It was due to the storm that he was suddenly moved to a new department. There was plenty of work to be done and almost no staff. The entire area had been issued an evacuation notice leaving them with a skeleton crew. Some bodies were shuffled around as a result. It was something new, a little exciting. He had never entered the hall of cubes before, but knew the basics.
Past the decontamination chamber was the hall of cubes. The hall was a former aerospace warehouse turned laboratory. The cubes within the hall each appeared to be a glass 20 x 20 ft square box. And each cube was surrounded by mechanical arms. The entire warehouse and its machinery was stark white. It reminded him a little of a dentist's office.
Each cube could hold up to three people at once. One staff member, and two clones known as Clone A and Clone B. Staff members generally only entered to perform routine checks. When things become difficult only the machines could interfere. This was made protocol after a staff member was bludgeoned to death with a hammer during a Scenario gone awry. Scenarios were what the Runners called the experimental situations the clones were made to "live." The Runners were the top team that did the real work offsite.
He repeated his first assigned cube number in his head. He was having a difficult time fighting the distractions. Scenarios were playing out in various cubes, like giant life sized dioramas. In one cube, Clone A and B were discussing the start of a new college semester while seated at a cozy Perisian café. In another they were trudging through a Nebraskan snow storm searching for a way home. He stopped to watch a minute as the clones entered dramatically into what looked like a C Grade superhero show. Dressed in matching gold lamé suits the clones promised an all too serious defeat of the alien monster- multiple fuzzy tires stacked on a roomba. He hoped his assignments would be as much fun.
Some Scenarios were not very fun. The hammer incident was one of many, many violent Bad Ends that inevitably unfold. In one particularly bloody end a clone commited murder-suicide just "days" after their first meeting. The cube was cleaned and emptied, but remained abandoned while the Runners continued their investigation. It was a little unnerving to think about. He tried to ignore it.
Inside Cube 76-A a young Clone A was laying in bed staring expressionless at the ceiling. Clone B was seated in a common room chatting with friends. Of course they were only a few feet apart, but the simulation was undetectable from their perspectives. From his own perspective, things seemed stable. Which was good, but only the Runners with all their gathered data had any real grasp of the situation. They watched them play out all year round. Watched and analyzed, trying to pinpoint when things would turn.
The cue from the Runners came in when Clone B went to bed. It was time to step in and check the clones' monitoring equipment. It was a simple job and didn't even require much training. Just make sure nothing was loose and that the nanobots continued to function. The nanobots were a very important, and expensive part of the process. The Lab Coats made that clear during his impromptu orientation. These tiny mechanical workers where the tools of the Runners. They implanted the memories and storyline. They also allowed the team to cut out "otherwise necessary human routine," as the ponytailed Lab Coat had put it. They worked on and within the body to clean it and keep it healthy. Aside from cleaning, they helped by manifesting physical sensation. Like simulating a sunburn or the feel of rain on skin.
The nanobots also helped provide nutrition during full stasis, the time when the clones lived their scripted lives only in dreams. But during meal time Scenarios a prepackaged nutrition paste was provided, not that the clones were aware. They had bowls cereal and plates of spaghetti as far as they knew. Anyway, the nutrition paste wasn't bad, in his opinion. It was basically a slightly chalky oatmeal.
After checking the button electrodes he scanned Clone A's nanobots. He waved the company issued device over A three times. Nothing out of the ordinary. He then repeated the process with Clone B. He noted that Clone B hadn't "bathed" and so the bots left his hair spiked for continuity. Sometimes he wondered if some of these decisions were really just so complicated or simply arbitrary.
The Runners are very smart, he thought. Even if they couldn't predict everything, surely they were getting close to unraveling the secret. All across the hall in each and every unique situation, from the mundane to wild, A and B were consistent in character. Clone A always retained a gruff, near violent persona no matter the type of parents or upbringing he was given. He was always aggressive in his approach while aiming high. Clone B was the staff's favorite, though not his personally. With a sunny disposition and caring attitude, he won over people easily. He found that between the two, A was more interesting. He didn't really know why. Clone B was fun, but A was unrelenting force worth the watch. He figured it was like cheering on an unpopular television character.
Stepping out of the cube, placing the scanning device into his pocket, he wondered what made the clones so important. He knew lots of things, but a large piece of the puzzle was missing. The company mission statement was simple: For the good of the world, the Good Ending. There was one singular Good Ending and it was elusive. All they had so far were a few Bad Endings mixed in with an endless number of plain Ends. Ends meant Clone A did not survive age 25. From what he gathered, Clone A's major problem was his tendency towards self destruction. Essentially, the company existed to stop cosmic destiny and keep Clone A from destroying himself. Clone B was the more stable subject and was the key to finding their one in a billion path to the Good Ending. This was the company's mission because Clone A alone was the key to…something important, he was sure. The details on that were above his rank even after the sudden promotion.
