The Five Evolution

『"Hello—are you lonely?"』

"I was wondering when you’d show up." The man’s voice came from behind just before Raj spun around.

"How..." Raj asked carefully, both his jaw and fingers clenching.

"Please." The man scoffed, taking slow steps towards the wall of photographs. "That old sedan? I made you back at the coffee shop."

"Beautiful, isn’t she?" the man continued, gesturing to Priya’s photos with pride. "They all are at that age. Right on the cusp of understanding the world. So much potential."

He smiled. "I’ve been very patient. Watching. Waiting. Making sure she’s special before I make my move."

"You’re not making any move." Raj grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against the wall of photographs, almost putting him through it.

The man laughed while groaning and coughing in pain. "You must be one of those overprotective brothers."

Raj backed away slowly, saying nothing.

The man glanced at the photographs that were now on the ground. "Can’t say I’ve ever met one before." He picked up Priya’s photo and slowly got to his feet. "You’re actually my first."

His form seemed to flicker. One second he was beside the cracked wall. The next Raj could have sworn he was three feet to the left. Then back again. Then somewhere else.

Raj wasn’t sure the man was moving at all. His eyes simply refused to hold onto him.

"You’re doing something to my mind," Raj said, forcing his eyes to focus despite the disorienting effect. "You somehow make people’s minds slide off you." He shook his head. "Make them forget they saw you."

"Perception actually." The man’s smile widened as he corrected. "And yet you’re still able to track me despite that, which means..." His eyes narrowed. "You’re one of them."

Before Raj knew it, a fist slammed into the side of his head, staggering him back. He shook his head again, trying to figure out where it came from.

"I thought as much. An Awakener." The man’s voice echoed across the room.

This time, it was the flower vase that went unnoticed as it smashed into Raj’s head.

"I wondered if the girl’s brother would be special too."

Then he pulled out a small metal rod from thin air. It was maybe six inches long. Metallic. That was all Raj could tell about it.

Because the moment it appeared, Raj felt his eyes trying to slide away from it. Felt his brain insisting that what he was looking at wasn’t important, wasn’t worth noticing, wasn’t really there.

"The Overlooked," the man said proudly as he slammed it into Raj’s torso, dropping him down on one knee. "Makes anything I make contact with completely ignorable."

Raj was already healing. But not fast enough to stop the world from tilting. He’d taken hits before. However, this felt different.

His brain couldn’t confirm what his body was doing because his brain kept insisting there was nothing there to respond to. The damage he received was literally going unnoticed.

"People just... skip over me. Like I’m not worth their attention." He twirled the rod between his fingers. "Made hunting so much easier. Nobody remembers the man they didn’t notice."

"That’s just sad." Raj rubbed the spot where the rod had struck him, standing on his feet. "Your superpower is being forgettable." His voice dropped. "Being a nobody."

Visible veins rose in the stalker’s neck and forehead. Raj had struck a nerve.

"Look at you!" He gestured to the whole of Raj. "What do you know about loneliness!"

"What I know," Raj said, pointing at the rod, his eyes straining to keep it in focus, "is that I’m going to break that." His gaze shifted to the man. "And then I’m going to break you."

The man’s depraved smile was back as his form flickered again, this time appearing right next to scattered photos on the ground.

He picked up Priya’s photo and his hand caressed it with obscene intimacy. "I’m looking at you right now, and I’m realizing something interesting..."

Raj’s jaw clenched harder.

"You haven’t used any obvious abilities. Which makes me wonder..." He smiled wider. "You don’t want me to know what you can do..." he shook his head as his smile disappeared. "No, that’s not it."

"You’re just not worth it," Raj deflected.

The man pulled out his phone and stared at the screen. "Hm?" He tilted his head. "Your sister’s at home right now. "From her movement pattern today, I could have sworn she wouldn’t be."

Goddamn it, Priya.

Raj’s eyebrows furrowed, unable to hide his worry.

"The old tracker in the bagpack trick." The man waved his phone briefly at Raj. Then his thumb hovered over the screen. "I wonder what would happen if I paid them a visit right now."

That did it. Raj shot forward, Juggernaut Shell still not manifested. He crossed the distance between them in two steps and drove his fist into the man’s face.

The stalker’s head snapped back as blood sprayed all over the room. Yet, that depraved smile kept returning no matter how hard Raj hit him.

He stumbled, his phone clattering to the floor, and for just a moment his ability faltered. Raj could see him clearly and completely, without the perception-warping effect.

The man laughed through his broken teeth. "There it is," he said, blood pouring from his face. "The real you." His laugh cut off. "You’re holding back. Even now. Even for her." He tilted his head. "Why?"

He then brought the metal rod up, and suddenly Raj’s eyes were trying to shift away from him again.

He swung his hands blindly, hitting nothing but air. He could summon Juggernaut Shell, try to end this quickly. But so far, all Raj had fought as an Awakener were literal monsters. This was different.

Regardless of this man’s nature being arguably more monstrous, this was a human being. Somehow, that scared Raj more than he wanted to admit.

Because the rage boiling inside him was becoming harder to control. And if he decided to cut loose here, he was afraid he’d cross a line he couldn’t come back from.

"Too scared at the end of the day to show me what you can really do." The man’s voice came from everywhere and he slammed his rod into Raj’s temple. "I don’t really know why..."

Raj dropped down on both knees this time, blood trickling from the side of his skull, his regeneration finding it hard to mend a fracture his body didn’t realize it had.

He vanished from sight again, and Raj tried to focus on his surroundings by tracking the displacement of air, but his mind kept insisting there was nothing there to see.

"...And frankly, I don’t really care," the man completed. The sound of his footsteps disappearing from Raj’s hearing as well. "But that’s why I’ll win."

Raj’s brain continued telling him there was nothing worth focusing on. That it was just an empty apartment and photos and—

The photos.

Raj grabbed a picture of Priya from the ground and focused on it. Used it as an anchor. This was why he was here. This was what mattered. Not the man’s ability, not the perception games, but his sister’s safety.

And with that focus, he could see movement. A shimmer in the air. A distortion where the man was trying to slip past him toward the door.

Raj’s hand shot out and grabbed nothing, but it wasn’t nothing, it was something solid despite his eyes insisting otherwise. He felt fabric, felt flesh beneath it, and squeezed.

"Got you," Raj said.

Then a fist he couldn’t see caught him in the skull, and the world exploded into stars before going dark.