PD plot shin

August 28, 2024

And suddenly, Shin was airborne, body turning, parallel to the ground. Blood sprayed from a gash to his side as the bladed chain-whip cranked back to its owners hands. Gravity reasserted itself. The X hit Terra firma, Firmly. A strained groan escaped him as Shin tried to reacquire the air knocked from his lungs. The second assailant laughed. Evilly. He was dressed colorfully enough to be deemed ‘Super.’

This was bad. He was outnumbered, getting attacked all around. They had jumped him, before He could fully charge a Henshin transformation. He had been so close, too. The moment He had been told about the situation, the sec He had moved to get into position, he had begun the charge. But they had appeared a hair too early for him to unleash.

One was some sort of magical martial artist, with a blade chain-whip. The other had some sort of mutation like pouncing fire that behaved as if alive. If it hit, it gripped and moved you, like telekinesis. He knew from personal experience. Fire had gripped, tossed, chain whip had gashed, spun him. Then, he had fallen. He still had yet to get up.

How bad was his cut to the side? It was bleeding. Felt like burning. And maybe, a little numbness was setting in. Was that shock? Or was there something on the blade? A chemical compound that—

If he could focus just a little bit longer. If only he had some way to delay for time, some distraction. He had Need. The need was great.

Chain-Whip guy joined in with the laughter, voice low, earthy. Reminded him of metal cleats on pebbles. “Weak.” He said.

He was dressed in black half-pants that were baggy, almost like parachute-quality. Loose and free for leaping about. His top was a gray-black fishnet shirt, with an onyx-colored short jacket on top. His hair looked like it had used half the bottle of product to keep it in a spiked shell.

Fireman was brightly colored, as previously noted. It was like a rainbow had barfed on his shirt. His pants were, his pants were—

Shin coughed, as he struggled to his feet. He wiped a smear of blood away from his mouth. Maybe he could lure the man with indescribably vivid pants to burn him again, to hit his side and sear the wound. For now— he tore off one sleeve, and wrapped it tightly around his waist to make a quick bandage. Or… tried to. A moment was all it took to realize that while that might have worked for an arm, for his side, it just wouldn’t do. IT would not stretch far enough.

Colorful chortled, full on nose snorting. “Pathetic. Idiot.”

Shin let the sleeve drop to the ground in disgust. That had been a nice shirt, too. Orange and blue. With a picture of the symbol of the Kaiō emblem on the back and the turtle kanji on the front. Anime as heck. Long-sleeved compression tee, with a fake belt imprint and — fake t-shirt by the neckline- and— ugh. Kealey would have never let him leave the house if she’d seen. Too DBZ. Too much. And— was her loopy from blood loss already? What did this have to do with—

He supposed there was nothing else for it but to discard the Henshin in progress, and use his mind to summon shards to press tightly and keep the wound compressed. What a waste. But armor would be of no use to him, if he bled out. And he could not actively summon shards while he was focused on Henshin, so…



No. He kept the focus. So close. He mentally adjusted the armor in his mind, so when it finally did form, it would be tighter. Compress. Pressure bandage. Until then— the Asian clapped a hand down on his side, and held tight. He staggered, hazarding several steps back on the city street, away from the duo. Then, He turned and ran—

—

Fire rained. The whip slashed. Windows shattered and car alarms rocked the block. Shin stumbled on. Destruction was the cost of evasion. How long had He ran? 10? 20? 30 seconds?

Close.

He dropped to one knee, by the mouth of an alley. A few seconds more, and— Maybe He could dart inside—

He was bleeding from a few more cuts. Broken window shards, shrapnel from explosions. Bites from dusted sidewalk. He was Bruised. He was burned. He had fought.

“Not good enough.” One of them said. He didn’t know who.


His blood felt like it was on fire. It was just his side. The rest was superficial. He should have fought with his ring, his wedding ring, instead of fleeing….


”Damn it…” Shin swore.

The city was starting to burn. In some cases, it couldn't be more literal. From earlier that morning when he and Hunter had learned of the nature of this trial, Rex had been moving non-stop. Alerting authorities, the Veil, the X-Men, the government, and anyone else they could think of. Then he'd been out in the field, traveling wherever he needed, continuously casting his prayer and asking a single question, "Where am I needed the most that is closet to me?"

He'd stopped two vandalisms and a car thief already. Now it was clear he was about to take on a bigger task.

