07:05 Shimmering Mountain Range – Suspect Research Facility

The lights in the room stopped flickering. One of the doors that John forced open fell to the ground with a loud thud, the noise snapped the marines out of their stunned silence. John slowed his breathing and got his emotions under enough control to focus on the mission. Though his anger at his clones still caused it to simmer just under the surface.

John turned to face the marines, “You know your mission, we’re going to complete it. Bring any civilians or locals to this room. Detain any workers or scientists. If anyone fights back, kill them. Any copies of me wearing armor, kill them. Fall back and call me for backup should you run into any in power armor.”

Bennet was the first one to ask the obvious question, “Uhm, sir. Why?”

John answered flatly, “If they are in power armor, they will crush you as if you were an ant. The clones would not be as diminished as I am now.”

Aakre stepped forward, “Diminished? We saw you throw a fucking man suited up and basically trounced these assholes.”

“I was an alpha-level psychic,” John said disappointedly, “None of you are capable of fighting that fight.”

John motioned them inside. His part of the squad formed up without question and followed him down the main hallway. The remaining marines inside split into their respective groups and followed suit. The time for questions would be later. Now, it was time for action.

They were halfway down the hallway when they came to a door on the right side. John stepped across the door and motioned for the rest to stop short of it. He pointed at Erickson who then opened the door.

John ran into the room and pointed his right arm at the first person he saw. The scientist dropped his data slate and nearly pissed himself at the sight of unfriendly power armor. Eight more marines piled into the room.

“Scan them and compare them to the colony registry,” John ordered as he gestured, “Scientists, over here now.”

All but one scientist complied, “We are conducting…”

John didn’t let the man finish. He aimed the blast gun and fired it. The plasma struck the scientist in the chest and burned through his flesh with ease. He crumbled to the ground dead. The blast continued uninterrupted and impacted the far side of the room and melted halfway through the thick wall.

“Compliance or death. Now, what are you doing here?” John’s anger could be felt in his words.

The scientists were horrified at how casually one of theirs was murdered. They were no threat to the marines. All of them were equally terrified at how calmly the man was speaking to them. Trying to explain their unique work to someone that could casually kill another would be difficult. A young female scientist decided to step forward and answer his question.

“Genetic research. We were given samples of an incredibly powerful telepath. We were successful in managing to make viable clones of him. Though nearly all of them resulted in failures.”

Bennet interrupted the scientist, “These six are locals. They were abducted three days ago.”

“Lewis, get them back to the entry. Tell the shuttle pilots to be ready to take on friendlies. Get them back to the landing pad at the colony, but I want them kept in military custody until our medics have cleared them.”

“On it, sir,” Lewis said as he motioned to the door.

John turned back to the scientists, “You, how many developed telepathic abilities.”

“Don’t tell him, this savage…”

John grabbed the man to her left with his left hand and pulled him up off the ground. He twisted his hand briefly and sharply causing a bone-breaking crunch. The man went limp as John still held him. John threw the man against the wall to his left and leaned down to the woman.

“I don’t care if you live or die. You will give me answers,” John snarled in a gravelly tone.

“Three were telepaths. One was a Level 1A, another a 2B. The last one was presumed to be an alpha.”

Bennet stepped in, “How do we know who’s who?”

A scientist sat down on the ground along the back wall, “The alpha wear’s a black suit of power armor. The others are blue. God forgive us, we created monsters here.”

John gasped and grew worried as he opened a channel, “All marines, we have confirmation of three psychic threats. Two are wearing blue armor, you may engage these only with superior numbers and overwhelming fire. The one in black armor is Alpha-level. If any of observes this one you are to fall back IMMEDIATELY to the nearest friendly squad and contact me.”

The scientist on the floor began to laugh and cry hysterically, “Monsters. We created so many monsters. And the training we developed for it. The successes so enjoyed the fights against their failures, too much though. They got a taste of blood and…”

“Move out and check the next room,” John ignored the psychotic rantings and ordered his marines.

