Episode 16

Double Vision


The bell trilled through the halls as Zeke battled his way through the surging current of students. There was still time!

Last period finished and he'd just got the final calculations. If he hurried, he could still get to Abbey in time for her to include them in their group project. Of course, he'd have been able to complete them a week ago if she'd had the time to sit down and provide him with the data, but that didn't matter now. Not when they could still make it.

Skidding around the corner, Zeke picked up into a run as the last of the cohort filed out of the classroom ahead. Reaching the door, Zeke leaned against the frame, panting as he looked inside to see Abbey in deep conversation with her teacher.

Some last-minute discussion about the class before heading off. Classic Abbey.

"I got… the calculations…" he breathed as Abbey saw him and made her way over.

"Zeke!" she realized. "What did you run all the way here for? What calculations?"

"My half… group project…" Zeke wheezed. "All… done…"

For a moment, Abbey stepped back, face scrunching in confusion. "But… I don't need them right away. The project isn't due until next Monday, I was going to look at it over the weekend."

His head was still spinning, coherent thought slowly returning as his breathing slowed to a normal pace. That… didn't make any sense.

"But you told me that you needed it right away, just this morning," he told her.

Abbey's eyes widened, sudden embarrassment flushing through her as she realized the mistake. "Of course!" she corrected. "I completely forgot. Thank you so much, Zeke!"

She took the USB from him, bidding him a sweet goodbye before busily hurrying down the corridor, leaving Zeke to stare at her in complete confusion.

That was… odd.

He knew Abbey was busy, she'd been busy for as long as he'd known her. But Zeke had never known her to forget things. No matter how much she seemed to take on, Abbey had always been able to keep track of her commitments, always on time and always ready. It wasn't like her to forget a request she'd made that morning.

Maybe she was having an off day, Zeke decided. Come to think of it, he was pretty sure she'd been wearing a different outfit when they'd talked earlier. Something must have happened, probably Whitney being petty, and that must have rattled her for the rest of the day.

And of course, Abbey was probably telling everyone she was fine.

Classic Abbey.

Strange though, Zeke would have thought that if Whitney pulled something bad enough to force Abbey to change her clothes, he'd have heard people talking about it. And he would have been the first person Abbey told.

Deciding he was well and truly overthinking things, Zeke shrugged it off and made his way to the stairs, slowly winding out of the school and toward the main steps. Erika was already waiting for him, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Sorry!" Zeke apologized as he arrived. "I had to drop my half of the group project to Abbey."

Now it was Erika's turn to be confused. "No wonder you look all puffed," she replied. "You'd have had to go all the way around to the science labs to catch her."

Wait… what?

"Science labs?" Zeke queried. "No, I caught her coming out of history."

"You definitely didn't," Erika insisted. "Because I was just in Bio with Miguel, and she was already waiting out front for him when class ended."

Okay, now Zeke knew he was going crazy.

The two of them had started walking, Zeke barely noticing that he was mimicking Erika's stride as his brain tried to contort around the two conflicting stories.

"And you're sure it was her?" he checked as the wound around the corner to the alley.

"Unless there's some other bubbly redhead that was wearing her bright blue sweater."

So she hadn't changed clothes! But then… why was she wearing different clothes when Zeke met her in the history classroom? This wasn't making any sense!

Zeke stopped in his tracks, his mind no longer able to keep up with both the boggling and his steps. Slowly, Erika turned to face him.

"Hang on," Zeke realized. "How can I have seen her in one place, while you saw her in the other?"

"You can't," Erika agreed slowly, her eyes too now starting to narrow as she realized what Zeke was saying. "Which means, either Abbey was somehow in two places at once or…"

Zeke inhaled sharply, face draining of color as the realization hit him. "…Xaviax is making some other play at the school!"

Then the alley was consumed by an emerald flash, a bright light burning up the walls as metal boots all dropped around them. Erika and Zeke snapped back-to-back, jaws clenching as their heads whipped around to spy the herald of the surrounding forces.

ArcKnight.

"Do not think that because school is over you have no more lessons to learn" he growled with his sword leveled at them.

