Clone 7E5
She was getting worse. A lot worse. The headaches had grown more frequent, the pain more intense. She wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. The nosebleeds were probably a sign things would get worse, but she probably wasn’t dying. Well she couldn’t say that for sure.
She flinched violently as a bout of pain burned across her brain, spreading from ear to ear. The familiar sensation of heat running down her lips brought her back to reality. Slowly, she wiped the blood away with trembling hands. Dammit. She was scared. She didn’t like to admit it, but she really was. She’d always been afraid of dying, but this time things were different. She was pretty sure this wasn’t some external force out to get her, but her very existence itself. She was a clone. And if she was a poorly made one, she didn’t know what she could do about that.
She could probably figure out a few things if she took a few gadgets from the shed back home, but that felt wrong. Considering she wasn’t Peter, it’d just be stealing, wouldn’t it? She clutched her head tightly, squeezing her temples as she gulped breaths of air.
She was lucky she’d come across the guy. Yu. If he hadn’t gone out in costume, she’d probably just be roaming around aimlessly, thinking about how hopeless her situation was. She wouldn’t have gone back to Alchemax until it was too late, simply out of fear.
She smiled to herself. She’d known some fans were insane, but not insane enough to put the costume on and go out into the streets, let alone run into a burning building. Yu was strange. Brave. Seriously brave. But strange. She’d seen it in his eyes. Even when she’d brought up the Scorpion guy, he’d been ready to join her. Sure it was stupid, but it was kind of cool. She definitely wouldn’t have been able to do something like that. He’d be helpful in keeping her cover. Two people wearing masks on a public tour was a lot less suspicious than one person wearing a mask with the rest of their face covered, trying to sneak onto one. Plus, if they were looking for her, they probably wouldn’t expect company. She grinned. She really was lucky.
A burst of pain shot between her eyes, and she winced, leaning her head back against the wall.
“This kills” she groaned, blinking tears out of her eyes. She needed to move. Do something. Anything to take her mind off the pain at the very least. She glanced at the watch she’d stolen. Still had two hours before school ended.
What to do, what to do?
Wait, that smoothie store would be open, wouldn’t it? Her hand jingled around her pocket. She had some change to spare.
----------------------------------------
I pressed my head against the cold hard metal of my locker, groaning quietly to myself. The school day was finally over and my hands were balled up into fists, stiff with nervous tension. My entire body ached dully from yesterday’s escapades, but the pain was the least of my worries.
I was stupid. So stupid. I mean, what exactly was I going to do today? I keep not thinking things out, and just doing. The clone girl had been right to try and just take the suit from me at first. I paused shaking my head. No. This was the right thing to do. Even if it meant I’d probably get grounded for an extra month on top of the second week dad had added for yesterday’s stunt. I cringed. Don’t think about that.
I was helping. I was. I mean she’d been planning to break in, right? The situation was far better than before now that I was involved. Plus, she’d said she’d needed me to help if their were gaps in her memory. I was doing something useful. I was. I couldn’t back out now. And I had brought the tickets already. $24 I was never getting back.
“Yu?”
“Eh?” I said. I turned to see Emma, looking to me with a frown. “Oh, hi”
“You haven’t been to climbing this week. Something up?”
“I uh… I’ve been a bit busy”
“With what?”
“Personal stuff” I said, chuckling awkwardly. No way I was telling my crush I’d been grounded.
“Oh sorry”
“Nah it’s not anything serious, don’t worry”
“Oh good. So, you gonna come climbing today?”
“Oh… probably not”
“Ah bummer. I finally convinced my mum to stop dropping me off. We can just catch the bus together another time”
“S-sure”
“Well don’t want to be late. See you” Emma said. I gave a small wave and watched as she walked away. I turned back to my locker and groaned, putting my head back to my metal. Well that sucked.
Ok that was it. No more moping. If I did this quick enough I might be able to get home without getting punished. I looked around then doubled checked my bag for the costume. The mask stared back at me and I let out a breath, zipping the bag shut. Alright. It was time to meet Spider-Man.
-
The street was busier than I would’ve liked. Too many eyes. I’d purposefully avoided going anywhere close to the fire, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention. I guess I still wasn’t over the irrational fear of being recognised. With a final glance around I slowed down and slipped into the alley. The clone girl leaned against the wall, fiddling with a red wristband as she flexed her hand back and forth. She was wearing somewhat cleaner clothes, a face mask and a hat that covered her hair.
“You’re late”
“Sorry”
“You got the suit? The tickets?”
“Yeah”
“Good, put this on”
“A mask? Why?”
“Just be glad you don’t have to wear this beanie. It itches” she said. I shrugged and took the mask, pulling it on.
“Come on. Let’s go” she said, stepping out into the street. I followed, sticking close as she weaved her way through the crowd.
