Lucina stared into the pair of glowing red eyes that looked eerily similar to her own. Looking at the thing that had emerged from the bag was like looking into a mirror, and it took her a moment to realize that was exactly what it was; her spitting image in purple, down to the folds in her shirt and the strands of her hair.

Turning to Jay, she frowned. "Walker, what am I looking at?"

"If I knew, you would be the first to know," he replied. That did little to reassure her.

Lucina took a step towards... whatever it was, watching for any sign of hostility. She could feel its gaze on her, but it did not seem likely to attack her. She raised her hands, and slowly, she said, "Who are you, and what do you want with–"

Suddenly, her clone lunged for her. Lucina yelped and stumbled back, watching as it stumbled to the floor. Its red eyes locked on her, and it hissed.

"I don't think it's friendly, ma'am," Jay yelled from a few feet away.

"Did you think I was about to invite it for tea?" Lucina replied. "I believe I've figured that out for myself, thank you."

Her clone stumbled to its feet, dragging itself up by holding onto a nearby shelf. As soon as it locked eyes with her, it tried to lunge again.

Lucina threw herself behind a table. The clone hurled past her and tumbled into the nearby wall. A portrait hanging above shook loose from the impact and broke over the clone's head.

A portrait could be replaced. The apartment? Not so much.

Lucina needed to find a way to end it, and fast. She reached for the taser in her pocket, before she realized she had left it on her uniform. The uniform that she wasn't currently wearing. She would have to improvise.

Her eyes scanned the room for anything heavy and blunt. They landed on a book laid on the standing desk. Some kind of novel Robin had given her for her birthday that she'd never intended to read. She stepped toward it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement.

Lucina ducked, and the clone dove over her head. As it crashed into the desk, Lucina took a moment to put some distance between her and the clone. She would need to take this slow and steady if she wanted to escape this unharmed.

And then Jay stepped in and swung for its face.

The clone twisted its head at an odd angle, and Falcon's fist sailed right over it. His eyes widened, and he only had enough time for a curse before the clone tackled him and grasped his throat.

Now, as much as Lucina didn't like this Walker guy, she couldn't let him die. That was not how her father had raised her. Clenching her teeth, she ran over to drag the clone off him.

Then the clone came flying back without warning. It slammed into her, and that was the last thing she saw before she felt her back drive through the top of a table.


Falcon winced as he watched Lucina tumble through the remains of what had been a very nice table, the subspace thing flailing on top of her.

It wasn't alive, and yet its eyes held an unnatural cunning. It was unnaturally strong, too. Not as strong as him, obviously, but much stronger than what he would have expected from a normal human.

A big problem, because now it was on top of Lucina, delivering blow after blow onto her raised guard. He could hear her grunt in pain. However hard it must have been for him, it must have been much harder for her.

Dammit. I shouldn't have held back, he thought, tightening his fist. I had a clear shot. Why'd I have to mess it up like that? If I hadn't held back, I could've ended it in one clean blow.

But then again, if he had, it would have certainly raised Lucina's suspicions. There was just no simple solution to this, was there?

Putting the issue of his identity aside, he needed to act, and fast. He could feel the clone's blows grow stronger with each hit, saw dust rain from the ceiling. Dashing forward, he grabbed the clone by the shoulders and yanked it away.

An elbow to his face was his only reply. Falcon grunted and staggered back. The clone spun around to kick him in the face. Falcon put his arms up to block it, but the force slammed him into a nearby bookshelf, sending books crashing down on him.

Falcon jumped back to his feet. For a moment, he had pulled the clone off Lucina. That was good. That meant the clone's attention was focused on him.

The clone dropped into a fighting stance. That was fine with him. He could overpower it quickly and be done with it. Falcon jumped forward into a flying kick.

Then the clone ducked to the side, and Falcon was just in time to see Lucina swing a table leg for his face.


Lucina heard something crack as the table leg slammed into Jay, and he crashed into her couch. She winced, and moved to help him up. A flash of movement caught her eye.

Subspace Lucina dashed to her left, to where the kitchen was. To where the knives were.

She cursed and sprinted after her.

"Dodge!" Jay yelled.

Dodge? Dodge what?

Then she looked, and was shocked to see her couch come sliding across the room. She jumped back. The clone dove forward, and the couch slammed into the wall.

That would've been fine, except now the clone was within reach of the knives. It reached up and drew the long one–unfortunate, because Lucina remembered sharpening that one the night before.

