Chapter 18: Are You There Clone, It's Me Tina

[Trackman281]

CHAPTER 18: ARE YOU THERE CLONE, IT’S ME TINA

A group of newly recruited Phantoms were all bowing down on one knee, they were in rows of four and in the middle of a giant cathedral. They were surrounded were other phantoms all standing to attention as the Prophet made her way to the front of everyone.

“Acolytes.......You have taken the noble and honourable oath to rid this world of infiltrators, a cause that is both just and necessary. BUT one cannot simply join the phantoms without first knowing the reason as to why we fight the infiltrators. Allow me to take you a journey through time.” The prophet explained as she flicked on some lights revealing multiple statues behind her, all female and all wearing outfits from different eras from different times in history.

“For as long as there have been infiltrators there have been phantoms. This all started thousands of years ago with the Amazon warriors, multiple Amazon leaders and high ranking soldiers were being assassinated by their own warriors sparking waves of confusion and doubt. Of course it didn’t take long before we started finding various Amazon women all tied up without their armour and clothes on, naturally it was quickly deduced that various women were overpowering noble Amazon warriors and stealing their clothes to get close to their targets. It didn’t take long before paranoia and fear swept across the various tribes of Amazons. This in turn led to the formation of the phantoms, warriors that could route out potential infiltrators and eliminate them before they could eliminate their targets. This proved to be VERY successful.” The prophet explained.

“This however was only just the beginning as the rivalry between infiltrators and phantoms soon spiralled into an all out war which lasted for all of time and across all era’s of history across the globe. You see this even spread to China, many Chinese royals and nobles were finding their servant women, dancers and even empresses in waiting bound and gagged without their clothing while the infiltrators completed their assignments. So we waited then so enough the Mongolian expansions happened in China. Seizing this opportunity we got a shipped a load of our phantoms from the Mongolian branch over amongst Genghis Khan’s forces. This proved ultimately successful as we managed to wipe them.” The prophet further explained while rubbing a statue of a Mongolian women who was the commander of the phantoms in that time.

“Our hidden war even spread throughout Europe as at one point during history, many French aristocratic women were being found tied up naked while the infiltrators were wearing their dresses and robbing them all their wealth and fortunate. Then thankfully the French Revolution happened, this was the perfect excuse for us to weed out the infiltrator coves in France. Our Phantoms went from building to building rounding up as many infiltrators as we could and taking them straight to the guillotine, all our phantoms had to say was there allies trying to help Aristocrats flee to England the gullible revolutionists fell for it every single time.” The prophet further explained while nodding at a statue of a French women who was the commander of the French phantom during the French revolution.

“But then came our downfall..........When world war one broke out, we were not able to adapt to this new fighting style, the weapons, the vehicles, everything was just so different, and with virtually all the women that were nurses being constantly rotated to different front, it was very easy for the infiltrators to slip in and out of various barracks and trenches without any trouble. We found so many nurses tied up in their undergarments that we couldn’t keep up with it at one point. The infiltrators quickly got wind of this and used to launch a mass purge on us. MANY phantoms were slaughtered during the initial sieges and only a few of us actually managed to escape the massacres......so we went into hiding and we waited.............As the years went by the phantoms slowly obscured from the infiltrators memories, we heard rumours of phantoms operating during the cold war but can neither deny nor confirm if these rumours were true or not...........Eventually though the infiltrators forgot all about us and in the end we just became scary stories to tell new infiltrators. When this happened we knew it was time to resurge as they wouldn’t expect us. So I became the new commander of the phantoms, I found all the women whose ancestors and families were also phantoms and thus we were reborn. We studied the latest technology, the arts of unconventional warfare and slowly built our numbers. Now we’ve returned and with all this power and our technological might, we can finally take our revenge and wipe them out one by one. So rise for you are no longer acolytes but full members of the phantoms and your training starts NOW!” The phantom issued after christening all the acolytes as official phantoms.

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Elisha is hard at work cooking in the kitchen when Felicity comes in sporting her outfit ready for Tina’s arrival.

