"Would the Engineer and the Medic please report to the Administrator's office. Immediately." The Administrator's voice ground and rasped from an entire life spent almost perpetually smoking a cigarette. The old, scratchy speaker system didn't help either.
Conagher and Hershel looked at each other. "What'd we do?" asked Conagher, pulling up his goggles onto his forehead. Hershel shrugged.
The two walked down to the Administrator's office, passing the new Heavy Weapons Guy, who appeared to be sharing a sandwich with his chain gun. On coming to the door, they knocked, and the door was opened by none other than Saxton Hale of MannCo. He looked at the two, pocketed a wad of cash, and then jumped out the far window, yelling "SAXTOOOON HAAAAAALE!"
Conagher looked after him for a moment. Then the two turned around and walked into the office. The Administrator was sitting behind her desk, the microphone moved aside.
"I must apologise for Saxton's eccentricity. He insisted on compensation for the loss of that pawn I sent north to find our Heavy Weapons Guy."
"Was zere something you wanted?" asked Hershel, sitting down.
"I have a specific job for you two. It's not something I can trust to the other team members, because quite simply they couldn't do it. You will be given an extra million in your first paycheck in exchange."
Conagher sat down in the other chair. "What do we need to do?"
"It's quite simple. I want you to create completely identical clones of your teammates and yourselves, but replace all the references to 'RED' with 'BLU' and vice versa. I know that Mister Conagher has developed a memory storage device, and Mister Fleischer has a comprehensive knowledge of the theory of reconstructing an identical physical copy of an individual."
Conagher leaned forward. "Don't you work for Redmond Mann? Why would you want us to create a team for Blutarch?"
"Mister Conagher, I work for both Redmond and Blutarch. That's why I wear purple, you see. RED and BLU together." She picked at the button of her coat. "Between us, Miss Pauling and I have more power than Redmond and Blutarch Mann put together. My grandmother promised their father in 1850 that we would keep the balance between them until one or both of them was dead. That's why we've worked all these years to keep the Teams from fulfilling their original purpose. And when Blutarch hired Radigan Conagher to build him a life-extending machine, my mother traded one hundred pounds of Australium to him in exchange for an identical device for Redmond. Now, I need an Identical team to Redmond's to be created for Blutarch."
"Ma'am, I don't know if I can make a clone, let alone one of myself."
"That's why the both of you are here. My family made a promise. We will continue to carry it out until the end of time if need be."
Hershel stood up. "I suppose we can do it. It will take, I do not know how long, perhaps anywhere from a week to a month."
"Two mill and I'll make it a week." said Dell, also standing up.
"Then you'd better get to work, then." said the Administrator, throwing out the butt of her cigarette and lighting another.
Hershel and Conagher walked out the door. "If it becomes absolutely necessary," whispered Conagher, "We've all got family members or other associates who knew which company hired us. We can ask them if we start becoming uncertain as to whether or not we're the originals."
Hershel nodded, opening the door to admit Miss Pauling, holding a clipboard and pen in one hand and a huge stack of papers under the other arm. The two left after her.
The Administrator looked up at Miss Pauling. "Did you do it?"
Miss Pauling nodded. "I've wiped the recent memories of everyone the Team told about their new job. Once the Engineer and the Medic complete their assignment, only you or I will be able to definitively say which team is the original and which are clones."
The administrator smiled. "Excellent. Alongside Conagher's Respawn Chamber, this will ensure precise balance between the brothers for the rest of time."
/
And now, it's over. For the rest of eternity, the Teams will end up doing the same thing they always do. I'm not sure what I'll do now I've finished this. I do have a piece of original fiction all typed up already, so I might move over to Fictionpress for a while.