The firefighter and trained EMT emerged from the alley, work boots coming to a stop on the sidewalk. His flannel sleeves were rolled up and he took a leather glove from his work utility belt and slid it onto his right hand. Warmth washed over Rex as he did so, a sign that the spell was over and he had arrived at a place where his answer could be found. Almost right on top of him was a wounded, bleeding, broken man.

"Mother of God!" Rex swore as he immediately crouched down beside the ma. Beyond him, down the street, he could see destruction and two individuals causing it. As he looked back at the man, he thought he recognized him. One of the X-Men?

"My name is Rex," he said quickly, reaching out a bare left hand to place on the man's shoulder. "Do not be alarmed. I can heal you. Can you tell me what is going on?"

Footsteps behind him. Shin turned his head, momentarily wary and oh so exhausted. If this were another threat, he just didn’t think he could— oh. A man in flannel, jeans. Were those work boots?

He Did not look like that blazing hellfire demon in tie dye technicolor, or the other one. Naruto ripoff. All he did was swear. Was that all he ever did?

Shin, in his injured haze, probably did not recognize him from the battle at the mansion or the after party. They had both been… incredibly busy. So, when he crouched down next to him, the Asian tried for a second to flinch away from the man. To sort of hunch down with his knee down, and protect his core. His belly.

>>>”My name is Rex.” The man said.

He was quick, as he reached out towards him. A little sound escaped Shin, sort of like “uhn uhn.” With a tinge of panic. Like a ‘no.’ The hand touched his shoulder, but did not bring the hurt. No. Instead, the man said:

>>> "Do not be alarmed. I can heal you. Can you tell me what is going on?"

That was entirely different than his thoughts had been. The defensive ones.

”Hurt.” Shin grunted, and moved his hand, which had been pressed tightly to the gash on his side. By his stomach. The moment the hand moved away from the wound, fresh blood came to gladly greet Rex. Shin slapped the hand back onto the wound, and winced at the sudden pain. Through gritted teeth, he said: ”Two guys are on my tail. One has fire. One has a blade whip. Maybe magic. I got attacked. Surprised. If I have a few moments, I can Armor up. Maybe summon a sword, but—“

The sword would take additional time. If the guy healed him, he could armor up right away, then focus on that.

Two voices were calling out to him, in a sing song voice. “Come out come out—“

“Wherever you are~!”

Shin met Rex’s gaze with triangular pupils, and made some quick calculations in his head about whether or not he could trust the man. Sweat beaded on his brow.

”Please. My blood is on fire. Th’ blade must’ve...”

Magic crackled down the street. They were nearly there. The whip guy was prepping a spell.

Rex stared into strange, geometric eyes and nodded. He laid his hand on the man's shoulder and immediately began reciting scripture, speaking as rapidly as he could without messing up the words. "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.”

Warm energy began to flow from Rex's hand into the man's body, empowering the wounded man's body with an abundance of energy so that it could rapidly repair itself. It would not touch diseases, infections, or venoms, not could it regenerate missing limbs, but the body could become better. Nor woulda it break an enchantment, unless healing the body changed some condition that the spell required to exist.

Despite the blood and the injuries, Rex was hesitant to dump too much power into the spell. He could, in theory, heal the man completely in seconds, but in doing so he himself would be wiped out and down for the count. A glance down the street told him that wouldn't be an option.

Rex waited until the last second before cut the power off the spell. The open wounds had faded to scratches and gashes, but none of them should have been bleeding. He wasn't sure about internal injuries or potentially broken bones, but there wasn't time to set them. It was entirely possible those wounds could still re-open, but Rex hoped they were at least much smaller than they were before. Any damage could be fixed later. They just had to make it to later.

"Do what you can," he said, "I will protect you."

Then REx whirled and held up his left forearm in front of his face. "For the Lord God is a sun and shield!" he said triumphantly.

Sunfire blazed into burning, blinding existence in a round shield roughly centered on Rex's arm. It was as strong as titanium and quickly expanded until it formed a convex half-sphere as tall as Rex, conveniently blocking most of the alley (and the downed man behind Rex) from most lines of sight from the street. While the heat would be intense, the light would be as blinding as staring into the sun itself.

With his right hand to the side, Rex began speaking his next spell. "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword..."

Oh, blessed healing. It rushed through him, and as it did, the gash in his side went from a major injury to something He might have described as merely a flesh wound. And not the Monty Python Black Knight version, where He had an arm off.

