Cause of death: unknown. Soleannan doctor Elise
was unable to find the cause of an illness in
clone trooper Charmy. In a desperate attempt to save
his friend's life, Mighty located and removed a
tumour from Charmy's brain, with the help of medical
robot Isaac. Immediately following the procedure,
Charmy died, and Mighty was placed under arrest.
Now the tumour is the only hope for finding
answers to Mighty's mysterious illness….
Mighty was sitting on an examination table looking down solemnly at the floor. Lara-Le and Elise entered "General, what did the Chancellor say?" "Supreme Chancellor Solaris wants the tumour and all of the intel gathered sent to the Grand Republic Medical Facility on Mobotropolis". "So, then I'll be going to Mobotropolis as well?" Mighty asked. Elise stepped forward "You were not a part of the Chancellor's request" she answered bluntly. Lara-Le regretfully nodded "I'm sorry, Mighty, but this is a matter best left to the medical professionals. There is still so much we do not know" she placed the tumour inside a case and closed it. Elise glared at Mighty disapprovingly "Perhaps we would no more if this clone had not taken matters into his own hands" "I was trying to save my friend!" "And yet perhaps by removing this tumour, it was you who killed him". Mighty stood up form his chair "What do you care? You were going to kill him anyway and dissect him, too. He's a soldier. He deserves better!" "Stand down, Mighty!" Lara-Le ordered. She then turned to Elise "There is no proof of your claim. I want this specimen and all the data prepared for transit to the Shinobi Temple" she handed the case to a robot. "The Chancellor said the tumour and data was to be sent directly to the Medical Facility on Mobotropolis, not the Shinobi Temple" Elise said. Lara-Le nodded "And it will get there, but after the Shinobi have run an analysis on it first" "I protest. I must personally deliver the tumour to the Chancellor as ordered" "You can protest all you want. My word is final". She then turned to Mighty and put her hand on his shoulder as two clones entered "You have one more physical to pass. If you are cleared, you will be sent back to the 501st" "Thank you, General". He got up and was about to leave with the two clones, Lara-Le smiled "It will be good to be good to put this entire incident behind you, trooper" "I agree" Elise said coldly. Mighty saw the case be picked up be one of the robots but saw another now lying on the table.
Mighty was walking through the halls with two clones and a Soleannan doctor when he saw Isaac coming the other way "Isaac". They stopped "Hello, ARC trooper Mighty. I regret that I was unable to heal your friend" "Yeah, me too" Mighty replied solemnly. "Are you going to be reprogrammed as well?", Mighty felt guilty that he was going to be reprogrammed "No, buddy, I'm going back to the front". Isaac tilted his head "That is not what I heard. I heard your mind was going to be wiped and that you would be reassigned here and placed on sanitation detail. We can still be friends. Assuming we both remember each other after our memories have been erased" Mighty's face turned very angry. The doctor looked at him "Let's go CT-06-1993" "No" he pushed the Doctor away before incapacitating the two clone guards. Isaac looked around in shock "Look what you did" "I'm not getting my mind erased and neither are you". An alarm went off "Let's go" "Are we escaping?" Isaac innocently asked as they ran. They headed back to the examination room, Why are we here?". Mighty opened the case and he saw the tumour "I knew it. Elsie switched the cases. She's trying to hide something" "The tumour? So we are going to continue our research?". Mighty nodded "Yeah, the research. That's it. Now, come on!" they ran out of the room.
They ran into the hanger and quickly boarded a Soleannan transport. Mighty saw Lara-Le arriving with more clones. He quickly took off and flew out of the hanger and went at top speed away form the city. "Can you float?" he asked Isaac, "I am buoyant and have several survival modes". Mighty smirked "Ah. Survival, eh?" he turned on autopilot and opened the ship doors. Isaac looked concerned "Wait. What are you doing? I thought we were escaping" "Nope, this is a diversion. I need them to chase the pod while we go back and continue our investigation. Any more questions?". Isaac nodded "Actually, yes. If we are to-". Mighty then grabbed Isaac and threw him off the ship before jumping off himself. They landed in the ocean "Now what?" "We're going back to figure out why Charmy died". Mighty started swimming but Isaac stayed where he was "I can get us there much faster" he hovered above the ground. Mighty chuckled "You're just full of surprises, aren't you" "I'm equipped with several survival modes". Mighty climbed on his back "Haha, robots" and they headed back to the city "A thank you would be nice".