At that moment another staff member stepped out of an adjacent cube. He waved at her, unable to break the silence himself.
She noticed and walked over to greet him. Cheerful and energetic, she was the best person to be paired with this very unusual shift. "I guess it's just the two of us today. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions, okay?" He didn't know that many cube staff members directly other than his friend who showed him some secretly filmed Scenario footage during lunch. It felt like a tremendous stroke of luck to have someone here that knew him.
He smiled at her, "I've only done one check so far, but nothing weird happened."
She nodded while leading him to another cube. "Nothing too intense is scheduled for today. Two-thirds of the cubes are currently on full stasis until we're back to normal. Which one of the Lab Coats debriefed you?"
He thought for a moment, "...the one with the long ponytail…?"
She laughed, "Not good with names? That's okay, they hardly talk to us anyway." She stared at him a long second. "So, you like it here so far?"
"Um, well it's sort of interesting to see the Scenarios right in front of me."
Her eyes gave away a playful curiosity. "So you've seen some of this before."
"Er, well you know, snippets here and there from the company videos." He didn't think he sounded convincing.
She hummed in amusement, but didn't press further. "Well those don't really capture the hours of nothing that happen daily. Trust me, even super important people have hours full of nothing. The Runners do their best, but it's just impossible to pinpoint exact moments worth observing in real time. So sometimes you catch a good show, but mostly you watch them pave a driveway for two hours."
They waved each other goodbye when he reached his next assignment. Within this cube Clone B was browsing through a clothing shop. He looked a little disheveled with wrinkled clothes and stubble. Clone A looked half-asleep on the couch watching television at their apartment. A green light on his device began to blink. He pressed down on it. An unfamiliar voice came through.
"Denki, we need you to check A and B without your device. We think the monitoring receiver may have been knocked out."
He pressed a button to reply, "Uh, hi. I'm… new. I'm replacing Kaminari for today."
He pressed the green button. He could hear crackling and whispers of an argument. "Fine. Okay. I just need you check their breathing and pulses until we can get a Lab Coat in. You can do that, right?"
He hadn't been warned about this, but it sounded simple. "Sure thing! I'm going in now."
He first slipped into the shop. Clone B was facing away from him, trying on sunglasses. There was nothing obviously wrong so he moved on to the apartment. As expected Clone A didn't react. The clones were never meant to notice the staff. It was a little creepy if he thought about it, so he didn't and focused on his task. Clone A was under a large comforter which obstructed is view. He tiptoed closer, wanting to make sure things were right. When he leaned down he was face to face with the man. Clone A was not breathing. He brushed the blonde hair away to look at him clearly. Clone A's eyes were half shut and his expression blank.
He tried to contact the Runners. "Uh, hey guys...Clone A isn't...he's not breathing." He waited for a reply, but none came. Only static. Panic began to wash over him. He didn't know what to make of it.
Without thinking he inched further away from the couch just far enough to slip into the clothing shop. When B looked up, and stared directly at him, he knew something really was wrong with the Runners.
Clone B spoke, "Hey, can you help me find these in a bigger size?" B motioned to the modeling dummy in a camo print jogger suit.
It took him a moment to react. His training finally kicked in and guided him onto the right course of action: Leave and inform someone immediately. "Yeah! I'll go find some right now!"
He haphazardly pretended to look through some shelves. "I think I need to check the back. Sorry about that!"
Clone B slowly nodded and gave him a small sympathetic smile, "Thanks, I'm not a huge hurry so don't stress."
"Y-Yeah, it's my first day. I'll be right with you." He turned and ran towards the "door" and nearly tripped over himself in surprise. The cube had created a solid wall as part of the illusion. In front of him was a ceiling to floor mirror. Reflecting back at him was Clone B and himself, and despite very different hair styles, he could see it, an uncanny resemblance. Plain as day.
Things were wrong. Lots of things were very wrong. At that second though, he was focused on the mirror. That was his face. Of course it was, but it somehow felt like his first time seeing it.
"Are you okay?" Clone B was walking up to him. He looked genuinely concerned, but confused. Wanting to escape the situation he grabbed a stack of clothes to hide his face, afraid Clone B might notice.
"Sorry to worry you," his voice was muffled by the stack of sweatshirts, " I'm just gonna grab your stuff from the back." He didn't stop this time until he was out.
The sweatshirts disintegrated at the door. His hands were now touching his own face. He didn't understand.
