by Lucas Flint
“Of course,” said Seth, nodding. “I will share the gift of immortality with all of humanity. I am, first and foremost, a man of science. That is why I have poured so much of my personal time, money, and energy into this project. All of us will benefit. You can be certain of that.” Then his eyes darted to the Neo-Killer. “And David, don’t worry, I will bring back your wife and kids as well.”
What bull. I knew for a fact that Seth only cared about himself. But this explained how he was able to get both the Neo-Killer and Phaser to work for him. He promised them what they both really wanted, although I doubted he would give them anything once they stopped being useful to him.
“How did I get here?” I said. “How long have I been out?”
“Less than an hour, by my reckoning,” said Seth. “Mecha Knight and Phaser dragged you in here. I thought you were dead until Mecha Knight informed me otherwise. Still, I had them spray you with some powerless gas and put those Indestructonium clamps down on your arms and legs. You aren’t going anywhere, my friend.”
I tugged at the clamps slightly but found that Seth was correct about them being Indestructonium. The powerless gas explained why I felt even weaker than usual, although even if I did have my powers, I wouldn’t have been able to free myself.
“What about my friends?” I said. “Blizzard and the others?”
Phaser’s scowl became even more pronounced. “All of ‘em got away. I tried to chase them, but that shadow girl somehow used her powers to escape me. They even got Fisticuffs. Jerks.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. I was glad that Blizzard and the others were safe now, especially Uncle Jake. The only bad part was that none of them knew where I was, which meant that I was completely on my own here, surrounded by some of my worst enemies. But I’d been through worse situations before, although I struggled to think of a time when I was this powerless and helpless.
“Don’t worry about it, Phaser,” said Seth. “Losing Fisticuffs was a problem, but not as big as you might think. We have his nephew now, whose genetic material is close enough that my plans can still move apace.”
“Your plans,” I repeated, looking at Seth. “You keep mentioning them, but I don’t think you’ve ever actually said what your plans are. Since I’m apparently a part of them now, would you mind sharing them with me?”
To my surprise, Seth nodded. “Sure, why not? I see no reason to keep anything secret from you anymore. After all, you aren’t in any position to stop me. It will be easier to show you what I am trying to do, however, than to explain.”
Seth pulled out a phone and dialed a number. “Anna? Lower the Capsule.”
Before I could ask him what the ‘Capsule’ was, something descended from the mass of cables and tubes above. It was another metal platform, which had yet another cloning tube on it, only this tube was bigger and fancier-looking than all of the others. It resembled a giant medical capsule, but unlike the other tubes, this one’s glass front was clear. It allowed me to see the fully-grown man sleeping inside. He seemed to be naked, with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his eyes closed, but none of that mattered to me, because the face of the man was instantly recognizable to me, even though there was no way it could possibly be real.
“No way,” I said in a low voice, “is that …”
Seth spread his arms wide as if to indicate the body in the tube. “That is the crowning jewel of my cloning empire, the pinnacle of cloning, referred to in our records as Protocol Omega. As for me, I personally call it the Ultimate Clone.”
Then Seth looked at me, a manic grin on his face. “But you, perhaps, can simply call it your clone, Bolt, for it was crafted from your DNA.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
A deep sense of unreality hit me when I looked at the clone of me sleeping inside that capsule. It was sort of like looking into a mirror, except far more surreal. I had felt somewhat this way when I first saw my twin brother White Lightning, but this was even weirder. White might have been my twin, but this thing was my literal clone. It was genetically identical to me in every way … and if he was anything like Phaser or the Neo-Killer, then he might even have my personality and memories, too, somehow.
“At a loss for words?” said Seth, putting his hands on his hips. “I understand. Most people do not know how to handle seeing their clones for the first time. Hell, the first time I cloned myself, I found it a surreal experience. Nonetheless, it is very real.”
“Great,” the Neo-Killer muttered. “There are two of them now. Not sure whether to be excited or annoyed.”
Ignoring the Neo-Killer’s comment, I tore my eyes away from my clone and looked at Seth. “How did you make a clone of me so quickly? If I’ve only been here for less than an hour, that doesn’t seem like nearly enough time to grow a clone.”
“That’s because your clone isn’t just your clone exclusively,” said Seth. “It has DNA from a wide variety of people, including myself, Fisticuffs, and various other superhumans whose DNA samples I’ve collected over the years. It even contains DNA from Omega Man himself, although that was very difficult to obtain, as you might imagine. Besides, the Neo-Killer already collected some of your DNA from earlier this night. I didn’t take any from you now.”
“But … why?” I said. “Why clone me in particular? Because you can?”
“Because I need a new body,” said Seth. He gestured at his white hair. “As you can tell, my newest body here is already getting old. In another week or so, I will need a walk, and another week after that I will be confined to bed. And then a week after that, I will die, this time for good. The genetic material from my old body has degraded to the point where each straight clone of my body has become worse than the last.”
“Is that why you made a clone of me?” I said. “Because my genetic material is younger and healthier than yours?”
