B3 — 67. Unsavory Discovery

AuthorSME

POV:

1: Rachel Park (our Lunar Hare!)

Recap: Rachel and the gang found out who the imposter was the hard way ... the Cahira in their group was the imposter the entire time, but she didn't know it until the moment she decided to betray them.

Rachel gets teleported into a closed box that takes her to a new place, and eventually, she figures out how the runes walls worked.  Moving within a specific pattern activates them in a repeatable way.  She discovers Cahira close by, but doesn't know if it's the fake or not, and leads an insanely powerful monster to the room she figured out how to open and close, locking it in.

Recovering from the terrifying encounter with a monster far, far outside their level range, Rachel returns to confront Cahira, discovering she was the imposter after all, but instead of killing her, Rachel decided to act the imposter herself.

What can she learn from this fake?

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The gears working in Rachel’s mind were on overdrive as she lowered her foot from the fake Cahira’s head.  Cahira’s smile was only widening with her false confession, and Rachel figured the woman would want some kind of proof, but many other scenarios were running through the Lunar Hare’s brain.

Rachel’s narrowed eyes fell to the floor as she backed away, arms folding in a brooding manner.  “... I was the imposter the entire time.”

She could still see the Pirate Queen cupping her lower chin; questions were probably swirling around in her own mind regarding her surprise revelation.

I don’t see the actual Cahira responding like this if she weren’t the imposter.  She’s a person to take risks, but not dumb ones like this, which begs the question, why did she crack and tell me?  Her actions line up with someone that wishes to do us harm…

The woman’s actions over the past few hours were mostly what Cahira would have done.  She was adventurous and not afraid to speak her mind, but everything she wished to accomplish would also be meaningless if she were an imposter.

Rachel slowly dropped to her butt, ears tilted left while pondering the next best action to take; Cahira would only know about her personality through Maria.

“Hmm … this makes things complicated,” she mumbled.

Cahira mirrored her, dropping down, cross-legged.  “I’d say it be more complicated than it be needin’ ta be,” she smirked, blue eyes wandering to the side of the passage.  “Ya actually took care of the beastie that was waitin’ around.  How’d ya manage ta conquer that monster?”

“I trapped it in the transportation room I awoke in … that’s not important, though.  How are we going to fulfill the task?”

“Oh, the task,” Cahira mused, leaning left and right.  “I be interested in yer plan!  Ya seem ta be a smart cookie, but … how’d ya figure the little symbol puzzle out.  I can get the idea if yer head be fillin’ with the gobbly-goop of this here maze,” she chuckled, spinning her hands in a circle at the walls, “but if ya just figured out yer on mi side … hmm, how’d ya use the room without the know-how?”

Rachel slowly nodded, giving Cahira a small smile.  “Ah, good question, Cahira.  I would expect you to be somewhat dubious about the same process … after all, we can kill each other without issue.”

Her grin became grim.  “In fact, I would have had others been watching; it would have cemented my position within the group.”

“Hehe, cold,” Cahira snickered.  “Mmh, I suppose such an action would be the way ta lower the crew’s guard … aye, it be a sound plan.  Ya don’t seem ta be too thrilled by the outcome, though, mi brightly lit lass,” she pushed.  “What be on yer mind?”

Rachel’s brow came together, and she tried to put herself in her own shoes if killing everyone she knew was her purpose in life while remaining inconspicuous.  A chilling vibe melded through her body as her thoughts realigned to break her new role down.

“Our real counterparts don’t know each other all that; well, Cahira,” she stated, glowing red eclipse-like eyes digging into the woman’s curious irises.  “I like having a plan … a direction and your chaotic nature has thrown a thorn in a relatively decent trap that could have been executed.”

“Ah, so I messed up, be it?”  Cahira chuckled, scratching the back of her neck before playing with her braided hair.  “Mi skin was feelin’ chills with the sudden knowledge, mi long-eared friend.  All mi head knew was mi desire ta divide and conquer!  I got a bit of hidden firepower, but nothin’ that be close ta be doin’ the trick with the speed ya were movin’ before, and the little vamp be a problem on her own with the rapid healin’ I’ve seen.”

Rachel slowly nodded, arms tightening around her body.  “No, given your circumstance, it was the right play … the problem is that if you were able to get everyone into this room, then it would have been over without a problem.  The only reason I was able to escape was because of my speed and being able to trap it in a room.”

