Volume 6: Anaphase

Issue 6: Doppelgänger

Jannette Adrian Churchwell

By Nova

“Why are we meeting here?” I asked Ramirez, taking a seat across from him. Traffic rolled down the street just a few feet away from us, as we sat at a table just outside a café in Mission. A host of tourists surrounded us—chatting idly like nothing was wrong—snacking on noontime pastries. The scene felt unreal around me. While the air was cool, the afternoon sun had warmed the black metal seat. The wind was calm, a few birds circled lazily above, and people continued on; unbothered in their routine. Everything was too relaxed. I had to bite my lip to keep myself from shouting at everyone, telling them to stop relaxing and to take this seriously.

But I knew it wouldn’t accomplish anything, and I was operating on less than usual. My head still spun from last night, and I hadn’t slept a wink since my… discovery. As soon as I got home to San Jose last night—which was a several hour ordeal in and of itself—I immediately got myself into some more practical clothing. I went with black sweats and a hoodie, and armed myself with my trusty baton. Once I returned to San Francisco—after yet another commute—I had expected Ramirez to meet me immediately; preferably in a secure place like the station.

He, however, insisted I wait hours before meeting him here.

“It’s not like I could have brought you down to the statio-” he began, but I cut him off.

“W-why not?” I asked.

Ramirez sighed. “Well, for one thing you still don’t have your costume,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I groaned. “Are you fucking serious right now? I told you Chapel High’s in immediate danger. We need to evacuate the school, get those kids out of there!”

Ramirez shushed me, and eyed the crowd of tourists around us. “Not so loud, we’re in public,” he hissed.

I stared back at him, entirely dumbfounded. “A-are you joking right now?”

Ramirez raised an eyebrow. “I assumed you didn’t want to be outed in public?”

My mind instantly flashed back to Holly last night, before I realized he was talking about… Well, the more obvious secret I lived with. “I-I have no idea why you aren’t taking this more seriously,” I hissed.

Ramirez shrugged. “I already told you, Sti- Jannette, my resources are… limited right now. Especially since everything with the First Way…”

“You could pull that bullshit on me when it was just one monster of unknown capabilities, but now we have some kind of…” I trailed off, searching my mind for the right words.

“Some kind of what?” Ramirez asked.

“I-I told you over the phone,” I stammered.

“You told me it was some kind of… thing pretending to be Ms. Lin?”

I shifted in my metal seat uncomfortably. “Y-yeah,” I said.

“Well, what kind of thing?”

“I-I… don’t know,” I admitted, lamely. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. Maybe it’s a… p-parasite controlling her, or a shapeshifter, or… Well, I don’t know. Some kind of doppelgänger.”

“Some kind of… doppelgänger?” Ramirez sighed. “Well, why didn’t you incapacitate Ms. Lin-”

“It was not Ms. Lin. It was not Holly…”

“Alright, fine, why didn’t you incapacitate Not-Holly when you had the chance? Something as simple as that is well within your capabilities.”

“I… didn’t know what I was looking at,” I muttered. If Holly was being controlled by this thing, would killing it kill her? It was so interwoven with her cells I wasn’t even sure where she began and it ended…

Also, I panicked, but I was not in the mood to admit that to Ramirez now—especially given how obstinate he’d been today.

“Fine. So we have some kind of thing supposedly masquerading as a librarian. Tell me why I should be worried?” Ramirez said, looking blankly at me.

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I gaped at him. “Are you serious? It’s some kind of… thing that’s clearly already hurt one person, maybe even killed her.” My heart nearly burst at that thought, and I pushed it out of my mind. “A-and its puppeteering a body that works in a fucking school.”

Ramirez just stared at me. “I’ve already told you, we have bigger fish to fr-”

“Bullshit!” I leapt to my feet, my chair clattering out from behind me. The tourists shot me glares as I deigned to interrupt their meals, but I ignored them. “That explanation last night had some small degree of sense to it,” I shouted at him, “but now… with everything I’ve told you, this is absolute fucking non-”

I suddenly stopped as I looked down at Ramirez. He hadn’t moved, and his expression hadn’t changed, as I unloaded on him. He kept looking up at me, blankly, like nothing about this situation was out of the ordinary. In fact, he even looked less weary than he did last night; the dark circles under his eyes and the lines on his face were more regular. It was like he’d finally gotten a few good hours of sleep for the first time in days.

“I-I…” I tried again, but as I looked deeper into his eyes I saw something familiar in them.

