Distant Memories (2)

Leaving the apartment, Jin felt the cold night wind brush against his face, it helped him to clear his mind. The pain was still present, albeit in a much less distracting way.

"You can't give up now, you simply can't," he repeated the same line frantically while gazing into the star-filled, night.

The sky was filled with stars, shining brightly overhead. There were too many to count, and Jin's emerald green eyes were lost in them as he grabbed the iron railing to support himself.

He wore his usual black leather gloves, something he never left the apartment without.

"What I would give to visit another planet, leave this shitty city all behind." wondered Jin as he gazed at the other parts of the Tenth District, a light chuckle escaping his lips.

He was high up, granting him a view of a large portion of the district.

It was the same as always, filth everywhere, dwellers of the Tenth District barely resembled humans anymore, dependent on alcohol and drugs to numb themselves to the harsh reality they lived.

It was a tragic fate, something difficult to escape, no matter the hard work, no matter the blood, sweat, and tears.

Once someone entered the Tenth District, it was hard to escape, nigh impossible.

Looking down at his own hands hidden away by the black glove, Jin couldn't help but survey his surroundings once again. Not only was he disgusted by the world around him, but he was also disgusted with himself.

"Strong, my ass… I'm pathetic. This place, the people that live here… I… we are all pathetic," thought Jin, a self-loathing chuckle escaping his lips as he grimly smiled once again at the stars.

'I need to go one… I have to find them, maybe we can all be together in a better place, far far away from here.' Represented the words Jin once again, strengthening his resolve.

Taking one more deep breath of the cold air, he walked back into the apartment.

"Damn it, I need to take a shower," cursed Jin silently once again.

As the metal door closed behind him, Jin continued to walk back into their apartment, only to find Thirteen looking straight at him as he opened the door.

"Jin… be honest," Thirteen said, his expression completely serious as he gazed at Jin.

Jin towered over Thirteen, yet he shuddered under his gaze.

"What is it?" Jin asked, sensing the gravity in Thirteen's tone.

"What is going on with you these days? You are impatient, rash, and lack any kind of care for your own physical safety… what is going on, Jin?" Thirteen questioned, his gaze not just questioning but openly worried.

"I… we don't have enough time… you don't have enough time, and we are nowhere close to finding them," Jin answered, his voice close to breaking.

"That's what I wanted to tell you about," Thirteen said, a smile spreading across his face in both understanding and pride.

His smile was strange and dark, a stark contrast to their dire situation. But for the first time, they had a good lead, which gave him a reason to smile.

"You found a lead?" Jin asked in disbelief, rushing to Thirteen's side to look at one of the monitors he had pointed at, leaning onto the back of his chair as he gazed at the screen.

Thirteen began to open one of the files on his computer, using a hard drive—an antiquated piece of technology, lost to time and only used by Thirteen and other hackers of his caliber for the sake of anonymity.

Opening the file revealed a photo showing one of the buildings inside the Tenth District.

"What am I looking at exactly?" Jin asked, his eyes glued to the building in the picture.

"I've been searching for leads for a while now, staying up all night, speaking to all kinds of informants. Finally, I found this: a Genesis building. Inside it, there's something that can lead us to the others," Thirteen said, proud of his research.

Jin watched in disbelief, feeling a glimmer of hope in his heart.

"The intel seems to be trustworthy, but we can never be cautious enough," Thirteen warned as he pulled up another image.

This one showed a simple datapad.

"If the intel is right, this datapad will tell us the location of another S-rated. The Genesis bastards aren't just hunting us; they're after the location of another one as well. And if this is truly accurate, they already know their locations," Thirteen explained.

"Perfect, are we going to ask the Liberation Front to help with this?" Jin asked.

"No, they would only end up holding us back, or just simply dying without doing anything to help," Thirteen answered. He had other plans for the Liberation Front.

"We need to think of them as plants, water them, grow them. They're barely sprouts that can be easily picked up from the ground. It's still too early," Thirteen said, pulling his gaze back to one of his monitors and pointing at the picture once again.

"What do you think, Jin? Wanna go out and get that datapad?" Thirteen asked, but he had an all-knowing smile on his face, already suspecting the answer.

"Yep, I'm ready to go right now," Jin said, his expression somber, a fleeting smile crossing his lips, tinged with melancholy.

No longer leaning on Thirteen's chair, Jin stood up straight and walked into his room. He picked up his hunting rifle and his electric handgun, along with a handful of ammo that Thirteen had ordered from the weapon store.

Then, he picked up his new weapon, the katana that replaced his combat knife. It had proven to be a better weapon than the simple combat knife.

This katana was at least rated as a Tier Two weapon, its material strong enough to cut through metal without much trouble.

"What a nice blade," Jin said, staring at it with a proud expression. He was beyond glad that he had taken it from the Genesis B-ranked Cypher, even if taking his life felt bad.

As Jin began to walk out of the building, he heard his watch ping with a signal.

"I know that you are already going. I have pinged its location to your watch," Thirteen told Jin, prompting him to instantly walk out of the apartment building.

'It's almost over. It's all going to be over soon,' Jin thought to himself, determination burning.

And with that, Jin left the building. Opening his holographic watch, he saw the distance to the building—closer than he was comfortable with.

Barely 10 minutes away.

Jin walked towards the building marked on his map, the dark streets of the Tenth District were mostly empty save for a few dwellers on the road. They all gazed at Jin, but he remained still, feeling something akin to being watched, but not because of his stature.

No, this was something else.

He couldn't shake off this feeling, the feeling of being watched.

"This bastard…" Jin muttered under his breath. He had been walking for a whole minute now, yet the feeling of being watched only intensified, now he was sure.

The one tailing him grew complacent, thinking that Jin couldn't sense his presence. He let down his guard, something that he is going to regret deeply. 

"I don't know where you are… but wherever you are right now, I'm going to find you, and you are not going to like what I'm going to do to you."