Zeke's eyes flicked to Erika, whose gaze narrowed as it fixed on their enemy. Surrounded, and with the Cyberdrones already so close, they'd struggle to morph before getting swarmed. They'd just have to hold until backup arrived.

"Find a gap to Morph?" he suggested quietly to Erika.

"You know it," she nodded under her breath before fixing all her attention on ArcKnight. "I've learned plenty of lessons this year. But you? You're still stuck on the same one."

"We will see," ArcKnight snarled. "Cyberdrones, attack!"

The teens were already moving as the footsoldiers lunged, both of them spinning away to divide the robotic forces. Zeke's feet skidded on the cement, sediment kicking as he raised his guard and slammed the distress beacon on his watch. It took barely a precious second, but the Cyberdrones were already closing in to take advantage. Good thing he'd seen them coming.

With no time to block with his arm, Zeke threw out his hands, summoning a golden forcefield that burst out in all directions. Committed to the strike, the Cyberdrones connected, faces slamming against the solid surface and slumping to the ground as the light dissipated and Zeke positioned.

The only opening he was getting.

At the other edge, Erika was weaving between the henchmen, forearm swinging hard against a blow before dropping and sweeping the legs. As the Cyberdrones dropped, she rose and kicked off the wall, flipping over her pursers before smirking.

"You guys seem sluggish; you might need a recharge." The crimson lightning flared from Erika's palms, cracking with the force of thunder as the forking bolts sizzled through the robots' bodies. A heartbeat later, the robots dropped, steaming bodies convulsing as the remnant sparks arced across their bodies. Zeke watched as Erika launched herself into a flying kick to smack away a Cyberdrone that was straight for him.

"I hit the beacon," he told her. "Just got to hope the others will be here…"

"Hey!"

The threat barked down to the alley, a harsh warning as all heads whipped around to see another teen charging towards them, red hair trailing in her wake.

Abbey.

Already the Cyberdrones were changing tack, forces diverting in a rush her meet her. The teen barely broke her stride. She phased through the first that met her, body shifting through the robot skidding to a stop and spinning low to trip it. As the first robot stumbled, a second came at her, foot tamping the ground as Abbey dived and rolled from harm, rising behind to pant her t-strap into the rear to boot it toward its reeling comrade.

It was hard to think, way back when they'd first started as Rangers, Abbey had been hesitant to even throw a punch. Now she was in the thick of it, aggressively drawing the Cyberdrones toward her as she pummeled her attackers into the dirt.

But Zeke didn't have time to reflect, not when ArcKnight had finally tired of watching his henchmen fall and had elected to join the fray himself. Zeke had barely time to throw up a fresh barrier as the giant, dark-iron sword swung down like a headsman's axe, shattering the forcefield to send him flying.

Not wasting an opportunity, ArcKnight charged and followed, raising his weapon as he lunged after the tumbling Ranger. Sliding into the wall with no time or energy for a fresh barrier, Zeke braced himself for the blow.

But then there was a flash of black smoke. With a loud crack, two figures appeared in front of him, boldly standing between Zeke and the charging Warrior. Great, Miguel.

And… Abbey?"

But… she …she was fighting…?

The redhead spun around as Miguel grabbed Zeke and pulled, both having Abbey slap her hands to both and phasing as ArcKnight charged straight through them. The huddled trio staggered away as the slab of metal sheered against the brickwork, kicking out a spray of sparks that left a blackened gash in its wake.

"Thanks for the save," Zeke admitted. "But how'd you got from…?"

Then he looked across, eyes bulging as he saw Abbey still engaged with Cyberdrones at the end of the alley. The same Abbey he'd given the group project to that afternoon. But…a…different Abbey to the one standing beside him.

…WHAT?!

Having thrown another Cyberdrone to the floor, Erika spun around as her jaw dropped, she too experiencing the sudden double vision as her eyes darted between the two Abbeys.

"Abbey?" she gasped. "What is…?"

"LOOK OUT!"

Abbey, the one next to Zeke, lunged forward, grabbing Erika and pulling her back to phase her through a surprise attack from ArcKnight. The two girls staggered back to the others, Erika still staring in wide-eyed disbelief as ArcKnight snarled at another near miss and readied to come at them again.

