The Five Evolution

『"The element of surprise and anonymity is so overrated."』

One wore his hood up, obscuring most of his face beneath shadow. The other walked quietly behind him with the hood lowered. And the second Ethan saw him, he froze.

Both Ethan and this stranger in a white hooded cloak had the same dark hair, sharp eyes, and even similar bone structure. The resemblance was uncanny.

Except, this man was older, early thirties maybe. There was also something harder about him, something weathered and cynical, like someone who’d stopped expecting good things years ago.

The hooded man continued speaking with that same pleasant tone. "They’re just taking a nap," he said casually, gesturing vaguely toward the cavern’s edge. "I made sure not to hurt them too badly."

Everyone’s eyes followed the gesture, and they saw them. Near the far edge of the cavern floor, half-hidden behind a collapsed section of rock, Dante and Yelena both lay motionless and unconscious.

Several medics immediately recoiled in panic.

"What the hell—"

"How did they even get over there?!"

"When did—nobody saw anything—"

Yelena alone getting taken down silently was scary enough. But Dante too? Nobody had sensed anything.

One of the medics slowly reached for a comm device, but the hooded Apostle raised a finger. "I wouldn’t."

The medic’s hand froze immediately. The threat in that soft voice was crystal clear.

The hooded man then pulled out a silver pocket watch that looked antique with ornate engravings covering its surface, flipping it open with a click.

"Hm." He tilted it slightly. "We don’t have much time."

Snap.

The watch shut and he looked up to them. "Your Institute has already redirected support toward this location. I estimate..." He hummed thoughtfully. "Five to ten minutes before reinforcements arrive."

He smiled beneath the hood. "So let’s make this quick."

The air suddenly felt heavier.

"We are the Apostles," he said calmly.

There was silence. Absolute silence. Even the medics looked horrified now.

One of them actually stumbled backward. "No way..."

Hiro had gone completely pale and Raj slowly stood up from his chair. "...the fuck?"

As for Amara, she tried pushing herself upright on the stretcher despite the pain shooting through her body. But her attention kept drifting toward the second figure.

Toward the man standing silently behind the hooded Apostle, specifically toward the face that looked so disturbingly familiar to Ethan’s.

Ethan himself had gone completely quiet. More quiet than usual. His eyes stayed locked on the man. And when the man stared back, his expression was unreadable.

Sophia, meanwhile, blinked slowly from her bed, still completely out of it. "...why are there two Ethans?" she asked weakly, but nobody answered her.

Hiro leaned in and whispered to Ethan. "These guys took down Dante and Yelena?" His voice carried genuine disbelief. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

Ethan still said nothing for a moment. Then finally, he forced himself to speak. "What do you want?"

The Apostle tilted his head. "To talk of course."

Ethan turned to Amara and she nodded, confirming that he wasn’t lying.

But before the hooded man could say another word, a sudden movement behind him made him pause. Yelena had recovered enough consciousness to move.

Her body twitched as she forced herself upward with a sharp gasp. She was disoriented, rubbing her head through her disheveled hair with her wrist.

The instant her eyes landed on the Apostles, her expression transformed completely.

"Svoloch..." she whispered, and immediately launched forward with one of her swords materializing in her hand mid-sprint.

"Oh dear." The hooded Apostle sighed softly as a black cloak manifested around the white one he wore. Then darkness spilled outward from beneath the cloak.

The shadows surged toward Yelena’s incoming strike and her blade quickly tore through portions of it, but the darkness wrapped around the attack itself, swallowing its momentum and consuming the force behind it.

It kept expanding, wrapping Yelena entirely. And for a moment, the shadows compressed around her body like a tightening coffin.

The stone floor beneath her cracked violently and Yelena snarled, bursting free with raw force, only for another wave of darkness to slam into her mid-motion and send her crashing across the cavern wall.

She hit the ground hard and was instantly enveloped by more darkness for added measure before she could recover, immobilizing her in a cocoon of shadow that pinned her motionless against the rock.

"Dark Cloak," the Apostle said, adjusting his sleeve. "It belonged to a rather notorious assassin from Prague." He looked upward as though trying to recall something from distant memory. "If I remember correctly, I added this particular relic to my collection approximately three years ago."

Raj stared at what just happened for a few seconds, then decided. "Nah, fuck this."

"Raj, wait—" Ethan started, reaching out. But Raj was already on the move.

He charged at the hooded Apostle and swung a punch capable of flattening buildings directly toward the Apostle’s head.

"Really?" The Apostle said, sounding almost disappointed as he simply clicked open his pocket watch again.

Tick.

And everything stopped, accompanied by a quiet that wasn’t your normal run in the mill silence.

Dust hung motionless in the air and Raj’s fist paused inches away from the Apostle’s face.

The kicker was that it wasn’t just Raj, everyone and everything was frozen in place—medics mid-step, Hiro mid-breath, Ethan mid-reach.

Amara could still think, could still perceive, but she couldn’t move a single muscle or feel anything physical. Just her consciousness trapped in a single frozen moment, aware but powerless.

The Apostle walked casually between them with his hands clasped behind his back, examining each frozen figure like they were museum exhibits.

"Ten seconds of stopped time." He stopped in front of Raj, staring at him. "Truthfully, ten seconds is more than enough for most situations."

He pressed two fingers against Raj’s chest, tapping him lightly, a gesture that would have been harmless under normal circumstances. Then his eyes shifted sideways toward Hiro.

At that point, a second bar had permanently imprinted itself on Hiro’s ankle without him even realizing it. Simultaneously, one of his fingers twitched.

It was an infinitesimal, barely perceptible movement. But it was still enough to draw the attention of the Apostle.

He acknowledged it with a knowing smile and said nothing. Instead, he simply closed the pocket watch.

Tick.

In turn, time resumed violently as reality snapped back into motion.

BOOM!

Raj was launched backward like he’d been hit by a truck and smashed through medical equipment before crashing into the cavern wall hard enough to crater it.

Before anyone could even react, a blue ring materialized around the Apostle’s finger. "Oh yes," he mused. "I quite like this one."

SNAP.

With the snap of his finger, blue frost exploded outward instantly, engulfing Raj in seconds and flash-freezing him solid against the wall.

The Apostle smiled pleasantly. "There." He slipped the pocket watch back into his cloak and rubbed his chin. "Hopefully that helps him chill out."

Sophia stared at a frozen Raj for several long seconds, then chuckled. "...Raj’s a popsicle," she whispered.

As for the second Apostle, he still hadn’t spoken. Yet Ethan couldn’t stop staring at him, searching for answers in that familiar-yet-foreign face. And the silent man kept staring back.

The hooded Apostle clasped his hands together politely and continued. "Now," he said softly, tilting his head as his smile widened beneath the hood, "can we talk?"

The threat was clear. They were not the first Five. And they wouldn’t be the last.