“Aye,” Cahira’s eyes narrowed, and her pistol appeared in her right hand.  Rachel’s eyes narrowed further as the Pirate Queen pressed it against her left breast.  “Ya still ‘aven’t answered mi question … if ya figured ye be on mi side only so little ago … how’d ya know ‘bout the room?”

The cold look in Rachel’s eyes didn’t seem to phase the Pirate Queen, and she remembered that Legendkin had a courage passive in place of Mythickin’s illusion breaking variant.  She wondered if she had actually leveled the Skill up if she would have been able to see past the previous curse’s illusions.

“I puzzled it out,” Rachel solemnly replied, leaning into her gun to force her hand back a little; her sports bra’s stretching fabric made an audible noise to her enhanced hearing.  “We’re here for the same thing, Cahira, and it was the same before I realized my identity.  I wanted to discover the secrets about this place so I could get through it … so I figured it out.”

Rachel made a brief account of how the symbols have a red line inside when they are a part of a set.

Cahira’s muzzle’s pressure was released from Rachel’s chest as she gave a sheepish chuckle, returning the weapon to the void as it converted into flames.  “Wow, ye discovered a pretty interestin’ bit … huh … I just knew the proper place ta move ta make somethin’ fun happen!  Hehe…”

A low sigh escaped Rachel’s lips.  “... I thought as much … we need to better understand this puzzle.  There must be a way to observe everyone within the dungeon to plan a proper way to deal with them.”

Cahira’s eyes widened.  “Aye!  That’s not a bad idea, Rach!  Mmh…”

Her head darted left and right, eyeing several triangles.  “Ya know … there might be a way we can make somethin’ like that happen, but what be the play?  If we be settin’ up a trap, we need a good beastie, and that last one be the strongest in this part.”

Rachel nodded with a small smile.  “Yes, which is why it being within a transportation cube is perfect.  Once we gather them in one place, we send the … beastie,” she mumbled with a bit of a forced sigh, “to handle everything.  We can even be a part of it since there isn’t a way for us to combat something so high.”

“Oh!  You’re right,” Cahira rubbed her chin while studying her.  “You know … that be a wicked plan, mi tailed lass.  The beastie wouldn’t even leave the room had I tried to make a command … the thing be anchored to the spot, but … ya set everyin’ up pretty nicely.  We can’t bring ‘em all here, yet if we put it to another location, then it be a piece of cake.”

“Not necessarily,” Rachel replied, getting to her feet to place her hands behind her back.  “I’m still getting used to the markings,” she mumbled, glaring down at the symbols along the floor.  “I have a Skill that makes it … difficult to fight my allies called Lunar Pride.”

Cahira licked her lips, lips curving into a smirk.  “Ah, I did hear about such a thing with some Mythickin … at least, mi other half did,” she chuckled.  “So, be that one of the reasons ye didn’t off mi head?”

Rachel laughed.  “No, Cahira.  We are not comrades or friends.  We are simply here to accomplish a task.  That is all.”

“Heh, all business, eh?”  Cahira grunted.  “Ya do be comin’ off as the no-nonsense type … I do be wonderin’ how the party lady, Maria, be gettin’ in with a lass like yerself?”

“Not important,” Rachel replied, already thinking through several scenarios where this might lead.  “The sooner we fulfill our goal, the sooner we can be done with it.”

“Aww, where be the adventure in that!”  Cahira pouted, giving her a hard glare.  “We need ta set the stage, show the finale, and let the chips fall with a hail of cannon fire!”  She cheered, hopping to her feet and throwing an arm in the air.

A grimace fell across Rachel’s lips, and she turned around to brush off her tail, showing a bit of annoyance.  “Who will be alive to see the end result?  It doesn’t matter, but … if it will get you on-board … I can compromise.”

“Yay!”  Cahira cheered, bouncing over to give her a hug.  “It’ll be our first and last big shebang!”

Rachel awkwardly let the woman squeeze her; she wasn’t strong, but it just felt a bit odd being hugged by an imposter that was plotting the death of one person she cared about, Scarlet.  The others didn’t honestly bother her all that much, considering she wasn’t all that familiar with them, but Scarlet had become somewhat of a little sister to her over the past two weeks after helping the girl work through so many of her problems.

“Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled, tapping her back with a hand while keeping her ears sharp for any kind of foul play; she expected this kind of move to be exactly what The Pirate Queen would do to deliver a deadly blow.  “I would have thought our last encounter was our first act…”

“No, no!”  Cahira protested, chest rumbling against hers as the woman hugged her to her bosom.  “That was before we stood on the same deck!  Now, we be a crew ta the world’s end!”

After the strange embrace, Rachel hurriedly stepped back.  “... Didn’t I already say…”

“Aye, aye, let’s not be gettin’ caught up in the details,” Cahira chuckled, absently waving her hand while turning her attention to the symbols.  “Ah … mi head be burnin’ with a plan, see!  Since mi strengths lie with mi ship … we be … ah, a battle at sea!”

Rachel was a little unsure how she’d arrange it, but this was exactly what she wanted; Cahira would follow her prompts at gathering everyone in a single place, which would require a control room.

A short shrug lifted Rachel’s shoulders.  “I don’t care how it’s done, so long as the … beastie,” she said with a forced tone again, “can handle everyone.  The question is … how do we get everyone in one place for the finale you want?”

“... Don’t rush me,” Cahira mumbled, eyebrows drawing together while she scanned the room.  “There’s … so many things I can do … oh, we can go to that place!”

Rachel didn’t comment, watching the bubbly fire-haired woman run up and down the walls, following an intricate pattern.  The red lines became so numerous that they were easily visible across the blue symbols, making up more than four-fifths of their entire surface area.

“... That is a long one,” Rachel commented.

“Aye, it just keeps going!”  Cahira chuckled while skipping up to the ceiling for the next part of the puzzle.  She almost activated half the room’s tiles before the partially illuminated triangles flared to life, and the woman flipped back down to the floor, tight leather jeans stretching as she landed.

“Hmm, what do ya think?”  Cahira asked with excitement.  “Whatever it do, it be the best shot at bringin’ all the crew and beasties together!”

Rachel’s bored expression observed the bright room as tens of thousands of shifting pieces began working throughout the labyrinth; this was a solution Cahira would advocate for, in Rachel’s mind.  Ever since she’d first met the woman, she was enthralled by the adventure of her quest.  Even if she was an imposter, she still wanted to live her short life’s goal to the fullest, and that meant Rachel had to be careful about her own copy.

If she was a threat to Scarlet and herself, then she couldn’t think of a better way to provide as much support before her entire frame of mind changed; she just hoped she could accomplish it before it came to that point.

A short nod moved Rachel’s head as she watched the room constrict and expand like a heart as the entire maze changed.  “Okay … it’s a bit impressive.”

“Right!”  Cahira grinned, watching everything breathe around them, and Rachel noticed a brown sack tied around her waist, indicating she still had the jewels from the Nightmare.  “I be bouncin’ on mi toes ta see how it be playin’; this is such fun!”  She squealed.

“Heh, I just came up with the plan; you’re the one that wants to make a show out of it.  Do you know what you’re even doing?”

“Eh, no, not really,” she laughed, brushing back her hair with anticipation.  “Ye know it only be given us what be needed for what we want, and I want some fun!”

The contrast was of note to Rachel.  At first, the island showed them what they wanted to keep them in place, but now, their doubles had the same liberty to destroy them.  If anything, she was lucky Cahira was the first imposter she uncovered.

Her attention moved to the wall to the right of where she came into the room; a hallway was opening up to reveal a room housing odd blackwood and crystal figurines that burned with a soft green energy.

“Mmh,” Cahira skipped forward to examine the artifacts, “very occult lookin’.  So … this is the place ta control everythin’.”

Rachel followed, taking in every inch of the ritualistic room that was at least twice the size of the massive area before.  “It is a lot more decorated than everywhere else,” she commented.  “So … what’s your grand plan for our final act?”  She asked with a low chuckle.

“Huh … I’m still figuring it out!”  Cahira replied in an absent tone.  “Oh, no…”

“Hmm?”

Rachel turned away from the multitude of red, blue, yellow, and green symbols dotting most of the visible walls to find Cahira glaring down a crystal figure of some impossible to discern shape.  It could have been a vase or larger than life candle holder for all she knew.