“So how do I look?” Felicity asks during a twirl.

“You look lovely honey.” Elisha responds walking over to her and giving her a kiss.

“Your just saying this because you have too haha, so babe what are you making for dinner?” Felicity asked after smelling the air.

“I’m making rosettes of lamb in red wine and cognac, with vegetables that have been cooked in lemon grass.” Elisha responded turning her attention back to the hob.

“Mmmm sounds delish.” Suddenly the doorbell rang. “Oohh that’ll be her, hey sweetie can you open this bottle while I get the door.” Felicity asked while putting a bottle of wine on the table.

“Yeah no problem.” Elisha then grabbed a bottle opener from a draw and screwed into the cork.

“God, come on you stupid thing.” She said as she finally felt the cork pop out, but then just as she done that she heard a voice say “hello” from behind her.

Elisha turned around to meet the person who was talking to her.

“Hi, you must be Tina, well my name is........Is.........Is.........Is..........Is........” Elisha froze perfectly still let her wrist relaxed causing the bottle of wine to slip out of grasp and smash on the floor, as standing right in her own kitchen was Tina, or as she knows her as, the Alpha Prey.

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“Aaahhh, heartfelt city, the birthplace of all things evil.” Soph said as she walked down one of the streets, the sky was dark but the lights of the city prevented the beauty of the stars and the moon from shining through.

Soph had temporarily gone AWOL as she needed to think things out, she didn’t see many people while walking the streets but for the few people she did pass, they all stared and giggled at her outfit as Soph was only wearing her standard issued military attire and she did stick out quite a bit. Soph walked down a few more streets but before she heard noises coming down an alleyway.

Soph went down the alley, curious as to what was going on, it’s here she saw three women. All women looked like they were in their late twenties, even though there were three of them, Soph only took notice of the woman wearing fishnet stocking, black knee high boots, bright blue jean shorts, a black vest with a massive green skull in the middle and over this she was wearing a black hoodie that read “want to fuck” on the bag in big green letter, she had pale white skin, her hair was dyed electric blue and her finger nails were painted black. Needless to say, Soph liked her outfit and she wanted it.

The three women had a fourth woman pinned to a wall as they were apparently mugging her, something that was about to turn on them spectacularly.

“Now come on girlie, just put your purse down on the floor as well as your phone and those expensive shoes your wearing and we’ll be out of your hair, besides you don’t want of THIS, do you?” One of the women said pulling out a switch blade and showing the woman they mugging against the wall.

“HEY, give me some of THAT!” A voice called out behind them.

The three muggers turned and saw Soph standing there.

“Buzz off, rent a cop this is between us and her.” The woman with the blue hair, who Soph was eying up said.

“Oh come on, look at you three, you look like the spice girls after their golden years!” Soph smirked.

“Oh-ho she’s got jokes, come on girls, let’s show her how SIDE SPLITTINGLY funny we can be!” One of the other three muggers said.

As they all focused on Soph, the fourth woman seized this opportunity and made a run of it out of the alley and out of harm’s way. The three muggers enclosed on Soph before making their move, The blue haired one attempted to grab Soph from behind but she quickly spun sideways kicking the blue haired woman in the back of her leg before punching her in the back of the head sending down to the floor, the second mugger attempted to stab Soph with her switchblade but this was to no success, as Soph quickly disarmed her by grabbing and squeezing a pressure point on her attacker wrist which caused her muscles to relax and drop her blade to which Soph quickly slammed her head into the side of a dumpster knocking her out. The third woman attempted to sweep Soph’s leg, but she thought this might happen, so Soph jumped into the air then dropping all of her weight down on the third muggers leg, the woman screamed before Soph quickly kneed her straight in her face causing to fall back unconscious.

She then noticed that the blue haired woman was attempting to crawl away, Soph picked up the switch blade that was used on her and walked over to the blue haired woman. Soph grabbed the woman by her arms and spun her on her back before putting her foot on the woman’s stomach holding her in place while looking over her triumphantly.

