Chapter 240: Going For A Vacation 1 [Edited]

The morning sun spilled through the hospital blinds, painting narrow bands of pale gold across the private recovery suite, but the warmth did little to soften the mood inside.

Nicholas sat on the edge of the mattress, calmly fastening the buttons of a clean black shirt over his freshly reconstructed ribs.

Twelve hours earlier, every movement had threatened to tear his body apart; now his fingers worked with their usual precision, the only remaining evidence of the previous night’s battle being the faint pink lines running across his knuckles and forearms where Doctor Cho’s expensive therapy had rebuilt what Zero’s blade and Specimen B had destroyed.

The door slid open with a sharp hiss.

Eric stepped inside, accompanied by Dana. His right arm remained strapped into an unpowered sling, and the normally imposing director looked as though he hadn’t slept since the first emergency sirens sounded the previous night.

The lines beneath his eyes had deepened, his jaw carried several hours’ worth of stubble, and even the way he lowered himself into the visitor’s chair suggested that the regional crisis had taken more out of him than he was willing to admit.

Dana looked considerably more composed, but the tightness around her mouth and the tablet she hadn’t stopped checking since entering the room suggested that she was carrying her own share of the aftermath.

"You look entirely too healthy for a man who died in a transport helicopter last night," Dana said, leaning against the doorframe.

"I paid Dr. Cho eight hundred thousand credits," Nicholas replied flatly, smoothing his cuffs. "If I weren’t healthy, I would have thrown him out the window."

"You can try," Eric said with a chuckle.

"He’d just invoice you for the replacement glass."

The room went quiet for a moment. Across the room, Selena stood near the window with her arms folded, her dark eyes tracking the two directors with cold, sharp scrutiny. "The tribunal finished an hour ago, didn’t it?" Selena asked, cutting straight through the pleasantries. "What did the magistrate say?"

Dana let out a dry, humourless chuckle that carried no warmth. She tapped the tablet screen, turning it toward the room.

"Case dismissed without prejudice," Dana said, her mouth tightening as though the words themselves tasted unpleasant. "Councillor Larry walked out of the federal courthouse thirty minutes ago, flanked by seven defence attorneys, smiling for the morning cameras. He didn’t even have the decency to look worried."

Selena’s jaw tightened. "He put an unsanctioned fifty-million-dollar bounty on Phantom’s head! He deployed the syndicate teams to hunt an Association contractor!"

"And his legal team argued that he acted under the Federal Emergency Public-Safety Mandate," Eric said, his voice heavy with bitter gravel. "They presented thirty municipal surveillance logs from the dockyard massacre. The defence argued that Councillor Larry had no prior knowledge of a duplicate, that he observed what appeared to be an active S-rank rogue operative butchering civilians, and that he exercised his legal duty to neutralise an immediate catastrophic threat to national security."

"And the clone itself?" Nicholas asked, his tone undisturbed.

"No physical evidence tying him to Larry’s private assets," Dana replied.

"A legal loophole," Selena muttered, her hands clenching into tight fists. "He used our own emergency charter against us."

"The only bright side," Dana added, turning off the display, "is the public. Julie’s broadcast broke the narrative completely. The citizens know Phantom was framed. The riots outside District 1 have pivoted entirely away from Vance’s leaks and toward the council’s incompetence. The Association isn’t taking the blame for the manhunt anymore."

"So Larry walks free, the Association saves face, and I almost get decapitated for free," Nicholas said, reaching for his coat. "Excellent outcome."

Eric winced, running a massive, scarred hand over his face.

"We know, Phantom," Eric said quietly. "We know how bad this looks. You broke the barrier at St. Jude’s, saved the vanguard, and then had to bleed in an alleyway to clean up a political mess that should never have reached your doorstep. The executive board knows they owe you."

Dana stepped forward, sliding a gold-embossed digital travel voucher across the nightstand.

"Your original vacation booking in the Azure Archipelago was for a mid-tier commercial villa on the southern coast," Dana said. "The Association took the liberty of overriding the reservation. We transferred the booking to the Sovereign Crest Compound on the western atoll. Private island, automated defensive grid, a fully staffed private estate, private deep-water harbour, and zero commercial ferry access. All expenses, travel fees, catering, and resort services have been fully covered by the executive reserve budget."

