Page 31 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

“Yes, by those who give them, not by those who receive them. This is exactly what got you into trouble in the first place.”

“You can complain all you want, but I’m telling you, this is the way it’s going to be. Yun can’t leave the dungeon.”

“So you say.”

“Like you didn’t already speak to others who saw it with their own eyes. If you didn’t believe me, you wouldn’t be here in the first place, or at least not on your own. You wouldn’t drag your precious, important ass into a dungeon like this for just about anything.”

Jin didn’t rise to the occasion, which was but one of the multitude of reasons I hated him. It wasn’t fair for him to be so damn unflappable. It made me want to break him, to see exactly what kept him so sure of himself. I wanted to snap that control of his and see all the wounds that rested beneath the surface, the cracks that went all the way down to his core.

However, that wasn’t likely to happen right now, so I shoved the desire down to my own wounds.

“I did gather information. I don’t fully trust anything when it comes to you four, not with Shear’s power, especially. However, the fact you were already in the dungeon tells me there are issues at play here that are not usual.”

“So give us the thumbs-up and let us go. There’s not a lot of time.”

“I want to ensure you do not end up in our way,” he said, unmoving, making it clear he didn’t plan on making this easy. “You know personally how frantic a dungeon can be. I do not want you to cause problems for us as we try to save as many as possible.”

I leaned in closer, letting some of the cheer in my voice fall away. “If you didn’t want people fucking this up, maybe you should be looking at the fucking squad of espers sent to kill us.”

Jin blinked, slower than usual, the tell so tiny most people would have missed it. It was surprise, but not disbelief.

It told me two things at the same time. One, that he hadn’t been involved in, or known about, the plan—I guess he could keep living, then. And two? The idea didn’t shock him.

That one said he didn’t doubt the Guild would do something like that, and more, that it annoyed him that he hadn’t known.

I filed that information away. Either the order came from so high above him that he hadn’t been consulted, or there were some rifts occurring between command and their golden child. Never knew when something like that might just prove useful for me, when I could use it to my benefit.

“That wouldn’t happen,” Jin said, tone firm.

I remained uncomfortably close to him, not letting him have an inch of space. “You know it would. If you really want proof, go about fifteen minutes that direction and you’ll find the bodies.”

“And you admitting to killing espers is what you consider a good plan? And here I thought you were a competent tactician.”

“What you’ll also find is that the espers had no business here, that they weren’t assigned to this dungeon. That should confuse you as much as anything else.”

He pressed his lips together, then lowered his voice in turn. There wasn’t anyone around us that I could tell, but that didn’t always mean much when it came to espers. “What is this all about? Really?”

“It’s about our guide.”

“I heard what she can do.”

“And it seems like the Guild wants that for themselves.”

“Well, if there was a potential resource, I don’t think you would be the first squad I would recommend when it came to protecting it.”

I wasn’t sure what bothered me more, him talking about Yun like an inanimate object, or the idea that he sided with the Guild.

I guess I didn’t really have to pick one, did I?

“Does that matter? She gets to make her choices, just like us. Do you really want those in charge to be able to just take guides as they please? To remove them? To control them?”

He shifted, a subtle adjustment of his weight from one foot to the other. “No, I don’t think I would like that. There has always been a clear line that guiding, and bonding, was at the behest of guides and espers—not the Guild.”

At least the fucker had the brains to think that one through. Guides were the savior of espers, the most important thing to us. The last thing a person would want was to end up handing that loaded gun to anyone else. No esper would see that as a good thing.

“Do you know what to do to save her?” Jin asked.

“Are you asking because you give a fuck or because you don’t want to lose a useful chess piece?”