“It’s a theory,” said Seth, looking at what he dubbed the ‘Ultimate Clone.’ “Through his studies, Longworth discovered that cloning works best when the mind and body are the same. That is to say, if you can preserve the mind and put it into a cloned body, that body will decay at a much slower rate than if you tried to put a person’s mind into someone else’s body. That is how I was able to bring back both Phaser and the Neo-Killer, whose minds and bodies are perfectly in sync.”
“And fabulously so, I might add,” Phaser said, running his hands down his body again. “I feel good as new, if not even better than new.”
The Neo-Killer said nothing. He was probably still thinking about how he was going to kill me when Seth was done talking.
Seth walked over to the railing and leaned against it, gripping it tightly with both hands. “But like I said, the original genetic material from my body has degraded, which is one of the reasons I have been going through bodies like crazy recently. Hence why I have made the Ultimate Clone, a figure who contains DNA from many of the world’s most powerful superhumans. I am betting everything on the idea that if I can transfer my mind into this new body, both my body and my mind will survive indefinitely.”
“True immortality, in other words,” I said.
Seth nodded, though without taking his eyes off the Capsule. “Of course. Still, it’s a risk. It’s always a risk. My mind might not be compatible with my body, which might cause my new body to reject it. I saw that happen during one of Project Revival’s earliest experiments. The results still haunt my nightmares even now, over seventeen years later.”
Then Seth whirled around, his eyes wide and manic. “But it’s a risk I must take if I am going to survive. I am a businessman. All business is a risk. This is yet another risk in a long line of them that I’ve taken. The only difference is that the consequences for failure are much, much steeper. On the other hand, the rewards are far greater: True immortality. A body that will never age nor decay nor die. That is worth more than all of the money in the world.”
Seth spoke with the fervor of a religious fanatic. Even Phaser, who rarely seemed bothered by anything, lo
oked uncomfortable by Seth’s rambling. The Neo-Killer just grunted, while Mecha Knight still didn’t move or do anything to show that he was even conscious.
“You mentioned an army earlier,” I said. “Do you plan to take over the world, too?”
Madness gleamed in Seth’s eyes. “No. I don’t care for world domination. I do care, however, about money. And I know that the governments of the world would love to be able to make clone soldiers of the world’s most powerful superhumans, clones who will be perfectly obedient yet just as strong as the originals.”
Seth walked over to me and stopped in front of me, his arms folded behind his back. “Tell me, Bolt, do you know what the biggest frustration that governments the world over have with your kind?”
“Um …” I struggled to think of an answer. “We cause a lot of property damage sometimes?”
Seth chuckled. “No. Property is easy to fix. What governments hate is how little control they really have over you. Sure, governments have control, at least to some extent, over teams like the G-Men, but even that is only because Cadmus is such a patriot. If someone else was in charge of the G-Men, it would be ridiculously easy to overthrow the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court and establish a superhuman dictatorship. Cadmus himself could probably do it if he wanted, especially with his powers.”
“We’re not that out of control,” I said. “The NHA always tries to work with the federal government where possible.”
“But you technically don’t have to if you don’t want to,” said Seth. “Think about it. Superhero organizations like the NHA and INJ have hundreds of powerful superhumans under their control. They run places like the Academy, where they raise the next generation of superhumans to succeed them. Imagine what a power-hungry maniac could do with that kind of power, should he ever be elected to someplace like the NHA’s Leadership Council, for example.”
“I could do a lot with that kind of power,” said Phaser. “If elected to the Leadership Council, I promise to use the NHA’s considerable power and influence only for my own selfish ends.”
Ignoring Phaser’s comments, I said, “I see what you’re getting at here. The government is afraid of what might happen if the NHA went rogue if hundreds of superheroes decided to rebel all at once.”
“Of course they are,” said Seth. “But imagine what could happen if the government could control them. Imagine if we lived in a world where superhumans are assembled like in a factory, only without their free will or anything that might cause them to rebel against the government. Armies of cloned supers, all under the command of ordinary people like us.”
Seth looked away, a dreamy look in his eyes. “No more superheroes. No more supervillains. Just super soldiers who do what they are told. No more, no less.”
“Except for me,” said Phaser. “Right, boss?”
“Certainly, Phaser,” said Seth with a rather amused smile. “Except for you.”
While Phaser seemed to relax when Seth said that, I couldn’t help but find Seth’s vision creepy. “What would happen to the originals, under your twisted vision? What if we refuse to be cloned? What would you do then?”
Seth looked at me again, a mad smile on his lips. “Firstly, we already have genetic material on nearly every member of the NHA, INJ, and G-Men stored right here in Vault Z. Secondly, there will be no more need for the originals anymore, not once we clone you. We’ll keep your bodies around for extra genetic material, of course, but other than that, we will have very little need for your kind anymore.”
“Genocide,” I said. “You’re talking full-scale genocide here.”
“Not genocide,” said Seth. “Progress. Safety. And for me personally, money. The US military alone would be happy to pay me billions for an army of cloned supers. China and Russia would also, I imagine, be happy to have their supers cloned as well. The possibilities are endless.”