He may not have actually been royalty, but in shins eyes, Rex was king. Shin felt revitalized. He could fight now! Still had whatever was going on with the fire situation, the toxins or poison? Yeah. But He could fight for a few minutes, then seek medical help. And all the small injuries were gone. He might reopen the gash if He was too feisty, but—

He wiped sweat from his brow, then got to his feet.

Shin thanked Rex. Called him a life saver.

The man brought up a fire shield, after saying something that sounded religious. And Shin felt even better. This change was merely mental. He had been pretty hopeless. Had. Note, Now he had hope. Now. What to do about these pesky pricks?

“Ohoho,” a voice sang out.

They approached.

“Found you! And who is this, then?” The second one said. Fire-man. Tie dye hell.

Behind rex and his shield, Shin called out. ”Names. Tell us your names! First.” Villains love to talk. That would buy him a second.

The two men exchanged looks. Ninja man smiled. His teeth were almost fangs. Wolflike. Predatory. They had decided something.

“There are some who call me…. Tim.” He sneered.

Fireman cut in. “And I was newt, but now I’m Better!”

They shared a laugh at their cleverness.

Behind Rex, Shin muttered something like “God save me from Monty python.” Aloud, He shouted: ”Okay. Fake names, then. This here is King James. And I—“

They both attacked the shield in unison. It was so bright, it hurt to look at it too closely. Attacks batted the shield, and for the moment, though the temperature rose as fire met fire, the shield held.

3, 2, 1. Henshin.

There was a flash of light behind Rex, as Shin transformed. The focus He had kept these long minutes, it reached the payoff.

The knight's oath, shines in gold.

Ooc en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garo:_Makai_Senki

Armor appeared on the Asian Man, brilliant. Golden. Stylized plate. The helmet resembled a lions face. With sneering, snarling fangs, sun flare mane, and peaked ears. This time, he had opted for the costume design with the black Cape.

Shin finished the thought from the sentence earlier. ”I am GARO!!”

He did not usually include a cape. Black, red, it was an easy addition that did not cut into the form restrictions. A simple omission, when He felt like skipping it. And He rarely used any form of armor, save this one. Kamen rider and tuxedo mask could only hope to look this good. Changing color took very little system memory. The texturing, cloth like, slight designs, patterns… consumed resources already included in the base design. Texturing was the only fancy thing about it. For making something out of what amounted to diamonds, using your mind to make like cloth… it had taken time, commitment, and a whole lot of will. All for what came down to (basically) costume porn.

Capes are a mixed bag in the super hero costume industry. Some hate them. They offer nothing, Except maybe warmth. Stylish, sure, but the drawback is they’re easy to grab. Unless they resist damage (his could), or fire (ehhh), capes are generally best left at home. Overdressed, over designed , liabilities. Costume porn. Yes. He was aware. But also, made of shards, which usually treasure time to draw out. With a minor effort of will, He made the cape reform into a black longsword. Could costume porn do that? It only took like 10 seconds. During which, Rex protecc.

Boom
Slash
Boom

Making the cape was equivalent to carrying assorted shards. Bringing his toolbox. The sword was a simplified version, black and long and without ornamentation. Usually, it was black and gold, with tiny designs on the blade. He was poisoned, had lost blood, and was in a hurry. Big and effective would have to do. The armor counted for plenty style points, already.

In full armor, with sword, Shard stepped forward to stand next to King James. I mean Rex. Sweat dripped down his side, beneath armor. Heat bloom made the alley hot.

Nobody could see the smile beneath the snarl of the helmet. But they could hear it.

”On 3, we Acts. 1, 2….”

"....and intents of the heart!"

White light flashed in Rex's outstretched hand and a longsword of light appeared in his grasp.

The man had told him there was magic involved. Well, Rex had created this sword specifically to cut through magic. Although he had never used it upon the initial target that had necessitated the creation of such a thing, the firefighter had had plenty of cause in wielding the blade in defense of others.

The stalling for time helped. The X-Man was clearly used to this kind of thing. Rex ignored the taunts and the names, though. He didn't realize there was a joke until the X-Man said something, and then Rex ignored it. Despite the flaming shield he bore, he himself was cool-minded. He frowned in concentration, readying himself for that first salvo.

