. . .

“… Jaxon!!" A rocking pain knocked the fight out of him as Shin lurched forwards on the floor. That was the second time in as many days he’d woken up shouting some girl’s name in confinement, wasn't it? He had to wonder if it had become a bad habit... Shin closed his eyes and held his forehead. As the back of his neck throbbed, the Asian composed himself.

The last thing he remembered that he remembered... remembered that he remembered... Shin mentally kicked himself for clumsy narration, then kicked himself for kicking himself, was helping Jaxon towards the exit. They'd been captured while he'd been attempting to fight off her kidnappers, then... it happened again, later that same day. With TASERs and gunfire this time. And SWAT-styled vans. Why they'd needed SWAT-styled vans, Shin pondered with a grunt as he shifted where he sat, he hadn't a clue. At least it hadn't been like a Capcom boss re-fight, where all creativity after the first encounter was drained by the forced second encounter. Why fight a giant bee once in Megaman X, when you could fight a giant bee in Megaman X twice, right? But he was digressing, and going off on tangents. What had they hit him with?

Shin's eyes fluttered open. Foggily, they fell to his hands. His palms were dirty. His skin had the reddish tinge of blood. Not all of it was his own. He remembered fighting, and charging dream-rhinos. The SWAT team had been threatening. Jaxon had done her best on an injured leg to fight them off. Shin had been so mad... so furious they could have done something like kidnapping. Hurting a woman. He'd took as many of them with him as he could before they'd got in a cheap shot with a stun gun. Not a pleasant feeling.

Idly, he wondered what the repercussions of an X-men spilling human blood were? ... it had been justified. he reasoned with himself. They'd earned it... and... he couldn't be held accountable when they'd brought it down on themselves. His hair covered his eyes as Shin bowed his head. That still didn't sound like a fair excuse.

Their faces, as he drove his blood-red drill of shards into their sides…

Shin brushed the side of his arm across his nose with a sniffle. And now he was cold…

A thought struck him, like a train striking the side of a vehicle, or the squishy crash of a car. Ever since he’d donned the crimson chin of Abyss, he’d been falling on tough times, morally. Hadn’t he?

Stealing, not stopping the polka-dotted bra-hat wearer when he stolen all that money, and crashed a car into him (not necessarily in that order, though don’t think that guy wouldn’t have tried). Violence against humanity was just another failure, a trapping of Shin’s weaknesses to add to the book. An X-man should have higher standards of control. An X-man should be a better person. He’d given up cage fighting for the pro-mutant cause, hadn’t he? Why couldn’t he control himself better when it came to his temper?

A rain drop fell on his shoulder. Shin suddenly was drawn out of his reverie as nearby, a mutant summoned a black rain cloud, and promptly fell on her side. The rain cloud vanished. The female mutant that had summoned it let out a groan.

“Damn collar! Fricken Hell!” She ran a hand through her frazzled hair. It was long, black, and on-end from the shock collar. “Attempt number two, an epic failure…” She mused to herself as she rolled a strand between her index finger and thumb.

A faint breath escaped Shin. The girl paused for a second, and then slowly, her eyes fell on him. “Something you want, Rice Ball?”

Shin took the moment to note her language choice was notably English, not Romanian. How strange. The girl took his momentary silence as an insult, and took the moment to retaliate with an insult of her own. The best kind: Middle digits.

Shin responded with an innocent blink. “. . . You know, your face is very griddy. Do you always draw lines across your skin?”

The way he’d asked it caused the girl to quirk an eyebrow. He’d asked like it was completely normal, and like she was to blame. “You high?” She queried.

“You zapping yourself?” Shin retorted.

“No.” She deadpanned. “I’m just trying to drown myself, to end this hell. It’s not my fault the collar keeps trying to do it for me. Only, with the zapping.”

“Collar………….” Shin trailed dumbly. She blinked at him.

“You can’t be serious.”

Shin stared back at her. “No. I’m Asian.”

“Cute.”

“What?”

“Too bad they’ll crush that out of you. They always do…”

“Explain to me again about the collar?”

If it were possible for the girl’s eyebrow to arc higher, it did. “That thing around your neck isn’t for decoration. Look at it. If you use your powers, it’ll zap you.”

Shin looked down at the collar around his neck. He couldn’t see it… maybe, if he used a shard to check out its reflection? Shin focused his mind to call up a shiny white shard to see this ‘zap collar’. Sure enough, he saw it. Sure enough, it did. He fell over backwards as an electric shock rocked down his spine.

“Ow! Hey!” He rolled back to his seated position, righting himself. He glared at her. “That hurt!!” He demanded.

“I told you,” she replied with a grumble. The freaking idiot didn’t even know about the shock collar… he was like a puppy testing an electric fence… “Don’t use your powers… it only gets worse when you do…”

“Who did this? It really sucks.”

“Um. Romania. Romanian Registration act ring any bells…?”

“O-oh. Right…” Shin’s eyes shifted away from her. He knew that. He’d been sent here to help mutants away from it. So… he was really in the camp, then? Crap. “Whoever did this is on my all-time shitlist, for once we get out of here…” What with the searing pain, and the blood. The girl across from him laughed.

“When we get out?! You didn’t just miss me trying to kill myself, did you? We aren’t getting out. We’re…” She leaned forwards. In the dim light of the room, her green eyes flared darkly. “Dead.”

Shin pursed his lips in a disheartened frown. “Well, I was thinking I’d work with my team, and get us out of here.” He moped.

“Save?” She sounded offended. A hand slapped her chest as she scooted forwards, towards him. “Okay then, Rice Ball! Save me! Right here! Right on the chest!”

“What are you even…?”

“Save me, from the pain. Save me from the living. This whole thing’s bullshit. Why do I even have to keep living through it if you can save me?” Her lips drew crassly into a grin. Shin faltered.

“I… can’t.” His eyes fell. She slid back a foot with a victorious look on her face.

“Damn right you can’t, Rice Ball. So shut the hell up, and leave me alone. Excuse me.” With that, she turned her attention back to the summoning of clouds. A moment later, she fell backwards, into a state of unconsciousness.

A disappointed sigh escaped Shin as he looked away from her. If this was the kind of company he had to look forward to in the camps... he might as well look for something better. Setting one blood-stained hand down on the coldness of the floor, Shin rose. He took an unsteady step towards the search for more palatable company, leaving the girl (who he'd given the name 'Sunshine') to her sleep.


(( Thread continued in Rice Cake's Search For Friends! ))