A blonde haired woman walked down the hall of the apartment she lived in.
"Honestly, that boy could sleep through an atomic bomb going off." She muttered to herself.
She reached a door and knocked roughly on it.
"Adam, it's time to get up! You'll be late for school at this rate!"
"Five more minutes." A voice replied.
"Oh no, bucko. You've slept enough. Now get up before I break this door down. You know I can."
The woman heard some shuffling sounds and soon heard the lock on the door unlatch. The door opened slowly to reveal a teenage boy, with dark blue eyes and also possessing blonde hair.
"Yeah, yeah, Aya. You're stronger than you look, I know."
"And hello to you to, little brother. Now then, Adam, are you ready to start the day?"
Adam turned and grabbed the door and started to shut it.
"Not really. Night."
"Oh no you don't. It's morning time now. No more sleep. Come on now, I've already got your clothes laid out. Go hop in the shower and I'll get your breakfast ready." Aya said, grabbing the door and stopping Adam dead in his tracks.
"Okay, okay. Jeez."
As Adam headed off, Aya shook her head.
"I'll make sure that boy grows up right if it kills me. And at this rate, it just might."
Just then, the phone rang.
"Now who could that be?" Aya thought out loud.
She walked into the living room and picked up the phone on the table.
"Brea residence, Aya speaking."
"I know better than that, Eve." A male voice said.
"Oh, Kyle. How are you?"
"I'm fine. Listen, you know what tomorrow is, right?"
"Of course. It's Adam's birthday. I wouldn't be a very good big sister if I couldn't remember that. He'll be sixteen."
"Yeah, well, I was thinking of getting the gang together to celebrate and we can go where ever Adam wants to. What do you think?"
"Sounds fantastic. I've been wanting to see everybody for a long time. Perfect excuse."
"Alright then. I'll call up everybody for you."
"Thanks a lot, Kyle. So, um, how are you? I mean really."
"Well, five years isn't really long enough, you know?"
"Yeah. Imagine how I feel. I had to watch Aya die, while she was in my body. Imagine watching yourself and your older sister die from outside your body, and being powerless to stop it. For all my 'talents', I couldn't do anything to save her. Hell, it was me who pulled the damn trigger so that Aya could sacrifice herself to begin with. And now I live in her body. 'Sigh' every time I look in the mirror, I see Aya's face and realize just how much of a fraud my existence is."
"Try not to over think it, Eve. It isn't healthy."
"Yeah, I know but, damn. Everybody else's memory was rewritten when Aya and I stopped the twisted from being born, so why not mine? Why do I have to remember the time when the whole blasted city was crawling with mutant monsters that may, in fact, have been somewhat worse than any NMC or ANMC except for Eve herself? Why do I have to remember everybody I care about dying or being reborn as monsters? And then time gets rewritten, none of it ever happens, and only I know the truth about how Aya died and saved the world one last time until I shared it with you. Why?"
"I don't know, Eve."
"Did I do something wrong, Kyle? Am I cursed or something? Is it because I'm a clone or because I have these powers or what? Why does life seem to hate my guts so bad?"
"I don't know, Eve. But count your blessings. Look at all the people you have that care about you. Surrogate brothers and sisters, the lot of them. Including me. Yeah, even me. Things might feel awkward between us at times, Eve. What with you being in Aya's body and my, uh, aversion let's say, to that. But I still care about you. As far as I'm concerned, you're still my little Evie."
"Well, thanks, Kyle. Heh, I love you too, big bro. But you know, sometimes, I still feel guilty for using my mitochondrial powers to transfer memories of the truth about Aya to you. But, I felt like I had to at the time. It didn't feel right to let you think I'm Aya and make you live a lie without even realizing it. It would be like cheating on Aya or something, and I couldn't allow that. But, when I see and hear how much pain the truth causes you, I…."