The bubbling liquid inside was an alternating hue of browns, reds, and yellows, but not a single pop sent the stuff spilling over the edge.  It almost appeared as if the substance was floating at its center with a rising and falling blue flame beneath it.

Cahira gave her a forced smile while rubbing her shoulder.  “Uh … aye, this is way too complicated!  The blasted thing wants a million and a half tasks ta be done ta make mi ocean…”

Rachel released a low scoff.  “Cahira … you don’t need an ocean.  How hard would a small lake be?”

“Aww,” Cahira folded her arms in a light pout while glaring back at the object.  “That ain’t legendary enough fer me ta go out in a bang!  Don’t ya wanna light up the sky and sail off into the sunset?”

“Hold up…”  Rachel gave the woman an incredulous grin, only half acting as she asked, “Are you telling me, you asked it to make an ocean, sunset, drop everyone in the water, and bring the beastie to cause havoc?” 

“Na … there needs ta be a storm … a big one,” Cahira complained.

Rachel rolled her eyes.  “Okay, let’s do something that won’t require us to be tilting burning pieces of wood in precise angles, moving liquid between bottles, and jumping on our backs like fish for two hours to do something.”

Cahira’s eyes widened with wonder.  “It asked for that?  That’s way cooler; we should do that!”

Trying not to imagine herself flopping around the floor like an idiot for two hours, Rachel ran her hand through her hair.  “As much as I’d enjoy that, we should really complete our task.”

“Aww … yer a fish without the sea,” Cahira moaned, vision moving to another crystal artifact with yellow and green smoke slowly oozing from underneath it.  “What’s yer big idea for our final showdown where we all look like we be the good guys as mi lil’ beastie rips us apart?”

Rachel questioned how she planned to get her ship out without the others knowing something was up since her family was on the boat, and she wondered if it might bring everyone to them, but that quickly got filed away.

“I’m not saying you can’t do it,” Rachel mused, giving her a short shrug.  “I’m saying let’s be a bit practical because we don’t know if the others will have their fun before we get to.”

Cahira’s mind seemed to click at the news.  “Aye!  I hadn’t thought about that, ye mind thumpin’ stunner of ah lass … ugh,” she folded her arms with a brooding frown.  “Aye, they may be gettin’ their wits about them ta start messin’ with the lot of ‘em.”

Maneuvering to this point, Rachel offered the solution to get exactly what she wanted.  Expression brightening, as if she’d just thought of something grand, she moved forward to join the fake Pirate Queen.  “Oh!  How about this, hmm … we pull everyone into this big room and start filling it with water.  We can put a delay on the beastie to show up and scare everyone, but only after the room has enough water so you can show your stuff.  Sound good?  Maybe you’ll get to fight your own pirate ship, and we’ll turn it into a navy battle!”

“Huh … not a terrible idea,” Cahira whispered.  “It’d need ta be a pretty decent sized room, mi lass, and … wait, there be no delay commands?”  She asked, giving her a questioning look.

“No?”  Rachel gave a somewhat puzzled expression while glancing to the floor.  “No … there isn’t … not that I can activate,” she muttered, giving a small sigh.  “I suppose that means one of us will need to make a surprise entrance … oh, what if I come running in with it chasing me!”

Cahira looked a bit suspicious about her slip with the delay commands, but her offering to be bait for the creature with the Pirate Queen acting as the hero seemed to spark a thrill in the woman’s eyes.  “I … would enjoy havin’ the beastie smash through an entrance, chaos around us as we enter our last ride to glory, but…”

“Treasure?”  Rachel asked with amusement, using the trigger word to redirect the woman.

“... Treasure!”  Cahira’s toothy grin said it all.  “Yer absolutely right, mi mop-headed lass!”

Rachel’s head tilted to the side, causing her hair to bunch at her shoulders.  “Mop-headed lass?”  She mumbled, spotting her white hair out of the corner of her vision.  “... I mean, it’s not completely white,” she grumbled.

Cahira gave her an impish grin.  “Hehe!  Ye got a fine tangle o’ hair on yer head!  No, we need treasure to die over … yes, eh, but what … oh, there do be a small bounty of treasure within the labyrinth ta trap the foolhearty … which we be!”  She cheered, jumping into action.