“Please, please don’t me, I’m sorry, were only mucking around, we didn’t want to hurt anyone, please.” The blue haired woman begged while still on her back.

“Yeah I’m sure, don’t worry I won’t hurt you anymore if you do me one little thing.” Soph said applying a bit more pressure on the woman’s stomach letting her know that she was serious.

“I don’t like being stared at for what I’m wearing and out of all three of you, you seem to be the once closet to my size, so I’m only going to say it once........Take off your clothes, I want them.” Soph further went on.

“My clothes, but I.........” She felt Soph apply more pressure to her stomach. “I mean.........Yeah sure I’ll give you my clothes no problem, do you want my underwear too?” the woman said raising her hands in the air as a sign of submission, to which Soph just smiled.

Several minutes later, Soph emerged from behind a dumpster wearing the woman’s clothes, although she wasn’t wearing them she was also holding on to the woman’s underwear which consisted of neon blue panties and neon a neon blue bra to match. She then opened up the lid of the dumpster bin and it’s here we see Soph has tied up and gagged the blue haired woman naked and has even bound and gagged her two friends too, but she seems to have allowed them to keep their outfits.

“I didn’t need your underwear, but I’m going to take it anyway just to add to your humiliation, I wish I could’ve been around to see your face when your two friends wake up and see you like this haha, anyway have a nice night, it rubbish day tomorrow, so the bin men will find you in the morning, bye-bye.” Soph then closed the dumpster’s lid seeing the blue haired women’s eyes widen at the thought of all those people seeing her in this predicament.

Soph then left the alley way and continued her journey down the street, truth is, Soph didn’t really know what she was looking for, where she was going or where even wanted to end up, she just wanted to feel alive and every time the wind blew in her face she breathed heavily into it so she could see her own warm breath clashing with the cold wind, she did this so every time this happened, she knew she was alive.

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“Oh my God, are you alright!” Tina said after seeing the wine bottle smash on the floor.

“Yes, yes I’m fine, I’m sorry you just gave me a bit of a scare, I knew you were here I just didn’t expect you to get into the kitchen so quickly.” Elisha quickly replied after having realizing that she wasn’t dreaming and that her alpha prey who she had been hunting for months was now standing in her own kitchen.

Elisha grabbed a load of kitchen roll and started to clear the mess up.

“Would you like a hand at all?” Tina asked.

“No, no I’m fine thank you, if you would like to go and sit down I’ll clean this up and crack open another bottle.” Elisha replied just as Felicity walked in.

“Good grief, can’t leave you alone for a second can I?” Felicity joked.

“No you can’t babe, I was just saying why don’t you two go into the living room and catch up, I’ll clear this then get dinner prepped eh?” Elisha said with a smile.

“Alright, come on, I’ve got SO MUCH to tell you.” Felicity wrapped her arm around Tina and they both went into the living room.

“I don’t believe it, I just do not believe this, she’s here in my damn flat and about to eat my damn food, does Felicity know she’s an infiltrator........Is SHE an infiltrator too? No, no she’s not her name has never appeared once on any of our boards and wait..........Her name is Tina, well it’s a start, I need to let the prophet know.” Elisha thought to herself as she finished clearing up the mess.

Once this was done Elisha grabbed her phone and went in to check on Tina and Felicity.

“Hahaha, hey honey I was just explaining to Tina of how the last time you cooked, you almost set the oven on fire, I was just pre-warning her me might have to order takeout tonight.” Felicity joked.

Elisha quickly got out her phone pretended to go along with the joke while pressing a button on the side of the phone which gave her a direct link to her command centre

“HAHAHA, yeah can you imagine it eerr hello is this a taste of Kyoto, well I’d like to place a takeaway order and make it a Priority One, hahaha, I’d like to order.......

Tuna
Ikura
Nimono
Agemono

....................Plus a few drinks hahahahahha.” Elisha said as she heard a faint whisper reply with “Good work, confirmed.” Before she hung up the phone.

