Tuesday, Sept. 15, Leone's Headquarters (Twisted Alleyway, PsykoNet; Late Afternoon
"Who the hell do you think you are!?" It was the voice of Luke. He wasn't a particularly composed person, but his tone sounded particularly distraught now.
"Luke... where are you!?" shouted Agent Rose He had attempted to follow Luke through the alleyways, but they were just like a maze. "What the hell? Why are these alleys built like this!?"
Seven offered a suggestion. "Based on the Collective Judgement Phenomenon, I would wager that the cause for this maze-like structure is that everything that Leone doesn't want people to see is intentionally covered-up so that she can control that narrative of what goes on around her. Thus, the dark alleys that aren't meant to be seen have taken the form of a mysterious labyrinth."
Luke's lookalike was wearing a torn varsity jacket with Goldhelm Secondary's hockey team's logo on it. His face was hairier than Luke's by a longshot, but his eyes were unmistakably the same as Luke's, even though they were glowing gold. Sharp claws took the place of this 'Luke's' fingernails, at the end of fingers that were covered in dark black fur.
"What does it look like, Luke? I'm you," said the werewolf version of Luke.
"That's not possible," Luke snarled. "What are you even supposed to be? A werewolf or something?"
"No, Luke," the lookalike sighed. "It is as I said. I am you, and you're me."
"That's not possible!" Luke growled. "I'm not some half-human monster!"
"Is that so...? Listen to yourself. Snarling, and growling, and clenching your fists. You are a monster, Luke," said the hairy copycat.
"Luke...! Thank god!" Agent Rose called, running up to Luke's side. "What the hell-?"
"What is that thing!?" Agent Belle gasped. "Is that a Role?"
"No..." Seven said, shaking his metal head. His digital eyes transformed into a loading bar as he scanned the false Luke Daniels. Thankfully, the loading bar filled up quickly, and his eyes returned, this time with an expression of anger. "That's a Shadow!"
"A Shadow!?" Agent Belle asked. "But that's not possible! This isn't even Luke's Headquarters!"
"My database has little information on this scenario. However, I have a theory," Seven said. "I believe that since the Role Luke plays in Leone's Headquarters is accurate to the way people perceive him to be, his Role has transformed into a Shadow now that it has come in contact with the real Luke."
"Hmm... that makes sense," Agent Rose said with a nod. "Whatever it is, we have to protect Luke!"
"You're not me, bastard... I'm me!" Luke shouted.
"Then why does everyone see me when they look at you?" Shadow Luke proposed.
"What are you even talking about...?" Luke snarled.
"When people look at you, they see a monster who wouldn't hesitate to kill. A monster who's lost all humanity. Or maybe it had none to start with. When people look at you, they're filled with fear. You're the monster that people tell stories about to scare their peers."
Luke couldn't deny that truth behind what his Shadow was saying. He really was perceived that way by what felt like everyone. Even the other youth and the caretakers at his foster home. A burning tear welled up in his right eye.
"So then you get it now, Luke?" smirked the werewolf-like Shadow. "I'm you... and you're..."
"Shut up!" screamed Luke. "Don't even bother going on! What did I do to deserve something like you...!?"
"You know what you did, Luke." The Shadow showed its intimidating teeth. "You sent that man to the hospital with a broken arm, when you were only a child no less. You didn't show him any mercy, did you?"
"Don't try to make me look like the villain!" Luke was starting to get red in the face out of frustration. "That man violated my own mother! It was because of him that she... that she...!" The words wouldn't leave his throat. It felt like he was choking, to the point where he actually found it difficult to breathe. "That man is the reason my mother killed herself... And people thought I was the monster!? That's just because they only saw me trying to avenge my mother! If only they'd seen what that man had done..."
"Don't you want to get revenge on the people who painted you as a monster for trying to achieve justice?" the Shadow suggested.