The small smile that lifted Rachel’s lips was anything but real as she memorized the woman’s actions and the corresponding activation plates with her enhanced mental speed; she had to know every move the fake Pirate Queen made.

“Cahira,” she hummed softly.  “I’m not exactly sure how you want me to enter with the beastie, so give me the breakdown when you’re done getting everyone in the room with the falling water.”

“Oh, oh, you want ta follow my plan for the entrance, too?”  She asked, stopping on the ceiling to give her an excited grin.  “Thought ya’d want ta go on yer own way!”

Rachel simply shook her head.  “I’m only concerned about getting the job done, and I don’t want to ruin your play … they must all die.”

She swiftly nodded, running across the ceiling to jump once or twice on specific plates to turn them blue, green, or red.  “Yeah, yeah!  Okay, so, mi … be settin’ up the room right now … it’s only gonna be like a few miles in all directions…”

A frown moved Rachel’s posture.  “Is that going to be enough?”

“Bah … not for what I want!”  Cahira agreed, walking to the right wall to flip more symbol colors.  “Like ya was sayin’, though … we can’t be lettin’ them others have all the glory!”

She watched the fake Pirate Queen work, plotting the trap to kill all their counterparts, and she elaborated on the process with a smile on her lips.  Rachel had been prepared to make an action the entire time, listening intently to every muscle movement that the woman made, and for the life of her, she couldn’t tell why Cahira trusted her.

The paranoid part of her brain said this was all a trap; she couldn’t kill her on her own, so this was all a ploy to get everything set into place, but she had guided her to the labyrinth’s central hub and was telling her all about her frame of mind.  It was a rather long con she was playing, and there were a few points that she slipped, but the recovery was simple enough, and without her enhanced mental state, it would probably be challenging to keep track of every action she’d taken thus far.

Most people in her college classes couldn’t recite all their actions over the last hour without tripping on several vital points and could easily be convinced otherwise of their own eye-witness accounts.  There had been one psychology course she’d been a part of to test each of their mental facilities, which many shockingly failed to an embarrassing degree.

Many of the students involved could be convinced to doubt their memory with the slightest urge, and the number of details they couldn’t retain or falsely recalled was laughable.  Her problem was the opposite.  She was always confident in her memory, but she couldn’t even trust herself in circumstances like this, which changed how she acted and planned.

So far, it was working out in her favor, but the nagging at the back of her brain told her to be even more cautious.  Cahira could be playing her, and at last, the time of the anticipated event arrived.

Cahira very carefully moved an artifact with liquid to another, gently pouring its contents in before returning it.  “Aye!  Not bad, eh?”  She asked, pretending to slip with a chuckle, and Rachel played along.

“Woah!”

“Hehe, I be pullin’ yer leg, lass, chill!”

“I’m just saying,” Rachel forced a chuckle, “we don’t want to mess anything up after you’ve already started the first part.”

“Aye, I’m not one to choke,” she winked, setting the item back down carefully, which reignited several symbols in the room to different colors.  “Just need ta swap the direction a tad … ah, there ya go!”

The red-haired woman gave her a toothy grin.  “Okay, we be runnin’ on ah clock.  Ya remember what I told ya?  I know it be a…”

Rachel swiftly pointed at the proper pathing she needed to take to be transported to the hallway and moved around her back to identify the items to touch.

“... Those four need to be red, that one … requires a hop, you said,” Cahira grinned mischievously while nodding at her recount, “then I move over to here…”

The world slowed dramatically as Rachel took the opportunity while inside Cahira’s blind spot and nearby to reach around her head, drag her to the ground, and clamp her legs around her torso in a rear-naked choke.

Cahira was quick to respond, but it was impossible to break her herculean strength once she’d applied the hold.  Rachel’s legs were like a vice around the fake’s stomach, a mass of fiery hair pressing into her face as she took shelter behind the fake Legend’s struggling figure.

The Pirate Queen obviously didn’t have any grappling experience with her ineffective efforts to pull, jab, or twist, and she fired a few shots of her pistol that appeared in her hands, but Rachel refused to let go.

A fist full of hair was the best she managed in the end, yet her roots were so strong that even a physical Legendkin that could trade blows with Hercules had his fingers slip before ripping them out, and slowly, the loss of blood flow to the brain forced Cahira’s mind under.

