Chapter Two

Monarch's eyes snapped open to a bright light, not unlike the one in his sleep chamber. But this one didn't flicker. As Monarch sat up, he realized he was in a small room with two glass windows in each wall to his left and right. Both windows gave a view of identical rooms, once of which had a little girl inside sitting on the edge of her hospital bed. When she noticed Monarch looking at her, she hopped down and pressed her face to the glass. Monarch recognized this room as the same hospital room he'd woken up in when he fell into the coma at age ten.

In curiosity, Monarch too stepped out of his bed, and made his way over to her. She was wearing white scrubs just like his.

"Hi," she said. A friendly grin etched itself onto her face.

"Hey. Are you another subject?"

She nodded. "I'm Subject Erebia. Spelled E-R-E-B-I-A," she said cheerfully. Monarch didn't think her name sounded the way it was spelled. It was pronounced 'Ah-ree-bee-ah,' but he would have pronounced it as 'Aira-bee-ah' if he'd only had the spelling to go by.

Erebia shared a striking resemblance to Monarch, with copper hair and mint eyes to match his, although he was never told there were other subjects besides Acmon and himself. The girl couldn't have been older than five, although he guessed she was a little younger than that. Her hair was tied into two pigtails on either side of her head with green ribbon. If she truly was a subject, the ribbons alone were strange; He'd certainly never had the privilege of decorating himself in such a way.

"What are you doing here, Erebia? Did you get sick?"

She nodded. "Professor Ern made me take a test. It burned. He wanted me in here while my Meta-Gene calms down. It made my body hurt."

"It burned? What do you mean?"

"They made me dream. My dream was full of fire," she said.

Monarch inhaled in horror. He only started the stress experiments when he was ten- not this little. "Erebia, how old are you?"

"Four," she said, smiling.

A familiar chill ran down Monarch's spine, not unlike the way he felt when he learned he was being subjected to the stress experiment. He had no time to react, however; The door to his hospital room opened and a scientist stepped inside.

"Subject Monarch, we're going to examine you, and send you back to your chamber with Subject Acmon," she said nonchalantly. She jotted something down on a clipboard.

"Who's that girl?" he asked.

The scientist flipped the paper over to write something underneath. "That's Subject Erebia. She was created a few years ago to test a new version of the Meta-Gene," she said. She pressed her stethoscope to Monarch's chest. "Normal heartbeat. Have a seat," she said.

Monarch obeyed and she began a reflex test on his leg. "I didn't know there were other subjects. How many others are there?"

"Just you three. Let me examine your spine."

"Monarch, there you are!" Acmon said upon Monarch's entrance into the room. He ran to his brother and threw his arms around him. "What did they do to you? Anything?"

"I just woke up in the hospital room like last time. But there was a little girl. Subject Erebia," he said.

"There's more subjects besides us? What was she like?"

"She was four. She had two ribbons tied into her hair, and she's got a more upgraded version of the Meta-Gene, from what I've heard."

"What was she doing in the hospital room? I didn't think they started experiments until an older age."

"That's what I thought. I guess the Professor is doing things differently with her."

Acmon gritted his teeth. "That's wrong. It's so wrong. Messed up."

Monarch hugged himself and sunk his head. "I know," he muttered.

"You know? So you agree? Man, if you agree! We gotta do something!" Acmon said.

"I just want to lay down, Ac," Monarch said quietly. He dropped himself onto his bed and pulled the covers over himself. He felt Acmon sit beside him.

"Damn, what did they do to you? That experiment really messed you up," Acmon said.

"What do you mean? I'm fine," Monarch said.

"Mon, this is your clone you're talking to. I know when something ain't right with you. Do you want to tell me what you saw in that simulation?"

Monarch clenched his pillow. "I saw you die. The Professor killed you."

"That's messed up. I just went to sleep and woke up. The nurse said it didn't work on me. Guess I'm not afraid of anything." He looked to the ground. "I guess when you don't have anything to lose, and you don't care what happens to you anymore, that happens."