“Wait, uh… is there like a specific plan?” I said, stepping next to her. She frowned.
“Not really. Just follow my lead. And please don’t fuck up. If you blow my cover, and guards start trying to kidnap me, you’re on your own”
“O-ok.” That seemed a bit cold. I guess it was just her way of trying to keep me in check. “Uh… what does he look like?” I asked.
“Oh right. Give me your phone a sec” she asked. I hesitated but handed her my phone. She tapped away a bit, before pulling up a picture of a group of ESU graduates.
“Guy on the far left. Next to the blonde”
“Isn’t that Harrison Osborne?”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“The other side silly”
“No I was just… wait that’s him?”
“What? Did you expect him to look like Chris Hemsworth?”
“No… he’s just… normal”
“Most people are” the clone said with a shrug. I nodded then frowned. It felt like I’d just had a movie I was looking forward too spoiled. I shook my head. Weird. I was being weird.
I turned to the clone. She didn’t really look like him. I mean there were some similarities, but nothing too obvious. Her hair stood out the most. It was a completely different shade of brown. I frowned.
“What should I call you?”
“What?”
“Well, I can’t just call you clone girl, right? That would be stupid”
“Right… just call me Jess or something. It’s not important. Now come on. We don’t want to be late”
-
Alchemax labs was huge. A sprawling complex of clean white walls and glass. It wasn’t even its height that impressed me but it’s width. Sure the building wasn’t exactly small at seven stories high, but it spanned roughly 830,000 sq ft. At least according to the tour guide. I couldn’t help but be awed. Apparently they’d gotten more funding from different investors after all the terrorist attacks, and I guess they’d really put it to use. The whole building was supposedly echo friendly too. It’s how they’d managed to get planning permission to build in Prospect Park. Usually you could get to see the Hortz-Bruig when they took you up to higher floors, but they were doing some construction work on that part of the building. Still, the $24 weren’t feeling all that wasted anymore. I wasn’t even all that big fan of science stuff and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I glanced over to Jess. I was lucky I had a mask to hide it. I could tell, even with her face covered that Jess hated this place. She was nervous too. The further we go into the building the more her shoulders began to tense.
“And now we’re coming up to some of the smaller labs. In each of these we have specialist teams dedicated to solving specific world problems Our teams work night and day, tirelessly pushing the boundaries of the physics to create a better tomorrow” the tour guide said. I felt a poke in my side and glanced to Jess.
“Keep an eye out” Jess whispered. I nodded.
We strolled down the corridor, gazing over every lab. Each one lab faced the corridor with glass walls, either side a door, giving us a clean view of each lab. They were filled with equipment, and scientists in lab coats working away.
“Bingo”
“Where?” I said, following Jess line of sight. My eyes fell upon a lab with three scientists working away. I recognised none of them.
“It’s got the same equipment I- he used before. And look at her”
“The brunette?”
“Yeah. Bella Fishbach. She’s a close friend from college”
“So we go speak to her? Or do you think he’s here?”
“Well he used to go home early. Given the current situation I don’t know if he still does. Let’s just wait it out. He might be talking with someone in a different lab”
“Alright”
We continued walking, but quickly came to the end of the section, with neither of us spotting him.
“Now if you’ll follow me we’ll go on to the next section, with Alchemax’s very own particle accelerator” the guide said. I glanced to Jess who’s eyes were narrowed in suspicion.
“Slip away now?” I whispered to her.
“Yeah, slip away now”
Quickly and silently both of us turned, walking away from the group.
“Excuse me!” the guide called out. Crap. We both glanced back. “Where are you two going?”
“T-toilets” I mumbled quickly.
“Ok. Erica here will guide you. Remember everyone, we’re in the supervised part of the tour. If you need to leave for whatever reason, please inform the group rather than walk off by yourself” the guide said with a strained smile. She glanced to her side and one of the assistants, Erica, jogged over to us.
“Just follow me guys. Closest toilet’s this way” she said. We made our way back through the corridor lined with glass walls, giving us a perfect view of each lab. We reached the end of the corridor and turned back into a main hallway, walking towards the stairs we’d originally come up.
“The toilets are just there. I’ll be outside” Erica said with a smile. Crap. If she was waiting outside, then how were we going to slip away. Jess grabbed my hand and led me over to the disabled toilet. She threw open the door, stepped inside and locked it behind her. I turned staring at her blankly.
“Perfect. There’s a vent. I knew there’d be a vent” she said grinning.
“Uh… what about Erica?”
“Forget about her. She’ll probably think we’re just weirdos”
“But-“
“Ok, so I’ll go up and then go through the vent and drop directly into Bella’s office”
“Wait, what?”
“Well we couldn’t pull away from the group to look for Pete, so we’ll have to go straight to someone we do know and ask him to meet us outside or something”
“Ok, that seems a bit risky, no?"