"Oh no, you don't!"

White beams seared down from overhead, splashing into bursts of sparks at ArcKnight's feet as the warrior staggered back. As ArcKnight recovered, a white-clad warrior somersaulted down to land beside them.

Lena; morphed and ready.

"What's the matter, ArcKnight?" the White Ranger taunted. "Still got no one to play with you at recess?"

As Lena stood between the teens and their enemy, Erika took to cue from the opening. Their morphers flashed to their wrists, three keycards produced and ready as Miguel stood beside them with the Dark Morpher primed.

But ArcKnight had clearly had enough. "Consider yourselves lucky, Rangers," he snarled. "Next time there'll be nothing left for your reinforcements to help!"

And then, true to form, he and his accompanying Cyberdrones vanished in a spiriting emerald flash. With the alleyway now clear, the teens all buckled over, panting for desperate breath as Lena's suit vanished in a burst of light.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked them. "I morphed and came as soon as I could."

"Yeah, yeah we're okay," Zeke agreed. "Although, we'd have been toast if it hadn't been for…"

He trailed off as he realized what he was about to say, head whipping around to where Abbey had been fighting the Cyberdrones. The other Abbey.

She stood in the same clothes she'd been wearing when Zeke handed her their group assignment, standing straight and neutral as if waiting for instruction. Slowly but surely, all other eyes turned toward the second Abbey, and the back to the one standing by their side. To the one who was now shrinking in sheepish shame.

"Well," said Erika dryly. "At least that explains one weird thing about today…"


She shouldn't have done it; she knew she shouldn't have. She'd known it as soon the idea first struck her, a crawling temptation that continued to whisper at the back of her mind. She'd known it as she'd figured out how to use the scanner, to get a reading of physical objects to feed into the digitizer.

She'd definitely known it as she'd snuck into the lab late at night, activating the Digitizer and watching with a mixture of horror and awe as an exact duplicate of herself was brought to life.

Although, at least there was someone else who would now understand.

Herself.

Not that the double was doing much understanding either as the two of them stood side-by-side in the underground lab while the rest of the team and their two mentors stared at the two Abbeys.

"This is uncanny," Zeke gasped in awe.

"I don't…" Miguel tried, stammering in struggling comprehension. "Where do I even…?"

"You were right," Erika said to Ray. "Things can get weirder."

But even as her double stood there, staring blankly at the gawking team, Abbey could only shrink further in discomfort as her gaze slowly shifted to Ray and Hilary. The tech expert was stone-faced, her neutral expression holding back the burning fury simmering in her eyes. But Ray, the look on Ray's face betrayed something far worse than anger.

He was disappointed.

"Okay," Hilary asked, breathing a calming breath to keep the stoking flames at bay. "So does anyone want to explain why am I looking at two Abbeys right now?"

"Abbey created me," the double replied with a bright and perky smile. "I'm to assist her in meeting her commitments, to ensure that nothing is left out of her extracurriculars or responsibilities."

God, she just couldn't lie, could she? Then again, Abbey realized, was that really a surprise? Was lying something that she could even do? Do well? If the clone was her, why wouldn't she tell the truth? It was what she would do.

At least, she used to…

Over on the edge, Lena was glaring daggers and snorted sarcastically at the clone's response. "Commitments?"

"Yes," the double continued. "Abbey required assistance in making all of the appointments and meetings. My creation has allowed her to ensure that she is present at all required events while meeting the expectations of her peers."

There was something about the duplicate's innocent honesty that twisted Abbey's gut as all eyes slowly returned to her. Something about the admission that sounded indefensible, like the answer was a foregone conclusion instead of the path she chose.

But Abbey had chosen it, for better or worse.

"Look guys," Abbey said finally. "I know this is weird. But it's fine, the two of us have a schedule and a battle plan. This way no one loses out, and I can focus on being a Ranger without everything falling by the wayside around me."

"It's a perfect system," the duplicate smiled. "I cover the schoolwork and trade notes with Abbey after school. Meanwhile, Abbey can cover more personal commitments so that nobody feels like they've been neglected."

