Chapter Text
They survived.
The moon fell and ruined everything, but the Hermits survived. As they always did.
After weeks-months-years of searching for a way to stop their utter destruction they survived. Sleepless nights and more terror than could be withstood but they survived. Twisted lies whispered into listening ears, promising glory, greatness, salvation. But they survived.
And now they were angry.
The exhaustion of a new world's first respawn was always the worst, but it did not last under the face of anger. It did not keep voices rough from fear and screaming quiet. It did not stop trembling muscles from tensing and holding up their weight, and the weight of their newfound betrayal. Their Admin, their protector, had failed them.
Some of them knew, not everything, but a little. They knew enough to know that when He emerged they should have stopped him then. Their lack of knowledge got in the way once, was it pride the second time? Others did not know the truth, but they knew the bitter sting. They were promised safety and family and stability, only to have it ripped away with no warning.
They were angry.
They wanted answers.
They deserved them.
“If you do this, what you will see… It is not pleasant. Many of you will want to leave. But this will be the truth." He was Admin, but more than that he was a friend.
“Tell us,” nearly thirty voices hissed as one.
“If it is the truth you seek it is the truth you will know.”
~~~
VIDEO RECORDING OF EXPERIMENT: HOLY DUTY.
PRESS PLAY?
YES/NO
YES.
The video quality was not great. It seemed like there was a single camera set in the far back corner of a lab. It was almost painfully stereotypical, all done in sterile white and gray. Along two of the visible walls was a long desk with various equipment set to the side. Against the other bare wall were two simple airlock doors. And between those…
The only color and movement visible in the lab was a tube filled with faintly glowing blue liquid. And within that blue liquid was a child. The boy was loosely curled into himself within the tube, gently bobbing up and down. He looked to be only three or four years old, blond hair swishing around his ears. The camera did not pan over or move as it entered a faster control speed. It only entered live speed once more when something changed.
The boy was larger now. Perhaps closer to seven, and holding a loser position in the water. The detail on the camera was not good enough to study him closely, but it was good enough to catch the frown that his face pulled into. A tinge of red stained the blue water, dripping from his nose. An alarm beeped quietly but there was no one coming to check on it. The camera sped again, more blood carried away from the child. His head tilted to the side a tiny amount, showing that it also leaked from his ears. Time passed, twelve hours according to the time stamp on the camera. The blue water was fully tinted purple, the child within difficult to see.
The door opened. A woman stepped though, half of her face covered with her hand while she yawned. She was dressed in a sleek suit of armor that clung to her form and a white lab coat over top. The clear visor of her helmet did nothing to conceal her identity. She waved to the camera and turned to the Tube. for the first time sound was caught by the camera.
“f*ck!”
She darted forward to stand in front of the Tube. Her palm slapped on the control panel at its side. A holo screen popped up, tracking a heart rate. The heart rate seemed steady even with the blood leaking from the child.
“f*ck f*ck f*ck!” the scientist swore, flicking through more holo screens, “all of these readings are fine what in the Void is happening?”
She pressed her thumb to one corner of the screen. A gentle AI voice said ’flush initiated, please wait,’ and a hum kicked up in the room. The water in the Tube began draining, fresh blue water entering from the top. It revealed that the boy within had grown even more, possibly ten. It also revealed two heads dangling next to each other.
(“what the f*ck?! He’s multiplying!” The startled voice was shrill.
“... he looks familiar. X?” One of his oldest friends, his beloved Cleo, yet they sounded so unsure and untrusting.
Because of him.
“I told you. Watch.”)
“What the f*ck?” the scientist whimpered.
She stumbled away from the tube. One hand brushed aside her lab coat to reveal the pistol holstered at her hip. The other rose to her helmet and pressed against the side.
“Sir? I uh- I think you need to come see this.”
The camera was not able to pick up the sound from the other side of the call. But it was obvious once the scientist was answered, she jerked into parade rest before shuffling in place.
“Sir I understand that you’re busy, but I really think you should come. The boy… It… it appears that there is something unexpected happening.”