Nicholas glanced down at the golden ticket. The numbers attached to the private island rental were absurd, easily running into six figures a day.

"Does this include the grocery stipend?" Nicholas asked.

Dana blinked, then pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Yes, Phantom. You can buy all the expensive things you want."

"Then the Association is forgiven," Nicholas said, sliding the voucher into his pocket. "Temporarily."

"There’s one more thing," Eric added, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "The Council’s internal security committee has placed the entire state under a mandatory operational freeze. After the riots, the data leaks, and yesterday’s rogue manhunt, the public cannot see the top-tier heroes marching through the streets as though nothing happened. The board has ordered every hero directly involved in the incident onto fully paid administrative leave until the situation stabilises."

Selena looked up, her brow furrowing. "Mandatory leave? For who?"

"For you," Dana said, pointing at Selena. "For Nectron, for Vixen, and for Julie. None of you are permitted to take active field deployments for the next three weeks."

Selena stared at her in utter disbelief. "You’re benching the entire tournament vanguard while Specimen B is still roaming the outer districts?!"

"The local defence divisions can handle basic containment sweeps," Eric said firmly. "If the public sees Nectron or Vixen levelling another block, the unrest will boil over into a civil crisis. You need to be out of the city. All of you."

Dana crossed her arms, a subtle, knowing glint dancing in her eyes. "And since Nicholas happens to have an entire private island reserved with six master suites and an empty private beach... we took the liberty of booking travel passes for the entire group on the same charter flight."

Selena’s face went stiff. "Wait. You want us to go with him?"

"A mandatory team retreat," Dana said smoothly.

"Far away from cameras, politicians, and reporters."

Selena rounded on Nicholas, ready to hear him reject the proposal immediately. Knowing him, he wasn’t the type to let just anyone in his personal life.

The idea of him sharing a family vacation with four high-profile heroes was completely out of character.

"Tell them no, Nicholas," Selena urged. "You told me yourself you wanted an off-grid trip with just your sisters."

Nicholas zipped his coat, his expression unreadable.

He didn’t answer right away. In his head, the tactical math was already running.

Specimen B had escaped. The clone possessed his physical build, his combat reflexes, his spatial techniques, and every memory of his family. The duplicate knew where Marina liked to shop, where Katie went to school, and how Nicholas moved in the dark.

If Nicholas took his sisters to an isolated island alone, he would be a solitary guardian defending a perimeter against an identical copy of himself.

Having Nectron’s and Vixen’s abilities, along with Selena’s analytical oversight, stationed directly on the island wasn’t an annoyance.

It was an impenetrable, free-of-charge security perimeter.

"They can come," Nicholas said, turning toward the door.

Selena froze, her mouth slightly open. "You’re... you’re agreeing to this?!"

"The Association is paying for the food," Nicholas replied, not breaking stride. "And Nectron’s ability can help with the heavy luggage."

"I am an S-rank hero, Nicholas," Nectron’s deep voice boomed from the open hallway as the giant walked into view, grinning wide. "Not a bellhop."

"You’re on mandatory leave," Nicholas countered, walking past him. "On my island, you carry the bags."

Vixen stepped into the corridor behind Nectron, wearing civilian linen slacks and dark sunglasses, a faint smile playing on her lips. "I don’t mind carrying a few bags if it means three weeks away from all this drama"

From the far end of the hall, a familiar rolling hard-case rattled aggressively across the floor tiles.

"DID SOMEBODY SAY PRIVATE ISLAND?!" Julie shrieked, skidding around the corner with two massive camera bags slung over her shoulders and an oversized sunhat perched precariously on her pink hair. "Peach Fairy goes to paradise! The tropical content arc is officially LIVE!"

Selena pressed two fingers against the bridge of her nose, letting out a long, exhausted breath as she watched the circus assemble.

"This isn’t a vacation," Selena muttered under her breath, following them down the hall. "This is an international incident waiting to happen."

Nicholas walked toward the elevator with steady, silent steps, feeling the warm morning breeze waiting outside the glass lobby. The city behind them was still burning with political tension, and a clone wearing his face was lurking somewhere in the shadows.

But for the next three weeks, he had no plans of doing anything.

It was time to take his sisters to the beach.