"Yes... I hate everyone who believed that I was a monster..." Luke literally growled. Black smoke covered his hands, as three daggers of black energy grew out from the knuckles of each of his hands. As the black energy faded and materialized into something new, both of Luke's fists were now equipped with long, sharp weaponized metal claws, sort of like the superhero Wolverine. "And that's why I have to destroy you! Destroying you is the ticket to my revenge!"
"Yes..." Agent Rose smiled. "You can channel your anger into something good. Don't let it control you; take control of it!"
"You want to destroy me, huh?" Shadow Luke scoffed. "That would mean destroying yourself. Are you really prepared to go back to being a weak, vulnerable child? That's what everyone used to treat you as. Remember how many people tried to take advantage of you when you were a child? Now, you have power over people. They fear you. Isn't that the better alternative?"
"You're not me..." Luke affirmed. "I'm done letting people decide the role I play in my own story! From now on, I will decide my own role in the world! I'm not going to be the victim... And I'm sure as hell not going to be the villain!"
The Shadow sighed, and closed its eyes calmly, before opening them to show a truly berserk, almost psychotic expression. "You can control nothing! As long as there are people to judge you, you will never escape the monster inside you!" The Shadow began to deform, transforming into an even more beastly form. It grew taller, more muscular, and more wolf-like, until it had transformed into a giant full-fledged werewolf with long, iron-like claws and eyes redder than blood. Seemingly, the only thing that remained of Shadow Luke's previous form was the torn varsity jacket, which was even more tattered now. Otherwise, the monstrous Shadow was naked, though its fur covered anything that the Agents and Luke wouldn't want to see. It let out a blood-curdling shriek, confirming there was no going back now!
Luke rushed in first, slashing at the Shadow Werewolf with his new weaponized razor-claws! But, to his shock, his claws bounced right off of its fur! "What!? How!? Cut through, damn it!" He attempted to stab his claws into the Shadow Werewolf's stomach, but they bounced right off a second time, this time hurting Luke's shoulder. "Fuck!" he hissed, holding his shoulder with his other hand.
"Grahah!" the Shadow Werewolf laughed. "I told you! I'll never die!"
"Luke! Watch out!" Agent Rose shouted. However, Luke couldn't have reacted fast enough.
The Shadow Werewolf slashed its much bigger, beastly claws at him, knocking him several meters backwards, and right onto his ass!
"Ow... fuck..." Luke groaned, hardly able to get back up.
"Madcap!" Agent Belle summoned. Madam Madcap appeared behind her in a blaze of blue fire, holding elegantly onto the front of her immaculate masquerade mask. Agent Belle commanded her Persona, "Heal him! He's hurt!"
"I will fight to the death for the justice of my allies," Madam Madcap resolved, as she placed an ethereal, gloved hand elegantly over Luke's scratch wounds. They healed before his very eyes, causing him to gasp at the sight and the feeling of reinvigoration.
Agent Rose aimed his pistol right for the Shadow Werewolf's forehead. With impeccable aim, he fired, and the bullet hit its mark head-on! However, the bullet too bounced right off of the Shadow Werewolf. "Attacking it with our weapons seems to be ineffective! Seven, try attacking it with your Persona!"
"Yes, Master Rose!" Seven agreed, nodding. "Golem!" He summoned his programmed digital Persona, and commanded Golem to launch a Nuclear attack at Luke's transformed Shadow.
The ball of Nuclear energy that Golem had launched hit the Shadow Werewolf right in the chest, but even the power of a Persona just dissipated at the point of contact!
"What!?" Agent Rose gasped. "There's no way... Is it totally impenetrable?"
Seven narrowed his lime-green digital eyes, and explained, "My scan determined no elemental or physical weaknesses. In fact, it seems that the enemy is invulnerable to all elements!"
"How is that even possible?" Luke growled, clenching his claw-bearing fists.
"Unless..." Agent Belle thought. "What if people collectively believe Luke can't be harmed?"