Another beat of silence and then, “I don’t know how to explain it Sir, he seems to be… he seems to be experiencing mitosis?”
Her head jerked to the side like whoever she was speaking to began yelling. The water in the tube had finished draining and being replaced. The boy was no longer bleeding from the nose and ears, but red drifted from the side of both necks like where he had split was a raw and open wound. It was clear now that there were two heads and two necks, joining into a set of shoulders that looked wider than it should have been. As if the boy was still growing, becoming ready to split more and more.
Which is exactly what was happening.
The camera entered fast most again, zipping through the slow and painful looking process. The scientist woman was present for it this time, taking constant physical and audio notes, narrating everything that was happening. Slowly the boy split apart more and more, until there were two full torsos and three legs formed. The Tube was suddenly much tighter, the boys pressing against either side and half curled into each other. The one on the right was slightly larger with longer hair and seemingly slightly older. Beyond the slight size difference there did not seem to be any way to tell a difference between the boys.
(“this is… well it’s fascinating really. I’ve never heard about spontaneous cloning like this, I would love to get a look at their codes!”
“Zed, I really don’t think now is the time for that.”
“You’re right, sorry.”)
By the time anything changed again the two boys were almost fully separated, only connected by the third leg in between them. The boy on the left was nearing ten, the boy on the right maybe twelve. The continuous flushing of the water in the tube ensured that both could be seen fully. The airlock door that the scientist had entered slid open. What entered next… appeared to be an automaton done in all white and gray plating and standing at over eight feet tall. It had to duck to enter the door.
“Dr. Hayden Sir!” the original scientist said with a sharp salute.
“Well then,” Hayden half purred in a deep metallic voice, “tell me what had happened.”
The scientist did as she was ordered, pressing again and again that she had no idea how or what was happening. Hayden listened to all of it, standing in front of the tube with his hands clasped behind his back. Once the scientist was finally done he nodded once.
“We shall continue.”
“Sir?”
“Our attempts at utilizing Argent Energy have not been going as planned, so I have more time than expected. Considering the difficulties we had extracting his DNA the first time I do not wish to do so a second. Study them and inform me of which of the clones seems more viable and we will proceed on from there.”
“Understood Sir, would you like me to call you when they are awake?”
“Considering how rapidly they are separating I would rather stay here for now, I do not wish for them to grow beyond what is easily controllable.”
“I’m not sure I understand Sir,” The scientist said.
“Children are like animals, Lareen. Easier to break when young. As soon as the cloning process is complete I want you to contact me and we shall remove them from the growing chamber. That will allow you to study them and find out just how they decided to clone.”
“Yes Sir, I will tell you immediately.”
“Thank you.”
And with no further words Hayden ducked back out of the lab. All at once Lareen sunk to the floor, sitting with her head tucked between her knees. The body armor she wore blocked the knowledge of how she was reacting beyond that. According to the time stamp on the camera she stayed in that hunched over position for thirteen minutes before carefully unfolding. For a while she stayed in the lab, observing what was happening with the boys. Their separation had seemed to slow, perhaps they were out of the energy required to continue. Lareen did eventually leave once more, but only after setting up an observation camera she pulled from her inventory so that she could watch them from afar.
The camera automatically swapped back into super speed mode. According to the time stamp it took another nineteen hours for the boys to fully separate. In their now much tighter quarters they were forced to turn chest to chest, still bobbing slightly.
And then one woke.
The one on the right, the slightly larger, the original. The camera was just good enough to show his hands slowly open and close. One of his knees attempted to draw up closer to his chest but was blocked by the body pressed against him. It didn’t seem like the boy was fully awake or aware, he just clumsily lifted one arm and draped it across the others shoulders. Then he fell back into stillness. Nothing more than a child repositioning themself to find a more comfortable spot.
