Part 2: Duplicates

Landon pulled himself up each step in the stairwell. The pain had passed, but his overall body was still stiff. He pushed open the door, exiting the stairwell. He checked the corners and then holstered his gun. Abigail’s office door was unlocked, just as it had been before. He paused, Had it been before? Was it later, now? His head began to hurt. He pushed the door open and his eyes immediately went to the ground. Her body was missing.

Landon checked his VIG, the time displayed in bright blue letters 9:57p.

“Abigail?” Landon whispered. He rounded the corner and looked under the desk. Nothing.

His earpiece chirped loudly and faint scratchings of his own voice came through, “This must be their extraction point…”

The door to the office slammed shut. He jumped back, pulling his five-seven and aiming it at the cause of the slam. Abigail stood in front of him in a purple blouse and dark grey skirt, both stained from coffee. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a bun. She held a coat rack in her hands like a staff.

“Who are you?!” she shouted at him, thrusting the coat rack toward him. “Drop the gun, or…” her words faded as she wasn’t sure what she was capable of.

Landon lowered the pistol, flipped the safety on with his thumb and slid it back into his holster.

“My name is Landon Daniels… and,” his eyes drifted for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain something he did not understand yet.

“Why did you try to kill me, Landon Daniels?” she said thrusting the coat rack again, “I heard the gunshots and then a bullet magically destroys my computer monitor. And then you show up with a gun pointed at me.”

The lights began to dim. Abigail stepped back, forcing herself into the corner. Landon crossed the room quickly, pushing the coat rack aside and grabbed Abigail’s shoulders.

“If you want to live through tonight, you will do what I say. We have to move. Got it?” he said, staring straight into her faint blue eyes.

She barely nodded. He grabbed her hand, pulled her from the corner and opened the office door. He pulled the five-seven and checked the corners, moving toward the stairwell.

Gunshots echoed through the hallway. Abigail started to pull away from the sound, coming free from Landon. He holstered the pistol and spun to grab her. He heard his earpiece squeal again as Sam’s voice shouted in his ear, “Landon… what’s wrong… your heart rate… Landon?”

A mechanical sound began echoing through the halls. As it grew louder, Landon sprinted behind her, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her to the ground. He slid behind a corner and brought her behind with him.

Xander walked by the hallway. His legs completely metal, and his torso covered in a metal body armor; the pink of his fingers the only visible flesh on his body.

Landon whispered to Abigail, “That is not who I fought before.” Xander paused a moment, and turned his head toward where Abigail and Landon hid. Xander moved toward them, placing his fingers against the top of the filing cabinet that the couple was hidden behind.

“I see you, Daniels.” Xander said, his fingers digging into the plate metal and throwing the filing cabinet down the hallway. Landon opened fire into Xander’s face, each bullet bouncing off his helmet.

“Abigail run,” Landon shouted over his gunfire. Xander planted his hands around Landon’s vest. Landon kicked his legs onto Xander’s chest, extending his legs until his vest tore, freeing himself from Xander’s grasp. He landed on his back, rolled away to his feet and began running.

Xander tossed the tactical vest away, and began following.

Landon rounded a corner into the lobby where Abigail was frantically slamming her fingers onto the down button.

Xander’s mechanical legs echoed down the hall.

Part 1: Xander

Alexander “Xander” Steele no longer has any memories of his childhood. He joined Industrial Science Operations Organization in the fall of 2130. His legs had been blown off at the end of the Roman-United Nations war, and he had spent the six months before that in a hospital bed. The CEO of the company had pulled many strings to bring Xander into the protection of ISO-squared.

All of Xander’s family had passed away during the New York District bombings, when the National Government of Roman Rule started the war. As a boxer in a local gym, Xander had faced bullies all his life, and the NGRR was just another bully waiting to have its teeth knocked in. He enlisted immediately and was quickly promoted to the Captain of his platoon. At the end of the war he had saved 30 men from a burning convoy, before the explosion that would change his life.

Once he arrived at ISO-squared he spent several months in a coma in the medical wing. Scientists spent almost every waking moment surrounding his body, running tests and mapping DNA. After the medical scientists finished his data was sent on to the robotics lab. They worked tirelessly, trying to build Xander a new body. After many variations, the CEO forced his staff to make Xander appear as he always had. During the explosion a chunk of Xander’s brain had been damaged as the blast wave slammed him against the inside of an airborne Humvee.

