“Oh, blah, blah, blah.”
Wow. Hoped Jeff wasn’t having fantasies about a threesome with Francine right now, because she was doing an amazing impersonation of me. Then again, the only fantasies my team were probably having were of magnificent rescue.
Cliff cackled. Yeah, he was fully around the bend. “You put me in this chair! You’re going to suffer as I have. Slowly, though not as slowly as I’d like. We do have a timetable to keep to.”
Interesting. He thought Francine was me. The others mistaking us made sense. But I’d known Cliff for years and, epically good as she was, Francine shouldn’t have fooled him. Others, yes, but not Cliff.
“Leave her alone,” Chuckie growled. “You’ve got me. Why does anyone else have to suffer?”
“Because they love you,” Cliff said, as if it was obvious. “And no one should love you. Ever.” He rolled over to be closer to Chuckie while two of the Reids pulled Francine out of the pack and dragged her to a couple of iron rings on the floor. She struggled, but A-C or not, she wasn’t able to shake them off. Remembered that the Reid and LaRue teenagers we’d met had indicated that they had A-C DNA spliced into their genes. Meaning they’d be stronger than any human and probably stronger than any single A-C other than Jeff.
“This is all your fault,” Cliff said to Chuckie, sounding like a petulant child. “All of it. You’ve always thought you were better than me, and now, now I’m finally going to prove once and for all that you’re not. I’m going to torture and murder the only person you’ve had who’s always stood by you, your one true love, your best friend, and make you watch. Then I’m going to create androids out of those four,” he indicated Jeff and the others. “And then, then I’m going to do something I’m really going to enjoy.”
“What’s that?” Chuckie asked, managing to sound bored.
“I’m going to use my new baby,” he patted the Killer Octopus, “to turn you into a moron.”
“Come again?” Francine asked, as the Reids chained her ankles to the iron rings. My music changed to “Listen Like Thieves” by INXS.
Cliff turned his wheelchair to look at her. “I’m going to zap your beloved’s brain. We’ll take him down a few notches. He won’t get to be a gibbering idiot, because then he wouldn’t remember. He’ll just be too stupid to do anything about it. He’ll be my toy for the rest of his sad, stupid life.”
“That’s not possible,” Chuckie said. But I heard the fear, just a little.
“Anything’s possible,” Cliff said, turning back to him. “Other than her loving you more than the alien. That’s not possible in this or any other world.”
Patently untrue, as Bizarro World had shown. And I knew Chuckie knew it. But he looked frightened, hurt, and angry. So it was an act, and he was leading Cliff on to get more intel. At least, I hoped.
“You’re lying,” Chuckie said.
“I’m not. Trust me, I’m going to show you soon enough. Three hits and your IQ will be under a hundred. Far enough under that you won’t be able to figure out how to escape, not that we’ll ever give you the means or the opportunity. And you won’t be able to figure out how to kill yourself to escape, either. But you’ll remember that it’s your fault all your friends are dead.”
“How can you be sure of that?” Chuckie asked.
Cliff leaned closer to him. “Because I’ll remind you every, single hour of every, single day.”
CHAPTER 87
MY MUSIC CHANGED to R.E.M.’s “Imitation of Life.” Wondered why Algar was telling me that there were clones here. I kind of already knew. Didn’t need to hear a song about psychopaths, either, because I was quite clear that I was looking at half a room full of them.
“Earth is finally joining the rest of the galaxy,” Jeff said, possibly to get Cliff’s attention off of Chuckie. “Why are you so hell-bent on destroying that?”
Cliff cackled again, but he did indeed turn away from Chuckie. “Oh, I’m not going to destroy that. I’m going to watch this world burn and then I’m going to take my place as the ruler of the galaxy.”
“Megalomaniac much?” Tim asked. “Some people start with successfully running a country or something first.”
Cliff shrugged. “And some don’t. Really, we need to get things rolling,” he said to LaRue. “We do have—”
“A timetable to keep to.” LaRue sounded bored and annoyed. “Do you say anything else anymore?”
“Someone undoubtedly has their part to play, too,” Reader said. “Don’t forget Cliff’s other favorite phrase.” LaRue snorted a laugh while Cliff glared. And squinted. That was it. His eyesight had been damaged along with the rest of him. He couldn’t see Francine clearly enough to note the differences. Everyone was acting like Francine was me, so Cliff was assuming they were correct.
“The aliens coming next are going to destroy everyone,” White said. “You won’t be immune.”
Cliff, LaRue, and all the Reids all chortled. “Yes, the ones coming will indeed help me destroy everything,” Cliff said. “We’re looking very forward to their arrival.”
“I meant the ones these others are fleeing,” White clarified, keeping the monologuing alive.
“Oh, we have that handled,” LaRue said. “You all always aim so low.” She shook her head. “You could have ruled this world. And all you did was cower in your underground buildings and help humanity.” She got a lot of sneer into that sentence.
“We understand that you’re not the altruistic type,” White said calmly. “Though, honestly, I fail to see how you have a hope against the Aicirtap. You might be a Z’porrah spy or, rather, your original was. But you mean nothing to the Aicirtap.”
The music changed again. To the Beastie Boys’ “Rhymin and Stealin.” Had no idea where Algar was going with this now at all.
“I’m a real person,” LaRue said defensively. “So are they,” she indicated the Reids.
“That’s why you made twenty-five of him and only one of you?” Reader asked.
“More of me means I get to have more fun,” the Reid who was likely to be the Original Clone said. He pulled Adriana out of the group. “I want this one. Every one of us wants this one.”
“Sure,” Cliff said. “I’ll enjoy watching.”
“Leave her alone,” Buchanan growled.
“You wish,” LaRue said. “I think we want to do whatever to the ladies first. So all their protective men can watch helplessly while Lev does what he does best to them. Repeatedly.”
My body felt cold. Better than anyone here, I knew exactly what Reid wanted to do to Francine, Adriana, and, if he caught me, me. Rahmi, too, if she shifted to show she was a woman. And I could not allow that. But I had literally no idea of what to do.
“How did you make all the clones?” Adriana asked. “We destroyed your lab.”
LaRue’s eyes got wide. “You were there. I can’t wait for Lev to rip you apart.”