When Lareen stepped back into the lab she noticed the change immediately and called for Hayden. According to the time stamps the large automaton showed up within forty five minutes. Lareen stood waiting for him. In the time it took for him to show she’d stepped through the other airlock door and removed her body armor. She stood in simple black military fatigues with the lab coat over top. It made her look more human, if not kinder. A long blond braid swung down her back as she pulled a rolling cot out from under one of the tables.
“Draining now,” she informed Hayden, pressing a button on the tube's holopad.
A shrill alarm beeped twice and the water started draining without refilling. The boys slumped into each other and against the wall of the tube. The slightly larger one moved again, eyes slowly peeling open. His head lolled to one side weakly. Once the water was fully drained the alarm beeped once more. A flush door set into the front of the tube slid up and away. The two boys fell free only to be caught by Lareen. Hayden stood against the wall, watching everything with single minded focus.
The mistake was attempting to separate them.
Lareen tried to pull the larger boy out first, leaning the other against the side of the tube where he wouldn’t fall out. For the first time his eyes snapped open fully, revealing a flash of freshly spilled blood red.
(a collection of swears that would typically be reprimanded. But in this instance their minder was silent, sat cross legged in front of the screen staring with blank eyes.)
It seemed like the boy put together what was happening immediately. He leaned away from Lareen, a low warning kind of snarl escaping his mouth. She tugged the wrist in her grasp roughly. In one sharp movement the boy yanked her into him instead and buried his teeth deep into her forearm.
“f*ck!” Lareen yelped and ripped her arm away.
The camera could actually pick up the sound of meat tearing, and the sudden bloom of red across her lab coat and the boy's mouth. Hayden pushed off of the wall and shoved Lareen behind him. The boy hissed, hands reaching to grab onto the other. Possessive or protective it wasn’t clear.
“That was very poor manners,” Hayden rumbled.
The boy just hissed again, shoving them both deeper into the tube. Hayden reached in without any hesitation and pulled them out with a single hand around the scruff of each of their necks. The awake boy yowled like a pissed off cat and tried to turn to catch the metal arm in his teeth. The asleep one just dangled limply. The awake one flailed out and caught hold of the other. When they were dropped on the floor like unruly sacks of potatoes he gathered the asleep one into his chest. It would have been almost cute if there wasn’t still blood smeared in his teeth.
“Lareen clean yourself up and put back on your armor,” Hayden told the quietly sobbing woman.
She scurried to the far wall where a medical kit sat on the table. Hayden just stared at the boys on the floor. The awake one was staring at the scientist with narrowed eyes. Even though he had just gotten manhandled by the automaton he didn’t seem bothered by his presence. Though maybe that had something to do with the purple eyed glare already locked on Hayden.
(more cursing, a specific brand of filthy. They had after all met those same violet eyes more than enough times to recognize them even on a child. Still they were not reprimanded. And when a careful hand landed on their Admins shoulder he leaned away from it.)
“Look at them,” Hayden said, crouching to be a little closer to their levels, “aren’t you fascinating,”
“Fascinating Sir?”
“What do you know about wolves, Lareen?”
“Nothing Sir, I’m sorry,”
Hayden waved off the apology, the purple eyed boy stayed focussed on his every movement, “they are pack animals, and show a remarkable affinity to work together to bring down prey much larger and more dangerous than themselves. I imagine these two are much the same.”
“Well I might not know much about wolves,” Lareen said bitterly, tying off a final bandage over her arm before turning back to face the boys, “but my family always had livestock dogs. My Daddy used to say that when a dog tasted blood it needed to be put down. ”
“Mind yourself now,” Hayden warned, “this experiment is worth much more than you are.”
Lareen did not respond to that with words. But the camera was able to pick up on whatever ugly emotion crossed her face before she pulled armor from her inventory and pulled her helmet over her head. The rest of it followed suit before she stood by Hayden in front of the boys. The red eyed one flashed his teeth at her in silent warning.
“Do you know what they were able to be downloaded with before the experiment failed? They are not fully grown as we intended.”
“This young they should have a solid understanding of Basic, simple schooling and strategy tactics, as well as battle capabilities. And clearly standard aggression issues to be expected from their… lineage.”