By now, Erika was rubbing her temples, blinking repeatedly in an attempt to keep up with what was in front of her. "Hang on," she decided. "So you were feeling overwhelmed by all your commitments, and your solution was to make another you?"

"Hang on," Miguel realized. "Who was it that met me after class just now?"

"That was Abbey," the duplicate grinned.

"So, then it was …her," Zeke concluded as he pointed to the duplicate, "who I gave the group project to?"

"That's correct," the double nodded. "Abbey had not informed me of the arrangements with the group task. A glitch in the plan, one that we will iron out in future."

"Oh good," Lena said bitterly. "Because we wouldn't want a mistake in that department again."

Abbey shot her a look, hurt confusion panging at her chest. Barely a week ago the pair had laughed at the mall, bonding over shopping. But now, Lena was glaring as if Abbey was her personal enemy. Like she'd betrayed her.

"Come on guys," Abbey pleaded. "This is a good thing! Now I can be more committed to the team than ever. Come on, Zeke, back me up here."

But even her most staunch supporter could only look back at her with nervous uncertainty.

"I don't know, Abbey," he admitted, looking at the duplicate from top to bottom. "Maybe I read too much sci-fi but…"

"What's done is done," Hilary said curtly. "Abbey's made this copy, and it's here whether it, she, makes us comfortable or not."

"If I make you uncomfortable," the duplicate decided. "I can leave. There are some notes I need to prepare for the Group analysis assignment. Abbey and I decided that Ranger business would be hers, anyway."

For a moment, Hilary softened, sighing in exasperation as she tried to be polite to their surprising new member. "No, it's okay, this isn't your fault… Abbey."

"Okay," Erika decided. "We definitely need a new name for her, or this is going to get confusing fast."

"If she's Abbey," the duplicate suggested. "Why don't I be Gail?"

The rest of them shrugged, seemingly nodding in otherwise uncertain agreement, all of them missing Abbey's face scrunching at her double. That was odd, she hadn't made any suggestions before. At least, none that Abbey wouldn't have thought of herself. But Erika was right, she did need her own name, at least to tell the two apart. Maybe it was just a thought that Abbey herself hadn't reached as quickly.

"I'll leave you to it then," Gail smiled, slinging the backpack over her shoulder before nodding to her original. "I'll see you at home."

And then she turned and left, hair flicking from side to side in time to her chipper step as slowly all heads returned their attention to Abbey.

Did she really sound like that? So nauseatingly chipper? Way too upbeat for her own good? How did the others stand her? With the duplicate gone, Abbey braced herself for what was coming, but it seemed the group had already moved on.

"Okay, the weirdness of that while thing aside," Erika decided. "Can we talk about ArcKnight randomly jumping us in the alley?"

"It's definitely off pattern," Lena agreed. "When Ender attacked Abbey and me at the mall last week, we thought it was just petty revenge. But between this and that lobster attacking Erika at the Hub last week, maybe it's something else."

"Have you two experienced anything like this?" Miguel asked Ray and Hilary.

Both mentors still had their gazes fixed on Abbey, the fury and disappointment unrelenting as they returned their attention to the matter at hand.

"Once," Ray admitted. "There was a time when Gideon kept sending monsters at us just to keep us busy, stop us looking elsewhere while he planned something big."

"Think Xaviax might be playing from the same book?" Zeke inquired.

"Well," Hilary reasoned. "Back then it was because Gideon was planning on bringing back some legendary enemies of past Power Rangers, so let's hope that it's not that. But whatever he is planning, better keep your heads up.

And then she shot a pointed look back at Abbey, eyes glaring before spinning away and adding, "Now's not a time to get careless."


"Morning, me!"

Gail met Abbey with nothing but smiles as the identical duo met behind the gym the next morning. At least one of them was in a good mood; no surprise to Abbey that it was the one who'd had the best night's sleep.

After they'd left the lab, the Rangers had all scattered immediately; Lena had barely said so much as a word as she went up to the apartment, coldly glaring without a goodbye as the elevator closed between them. The rest had nervously avoided Abbey's gaze, mumbling farewell before scattering.

