Vinn sat in his weight room, finishing a set in frustration, as Good Nicole paced the floor, looking nervous.

"What's up, honey? You look upset. You didn't watch the video did you?"

"A little bit of it."

"Oh honey, I'm sorry. I should have stayed and got you out of there. Why did you watch that? You didn't need to see that. I bet it was terrifying given what you've been through."

"Vinn you don't have to always protect me, especially from myself."

"Then who would I protect you from? There are no more monsters here to hurt you anymore, just yourself. I killed the other one...well, once at least. Apparently sometimes it doesn't take. That's all I have left to protect you from, just you." He said, hugging her lightly. She shed a single tear and wasn't sure for what.

"Hey, it's gonna be fine. Evil Nicole is just blackmailing us. She knows where to hit where it hurts, and we'll just...give her the money and the shirt and whatever computer stuff she needs, and she'll go away. You'll never have to face her again, and I'll never have to face the Kraken again."

"Yea, but...you won your battle. I don't think I did." She sighed.

"Clearly I didn't, he's alive. You'll win the fight next time. We'll work together and make it right. Whatever you're feeling, it's okay, I got you. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Not even me." She said as he gave her an odd look.

"Wow, you do not seem okay, you need some rest and a hot bath or something. You want me to get you anything? Beverage, snack?"

"What if I just wanna hurt for a little while?"

"Alone or with help?" he asked.

"I don't know if you can help, Vinn. I don't know if you can even understand what I'm feeling."

"I know you, honey. You're just fighting yourself and afraid she's the stronger Nicole.

"She is." Nicole admitted. "They both are."

Dee stood with her mouth wide open and just kept turning to look at everyone else's expression. Jack and Vicki both just blank. Silverback, blinking a lot and rubbing his neck, Mel just eating popcorn.

"Yea, all that." Nicole said, as if telling the entire story up to the sex video. Vinn paced behind her, staring at the floor and dragging his feet.

"So he's just...back from the dead?" Dee blurted.

"Yep."

"You realize this is a trap." Jack pointed out. "You killed him and he's pissed off, so he stole a Nicole clone and did something to her."

"Yea he's doing lots to her, he's just releasing the Kocken every day, and she's lovin it."

"I mean like brainwashing or cult leader tactics. Drugs, memory alteration, classic Stockholm syndrome. He's trying to get you two on that ship so he can kill you both." Jack detailed. Did he say he wanted you two alone, or did he say lawyers could be involved?"

"They said lawyers." Nicole nodded.

"Good. I'm your lawyer now. I'll get my suit."

"Jack, when did you get a legal degree?" asked Vinn.

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"I don't have a legal degree, I have a briefcase of tricks and a handgun rated to hunt Polar bear."

"Yea, I trust you way more with that, let's do that plan." Vinn nodded, Vicki shook her head.

"Jack you can't go up there and shoot your way out. This isn't an authorized mission, That's called going rogue, and they don't let you do that. He would have the whole ship trapped and definitely search you before you got on. Going in unarmed, however, is suicide, and you know it."

"Blow the ship up." Barked Dee. "Screw him, he's dangerous, just shoot down the ship."

"Yea Dee." Jack sighed. "Let me get my anti-warship rifle with a 7 thousand power scope and just shoot a freighter out of orbit through the convenient hole in the dome they made just for me. I don't have surface cannons or guided missiles, I have shit you can hide in a case and carry. Plus Nicole is on that ship too."

"Yea fake Nicole. The one working with Kraken who is either evil or some kind of robot dupe he can control. Fake Nicole can suck it. She chose her side." Dee said with attitude.

"Can you PLEASE!!!" Nicole yelled, having a small meltdown. "Stop calling her fake Nicole. She's a clone, not an imposter. She's still me. Just...misguided or brainwashed or something. You can't kill ME just because I got mesmerized by something. Maybe rescue her?"

"Okay, calm down, clones are people too, I just think maybe not as much as the Original you, that's all." Dee corrected. She got questionable looks from Both Jack and Vicki. Nicole stood up suddenly, knocking over her drink and not even noticing.

"I can't, I need a minute." She said, storming out suddenly.

"What?" Dee defended. "If someone cloned me, I'd sure as shit want the original rights to my life and not some Xerox."

"That's actually very offensive to Xeroxians." Vinn mumbled. "And also to the like 7 thousand cloned humans on this moon."

"Okay fine, we rescue duplicate Nicole, Blow up CloneKraken, and then what, try and un-brainwash her or just have her arrested? Is she a partner or a victim here, because she kinda sounds like the brains of the operation, and THAT does not sound like Nicole. Taking over a D and D session, sure, but not someone else's life. Either way, Kraken has to die, obviously."

"Oh no shit, ya think?" Vinn gasped. "Maybe evil Nicole can be rehabilitated and start a new life or something, but kraken was a psychopath back before he was a zombie. None of us want him walking around free with a technicality pass. And who cloned him? Is nobody worried that there's a third player here we don't know about? If he cloned her, who cloned him?"

"DAMNIT!" blurted Dee, "We're all dead. We're so absolutely screwed. Someone out there has it in for us, and they're gonna kill us and replace us with zombie clones, and nobody will believe it. Just you watch. Who's next? Probably Jack, because if he turned on us, we're screwed anyway, he has spy shit and already acts suspicious on a normal basis so we'd never see it coming. We need a code word. Like Asparagus."

"Dee that's our safeword, you can't use that, you'll confuse all of us." Silverback sighed. "Plus if they take us now after this conversation and scan our brains they'll have the memory of this conversation and the damn safeword!"

"Oh...well that's great." She shrugged.

"Jack, can you handle this?" asked Vicki. "If you say you can handle this, I trust you, and we all do. You never lie to me. Can you handle this?" she asked as he took a moment to process.

"I don't know, maybe." He shrugged, "I don't have a plan yet."

"Oh my god, we're so screwed." Vicky whispered. "You know I hate to ask this of you, but can you talk to Gizzy? I'll talk to her if I have to pay the price."

"It doesn't work like that, and you know it, and I would gladly do it anyway, but we don't know that she's not the one cloning everyone. She has sole access to the cloning research. If she didn't authorize this herself, someone on her level did. That's a very short list." He said, making everyone feel worse.

Gizzy stood in all black, staring at a funeral fire with her fangs gnashed down tightly. A young Delmarian in very expensive ceremonial robes approached her and gave her a strangely mutual look.

"I'm sorry for your loss." She said as he nodded.

"My father would tell me not to mourn his death, but he planned to die old in his bed or in the arena fighting for glory. There is no glory in this. I know you two were...enemies, but you don't seem very glad that he's dead."

"I should have been the one who killed him. Sword in hand, fair fight, right there in that pit where he's burning. Stabbed in the back by a shadow is unacceptable, even for Ganda-I mean your father." She growled.

"And he would have been honored to die by your sword. He respected you. I've never seen such a disrespectful kill. He was a big man. There's not many Delmarians out there big enough to restrain him and put his own knife in his spine. A slow death, not even facing your enemy. My father had many enemies, but to face him on sacred soil would have been honorable at least. I would not mourn for that kind of death." He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Whoever did this took everything from him, his pride, his life, his dignity. They took everything from me, and they took away your right to challenge in the old ways. I have no right to ask this of you, but if you find the man who killed my father...give him this." He said, handing her the dagger, red with dried blood. "Bury it in his back for both of us, so we may all have peace." He said moving along.

"Son of a bitch stole my kill." Gizzy whispered.