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Quote of the Chapter:
"Just keep on believing and keep on pretending if you need to."
— Kermit the Frog.
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"Are you sure this will work this time?"
The voice, edged with clear annoyance, came from the taller of the two. He looked young, barely in his early twenties, but there was something in his expression that made him seem far older. Pale skin, messy white hair falling over one eye, and a sharp lime-green gaze that cut through the dim corridor as he walked. Dressed in a fitted black suit, he moved with quiet confidence, hands tucked into his pockets as his footsteps echoed against the floor.
At his side, a much smaller figure hurried to keep up.
"Y-yes, sir…"
She stammered, clutching the tablet a little tighter as she struggled to match his pace.
"Compared to the previous batches, these two are different."
He didn't look at her, but the slight tilt of his head told her he was listening.
"The earlier clones showed immediate degradation; cellular breakdown, neural instability, complete collapse within hours."
She swallowed.
"But these two… they're stabilizing. Rapidly."
That got his attention. His visible eye shifted slightly toward her, sharp and focused.
"Define rapidly."
"Faster than projections,"
She replied, voice steadier now.
"Their vitals are evening out, neural patterns are… synchronizing instead of fracturing like the usual failures. It's like their bodies are adapting to the process instead of rejecting it, and in record time at that."
A brief silence followed, filled only by the sound of their footsteps.
"…And you're telling me this wasn't expected?"
"N-no, sir. Not at this rate."
She hesitated, then added,
"If this continues… they might actually survive long-term."
He stopped walking. The sudden halt nearly made her run into him.
"…Might?"
He repeated, his tone low, unimpressed. She flinched slightly.
"W-we're still monitoring for delayed rejection, but—"
"But for the first time,"
He cut in, voice flat,
"They're not dying."
"…Yes, sir."
He was quiet for a moment, his gaze drifting forward again down the corridor.
"…Show me."
She nodded quickly, turning on her heel as she led the way further down the corridor.
"This way, sir."
The lights above flickered faintly as they moved, the sterile hum of machinery growing louder with each step. The deeper they went, the colder the air felt, thick with antiseptic.
"They're being held in Containment Wing C."
She continued, glancing down at her tablet.
"We've isolated them from the rest of the subjects as a precaution. Their development rate is quite abnormal, so we decided not to risk interference or contamination."
"A good decision."
They reached a reinforced door, its surface lined with security locks and biometric scanners. She stepped forward, quickly entering a code before pressing her hand against the panel. A soft beep followed, then a low mechanical hiss as the locks disengaged.
The door slid open. Inside, the room was dimly lit, with two large glass chambers standing at the center, filled with a faintly glowing fluid. Tubes and wires snaked from every direction, feeding into the bodies suspended within with nutrients.
"…So these are the ones,"
He murmured.
"Yes, sir. Subjects #1110 and #1113."
A monitor spiked.
"That's— that wasn't supposed to—"
The words caught as #1110's finger twitched.
Once.
Then again.
Her eyes dropped to the tablet.
"Neural activity's rising… that's too fast."
The monitor spiked again.
Inside the chamber, #1110's body jerked. Then again, harder. The movement spread through it, uneven and uncontrolled as the surrounding fluid shifted.
"Seizure response," she said quickly, already moving. "Neural synchronization is destabilizing. It's rejecting the link."
Another spike. The body arched slightly, the lines connected to it pulling tight as the chamber vibrated with the motion.
She reached the panel and forced it open, grabbing a syringe and entering an override in one motion. The system paused, then unlocked the injection port.
"I'm stabilizing the synchronization."
The man at her side simply watched with interest.
She pushed the syringe into the port and injected the contents. The liquid spread through the chamber, mixing into the fluid as the readings began to drop.
The convulsions slowed. Then stopped. The body went still.
The monitors began to level out, and with a relieved sigh, she exhaled.
"That shouldn't have happened. Neural synchronization wasn't supposed to reach this stage until a couple of months at most and weeks at the least, at the development pace they demonstrated."
Then her eyes lifted back to the pod and noticed something before her mind could catch up. Subject #1110 was conscious, or at least looked as if it was, and took in his surroundings before looking directly at her.
For a moment, she didn't move.
"…No," she said under her breath. "That's not possible."
The sedative should've kept him under. Even with the spike, there was no reason for him to be conscious this early.
But #1110 was looking straight at her. His eyes were open, they were sky blue, and completely focused on her.
Her grip tightened around the tablet.
"His neural readings are stable… too stable. The synchronization corrected the problem itself."