Rachel was very careful the fire-haired woman was actually unconscious before shoving her to the side.

Cahira limply rolled over, pistols flying from her fingers as she came to a stop on her back.  Rachel hadn’t been forced to exert herself.  Cahira was a Legendkin, but she was not suited for close combat like Ohan and Anthony.  If it had been those two, she would have taken an entirely different approach.

Getting to her feet, Rachel hummed softly while taking note of any damage that might have occurred.  She was somewhat surprised to find the woman’s shots hadn’t caused damage to any artifacts like some movie gimmick; there had been a point she had to fold back her ears in fear of the woman snatching them.

Ears returning to their normal, slightly angled forward position, Rachel let a small twitch run down them; nothing had changed.

Am I the fake or not!  Why are you playing with me, maze?!  There’s still a small chance … very small, that things are not what they seem, but I need to get everyone together to figure it out.  I know enough to get around, at least … and this room holds the keys to everything.

She folded her arms, taking in the space with its insane ritual technology.

… Ohan is the key.

Bypassing the step that would bring the impossible to kill hound to their location, Rachel picked Cahira up in a princess carry and teleported to the hallway outside the colossal room location.  Shadows lifted up to pull her into the void, and she allowed herself to be carried along.

There wasn’t any force that put her asleep this time; it was much like Scarlet’s shadow warping.  Turning to glare at the dead-end behind her, Rachel kept her hearing trained on the fake Cahira while discovering the method to open the room.

In the end, it turned out to be very similar to the previous door except for a single symbol; there was a pattern to it.

The panels slid open to reveal a massive room that shot into the air so far it was difficult to see more than a few hundred feet, but Rachel could guess what was happening by the mist-like rain falling down across the entire area; it was coming from the blue light between the triangles, doing exactly what the fake Cahira had explained.

A frown touched her lips at how far away she was from the converging group; a few had already met up, and her other clone already took notice of her.  Rachel’s ears twitched with agitation while hearing her own voice issue a caution.

“Hold up, Scarlets … my double just opened a room to our left.”

“She knows how to work the walls?”  One of the Scarlet’s asked, and judging by how she was rubbing her shoulders, it was the one with only her bra left.

Using the opportunity to speak to them through her double, Rachel folded her arms, glaring at the fog that obscured her vision of the party.  “I could be the fake … you could be fake, but what I can say is that I am 97% sure the Cahira with me is not the real one.  I’ve knocked her out in the 3% chance she was trying to fool me, but I find it very difficult to believe that’s the case.”

The copy held up her hand to stop the sling of awkward questions being passed between them; it made sense that Scarlet would use her vision to swiftly find whichever version of her was nearby and teleport to meet up.

“She says she’s almost positive the Cahira with her is an imposter.”

“Almost?”  The other Scarlet asked with a nervous tone.  “That doesn’t sound like 100% … hehe, uh … is she dead?”

Rachel stepped back to stare at the unconscious woman, leaning against the wall on her back.  “No … I knocked her out after tricking her into thinking I was the fake and coming up with this plan to kill everyone.”

“... Everyone … including them?”  Her copy broodingly asked.

“Yes,” she found it a bit odd conversing with herself again.  “I believe they keep our personality traits, which means even if she’s an imposter, Cahira would want to go down in a blaze of glory.  I used that to set this up, which means … you or I are the real threat, and before I monopolize the information I’ve been able to gain … I want to share it with all of you.”

“Mmh,” her double released a low growl.  “In case you turn against us, but at the same time, you could be feeding us false information.”

“Sure, which is why there will need to be some level of trust on both parties to move forward.”

“... Reasonable.  Scarlets, gather everyone and head to the west wall exit, where my copy is at … we’ll have a lot to discuss, and make sure to keep your body angled that way … if you keep yourself facing north and south, you’ll know which direction to go next.”

““Oh, that’s…””

Both Scarlet’s trailed off before glaring at each other, and with growls, they teleported to find everyone.

Her copy took off at a sprint to reach her, and the closer she got, the more she realized her counterpart was slower than she should be.

Rachel passively followed the small searches the two vampire girls made while talking to her double.  “You were in a battle, or are you trying to fool me into thinking you’re below 100% Lunar Pool?”

“A good question … you know I won’t answer that.”

