Seojin's eyes snapped open.
The same cold was still there, but weaker now, fading.
The sound of the train returned first: a low, droning hum beneath the floor, steady and alive.
Light flickered through the cracks of Seojin's mask, pulsing with each beat of their heart.
And then they saw it. The bat, descending again, cutting through the air like a guillotine.
Time stretched as the edge of the bat's shadow split across the air, reflected in the fractured lens of the mask.
Seojin's eyes, visible through the cracks, gleamed with something new. It wasn't fear, wasn't anger, but clarity.
Their fingers twitched.
The world seemed to move slower and slower…
the sway of the lights,
the shiver of the metal walls,
the faint breath from the gangster's open mouth.
The bat fell closer.
Then, Seojin's hand rose.
…
A faint mechanical snap… not from Seojin.
ZAP!
The flash was blinding.
A crackle of blue light split the air: two darts snapped against the leader's chest, wires trailing like veins of lightning.
His body convulsed instantly, the swing froze mid-arc.
The metal bat clanged harmlessly to the floor as his legs buckled, muscles seizing under the shock.
He dropped to his knees, eyes wide, teeth grinding against the current before his whole body jolted.
THUD! then fell still.
Smoke rose faintly from the contact points.
For a moment, no one moved.