The man beside her stepped forward, stopping just short of the chamber. He met #1110's gaze without hesitation.
"…He's aware,"
He said. Before she could respond, another monitor spiked. She turned sharply.
"No—"
It was #1113. The readings climbed just as fast. Inside the second chamber, #1113's fingers twitched, then the rest of the body followed. Mirroring #1110's earlier movements almost exactly.
Her brows furrowed as she looked between the two sets of data.
"That's… no, that doesn't make sense. The synchronization rates shouldn't be linked like this."
Another spike, even higher.
"Why are they matching so perfec—"
She cut herself off, already moving toward the panel again.
"I need to sedate #1113 before it destabilizes!"
Her hand reached for the controls.
"Stop."
She froze.
"…Sir?"
"Wait."
She glanced back at him, confusion clear on her face.
"If I don't intervene now, we could lose control of the synchronization entirely!"
"I said wait."
Her grip tightened slightly.
"Sir, with all due respect, this isn't within projected parameters. If the neural synchronization spikes past threshold again, it could—"
"This is an order."
The words cut through her completely.
She stopped. Slowly, her hand pulled back from the panel. Behind the glass, #1113's movements didn't escalate.
They slowed down gradually. The monitors followed, the erratic spikes smoothing out into a steady pattern. Her eyes flicked between the readings, then back to the chamber.
"…It's regulating itself."
The man didn't respond.
Inside the first chamber, #1110 hadn't moved once. Then, just like its predecessor, #1113's body went completely still. A second later, their own eyes opened. Two amber eyes darted across the room before focusing on the two in front of it, matching #1110 completely focused.
She stared at the readings again, then back at the chambers.
"…This is… incredible,"
She said, almost under her breath.
"The synchronization is stable… no fluctuations, no degradation… everything is within optimal range."
Her voice picked up slightly, disbelief creeping in.
"It's perfect. Both of them… they're completely stable."
Without thinking, she took a step forward. Then another.
"I need a closer look—"
She didn't get any further.
A hand grabbed the back of her collar and yanked her backward with enough force to lift her clean off the ground.
"Don't."
Her feet left the floor for a split second before she was pulled back, the tablet nearly slipping from her grip.
"Wha—sir, I was just—"
She didn't get to finish her sentence.
Inside the chamber, #1113's leg moved. At a speed that went past a normal human by leaps and bounds, that shot forward at full force.
(CRASH!!)
The glass instantly shattered on impact. A deafening crack tore through the room as the chamber exploded outward, fragments blasting across the floor along with the fluid.
For half a second, everything froze. Then, sirens began to blare. Red warning lights flickered overhead, bathing the room in harsh pulses of light as an automated voice echoed through the facility.
[CONTAINMENT BREACH DETECTED. CONTAINMENT BREACH DETECTED. CONTAINMENT BREACH DETECTED.]
The sound filled the corridor outside, alarms stacking over each other as the system kicked into emergency lockdown. By the time the noise settled into a constant wail, #1113 was already stepping out of the chamber.
"Begin lockdown procedures."
He said without raising his voice.
"Full containment. They are not to leave this wing under any circumstances."
"…Y-yes, sir!"
She didn't hesitate and turned immediately to rush out of the room, already bringing the tablet up to issue commands as the alarms continued to blare.
The man didn't follow. Instead, he reached up calmly, shrugging off his suit jacket as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. He hung it neatly on a nearby rail, straightening it with a small adjustment before rolling his shoulders once.
"…In the event that I fail,"
He said, voice even, almost casual,
"Deploy the SB-555B Faiz Driver and SB-913B Kaixa Driver to their designated users."
She paused at the doorway for only a second.
"…Understood. Yes, sir."
Then she was gone. The door slid shut behind her, sealing the room. The sirens continued to blare as the red light pulsed across the glass, the floor, the fluid still dripping from the shattered chamber.
Now it was just him and them. He stepped forward, unbothered by the broken glass beneath his shoes, his attention settling on #1113.
"…It's good to see," he said, tone steady, "that all the work our scientists put in wasn't wasted."
A brief pause, then his gaze sharpened.
"But you will not be leaving."
Another step.
"Not today. Not ever unless we allow it."
His posture remained relaxed, but there was nothing casual about the way he looked at him now.
"You can stay where you are willingly…"
A slight tilt of his head.
"…or I'll break every bone in your body and keep you here myself."
Silence stretched in the room between the two of them, only broken by the sounds of the echoing alarms. #1113 stared at him unblinkingly. Then, with a slow exhale, the clone spoke for the first time in an annoyed tone.
"…You gotta be fucking kidding me…"