Heat intensified, far beyond the inherent heat of the spell which Rex was largely resistant too. This was not the worst fire he'd even been in though.

There was another series of attacks on the shield, something more typical and kinetic. But he held. The shield could take a lot more damage than was being dished out. The heat would be the true threat. Rex vowed to learn a way to deal with that too.

Firelight reflected off somethin shiny beside him and Rex turned to see a man in shining, shimmering, spiky, lion armor step up. Obviously the X-Men. Now Rex had a more solid grasp of which one of NYC's heroes this was. Rex nodded at the man and when the X-Man got to 1...

Rex dispelled the shield and jerked to the side of the alley. “Go in between the wheels,” he recited as he quickly made a grabbing motion with his left hand and came back with a hand filled with fire, yet he was unharmed. He'd cover the X-Man as needed.

Rex had himself a sword, too. His was on fire. Which was pretty great. If only Shin could do a sword on fire. Theoretically, he could make a chain sword. Like a chain saw, but a sword. With moving shards. But— that was something he worried might hurt people more than just swinging a regular hurty sword. So— but it might have been useful, now.

”1.” Shin said.

As he said the number, Rex nodded. And dispelled the shield. Somewhere, a booming radio started blaring music.

Bring Em Out
Song by T.I.

Right as Shin stepped forward, turning the sword in a little circle in his hands, then gripping it in front of himself, ready to throw down.

Better drew back a hand, ready to bring the fire. But Shin darted in, and dove to the side. Out of the way of a fireball. He lobbed his sword at Better, and controlled it with his mind. The blade flew under Better’s defense, to hit him in the gut with the handle of the sword. Non-lethal. Better staggered back, clutching their gut.

”You may be good,” He told the fire man. ”But I am better.. Better.”

He was a dad now. He could use that as an excuse for the dad jokes he always got away with before. Now, he had an excuse.

Tim drew back the whip, and prepared to lash at the armored figure while he was fighting his friend.

A fireball flashed by Tim's face, radiating scorching heat before it flickered out mere feet beyond the whipmaster's head.

There. That should get the man's attention.

The now-armored X-Man was taking the fight to one of the men so Rex switched his attention to the other guy. After multiple assists with Hercules and Sam, Rex was starting to get a feel for combat situations involving other people. He took on the role of countering enemy magic and protecting his allies until they could turn the tide of battle. While Rex didn't quite know or understand the capabilities of this X-Men, he assumed he knew what he was doing.

"Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.”

As he completed the verse, a cloud of light formed in front of him. The cloud then condensed into into seven hovering fist-sized fireballs.

There was a time when Rex would have been extremely reluctant to utilize fire in a combat encounter. That time was a long time ago. Since learning how to extinguish fires at range, as well as to somewhat heal people, Rex was far less concerned with irreparable damage.

Rex began flicking his free hand like a person dealing cards and one by one, the fireballs whizzed toward the man with the whip, where, if they hit, would strike with the force of a thrown rock.

The whip was drawn back to strike at the armored figure while he was distracted, and — a fireball from armored man’s compatriot flashed by Tim’s face before he could act. Close, a warning shot. He sensed the spell a moment before it came, and was able to take a step back, arching his back away from the heat bloom. He avoided it. He had not been able to cast anything in response, however.

This man, King James, he dealt in fire. Well. Tim, he knew a thing or two about magic. He had survived the battle at the mansion, seen what the x-men had done to their people, and when the opportunity arose to get revenge, he had taken it. For Akh. For money. For glory and revenge.

Silently, Tim brought one hand up over his head, fingers curled down slightly, fingertips hovering over his forehead. He pulled the hand back in an arc over his head.

Lion.

He sensed the magic, as King James began speaking. Tasted it in his mouth. It tasted like burnt marshmallows to him. The man was CASTING something big this time.

>>>”Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.” King James said.

As he completed the verse, a cloud of light formed in front of him. The cloud then condensed into seven hovering fist-sized fireballs. The man started flicking his balls, one by one, like a card dealer at a casino. One by one, the fireballs shot at him.

Tim screamed “Lion!!” He activated the spell with the slash of a whip, intersecting the snaking weapon between the first fireball and his body, then cracking it once more for the second, the third. Runes glowed across the flowing whip. He absorbed some of the heat with his spell, pulling it into his whip, his hand, his arm, his chest. Excess energy bled off as heat, from the whip, from his flesh. He let out a breath that steamed. Then focused that energy back into his whip, which ignited in flames to catch the fourth missile. Then, he was leaning forward and moving to one side in a dash. Out of the range of the fireballs. They cracked against a nearby brick wall, with flaming plink plink plinks and a spray of stone chips each time.