“No … I suppose not.”

“The important information first?”

“...”  Rachel’s mind felt like it was burning out with how many possibilities there were when the imposters thought they were the real things themselves.  If she told the imposter the news before everyone joined, then the fake could try to discredit her.

Her fear didn’t seem to be an issue as her double released a soft sigh.  “I can understand why you wouldn’t want to explain without everyone present.”

It didn’t take more than four minutes for the two Scarlets to identify everyone and meet up with her; she expected the unconscious Cahira to wake up.

The moment the other Pirate Queen saw her double, she jumped into the air.  “Droch chrích ort!  Aye, yo wha’in’da blood hell be happin’ in dis unearthly place?!”  She jumped back to the wall with Selvaria in toe since they didn’t apparently know there were imposters.

[Irish:  Bad ending upon you!]

Rachel did a swift job of calming everyone down, showing them how to close the door, and informing the two crews about the control room.  Her gaze shifted to the two suspicious Ohans once finishing the quick explanation.  “You two are the only ones that might be able to find out exactly how to shut this down.”

Her double released a low tone in her throat.  “Although, one could be acting to sabotage the result, and are you positive there aren’t more than two groups?”

A low groan puffed through Rachel’s full lips as she slowly shook her head.  “No, I’m not 100% … more like 85%.  In any case, we should hurry, and because any action taken to cause an event to occur requires physically touching something…”

The copy nodded, finishing her sentence, “I agree, we should walk single file and at a distance with Cahira … the one we believe to be real, in the back.  The fake … between us?”

Rachel nodded.  “I scanned the open hallways, and I believe I can guide us back to the room … do you hear that hum to the far right … that way, and down five levels?”

Her double followed her finger.  “Mhm…”

“That exact sound was within earshot of the control room.  You should be able to hear the fire and other strange sounds the control room makes once we get near there.”

None of the group seemed to like the danger they could be walking into, but there wasn’t much of a chance, and tensions only grew once the fake Cahira awoke.

Releasing a soft moan, the fake cracked open an eye, finding everyone glaring at her.  “Oof … mi noggin,” she mumbled, rubbing the side of her head.  “Aye, what be the bright idea, eh, Rach?  We was havin’ a good o’ time, an’ then ye went an’ took mi neck off!”

“I’ve already revealed everything,” Rachel coldly replied.  “You’ll be walking between me … and my other,” she trailed off, pointing at her double.

“Ye blasted body snatcher!”  Cahira growled from beside the Ohan that had talked about Primal Energy.  “The world be only needin’ one red-haired beauty, mi dryshite huair!”

“Aye,” the fake jumped to her feet, face turning red at the insult.  “I’ll be a mate’s slapper, then be lettin’ a tool faced wagon be spittin’ at mi licks!”

“Gobshite dope!  Le’mi see yer ship ta knock ye off yer ankles!”

“Some gombeen shite, right there, ye sap Karen!”

Aye, ya say what, two-faced geebag!”

Rachel sighed and walked over to haul the fake up to the front with her continuing to spit bizarre insults at each other that would probably have Fiona’s ears red.

“Lickarse!”

“Aye, ya better not be slowin’ us down, ya sea-bitten langer!”

They filed into line with the hotty show, Rachel shoving the surprisingly willing fake Cahira along with her double leading the way.

The Selvarias were more or less acceptable beside one another; although, they got into some strange Gundam conversation that the Scarlets jumped in on, but even that topic didn’t last long.

Rachel glanced back with a wry smile as it took a new direction; it was a bit strange seeing the two very different body-types.  The very womanly shaped Selvaria took the lead with the smaller one at her back, a tail’s length behind, but their tones were equally as bright.  It was almost as if they really enjoyed having a copy of themselves around.

“Isn’t Galatea cute?”

“So cute!  We should get her some clothes.”

“Yes!  We should dress her up in a sailor outfit!”

The Scarlet with Ohan’s shirt piped up.  “Oh, what about a Gundam outfit!”

“”Yes!””  They both squealed.

Both the Ohans refused to be behind one another, so they took up a side by side position.  Nothing was turning out how she thought.

I just have to get everyone to the spot…

A light opened in Rachel’s mind, and her priorities changed on a dime.

… I really was the imposter … the entire time.

AuthorSME

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