A.N.: This is a fix-it for s3 e3. Just because… I don't like Jenny, Danny or Philip Burton as team leader – Cutter was just too good, in my opinion. Hope you enjoy.

The first thing he saw was Helen. The first thing he heard was her voice, her orders. The first thing he learned was to follow her orders, despite the feeling in his soul that said otherwise.

A soul- it was foolish to even believe he had one. He was a copy and, as Helen had said, they were not human without their free will.

It had been easy enough to follow Helen's orders at first. They were simple commands; the type you would give a dog such as sit, stand, and speak. Yet that day was different and he should have known then.

Entering the ARC was easy enough when everyone thought you were Nick Cutter. No one looked at him twice until he got to his supposed team members; he was like a ghost.

Lester and Jenny seemed to notice something was off but they would not figure it out. As soon as he heard Helen's voice, no one could stop her from entering the ARC. Helen's plan would be enacted and the ARC team could not do anything about it.

The Cutter clone marveled at the work his true self had completed. It was something to be proud of yet he felt envious of the man's genius. He was told he could not feel emotions yet this is what he felt.

The army of clones Helen had control over took the ARC over with a fierce force. Soon guns were being shot into the air while the ARC team was ushered to where they would be out of the way.

The Cutter clone made his way into the hallway to greet the team; especially Lester. He could not help but feel some sort satisfaction at being able to hold a gun to the man's head.
Yet, he followed Helen's orders once again when she told him not to kill Lester just yet. The team walked past and the clone felt the urge to look back, especially to gain a glimpse of Jenny Lewis, yet he remained expressionless as he moved away.

While they waited for the real Nick Cutter and the rest of the ARC team to return, Helen wandered into Cutter's office. Once again the Cutter clone was faced with the real Cutter's genius as he viewed the matrix and various equations.

"We should have worked on it together," Helen stated, while talking to the Cutter clone. "But what am I talking to you for?" she questioned with disgust as she held the artifact in hand.

He couldn't help but feel resentment towards…someone…as he quietly stood there. He continued to ponder over his supposedly non-existent feelings when one of the clones announced the field team had returned.

The Cutter clone moved through the door to the main room to find Nick, Connor and Abby all standing there. Abby and Connor's shock was evident as the clone appeared behind the real copy.

Connor stammered in his usual boyish tone, "It…it's you," as he stared blankly at the two men. Nick turned around to face his clone with the same shock Abby and Connor shared. The only thing the Cutter clone could do was blink as Helen instructed Connor and Abby to be placed with the others. Everything was going according to plan.

Nick Cutter walked around as he examined the clone of himself while Helen watched with a smirk. "You created this," Nick stated more than asked. "I…borrowed the technology from the future," she explained as Nick continued to look, "It's made from your DNA. Perfect in every physical detail." Nick stopped as he looked at her quizzically, "Physical?"

Helen gave out a mew in response as she continued to explain, "It has uh…limited intelligence, enough to follow basic instruction." "It's still a human being thought, right?" he asked with concern. Even though the Cutter clone continued to stare ahead he thought those had to be the kindest words he heard in his actual life, not within the memories he had from Nick Cutter.

Yet, Helen just had to open her mouth to contradict him and just shrugged, "Free will is what makes us human, Nick. This, um…creature is…uh…nothing more than a living photo copy." She finished with a smile that seemed to unnerve Nick Cutter; it unnerved his clone too. He hated the way she had called him a creature when he had held her so high in regard for creating him – for giving him life.

"Please tell me you didn't do this to Stephen," Nick asked and it brought more memories to the clone as he remembered what Helen had done to Stephen and how he died. "No matter what they look like, they can never be the original," Helen stated with sorrow evident in her voice as she walked away.

"Why are you doing this, Helen?" Nick asked as he followed her. "Because I have seen the destruction of almost every living creature on this once beautiful planet," she began while obviously thinking about the future anomaly, "I can stop this, Nick. I can save…"

"Look, whatever is going to happen is going to happen and we have to leave it alone. You remember what happened the last time. You killed Stephen," he informed her. "I didn't kill Stephen," she argued, "You did."

However, Cutter's clone seemed to lose interest as the two continued to argue over timelines and morality. He was still frustrated with how Helen truly viewed him. She seemed only to be honest in front of her ex-husband. Nick brought up why didn't his clone kill him and it made him wonder, why hadn't he killed Nick Cutter when he had the chance? Then he could be the original.