That had been the next part Abbey hadn't thought through: going home. With Gail arriving first, Abbey realized that her mother and Richard would have already seen her come in. With no way of knowing where in the house the duplicate was, Abbey was forced to awkwardly scale the drainpipe to get to the bedroom upstairs. Thankfully her phasing meant she didn't have to squeeze her way through a window as well.

So, maybe there were a few more kinks in the plan to work out.

But what was she meant to do? If she didn't agree to do things, then they wouldn't get done! And if she put things aside as new problems and commitments arose, then she'd just be leaving others in the lurch. Letting them down.

At least now Abbey knew all bases were covered, even if she and Gail had to take turns sleeping on the floor. There was no way she was sharing a bed with herself; that was too weird, even for her.

This left Abbey to have a long night on the hard floor, the carpet being nowhere near enough to prevent the knots from forming along her back, while Gail slept blissfully among a cloud of fluffy pillows. Naturally, Gail was every bit the earlier riser as Abbey, meaning the original was forced to sneak around the house to get ready while the duplicate got the lovely smiles of her mother and Richard in the kitchen.

At least when their mother and stepdad got moving, they could stop pretending to be one person, allowing a brief moment to breathe while they made a battle plan. Gail agreed that it would be best to handle the more menial, administrative side of things while Abbey got on top of her schoolwork, and graciously offered to go to the Hub to help Dirk with the morning opening. Still wanting to be the one to sit her tests and earn the grade, Abbey was forced to agree, committing herself to a morning of hard study while Gail took the more leisurely task of pulling chairs off of tables.

Now, barely ten minutes before the first bell, the two Abbeys had met up again to confirm the day's schedule.

"Okay," Abbey decided. "The bio test is first up, so I guess that's my job."

"No problem," Gail smiled. "I can work on the project plan for the school council meeting so that it's all good to go when you meet with them this afternoon."

Well, at least that was one thing off her plate. "You're the best," Abbey smiled gratefully.

"Only because I'm you," Gail replied cheekily. "Do you want to sneak some more study in before your test?"

Abbey thought about it for a moment; She already felt behind, and there was no way she was hitting her usual grade standard even with all the last-minute cramming she'd just done. A few more revisions couldn't hurt…

No, this was more important. A brief moment with her friends, even if it was just to smooth things over.

"It's okay," she decided. "I think they're still a little freaked out by the whole… you thing. I think I need to assure them a little bit."

"Excellent idea," Gail smiled. "Couldn't have put it better myself."

But… of course she couldn't have… because she was…

Urgh!

The whole situation was becoming confusing, even for her.

"You go make nice with your friends," Gail smiled. "I'll take care of everything else."

Without so much as waiting for a goodbye, the duplicate spun on her heels and skipped away, off to find a secluded spot in the school to work without alerting anyone to her presence. Alone again, Abbey took a breath of courage as she gripped her textbooks tight and walked up the steps to face her judgment.

They'll be cool; it'll be fine. They were just in shock yesterday. They've had a chance to sleep on it, you'll see.

The other Rangers had already met up, gathered, and were talking by Erika's locker. "Morning everyone," Abbey smiled as she strode into the hallway.

But her hopes of a more normal reunion were dashed as their heads looked up, the conversation cut short with nervous tension as all heads whipped toward her like startled meerkats.

"Hi…" Erika began, pausing awkwardly as if uncertain of what to say. "Uh…."

"It's me, Abbey," she insisted. "Gail's doing a quick opening run for Dirk this morning, and I had some stuff to drop off before my student council meeting this afternoon so…"

"Well, then," Lena said bitterly. "At least, you're keeping her occupied." Her glare didn't waver this time, narrowing at Abbey in a daring challenge.

The other three tightened immediately, backing away to clear the distance between the two girls. Even Erika seemed unwilling to be anywhere near them. It was as if the very air between Lena and Abbey had frozen in timid uncertainty, caught in the middle of a standoff.

"You know what?" Zeke decided. "Abbey, don't we have bio right now? I'm pretty sure we've got bio right now. We should go there. Now."

