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Simon was out of yoglabs for a while, he was off visiting the dwarven city stoneholm. its not like Lewis could make him just stay in yoglabs all the time, the dwarf needed his enrichment… but god he would have preferred it to be AFTER project vardøger had a successful conclusion. at least Lewis could finally organize his office, not having to show Simon all the small odd projects that the testificates had worked on. yes it was admittedly quite fun, but not much got done with barbeques and such going on all the danm time.
he had made a sizable dent in the papers scattered around his desk, only the few most important would stay there, including Dr Lalna’s most recent report for project vardøger. so far two of the three main experiments had gotten good results. they breathed, responded to stimuli,, one seemed a tad bit derpy, but the place he was sampled from was already derpy, so that one was just like the original. but given the dna difference between all the other experiments they would have to keep a watchful eye. the third wasnt quite done incubating yet by the time the report had to be in. but to be fair, it had been 4 days. it had to be ready, probably already been tested.
as Lewis put the last of the scattered books on his shelf, an alarm broke the peaceful silence.
”WARNING! EMERGENCY IN CLONING LABS” the robotic voice of the Yoglabs Security system rang though.
there was an incessant buzzing from his pocket. only 4 people at Yoglabs had his personal phone. Simon Honeydew, DR Testificate MD, Dr suviramen, and Dr Lalna..
lewis answered his phone.
”XHEPHOS! WE HAVE A REAL BIG PROBLEM DOWN HERE!” Dr Lalna yelled though the speaker, trying to be heard over the sirens wailing and testificates screaming
”yes! i can tell by the alarms! what’s happening down there Lalna?!” Lewis had to know what was happening. project vardøger was the main reason he created yoglabs. sure all the crazy weapons and rockets, and potentially world-ending-if-in-the-wrong-hands anomalies in the very fabric of the universe was all was fun, but that wasnt the goal here.
”ITS ONE OF THE CLONES! HE’S GONE CRAZY! MORE THAN CRAZY! HE’S- HE’S- HE’S INSANE!”
”but they were working fine before! just how bad is Simon’s clone? is it something to do with his dwarven DN-”
”ITS NOT SIMON’S! ITS MINE!”
”… what?”
”MY CLONE’S KILLING EVERYONE LEWIS! WITH HIS BARE FUCKING HANDS!”
all the confidence left his body. ”Duncan where are you?”
”im- im in my office in th…” he trailed off as the screaming got louder.
“Dunc, the vents in your office should take you to the south hall of the holographic wing. i’ll meet you there.”
“WAIT LEW-” Lewis hung up, grabbed his sword off the stand, strapped it to his back, and began to run down the corridor. more warnings on the YS of people being killed, allowing lewis to track its progress. it was almost to the escalator.
testificates running and panicking, their papers and scientific instruments being abandoned on the ground as the looked for nonexistent cover. lewis stumbled back after running into something, he’d bumped headfirst into someone.
”ah! sir Xephos! do you know what is happening?” Dr Suviramen asked after stumbling back
“Dr Suviramen, theres been-... theres been an incident to do with project vardøger, just gather as many of the important testificates as you can find and go hide some place! AND FIND A WAY TO COVER THIS UP!” lewis said as he began to walk past him.
”but sir! what about Bort?!”
“YOUR PET ZOMBIE WILL BE FINE JUST GO!” lewis yelled as he began running again. he had to make it to the hall south of the holo wing.
“WARNINNG! CAUSALTIES OCCURING IN LOBBY NORTH HALL.”… that wasnt too far behind Lewis… he just kept running.
once in the southern holodeck hall, he called out. “Duncan! where are you?”
“over here Lewis!” a voice came from the right, and when he peered into the vent, there was Lalna. Xephos grabbed the grating and yanked it off, allowing the scientist to crawl his way out.
“Duncan, why do you have that knife?” Lewis’ shoulders dropped at the sight of the blade in his hand
“TO PROTECT MYSELF FORM THAT THING!” Duncan brought it closer to his chest, facing down “look, ask me something someone who’s just come out of a cloning vat wouldn't know!”
Lewis thought for a moment “who set off the red matter bomb?”