Before, it had been a two-on-one situation. This, however, made things a little more complicated.

Lucina raised a hand, stopping Jay before he could recklessly charge in again.

"That's not going to work. If we keep like this, we'll only keep hitting each other." she said, and she gave him a stern glare.

Jay huffed. "Then do you have any bright ideas?"

"You brought it in here. What do you know about it?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. I picked this up because it was what Blood Falcon was after."

And how would he know that? The Federation Police had given her little to go off for the Blood Falcon case, so she had assumed they knew just as much as she did on what Blood Falcon was after. She narrowed her eyes. "How can you be so sure?"

"It was on the plane he was trying to steal from."

As far as she knew, she had been the only one who had been on that plane. Well, her, and Captain Falcon.

She shook her head. There was time to worry about that later.

"There are two of us, but only one of it. If I distract it, you can go behind to knock it out."

"That sounds like a stellar plan," Jay said in a way that rubbed Lucina the wrong way. She could ask about that later, though, and she nodded for him to move to the side as she stepped toward her clone.

As soon as she moved, it lunged for her. The knife raised above its head and plunged. The blade bit into wood, Lucina raising the table leg to block it before she twisted it to the side.

Her clone snarled and ripped its knife free. Lucina swept the table leg low to catch a slash aimed for her leg. Her clone thrust for her ribs, but Lucina blocked that too with a twist of her wrist.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jay edge around the remains of her bookshelf. He knew how to keep quiet, that was for sure. The clone hadn't seemed to notice him just yet. A moment was all she needed to buy him.

A moment more was all she could adore. Her clone lunged again. She raised the table leg to block it, but at the last minute, the clone pulled away and aimed a stab at her stomach.

Lucina stepped back. The blade traced a line over her abdomen. Her foot caught on a piece of her table scattered over the floor. With a cry, she tumbled to the ground.

Her clone did not hesitate. It did not change. Its face completely emotionless, it stepped over her and raised its knife for the finishing blow.

Jay jumped in from behind. He raised his hands to catch it.

Her clone stepped aside, almost casually. Jay's arms caught nothing but air. His eyes widened, headed straight for the ground.

Lucina reached out and caught him by the arms.

Jay glanced up at her. He opened his mouth, presumably to thank her.

He did not see the knife aimed for his back.

"Look out!" Lucina shouted, and she shoved him to the side.

Jay landed onto the floor. The knife, however, continued past him, drawing a silver line straight through her stomach.

Her clone twisted its arm, pushing the knife deeper. Lucina gasped. It was like something was burning a hole straight through her stomach. Her clone pushed it deeper still. Lucina's feet buckled beneath her, and she collapsed into the couch behind her.

The wooden floor creaked behind them. Jay jumped to his feet and lunged for her clone. Without missing a beat, her clone tore the knife from her body.

And Lucina grabbed it and pulled it back in. Her hands were slick with her own blood, and she could feel her strength fading. But as the clone's red gaze snapped onto her, she forced out a triumphant smile.

"Falcon punch!"

She was surprised when, instead of Jay tackling it aside, the clone screamed and exploded into a wisp of fire and smoke.


Falcon had done it on impulse. He had held back from using his full speed, and the clone had slipped from his grasp. Slipped a knife between Lucina's ribs.

As much as he had tried to distance himself from the people around him, he could not stand by and let that happen.

One punch was all it took to save her life.

One punch was all it took to reveal his secrets.

Lucina stared up at him with wide eyes, eyes that Falcon refused to meet.

No one spoke, and for a minute, Falcon hoped she would let it go. Maybe she would convince herself she had simply been seeing things.

Then, she opened her mouth and said, almost breathlessly, "You're Captain Falcon."


So, it's been some time.

For this story specifically, I decided to drop it to try to focus on finishing a few of my other stories. For fanficking in general, I got into a bit of a slump a few weeks ago and decided to focus on my original writing, mostly because I had a few high concepts that I wanted to have fun with. Don't get me wrong, I love writing fanfiction, but there's something to be said about the absolute creative freedom writing original stuff can grant you.

I'm still going to write fanfiction, though. I'll see if I can update soon, but I'm not sure how long this momentum will last me. I came back because I suddenly had the urge to fill out more of this fic, maybe up to where I can complete it. I'm more likely to finish my other smash fic first, mostly because that requires a lot less careful planning for me to get out a whole chapter, but I'll try to see this one through as well.

Until then, if anyone's still here, thanks for sticking with me, and stay safe out there!