But Abbey was done. Despite all that Lena had put them through, Abbey had been the first to show forgiveness, to give their former enemy a second chance and welcome her back with open arms. She'd given her clothes, she'd taken her shopping. And now Lena was passing judgment on her?

"No," Abbey said flatly. "I want to hear what Lena's got to say."

"We don't really have to do this-." Miguel began.

"No," Lena cut him off. "We do."

Both glares narrowed as Lena stepped forward, pushing into the space as Abbey refused to back away.

"You have no idea what you've done," Lena warned. "What you're messing with."

"I had a problem and I fixed it," Abbey said flatly. "I needed a way to meet all my commitments, and now-."

"But you're not meeting them," Lena snapped. "She is. She might look like you and act like you. She might even think like you. But she isn't you; she's someone else, and the second she was created she became her own being."

This was ridiculous. No one ever got mad at Abbey for using a personal organizer or synching her devices for easy data transfer. Any other time she'd find a way to make her life easier with technology, a way to efficiently do things, no one would bat an eye!

"She's a program I made to organize my life, to make sure nothing gets left out," Abbey insisted. "You're acting like she's-."

"A person?" Lena cut in bitterly. "You're right. How could a machine ever be one of those, right? How could a program ever experience life like a human?"

…oh.

For a moment, all Abbey could do was stammer, jaw opening, and closing as her brain misfired over and over in a vain attempt to conjure a response. But there was nothing, no words, no justification. The wind was gone from sails, dropped to an airless void as if it had been expelled by a punch to the gut.

But Abbey's stunned silence appeared to bring Lena no vindication, and instead, the android let loose a growling hiss as she spun on her heels and stormed in a huff.

"Lena, wait!"

But her teammate ignored her and had just as quickly vanished up the stairs before Abbey could so much as give chase. The other three stood silently beside Abbey, eyes flicking between each other as if uncertain of what to say.

"Guys?" Abbey pleaded. "Come on, please say something."

Among the three of them, Erika was outnumbered in the eyes that turned to her for the falling burden of reply.

"I'm sorry, Abbey," she said awkwardly. "I think we're all just trying to get our head around the whole thing."

None of them would meet her gaze. Not Miguel, not even Zeke. In fact, it seemed as if none of them could get away from her fast enough.

"Oh…" Abbey realized slowly as her eyes sunk to the floor in defeat. "I'm sorry. I should give you all some space. I'll see you later then." And then, without the others even saying a word, Abbey slowly turned and walked away, lumbering to complete the test that she felt nowhere near ready for.

The rest of the day didn't improve from there either. She totally flunked the test, too tired and hurt to give it even a modicum for her attention, and even with Gail taking the burden of some of her projects, Abbey quickly realized that she still needed to work through recess to just stay on top and be ready.

For a moment, just one, she considered cutting class, asking Gail to sit in for her while she tried to get her head around all the proposals she'd become involved in. Cut class again…

God, what was happening to her?

This wasn't her! Lying, sneaking into the lab, even contemplating skipping school. Abbey could now be in two places at once, and somehow things were even more stressful!

Maybe she should have made another duplicate…

Deciding she'd let down enough people for the day, Abbey resisted the temptation, dutifully going to class after exchanging notes with Gail behind the gym after recess. That meant, of course, that she had to work through lunch. It was probably for the best.

As she'd walked past the doors, Abbey had looked out at the usual table in the sun. All four of her friends were still in a sullen mood, sitting with slumped shoulders and barely talking. If that's how they already were, then Abbey doubted her presence would make it better. They just needed time, and she needed to give them space.

Maybe she could finally take control of her life in the meantime. Instead, Abbey crossed notes with Gail once more, who this time offered to sit in last period History. Relenting to the offer, Abbey then secluded herself in the shadows of the library for the rest of the afternoon and only emerged in time for the student council meeting after school.

The first thing she noticed was the stares.

No one was saying anything, but the stragglers in the hallway were clearly watching; gasps, whispers, and snickers floating at the edge of her earshot as Abbey passed them. Everywhere she turned, people looked away, as if suddenly pretending they hadn't been staring.

Staring at her.

….Oooooookay. Weird.