Monarch lifted his head and jerked it in Acmon's direction. "You don't care if I die?"

"I care. But you're too much of a goody-two-shoes. I don't have to be afraid of something that isn't going to happen."

Monarch rested his head back down. "Is this going to happen to Erebia? Is she going to stop caring, too?"

"No idea. But you need to promise me something," Acmon said.

He turned back to Acmon. "What?"

"Promise me you won't give up. What they do to us here, it isn't right. Don't forget that you're a human being, Monarch. I don't want you to stop caring about yourself. Don't be like me."

Monarch chuckled. "Too bad we're clones."

Acmon grabbed Monarch in a headlock. "Is that the sound of disobedience I hear? Gee, Monarch! I thought you were supposed to do what you're told!" he rubbed his knuckles into Monarch's scalp.

Monarch struggled against him, but his brother was much stronger than he was- a power he'd gained when he was twelve. His bulging muscles almost warranted a larger shirt size when his body morphed to accommodate his new strength. Monarch was powerless under Acmon's strong arms.

"No! Let me go! You might activate the Meta-Gene!" Monarch laughed.

They two of them fell onto the bed in a fit of laughter.

"You might finally become as strong as me, you toothpick," Acmon laughed.

"Hey, at least I can fit through the door!"

Another bout of laughter followed, after which, Acmon picked up a pillow and swung it at Monarch. The force of the pillow sent Monarch tumbling off the bad. He too grabbed a pillow and promptly swung it in retaliation.

Acmon ripped the pillow from Monarch's hands. "What's this? The breadstick thinks he can beat me in a pillow-fight? Tis' nothing but a love tap!"

The abrupt entrance of Vega interrupted Acmon's next attempt at a swing. He dropped the pillow. "Hi, Vega."

The android nodded at her name. Though she did not have a mouth, she would have smiled. "I've been asked to bring you to the lunch room."

"Alright, coming," Acmon said. The two of them followed Vega down the hall.

"Hey, Vega?" Monarch asked.

"Yes, Subject Monarch? How can I assist you?"

"What do you know about Subject Erebia?"

Vega stopped in the middle of the hallway and spun around. Monarch jumped back in surprise; He'd never witnessed such a reaction from a robot before.

"You're not supposed to know about her. How did you find out?" Vega asked. Her monotone voice was exactly the same as it had ever been. Very rarely did the personal care android ever show any other emotion besides cheer, but this was a first. Monarch wasn't even aware that she was capable of shock.

"I saw her in the hospital room. You know her?"

"I'm the personal care android for every subject in this facility. Of course I know her. You aren't supposed to."

"Then why was she right next to my hospital room?"

"A mistake, likely. You two were never supposed to know of the other's existence."

"What? Why not?"

"That's classified information. Onto the lunch room," Vega demanded.

"What? C'mon, Vega. Please?" Acmon asked.

"Very rare I hear that word from your mouth, Subject Acmon," the robot said. "The Professor doesn't want you to form an emotional attachment the way you did with each other. He believes it would get in the way of research."

Vega gave him no more time to ask another question, and led the two of them to the lunch room.

Monarch's eyes shut and then opened again for the millionth time. His bedtime was two hours ago, but the last thing he wanted was to fall asleep. He'd grown to hate the feeling of sinking into unconsciousness. He knew he could ask for a sleep pill from Vega, but that seemed unappealing right now. Instead, he chose to get up.

Since their bedroom door was always locked at night, Monarch initially didn't think there was much for him to do besides read- but as he approached the automatic door, he remembered the simulation.

He scolded himself. No. Unlocking this door would be a direct violation of the rules- if Professor Ern found out, he could be terminated.

"Mon?" Acmon sleepily whispered. He turned in bed. "What are you doing over there?"

"I can open the door. It's my new power. I just... I dunno..."

Acmon shot up in bed. "Do it. Just try it."

"Well... okay." He pressed his hands to the door again, and his mind once again shifted. His hands lit up again, and he commanded the doors to part. He stared in awe when it actually worked.

