A/N: All right, Rachel doesn't exactly strike me as a Beatle fan, but I am writing this fic, and I have decided that she is. Oh, by the way, I've been reading a few Metal Gear fics, but have no clue as to what or who anyone(thing) is. Anyone care to explain? I know it's a video game or whatever, but that's about it. All right then. Onward!
Chapter 3
Back at Jefferson's office, Rachel opened the door to leave, and Jefferson watched as she instead stood still for a few seconds, and then turned and sat back down in her chair, letting the door fall shut. Eleanor sat next to her, and Jefferson looked from Rachel to Eleanor, admiring the work of modern (well, modern by N-Tek standards anyway) technology.
"Something I can help you with, Ms. Leeds?" he addressed Rachel.
"Um, yes. I was wondering how deeply identical Kat and I are to our clones."
"Well, I've been told, they have the same exact personality, thought process, and memories you had at the point in time when you were cloned."
"Which was...?"
"Yesterday."
Rachel turned to look at her clone. "All right then," she began, "if you are really, well, me, you should know all the names of the Beatles."
Eleanor smiled. "John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney, of course."
"What are my parents' names?"
"Our parents names are Elizabeth and James."
"And our sibilings?"
"Our only living sibling is our older brother Stuart."
Jefferson's attention was caught by the "living sibling" part. He hadn't known anything about Rachel's home life, much less that she had a dead sibling. She had never brought anything about it before. But then again why would she have?
"Um, Mr. Smith? Is everything all right?"
Jefferson was startled. He wasn't usually the one dozing off. "Oh, sorry. It's been a long six weeks."
"I know," she said softly. She hadn't realized until now how tired he looked.
"Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?"
"Yes. How exactly are Kat and I going to explain the fact that there are two of us walking around?"
"I can answer that," Eleanor responded. "Jet and I have our own quarters in this part of the building. We're not supposed to leave the building unless absolutely necessary, and even if we do we can't be seen together by people outside N-Tek. We're allowed to tell people involved with the secret side of N-Tek about it, though." She noted the surprised look on Rachel's face and then added "Jet and I were briefed already. I can answer any questions you might have."
"Thank you, perhaps later."
"Will that be all, Ms. Leeds?"
"Yes. Unless you need help with anything..."
"No, but thank you. I stand by my decision to keep you and Kat out of this one. I know you're under enough stress without being on duty as it is."
"I want to help out."
"I know. "
Rachel hesitated, wanting to insist to be put back on duty, but at the same time knowing that it wouldn't do any good. "Don't work yourself to hard."
Jefferson smiled sadly, but didn't say anything.
Eleanor gave Smith a nod, and then followed Rachel out of the office.
Once outside the office, Rachel turned to Eleanor. "Well," she said thoughtfully, "I have needed someone to talk to, if you don't mind."
"Who would understand better?"
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Jake Nez (haven't heard from him in a while, have we?) walked down the hall towards Rachel's office. She had left the morning's meeting early without her copy of the minutes, which she was supposed to transfer onto her computer. He paused outside her office as he heard music coming from inside. Sky of blue! Sea of green! And our yellow, and our yellow, submarine, submarine, waha!
He paused before knocking on the door. He had never known Rachel to do anything at work that wasn't strictly work-related. He knew she had never before listened to music on the job. Finally, he knocked timidly on the door. No one seemed to have heard him, so he opened the door himself, and saw Rachel arranging things in a filing cabinet, humming along with the music.
"Uh-Rachel?"
Rachel turned around. "No, actually, I'm Eleanor."
Jake backed up "Look, I knew you were into role-playing when we were going out, but-"
"Oh for crying out loud, Jake," Rachel got up from where she had been sitting behind her desk and stood up, crossing her arms. "For your information, I am Rachel, and she is my clone, Eleanor."
Jake opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off.
"Yes, I have a clone, no, she hasn't been here long, only since this afternoon, and if you will kindly hand me my minutes from this morning's meeting, you can be on your way."
Jake looked down at the papers in his hands; he had forgotten all about why he had come in the first place. He walked them over to Rachel's desk, and she snatched them out of his hands.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Nez."
Nez walked out in a daze, deciding to go off and sit down somewhere quiet until he understood what the hell was going on.
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Back in Rachel's office, Eleanor walked over and turned off the radio. "Well, that was cold," she commented.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Rachel answered, absently shuffling papers and opening drawers in her desk.
"Rachel, in case you forgot, I know you. I am you. That was not how we usually act, was it?"
Rachel sighed. "All right, I just...I don't want Jake to ask me out again now that Max is temporarily out of the picture, because if he does, it'll be like...saying Max isn't coming back."
Eleanor walked over, took hold of Rachel's arm, and guided her to the chair by the door. Taking the minutes out of her hand, she went over to the computer and started typing them up.
"What are you doing?" Rachel asked, sounding exasperated.
"I'm supposed to be your office, assistant, aren't I? Now, think about what you're saying. A part of you thinks that you'll never see Max again, and don't tell me wrong because we think the same way."
"How am I supposed to respond to that?" Rachel asked, throwing up her hands.
"Your not. So, if we know John Dread, we know that he can't help but flaunt his accomplishments, correct?"
"Correct. So you're saying that sooner or later, he'll want to show off that he has control of Max in some way."
"And when he does, we'll have a fix on Max, and then we just have to get him back."
"That's the hard part."
"No, that's the easy part. Max is still Max, no matter what. We'll get him back."
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Nez walked down the hallway towards the training room, still weirded out about the whole double-Rachel experience. He had tried to work out what the explanation for cloning Rachel would be, but he couldn't think of it. It was insanity! She seemed to be all-knowing at times as it was. Why did N-Tek need two of her?
Making his way to the training room, he figured that some weight lifting would tire him out. Maybe then he would be able to make sense out of all of this if he wasn't so energetic from that last cup of coffee. You had to have that third cup, didn't you? He cursed himself.
Finally, he decided that he would just stay away from clones altogether. It was just plain unnatural. At least Rachel's the only one with a clone, he thought. Hearing women's voices coming from inside the training room, he brightened. At least he could show off while weight-lifting. He was feeling better already.
He walked into the room and immediately saw Kat sparring with...Kat. Nez went and sat in the corner and cried.