Maybe they'd just seen Gail walking around and thought Abbey had changed her outfit. But soon the staring was the least of Abbey's problems. Striding up to the council room, her eyes caught it before her steps strode in and betrayed her. Gail was already inside.

But that… that wasn't what they agreed.

Inside, everyone was sharing nervous glances, the same expression as the watching people in the corridor. Gail, meanwhile, seemed none the wiser, chirpily handing out binders with the proposal brief. Abbey stifled a gasp, rocking back on her heel before anyone inside could see her. Before they could see her with her double.

But while everyone seemed oblivious, Gail caught her eye.

"Okay, everyone," she smiled, an almost sickly sweetness oozing from her voice as she skipped toward the doorframe. "I'll just get the door, and then we can get started."

"What are you doing?" Abbey hissed, just low enough that the people inside couldn't hear. "You're not meant to be here! Step out so can take over."

But the duplicate's lips merely curled into a thin, menacing smile, leaning on the frame with her arms folded as she replied, "No."

No?

No?

"Knock it off, this isn't funny!" Abbey insisted. "We had a plan."

"No, you had a plan," Gail replied. "And I've got a better one. I've got this covered."

Abbey could only stare, jaw-dropping in abject horror as her duplicate defied her.

"Do you know what I realized, putting out the fires of your life?" Gail smirked. "You've got no idea what you're actually doing. And you've got no idea what you're working with. Sweet, harmless Abbey. Too nice to ever say "no", too docile to ever get her way. And do you know what I figured then? I figured I could live your life so much better than you do."

Abbey's heart stopped, eyes widening as she slowly realized what was happening. Gail wasn't just taking one of her places, she was taking all of them. She was replacing her. And there was nothing she could do, no kicking or screaming that she could dare without alerting everyone in the vicinity to her foolish duplicity.

"You're not going to get away with this," Abbey growled at her clone.

But Gail merely scoffed. "I already have. Who's going to stop me? Those friends that are all still too horrified that you even made me in the first place? Besides, you're about to have a whole lot of bigger problems."

"What's that supposed to-?"

"Miss Carmichael!"

A chill ran down Abbey's spine as she turned, watching as Principal Goodson strode down the halls, high heels clicking on the laminate like the padding of a predator closing on its prey. Beside her was Whitney, her face a perfect mixture of seething rage and puffy, red distress while covered from head to toe with yogurt.

"I'd like a word," Goodson said curtly as she stopped at the end of the hall. It was a statement, not a request.

With all the blood flushing from her face, Abbey's head slowly turned back in horror toward the clone in the doorway. The clone merely smirked and softly raised her hand to wave.

"Toodles," she snicked.

And then Gail shut the door in Abbey's face.


"Hey! Lena!"

The android turned from the lab's elevator entrance, tilting her head in confusion as Zeke hurried to join her.

"Zeke?" she realized as the boy buckled over and panted. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no nothing's wrong," the boy replied between heavy breaths. "I just want to make sure you were okay."

Okay?

Lena took a step back, surprised at the sudden concern. Surprised that anyone would care. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I guess," Zeke admitted awkwardly. "I know the whole "clone thing" with Abbey's got us all kind of freaked, but I know it's really hitting you hard."

Hard was an understatement, but of all the people to offer sympathy, Zeke was the last person she'd expected. He was practically Abbey's personal cheerleader.

"I guess I really blew it at her, huh?" Lena admitted as the doors opened and the two stepped inside.

"Look, I get it," Zeke assured her. "Abbey's stressed out, and she's not thinking straight. I'm sorry that how she handled it hurt you."

"You don't have to do that, you know," Lena pointed out. "Apologize for her. Clean up her mistakes."

This one seemed to catch Zeke off guard, his jaw dropping as he stammered for words and the elevator doors dinged to signal the arrival at the lab. Whatever retort he was considering was lost as the two of them reached the monitor station, and Hilary's chair wheeled as she glared at the Yellow Ranger.

"Whoa, Hilary," Zeke protested, hands thrown high in defensive surrender as he shrunk beneath her withering glare. "We're not the enemy here."

"Really, Zeke?" Hilary growled. "And are you honestly expecting me to believe that you had nothing to do with the sudden appearance of a second Abbey?"