Seth’s plans were far worse than even I could have first imagined. He was talking about wiping out people like me and replacing us with what were essentially meat robots that would do whatever we were told. It was one of the most chilling things I had ever heard from another human being, although at this point, I questioned whether Seth even counted as a human anymore. Maybe Uncle Jake was onto something when he said that clones didn’t have souls. Maybe Seth’s constant cloning and body-hopping took off chunks of his soul each time he did it.
“At a loss for words again?” said Seth. “Well, good. I grow tired of talking. I believe it is time to put my plan into effect. Time to see if the Ultimate Clone will indeed support my mind or not.”
“What about Edge?” I said suddenly, looking around again. “What did you do with Edge?”
“Edge?” Seth repeated in confusion. Then understanding dawned in his eyes. “Oh, you mean my younger clone. The one who was supposed to kill me. He’s still here, if that’s what you mean. Let me show you.”
Seth nodded at Phaser. Phaser grinned and vanished through the floor, only to pop back out a few seconds later with Edge in tow. Edge, however, looked a lot worse than the last time I saw him. His face was bruised and bloodied, his arms were shackled together, and his big gun was missing completely. He was conscious and standing, but it was pretty obvious to me that he was just barely capable of standing.
I looked over at Seth furiously. “What did you do to him?”
“Not much,” Seth replied, “other than teach him a lesson for shooting Janet.”
There was loathing in Seth’s voice when he said that, which surprised me because I didn’t know he loved his wife that much.
“But don’t worry about him,” said Seth, nodding at Edge. “His suffering will end as soon as yours does. I have taken some of his genetic material and added it to the Ultimate Clone as well because he is a fairly unique clone of me. It is too bad he was raised by my idiot son. He could have been an excellent host for me at some point.”
Edge was being strangely quiet, his eyes to the floor. He wasn’t even looking at me. He was probably too embarrassed and ashamed of being captured by Phaser to even dare to look at me.
Then Seth turned to face the Ultimate Clone. “Anyway, I am done talking. It is time to put theory into practice. It is time to achieve the immortality that I deserve and to give the world a fighting chance against the superhuman menace. Come, my friends. It is time for history to be made.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Without warning, a second, identical Capsule descended from the ceiling until it was next to the first one. Unlike the first Capsule, this one was completely empty. It reminded me somewhat of the VR headsets and chairs back in Vault B. In fact, I wondered if the two were based on each other. It would explain why they looked so similar.
When the second Capsule stopped, a metal bridge extended from the Capsule’s base to the platform upon which we stood. Once the bridge connected the Capsule to the platform, Seth walked across it without hesitation, not even looking down at the tubes of clones below him. His eyes were fully on the second, empty Capsule, its lid popping open as he approached.
With practiced ease, Seth pushed open the lid and jumped inside. As soon as he sat down, the Capsule closed around him and I heard a distinct click as it locked into place. Seth was busy pulling on straps and belts over his body, but soon he stopped doing even that and leaned back in his seat. He gave us all a thumbs up, which was not returned by Mecha Knight, Phaser, or the Neo-Killer, although all three of them were watching him with interest. I was, too, but mostly because I was hoping to find a way to get out of here.
Then a headset—again, very much like the ones in Vault B—popped out of the back of his seat and clasped firmly around Seth’s head. Based on the way Seth’s eyes boggled when that happened, I guess it must have hurt. The headset tightened around his head and the lights on both of the Capsules lit up as a female voice said over a large speaker hanging from the ceiling, “Initiating mind transfer sequence from Clone #13 to Clone Omega. Scan complete, mind determined compatible with body. Be
gin mind transfer sequence … now.”
In the next instant, bright lights exploded from both Capsules, which made it kind of hard to see what was going on. Even though I probably should have looked away in order to protect my eyes, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the spectacle happening right in front of me. Nor could any of the others. Even Edge was looking at the shining Capsules, a mixture of horror and curiosity in his young eyes.
Within the second Capsule, I saw Seth’s body thrashing about. Terror and pain were etched across his features and he looked like he was dying, which I guess he was, in a way. That was probably why he had to strap himself in earlier. My guess was that if he hadn’t, his body’s survival instincts would have kicked him and gotten him out of there.
But his body was not strong enough to even weaken the straps and soon he stopped fighting at all. As soon as Seth relaxed—or maybe resigned himself to his fate—red and blue energy began running up and down the lines connecting the two Capsules together. Although I was by no means an expert in cloning, even I understood that the red and blue energy was Seth’s mind being transferred over into the body of the Ultimate Clone. And it seemed to be working, although I thought the energy looked slightly dull and even skipped a couple of times, like the connection wasn’t as steady as it seemed.
After a few more seconds of shaking and shining, both Capsules suddenly let out a very strange whining sound and then the lights turned off. The red and blue energy representing Seth’s mind stopped transferring between the two Capsules and the female voice over the speaker said, “Mind transfer sequence complete. Clone #13’s mind has been successfully transferred to the mind of the Ultimate Clone.”
Despite the voice confirming the success of the transfer, I was skeptical. Neither Seth nor the Ultimate Clone showed any signs of life. Indeed, they both looked about as lifeless as corpses.
I wasn’t the only one starting to have my doubts. A worried frown appeared on Phaser’s lips, while I heard the Neo-Killer muttered, “Dumb fool killed himself.”
