章 10: Seeing Double - Part 1
Inside the dark heart of the invaders ship was a room.
Inside that room was a long table crafted from black marble. Around it sat three individuals, the commanders of the invasion fleet, the ones given the responsibility of conquering the Earth for their overlord.
The first of them had already seen a bitter defeat at the hands of humanity's latest weapon. A preening buffoon in an idiotic white and rainbow coloured costume. If only the other two knew of their strength, he muttered to himself bitterly, then the mockery would seem ever so foolish. He would prove them wrong in due time; with a plan so devilish that even he was shocked at its brilliance.
Behind him, a stolen television had been plugged into the wall, displaying a 24/7 news channel that he had become obsessed with watching. This planet had a huge number of people living on it, so much so that it could no longer support them. "Destroying this planet is a simple matter for a genius such as I!" he boasted, "Your suggestion, Sundar, sent my brain into overdrive."
Sat beside him was a handsome young man, "Hoh, sounds interesting,"
"Nothing Faust does is interesting," the final commander sighed, a pretty woman with long purple hair.
"Sundar, Mary, I understand your skepticism, but if you'll allow me to explain. Our great leader has granted me the privilege of using our new model of android for this operation. With its increased intelligence and strategy making ability, our enemy will no longer be able to defeat us with brute strength alone."
"Get on with it," Sundar sighed, "What's the plan, man?"
"Using the power of my new android soldier, I will duplicate the humans en masse – stretching their already waning resources even further! Food and water will become scarce, the climate will change to destroy them with violent storms, society will break down, and then they will come to us begging for salvation!"
Faust stepped aside to reveal his new weapon of war. While still larger than a human, this second version of the technology was much more streamlined. It had a large, hunched appearance. A pair of robotic faces pointed outwards in the façade of sock and buskin. Attached to its left arm was a canon that fizzled with green energy.
"…For real?" Sundar rolled his eyes and kicked back on his chair, "That's gonna' take forever!"
"Just watch and see, Sundar, this world will be ours within a matter of moments."
"Fine. I'll watch. But don't expect any help."
-----------------
There is one immediate effect from Mitsuru deciding to give all of your team members an interdimensional phone.
Selfies. Lots and lots of selfies.
Nude selfies, selfies when bathing, or in lingerie. The moment that Rias and Akeno got back home, you received no less than fifteen different images from them, alongside cutesy captions like 'missing you,' or 'want to join me?' It's been ten or so hours since you first handed them out. You don't know how much time has passed in their own dimensions, but you assume without the time dilation effect it's similar to here. Lala and Chun-li have as of yet refrained from sending you anything; but should that pair of lascivious demons sink their claws into them, you might not have any space left in your inbox come the next day.
Also, you've come to realize that while they are sexy – seeing them in person is much better. As cynical as it is to admit, there's little need to… take care of yourself anymore. You enjoy the images greatly regardless. Rias and Akeno are so beautiful that you could stare at them all day, not that you'd stare at something this explicit in public.
Mitsuru is continuing to work on her toy line. You wander over and take another look at the miniaturized versions of your gadgets, complete with lights and sounds. "I ran into a guy earlier who was claiming to be me. Are you sure we aren't going to cause any unintended consequences with all of this stuff?"
Mitsuru has a confident smirk on her face, "There's no need to worry. I've taken every possible measure to ensure the secrecy of our operations. Combined with some of the amazing technology that Lala gave us, we're more secure than ever! Proxies, face masking, information control – the moment anybody thinks they have one over on us, zap! It'll be gone!"
"That's not really what I meant. What if some people start trying to imitate us, or steal our equipment?"
"Like I said before – the Sledgehammer is equipped with an advanced biometric identification system. Only you and I can fire it. And isn't this imitation talk just a rehash of the popularly discredited idea that media consumption causes violent behaviour?"
"…But we're real. And when people see a chance to make a quick buck off our hard work-"
Mitsuru holds out an action figure - cutting you off, "Who would ever want to make a 'quick buck' off of us?"
…
"You."
Mitsuru slams the prototype toy back down on the table and opens her mouth to retaliate, but no words emerge. It's a rare occurrence, you've confounded her. She looks down at the sea of cheap, disposable plastic and dismantled electronics with a profound sense of self-reflection.
"Well, It's my intellectual property. I can do whatever I want with it!"
A true capitalist to the end.
You return to the couch and turn on the old TV in the corner. You watch for a moment, curious as to the current subject of the news report currently airing. Mentions of identical clones send your alarm bells ringing anew. Something is up. Mitsuru reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone, "What the- we have invaders downtown!"
"Ugh, I should have known they'd have something to do with this. I'm heading out to take care of it."