"Hilary you've got to believe me, I had no idea," Zeke insisted. "If she'd told me, I'd have tried to talk her out of it. I've seen way too many sci-fi movies where the clone goes crazy and tries to kill the original."

"Hang on," Lena realized. "If Zeke didn't help Abbey with any of this, how did she use the Digitizer?"

"Her card would have given her access to the lab," Hilary admitted. "To be honest, I'm now rewriting a whole bunch of the current security protocols because until now I never considered that someone would be stupid enough to use the Digitizer to clone themselves."

Still, there was another problem niggling at Lena, a strange sense of familiarity she'd felt ever since first seeing the clone. And then it hit her.

"Zeke?" she asked urgently. "When does Abbey usually turn to you for tech support?"

"Normally it's if she can't get the answer from the first page of Google, why?"

Eyes widening, Lena and Hilary looked at each other, the same realization dawning on them as Lena dived for the seat beside the doctor and the two began frantically typing.

"Can you bring up the file she created for the duplicate?" Lena inquired.

"Already on it," Hilary confirmed. "Do you think she-?"

"Picked speed over quality?" Lena concluded. "That's exactly what I think."

And that meant things were even worse than they thought.

"Either of you guys feel like filling me in?" Zeke asked nervously.

"Imagine you're rendering something really big and in high definition," Hilary explained. "What's the biggest drawback?"

"It takes ages," Zeke answered. "So, what, you think Abbey skipped a 1080p for a standard def duplicate?"

"If she was worried about being caught, she might have gone for the fastest option over the best," Lena reasoned. "And when you go for a smaller file size…"

"It's got less information," Zeke suddenly realized. Lena just prayed she was wrong. God, she prayed Abbey hadn't been that stupid.

But as Hilary pulled up the coding for the duplicate, the corresponding lines filled her dread. The scan time had been less than a minute, and the entire rending process had barely taken five.

"She must have been worried she'd get found out," Hilary realized. "Went for the option that was as quick as possible without realizing the complications."

"Okay, so that sounds bad," Zeke admitted. "But why is that bad?"

"Think about all the weird virus' you've fought," Lena explained. "Have you never wondered why they're always kind of… deranged?"

"I always thought that was because Ender was super weird." Said Zeke.

Well, there was that too. But Lena didn't have time to take jabs at her former comrade.

"To create threats quickly, the basic design of the monster would be created and then immediately sent into the Digitizer. The Digitizer itself fills in the blanks as it manifests the creation, "Lena explained. "It works well if you don't care how those blanks get filled; Kelgar did it all the time, and Ender also adopted the practice. It lets them make the monsters quickly, but the complicated ones still take time."

"Like you?" Zeke asked.

The query caught Lena off guard. It seemed so innocent, a desire to sate the curiosity of an obvious question, and in complete obliviousness of the tactlessness of the question.

"Yes," Lena agreed uncomfortably. "Like me."

Zeke's face slowly dropped, horror overcoming him as reality dawned. "Hang on, so if Abbey made that duplicate quickly, then that means that Gail is…"

Before he could get an answer, Zeke's phone sounded an app notification. He flicked open the screen, and his jaw dropped as a video started playing before him. Slowly, he turned it around for Lena and Hilary to see.

It was the school cafeteria, Whitney arguing loudly with Abbey for everyone to see as a crowd began to gather.

No, Lena realized, not Abbey. Gail.

The argument between them was heating up, Whitney's voice growing more and more shrill as Gail simply stood there, smirking. Then, before anyone could stop her, Gail reached over to a nearby table, grabbed a large slushie cup, and dumped the contents over Whitney's head.

The blonde bully's scream screeched from the phone speakers, the cafeteria bursting into an uproar as Whitney fled in tears and Gail simply sauntered away before the video cut.

"She's not Abbey," said Hilary, voice filled with dread. "Gail might look and sound like her, but that's where the similarities end. What Abbey made the other night, it's something else."

"Hang on," Zeke realized in horror. "What you're saying is-?"

"That's exactly what we're saying," Lena nodded. "Gail's not a copy of Abbey; she's a monster."