Paige's kidnapper turned. He was truly monstrous; his chin so wide it gave his head a cone shape. He shouted something in a dialect Jin didn't recognize, five men sprinted out of the darkness.
Where'd they come from? Had that been planned?
Each held a rifle.
Shit!
He backtracked, a noose hooking the beast's neck.
They just stood there, guns cocked, aimed with militant efficiency. Out the darkness, between Jin's firing squad, came a man.
Pale eggshell skin, an immaculate white suit, one so white it glowed.
"Aah! Good afternoon! Name's Carcer."
He cheerfully extended his arms.
His friendly and disarming tone a vast contrast. The hairs on Jin's neck rose.
Carcer stopped, eyes bouncing from Jin to the firing squad.
"Don't worry, they're frozen. Even the one who can lock everyone's power." Carcer said leaning on them. "I guess I'm too much, even for him."
Carcer tapped his nose. There was supposed to be a moment there. One where Jin's shoulders dropped, and he smiled doing a 'everything's okay' jig…
It wasn't going to happen.
He bent low looking into Paige's eyes frozen in shock as they looked at Jin.
"Who are you?" Jin asked easing his shoulders down.
The change up sapped him. He'd heard the name 'Carcer'. Jin's mouth moved but his body hung in limbo between fight or flight. The mash up ended with him standing still.
"It's not relevant. Just call me Carcer." He said looking up from Paige, "I'm here to even the score."
"So, you'll get us out?" Jin asked, feeling his muscles ease.
"No, that's not within my power but I'll do this for you."
Carcer made a show of waving around the squad's guns, like a magician at a show. He clapped his palms and kept them pressed. He disappeared.
The group fired.
Was it real? Was it some special state of shock?
Click
Click
Jin grinned, the noose gone. The restlessness had returned. A plan formed. Not a good one but enough. He'd only been allowed access to civilisation a day and he'd already forgotten the feeling. Him against the world, no guns, nothing that went boom.
He ran.
Good times.
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Up Next:
Paige Stevens
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⚔️ Next time on Jin's War: A Lost Paige…
Five against one. Six, if the giant joined in. Jin charges anyway, a thin rod against blades and bullets, and Paige can only scream as blood soaks his shirt.
"Don't die, you idiot."
But desperation has its own power. Paige's strike twists fate itself, toppling a monster in perfect sync with Jin's swing. Yet the shadows are still rising, and the battle is far from done.
🔥 Stand with Paige and Jin!
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