A low chuckle, “the Slayer is not exactly known for being calm is he?”
“No Sir,” Lareen muttered.
“Well then,” Hayden said, “what are your names?”
The red eyed boy hissed. The purple eyed one tilted his head to one side then the other. He made a strange clicking hiss kind of noise then coughed roughly. Hayden gestured to the side sharply and Lareen leapt into action. She grabbed two bottles of water from one of the side tables and passed both to Hayden. The way he opened the bottles and held them out to the boys was almost cute. The red eyed one snatched a bottle quickly and held it under his nose to sniff. A long dark purple tongue slithered out of his mouth and around the mouth of the bottle. He seemed to be pleased with what he found, enough so to cautiously drink from the bottle at least.
The purple eyed boy copied only after the red one finished drinking and didn’t drop dead. Once the water was gone the red eyed one continued playing with the bottle, seemingly curious about the crinkling noise the thin plastic made. His head tilted from side to side as he crunched it between his palms.
“Now, what are your names? ” Hayden asked again.
The purple eyed boy answered, “I am Xisuma.”
(There weren’t swears this time. Just a few harsh inhales. They’d known who he was from the moment he opened his eyes. But still, realizing just what they were watching but a knife in the soft places of their bellies.)
“And you boy?” Hayden asked the red eyed one.
The red eyed one just growled and continued playing with his bottle. Xisuma shifted to stand a little more in front of him when Hayden shifted his weight. The large automaton tapped one metal finger against the floor while he waited. The red eyed one looked out from the corner of his eye, lip lifted enough to show large curved teeth. More wolf like than anything- if they wanted to keep with Hayden’s previous analogy. Xisuma leaned back enough to brush one of his shoulders against the other, a silent request to answer. The movement just earned him another annoyed sound.
Hayden’s patience snapped all in one go. One large metal hand snapped forward, grabbing the red eyed boy by the face and yanking him up and over Xisuma’s shoulder as he rose to his full height. Both boys yowled sharply and lashed out, but there was little they could do against metal. Xisuma jumped ineffectivly as the red eyed one was dragged up close to Hayden’s face, twelve feet in the air. Lareen stood in the background, a pen darting across the surface of her notebook. Taking notes on how they reacted presumably.
The red eyed one managed to get a hand around Hayden’s wrist and lift himself up enough to swing his feet forward and push against the automaton's chest. Focusing solely on the boy within his grasp, Hayden was not paying attention to Xisuma. And his now standing posture revealed the small caliber pistol at his hip. A weapon that Xisuma was quick to snatch and immediately pull the trigger on.
(“damn, even as a tot you were a threat huh? And playing on a modded server too,”
“X you always told us you didn’t want our worlds to be modded, you never told us why.”
“Watch.”)
The gunfire did not affect Hayden more than scuffing his paint. Lareen did yelp loudly and pressed herself against the wall, notebook thumping against the ground. Hayden simply hummed and with a flick of his wrist tossed the red eyed boy to the floor. He hit the ground hard and slid. Meanwhile Hayden yanked the pistol from Xisuma’s grip and flipped it in his own hand before pistol whipping Xisuma across the mouth. The boy shouted and stumbled back to land on his ass. Immediately dark blood spilled from his split lip. Hayden leveled the pistol at him to keep him down and turned to the red eyed one.
“One last time, what is your name, boy? ”
“I am Xisuma,” the red eyed one growled.
(“Excuse me? Did he just say what I think he did? Mate?”
“Watch.”)
“Hmm.” Hayden slid the pistol back into its place.
“Sir, if I may?” Lareen asked.
She waited for Hayden to wave her forward before unpeeling herself from the wall. She slowly picked up her notebook and stepped closer. The red eyed Xisuma pushed himself up from the floor at her approach and backed toward the other. They pressed against each other from shoulder to hip, hands gripping tight around the others.
“Considering that they are clones… they are both Xisuma. There was no way to target the knowledge that was being downloaded into them. In a sense they are the same person, just copies,”
“That would be difficult to keep track of.” Hayden said slowly, “you know, the Romans had a convention for times like these.”