"I'll be quick"
"Wait, what do you want me to do?”
“… right. Sorry I’m not used to doing this with someone else. Just follow me and try not to get in the way”
“Uh… right”
She jumped up onto the wall and pulled open the vent. I glanced at the door, then back to her. Things were moving so fast all of a sudden. I didn’t know what to make of it. I shook my head and climbed into the vents, following behind Jess. We crawled silently through the vents, the sound of chatter and machinery beneath us. Jess somehow seemed to know exactly where she was going.
Then suddenly she stopped.
“Wait”
“What? Why?”
“Something’s weird… I can feel it”
“Did you hear something?”
“No, it’s like I… I’ve been in this buildings vents before, just not these ones. I shouldn’t… why do… my memory’s so- Sorry, just give me a second” she said. She turned off course, crawling down the vents quickly.
“Jess? Jess?” I whispered harshly. Crap, she wasn’t listening.
She continued crawling down the vents, leaving me in her dust before stopping somewhere. She threw open a vent and dropped down. Shit. What the hell was going on? Was she trying to get caught? I followed, eventually reaching the vent. Jess stood in a small, musty looking room, a chair and desk stacked with boxes in the corner.
“Jess?” I whispered from above. She stared out over the room, her eyes glazed over.
“Jess?” I said louder. She looked up to me on the verge of tears. What the hell? What was going on? She winced, then stumbled catching herself on the wall. Shit. I awkwardly climbed down, then dropped to the floor with a thud. Quickly I rushed over to her, but she stood pushing me away.
She quickly rushed over to the boxes, throwing one open before rummaging through it. I glanced at the metal door behind us. If someone was outside there, it would be easy to hear us and we’d
“J-Jess we need to go” I said to her, my voice trembling.
“Wait a sec”
“Jess!” I whispered, more panicked now.
“Just wait! I’ve been here. I remember it. I remember this” she said.
“What?”
She ignored me continuing to rummage through the boxes. Shit. I didn’t know what was going on. It didn’t make any sense. I should’ve known, dammit. I should’ve realised earlier. She might’ve been a Spider-Man clone, but that didn’t make her not insane. It probably made it more likely. Shit. I should’ve trusted my gut. I glanced up at the vent. Shit. It was too high for me to reach. Maybe if I got the chair I could get out of here. But how would I explain Jess’ sudden disappearance to Erica? Shit. Was I going to get arrested? Maybe worse?
Suddenly Jess froze. Slowly, she stepped away from the box, holding a document tightly in her hands. She opened it and began flipping through the pages.
“Dammit. We need to go”
“Wait”
“What are you even doing?” I said, panicked and confused.
I peered over her shoulder and recoiled. There were gruesome images of bodies, people that had been experimented on, and underneath rows and rows of notes. What the hell? Jess continued turning the pages, coming across more and more horrific experiments. Pictures of burned bodies, grotesque forms that only seemed to share human flesh, and people trapped in strange machines clearly in pain.
There were too many of them to count. I turned away, sick to my stomach. I dry heaved, then coughed violently before covering my mouth. When I looked back Jess was frozen stiff, staring at a singular page. With a morbid fascination I peered over her shoulder again. On the left-hand side were two pictures. One with rows and rows of men, women, and children trapped in glass tubes filled with a clear green liquid. Underneath were headshots of unconscious people. A blonde man, a black girl, a black haired adolescent, an empty silhouette labelled Spider-Man, and two girls with the exact same shade of brown hair as Jess. On the other side was a piece of paper, with a short few lines of writing.
We’ve finally succeed in our attempts to create clones. It was a great effort with many trials and tribulations. It certainly impresses upon the mind the greatness of Dr Warren’s achievements and fills me with awe for the possible future of me and my associates. I have little to no doubt with our continued experimentation we will achieve nothing short of miracles in the near future.
Project Chimera - 2025-2026 [Formerly Roxxon Project #17 – 2023-2025]
* Project Leaders: Dr Jack Kale – Alchemax Laboratories, Dr Otto Octavius – In association with Roxxon Corporation.
* Property of Alchemax Laboratories, in association with Roxxon corporation.
This document is protected under the fair and equitable use of experimentation on clones. Please refer to any legal documents pertaining to the 2nd division of the Mulholland project (1948-1956).
I stopped reading and looked up at Jess, my heart hammering in my chest. She stared blankly at the page. A red patch was beginning to spread throughout her mask, and her eyes had glazed over further.
“Jess”
“Give me a sec”
“Jess y-”
“What?!” she whispered harshly.
“Your mask” I said, gesturing at it.
She felt at the wet patch of red and paused.
“Oh” she mumbled. She wobbled, then fell backwards. I caught her as her body went limp and the documents spilled across the floor. Shit.