13 – House Of Mirrors
Blaze, Styl and Luxie hoped out of the van. This was it. Alec had giving Blaze his jacket because it had gotten cold and she didn't have hers. Luxie rolled her eyes at the 'friendly' gesture.
She was still wondering about what had happened last night with Two; her mind seemed completely blank.
"So, we just march in through the front door?" Styl asked a little concerned. No one had told her what they were doing.
"No, little girl," Blaze said. She was getting more aggressive by the second. "We're going in through an air duct in the back. We take out anyone that gets in the way. Once inside, you disable the alarm system while Luxie and I take guard. Then we sneak into the office and wreak a bit of havoc. Get it? Got it? Good."
"Hey, Blaze," Luxie said and scratched the back of her ear a bit. "About the getting rid of anyone part. Getting rid as in…"
"I rip their throats out," Blaze explained with a low growl. Luxie stuck her tongue out in faint disgust.
"Sure. But I get to punch them too, right?"
"Sure," Blaze said with a shrug. "Let's go. Bye," she said with a Heresy-esc grin towards Alec.
"See ya," Luxie said shivering at the faint resemblance between her best friend and worst enemy. Then she and Blaze trotted off. Styl gave a glance towards Alec who gave her a short nod and then she turned and followed them. Alec watched them leave and then shifted himself. He pulled up his shirt and looked at the wound Blaze had given him the night before.
"Note, never force her to take sedatives," he muttered to himself before he drove off.
"Hey!" yelled a guy and before he could say anything else Blaze had dashed up to him and literally ripped his throat out. Styl gagged.
"Don't worry, kid. It'll wear down… eventually," Luxie said also holding back the need to gag. Her friend the psycho-killer… along with the guy she liked who was also one of those. Ah, life was so wonderful, a normal one might have scared her. "Blazey!" she yelled and jogged up to her friend. Blaze turned. "Maybe a little easy on the throat-ripping. Snap their necks maybe, it's less disgusting." Blaze sighed and then nodded. Luxie was her friend and despite the inner hunger for blood, she didn't want Luxie to feel uncomfortable. "Thanks."
"Guys…" Styl said suddenly and they turned to look at her. "Other way." Blaze and Luxie turned and saw the smug grin on Cinder and Lucy's face.
"Hey… that's…"
"You," Blaze finished Luxie's sentence. "Cept… tanned and with, you know, they're getting kinda slack with their clones back home."
"Hey, big sister," Lucy said with a soft smile. "Always wanted to meet the person who made me me."
"Oh, uh, thanks," Luxie said. "Anyway, we're here to… er, foil some bad guy's plans. And since you're me, wanna help?"
"Not really. Name's Lucy, by the way."
"Cool. I'm Luxie. Nice ta meet ya," the original said. Lucy was her clone that much was obvious and although she should have felt comfortable around – herself, something about Lucy made her uneasy. "Who's that?"
"Cinder," said the girl next to Lucy.
"My clone," Styl said and slowly stepped next to Luxie.
"She looks even less like you," Blaze said. "I mean, you got silver hair, hers is red."
"I'm copper-based," Cinder said as if she was bored. She glanced at Lucy. "We gonna kill 'em now, or exchange more memories."
"Hey, did she just say kill?" Luxie whispered and before Blaze could answer Lucy nodded towards Cinder. The red-headed girl blurred towards them. Luxie held her arm out and Cinder ran into it full speed. "Gotta have a battle plan."
"Got one!" Lucy said and rushed towards her original. She jumped used Luxie as leverage and kicked the pale girl in the face. Luxie stumbled back and as Lucy executed a perfect back flip and landing, she went into a battle stance. She raised her left hand in front of her face, her right in front of her chest and shifted her weight onto her right foot.
"Bring it on, bitch," she growled. She did not like being kicked in the face and being outwitted by someone who was just a carbon copy of herself was not on her to do list. Luxie brushed a stray hair behind her ear and shifted into a similar stance to Luxie's.
"Try me." Then the two of them rushed at each other and began attacking each other. The three others watched as fists clashed against each other and legs blocked themselves.
"Must suck," Blaze muttered.
"Hey, they're using the same moves," Cinder suddenly said and popped up next to the wolf girl. She jumped in shock and then shoved the other girl aside. She growled and Cinder slinked away. Had she had a tail it would have been between her legs.
Then Luxie outwitted her opponent by slapping her. Lucy stumbled back amazed by the non-tactical, non-trained move used on her.
"What was that?" she asked confused.
"Uh, warfare," Luxie said amazed at how stupid someone that was supposed to be her was.
"You slapped me," Lucy whined and Luxie grinned at the memory the sentence brought back. Her and Two, one on one. Sure, he'd almost killed her but she'd gotten some wonderful tongue on tongue action. Mmm.
Luxie staggered back at the punch in the face she'd received. Then another and another and before Luxie could regain her balance Lucy was already kneeing her in the stomach. Luxie tripped and fell. Lucy smiled a sweet, innocent smile and was just about to kick Luxie in the stomach when she flew aside.
Luxie grabbed the hand that Blaze was holding out to her and got up.
"I was handling it," she said with a smirk.
"I'll take care of this," Blaze said and ran towards Lucy. Luxie watched and although her clone had almost killed her, she wasn't entirely sure if killing her in turn would make everything right.
