Chapter Text
You wake up and don’t know anything.
This doesn’t feel familiar to you. Somehow, you know that you usually know a lot of things, so having an empty head is very strange.
“He’s awake,” someone says, and you think he’s talking about you. So you’re a he that’s more information than you had a second ago.
Progress.
You turn your head and look at an unfamiliar face. This isn’t terribly surprising, as everything is unfamiliar to you right now. It’s an older man’s face. You’re not sure about your own age, but you think you’re younger than him.
“Who are you?” the man asks you.
“I don’t know,” you tell him honestly. Maybe that was a mistake.
“Good,” the man says. “That’s good.”
You disagree with that. You think not knowing who you are is the opposite of good, actually.
“Is this really the result we wanted?” Someone else asks, a woman you think.
“He wasn’t going to give us what we actually wanted,” the man says. “He wouldn’t break under our telepathic efforts. This way, we can start over. It will take longer, but they will still know him and allow him back. After we’ve implanted the recorder, we’ll have everything we need.”
From this, you learn that you’re strong, at least mentally. You also learn that people know you and probably care about you. Finally, you learn that these two are bad guys and you can’t trust them, which is unfortunate because it would have been so convenient if you could trust them. Then they could tell you who you are.
“You probably shouldn’t be telling me your plans out loud,” you point out to them.
“You won’t remember this conversation,” the woman says. “It doesn’t matter now that we know that wiping works on you. We weren’t sure with your telepathic shields being as strong as they are. It will be easier to wipe you this time since there is less there.”
You feel fear for the first time. You don’t want to lose the three things you’ve learned about yourself so far. That you’re a he, that you’re strong, and that people know and care about you. They are all that you have of you.
“It won’t hurt,” the woman reassures you. This does not make you feel better.
The man pulls away and addresses the uniformed person in the room. “Take him back to his cell,” he orders. “Subject 106 still needs to recover from wiping him earlier. After she’s back to full strength, we will proceed.”
Okay, you think as the uniformed man leads you to your cell. You have time to work with still. The wiping isn’t happening right away. You can still escape and keep the three things you’ve learned about yourself.
Four things, actually, you learn that you’re calm under pressure. That is good to know.
They take you to a cell. It’s small, and the air is cold, and the walls are made of stone. You think this means you’re probably underground, which is unfortunate. Underground is harder to escape than above ground. He isn’t able to hear you underground. You don’t know why you know that, but it feels correct, so you’re just going to go with that.
They shove you inside and close the door. It’s heavy and metal, and you’re proud that you don’t jump when it slams shut.
First things first, look for resources. A deep voice tells you. It isn’t your voice you somehow know, but it’s good advice, so you decide to listen to it. The clothes you are wearing are plain. Just a white shirt, pants, and thin slippers. You don’t have any pockets, so you’re out of luck there. You’re not cuffed at least.
The room around you is bare. There’s a toilet and sink, but no mirror. There’s a shelf jutting out of the wall with a mattress, pillow, and blanket. There’s also a security camera in the far corner closest to the door.
You eye the security camera. Its red light blinks at you, so it is definitely on and recording. So they are probably watching you.
You examine the door. It looks even heavier up close, and it locks from the outside since this side doesn’t even have a handle with a lock you can pick.
This is going to make escaping a lot harder. You eye the camera again.
You’re important to them. This plan of theirs relies on you.
They left you uncuffed.
You don’t allow yourself to smile.
You do, however, grab your head, fall to the floor, and start to scream.
It takes about four seconds for the door to open, and before it shuts, you’re on your feet and charging towards it.
They left you uncuffed.
The fifth thing you learn about yourself is that you should never be underestimated.
You kick the man through the door and duck through it before it closes on you.
Wide-eyed stares greet you. The man on the ground groans.
You settle back into a familiar stance, though something feels like it’s missing. You easily take down the people around you. Except for the one on the ground, they don’t seem like fighters. You do see other cameras in the hall, so it won’t be long until backup arrives.
That deep voice in your head urges you to look around you. You try to find anything you could use as a weapon. The hallway is empty, but the man who came to check on you has a gun.
Everything in you says to leave it, so you do.
You pick a direction and start running. You don’t know where you're going, but putting distance between you and the cell seems like an okay start. However, there are more cells on either side of you, so maybe it won’t matter.
You do come across a janitor’s cart. There’s a mop sticking out of it. Something in you is compelled by the wooden handle, so you break off the string part (turns out you are also strong physically as well as mentally, you add it to the list) and twirl the handle between your hands.
When the guards come to find you, and you settle into your stance, you feel complete now.
It is even easier to take these guys down with the makeshift staff in your hands. You keep a firm grip on it as you dash through the corridors.
The next group of people you find surrenders before you need to do anything. They have lab coats on, so they must not be fighters.
“Which way to the surface?” You demand.
“We can’t–” A woman starts.
You twirl the staff in your hands again before pointing it at her. “I won’t ask again,” you growl.
“Just keep going straight,” she squeaks. “You’ll reach the elevator.”
You’re not sure you believe her, but you also don’t have another choice. You keep going straight.
Sure enough, at the end of the corridor, there’s an elevator. You push the button and wait.
When it opens, four guards are standing there looking surprised.
You calmly enter the elevator and stand next to them. You press the button that says hangar. That seems the furthest up you can get. You need to be up high.
“Going down?” You ask the guards, smirking.
They don’t answer.
When the door opens again, all the guards are knocked out at your feet. You step over them and exit the elevator feeling smug.
You can feel a breeze to your left, so you head in that direction. You run into a few more people, but they don’t try to stop you as you run. Just talk into their earpieces about your location.
Eventually, you reach the hangar.
There are dozens of guards by the jets. They probably think you’re going to try to steal one, which isn’t a bad idea. You think you might be able to figure out how to fly one.
You don’t, though. You have an instinct that is telling you that you just need to get out into the open.
Instead of taking these guards down, you sneak past them and exit through a side door.
Open sky greets you. It’s daylight, and the sun feels amazing on your face. You look around you. It looks like you’re at the top of a mountain. There’s no one around you. You’re on a balcony, probably used for smoking breaks or the like. There’s nowhere else for you to go.
It’s okay. You think. You know what to do now.
Without knowing why you do it, you quietly say, “Kon.”
Then you wait.
You hear something like a sonic boom, but you’re not afraid.
A figure appears in front of you, hovering. Otherworldly blue eyes meet yours.
“Tim,” the man says.
You’re still not really sure who you are, though you think your name might be Tim now, but you know you can trust this man.
“Cloneboy,” you say, and you’re not sure why you say it. You hold out your arms.
This cloneboy, Kon, whoever he is, lifts you into his arms easily.
“I got you,” Kon says, and he sounds choked up. “I found you.”
You still don’t know anything about anything, really, but you do know that you’re safe now.
And that gives you hope.
“Let’s go home,” Kon says.
You don’t know where that is, but you do know this man is a part of it.
You lean your head against his shoulder and don’t look back as you fly away.