ONE'S A FAKE.

1774, NOVEMBER 28th, MONDAY 12:36 am.

For the past ten minutes, Noche and co made their way across silent halls full of putrid gasses and dripping green liquids. This was Vulture's floor — the bird of death whose DNA lead to the creation of all DeathTech soldiers. A creature whose flesh could mold itself into any form it desired; a creature that could not die.

It didn't take long to encounter the vats. Big glass tubes full of dough-like flesh which moved in ways more akin to clay than man. Creatures that ranged in development from fetal to full-grown adult — DeathTech soldiers. All floating in glowing blue liquid.

"Bruh. What is this stuff?"

"Grim gel," Boots said. "Some sort of super medicine — heals the body real fast."

Mary's eyes widened. "A super medicine? I could use that."

"Never... heard of it," Alice muttered.

"Makes sense. Once Noche's grandpa invented it, Edward kidnapped him."

"There's so many vats," Noche said. "I feel like we've encountered one in every hall now.

"Because we have. Edward's been gestating soldiers by the dozen," Boots said. "I don't know how long it takes him to grow a new one — but from how many I've encountered, he doesn't have many."

"With how powerful they are, he better now have many," Noche said. "Even I'm struggling to kill them... If he had a bunch we'd be screwed."

"I heard something," Vida said.

Everyone hushed. There was a long pause of silence interrupted by the dripping of a liquid.

"W-What was that?" Tak whispered.

"Footsteps," Vida said. "Getting closer."

"Everyone hide," Boots said.

The party moved into the nearest room and closed the door. Tak peaked out the crack and waited. He was motionless for a long time before turning to the group.

"I-It's the anglerfish soldier," he said. "He's back — and roaming the halls."

Noche frowned and swallowed.

"Bruh! Why won't he leave us alone," Mary said in hushed tones.

"He really wants to kill Noche," Vida nodded. "Understandable."

"Hey!" Noche shouted at hushed volumes.

Boots grimaced. "If the anglerfish soldier is back — it'll head straight for Vulture's room."

"We need to cut Ang off then?" Jack asked.

The orange-haired boy nodded.

Tak slid the door open. One by one, the group left. All except Noche who frowned at the hallway. Her form shook a small bit; Jack turned back and his eyes softened.

"It's ok Noche," he said. "We're all here with you. Ang won't get you."

She closed her eyes, grit her teeth, and took a trembling step into the hall. Tak paused; his eyes lingered on the two.

"I don't need your help," she muttered. "I'm fine."

Her eyes fell on the floor and she stared beyond it.

"I'm fine."

Vulture's room was close, taking less than a handful of minutes to reach. It was a massive room in width and length, but the ceiling was the smallest thus far at about fifteen feet tall. It was larger than Owl's bee-hive room but much smaller than Dove's one mile cubed of a room.

What made Vulture's room stand out was the array of vats — giant glass test tubes full of developing DeathTech soldiers. Ranging from embryonic, to fetal, to full-grown adults. They floated in a collection of sea-foam green Grim gel that had discolored from near expiration.

The floors were made of ceramic tile, the kid used in a public shower, and they were all inclined downwards towards a massive drain in the center. Opposite to that chains covered every inch of the ceiling and some hung like wild vines in a jungle.

However, none of this mad scientist clone lab caught their eyes. For the main attraction that everyone's gaze full upon — were the two Shaylins standing a few feet ahead of them.

"Gee golly gosh!" They both smiled. "Took you all long enough!"

Everyone was stunned except for Boots.

"Shaylin! Shaylins?" Noche said. "What's going on? How did you get here?"

"Oh! Well after I beat Owl, I went through — Dove? Was it? I went through Dove's room," Shaylin one said.

"However, her room was empty. So I got on the next elevator and made a beeline for here." Shaylin two said.

"Ahh, thank you Shaylin," one said.

"You're welcome Shaylin," two said.

"Oh god, she can do mitosis," Noche grumbled. "Two of em... Now I got to deal with two of em."

"Is everything ok, Noche?" Both Shaylins smirked.

The blonde glared and frowned; both of the gingers giggled.

"When I got here the room was empty. I was about to enter the elevator when this Shaylin appeared," one said.

"Hello! It's the same for me, except this Shaylin was waiting for me when I got here," two said.

"I was doing some calculations to figure out what was going on—"

"— GEE GOLLY GOSH! Me too!"

"Golly, really!"

"Yeah!"

"Oh my gosh, twinsies!"

"If you both keep talking like this, I will kill myself," Noche said.

Both Shaylin chuckled. "We were both doing calculations, albeit separately, to comprehend our current predicament."

"Shaylins, I need you both to step away from each other," Boots's face paled as he spoke. "Far away from each other."

Both gingers raised an eyebrow, stared at each other, and did just that; the orange-haired boy let out a sigh of relief.

"Remember when I said Vulture is like the father of all DeathTech soldiers? Remember when I said his ability is he can manipulate biomass?" Boots said. "Well, we've all seen what normal DeathTech soldiers can do — Vulture can take it a step further."

"What are you saying bruh?"

"Vulture can do more than just absorb a person... He can become them," Boots said. "He can alter his DNA so perfectly that he can clone someone. Complete with all that person's skills... and memories"

Noche blinked. "Are you saying..."

He nodded. "When Vulture shape-shifts into someone else, he doesn't just become that person... He believes he is that person."

"Wait, if Vulture is mindless," Jack paused. "Then how is he able to become someone?"

"His original form is mindless, but his disguises are not." Boots said. "At those times Vulture is more like their subconscious, only distorted."

"... Comforting," Alice whispered.

"You know, it's ok to speak up more," Mary said.

Alice shook her head. "Don't wanna."

Mary crossed her arms, rose her eyes towards the ceiling, and slide them to the side.

"Boots is right — Both Shaylin's are identical. In every way," Vida grinned. "They have the same aura, the same heart rate, even the same smell... I can't tell them apart."

"Fuck!" Noche shouted. "So one is a mindless, skin pulling, beast and the other is Vulture."

Both Shaylins exploded with laughter.

"It's like annoying in stereo," Noche griped.

Vida chuckled as the blonde fumed.

"T-Then how will we tell the difference?" Tak said. "Which Shaylin is ours?"

The faces of both Shaylins lit up at the same time.

"You said Vulture manipulates biomass?" Both gingers asked. "What about my cybernetic limb?"

Two black arms with neon green lights rose into the air like two students in a high school competing to get called on.

"Vulture can manipulate flesh to a degree that it appears identical to any substance," Boots said.

A grin emerged on Shaylin one's face as her cybernetic arm rose to her left eye.

"It may appear the same," her smile widened. "But is it functional?'

She pressed the robotic eye and a hologram began projecting. It showed her recent fight against Owl and a few scientific-looking charts that analyzed his ability on multiple levels.

"I learned a lot from Owl. Recorded the whole fight too," she said.

"Smart as you are attractive, you sexy vixen." Shaylin two said.

"Oh stop it," one blushed.

"No, you stop it."

"Please kill me," Noche said.

"Fortunately, I also recorded my fight." Shaylin two said.

She raised her cybernetic left eye and pressed her eye.

Shaylin two screamed.

Her finger shot away from her eye, which was red and watering.

"Wait — What's going on? My eye's not cybernetic? It's real?" Shaylin two's face went pale. "This doesn't mean — it can't mean."

The original Shaylin, the true Shaylin, looked aghast and took a few steps away from her doppelganger.

"No, NO! It can't be! I'm me! I'm real!" Shaylin two said. "I can't be a clone — I'm not Vulture. I'm me! I have all these memories... I... I."

Her voice faltered as skin began to melt. Bits of skull were revealed under wide eyes, a pale face, and an expression of undistilled terror.

"Please... I'm me... I don't want to—"

The clone melted into a bubbling puddle. Skin fizzed as acrid smoke rose from liquid muscle and bone. What was once a fun twin was now a small wad of tissue and veins. A pus-filled sack that pulsated like an exposed heart.

Real Shaylin turned and almost vomited.

"Wh-What the fudge is this syrup?" she muttered.

"RUN!" Boots yelled.

Everyone did so as the boneless sack of flesh took on a new form.

It was a sphere of green skin with clown red hair. Bits of the skin became what appeared to be clothing — a white tracksuit with dual red strips that went all the way down to its sides. Its arms were as large as its body and most of its head was a mouth.

A line split the torso and opened up to second, larger mouth. A tongue bigger than Noche slid out of the unhinged maw in this thing's chest. The creature looked more like a living ball with a mouth, and the dangling limbs were a side piece.

"C-Consuuume," it said.

Drool cascaded from both mouths. Spilling saliva on the floor by the bucketfuls.

"CONSUUUME!"

Needless to say, everyone ran faster.

Boots was first to reach the elevator. He kicked the button and turned towards the group. Vida was at his side in a flash, but everyone else had plenty of running to do. Jack was dead last.

Noche stopped running and turned to face the monster. She summoned the Omni-Oar to her side as Vulture approached.

The bird of death smashed glass cylinders aside like flies. Each vat exploded into a shower of glass and green goo — the growing DeathTech soldier inside absorbed into Vulture's growing biomass. A bull in a china shop could not cause as much damage as Vulture did now as it approached Noche.

