I looked at Rob, the only person still awake besides myself. When Angelina said she was tired and demanded that I sat in the middle so she could lean on me, I was skeptical. However, when Dantae also voiced that desire, I was left with no choice but to comply.

Both of them had a rough night it seems, even Alison was taking a power nap on the other side of the aisle. Maria had drunk herself into a sleeping mess, drooling all over the aforementioned Rob’s leg, who looked mortified.

His boyish features drew me in, like a cherub inhabiting a man’s body, he somehow piqued people’s curiosity.

“What,” he said as he caught me staring, “want to get down and dirty?” I sighed, knowing exactly that cracking jokes was how people like him dealt with stress.

I shook my head and smiled. “No. if you haven’t noticed,” I held up my left hand, engagement ring on full display, “I’m engaged, and not interested in the same sex too much.”

“Then please fuck off.” He said with a frown and the smile froze on my face. I didn’t get it, why was he so hostile towards me in particular.

“Why-“

“Why am I so aggressive? So... unbearable?” He smiled gently and shook his head, then looked back at me as the smile warped into a sinister sneer.

“Well, first of all you piss me off.” I raised my finger to interject but he ignored me and kept going. “To make it clear, no, I’m not jealous of what you have going on between you and Vanessa, or Dantae as you call her.”

A twinge of pain struck my heart as someone other than me called her by that name. I immediately cooled my head and looked at him calmly, due in part to hunting Dimension Eaters this past year and also needing the ability to keep a clear mind.

Rob looked into my eyes as he continued. “No, the reason why you piss me off is because you pretend to be something you’re not.”

He lifted his finger and pointed to Dantae, “You pretend to be kind. You pretend to be a lover. But I know,” he shifted his finger to me, “that you’re a savage who has killed humans as well as monsters.”

“In fact, I know all about you.” I immediately thought bullshit, but Rob’s eyes told me otherwise.

“Don’t believe me? General Armando gave me your file when I asked. You know, I’ve felt something off about you since the first time we met at the board of directors meeting.”

I narrowed my eyes in a glare, but he just snickered and met my stare with one of his own. “Still don’t believe me? Here, I can recite it from memory if you’d like? Your personal file, that is. Come, let me tell you how you came to be who you are, Clone 1919.”

——

It had to have been months after Project Doppelgänger Clone 1919 began to exhibit his powers. The control he had over what these scientists were calling, “the void,” had led to an explosive rise in 1919’s importance to the project, and subsequently he was treated as a prince.

Being one of almost 2000 clones at this point, Clone 1919 had never really experienced personalized affection, the only semblance of that in his life being the familiar greetings and nonsensical Mother and Father titles that all clones referred to the scientists as.

However, this all changed when he came into contact with one “alleged” Japanese fugitive, Vanessa Kumo, nicknamed as Dantae after her, again, “alleged” trip to hell earlier that year.

It was supposed to be a routine tour after Vanessa donated some cells in return for diplomatic immunity in the U.S., a situation that came about when she fled her home country due to reported multiple violent outbursts. However, some meetings seem to be more due to fate than others.

Dantae had been taken into the experiment containment quarter to view the station, more out of respect for her father than she herself. Juntaro Kumo was the CEO of the company that created their security programs, and fugitive or not, daughters would always hold a certain sway over their father’s mindset and decisions.

The acting general at the time took her to her place of interest, as she had requested several times previously during the tour to see their genetic experimentation wing. The aging man, having a low resistance to the pleas of a beautiful young woman, conceded and brought her there.

Standing in front of the large titanium hatch to the clone’s quarters, Vanessa thought to herself that she probably needed to leave after this. Not only was the lecherous stare of this general getting tiring to endure, but the ungodly amount of waivers and disclaimers she had to sign before entering this area was a bit tiring as well.

When the general finally opened the hatch, Vanessa cautiously looked inside and shuddered, seeing an area the size of a stadium filled with multiple floors of pods on top of each other, and inside were the naked and sleeping forms of almost 2000 clones. She felt her heart drop as she ran towards the middle of the room, a feat that took her nearly four minutes and opened a pod that was separated from the rest, and had a gold finish on it. Arriving at the pod, she looked inside and saw the clone she ran into before… 1919? She didn’t remember his name clearly, but it still made her sad. She looked around the area, no, the tomb and once again looked around at the many coffins around her.

The general staggered behind her, at a loss of breath, and started explaing the state of the art stations that kept the clones on life support with the minimal amount of expenditure from the military base.

Incensed by the treatment of these “scientific slaves,” Vanessa shut off 1919’s pod and carried him in her arms until they exited the room, much to the dismay of her tour guide. When 1919 awoke, he was in the arms of a beauty from the opposite sex that was concerned about his wellbeing. Honestly, its as if 1919 had prayed to God himself and received a miracle, and exactly the thing he craved: love and attention.

---

“So, did I get anything wrong?” Rob snickered at Leo, who had his head turned away looking outside the plane’s window. Had he hit a sensitive spot? Rob hoped so, it disgusted him to see this man-made monstrosity trying to act like a normal human. It absolutely disgusted him.

“Ah, come to think of it, I wonder what they did to Vanessa when she was getting her DNA taken?” Leo twitched and the grin grew on Rob’s face.

“Really. You know, stories are coming out recently about women being harassed by men in power. I wouldn’t be surprised if your precious Dantae-” No sooner had the syllable come out of Rob’s mouth when his chair imploded, eating itself until nothing was left.

The only thing was that it happened so fast that a shockwave was created during the process that slammed Rob into the plane’s ceiling, causing their flight to experience artificial turbulence. Rob grabbed his head and groaned as he got up, wearily looking around before stopping his eyes on Leo, who’s eyes betrayed all the hostility and anger he had kept in check throughout the story.

“Don’t you EVER speak of her like that again.” Leo’s outburst of volume made Rob flinch, an action which he felt extreme embarassment for immediately after the fact. “Do you understand me?”

Rob didn’t respond and averted his gaze, so Leo slipped away from the women sleeping on his shoulders through the void and grabbed Rob by his neck, lifting him up and choking him in the process. “I said, do. You. Understand. Me?”

What frightened Rob more than Leo’s wrath was the calm demeanor with which he had executed it. Truly, what a monster.

“Excuse me, passengers! I heard a loud bang, are you… all… right?” The stewardess came out from the front of the plane, and upon inspecting the damage and Leo holding Rob by the neck, she quickly retreated while berating herself for taking the job that the military had offered her. Leo sighed and let go of Rob, who fell to the floor and clawed at his throat, trying even the tiniest bit to make breathing easier.

Leo void walked back in-between Angelina and Vanessa, and gave Rob a murderous glare as he relaxed back into his chair. After Leo had closed his eyes, Rob ran to the bathroom, where he immediately vomited, his body innately knowing how close he had come to death. After the convulsions stopped he sent one text to General Christian Armando: “The target is hostile, commence Operation Shakespeare.”