Bennet waited until the last marine and was about to speak. When he turned to face John all he saw was John pointing at the door. That didn’t stop him from speaking to John.

“Sir, under our regs we need to apprehend them.”

“Out… Now…” John growled as he didn’t turn back to face him.

John took his helmet off with his left hand. Whatever hope the scientists had for surviving was gone when they saw who he was. The woman pissed her pants when she saw that all too familiar face. The two male scientists stared blankly at John, not really sure what to think of the situation. The one on the ground started to laugh, fate it seems spans the cosmos and has a sense of humor.

John put his helmet back and fired his blast gun at the two men to the right of the scientist. The plasma struck both men in the upper torso. The front one was killed instantly, but the other man would die shortly due to shock. John unsheathed and threw his combat knife at the scientist on the ground. It struck just under his neck and nearly split him in two.

The female scientist didn’t see the punch John had thrown at her, but she was slammed against the wall behind her. All of her ribs, breastplate, and several vertebrae were broken or fractured. From point-blank range, John fired the blast gun. Her chest exploded into chunky bits as her lower half fell backward onto the scientist on the ground.

John leaned down and picked up his knife. The scientist that had been laughing died with a smile on his face. John found that incredibly disturbing. But he alone was the only one that had realized that their work wasn’t for the betterment of mankind. They really were created monsters, and their gene donor was quite possibly a worse monster than the ones they had made.

7:20 Hallway outside of Research Lab 13-2A

The marines had investigated the room across the hall from them. Five more civilians were found. They were very confused as to why they were brought you here and what kind of commotion was going on. These were likely fresh abductions from today. One of the marines escorted them back.

Thankfully for the civilian’s state of mind, this house of horrors didn’t need to get any worse by witnessing the image of John’s suit covered in viscera and blood. He walked into the hallway. The other marines all looked him up and down, they knew what happened but said nothing.

The squad's quiet introspection was thankfully interrupted when one of the squads from Fireteam Charlie radioed, “Scratch a smurf! It did some funky mind shit to us though; we all have migraines now.”

“Fall back to the platform. Delta will send in a team to take over your assigned job. If you run into the other you won’t be able to fight it,” John said as he was walking by his staring marines.

“Falling back sir,” the marine radioed back.

Sergeant Dixon said over the coms, “Prepping the backup squad now. We’ll be ready.”

John’s squad walked over to the doorway to the lab. Two marines fell in behind John, the rest were behind Bennet. He raised his hand and gave them a quick order of where to go once in the room. The dorms slid open as Bennet slammed the button.

“Unluck me for Christ’s sake. I need my power so I can stop this nonsense!” the clone hissed in a much higher-pitched voice.

John stepped inside to see the other blue power-armored clone. The clone held up one of the scientists and pinned him against the wall. He was oblivious as to who opened the door. He was solely focused on the scientist.

The scientist pointed at the door to the room but couldn’t speak. He was being pressed to the wall too tightly. Though the man’s gesture caused the clone to turn and eventually drop him.

From the ground the scientist coughed and wheezed as he tried to speak, “It… doesn’t work… that… way. You… were barely… successful.”

John roared in anger as he ran through the lab. He plowed through lab stations, gurneys, and tables as if they were wet tissue paper. The hateful scream roared louder as he closed on his target. The scientist had barely gotten to his feet when he looked up to see John punch the clone.

The punch shattered the ceramite breastplate and broke eight ribs of the clone. John followed that up with a shoulder slam into the clone’s chest, driving it back to the wall with an unimaginable amount of force. He had broken its remaining ribs and shattered the L4 vertebra, effectively paralyzing the clone from the waist down. The scientist was smashed into the wall and turned into red meat paste.

John took a small step back and loaded up another punch. The clone had been rendered helpless. There was no fight left in him, all it could do was spit out blood and laugh before the punch connected. Its skull and jaw were broken instantly in several places. Then the skull exploded in visceral chunks when its head slammed against the wall. John stepped back and fired a single blast at the clone’s chest and stared down at it.