Elise entered the holo-room where Dimitri appeared "Lord Enerjak, you summoned me?" "Your King tells me there has been a complication. What has happened to the inhibitor chip?" he asked angrily. "It was stolen by a renegade clone" "And what does this clone know?" "He knows nothing as of yet. He's just a soldier after all. But he was a… friend to the clone which malfunctioned" Elise sounded disgusted just saying it. Dimitri looked troubled "This behaviour is unsettling. First, the malfunctioning clone, and now a renegade. Are you certain these soldiers will live up to your design in the end?". Elise nodded "I am certain. The malfunction to the inhibitor chip is an aberration" "And how do you explain the renegade?". "I'm afraid the Shinobi have inspired creative thinking in some of the clones. That is the cause of this divergent behaviour". Dimitri glared at her "Will this interfere with protocol 06?". Elise nervously shook her head "No, I am certain of that" "Find the renegade clone immediately, and make sure you recover the chip. The true nature of it must not be discovered by the Shinobi". She bowed her head "Yes, Lord Enerjak".
Isaac carried Mighty to a hatch under the city "Once we get inside, I need to get a sanitation uniform, Isaac" they went inside. They went through the vents and came down in a storage room. He put on an orange vest and helmet "Alright, we need to analyse the tumour". "Wait here" Isaac went outside and tapped the shoulder of a wolf clone "Excuse me, trooper, but I think I saw the renegade clone in the storage room" "Alright let's check it out". He led him into the storage room and Mighty quickly knocked him out. Mighty took a trolly and threw the case and the troopers blaster inside. He then threw a blanket over the trolly to hide them.
Mighty pushed the trolly inside the Genetic Records Hall with Isaac "This place contains data on the original DNA of every being we have ever cloned. We will compare the tumour's DNA versus that of Mimic the Octopus, the original donor. If any tumour like this has been noted before, we will find it". They went to a console and Isaac got to work "The tumour please" Mighty handed it to him". He scanned it and the console beeped "Nothing. The sample doesn't match anything found in the Mimic genotype. Interestingly, the tumour is not fully organic. It is foreign to the body. It has been implanted". Mighty was surprised "An implant? You mean this isn't an accident? Someone did this to Charmy?" he said angrily, "Precisely".
Lara-Le was watching the flight paths of all ships leaving Soleanna but found nothing "I sense we're looking in the wrong place". A coyote entered the room "We have a report from the Genetic Records Hall. Someone is accessing the Mimic genotype". "It's them" Elise said, "Evacuate that room quietly".
Mighty noticed the others were leaving the room "Is there another way out of here, beside the door we came in?" "Yes, there are emergency access hatches in every major room in case of flooding". Mighty nodded "Good. Let's get moving. They ran towards a wall that had a ladder and climbed up towards the hatch. The doors opened and Lara-Le entered with clone "There!". Mighty and Isaac quickly went through the hatch then the latter used his torch to seal it so the clones couldn't follow. They ran through the passage "Did you get all the information you needed?" "Mostly. We know that the tumour is a foreign material and was implanted for an unknown reason. However, there is still so much we do not know. For example, at what stage was it introduced to clone Charmy and why?". Mighty started climbing another ladder "What is this thing? Why would someone put it in Charmy" "I believe this is an organic chip built out of cells, but I do not know its purpose". They went through another passage "I need to find out if what was in Charmy's head is in mine" "We have already done a scan and-" "But it was missed in Charmy and it could have been missed in me, too. You have to take it out". Isaac stopped "We cannot be 100% sure if the chip is even there" "I know it's there" "It is a dangerous surgery". Mighty thought for a moment before making his decision "Look, you got it out of Charmy. You can get it out of me" "But he died after I removed the chip. Maybe it is connected. I don't' want that to happen to you". Mighty sighed "It's a chance I have to take. I trust you". Isaac stared at him for a moment before looking to the floor "Alright, I will do it. Let us go to a sterile facility. There should be shifting inhibitors there".
They managed make it to a room and Mighty removed his disguise and lied down on a table, Isaac picked up a syringe and injected it into Mighty's neck "Try to say calm. This sometimes overwhelms clones". Isaac wasn't wrong, Mighty could feel his body morphing and he could see his hands turning into tentacles. He took a few slow breathes to keep himself calm "Alright let's do this". The table went flat and Isaac gave him a second injection knocking him out.
Lara-Le and Elise were back in the command centre when the commander entered "There's no sign of them, General" "They must have escaped by now". Lara-Le pondered "Escape was never their intention. They're investigating. Searching. Their appearance in the genetics lab proves this. But what are they searching for?".