"Don't sweat it, Eve. I'm actually grateful for your intense honesty in a weird way. It hurts to know that the real Aya's gone, but I like to think that something of her still lives in you. After all, you are her clone. So, if you still had your original body, you'd just be a younger version of Aya. But now that you're in Aya's body, I like to think that you're just taking care of it until you pass on and you can give it back to Aya in the afterlife. I like to think we'll all meet back up at the pearly gates. You, me and Aya. Oh and Adam too. Can't forget about the boy clone."
"That's a crazy thing, huh? I mean, it surprised the hell out of me when we found him."
"Yeah. I remember it like it was just yesterday. I had gotten a lead on some pretty shady stuff going on that involved Mitochondria. I always figured Aya would want us to make sure that no more monsters or Eves could be made. So, I decided to check it out and when I saw how far in over my head I was, I called you. Figured your powers would come in really handy. And then we stormed the place and smashed everything that could give rise to more monsters. By the way, how did that feel?"
"Fan-freakin'-tastic. I loved every second of it. I know what you're thinking. I was supposed to be just like Melissa or even Kiyomi. I was supposed to mutate like crazy and give rise to the ultimate being. But, as you well know, I'm no monster."
"Yeah. And if you are, then you're the most pure hearted and pretty monster there ever was."
"Well thank you very much." Eve said sarcastically.
"You're welcome. Anyway, yeah, I remember finding little Adam amongst the debris when we were smashing things. I thought he was an orphan or something those guys had kidnapped for their experiments. But then, when we checked their records before we finished everything off, we found out what he was."
"Yeah, a male clone of Aya. The procedure to create him was about the same as the one that created me but modified slightly in order to produce a male version instead of the usual female. And he was made only one year before we found him."
"But artificially, he was aged to around eleven years old. At least mentally and physically speaking. And since he was only one year old when we found him, no matter what his mental and physical age was, he was still too young to have many memories. So, we made up the story that he was an orphan kidnapped by those Neo-Ark 2.0, least that's what I call them, people. We told him they experimented on him and one of their tests caused him to lose his memories. Better than the truth, right?"
"Yeah. Ah, it's great to reminisce like this with you Kyle. Even if the stories aren't always positive, it's still nice to talk with someone else about this stuff. It lets it all out and I don't feel like I'm going crazy as much. But, you know, one thing still bothers me to this day about Adam."
"And what's that kiddo?"
"Well, if they were trying to do the same kind of things Neo-Ark were, how come they didn't make a female clone? I mean, as far as they know, I'm out of the picture so they would need a new candidate to become Eve, right? So, why make a clone, but rig it's genetics up so that it develops a y chromosome instead of two x's and becomes a boy?"
"Well, I actually have a theory about that. And it's a scary concept when you think about what it means. It's also why you don't hear from me too much. I'm busy investigating this idea."
"Well, don't leave me in the dark. What's your idea?"
"Well, I found out from Maeda after he joined what is basically the Japanese version of the old FBI group Aya was a part of, that the Japanese government studied what remained of Eve the first and the first ultimate being. After extensive study, they found out that it was the male mitochondria from the sperm she used that caused that ultimate being to be so unstable that it's body just fell apart. It was because the male mitochondria fought against Eve's so viciously that it ended up killing the being from the inside out. That's probably why the Melissa Pearce Eve went out of her way to get sperm with no paternal mitochondrial heritage. She learned from the other one's mistake. Now, you take into account that Aya's cells are sort of like the antithesis to Eve's and are pretty deadly to her. I'll bet the Neo-Ark 2.0 guys made Adam to take advantage of those two powers combined as one weapon."
"Hmm, yeah, that makes sense. Aya's cells would definitely harm, if not kill, most NMC's, Eve included, and male Mitochondria can interfere with Eve's in the Ultimate being. So, if one being had both Aya's cell, or at least their qualities, and was male, it would be a near perfect anti-Eve weapon. So that's what Adam is. The opposite of Eve. Hence why they named the project file we found on the one computer we missed Project Adam. Now I really wish we could've been more original in naming him."
