Echidna

> > In terms of raw material, raw mass?  Yeah.  She eats, she grows.  But here’s the thing.  If she absorbs something alive, she clones it.  More clones if she’s angrier, we think.  We don’t have a large sample size of incidents.”

> > “Clones?” I asked.  “Isn’t that an advantage for us?”

> > “No.  Because whatever they are, the extras come out wrong.  They come out ugly, their powers don’t always work exactly the same way, they’re screwed up in the head, but all that aside, they’re stronger, tougher, they have the memories of the parent.  Sometimes that means they’re just homicidal.  Other times, it means they’re just as sane as you are, but their priorities are reversed.  They want to end your existence, kill everything you want to protect, hurt everyone you care about, and dismantle your life.”

> > “Evil twins,” Regent said.  “She makes evil twins.”

Queen 18.1

Another person explaining how the power works.

> > “She’s big,” Tattletale said.  “And if she gets her hands on you, she’ll eat you whole.  Spit you out along with a copy.  Copies with powers like yours.  Stronger, tougher, meaner.  Understand?  When this fight starts, it starts for real.”

> > “She duplicates people,” Miss Militia stated.

> > “And the duplicates aren’t on our side,”

Queen 18.3

“Why do this?  Why hurt people?”

“I’m a soldier,” he said, his words dull.  “It’s what I am.”

I sensed his girth, used my swarm to sense his equally heavy alter-ego.  “You… don’t strike me as a soldier.”

“It’s what I am.”

“Is… is he a soldier?” I gestured in the direction of his other self.

“No.  Fat fuck could never be a soldier.  Kill him.  Dig my fingers into that gut and rip and tear until he dies.  Strangle him.  No willpower, hide from the world behind that disgusting fat.  Choke the life out of him.  He’s useless anyways.  Waste of air, waste of a life.”

Projecting much?

“And when he’s dead?  What will you do?”

He moved toward me, and I backed away a step, bringing my bugs closer to him.  He went still again, glanced around.  “Kill others.  Kill Dad and Mom and Sammy and the cats.  Kill teachers and classmates and burn my house and burn the school.  Fuckers.  All of them.  Looking down on me.”

> > [...]

“And if they all die?”

“Kill others.  Burn this fucking disgusting city.  Burn this fucking country.  Keep burning, keep killing.”

“Do you really think that’ll make anything better?”

“No.”

“Then why?  Is there any way I can get you to stop?”

“No.  Won’t stop.  I’m a soldier.”

Queen 18.8

She couldn’t quite explain why.  It just… it made a kind of sense.  Do the most damage possible.  Maybe if they left Echidna behind, they could get away, find another way to get at the others.

God, she could imagine it.  Just thinking about it made her adrenaline surge, gave her that thrill that came with facing down any major threat.  Beating the real Tattletale in a game of wits?  It was delicious on so many levels.  To know how it would nettle the girl, even break her, depending on the degree of the win, while she could simultaneously enjoy the victory?

She’d make the real Tattletale suffer for her stupidity, her hypocrisy, she’d pluck out the girl’s eyes and puncture her eardrums, bite off her fingers before amputating her arms and legs.  She’d leave the girl numb to the world, struggling, striving to take in information, slowly going mad.

And when she was done with her alter-ego, she could go after the other Undersiders.  Slowly, surely, systematically break them.  Then she could destroy this fucking depressing city.  The world.  All the worlds.

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