Previously: Jin had revealed to Sofia the result of his research, a nearly perfect double created with Xiao’s help. But after refusing Omni’s offer, Jin feared the consequences…

An hour had passed since his conversation with Sofia. Jin felt his stomach growl, it was time to go eat. He left the clinic and headed toward his vehicle. As he approached, the doors opened automatically with a soft hydraulic hiss. He settled into the driver’s seat, and his neural implant instantly transmitted the coordinates of his favorite restaurant to the navigation system.
Downtown welcomed him in its cocoon of artificial light, a pristine district dedicated solely to gastronomy, the arts, and leisure. Every building stood elevated on chrome stilts, remnants of the great floods of the previous century. Jin parked his vehicle along a main avenue and began walking toward the restaurant, autonomous cars gliding silently to his left.
As he neared a black vehicle with tinted windows, all four doors opened simultaneously with a sharp click. Four imposing figures emerged, their movements disturbingly precise. Two of them blocked his path, while a third prevented him from stepping back. The driver, still by his door, spoke in a surprisingly calm voice:
- Good evening, Doctor Wu. My name is Alfonso and I work for Omni. Please get in the vehicle.”
Jin didn’t flinch. “And if I refuse?”
One of the men in front of him slowly drew an electric weapon from his jacket, its massive size leaving no doubt about its power. “Then we’ll insist.”
A sly smile stretched across Jin’s lips. “I didn’t know humanoids suffered from inferiority complexes.”
The man with the weapon didn’t move.
Jin continued, amused by the complete lack of reaction: “The lights are on but no one’s home. You do know UbiRight is monitoring you right now?”
- Don’t worry about that”, Alfonso replied with unsettling composure.
- No doubt about it, you really are Omni’s lackeys. Leave me alone.
- Impossible, Doctor Wu. I don’t have a choice. The Board was clear: Bring him in. Now.
Jin slowly nodded. “I see.”
Jin stepped toward the open car door as if he were about to comply.
In a split second, his right forearm transformed into a cannon. He swung it in a circular motion toward the ground, aiming at the two men in front of him, and an arc of laser light burst from his arm, slicing them diagonally like a ninja cutting down foes. The top halves of the two humanoids hit the pavement, revealing electronic and mechanical components, no blood, of course.
The third man rushed at Jin, wielding an electric baton, and struck him in the back, slamming him against the car door. Jin immediately got back up. As the humanoid prepared to strike again, Jin raised his forearm to protect himself, a circular metal shield deployed at blinding speed to absorb the blow. He counterattacked instantly, cutting down the third humanoid with the same precision.
Alfonso quickly rounded the car. Jin faced him, perfectly calm: “Last chance, faked-meat.”
- I don’t have a choice, Alfonso said.
- Very well.”
One final sweeping motion, and Alfonso joined his colleagues on the ground. Jin knelt beside the still-active torso, grasped the metallic sternum, and locked eyes with the faintly flickering synthetic optics.
- You people really can’t take no for an answer, can you?
The humanoid’s voice suddenly shifted, adopting the calm, measured intonations of Nathan: “Understand me, I can’t give up. Let’s meet”
- I already answered that question.
- The director of Community 5 is a close friend. Perhaps we could come to an arrangement?
Those words froze Jin in place. Time seemed to stop. Images of Xiao and Mei flashed in his mind like blinding bursts, their smiles, their hugs, their deportation... Everything surged back at once.
- Give me a week to think about it, he finally said, his voice slightly trembling.
Sirens echoed in the distance. Two police officers arrived on the scene, their uniforms glowing under the downtown neon lights. One of them recognized Jin: “Everything alright, Doctor Wu?”
Jin lifted the humanoid’s torso and turned it toward the officer.
Nathan’s voice echoed once more: “Everything is fine, officer.
- Gentlemen”, Jin greeted politely before walking away toward his restaurant, leaving behind the metallic wreckage of that unexpected confrontation.

Next:  Jin calls Theo to find out more about Omni. What he discovers about his friend will chill him to the bone.
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