The blonde grit her teeth, swung, and extended her dark blade. From a good distance away it grew thirty feet and cut Vulture's legs off. The monster slammed onto the floor and both mouths grinned.

It grabbed its severed legs and began eating them. Tearing away at his own flesh like a starving lion who just killed a gazelle.

For a moment Noche was mesmerized by the viciousness of this things gluttony. Meat ripped into thin strands of twine before being swallowed. Before she could blink a new pair of legs had regenerated and Vulture was done with its meal.

"Consume! Consuuume!"

Viscous drool fell out of its mouth like a facet turned to max. Noche's eyes widened as the thing ran towards her. Expanding as it did so. Noche slammed her sword into the ground and used Instant Riptide to get away from the wall of flesh.

In a moment's notice, she caught up to Jack. The blonde let go of the sword, grabbed Jack, and threw the screaming lad onto her back.

"Noche?! Oh thank god, it's Noche!" He cried. "Did you kill it?"

She shook her head, grit her teeth, and scowled. "My sword won't work here — it's like trying to cut water."

The muscles in Noche's leg bulged and she took off. Jack tightened his limbs around the blonde as she carried him piggyback style. Everything around them became a blur as Noche sped up — running at incredible speeds.

"You can run sixty miles per hour?!"

"I can?!" She shouted. "How can you tell that?'

"These vats are on a grid — they have an exact distance from each other," he said. "Since you're running at a constant speed, I counted the time between tubes."

Noche blinked. "That's impressive!"

"You're impressive!" He said. "You can run as fast as a cheetah, lift two tons, and created a lake a mile long!"

Jack's head turned towards the side, away from Noche's slight gaze on him.

"All I can do is math — and chemistry," he said. "But you... When I last saw you, you were a skeleton. Now you're super human. It's nothing short of amazing! You're amazing."

Noche's face tinted, her head snapped back to the road before her as a smile emerged on her face. Tak, who was lingering behind to keep an eye on the blonde, frowned at the blushing girl. His eyes softened and his run began to slow down.

"CONSUUUME!"

An explosion occurred on Vulture's back — three, octopus-like tentacles emerged from its spine. In place of suction cups were gnarled spikes. Whips of flesh lashed out at everything nearby; groups of vats exploded and the embryos inside were absorbed.

The elevator doors opened.

"Hurry!" Boots yelled.

Noche forced her legs to move as fast as they could — but she froze when a hail of bullets flew past her.

"No — Not here. Not now," she muttered.

Jack was a distant, muted noise as she turned around; the anglerfish soldier had come. Thousands of yellow shooting stars flew past her as it aimed its barrage towards her.

"NOCHE!"

She snapped out of it and stared at Jack.

"We have to keep moving!" He yelled. "It'll be ok! I'm here."

The blonde stared at him. He was significantly weaker than her, yet his words filled her with confidence. She trusted him. Noche nodded, turned, and ran. Both she and Jack were surprised when Tak ran past them.

"Tak! What are you doing!" Noche yelled.

"Just go!" He shouted; his eyes flickered to Jack. "I'll protect Noche! GO!"

Prismatic energy surrounded the scowling immortal — A massive wall of ice erupted from the floor. Blocking the path of Vulture and the anglerfish soldier. She stood there for a moment, but Jack shook her.

"Trust him — we have to go!" He said.

Noche frowned, before nodding. The two of them left the immortal behind. Tak took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and calmed.

"This time, I'll save you, Noche." He whispered.

The ice exploded. Shards flew past Tak's face cutting it up and sending streams of blood everywhere. He maintained his calm and gathered his focus. His eyes snapped open and he threw a punch. It slammed into Vulture and their combined flesh began to fuse together.

"Momentum redirection," he muttered.

Vulture exploded into a hundred strands of goo.

"Consuuuuume."

Noche and Jack were last into the elevator. He jumped down as the blonde turned towards Tak.

"RUN!"

He turned towards the group as a hail of bullets penetrated his chest. Tak fell to his knees as the anglerfish soldier stepped over him. The immortal grit his teeth and created a thick layer of ice over the elevator's entrance.

Noche's palms slammed onto the ice and she stared. The elevator doors began closing as the anglerfish soldier turned towards the immortal. He smiled as the elevator slammed shut. It began its descent.

A hand landed on Noche's shoulder.

"He'll... He'll be alright bruh," Mary said.

"I know," she muttered. "I know..."

Another hand landed on her shoulder. Noche raised her head to Jack, who gave her a soft smile. A hand landed on her head and she glared at Shaylin who grinned ear to ear. Behind her, Vida held a smirk and Boots, whose only emotion was despair and angst, seemed calm. Even Alice nodded without a trace of concern.

The blonde shook everyone off and chuckled.

"You better catch up quickly, Tak." She smiled.