Gunshot echoes.
Jihad's heart skipped. He yanked the door open, expecting the worst.
His eyes scanned desperately—and there she was. Jannat, standing by the gate, unharmed but trembling, tears in her eyes. Behind her, a smoking bullet hole on the wall.
Jay came running behind Jihad, gun drawn.
> Jannat (shaking): "He… he was wearing a coat… like yours. But his face… it wasn't yours. He pointed at me and… shot."
Jihad didn't speak. He knew who it was.
> Jay (growling): "He crossed the line."
Without hesitation, Jay tossed Jannat the car keys.
> Jay: "Go. Now. Back to the village. Don't stop. Don't look back."
Jannat, terrified but trusting, nodded and ran.
Jihad slammed the door shut and looked at Jay. Their silence burned with the same decision.
> Jihad: "He wants war?"
> Jay (cracking knuckles): "Then we give him hell."
They tracked the coordinates from the gun's sound signature.
It led them to an abandoned parking garage—dark, echoing, isolated.
And he was there.
Unknown Jihad.
Leaning against a pillar, smirking, gun spinning around his finger.
> Unknown Jihad: "You're fast, Detective. But not fast enough."
> Jay (stepping forward): "You aimed at a child."
> Unknown Jihad: "She wasn't a target. I just wanted to see you snap."
> Jihad (quietly to Jay): "He wants attention. Give it to him."
Jay stepped forward slowly, removing his coat. The muscles beneath his shirt flexed. His knuckles already bruised from the last encounter.
> Jay: "I'm going to use 100% on you. No holding back."
Unknown Jihad laughed, raised his fists.
They didn't wait.
Collision.
The force of their first punch created a shockwave, echoing through the garage.
Jay was a monster.
Left hook to face — blood splatter.
Knee to ribs — crack.
Elbow drop to spine — collapse.
Unknown Jihad retaliated. Fast. Wild. But not smart.
Jay countered each move, unrelenting.
> Jay (grunting): "You're not fighting a detective. You're fighting a storm."
He threw Unknown Jihad into a concrete pillar — it cracked.
Unknown Jihad barely stood. Breathing ragged. Jaw still broken. Eye swelling.
> Unknown Jihad (spitting blood): "You're… stronger than him."
> Jay (coldly): "He's the mind. I'm the punishment."
While Jay battled, Jihad quietly walked toward the abandoned control panel nearby.
He had already planned this.
He pulled out the damaged time remote and connected it to the garage's old speaker system and CCTV wires. He used the feedback system—one Jay had helped him install earlier—to trigger a mirror frequency.
Unknown Jihad was slowly pushed toward a large, dusty mirror fixed to the back wall.
Suddenly, the reflection began to shift.
Unknown Jihad paused.
In the mirror, he saw his past.
His first murder.
His first lie.
The first moment he became "Unknown."
> Jihad (calmly speaking through speaker):
"You were never me.
You were the shadow of the choices I never made."
Unknown Jihad screamed, grabbed his head, and threw a piece of metal at the mirror — but the image persisted.
> Jihad: "You're not a time traveler. You're a timeline parasite."
> Jay (walking toward him): "Time to cut you out."
Unknown Jihad, panicked, pulled out a knife and lunged at Jihad—
But Jay was already behind him.
> Jay (whispering): "Wrong move."
Jay grabbed the attacker's arm, twisted it brutally, disarming him, and with a thunderous punch to the chest, dropped him to his knees.
Unknown Jihad raised his face, smiling even through the pain.
> Unknown Jihad (croaking): "Still… not enough to kill me."
Jihad walked forward now.
He took out his gun.
No rage.
No fear.
Just calm.
> Jihad: "You're not my future.
You're a mistake that got through the cracks."
Bang.
One clean bullet to the head.
The Third Threat was gone.
Dead on the spot.
Silence.
Just the sound of dripping water and slow breathing.
Jay sat down, bleeding from the mouth. Jihad dropped the gun and slumped beside him.
> Jay (smiling weakly): "Well… that escalated."
> Jihad (looking up at the sky through the garage ceiling): "Is it over?"
Jay shrugged.
> Jay: "I doubt it."
They both stood over the body.
But then…
The unthinkable happened.
Unknown Jihad's eyes opened.
A trail of blood ran down his forehead, but his lips curled into a slow, twisted smile.
That death smile — the one that doesn't belong to someone afraid.
It belongs to someone who planned this all along.
> Unknown Jihad (whispering, nearly breathless):
"Heh… heh…
You really thought… that would stop me?"
Slowly, with broken bones and blood pouring,
He stood up.
Shaking. Barely able to breathe. But standing.
Jay and Jihad froze.
A chill ran down their spines.
> Narration:
"The shot that should have ended everything…
was just the beginning."
TO BE CONTINUED...
[Note : Every Characters,Scenes Are Completely Fictional. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing].