'Defective?' Na'eem twitched.
That wasn't Yuxi.
And Na'eem was glad that the real Yuxi was asleep when the fake when fell to the floor, smouldering. She lit up in a dark red flame, her skin melting and her bones turning to ash in a matter of seconds.
Where she'd been moments before, a bomb ticked. Na'eem cursed, they'd even expected he'd do this. He took cover behind the steel doors, the bomb let of a loud ringing sound. A siren went off, it was only a matter of minutes before half the base would be here.
'AH!' Yuxi woke up with a start, Na'eem jumped.
She looked around, shaking her hands.
'Don't you think I've sl- ' she coughed, 'Slept enough?'
She did look upset for once, the placid look in her eyes gone. There was life. And anger. Well-deserved anger.
'This is your genius plan to get us out!?' she yelled over the sound of the siren.
'I didn't see you coming up with a better one!' Na'eem yelled back, but secretly he felt happy on the inside.
'We could have—I don't know—waited!' Yuxi groaned, slapping her hand against the metal door and wincing in pain, 'Maybe Isaak had a...'
Her voice stopped, Na'eem wondered if she'd finally had a change of heart.
'Na'eem...' her voice shook, she grabbed against his arm.
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Na'eem looked back. He should have honestly expected this, he didn't know why he felt so surprised.
A second Na'eem looked up at him.
Na'eem raised his hand, a trickle of flame growing larger in a split-second.
'W-Wait!' the second Na'eem lifted up his hands defensively, 'I'm not here to fight... you two.'
Na'eem looked at Na'eem number two curiously.
Na'eem two scratched his head nervously, 'We're all here to save you both.'
'We're?' Yuxi asked, her nails digging deeper into Na'eem's skin,
'Us, the defects, inhumans, whatever you want to call it,' Na'eem two said, 'This place is where they made most of us'
Gunfire sounded out from a distance.
'They're all fighting out there, as many as we could gather.' Na'eem two continued, 'We just need you and her' he pointed at Yuxi.
'Me-Me?' Yuxi stammered, 'Why?'
'You're one of a kind, Yuxi.' Na'eem two said, 'Of all the copies, you're the only one that they said had any chance of defecting.'
'And we trust you— just because?' Na'eem interjected, liquid fire still dripping from his palms. The atmosphere was tense, he could hear explosions sounding off behind him.
'Because I'm you!' Na'eem two said, though unconvincingly, 'Also because of this'
He held out both of his hands, well stumps is more accurate.
'See,' he waved violently, 'No fire.'
Na'eem was a bit taken aback, he didn't think that he (or even a copy of him) could be incapacitated so easily. Still, it was a semi-valid reason.
'So what do you want us to do?' Na'eem asked.
'Are we just going to listen to him?' Yuxi whispered to Na'eem, 'This seems sketchy.'
'We're going underground; there's a place you both need to destroy.'
'You have any better ideas?' Na'eem whispered to Yuxi.
'Well... no, not really,' she turned a light shade of red and then whispered, 'We could just run away.'
But Na'eem didn't hear that last part.
Na'eem followed after his copy, motioning Yuxi to follow after him. If there was a way to destroy this place then he'd be free in more ways then one. It would be a freedom that was deeper than just running away. He wouldn't have to think about here ever again.
So he followed.
He didn't question how the door was open or why the soldiers that should've been guarding them were already dead.
Because he was inclined to trust himself, it was all he'd ever had.