“Sjin did, now can we get out of here?”
“yeah, lets- lets leave.”
the only 3 ways out were the rocket launch bay, the airship garage, and the front door, and the font door was closest. as they rounded the corner however they smelt something metallic.
they were met with blood splattered over the floor and up the walls, mangled bodies of testificates strewn about, and the cause was stood in the middle if it all. an exact clone of Lalna. a crazed look in his eyes, red staining the white coat and his blonde hair, the thick liquid dripping from his gloveless hands.
the clone turned to them and stared Lalna in the eyes “oh, hi Lewis, hi me.”
“s-STAY BACK!” Duncan yelled as he pointed the knife at his deranged mirror.
“thats a bit rude, its only me… well you.”
“yo- you’re not even supposed to walking around! let alone killing all these testifcates!”
“oh come on, you’ve killed a load too.” the clone began walking closer
“aHAHH! IM POINTING A KNIFE AT YOU WHY ARE YOU WALKING CLOSER?!” Xephos backed away from the two lalnas… god, why did he have to put the weapons cache outside??
“well you didnt teach me knife etiquette!”
“JUST GET AWAY FROM ME!”
“why? im not doing anything.”
Lalna stumbled back, falling over his own feet, and the clone took this as his opportunity. he lunged.
”GET OFF!” he struggled against the clone. he tried to stab, but lewis could see the fear in his eyes as he realised… he dropped the knife…
”no nO NO! PLEASE NO!” the blood soaked clone burst off the buttons of his original’s lab coat, and ripped the center of the purple tshirt underneath. Duncan begged and pleaded as the deranged clone reached for the knife that he had been using for self defense, and used it to slice down Duncan’s sternum. Lewis tried to reach for his sword, he tried to yell for anybody to help, he tried to lunge at the clone, he tried to do anything. but he couldn't. Xephos couldn't move a muscle. he was frozen. all he could do was stand there and watch as the clone reached inside the cut he made, reach deep into his orginal’s chest, and rip Lalna’s heart out with ease.
the screaming stopped. it simply turned into choaked wheezing.
the clone looked his dying original in the eyes as he moved the spasming muscle to his mouth, biting it clean in half, the blood dribbling down his face.
the clone of Lalna… no that THING isnt Lalna. he’s a criminally insane cannibal, that's what he is. sure Duncan joked bout biting Sjin and Sips all the time like a loyal guard dog, willing to attack anyone like a German Sheppard or an English bulldog, but he was really only ever just a a golden retriever, chewing on the fingers of its owners as a way to show affection. sure a few testificates had to die for the cloning experiments, but that was always as a form of mercy killing, if their clones had worked, they would have had a brand new healthy body. this clone? he not only bites. he rips and tears and destroys. Lalna the canibal…
Lalnable stood up as Lalna’s eyes glazed over, shoving the over half of the heart in his mouth. as he swallowed, he turned to a still frozen Xephos. ”what’s wrong Lewis? did i spoil your appetite?” he mocked, laughing with very word “oh come on i know you have a sword... too chicken to use it like he was?”
”SHUT UP ABOUT HIM!” Lewis yelled, trying not to look at the corpse of one of his best friends as he grabbed his sword. the lights began to flicker.
”WARNING! YOGLABS AUXILIERY POWER SERVER FAILING”
Lalnable began to walk closer “scared of the dark?”
“no, but i know who is.” Xephos ran. pushing past him, trying to ignore the… liquid on the floor. footsteps picked up behind him.
the lights flickered more and more until it all went black. the ambient whirring of machinery stopped
“GET BACK HERE!” he ignored the yelling “XEPHOS!”
the thundering of footsteps was erratic. it was hard to not step on the myiad of bodies in the pitch black. there was sound again. it was familiar… THE DOOR…
Lewis began running faster. as he got to the lobby, he pushed himself and nearly crawled up the stairs, wrenching the iron door open with his diamond sword
Xephos scambled though the small door, and managed to slide under the motorized vault door as it sealed the facility.
he could hear the faint banging of metal. his legs crumpled beneath him…
how the fuck was he gonna cover this one up?