The robotics and engineering departments worked tirelessly with the medical staff and bioengineers to stabilize Xander, to return him to his original state, but failed. The CEO didn’t mind this; instead he had more tests performed on Xander’s DNA. The 8th variation of neural replicator, nicknamed ‘Heavy,’ by the scientists was placed into Xander. The NR-8, was designed specifically to communicate directly with the ISO-squared mainframe. The side effects were unknown, but of little worry to the science team who had just created history.

Xander’s body took the transplant well. After months of rapid healing, thanks to other technology developed by ISO-squared, Xander awoke. He was confused at first, but soon returned to his feet. The CEO offered him the position of Advanced Security Lead. Xander accepted.

At the bottom of the ladder, Landon pulled his sidearm from its holster. He tapped quickly at the back of a flashlight attached to his vest.

“Sam, I’m in the lab. Directions?” Landon asked.

She typed quickly on the laptop, bringing up the building schematics onto the screen.

“Accessing the cameras, Landon,” she said as the monitors on the screen started to flicker. “It looks like there are tow of them down in the lower labs, and a lone one in the offices.

“I’m heading to the offices.” Landon said, starting to move in that direction.

“Landon, Priority One is to stop the infiltration and find whatever they are after.”

“I’m aware of the PO. But if there are civilians in the office, we need to make sure they are safe first,” Landon retorted, still moving toward the laboratory exit. “You’re either with me or against me.”

As the door from the lab opened, Landon’s gun extended through the open doorway.

“Doorway is clear,” Sam whispered through Landon’s headset. “The elevators were knocked offline when the thieves blew the power.”

Landon holstered his gun and took off in a dead sprint toward the stairwell. He burst through the door and up the stairs. After the fourth flight, Landon hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“Here comes the floor,” Sam said again.

Landon pulled his pistol again and burst through the door.

“The security room is to your right.”

Landon walked quickly to the door and pushed it open.

“Howard?” Landon asked. The door stopped as it bumped against Howard’s body.

“Samantha,” Landon paused, “Howard is dead. Where is the girl’s office?”

“Uploading the directions to your VIG now.”

Landon checked his VIG on his forearm. He lowered his pistol and took off again in a dead sprint, only pausing at corners to check if it was clear.

Samantha’s eyebrows furrowed as her screens began to flicker.

Landon slowed as the lights began to dim and flicker. “What is happening?”

“I’m not sure,” Sam said, troubleshooting furiously.

A burst of particles exploded in the hallway in front of Landon, vomiting out a human. Xander stood slowly, popping his neck. There was a moment of silence between the two, their eyes locked.

Landon quickly grabbed his handgun, and by the time he had it aimed at Xander, he knocked it away. There was no time to react as Xander slammed his other hand into Landon’s chest, knocking him back.

Xander reached out grabbed Landon by his vest and lifted him into the air. Landon reached down and shoved his thumbs into Xander’s eyes. Xander threw him down the hallway. He skidded across the floor, inches from his five-seven. The gun slid into his hand with ease, and aimed quickly, firing at Xander’s knees.

The bullet pierced Xander’s knee, sending a spark into the air. Landon adjusted his aim, firing repeatedly into Xander’s torso. Sam jumped at the gunfire in her ear. Xander stopped, and fell forward, blood soaking the carpet.

“Landon are you ok?” Sam’s voice echoed in his ear.

“Yeah…” He said as he pushed himself from the ground. He holstered his gun.

“What was that?” She asked.

“I don’t know. I… I can’t explain it… Where is this girl’s office?” Landon asked, winded.

“Turn right ahead, and then your first left. It’s the second door on the right,” she paused, “Are you sure you’re ok?”

Landon didn’t respond. He continued,  limping down the hallway, pausing only for a moment at Xander’s body. He shook his head and continued on.

He stopped at the door to Abigail’s office and knocked once. Then he pushed the door open and froze. His shoulder’s slumped down as he looked at Abigail’s corpse.

“Damn it.”