"You know, I hate being a test subject. But the Meta-Gene sure has it's benefits," Acmon said. He stepped toward the door.

"Acmon, I don't think we should leave. What if there are cameras?"

"You just hijacked the computer security system. Surely you can delete footage?" Acmon stepped through the doorway and into the hall. "Look, Monarch, I'm escaping! You better come get me." Acmon began down the hall.

"Ac, this isn't funny! We could be terminated for this!" He had no choice now; He had to go make sure Acmon didn't get himself into trouble or the unthinkable would happen. He wasn't sure how much more the Professor would tolerate from him.

He followed the sound of Acmon's footsteps down the hall until he reached the elevator. Acmon waited eagerly in front of it. Monarch didn't need to ask what he wanted. "Ac, are you crazy?"

Acmon laughed. "A little."

Monarch sighed and opened the elevator door. After disabling and erasing the last ten minutes of footage from all the cameras he could find, they entered the elevator. Acmon pressed the button for the second floor.

The second floor consisted of mostly lab rooms, other projects, and the hospital where Monarch had been earlier that day. Acmon went straight to the hospital section of the floor.

"Why are we going here? This place is filled with cameras!" Monarch said.

"You said Erebia is here. I want to see her. Which hospital room was she in?"

Monarch stopped walking. "Are you insane? She's a young child. She could rat us out if she sees us- Why do you even want to see her?"

"Curious. I kinda also want to find out some information about her. If she's really got an upgraded version of the Meta-Gene, why would Professor Ern need us?"

"Know what? I have a better idea. I've gotten the hang of this power of mine. If we can find Vega, I'll be able to see any information she might have since Vega is a robot."

"Isn't Vega somewhat sentient? Are you sure that's moral?"

"It's a better idea than snooping around the lab after hours. I don't want us to get terminated."

"I don't want Vega to hate us! She's got feelings, you know. C'mon. The girl's probably asleep. Let's go."

Monarch groaned as Acmon continued on his way to Erebia's room. He knew that nothing he said would stop Acmon now that he'd made his mind up. To lower the risk of them getting caught, he told Acmon the room number so they wouldn't be in the hospital any longer than they needed to be.

Acmon peered through the door window when they reached the room. "Definitely asleep. She has a helmet on. I think it's connecting to a machine. Is she in a simulation?"

Monarch took a look. Erebia was indeed asleep, with some kind of metal helmet. The wire protruding from the back connected to a machine next to her bed.

"I don't think that's a simulation. They don't use helmets for those. What is that?"

"You're the new found tech expert. Why don't you find out?"

"You want us to go inside?"

He groaned but opened the door anyway. Careful not to wake Erebia, he pressed his hand to the helmet.

He could tell that information was being transmitted into Erebia's brain, but not enough to control a simulation. In fact, he felt the helmet doing something else. The helmet was wiping bits of information from Erebia's brain.

"They're erasing her memories. It must be the memory of me. What else could it be?"

"Turn it off! Stop it!" Acmon nearly yelled.

"Acmon, what do you think the Professor will do to her if it doesn't work? She's four. You seriously think she'll keep her mouth shut?"

"We can't just let them do this! This is... terrible!"

"We have no choice. She'll meet a worse fate if we interfere."

Acmon walked away from the bed and pressed his hands to the wall. He gave a long sigh that turned into a groan before finally becoming a grimace. The look on his face was one of complete utter defeat. "And why do you think they'd stop at her? We're next, Monarch! Don't you get it? How many of our memories have they erased? Our lives here, they're not ours. We belong to Helix Tech just like those rats. They can do whatever they want to us! I can't do this anymore, Mon."

"It won't always be so bad. Once they understand the Meta-Gene, they're going to let us go."

Acmon dropped his head. "If nothing gets better soon, I won't wait."

It greatly pained Monarch to see Acmon in such a way. Acmon was always the stronger of the two, but this was too much, even for him.

The heavy moment was abruptly interrupted by the sound of the door creaking open.