Disclaimer: I wish. . . I wish SO badly. . .

Author's Note: Wow- thanks so much for all of the lovely reviews! XD I'm so happy that you're all enjoying so far. . . I hope you continue to do so!

Well, things are about to get a little complicated. . . So hold on to your- uh. . . Other halves. (;

Also- not everything will be explained in this chapter. More will be discussed next chapter. As Elder says, patience is virtue, loves. Heeheehee. . .

Enjoy.

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DOUBLE TROUBLE

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Chapter One: The Glue Factor

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Loud, strenuous coughing echoed through the now smoke-filled house, singe marks charred on the walls. Alarms sounded, bells rang, and multiple voices began choking out their confusion as one.

"What the hell was-? Crap! My magazines! Miss December, speak to me!"

"God almighty! My hair! My beautiful, beautiful hair! Was it burnt?"

"Do not use our Lord's name in vain, good sir!"

"Oh dear. . .clearly my hypothesis was established upon premature deductions. Perchance I misplaced a molecular synthesizer or two. . . dozen."

"SOMEONE- GET ME SOME SHAMPOO!"

"Jesus Christ!"

The racket stopped abruptly, four heads turning simultaneously to stare at the pair now bursting through the broken door frame, the smog fading into nothingness.

". . ."

A dozen eyes widened, their owners faces' slack in shock. Trembling fingers rose slowly, pointing at the others who filled the room; expressions of horror painted on each. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" five of the three-turned-six screamed, backing into nearby corners in fright.

"Why, it seems that I am you!" the sixth spoke, his voice calmer than the rest. They whirled to face the mysterious speaker.

. . . It was Elder. At least, they assumed it was Elder. . . But if that was the case, then who was the identical man beside him? "And you are he-" he pointed to the matching blonde duo who hid, befuddled and hesitant, where the Doppelganger 1000 once gleamed, "-and you. . ." A frown tugged on the corners of his mouth, hand falling to his side. "Well, I'll be. . . This is most curious indeed. But, regardless, you are both the other as well."

At these words, the two Chronos who stood by the door exchanged glances- or, at least, attempted to. But it was rather hard to do that. . . when one was over three feet taller than the other.

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"You WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"

Sister Kate's scream rumbled ominously through the streets of New York, flocks of birds fleeing at the mere sound. Most of the men before her winced something terrible, feet shuffling guiltily; but the sixth simply cleaned his glasses off on his white lab coat and gave a patient smile, as if waiting for a child to get over a tantrum.

"Yes, yes, my dear sister. . . I realize my decisions were prematurely made and based solely upon my own- possibly inadequate- research, but I'm afraid what's done is done. There's nothing we can do about that now. Instead. . ." he placed his spectacles back upon his nose, pushing them so close to his eyes that they nearly disappeared into his sockets, "I offer you details about what happened and possible ways to solve this conundrum. So please, sit down."

The head nun, her nose flaring, snarled loudly; clenched hands shattering another pen. "ELDER (-er- at least, I think that's who you are. . .)! I cannot BELIEVE my EARS- or my eyes!" Breathing loudly, she surveyed the line of males in front of her desk: the duplicated Remingtons, the identical Elders, and (perhaps the most frightening of the group) both the sealed, child-like Chrono and the huge, Indian-warrior Sinner. The latter pair exchanged worried looks, hands grasping the empty space on their chests where the pocket watch used to hang. The younger one blushed brightly at a passing thought, making the other's brow furrow in perplexity.

"Yes. . .quite a sight, aren't we?" one Remington lightly chuckled, fear evaporating as Kate flopped weakly back into her seat. Sashaying a few feet closer, he rested himself gracefully against her desk; leaning foreword with bedroom eyes. "But I can show you a better one. . ."

Sister Kate's eyes nearly popped completely out of her head. "R-R-REMINGTON!" The minister dodged her flying wastepaper basket with ease, but the second Elder (who was very. . . busy. . . with his girly magazine) received a headfull of it.

"Ow!"

"Remington! Compose your doppelganger!" the first old man snapped, busily working at a recently propped up chalkboard- covering the green surface with white squiggly drawings. "I can't finish my diagrams without complete silence!"

The stern looking blonde glared at his counterpart, yanking him into a nearby corner to preach to him the wonders of the Bible, and the importance of the Commandments. (Especially the one concerning adultery.)

"Now, then," the only sane one continued after another moment of chalking up details, turning to face the small group with an air of superiority, "let me explain what happened." Stepping away from the blackboard, he proceeded to point out a few stick figures in turn. Big Chrono's tawny pools narrowed slightly, giving the chart a once over; his bony braid sharpening a bit as he began to run things over in his mind. The ruby orbed boy beside him seemed to want to ask his true form a question, but restrained when he noticed the warning expression on his face.

"I was presetting my new spying equipment to Remington with the hope of gaining approval for mass production and field agent use, however. . ." Elder sighed laboriously, adding three new stick figures to the picture with a long piece of white chalk. "Something went horribly wrong."

"No kidding," Kate bit out coldly, scooting a few feet away from Remington 2, who was sending her very suggestive looks, all while licking his lips.

"It seems that the cloning machine backfired and- while exploding- split everyone within that vicinity in two. Luckily, Chrono was smart enough to close the door after entering. He saved us a multitude of extra work."

The little devil, who had begun fiddling nervously with his violet plait, did not respond- so distracted he was by his thoughts. Instead, he flicked his gaze out the window.

The Sinner- who had before wanted to be ignored- growled at the blushing preteen.