It wasn't that hard to attack Lucy and I thought it might be. I suspect I might have attacked Luxie too, but she was my friend and Lucy just wasn't.
I slashed her across the face and moved forward bringing my elbow back into her jaw. Then she was trapped. I had backed her into a wall and now I'd rip her throat out and everything would be okay. I bared my teeth and went forward to tear her apart. I stopped and sniffed.
I shook my head, moved back and tried to attack her with my hands, but I couldn't. I breathed deeply and every time I did the scent of apples entered my system. I huffed and tried to kill her again, but I didn't work.
While I was trying to regain myself, Lucy had slipped away from me and run off. I turned. I was angry. Where was the blood I wanted. I need to see something die under my hands.
I glared at Cinder and growled. I jumped and she didn't even try defending herself. In a simple swift move, I grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder. When I turned to finish the job, she was motionless. Her neck had hit a pole and broken.
"Dead," I growled angrily. She hadn't even put up a fight.
"Blaze?" Luxie asked carefully and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Hey…"
"I…" Blaze began and then noticed what she'd done. "Two," she muttered slowly and felt a tear running down her face. Then another.
"Two's still up and running," Luxie said with a shrug. "Getting that bad boy to the ground is a big task."
"I almost killed him. Twice."
"You would never," Luxie said with a shrug. She wasn't so sure she believed it herself because she'd seen them fight and that was definitely not normal sibling rivalry. "I know you that much." Blaze turned to look at Luxie.
"I couldn't kill her," she said and looked down at her pale-skinned smiling friend.
"What? Lucy?"
"She smelled like you… she doesn't look like you, but she… is," Blaze tried to explain.
"Er," Styl said from behind them. She felt very neglected and was hoping this mission would be over soon so that she could get back to Zack and then the farm. "Are we going to get this over with or not?"
"Oh, hey," Luxie said. She glanced towards the dead Cinder. "Sorry about… your friend there."
"She's not my friend," Styl said. "She's just a lameass copy of myself."
"That's a good way of putting it," Luxie said with a slight nod. She glanced around. "I guess we should be getting inside then?" The other two girls nodded at the comment and slowly the three girls crept towards the building. Although it seemed like Blaze was still vicious, tears were running down her face from memories.
"Alright," Luxie said and pulled a grate out of the wall. She turned to Styl as she dropped the grate to the floor, letting it clatter loudly. "You go in and do your thing."
"I don't have a thing," Styl whined.
"Sure you don't. Just do it." Styl looked up at Luxie. Although Luxie was short, Styl was shorter and that just made Luxie's ego bigger than the planet-size it already was. She leaned into the hole and looked around, then came out again. "Here's some directions," she said. "At the intersection far up front, go right, then left and left again. Then another right and a down, one level. Then you go right and out and the next opening. You should be right over the alarm and power system. Switch everything you can find to off, except for a switch that says… that says…" Great, thought Luxie. All those directions and I can't remember the important switch.
"White's Office," Blaze finished the sentence for her. Luxie gave a shy grin.
"I knew that. Now go, fly like the wind!" Styl gave Luxie another glare and then crawled into the pipe.
"We'll go in through the front door when you're switched everything off and we'll meet at White's office," Luxie explained. She like being the main man… er, girl. She had a plan and the others were doing exactly as she said. She did a little victory dance under the confused look of Blaze before she bounced off.
"Abyss's clone is really strong," Lucy said with a glare at Colin who sighed.
"Of course's she's strong," he said, his voice indicating how stupid he thought Lucy sounded. "She comes from Manticore."
"So do I. I'm X6, I'm supposed to be better than her," Lucy said. Although she was angry, she kept her cool stating facts not ranting. "But she nearly ripped my throat out."
"It's wolven instinct," Abyss said with a shrug. "Wolves eat people. You're people to her."
"You've never tried that," Lucy said looking up and down the other girl. "And she had lines on her cheeks."
"Abyss is the other girl's clone," Colin explained. "She is more advanced than the other girl. 628 still has instincts and markings that Manticore cannot explain, while Abyss could pass as a normal human, 628 is still a freak."
"What about the power?" Abyss asked. She liked being strong and if her strength was being taken only to make her more normal…
"Oh, you still have that," Colin said with his pompous French grin. "However, I believe you can control yours."
"Good," Abyss said and put her feet up onto the desk. She was sitting in a large comfy chair taking in all the luxuries of the office. "So, what now?"
"You and Lucy wait here. I suspect they're coming to mess around in the coven's business. We don't want that. Also, I would rather like for two of you not to die," he said with a smile.
"Why didn't you say that before Cinder got her neck broke?" Lucy asked. She'd heard the crack and had not liked the sound of it.
"Casualties, young lady," Colin said. "I trust you've heard about those. But please. Take care of the… eh, accros?"
"Freaks, huh?" Abyss said and glanced down at herself. "Don't worry, Mister French-boy," she said with a smirk. Colin gave a short bow and then left the room. Abyss and Lucy looked at each other.
"Smart move," Lucy said for no particular reason.
"Not yet, Luce. Not yet."
gasp the evil twins strike again! That Colin guy shakes fist
Next chapter we see what Heresy is up to