You quickly transform into your armor and run as fast as your mechanically enhanced legs can carry you, arriving on the scene of the crime within minutes. The enemy leader stands between rows of his foot soldiers, and a curious looking robot with a pair of weeping masks attached to its face.
Several dozen identical pairs of people stand on the sidewalks. Contrary to the usual type of attack you see from these assholes, this clone outbreak doesn't seem to have caused much carnage at all. In fact, the duplicates seem to be just as confused as the originals. They aren't fighting nor is there a crazed panic amongst the populace.
"So good to see you again my heroic friend, but I'm afraid that this will be the last time we meet. Soon enough this world will come to an end, and we will be crowned its rightful rulers!"
This is the first time you've stopped and looked at the lanky man properly. He's very pale, with slicked back black hair and a long black leather coat with a high collar. He looks like a reject from the Matrix. People start to notice your presence and begin snapping pictures with their phones. Your distorted voice is projected across the street, "What the hell are you up to now?"
"Hahaha! This is my masterstroke. The entirety of this pathetic planet shall quake at the mere mention of the name Faust! By duplicating these people, your resource starved Earth will begin to die even faster than before!"
"…Is that it?"
"What do you mean is that it?!" he cries.
You shrug, "It's just that people are born naturally, way faster than you ever could do artificially using that thing."
The cogs in his head turn, "S-Sundar, you fool! You tricked me again!" He looks up to the roof of a nearby building, where a man your age, wearing a black dress shirt and slacks reclines against a fire escape. He laughs loudly at his compatriot.
"It's your fault for taking me so literally. I only suggested the duplication, you filled in the rest yourself."
You've had enough of this stupid comedy routine. You pick two cards from your HUD and feel the automated feeder system in your gauntlet eject it them into your open hand. Both of them are on call and ready to fight.
"RIAS GREMORY!"
"AKENO HIMEJIMA!"
"SHATTERING!"
Reality warps, and the two seductive devils are summoned to your side. "Hello husband," Rias smirks, "I don't suppose our little pictures had the intended effect." She motions to the army of enemy soldiers standing in front of you.
"Sorry Rias, this guy is keeping me busy today."
Akeno covers her mouth in mock sadness, "Ara, president, we can't stand for that, can we?"
Rias shakes her head, "Indeed. Let's dispatch these interlopers and claim our reward!"
"N-Not if I can help it," Faust blusters. He points at you, "Copydroid, attack!" The mechanical beast lumbers to the front of the queue and points its gun at you. You dodge out of the way. Akeno and Rias sprout their demonic wings and try to do the same, but the energy emitted from the strange weapon curves in mid-air and strikes both of them!
"Akeno, Rias!"
The two girls fall back to the ground. And then… they begin to glitch, subtly at first, but eventually they alternate between two positions seemingly at random. The faint outline of a copy appears, and then with a burst of electrical energy, they are cloned. Two copies of Akeno and Two Rias' kneel on the ground in front of you.
"What the hell?"
"Hahaha!" Faust cackles, "There's no escaping Copyroid's sight. Exactly as I planned!"
The girls look at their clones with some confusion, but then a menacing grin that sends a shiver down your spine. They help each other to their feet and return to their fighting stances. Both Rias' speak in perfect tandem, "Hm. Doesn't this just mean that now there are four of us to defeat you?"
"President, shall we punish this foolish man?"
Faust's face drops like a rock. The idiot hadn't considered the fact that he just boosted your numbers. He made two identical clones of people who are on your side! Both Rias' dive into the battle and use their magic to quickly destroy several of the enemy foot soldiers. Meanwhile, the dual Akenos take to the air and transform into their shrine maiden outfits, delivering a double-sized thunderstorm to the grouped enemies.
"T-This isn't fair!" Faust screams, "You aren't meant to work together!"
Sundar finds the situation hilarious, his face has turned red from the pressure, "You really are an idiot. Hahahah!"
Faust snaps his fingers and summons a dark portal behind him, "We'll be back, and next time, we'll be the victors!" He and the Copyroid make their escape while you and the girls are distracted. You pummel a pair of mooks with a kick to the head, tossing them onto a pile made by Akeno and Rias, and Akeno and Rias…
With the weaklings taken care of, and the enemy having fled, there isn't much left for you to do.
"Rias, take us back to base."
"Okay!" The left Rias snaps her fingers and summons a magic circle under your feet, whisking you away to the garage.
Mitsuru runs over as soon as you arrive. "I just saw it on the news. To think they had such incredible cloning technology." Rias and Akeno seem rather pleased with their new doppelgangers, taking the time to investigate them fully and make sure that they're perfect down to the last detail. After a few minutes of tomfoolery, Rias one and two look at you and smile.
"How would you feel-"
"-about a foursome with us?"
They both laugh as your face turns red, "We have to fix this before they kill me."
"I thought you'd say that," Mitsuru sighs.
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