nose. She looked at Nicholas. Then at Katherine, who stared back at her with teary eyes.

A weapon that had never failed once in their family.

"You both like dangerous things." Marina pushed her chair back. "Am I the only sane person in this house? Fine. Do what you want. But when it all goes wrong, don’t come crying to me. I won’t have any sympathy."

She said it firmly.

Katherine immediately brightened. "That’s a lie! Sister Rina could never abandon Katie! Hahaha!" She said with an adorable giggle.

Marina’s lips parted in surprise, the little girl was able to see right through her, a small smile formed on her face.

Katherine latched onto Nicholas’s arm, grinning up at him. "Big sis is such a wuss."

Nicholas opened his mouth.

Marina’s cold glare found him before the sound could leave his throat.

He closed his mouth.

"Since you two feel like such adults—" Marina stood, picking up her plate with the dignity of someone refusing to admit she’d lost the argument. "I won’t be cooking for either of you anymore." She disappeared into the hallway.

A door clicked shut.

Silence.

Then, from somewhere behind that door, barely audible, a quiet laugh filled with realisation, "They’re growing so fast."

Katherine turned to Nicholas slowly, her expression devastated.

"See what you caused."

Nicholas blinked.

"Sister Rina won’t cook for us anymore and it’s your fault."

Nicholas stared at her in disbelief, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, ’She’s a sly fox... And I thought we were in this together.’

"I’ll cook"

Katie pouted, "Brother isn’t as good as big sister!"

Nicholas felt a punch to the gut from her words, he smiled wryly.

"...I’ll buy food"

Katie’s eyes changed instantly. "You’ll buy me chocolates?"

"Yes. But that’ll be tomorrow, so you have to go to bed"

She jumped. "Big brother is the best! Katie’s going to bed right now!" She sprinted down the hallway at full speed.

Nicholas sat alone at the dining table with a half-finished plate of beef stew.

He looked at the empty chairs.

A small smile settled on his face without him noticing it.

____

The forum hadn’t stopped since the story broke.

Selena scrolled through it with her wine glass resting on her knee, watching the notifications stack in real time. Every hero with an opinion had one. Every civilian who’d seen the media coverage had three.

DRACO NIDUM FALLEN: Who is the ghost hero Vixen won’t name?

She closed the forum and opened her news feed. Same story, different headlines.

’He really got people curious, didn’t he...?’

Selena stared at the headlines quietly.

Vixen refusing credit.

The media going crazy.

The Association already monitoring the situation.

And somehow, after everything she’d seen tonight...

She still had no real idea how Nicholas’ ability worked.

Her mind trailed back to the fight.

Nicholas’ movements.

The way he fought.

The way he handled the entire situation.

Everything about him felt wrong.

’He feels like a hitman of some sort.’ Selena shook her head slightly, ’I should stop thinking of that brat!’

She left the headlines and just then, her phone rang.

’Dana?’

She answered.

"Good evening Supervisor Selena, news of your work is spreading quite fast. The newbie is all over the news, I’m surprised he didn’t take any credits for the work. Sounds like a honourable hero" Dana said her voice tinged with a playful tone.

"Honourable? Tsk, he only cares about his earnings."

Dana chuckled, "Well, he does have eyes for money. It’s a good thing Vixen didn’t take credits for the mission, else he wouldn’t have gotten a dime. You should tell him that so he doesn’t lose out next time"

Selena let out a sigh, "I’ll do that... So Why’d you call?"

"The girl is still under," Dana said without preamble. "Whatever ability was used on her didn’t fully release when Vixen intervened. She’s stable but we need to assess whether it can be cleared." She took a brief pause, "We think Nicholas’s ability might be relevant here."

Selena rubbed her temple. "I’ll bring him in tomorrow." She hung up and stared at the ceiling for a moment before calling Nicholas.

He picked up on the second ring, causing her to raise a brow, ’He’s still up’

She explained the situation. He listened without interrupting, which was somehow more unsettling than if he’d said something annoying immediately.

"I’ll come," he said. Then: "I need you to arrange Katherine’s enrollment into the Hero Academy."

Selena sat up. "Oh alr—wait...What?"

"Hero Academy. For Katherine. I need it arranged."

"Nicholas, that’s..." She pressed her fingers to her forehead. "Children without abilities don’t attend the Hero Academy. It’s not a rule they bend. The other students are unpredictable, their powers are unstable, one accident and..."

"Then I’ll quit." Nicholas said bluntly, the air turning cold, "I won’t help the girl either."

Selena stared at the wall.

"...You’re not serious..."

"I don’t make statements I don’t mean."

She already knew that. That was the problem.

"We’ll talk tomorrow," she said finally, and hung up before he could respond, ’There’s no way I’m dealing with all this tonight’

She sat with her wine for a long moment.

’It’s only a few more days,’ she reminded herself. ’Eric will reassign him and he’ll be someone else’s problem.’

She took a long sip.

A few more days.