"Well, he does look like an Adam. But, at any rate, do you realize what Adam's existence means?"
"I'm starting to. It means they were planning or maybe already had created an Eve somewhere else, right?"
"Yeah. Look, if there's another Eve out there, then she must be developing slowly into the same kind of monster Melissa became. Otherwise she would've reared her ugly mug by now. And Adam is meant to keep her check, so the Neo-Ark 2.0 people could control her. But, we have Adam, so that means…"
"There could be a ticking time bomb walking around out there and Adam's supposed to contain it if and when it goes off."
"Exactly. Um, by the way, has Adam demonstrated any powers? I mean, his Mitochondria should be evolved, since they're modified versions of Aya's. So, can he do anything?"
"Well, I've noticed he's far stronger and faster than most boys his size. I mean, it's not quite super human or anything, but then again, he's never had cause to really push himself. So as far as that goes, I don't know what he can really do. As for mutational abilities, well, so far all I've caught him doing is changing his eye color while looking in the mirror."
"So he can alter himself?"
"The eye thing is all he's figured out how to do. And I think he discovered that ability by accident. He thinks it's a side effect of the experiments we told him those people did on him. And I'm happy with that. He can change his eyes into a different color every day. Cover every color in the spectrum, I don't care. So long as it doesn't go further than that."
"Yeah, let's all hope for that. I hope their Eve is a dud. But, we'd best be prepared for the worst, Eve. We'll talk about this with every one tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll see you then. I've got to get Adam ready for school."
"Alright, later." Eve said as she hung up the phone.
"Aya?" Eve heard behind her.
Eve spun around to see Adam standing behind her, buttoning up his school uniform shirt.
"Adam! You startled me! How long have you been standing there?"
"I just got here. I was just wondering who you were talking to."
"Oh, that was Kyle. He called just after you got in the shower. He said he was thinking about how your birthday is tomorrow and he knows that all our old friends are in town, so he wants to get everybody together to celebrate your day and go where ever you want."
"Really? Awesome! Can I invite my friends?"
"Peter and Renee? Sure, why not? Where do you want to go?"
"Well, there's a band I like coming into town tomorrow. It's called Ancient Spectrum. They're awesome, Aya. And their lead singer, Missy, is gorgeous."
"He-he. I knew about that from a while back. I do keep tabs on what you like. So, guess what? I've already got some tickets. But, if everybody's going to go, I'll need to pull some strings and maybe call in a few favors to get enough tickets in time. But, you're worth it, kiddo. You just leave everything to me."
"Alright, awesome! You rock so hard, Aya!" Adam said, throwing a tight hug on his beloved sister.
"You bet I do. Now, let's get this school started. I'll just pick up some Micky D's for your breakfast. Not healthy, but better than nothing and we're in a hurry. Get your back pack and let's go."
"Alright. Let's move."
Meanwhile, on Ancient Spectrum's tour bus, a young, attractive redheaded woman threw open the window nearest her and stuck her head out.
"God, I am so hot!"
"Um, Missy?"
Missy turned around to see her Bass player, Tom, standing behind her.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just hot. My body feels like it's being roasted."
"Man, girl, you are way too young for hot flashes." Tom joked.
"It's not that! It's that condition I have. Where's my medicine?"
"Right here." Missy heard a voice call.
Miss turned to see her lead guitar play, Samantha, holding the bottle of medicine.
"You always have me covered. Thanks, Sam."
"No prob. Now take your meds. You're starting to sweat around your temples."
"Okay, mother." Missy said as she downed some of the medicine.
"Better?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, it's already kicking in. Man, that was worst 'attack' yet. Man, thank God we've only got two more stops on this tour. As soon as we're done, I'm going to go see what's really going on here. After all, I don't want to end up bursting into flames on stage. Anyway, let's get ready. Look out New York, here we come!"