It was a twisted game of cat and mouse. The other contestant knew his tricks, knew his thought processes. If he was to find the clone and overcome him, it would be through a test of wits and ability. The deeper he penetrated the labs, the greater his fears became. The knock-off had had hours to prepare and William was going in blind. He quested about with gentle feelers, searching for the right mental signature as he skulked through the abandoned corridors. If he probed too hard, he’d give himself away. If he stumbled forward without grace or subtlety the clone would find him too.

He picked up a faint mental presence in the room ahead. It bore the hallmarks of a Connor clone. Buried beneath the surface layer of sleep were memories of physical pain and longing for freedom. William settled the boy and extracted himself from his mind.

He blinked away the strain in his eyes and ran a tongue through his dry mouth. William took another tentative step forward. The footfall echoed like a titan’s hammer in his stressed ears. He cast a look over his shoulder. The signs pointing to the logistic depot on this level indicated he had only travelled a hundred or so paces into the labyrinthine laboratory corridors. William rubbed at his eyes. He needed a drink…

A dark figure appeared in the air twenty feet ahead, hovering above the ground with its arms outstretched. It was a faceless, inky creature of ill omen. William lashed at the being with a blast of telekinetic energy with his next breath. The air screamed and rippled as the force careened toward the creature, tearing apart the metal panelling and shattering the bio-secure glass. The creature winked out of existence as the wave hit. Debris and shrapnel pelted the far wall, embedding metal and denting the wall. He waited, watching for signs of danger, another blast of energy ready to scour anything living from the face of the earth.

William heard a chuckle echo through the still corridor. He cocked his head. Or was it in his mind?

He boosted his mental defences and searched for any stray threads leading away from him. A foreign thread had wormed its way inside him. William froze. After a moment of panic, William closed his eyes and focused. The connection the clone had established was too small to harm him. He performed a scan of his own thoughts in case the clone had injected a stray thought while he was distracted. Nothing appeared to be out of place. His memories and thought patterns were his own.

He guided his mind along the connection, searching for the source. As a precaution he sectioned that part of his brain off where the clone had burrowed in. If the clone did strike along that route, the damage would be minimal. He hoped.

William dropped his pretence of stealth. After all, the clone knew he was here. Now he just had to find him and avoid any more traps. The thread led him away from the labs and into the de-Programmed storage area. It was the best hiding space on the level. Perhaps the entire facility. Dozens of kids in chemically induced comas lay in storage, the bulky pods housing them creating a plethora of places to hide. It also forced William to take a gentler approach - unless he wanted more deaths on his hands.

His footfalls echoed through the empty halls, retuning to him as strange duplicates, amplified and distorted as though a spectre pursued him. Every flickering light appeared as a blur of movement in his vision. William spun in circles as he walked, keeping an eye on every angle of approach. The feeling that he was being watched made his skin crawl.

William winced. Was this fear his own? Were his defences enough?

“Are you in my head?” he whispered.

Laughter in reply. His own laughter. From a voice that should be his own.

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“Fuck I hate this place,” sighed William. “Fucking genetic abominations… Second rate bastards… Does it hurt to know you’re a knock off?!” he shouted. “That you were grown in a test tube?”

He waited, eager for a reply. Some signal that he could get under the clone’s skin.

“You were grown to do a job!” he goaded. “Like cattle!”

Scratches appeared on the wall in front of William, cutting though the thin veneer of paint.

Boring.

William chuckled. “I’m boring you, am I? I didn’t know you clones had feelings.”

Find me.

“Come out and fight. Or are you chicken?” replied William.

I’m waiting.

He growled. The bastard wasn’t taking the bait. The hunt was still on.

He picked up his pace. William strode directly to the de-Programmed section, confident the stray thread led him in the right direction. He formed a physical shield around himself, capable of deflecting a bullet while also constructing scythes of energy to cut the clone down. He came to a section of the laboratory which showed signs of past violence. Bullet holes, broken panels and missing panes of glass marked the path of the clone riot.

“I disappear and everything goes to shit,” he said. “We need you here, William. I want you there, William. Useless pricks…”

William left behind the laminate, white walls of the labs. Dull, utilitarian steel marked the beginning of the storage area. He came across a metal blast door, built to slow down the de-Programmed children should one or more wake from their chemical slumber. He doubted it could hold any of the strongest for long, but it could buy staff a few precious seconds to evacuate.

“Asshole,” he spat at the sight of the security access panel crushed beyond use.

William sized up the blast door, feeling for its inner workings and gears. Though heavy, the door seemed intact. The thread pulled at him, egging him on. He took a deep breath and summoned the full potential of his power. Hands of telekinetic force gripped the gears, turning them in slow increments. The door strained open an inch. William poured in more energy. The gears groaned and fought against him.

“Come on!” he screamed, body shaking with tension.

Something was wrong. He knew his mental abilities were strong enough to open a door of this calibre. His first scan had revealed the mechanical workings were whole. He held back his futile heaving and had another look. Hidden between the teeth of a large gear were slivers of telekinetic force suspended in the air, unseen in his initial scan as they weren’t touching anything until wedged between the teeth. William flicked the slivers out and ripped the door open with a surge of telekinetic power. They slammed against the metal housing with a deafening crash. William had scant seconds to recuperate from his taxing efforts when the clone attacked.

An invisible force picked him up and slammed him against the wall. William bounced against the lining of his shield, striking the back of his head. It pinned him, crushing him against the solid surface. His shield shrieked inside his mind as it threatened to break. William’s rattled brain remembered the scythes he had created. He struck at the force holding him, lashing out wildly to sever the contact. The pressure holding him disappeared and he dropped to the floor. Panting and seeing stars, he sent out feelers in search for his enemy as another portion of his mind strengthened the shield protecting his body. Dull, faded life signatures filled the chamber. William moved from brain to brain, seeking anything with higher function. He swept the first chamber. The next. The next. Dozens of sleeping teenagers in each room.

He made it to the last chamber and paused. He detected a blazing figure in the middle of the room seated cross legged, a wry smile on his familiar face. Energy surrounded him, leapt from him in fizzing arcs of crackling potential. The clone gave a toothy grin.

“You found me. Took long enough.”

William dove at him with his projected mind. The clone didn’t flinch. In fact, he welcomed it. Their minds connected in a fiery conflagration. They grappled and tore at the other, seeking to dominate, overwhelm and destroy. Separated by a physical gulf of hundreds of yards, two titans of the mind battled.