Chapter 254: Tide-Cutter [Edited]
The mid-morning sun bathed the cobblestone alleys of Port Azure in warm golden light.
With the lantern festival continuing into the weekend, the coastal village was alive with color and activity. Woven banners swayed above the streets in the ocean breeze while the smell of freshly fried dough and roasted coconut drifted through the alleys. Merchants pushed wooden carts loaded with island produce toward the central square, calling out to passing customers as families moved between the stalls.
Nicholas walked with his hands in his pockets, dressed in a light gray T-shirt, dark shorts, and sunglasses. Beside him, Selena had traded her usual combat gear for a loose white linen blouse, rolled-up denim shorts, and flat sandals. The dark volcanic-stone bracelet remained around her left wrist.
Selena carried the handwritten shopping list Marina had given them before they left the villa. It was filled with neat bullet points: fresh mountain ginger, sweet coconut cream, sea salt flakes, and three pints of mango-passionfruit ice cream.
"Katie specifically said that if we return with plain vanilla, she will consider it an act of treason," Selena remarked, glancing down at the paper with an amused smile.
"Vanilla lacks character," Nicholas replied simply.
"We’ll get the passionfruit."
They made their way down to the waterfront boardwalk, where the main fish market operated. Long wooden piers extended into the emerald-blue water, lined with weathered trawlers and colorful rowboats.
As they walked past the third mooring dock, a heated commotion caught Nicholas’s ear.
A small crowd of fishermen had gathered around an older man who was angrily waving a set of snapped mooring ropes above his head. Most were still dressed for the docks, their rubber boots and oilskin aprons streaked with seawater and grime.
"Three skiffs in two nights!" an old fisherman shouted, his face flushed red with anger.
"Crushed straight through the timber like matchsticks! And every single steel lobster cage along the southern reef was torn open and emptied!"
"It’s getting worse, Gary," another fisherman groaned, leaning heavily against a wooden crate.
"We can’t even take the night tide out to the shelf. If we lose another boat, my family doesn’t eat till next month."
Nicholas slowed his pace, pausing near an ice barrel to listen. Selena noticed his stillness and stepped up beside him, her sharp eyes scanning the anxious group.
Standing at the edge of the crowd was the local island constable, a middle-aged man in a faded blue uniform with a badge pinned to his vest. He looked worn out, running a hand over his thinning hair as he tried to calm the angry crowd.
"Look, everyone, please," the constable pleaded, holding up both hands. "I took the reports. I sent an emergency ticket to the regional bureau on the mainland yesterday morning."
𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
"The mainland bureau takes three weeks to process a ticket!" Gary yelled back, slamming the frayed rope onto a wooden crate. "By the time an official squad arrives, the festival will be ruined and our harbor will be bankrupt! You know who’s doing it, Constable! It’s that bastard Bane!"
At the mention of the name, Selena’s brow furrowed slightly.
"He’s just some street thug who started calling himself Tide-Cutter, washed up here two months ago after getting chased out of the city. A low-grade impure mutation. Shell growth along his arms and shoulders, strong enough to turn aside ordinary rounds. And those forearm jets of his that can punch through a wooden hull.
"He’s hiding in the southern sea caves," Gary spat. "Demanding half our daily catch as ’protection tax.’ If we don’t pay by sundown, he says he’ll smash the festival floating stages too!"
"I don’t have the equipment to breach those caves alone," the constable said, his frustration evident. "Standard rounds barely scratch him, and those water blasts can punch through a boat’s hull. If I go in there without backup, I’m not coming back."
The crowd fell into a restless murmur, fishermen exchanging worried looks as they glanced toward the water. The festival banners still fluttered above the harbor, bright and cheerful against the afternoon sky, but no one seemed to notice them anymore.
Nicholas watched the exchange quietly, adjusting his sunglasses.
"A street thug with crab plates," Nicholas murmured, his tone dry and unimpressed.
Selena turned to him, crossing her arms as a faint, knowing smirk touched her lips. "Sounds like an unranked pest. Probably Grade D at most. Not even strong enough to trigger an automated association alert on the mainland."
"Strong enough to bully local fishermen," Nicholas said, looking at the frayed ropes and the worried faces of the villagers.
His thoughts drifted back to the villa that morning.
Katie had spent half the morning collecting smooth pieces of sea glass along the shore, while Marina had been happily planning dinner around whatever spices and seafood they could find in the village. For once, there had been no alarms, no missions, no reports waiting on his desk—just the festival, the sea, and a few days where everyone could pretend their lives were ordinary.
If the rogue impure destroyed the harbor, the festival would be over before it had even reached its best night. The authorities would lock down the atoll, investigators would descend on the village, and their carefully planned three-week leave would disappear beneath another mountain of reports and questions. Nicholas had no intention of letting that happen.
"We need the ice cream," Nicholas said, turning toward the market stalls. "And then we have an errand to run."
Selena matched his stride, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with him down the sunny stone path.
"An errand?" Selena asked, her dark eyes glinting with amusement. "I thought you were off the clock"
"The Association covered the villa, and Katie wants her festival intact. Leaving a giant crustacean in the cove is bad for the local scenery." Nicholas replied smoothly.
"You just don’t want anyone ruining your sisters’ vacation," Selena noted softly, a warm, genuine smile breaking across her face.
"That’s part of the clause," Nicholas admitted, glancing sideways at her.
"Then we handle it quietly." Selena’s amusement faded, replaced by the calm focus Nicholas knew well. "No flashy abilities, no media, and no public panic. We find this Tide-Cutter, break his little shell, and drop him on the constable’s doorstep before the ice cream melts."
"Agreed," Nicholas said, stopping in front of a colorful fruit stall with a large wooden freezer.
"First, three pints of passionfruit. Marina has a cooler bag in the cart."
"Lead the way, Mr. Big brother," Selena chuckled, leaning against the wooden counter while Nicholas ordered the sweets.
Far down the coast, beyond the bright harbor and the festival crowds, the southern sea caves waited beneath the cliffs. Somewhere inside them, Tide-Cutter Bane was probably counting the hours until sundown, completely unaware that the two people coming for him had no intention of waiting that long.
He had no idea that one of the most dangerous heroes on the continent had just decided to clean up his neighborhood before lunch.