After Nick refused to tell her about the artifact, Helen gave her order. "Give him ten seconds then shoot him," and he followed her orders like a good soldier as he walked straight to Cutter to hold a gun to his head.

The clone immediately began his counting and Nick tried to strangest thing; he tried to reason with it. It was idiotic, especially in Helen's and the clone's opinion. The clone had little reasoning, no free will and absolutely no soul with compassion or mercy.

"Don't do it," Nick reasoned but Helen countered, "You can't appeal to his feelings, Nick, he doesn't have any. Now tell me what this is." Nick continued his reasoning with his clone, "You don't have to do what she says, you know. You have a choice," Nick stated.

It could have been something instinctive, something to do with their shared DNA that made the clone hesitate for a moment and actual lower his gun. Yet, when Cutter closed his eyes in relief the gun instinctively popped back up with the counting continuing where it left off. Cutter eventually agreed to tell Helen what the artifact was. He agreed so easily the clone was compelled to keep the gun locked on Cutter until Helen demanded otherwise. Her order seemed to kill the notion in his mind of killing the original. Even though Nick Cutter probably did not realize it, Cutter's clone probably could not consciously kill his true self.

Suddenly Helen's voice filled the internal audio system with orders to stop obeying her. While her army clones seemed to obey the recording as they dropped their weapons, the Cutter clone seems to still have control and he began to wonder if he really did have free will like his true self told him her did. She was frantic as she tried to convince the other clones it wasn't her orders over the system but then she turned to her clone of Cutter. "It's over, Helen," Nick said but she still had hope for the plan.

"Listen to my voice," she ordered the Cutter clone, "Complete your mission," she demanded. The clone looked from her to the suitcase knowing if he did not listen she would come up with another way to destroy the ARC and possibly his true self. He knew Nick never in a million years you think Helen would use a bomb yet that was exactly what she had in the suitcase. So the Cutter clone tried to rationalize as he set down his gun and opened the case.

While Helen moved away to the exit, Cutter ran to his clone and tried to reason with him one more time. "Look, I know you can hear me. I know you can understand. You don't have to obey her," Cutter reasoned again.

"But, she made me," he stated back, it was the one issue that still bothered him – does any living creature ever dare go against its creator? "You're a human being, you have a choice," Nick retorted to his cloned self.

"Don't listen to him. Follow your instruction," Helen ordered. Nick glared at her and Cutter's clone wished he could do the same. It was always orders with her, she never talked to him like she did with Nick – to her he was nothing more than a creature to control.

"You're not a machine' you're a free man," Nick continued to persuade and the more Cutter's clone listened, the more his true self made sense. "You don't want to die," he argued but that was wrong, "I don't know what death is," his clone stated with his hand still above the trigger. "Trust me, life's better," he argued but could he trust him? Nick Cutter seemed to want to live but could there be two Cutters in this world?

"Don't listen to him," Helen yelled again from a distance this time as she moved farther far the bomb and towards the exit. Her cowardice and Cutter's logic conflicted in the clone's mind as he turned to the real Nick Cutter with a smile, "Save yourself."

Nick seemed confused and conflicted for a moment before understanding the words. At one moment he seemed happy that his clone had listened to him but seemed frightened by the idea he was still going to detonate the bomb. Nick quickly ran the way Helen did as Cutter's clone prepared to press the detonator of the bomb.

Ugh, this was so hard to write and took forever but it was one of those ideas that would not leave me alone. I just had to write it and then, of course, post it. Part 2 will be up Friday.
(Yes, there is a part 2. I wouldn't leave it there.)

Explanation: This was mainly brought on by the last scene during the episode. After Cutter takes off his jacket to hide the artifact you really don't see his pants through the rest of the episode. It would be hard to tell him and the clone apart since they both wore black shirts if it wasn't already inferred the clone died in the blast. Plus, when Cutter enters the ARC he's wearing blue jeans. When the camera pans up to him laying dead on the ground he's jeans are dark in color, like the clone's had been. Go ahead; watch the episode – right where the clone walks in after Cutter, Connor and Abby. You get a good look of both their outfits. Even though it's probably continuity issues of the part of the staff or Cutter's pants got dirty from the explosion and smoke, it gives the conspiracy theorist in me ideas.

So I really hope you guys enjoyed this little story. Thank you for reading.