"That's. . . that's all well and good," the head Sister gnashed her teeth, trying her very best to remain calm while the second minister ran a hand through his silky tresses, winking at her and inching closer. She instinctively kicked him. Or tried to, anyway, but the plan was ruined when he grabbed her foot and started to work her shoe off. "But that doesn't explain- WOULD YOU STOP TRYING TO FEEL ME UP, REMINGTON?"

"I'm over here!" the first priest retorted icily, engrossed in a rather spectacularly written Letter to Paul. "And might I add, sinners in this room, pay heed! For the all-smiting power of GOD will rain down upon thee-!"

"Keep me out of this!" the demonic devil huffed, rubbing his armor and black leather self-consciously.

"Ah, the behaviors, you mean?" the first Elder inquired good naturedly, vigorously erasing the board before drawing up a list. "Easily explained. You see, each person has a wide variety of personalities locked away inside them. Multiple persons, if you will, each representing an extreme side of that individual."

"Yes. . . ?" Kate prompted in a strained tone, sitting on the ends of her skirt in an attempt to keep the purring blonde from slipping unwanted fingers up her habit. "Go on!"

"So when the Doppelganger 1000 combusted, not only did it tear apart our bodies- it divided our personalities. While we are sharing the same consciousness- that is, one mind is controlling each half of us, though separately- we are acting passionately on the whims of the most radical sides of our beings. For example. . ." He drew two stick people with little crosses on their necks, writing 'REMINGTON' in big letters above it. "One of our new two Remingtons is this fine young fellow in the corner- a strict, pompous, very religious zealot."

The first Remington didn't acknowledge the hidden insult, only continued to rant on eternal damnation. No one listened.

"The second is, as you can plainly see, a flirtatious playboy." The inventor cheerfully indicated the second of the two, who was undoing the buttons of his front in a very sultry manner, trying his best to sneak under Sister Kate's desk. The nun was not amused.

"Seems more like a horny pervert to me. . ." Elder 2 sniggered, looking up from his playboy with a waggling eyebrow. "Good for you, my boy! Wanna share my centerfold?"

The man's double ignored them both, choosing instead to continue explaining- though he realized that Kate's attention was quickly slipping away. A fellow exorcist's wandering hands can do that. . . especially now that she had no where to scoot but out the window.

"In my own case, I've been divided between scientific genius-" pausing, he straightened his lapel snootily, "- and perverted jokester." He cast his other half a disgruntled look, eyes lingering a bit longer than they needed to on his clone's magazine. Clearing his throat, he grinned. "And Chrono. . ."

Both of the devils, who seemed to have been the only ones bothering to listen, straightened- waiting for an explanation over their new condition. However, rather than expanding, the gray haired male trailed off- coughing once and pressing onwards without mentioning the odd set again.

"In conclusion," he clapped, setting his chalk on a window ledge, "we've been torn at the seems genetically, but mentally we're the same. Because of this, we should be able to utilize the Glue Factor- copyright myself, of course- and everything will be satisfactory once more."

Sister Kate- who until seconds before had been beating Remington the Second away with a teapot- froze in confusion. "Glue Factor? And what is that?"

"An excellent question!" Elder cried happily. "The Glue Factor- simply put- is the one item, person, or place, that fuses our personalities together. The quirk that makes us who we are. The thing that all of our parts react to in the same way, keeping us bound. If we can find a way for our individual Factors to stimulate us in the same way at the same time, then we should be able to unite. Understand?"

"Not really," little Chrono murmured, gently chewing his bottom lip. He turned his head slightly, staring out the window; an adorable pink flush forming on his chubby cheeks. His adult counterpart shot him another vicious stare, glaring as though trying to pierce through the child's mind. The boy didn't react.

"Well, then, let me show you!" the first inventor crooned, bounding across the room exuberantly and (as if thrilled that he now had an excuse) tore the centerfold away from his other. "Mwahahaa. . ."

"Oi!" the pervert pouted, quickly jumping up in order to see the picture again. "Let me have it ba-!" The moment he stood, the intelligent Elder moved- so that their bodies aliened perfectly.

CRACK!

A flash of light and sound filled the room.

When the old man moved- he was the only one left standing. His second was gone.

"!" The Sinner started, as did Sister Kate and both Remingtons. And during this instant of distraction, the sister took the opportunity to smash a particularly heavy dictionary over his head. He was out cold before he hit the floor.

". . ." Child Chrono shot the Elder a flat look. ". . . You really are a dirty old man through and through, aren't you?"

"Heck yeah!" he roared joyfully, displaying a proud "v" for victory.

Had he had any extra energy, the young demon would have face faulted.

"S. . .s. . .so. . ." Kate panted, sinking wearily back into her seat, "we just need to find the Glue Factors for Remington and Chrono. . . And things will be okay again?" 'Well,' she added mentally, 'as 'okay' as they ever are around here. . .'

"Precisely!" the inventor beamed, gathering up his magazine and stashing it under his arm. "And really, that won't be so hard to do. I can already make a very educated guess as to who someone's Factor will be. . ."

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"Chrono? Chronooooooo? Geez, where in the world is he?" Rosette scowled in irritation, balling her fists against the base of her hips. Tilting her head and turning away from the bright noon sun, she surveyed the convent grounds with a worried air- cheeks still mildly tinged from embarrassment. "Chrono!"

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Before ANYONE asks why Chrono is in his two forms and not just two little Chronos, let me say this (again)- IT WILL ALL BE EXPLAINED NEXT CHAPTER. As will a few. . . Other things. . . Bwahahaha. . .