Chapter 5: Take a look in the mirror
It was weird, seeing another being in locked in a glass cage. She stood upright, eyes forward, mouth stern. Her skin was flaking, a bluish hue stretched down her face, appearing along her fingers. Her breathing was labored, shoulders shuttering, hands clenched. We were in a private room, no doubt intended to be a lab once upon a time. Nice and white, clean cut, gave me chills.
"What is she?" snarled Jerome, arms crossed.
"That's what I want to know," Ty nodded.
Our small company included Sky, Ty, Seto, Jerome, Mitch, Quentin, Jason, and myself. It seemed like we were forming a secret society. Most rumors were bound to spread now. Sky was the last one to arrive with Mitch in tow. The poor Canadian had an ice pack shoved up to his face. He didn't look very happy with anybody.
"What is this?" Sky gasped, tapping on the glass.
"Don't tap on the glass," snickered Jason.
"How long have you been holding that in?" grinned Sky.
"I was one of the first people here," Jason shrugged.
"What is it?" Mitch groaned.
"Seto?" perked Ty.
"It's a clone," grinned Seto, tapping the glass.
"A clone?" we spoke in confusion.
"Exactly," giggled Seto. "I can't speak for certain. This isn't my forte after all."
"How can you be certain then?" questioned Ty.
"Because I spotted the real Mary on the way here," Seto shrugged. "And this one appears to be degenerating."
The being snarled, pounding on the glass. Jerome couldn't help but tap on the glass, smiling lightly.
"So, we need someone more technical?" Quentin asked.
"I called Dan but it went straight to his friend," shrugged Seto. "Let's see if this little kid wants to tell us what's up?"
Another gentle tap on the glass. She pounded harder on the glass. Her skin was molting again, peeling off in layers, revealing more and more blue. Her eyes changed in color, turning dark. We stopped tapping, taking a step back.
"You filthy air breathers. You deserve everything that is coming to you!" she howled.
"Air breathers?" hissed Sky. "Squids."
She grinned, revealing sharpened teeth.
"Your world is ours, soon enough," she cackled.
"You're dying," instructed Seto. "We could help you. I scratch your back, you scratch mine?"
"Air breather," she snarled.
"Side note," Ty hummed, "this could explain the other Sky we saw."
"Wait, wait, wait," Sky perked, "I have a squid clone? How? When?"
"At some point, they must've gotten our DNA," Jason suggested.
"Again, how? When?" Sky repeated, crossing his arms.
"The last time we fought them," whispered Quentin.
"What?" gasped Jerome.
"The battle…when we picked up Jane. Some of us got hurt, you got captured, people were controlled," Quentin explained, "perfect chance for them to get DNA."
"So…they could have cloned all of us," whispered Mitch.
"Sky," Ty gulped. "We found the clone."
Silence fell. The clone in the glass had stopped pounding. Her breath had become slower. Her skin was almost entirely blue now, scaly and dry. I think she was dying. I wasn't sure if I wasn't thankful or sorrowful. Either way, it was happening and we weren't doing anything to stop it. Could we do anything to stop it?
"Let's get to the bottom of this," snarled Sky.
"I've already got a team staking out," Ty nodded. "Shall we?"
"Team," Sky spoke in a commanding voice I heard very rarely. "Let's do this!"