Pinnacle of Evolution (1)

He still felt the gazes of someone tailing him.

'This can't be a coincidence. They're probably after me because of my recent actions against Genesis…'

Jin was almost certain he knew the reason he was being tailed, but he couldn't be too cautious. If he wasn't being followed, he might mistakenly take an innocent life.

One thing was sure: he was being followed. 

The only question was the intention of the one tailing him, and why were following him.

He glanced at the holographic watch on his wrist, displaying an aerial view of the city once again.

'Let's make a little detour. I don't want to kill anyone by mistake… again' Jin thought, beginning to put a marker on his holographic watch, rerouting his path.

This detour was substantial, taking him almost in the opposite direction of the building where the datapad was residing.

'If they're really tailing me, I have to be careful. I can't lose the datapad, no matter what. I can't lose it,' Jin repeated to himself with resolve. He was not going to miss this chance, not again.

Making the detour, he ventured into the dark alleyways he had studied and learned over time. Despite his poor sense of direction, he could traverse these alleyways without his holographic watch.

Something that was crucial at the moment.

'I'm almost sure that bastard is tailing me. I can't let him see me look at my watch, or he'll alert everyone, but I still need confirmation. God damn it,' Jin cursed under his breath. He walked even deeper into the alleyways, making sure not to arouse suspicion.

'I can't look back, no matter what.'

While casually striding through the dark alleyways, he enveloped his right and left legs with a weak, barely visible electric current.

He made sure to brush them against the walls of the narrow alleyways, creating a connection between the walls.

'Follow me now, you goddamn bastard,' Jin thought with a smile as he continued to walk casually through the alleys. He had set up an electric tripwire between the walls.

The moment the bastard stepped into it, Jin would get his confirmation and shock him at the same time, giving him an opening to turn back and catch him instantly.

He continued his walk, waiting, and waiting, as he had no other choice.

'Come on now, come on,' Jin urged silently.

He was getting increasingly frustrated like a fisherman left waiting for hours. But a fisherman had two things Jin did not have.

Time and patience.

'Don't make me wait, fucker. Get caught already,' Jin cursed, his patience running thin.

The feeling of being watched was still present, and there was one thing he was sure of, he wasn't paranoid.

'I know you're here. Just show yourself,' he thought, still walking away, getting farther and farther from his electric tripwire.

'Maybe… maybe I'm just paranoid?' Jin began to doubt himself. He was completely alone in the alleyways, and despite the persistent feeling of being watched, he couldn't precisely sense anyone's presence.

'Yeah, maybe I'm just going crazy. I guess this is what dying does to a guy.'

Not caring anymore, he switched his gaze back, looking around with his own eyes, no longer relying solely on his other senses.

"What the fuck?" Jin muttered. He clearly saw a person before him, the bastard having just stepped through his electric tripwire.

"Shit," the man muttered aloud. He wore a brown trench coat and had brown hair, his facial features obscured by a black face mask.

Without hesitation, the man turned around swiftly and began to run away from Jin, fumbling with his own watch as he fled.

"Oh fuck!" Jin shouted in shock, lightning instantly enveloping his legs as he began to run at breakneck speed.

Rushing after the man in the brown trench coat, cold sweat formed on his brow from fear.

'God damn it, I can't let him alert Genesis. I'm not going to endanger this mission because of this bastard.'

"Thirteen!" Jin shouted, running as fast as he could, chasing the man who had been tailing him without completely alerting him.

"What is—" Thirteen couldn't even finish his question before Jin shouted in anger.

"Some bastard managed to tail me. He's going to alert Genesis! I'm trying to catch him, but the bastard is fast. Just make it impossible for him to signal them," Jin raged, pushing himself to run even faster. 

The man in the trench coat was quick, managing to stay just out of Jin's immediate reach.

Thirteen remained silent, but Jin could hear the furious typing on the keyboard in his earpiece, Thirteen giving his all to stop the signal from reaching Genesis, sending out blocking signals of his own to block the signal that tried to reach Genesis.

As the man fled, sensing the murderous intent radiating from Jin, he drew his blade from the sheath positioned on his belt.

"Come back, you fucker, and I'll make it as painless as I possibly can!" Jin shouted, his speed nearly blinding as he almost caught up to the man.

Leaping into the air, Jin swung his blade downward, his entire body crackling with electricity, even the blade was enveloped in it.

The intent was to instantly sever the man's neck, but he missed by a hair as the trench-coated man quickly sidestepped.

'This bastard is quick on his feet, just what I need,' Jin remarked sarcastically as he rotated his body, tensing his calf muscles, ready to strike again.

Swiping with his blade engulfed in lightning, he aimed to cut the man in two.

Yet, with another quick sidestep, the man evaded Jin's fatal strike once more.

'Fuck, what the hell is up with this guy?!' Jin cursed, flabbergasted by the man's skill and speed.

'Okay, bastard, evade this!'

Jin swiped again, but this time it wasn't a fast cut. The real aim wasn't the blade. As he rotated his body, his coat swung out, obscuring his true intention.

In one swift motion, Jin reached for his electric gun.

Pulling it out of its holster, Jin aimed his electric handgun at lightning speed and unleashed two bullets simultaneously.

'You evaded my cuts, evade these,' Jin chuckled with mad eyes. As the bullets flew toward the man, Jin reached out with his electric powers, causing two explosions to erupt.

The explosions hurled the man back, slamming him into one of the walls of the narrow alleyway.

Blood gushed from the man's mouth, seeping through his face mask.

'Got you now.'

Jin approached, his blade and gun hanging by his side as he slowly walked towards the man. 

He pointed the tip of his blade at him, ready to stab forward and end his life instantly.

"Don't move. Don't test me, or you'll be dead before you can signal those bastards," Jin threatened openly, his blade inching closer to the man's neck, ready to sever an important artery if he tried anything.

"Now… tell me, why were you tailing me?" Jin demanded, pressing his blade closer to emphasize his threat.

Instead of an answer, the man in the trench coat retaliated. With a swift motion, he swiped at Jin's throat with a gloved hand, revealing metal claws beneath the leather. 

The claws bit into Jin's flesh, drawing blood and eliciting a groan of pain.

"So that's how it is," Jin muttered, his blade stabbing into the man's neck only to meet metal. His eyes widened as he realized the man had a reinforced neck, making him tougher than anticipated.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Jin exclaimed in frustration. In a desperate move, he enveloped the tip of his blade in electric currents, intending to shut down the machine parts of the man. 

However, he was left stunned once again as the machine parts remained operational.

"Jin, this is bad news. They knew exactly what to expect and equipped someone with the right cybernetic implants. You should run away from this one!" Thirteen's urgent voice echoed in his ears. Now both of them knew that this was a trap.

"Forget it, Thirteen. If that datapad can lead us to another one of us, I'm not going to give it up just for this piece of metal," Jin replied defiantly.

He and the implanted man before him maintained a cautious distance, with Jin raising his blade in readiness while lightning crackled around his body.

Slowly, the man stood up, his hands now metallic claws while only his legs and torso remained flesh.

Raising his claws at Jin, the man barely showed any expression on his face. Instead, he did one thing: he openly mocked Jin by extending a clawed middle finger.