“Romans Sir?”
Hayden waved loosely, “I do not expect you to have studied them, it is long before even the Coders times. Which did you say you believed to be the original?”
“The red eyed one Sir,”
Hayden nodded and pointed to the red eyed boy, “you will be Ex,” he pointed to the purple eyed one, “and you will be Zuma. That will make keeping track of your progress much easier.”
Hayden’s shoulders turned independently of his feet, rotating his upper body 180 degrees to speak to Lareen, “I trust that you were able to ensure that a room was prepared for two subjects?”
“Yes Sir,”
“Good good, I appreciate that. Please have them guided to their room to rest, I wish to speak to you some more.”
Lareen saluted with military precision, “of course Sir!”
She visibly hesitated before stepping around the safety offered by Hayden’s large metal form. Ex snarled low in his throat when she moved within grabbing distance. Lareen hid the arm that was already injured behind her back and gestured with the other.
“Please come with me, if you behave then there will be no trouble.”
(a quiet snort and then, “as if. When has Xisuma ever behaved?”
“Its the voice mate, makes you think that he’s all sweet and innocent when he’s really insulted your mum!”
“Quiet. Watch,”
“Sorry X.”)
Ex looked like he was debating trying to take another bite out of her, armor or no. but Zuma was leaning more heavily against him now, purple eyes vanishing behind blinks that were getting longer and longer. They followed after her when she stepped out of the lab though. The camera’s perspective flipped to be one situated at the end of a short hallway, just as sterile and plain as the Lab had been. They passed one airlock door and another that was just a swinging door before stopping in front of the third and final door at the end of the hall.
“If you press your hand against the control panel here the doors will open, both of you are already coded in, and because you have the same prints any door that opens for one will open for the other. Do you understand?”
The boys glanced at each other before Zuma warily reached out and pressed his hand to the control panel. It flashed green and the door whooshed open. As the trio stepped through the doors the camera switched once more, revealing that there was also a camera inside the room, mounted above the door. The room itself was at least slightly less plain than everything else. Against the left side of the room two beds were posted in either corner, with a small desk at the foot. Between the bed was a small closet with the door open, thankfully holding clothes that would hopefully fit the nude children.
On the opposite wall was another closed door, probably to a bathroom. At least there was color, the walls painted a light gray and a large blue rug tossed onto the floor. Not something that was truly appropriate for children, but better than nothing.
“This is your room, until you both show that you can be trusted to be left fully alone you will be observed by this camera,” Lareen paused in her speaking long enough to point at said camera, “and there will be a guard posted at the door outside. I will make a schedule that will begin your training and full assimilation into our practices. And again, if you behave there will be no trouble.”
The boys stared at her blankly. It was unclear just how much they understood. But in any case Lareen nodded once and backed out of her room. It would have been funnier to see how she refused to show her back to a pair of children if it weren’t for the fact that both had already shown the capability of being violent. Only once they were left alone did the boys seem to relax. Ex dragged Zuma to the bed farthest from the wall and they both clambered onto its surface. Only to immediately fall off with twin startled yowls when the familiar spark of purple magic jumped from their skin to the mattress.
(“Oh Void, you two didn’t even know about setting your spawn? I thought the Scientist said that you had a basic level of knowledge?”
“What our makers deemed as basic is very different to what many would consider.”
“Shishshwam I don’t want to watch this any more.”
“If anyone wants to leave they may, this is the Truth and nothing more, I will not hold you here.”)
Slowly, cautiously, and growling all the while, Ex reached for the mattress once more. When it didn’t shock him again he patted it a little more firmly. Zuma crawled back on top of it when nothing happened. Ex followed him up and the two boys shoved themselves as far back into the corner as they could. If they cared about the fact that they were half on top of each other, legs tangled together and hands clasped tightly they did not show it. And that was where they fell asleep, as far from the door as physically possible.
(Video ended, continue to next?
Yes/No)