Across the battlefield, Better paused his battle with the armored man to snap his eyes in the direction of the spell. The fire. They really ought to swap. But it seemed his friend had it under control. Magic vs magic, mutant vs mutant. It was the way.

Better’s eyes narrowed at Garo. The earlier blow to his gut had hurt. He had staggered back, then whirled his hands around in a circle to create a living shield of flames to guard against a follow up. Garo had raised a hand, and called the sword back to his grasp.

If he had not known the guy was Shard, Garo, an X-man they had targeted, he might have thought it a magic spell. It certainly seemed too elaborate to be an organic mutation. But then, his fire was also elaborate when he shaped it.

Tim lashed out at King James with a flaming whip. At the last second before it would strike at James, he took his index finger and aimed it skyward. He pointed at the sky. The flaming chain whip changed direction, coming out of the feint to attempt a strike.

Meanwhile, Shard had launched himself upwards with his levitation, to avoid a lobbed fireball from Better. The fireball shifted and shrlorped upwards at him, a dragon arcing towards the sky. After him.

Shard took evasive actions, veering to the right, then diving at Better with sword drawn. The man’s eyes widened, and he spun his hands in an attempt to call up some new flames.

Shard landed without striking, and went prone in front of him. Just in time for the fire dragon to glide over his now prone back, and smash into Better. It had been following too close.

Boom! Shin felt the heat off the impact, through his shard armor.

The fireballs were intercepted or dodged. It seemed as though Rex faced another magic user. At least, glowing writing on a weapon seemed more like a mystic thing than a mutant thing. Rex kept his sword as the ready, especially as the whip burst into flames.

Yes, definitely magic. Metal didn't typically catch fire otherwise.

"For the Lord is a sun and shield!" he said quickly as the last of his fireballs smashed against a wall. Sunfire burned into existence again in a basic round shield on Rex's left arm. It was just in time because the the flaming whip came right at him and he shifted so he could intercept it with his shield.

Then the chain struck him from another angle.

"Argh!" he spat through clenched teeth as hot metal slashed across his back, likely chewing through his shirt and into his skin. Instinctively he backhanded the whip with his shield to try to knock it away and then slashed at it with his shining sword in the hopes of destroying any active magic or stored spells on it.

As the flames passed above Shin’s back, he winced. A twinge of pain. His side was starting to bother him, after that aerial maneuver.

He glanced up to see if the flame dragon had taken out its creator, only to see a man largely untouched. His colorful clothes may have been a little singed, and he may have taken several steps backwards, but the fire… it seemed the fire guy was not going to be taken out by his own flames. Which figured.

Better looked down at him, and a smile slowly creeped over his face. Uh oh.

>>> "Argh!"

From across the area, he heard Rex call out. His attention veered in two separate ways. One direction had him reacting to the attack from Better. The other had him looking towards Rex. Shin wanted to help the man, but first he needed to help himself. Wasn’t there something someone said about those who help themselves?

—-

As Shard focused on his fight, Tim focused on his own. His attack on King James had hit, and he clenched his teeth in his own grin of victory. The shield connected, and sent the whip reeling backwards. Then the man’s sword came down at the whip. The flaming whip. Tim kept up the grin. His flaming whip. It could take the sword. The sword made of fire. Tim at no point thought better of the idea. He was really discounting the other mystic and their prowess. But COME ON—

The sword cut through the whip, severing the enchantments and shattering a link in the chains.

“OH COME ON!” He shouted.

He swung the rest of the severed whip at James, and let go to send it whoosh whoosh whooshing at the man feebly. Likely to be deflected by a flaming shield. But while he was distracted… he reached into a pouch and got out some enchanted Kunai throwing knives. He did a quick activating charm, then threw two at the target. Heh heh.

—

The fire blast came down, and Shin spread the shards composing the sword apart in a rapid rearrangement. He formed a shield. The heat ate at it, and it was not the thickest shield. If this kept up, he would be in trouble. But— while the person was focused on throwing flames at his shield—

Shin tilted his head to get a visual on the guy, and weakly raised one arm. Clenched his fist, and— launched the gauntlet off his arm like a rocket punch. It sailed under the guy’s guard, and arced up and away from the flames, towards their chin. Bomp!!! It was a solid uppercut, and it sent the man reeling, flames dying out.