Ramirez stood to leave. “Look, Jannette, I’ll see what I can do but no prom-” he started, but—before he could finish—I darted out with my hand and grabbed his wrist. My power rolled through his body in an instant. As I peered through layer and layer of familiar cells, I saw in his abdomen something twisted and alien. Something which spread out through his body with an infinitesimal network of fibers which, I saw now, throbbed with an irregular beat.

That same organ I saw in Not-Holly last night.

Ramirez—or Not-Ramirez—wrenched his wrist out of my shocked grasp. I looked up at him, meeting his gaze with my wide eyes. His expression was unchanged save, perhaps, for the slightest smirk on his lips.

It all suddenly clicked. Ramirez was in that school for longer than either me or Holly last night. Holly must have been taken when I left her in the foyer, Ramirez just after we left… “You-” I choked out.

“Careful now…” Not-Ramirez muttered. “You don’t want to make a scene, do you?”

“W-what…” I froze. It felt like I was talking to a spider, something alien and predatory, and I was about to get tangled in its web. I slowly looked around, the annoyed tourists had returned to their croissants; no one stared our way.

“Hush, don’t worry,” Not-Ramirez said, his voice soft. “Everything’s going to be alright.” I shuddered; it was the same voice I heard Ramirez use with his kids.

“I-I…” Shock gave way to rage as I continued. “What did you do to Ramirez, to Holly?” I hissed.

“They’re not hurt. For now,” Not-Ramirez said, as casually as one would describe the weather. “Come with us, and they’ll stay that way.”

I took a step back. “W-what are you? Who are us?”

“We’ll explain everything, don’t worry.” Not-Ramirez reached a hand out to me. “Come on, things won’t stay safe for them forever.”

I glared. “If you think I’m going to walk into your hand, look through Ramirez’s head to see what I’m capable of. You can do that, can’t you?” It only made sense after everything both he and Not-Holly had said… The way Not-Holly knew to play Icons with me, even if she didn’t know exactly how to play… or the way Not-Ramirez could remember the conversation from yesterday… They had to see the memories of their host.

It made me nauseous, just thinking about it.

Not-Ramirez shrugged. “If you won’t cooperate, this one will make you.” He reached into his coat pocket. I braced for a gun but, instead, he pulled out his badge. “Jannette Adrian Churchwell, you’re under arrest,” he said.

I nearly laughed in his face. Like Ramirez, doppelgänger or not, could arrest me unwillingly. But I realized with a shock what Not-Ramirez’s plan was as the tourists around us pulled out phones and pointed them our way. Sure, I could probably, in an instant, overpower Not-Ramirez and escape. But if I did that a hundred videos would go viral, and I’d be outed as Stitch. Fighting would do me no good here… There was only one thing I could do.

I ran.

In one swift motion I vaulted over the fence beside us and bolted down the street. Not-Ramirez pursued. “Stop, SFPD!” he shouted, but I was finally out of that stupid sundress and could reach my top speed. In moments, the doppelgänger had lagged far behind me, clearly unable to move any faster than the real Ramirez could. Diving through traffic, vaulting over fences, and charging down alleyways—it didn’t take long before Not-Ramirez’s shouting had entirely been consumed by honking, sirens, and the omnipresent muzak of city traffic.

And I was left with even less allies than I had before.

I wasn’t exactly sure where I was when I finally stopped running; it was some kind of strip of commercial developments near the interstate. I slumped back against a brick wall, breathing heavily. Ramirez and Holly had been taken by these things—that much was clear. Things plural, based on what Not-Ramirez said. How many things? Were they shapeshifters? Who could I trust? They clearly had access to the host’s memories…

A hundred thoughts ran through my head as I clutched my legs close. It all felt like too much, like I was running on less than ever before. I had no costume on hand, so I couldn’t just barge into the school in full hero mode. I needed help, but who could I ask? If Ramirez was taken, who in the SFPD could I trust? Ripple was still up north… and even if she turned back to help right now, she wouldn’t be here for hours. Who else then? Seraph? She could probably help…

But no, never again. Not her, not ever.

But that left me with barely a handful of contacts in the city. Dynacrew hated me now. I barely saw Mr. Mystery… Starlight, the Titans… They were usually busy, and even if any of them could help, how long would it take for me to reach out, for them to gather their gear, to travel here? An hour, if I were lucky? Anyone from Starlight could take several hours to get here thanks to their bureaucracy… And if the local team was already on a mission it could take days.

And how much time did Ramirez and Holly have?

I gulped. I had to act now. I stood to my feet, and checked the time: 2:32 PM. School was nearly out, and I’d be able to snoop around without drawing too much attention. I steeled myself. I was out of options and out of allies. I had to do this myself.

I set course for Chapel High.