Sometime later Mighty woke up still in octopus form and felt pain in his forehead "Well. Was it…. Was it there?" "Yes. Identical in structure. However, it appears that the one I found in your friend had malfunctioned while yours I perfectly intact". Isaac showed him his own chip "Are you sure his breakdown was isolated?" "There is no way of knowing that. And now that we have removed your chip, we don't know what will happen to you". Mighty sighed "So then I could snap too?" "Possibly. But when we removed the chip from Charmy, he… I am afraid you may die as well". Mighty stood up "I need to know if more clones than just Charmy and I have these and when we were implanted with them" "My analysis suggests implantation took place at the earliest stage of development, most likely when you and Charmy were only embryos". Mighty picked up his blaster and a syringe on the table "Then we have to start there" "We should hurry. You will be able to walk freely in your current form. But the dose I gave you will wear off soon". They headed out into the hallway "Act normal" "Normal? La, la, lo, do, da, de!" he sang out loud causing people to stare at them. They eventually made it to the door of the embryo room "How was that? Was that normal?" "For you, Isaac, yeah" Mighty joked. He looked down at his hands and realised he was changing back into an Armadillo. They quickly went inside hoping nobody saw them. The room was filled with columns containing clone embryos. They went to one of them and got on the terminal "We will start with the earliest stage of development". An embryo was taken out and was scanned "Nothing. I will try a stage three embryo". He scanned another and the screen lit up "There it is" he then scanned another finding the same thing. According to the machine every clone once reaching stage three has a chip implanted. Mighty couldn't believe it but then suddenly the door opened, and Elise entered. Mighty raised his weapon "Don't move!" she put her hands up "Why are you doing this?". Mighty glared at her "I know what you've done" she walked closer to him calmly "What is it that you think I have done".
Mighty grabbed her to pushed her towards the screen "How do you explain this?" "That is a structural inhibitor chip, which is supposed to prevent you from being aggressive, like your source, Mimic. Shinobi Master Chip instructed us to implant them during growth cycle" she said calmly. This surprised Mighty "The Shinobi? The Shinobi had this done to us" "It is not uncommon to have the the chips placed in a clone". Isaac took out Charmy's chip "I have analysed this one, and apparently it has failed" "Up until this point, there has never been a problem". Mighty hit the back of her head with the barrel of his blaster "Well, you've got a big problem now" "Don't move!". He saw clones and Lara-Le enter, Mighty quickly pushed Elise in front of him forcing them to stop. Lara-Le ignited her lightsaber "Drop your weapon, Mighty" "Master Shinobi, I know what's going on. I have the evidence. The Shinobi instructed that inhibitor chips be implanted in us at birth, but Charmy's malfunctioned. That's what made him loose control". Lara-Le lowered her lightsaber "Where is the evidence?". Isaac stepped forward "I have it here" he showed her the chip "As you can see, the chip taken from clone trooper Charmy is black and rotting indicating a malfunction of some sort". "What caused the malfunction?" Lara-Le asked. Mighty shook his head "It doesn't matter. The fact is Charmy's did, and it drove him insane. These chips have to be removed, otherwise the entire Republic Army could be compromised". Elise shook her head "There is no proof of that. This is an isolated incident. Besides, when you removed CT-0395's, he died".
Mighty smirked "Well, that's not going to happen to the rest of us" "And how do you know that?" "Because I removed mine". Isaac nodded "Here is Clone Trooper Mighty's chip" he showed Lara-Le "As you can see, there is no sign of malfunction in either him or the chip". Elise turned to Mighty "By removing your chip you're a threat. Master Shinobi, we must terminate this trooper immediately". Mighty clenched his teeth and hit Elise's head with the blaster "I am not a piece of hardware! I'm a living being!" "You were created in our laboratories. You are Soleanna property!". Lara-Le deactivated her lightsaber "Correction: technically, he is property of the Republic" "That does not change the fact that he is a danger and must be terminated". Lara-Le glared at her "I believe that's for me to decide. Mighty, you're coming with me to Mobotropolis. I think it's time you told your story to the Chancellor". Elise's eyes opened wide "Master Shinobi, I beg you to reconsider" "The Chancellor wanted all the data on Charmy to be sent to Mobotropolis. We're sending the data, the tumour, and Mighty along with it". Elise lowered her arms "Then I am going with you" "As you wish". Two clones arrived with a gurney which Mighty lied down on "Thank you for believing in me, General" "It is not a matter of belief, Mighty. It is simply the right thing to do". Isaac went over to Mighty "It looks like you got what you wanted" "Thanks to you. I'll see you on the other side". Isaac tilted his head "The other side of what?" "Haha. Ah, robots" Mighty was taken away.