“Fuck me,” Bennet said over the open coms, “Scratch one more blue bastard. Lieutenant Lief just iced that motherfucker.”

“Chester, you ever seen something that fucked up?” Darryl asked the marine next to him.

“Nah, man. This is next level fucked up.”

Baker was trying to control his stomach, “Never seen a man fight his damn self before. Jesus Christ, what the fuck were they doing in this place?”

“This whole damn place is fucked up. You see those tubes over there?” Bennet said pointing to the far side of the room.

“Oh cool, more dead bodies near them,” Darryl said sarcastically.

The rest of the marines regained their senses and fanned out in the room. The bodies of five more scientists were found. One appeared to be dead due to suicide, the others appeared to be victims of assault by power armor.

Bennet walked over to his lieutenant and spoke up, “Sir, are you okay?”

John’s com was open, and his ragged breathing could be heard for a few seconds, “No. I am pretty far from fucking okay corporal.”

Captain Ward then joined the frequency, “Lieutenant, I’m beginning to question…”

John took a deep breath as she began speaking then interrupted her, “With respect ma’am, you don’t get to judge me here. These motherfuckers cloned me. And they have a perfect copy of me here, that abomination is not leaving here alive…”

Captain Ward raised her voice and interrupted John, “Lieutenant, I’m ordering you to stand down immediately. You are too...”

John’s VI then spoke, “I have successfully removed Captain Ward from the local communications. Exigence plan has now been engaged.”

“Woah. Sir,” Bennet put his hands up.

“Continue with the mission. I’m going to track down the last one. You are in charge of the squad now Bennet.”

John then ran out of the room. One of the marines on the squad brought over a data slate and handed it to him. He shook his head as he did.

Bennet frantically opened his coms to all marines, “ALPHA CLONE IS A TEEK! REPEAT ALPHA LEVEL TEEK! TRANSCEIVER CODE FOR ITS ARMOR IS BEING SENT TO EVERYONE, CHARLIE SQUAD IMMEDIATE EVAC! REPEAT CHARLIE SQUAD…”

7:33 SE Corridor – Near Primary Sequencing Lab

John was a blur running through the corridor. A pained smile was on his face. The colloquial term, teek, was one he had heard over and over in his life. People were afraid of the things they couldn’t understand. Telepaths were generally accepted in day-to-day life. Individuals with telekinetic gifts were ostracized and downright feared.

He pushed such thoughts out of his mind. The desperate urge to help his marines was driving him forward. Both fusion cores were maxing out their output. Small dents were made where his armored boots landed, then pushed off in stride. He was running against the clock; John was hoping that he would intercept the last successful clone of him before it reached one of the squads from Fireteam Charlie.

The map was displayed in his helmet’s HUD. There was a right and left turn and he’d be there. As he brushed off the corner, he noticed two marines firing into the room. Three more Marines were pulling fallen comrades with them. The lack of movement in those suits concerned John, they may have suffered casualties in this mission.

If this clone was a copy of what John was two years ago, then killing with but a thought wouldn't be difficult. But that only three were down meant it may have had a similar potential capability as John. The amount of training John had done in his life wasn’t replicated. That was only a strong possibility, John wouldn’t be able to confirm that thought until he actually engaged the clone in combat.

“FALLBACK NOW,” John roared in the coms.

“Give them hell sir!” one of the marines yelled back.

John entered the corridor and his kinetic shields flared up when several rounds were stopped dead in their tracks. Had John not stepped into the corridor the last remaining marine evacuating from the location would’ve been killed. The enemy in the black power armor was confused at the sight of the new enemy.

“Eve, turn the amplifier on. Encrypt all combat data and restrict video and data feed.”

The amplifier was routed power and purred to life. The clone continued to monitor John; it knew this new combatant was different. It took its helmet off and began laughing.

“So, a proper challenger arrives. I do hope you can put up more of a fight than the ones before you. But sadly, I am used to disappointment.”