A voice called out to him from behind, from further down the hall. "Hey! Our shift is being cut short." She half jogged over to him. "Did they radio you in time? The storm apparently majorly wrecked Runners HQ. Some Lab Coats just now managed to force the remaining cubes into full stasis." She paused to look at him, "Hey, what's wrong?"
He moved his hands away from his face, but didn't look at her. "Clone A stopped breathing."
"What!?" She looked into the cube. The stage and its props were gone. Clone A and B were floating, seemingly asleep. It was difficult to tell if anything really was wrong with either of them.
"The Runner on the radio told me check them because the receiver wasn't working. Clone A wasn't breathing…"
"No way! Did you do something to him?"
He grimaced. "Why would I?"
She didn't answer, already busy at the machine, manually operating the mechanical arms. The cube was designed to let them in from above. The arms broke open at the ends to reveal smaller, sensitive instruments. Gently, they touched Clone A.
"Ashido?," he called timidly, "What does it say?"
Ashido looked down at the screen. "It's faint, but he seems to have a heartbeat. You need to find a Lab Coat ASAP. I'll stay behind and try to keep him going."
He nodded and sprinted down over to the decontamination chamber. After it locked behind him and released the mist, a tall Lab Coat with with squares glasses waited for him to speak.
He explained the situation as per training. "Possible Clone A fatality in Cube 78-A. Staff member Ashido is manually monitoring vitals."
The Lab Coat clapped a heavy hand in his shoulder. "I need to go immediately. You can leave the chamber without the code. Regular protocol is basically out the window. Go find Yaoyorozu. I'm trusting you." With that, he ran out towards the cubes. The mist sprayed once more before he himself could go out into the regular facility.
He ran down hallways, not sure where he'd find the Lab Coat. He was more or less sure he was looking for the Lab Coat with the ponytail, but had no idea where'd she'd be in this situation. The place was practically empty, even the small staff that came in seemed to be missing. After five minutes of searching he nearly knocked her over when turning a corner.
He apologized and began to explain. "I-Iida told me find you. Cube 78-A has a possible Clone A fatality."
Her expression immediate became troubled. "But why?" She was speaking to herself. "None of today's Scenarios were on risk watch." She began to look through her phone while addressing him. "Tell me, did you see anything strange?"
He hesitated. "Well, Clone B spoke to me."
Yaoyorozu looked up at him, eyes widened. "What did he say?"
"He was shopping and asked me for some clothes in a bigger size."
She looked away for a moment. Her expression distressed. "And nothing else?"
"Nothing." He shuffled nervously. "Then I got out and was told about Runners HQ."
"Alright, thank you. The rest of the staff is currently in the break room waiting for the all clear. You should get yourself a snack and wait there. " She didn't look back as she made her way to the hall.
He stood there a moment, the clacking of the Lab Coat's shoes moving further away. It took that long for his brain to catch up with what was happening. The cube had malfunctioned to the point that not only was a low risk Scenario off story, but a clone had somehow seen and engaged a staff member directly. Runners HQ must be in complete chaos, he thought, but the situation in the hall was now under control. The Lab Coats would help.
That left him free to worry about his own special predicament. He went into the men's bathroom. There were no mirrors. After knocking at the the door and calling out, he checked the women's. No mirrors there either. There was an aluminum bin near the stairs, but the surface wasn't smooth. He could barely make out a face and dark hair. All he needed was a shiny surface and none were to be found.
Possibly someone in the break room could have something. Even a pocket mirror. But it occurred to him that everyone he'd interacted with at the company must have noticed the resemblance by now. He had been working there a month. And no one had mentioned it. Not even Kaminari with whom he watched secret videos and ate lunch with everyday. Why had Kaminari shown him those videos? Everything was suspect now.
He decided to give it more thought alone in the supply closet on the second floor. Prior to that day, he had been on the custodial staff on the office floor. This closet was the most familiar place to him. Sitting on boxes of cat litter (used for spills), he tried to think. On the shelves were a few bottles of cleaning fluids. He grabbed a bottle of flower scented cleaner and carefully created a puddle on floor. It wasn't a mirror, but he could take decent enough look at himself.
And there it was, the familiar Clone B face. His own hair was a deep black, and fell around his face, but there was no mistake. He was an exact match.
He ran out, faster and faster, desperate to reach the hall. Back down the stairs and through the halls. The minutes wasted at the decontamination chamber were like an eternity. In his haste he hit his shoulder on the glass sliding door. It didn't even register. Ahead, Ashido and the Lab Coats turned away from their discussion to the sound of his desperate run. Iida moved forward and lifted his arms shouting, "Stop, stop! No running in the hall!" Yaoyorozu said nothing, only covered her mouth and gave him a pitying look. Alarmed, Ashido shouted, "What's wrong?"
