City of Heroes

Insight

So I'm like 90% sure I'm dead.

Everything is dark. 

I can't feel or see or smell or taste or hear anything at all. 

Just darkness and silence.

 I can barely tell the difference from when I'm awake or asleep. 

The lines between dream and reality are blurred.

Mostly, I'm just really, really bored.

I don't know how long I've been stuck here. Maybe a few hours. Maybe a few weeks. Guess it doesn't really matter. The entire time my mind has been in some sort of fuzzy limbo. I keep thinking about Levi. Then the next second my mind flashes to the Olympians. Then Finn and Circe and my father and Cammie and Mike and I can't focus on anything but the images just keeping flashing again and again in my head like an old slide projector.

More then anything I think about the fact that I'm the Prime. It's not possible. It can't be possible. I'm human... I think. The more I try to figure it out the fuzzier my head feels and whenever I think I'm about to figure it out the images start flashing again.

Finally, after what seems like both an infinity and no time at all, I see the light. Normally, they tell you not to go towards the light but at this point I'm so bored the afterlife seems like the better alternative.

It's a little speck at first that grow bigger and bigger until it engulfs me entirely.

Suddenly, I'm falling. I feel myself hit the ground and I'm to numb to move. It's like when you first wake up in the morning and your brain isn't all working yet. I'm paralyzed as I lay on the cool floor and try to make some sense of surroundings.

It looks like a doctors office. There's white floor and walls, a bunch of syringes against the wall, and an table in the center. Everything is sort of blurry and over exposed like when you open your eyes under water. I notice some figures walk in but I can't focus enough to make them out.

And then my brain makes an important realization as it registers that I can't breathe. I start coughing and use all my strength to claw at my throat where some tube is stuck down my mouth and blocking my airway.

"Someone help her before she chokes to death," someone says with little concern. I feel someone yank the tube out and I gasp for air. Someone else grab my arms and I'm lifted up and slammed onto the table. I can feel restrains tighten around my arms and legs.

I feel drugged. I can't move my legs or my arms. Can't open my mouth. . All I can do is sit here and stare at the ceiling. 

"Supers really are fascinating, aren't they? No need to answer, I know you can hear me," a familiar voice chimes. I can feel someone slide a needle into my forearm as I fight against the paralysis that's taken over me.

"Did you know all their powers come from their brains? They really aren't super strong or super fast or super durable, it all comes from right here," the owner of the voice taps my forehead with a long fingernail, "They can levitate heavy objects to be strong or create an invisible forcefield around them to be durable. That's why when they lift a car it doesn't crumple under the laws of physics or why if they take you flying you don't get your skin ripped off because of the speed."

Interesting. Given my current circumstances I could really care less but interesting none the less. I try to pinpoint the voice but it feels like my brain is moving through quicksand. I know that voice though...

"All our work was destroyed the Genesis Labs explosion," the voice continues, "The government program responsible for the Genesis Project recruited me in secret after the fact but I had to start everything from scratch. I did it, of course because I'm brilliant, but the Supers only lasted a few weeks because I couldn't replicate the Cure that stabilizes their genes. I needed the Prime, the first Super. Your little friend Finn wouldn't work, I needed to go back to the very beginning. That's you by the way."

I feel another stab in my arm. Are they taking blood? It's really not helping with the woozy head feeling.

The voice continues even without any input from me. "I bet you didn't know you were a clone. I didn't even know. You're father did a good job of keeping you secret but after Pollux came back covered in blood I did a little testing and realized you were the Prime all along. Mackenzie Reyes is the first clone, before we were making them powered of course, but your blood is the key to stabilizing all my Supers. That's why I had the Olympians hunt you down."

I'm a clone?! I try to yell out something but I can't remember how to move my mouth. This sucks. Really sucks. 

"Yes Mackenzie, you're a clone. Want to know a secret? You don't have a mom. The woman you thought was your mother, Evelyn, is just the person they took DNA from. You're not her daughter, you're her clone," the voice hesitates, "That's kind of harsh. Maybe I should have softened the news a bit... oh well."

It all makes so much sense. So much stupid sense. Everyone always said I looked just like my mom and they were all right because turns out I'm an exact copy. It feels like my heart has been ripped out. I thought my mom died when I was young but I loved her and now it's all been just a big lie. And if I'm a clone that means my dad isn't my real father either.

My entire world feels shattered. I'm not human. I don't have a mom. I don't have a dad. What about my life thus far has actually been truth?

"There are side effects," the voice continues, "Since the Cure uses your blood it creates an attachment. Whoever you stab with the Cure will form an automatic bond with you. They'll like you even if they don't realize why. They'll want to follow you and protect you and you may even feel a bond back. We used your blood to stabilize Finn and his blood to stabilize everyone else so right now anyone stuck with the Cure has that attachment to you."

Well that explains a lot. That's why I always got those weird feeling when Finn or Levi were around, like when I jumped out of the plane, or how I knew I could trust Circe or how I'm the only one who can tell Finn and Levi apart. It's because my blood created the Cure. Is that why Circe wanted to join me after I stuck her with the Cure?

Wait. Is that why I became so close with Finn and Levi so quickly? Is the only reason we're friends because of some weird cloning thing? Is that the only reason Levi and I like each other so much? Is our whole relationship a lie? If I wasn't paralyzed I'd be sick.

"It doesn't matter though," says the voice, "Once I get what I need I'll create my new and improved Cure, fix my supers, and kill you off. Then the Genesis Project can finally take off and the government will finally get their super soldier project they've been waiting for. Happy endings for everyone."

That's it. I use all my willpower to move my neck and look up. And there she is, standing in a white lab coat and staring down at me.

"Geeze, I knew you were evil but I never took you for the monologging type," I groan tiredly. Her face falls.

"Oh good you're up... and sarcastic as ever. Can't say I miss that. I liked you better when you were silent," she sneers.

"And I liked you better when you were dead."

Her lips form a thin line. "Nice Mackenzie. Joke all you want but you've already lost." 

She forcibly pulls out the needle and a thin line of blood drips down my still numb arms. Her blond hair is tied back into a long ponytail. She's still painfully pretty even with the new scar on her left cheek.

She's the one responsible for creating the Olympians, she's the one responsible for having me captured, and she's about to be responsible for killing me off:

Piper Green.

{a/n: Ooh Piper is the mastermind behind the Olympians? Anyone see this coming haha? Also, sort of a rough day for Mack. Thanks for reading!}

{Also, on an unrelated note: who do you guys picture playing the characters? Like if this were a movie. I have some people in my head but I'm curious what you all think!}