"What? What does that even mean!?" Luke shouted.
"I mean, what if you do such a good job at hiding your weaknesses in reality that people genuinely believe you're immune to harm?" elaborated Agent Belle.
The Shadow Werewolf sprinted forward on all four of its clawed paws. It slashed at Agent Rose, but thankfully, Agent Rose was able to narrow his focus on the enemy. The Shadow Werewolf slashed at him with its claws, but with great timing, he was able to summon Excalibur.
"Counter!" Agent Rose shouted. Suddenly, Excalibur appeared in front of him, and the shadowy hand holding the sword used all of its power to parry to Shadow Werewolf's slash! Once the Shadow Werewolf had been knocked back by the parry, Excalibur's sword glowed with divine light and impossibly deep shadow, and it slashed at the enemy with light straight from heaven and darkness straight from hell! Still, the attack did no damage to Luke's Shadow.
"Leader, what should we do?" Seven asked.
Agent Rose had no other choice. "We have to retreat back to reality!"
"I'm down with that!" Agent Belle graciously agreed. The Agents of T.R.U.T.H., as well as Luke, retreated from the battle posthaste.
Tuesday, Sept. 15, Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Evening
They were back in the equipment storage room in the gymnasium of Goldhelm Secondary, where Luke, Heather, and Thorne had been when they had used PsykoLink to enter Leone's Headquarters. All of them were panting, meanwhile Luke was holding his head tightly, burying his face in his knees.
"Is everyone okay?" Thorne asked.
"My head...! Holy fuck, it hurts!" Luke groaned, just trying to breathe normally proving to be a challenge to him.
"Heh, yeah... that happens the first few times you go from the real world to the psycho-digital world," Heather awkwardly chuckled. "Ibuprofen fixes it. I can say that from experience."
"Wait... the Android guy!" Luke gasped. "Where'd he go!? Did he make it out all right?"
"I am right here, Master Luke," explained Seven from the speakers of Thorne's phone. "I appreciate your concern."
"Wait... where!?" Luke looked around. "I don't see you anywhere, Seven."
Seven's digital visor, and by extension his eyes, appeared on Thorne's phone screen, and Thorne turned his phone around so that Luke could see Seven's 'face.'
"Right, that's right... You live in Thorne's phone," Luke sighed. "I'm glad to know you're okay, at least."
"I am glad that you are all right, as well, Master Luke," Seven responded.
"Hey, uh," Heather interjected. "We should probably get out of the school before we get caught. It's kind of late. Let's pick a different place to enter PsykoNet from now on."
"That's a good idea," Thorne nodded. "We should have a Headquarters of our own." Then he remembered something. During an earlier conversation with Sara, the Student Council President, and his slightly-overbearing friend, she discussed how she had the authority to reserve rooms within the school, as long as the reservation was approved by faculty. Surely, that would be useful soon, but for now, it was best that the three of them just make their way out of the school without getting caught.
Thorne opened the storage room door carefully and peeked out from it. There were no other people inside the gymnasium, and there was even an exterior door on the other end of the gym. He ushered his friends out from the storage room and they ducked through the exterior door and immediately left the school premises to avoid getting caught. "Luke, can we have your contact information?" Agent Belle asked. "We should make sure we keep in touch about this."
"Right... Good idea. Yeah, here." He put his contact information into Heather's phone when she handed it to him.
"Great! I'll add you to the group chat!" Heather smiled, as she added Luke to her group chat with Thorne, and Seven's 'chat-bot' profile. "For now... we should get some rest. Luke, try not to worry too much about things with Leone... I promise we'll make sure justice is served! After all... we're the Agents of T.R.U.T.H.!"
"Thanks..." Luke sighed, letting his mouth turn up into a slight smile. "I really do feel reassured. And... that imposter that looked like me... I wanna fuck him up."
Heather chuckled. "So do we, trust me!"