In the moment, Shin surged back up to his feet, and swung his unarmored hand, one, two, one, two. The gauntlet mimicked the motion, boxing Better around. And he was looking rough.

Rex barely paid the chain whip any more attention beyond noting the flames died out on it and somehow his sword had severed it. Then he hoisted his shield in front of him and caught the rest of the chains on the solid shield of fire and sunlight. The chain clanked off and clattered to the concrete and then Rex decided he needed to get in closer. At range, he was sorely disadvantaged.

With the blinding shield in front of him, Rex raised it in front of him and hunkered down, so the shield was in between his face and upper torso and Tim. Then he rushed forward in a dead sprint.

BOOM!

An explosion hit his shield and while it didn't stop him, it slowed him for a moment as the shield tried absorbing the shock. A moment later something whizzed past him and then with a KA-BANG, part of a wall exploded behind him.

Great. Explosions.

Then Rex was about where he expected Tim to still be and he hunkered down to smash into the man with his weight and burning shield. He could heal any burns later.

Boom boom boom boom. Explosions. Shin would have turned to check on Rex, but he was battering the baddie. The mystic surely had it under control. Surely.

Better kept staggering back, and Shin closed the gap, drawing on the shard shield to hover in front of him as he kept up the assault with the floating gauntlet. With Henshin shard armor, he could do about 2 free-floating constructs. Including a swarm of shards, so he was within his limits. And Better was nearing his own.

Whenever the man tried to regroup, to find a way to renew his assault, shin hit him. He used to be a boxer, he had the skills and could translate them into his shard gauntlet, why he had never used this method before, he didn’t know. IT seemed effective. One more uppercut, then he slammed the shard shield forwards to knock the man back into a brick wall. His head collided with it, and he fell promptly into unconsciousness. Probably a concussion from that. They’d have to have a doctor see him.

Shin drew the shield back, and warped it into a more beautiful shield form, instead of the jagged mass of triangle scales it was. Something round. Then, he spun to see how Rex was faring.

Rex hit his opponent with a burning shield. The fire mutant could take heat, but the shield slam had still surprised him. He was off balance, and primed for Rex to land some sort of finishing blow. Maybe sweeping the leg? Shin was ready to intercede if Rex appeared to need any help.

Tim swore, loudly. And said something crude about religious figures,

Rex felt an impact through his shield and there was a sudden steaming sound as fire made contact with clothing. He shoved the man as hard as he could but he could already tell Tim was sliding to one side - Rex hadn't hit him full-on.

The pyromancer ended the charge and lashed out with his shield in an attempt to clear a little space, but now he was upon the whip mystic. Ranged attacks were of minimal use and now Rex had him where he wanted him.

Within arm's reach.

Rex lunged forward in a full-body tackle. If he could get the man pinned for at least a few seconds, he could take him out of the fight. If he failed, he was at least close enough to maintain the upper hand in the situation.

In theory.

Mystics could be unpredictable.

In this case, the mystic was entirely predictable. He got caught in melee, his whip was broken, and he was off his guard. The brightness and the heat were making it impossible to focus, and Rex the mystic had him, dead to rights.

The one some people call Tim went down under Rex’s pin. That left him open. He tried to draw a dagger and stab at the mystic, but his aim was off. He was at a disadvantage, from the light and the heat. He didn’t even have free hands to cast a spell.

Shin watched as Rex did his thing. He figured this was how it would have gone. Really, these guys had largely had surprise on their side when they had jumped him. Once that was done, what did they even have? Rex and him were stronger than them.

Shin turned his thoughts to Kealey and his son, Michael. He was lucky, oh so lucky, that Rex had been present and available to Show Up for him. Thank God. If Rex had not—

Shin did not want to think about how the world would have changed for his fledgeling family if Rex had not popped in to save him. Maybe he would have discarded the shard armor attempt, and just summoned a flurry of shards to cut the two men to ribbons. But that would have had risks too, and he might have killed them. He tried to avoid that these days. And if he had died? Due to avoiding that, or due to their skills?

…
He gulped.

The city was in danger, but he had time after this to call her and check in on them. Yeah. To call her. That’s what he would do. Immediately after Rex knocked this guy out.