He just barely stopped short of colliding with Iida. He looked from The Lab Coats to Ashido, unable to form the words while he caught his breath. He wasn't even sure what he wanted to say. Yaoyorozu put her hand down and spoke first. "I'm really very sorry about this. It wasn't worth the risk."
Suddenly, Iida turned him around and shown a bright light at his eyes. He turned away to see Ashido scanning him head to toe with her device. She showed the screen to Yaoyorozu. A nod from her and Iida pushed him into the cube. He felt his back hit something and the thick liquid surround him. While his lungs filled and his vision grew fuzzy, Ashido waved at him and mouthed a clear "See you later!"
There was no telling how long he had been kept in the cube. As he came to, he only grew more confused by his surroundings. He was in the middle of a street covered in debris, rows of collapsed buildings around him. His shoulder hurt, when he looked he noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt. He was wearing what was mostly just sleeves with a collar. It was a little cold.
"Hey! What are you doing with mouth hanging open like an idiot?" He recognized the man though not the costume.
"Clone A?"
The man glared at him, "What?"
He corrected himself. "Bakugou." He didn't like saying it. There was something embarrassingly familiar about it. "I think I'm hurt."
Bakugou was not sympathetic. "You. Are. Fine." He grabbed him firmly by the arm. "We've got important shit to do so you'll just have to suck it up."
He let himself be dragged into one of the buildings. Somewhere behind them he could hear the sound of concrete breaking. Someone was screaming.
Why weren't they going towards the fight? "We should do something. Someone needs our help."
He was shoved into a corner. Bakugou covered his mouth with his hand and looked him in the eyes. "That person doesn't need us. And you know that."
That's right. He's in a cube, floating.
"You know that everything here is fake and you know how to get out. So get me out." He was pressing down on his chest with his arm, pushing him up against the wall. It was familiar and strange at the same time. He'd seen this type behavior directed at others plenty of times.
He tried forcing him away, but only struggled uselessly. "I do know. I know this isn't real, but I don't know how to get out."
"Like hell you don't! You were in the apartment. Not the other Kirishima, but you. I couldn't move, but you did and disappeared through the walls."
He gave Bakugou's chest a gentle but firm push, and was given just a bit of breathing room. "Yeah, you're right. I was there. The problem is we were in active operation, right now we're basically asleep. I can't do anything about that."
Bakugou did not like that answer. "Listen to me. It's been days since your ghost stunt at the apartment. Kirishima is missing. I keep seeing things, like a mirage of people standing outside a glass window. And sometimes I can't feel or touch things. It's like I reach for something, and my hands look like they're touching something, but my arms feel like they're still next to me. Then you suddenly appear out of nowhere calling me by that stupid fucking code name again. So what the hell is happening?"
The answer was actually rather clear to him. "Your nanobots malfunctioned. If they have you and B separated they must be running on the emergency back track. You're seeing the real world because they're falling apart and HQ is out."
He grabbed Bakugou by the shoulders, grinning. "We might be able to get out. You're nanobots are losing control of your perception. If you're still seeing the Lab Coats and Ashido, then Runners HQ is probably still out of the picture. You just have to break the glass."
"What the fuck are you trying to tell me?"
Babbling about work was not going to help them. He tried again.
"Okay, listen to me. You're going to have to move your real body and break the window. The glass should crack if hit correctly. It was made to shatter after...for safety reasons. If you smash the window the fluid will pour out and we'll be able to wake up. Got it?"
After an exasperated growl, Bakugou says, "Just break the window. I understand that."
He was shoved away, hard. Bakugou closed his eyes in concentration.
It took hours with only bouts of loud anger and frustration to break the monotony. The lack of other people or animals would have been eerie if he wasn't so profoundly bored.
"It's so fucking stupid!"
"Tell me what's going on out there. I can't help if I don't know what's happening."
"What's going on is I'm trying to move a whole other set of arms while you sit on your ass not doing anything."
"What am I supposed to do? You're the only one who can sense anything out there. Tell me what's going on."
Bakugou grit his teeth. "I can sense them, but I can't move. They don't even have weight."
"Maybe if you had something to anchor you? Can you touch something?"
"I've already thought of that! I can't see my arms or where they're at."
"What's the closest thing you can see? Can't you just aim one of your arms to a focused spot?"
Bakugou didn't respond right away. "Yeah. Tell me when you feel it."
It was maybe another hour before he felt the slightest tug on his hair.
It was another three when they spilled onto the white floor.