John raised his right arm and fired the plasma blast gun. The clone was laughing at it. He casually diverted the plasma away from him. It looked at John as a wolf does a sheep. And it was smiling.

“Tut tut, those weapons aren’t going to be of much use. This is very interesting; you aren’t much of a talkative one like the others, are you? That’s odd, I always take a certain amount of glee in ending my opponent’s life. It’s such a rush to be in their mind as I snuff their life out.”

John pulled his helmet off to show the clone who he was. The clone began to laugh maniacally. The look on his face struck the clone, pure unadulterated hatred. It wasn’t something it had ever experienced or tasted before.

“It’s ironic that all of my opponents have been you, but not you. And yet here you are, my opponent is you once more. It is unfortunate that you have become diminished, but a win is a win.”

John couldn’t contain his rage anymore. Logic, sense, rational thought, all went out the window. The only thing that mattered was killing the abomination in front of him. It had to die; through any means available. Any sense of self-preservation was gone, save a singular thought that Alice would be disappointed in hearing about his actions.

The fusion generator powering the blast gun was turned off. The locking clamps for the generator, cables, and gun were all undone and they fell to the ground, bouncing a couple of times after striking the ground before coming to rest. John casually tossed his helmet, ignoring his own command, to the ground near the gun.

John let out a bestial war cry that reverberated throughout the facility. The clone was surprised by his gene donor. It had never felt or even understood fear in its short life until it saw John unsheathed his combat knife and look at it. Such thoughts and feelings were quickly ignored because it was the superior being after all.

The eyes, it had never seen that look in the eyes of any other mortal. It didn’t feel human. John had a bestial look about him. The predatory feeling the clone had been feeling wasn’t as pure as it had been. John’s actions and body language weren’t that of prey, but of a predator as well. But who was the alpha in the room?

They began to pace in a circular fashion around the room. Neither would blink and they were both looking for an opening. But neither combatant wanted to make the initial attack, the risk of counterattack was too great. Both were calculating virtually every possibility that could come and neither was willing to move until their own head calculus resulted in an edge.

“You, you are so very different than the rest of the prey I’ve experienced,” the clone was euphoric in his speech, “How I’m going to enjoy defeating you. I am what you should have become, such a waste of potential you’ve been.”

John responded with a low guttural growl. He was almost reverting back into a feral state. But all the while he was looking for the right moment. John needed the clone to attempt to speak one more time, that was when he’d strike. That would be when he could end this farce.

The clone didn’t come to John’s conclusion and began to speak, “I will…”

John moved as swift as lightning. He jabbed a combat knife at the abomination’s head. The clone was stunned for but a single blink of an eye, but that wasn’t enough time to truly get through its defenses. The clone was surprised when it couldn’t deflect the blade, but it was able to use its right arm to deflect the blow. The clone threw a left punch to John's gut below the chest plate.

John caught the punch with his left fist and clamped down on the armored gauntlet. He went to drive the blade down through the gorget of the armor, but the clone caught his arm before and directed the blade safely away from the neck. They remained locked in place.

The clone was laughing evilly, “Look at us, two peas in a pod. Whatever you can think of I can as well. But unlike you, I’m still whole.”

The clone’s eyes glowed a faint blue. It was smiling and cackling like a madman. But then the mood soured immediately. Gone was the orgasmic feeling this fight was generating. It felt nothing when looking at John.

It looked closer at John through its psychic eye. In front of it, there was a paradox, John felt like a bottomless pit. Devoid of everything, were a telepath to venture in they’d be swallowed up by the darkness and utterly destroyed. A psychic black hole was swirling amongst that power armor.

“What… What are you?” the clone’s voice broke and was trembling.

The true alpha and predator of the room began to smile. This kind of smile was what a predator would have as it was hunting its prey. The clone, sheltered amongst inferior opponents, had become the hunted. The alpha had borne their fangs, and it would stop at nothing to spill his prey’s blood.