Joon adjusted his stance, boots settling into the loose gravel scattered across the stretch of street Echo's collapse had walled them into. Do-yun stood a step behind and to the side, breathing slow and even, gaze locked on the man standing across from them.
Daejung rolled his neck once, hands loose at his sides. "Orders were to detain. Not kill. Stand down, and this ends well for you all."
Joon glanced at Do-yun. Neither of them moved.
"Hard pass," Joon said.
Daejung exhaled, something between disappointment and resignation flickering across his face. "Figured."
Then he was gone.
Not gone-gone. Joon's brain caught up half a second later, the way it always did with fast opponents, cataloguing the blur, the absence of windup, the total lack of any tell. He got a sphere up on pure reflex, the impact ringing through his arm hard enough to numb his fingers to the wrist.
Okay, Joon thought, shaking the sting out. Definitely not normal fast.
