A Hair's Breadth From Discovery"
The Governor's Soldier Nearly Catches Jack Performing an Impossible Surgery
The hospital was louder than usual that morning.
Doctors whispered. Nurses kept glancing toward the entrance.
Something — or someone — had disrupted the fragile rhythm of the place.
That someone was standing in the middle of the operating floor.
A tall, rigid soldier in a crisp uniform, Governor Fox's crest pinned to his coat.
He did not belong here.
His eyes swept across the room like a hunting hawk.
Jack Dawkins immediately recognized danger.
1. The Surgeon Who Must Suddenly Become "Average"
Jack slowed his movements deliberately.
His steps were unhurried.
His hands less precise.
His posture deliberately sloppy.
He looked like a mediocre surgeon with a good reputation — nothing more.
Belle noticed instantly.
"You're masking your skill," she whispered.
"As long as the Governor is sniffing around," Jack replied softly, "Jack Dawkins must look replaceable."
Belle bit the inside of her cheek.
"And the Doctor?"
Jack glanced at the soldier without turning his head.
"He stays dead for today."
2. Trouble Arrives — A Miner Nearly Bleeding Out
Hetty Baggett rushed in.
"Jack, emergency from the docks! A man crushed under a shipping crate!"
Jack stiffened.
This was bad.
Very bad.
The soldier perked up.
"A surgery?" he asked the nearest nurse.
"I'll observe."
Jack cursed internally.
Belle whispered, "Jack… if you save him like you normally would—"
"I know."
If he used Transparent World, if he used Sun Breathing, if he moved faster than any surgeon alive?
The soldier would report it.
And Governor Fox — suspicious, drunk, and powerful — would put Jack in chains.
But if Jack slowed down…
The patient would die.
And Jack could not let someone die.
Not when he could save them.
His system wouldn't even let him.
Mission: Save as many lives as possible without revealing yourself.
A perfect trap.
3. The Surgery Begins — With Death Closing In
The miner was brought in, pale and gasping.
Ribs broken.
Lung punctured.
Internal bleeding rapidly worsening.
Belle paled.
"If you treat him slowly… he won't make it."
Jack clenched his fists.
"Hetty, prep tools. Belle, stay near me."
The soldier stood only a few feet away, arms crossed, watching every move.
Jack tried to work normally.
He washed his hands.
He checked the wound.
He began to cut—
But the miner convulsed, coughing blood violently.
Belle whispered urgently:
"Jack, you have seconds before he drowns in his own blood."
Jack swallowed.
If he didn't act…
This man would die screaming.
And Jack Dawkins — the man who had taken an oath, the man whose previous life was dedicated to saving people — simply could not let an innocent die for the sake of secrecy.
Even if it risked everything.
4. Jack Breaks His Own Rules
Jack inhaled sharply.
Then he acted.
Sun Breathing — First Form: Solar Flare Pulse.
Just enough speed to stabilize the man — but not enough to look supernatural.
His hands blurred, but only slightly — fast enough to save a life, slow enough that a trained eye might mistake it for adrenaline, not magic.
Belle saw it.
Hetty saw it.
Even the nurses saw it.
The soldier narrowed his eyes.
"…He's faster than Dr. Sneed," he murmured.
Jack ignored him, cutting into the chest cavity with precision that was frighteningly controlled.
He hooked two fingers behind the broken rib.
He lifted the lung gently.
He suctioned the pooling blood.
His fingers danced in the air like he had lived in this century for decades.
Belle whispered:
"You're balancing on a knife's edge…"
Jack didn't answer — too focused on saving the man without revealing his abilities.
Finally — he stitched the puncture, stabilized breathing, and sealed the wound.
The miner lived.
Barely — but he lived.
5. The Soldier Moves In
The room was silent as Jack stripped off his gloves.
Everyone could feel the tension.
The soldier stepped forward.
"That," he said slowly, "was not the work of a normal surgeon."
Belle's heart stopped.
Hetty's face went pale.
Jack raised his eyes, calm as still water.
"You saw a man bleeding to death. I simply did what any competent surgeon would do."
The soldier stared hard.
Jack didn't blink.
The soldier grunted.
"…I'll be reporting this to Governor Fox."
Jack nodded once.
"Then report the truth."
The soldier hesitated.
What truth?
That Jack Dawkins was unusually skilled?
That he was better than the incompetent doctors here?
That he saved a man the hospital could not?
None of that was a crime.
And Jack knew exactly how to play it.
After a long silence, the soldier said:
"…The Governor will want to see you again."
He turned and left.
Belle exhaled shakily.
Hetty leaned against the wall, sweating.
Jack simply washed the blood off his hands.
6. Belle Whispers the Most Important Warning Yet
When the soldier was gone, Belle moved close to Jack's side.
"Jack… what are we going to do when he returns?"
Jack looked at the door the soldier had exited through.
Then he said quietly:
"If the Governor keeps hunting the Doctor…"
Belle swallowed.
"…you'll have to disappear," she finished.
Jack nodded.
"But not yet. Not until I'm ready."