“Oh no, come on I bet it’s not as bad as all that.” Tina said trying to defend Elisha’s cooking.

“Well, you can find out for yourself as I’m dishing up now.” Elisha said gesturing towards the dining table.

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Bullets flew past Marie’s ear and shell exploded round her as she advanced up a beach with all the troopers in her battalion.

“This is taking too long, take a deep breath ladies and MOVE FORWARD!” One of the clone lieutenants shouted.

Moments later, Marie along with her entire battalion pushed forwards up the beachhead, many troopers attempted to return fire while the remaining troopers along with Marie advanced up the beach front and made it to the trenches, Marie quickly checked her equipment and watched as a sergeant performed a quick head count of how many had actually made.

“Alright eyes down range and fingers on the triggers, girls.......MOVE!” But just as the sergeant and the other troopers pressed over the trenches they were gunned down by a swarm of bullets, this is turn caused Marie to immediately jump backwards into the trench.

When the gunfire stopped, Marie looked around and realized she was the only survivor in her squad, she could the rest of the fighting from the beach and knew it would be a while before the rest of the battalion caught up, for now she was alone. She heard various voices both male and female from enemy combatants making their way to Marie’s position.

“This attack force is too large for us to push back, we need to retreat.” One of them said.

“That’s the plan we just need to hold them off until the tech heads have pulled all of our data, then command will issue the order. HEY Jessica, go make sure all these one’s are dead.” Another one replied.

“I’m on it.” Jessica responded loading her weapon.

Jessica was a 33 year old woman with tanned skin, long black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a dark green combat uniform which consisted of a long sleeve shirt, combat trousers, combat boots, an ammunitions belt, chest armour and a full faced helmet, she was carrying an M16.

Marie watched as the rest of Jessica’s squad went off to join the others while she checked for survivors, Marie quickly slumped herself against the wall of the trench and played dead. Jessica checked all of Marie’s fallen sisters before noticing Marie against the wall of the trench, she thought Marie’s positioning was a bit strange so she raised her rifle and slowly approached her. When she was close enough, Marie quickly grabbed the barrel of the rifle catching Jessica completely by surprise, taking advantage of this, Marie pulled the rifle forward and elbowed Jessica right in the chin causing her to topple backwards, now that she was down Marie quickly jumped on Jessica’s back and applied a choke hold onto Jessica. Jessica flung around trying to free herself but it was too late and moments later she let out a soft and gentle moan before passing out unconscious.

Marie quickly checked to make sure the coast was clear, her time hanging around Tina and the other infiltrators had changed her views on many things, including the way wars should be handled, it here that Marie new that all life was now somewhat sacred so she refused to take Jessica’s life as she knew that Jessica was just a simple soldier like her, simply following orders and just trying to survive.

Once Marie determined the coast was clear she quickly unlaced Jessica’s boots and removed them along with her socks, she unclipped and removed Jessica’s ammunitions belt before unzipping and taking off her trousers, she then undone and removed Jessica’s body armour before unbuttoning her shirt and slipping off her arms. She then unbuckled and removed Jessica’s helmet, it is here we see that Jessica is wearing a sage green bra with Khaki brown knickers.

Marie quickly slipped out of her combat gear and got changed into Jessica’s uniform, she then used her combat knife and cut up her own uniform into strands to which she quickly hogtied and gagged Jessica before dragging her body deep into the bushes keeping her out of sight.

Now in disguise Marie made her way deeper behind enemy lines and into the enemies main commander bunker, using Jessica’s helmet she was able to conceal her face perfectly, once inside she made her way to the command centre where several technicians were packing up. Marie cleared her throat and approached them with authority.

“Ah there you where command wants me to take any all relevant data you downloaded immediately.” She said with a dominant voice.

“But Jessica, we haven’t heard anything about this, the chips along with all the equipment is supposed to go with us.” One of the technicians argued.

“This is a new order I’ve just received for you see, command knows that they’ll be keeping an eye out for anyone running off with equipment but they won’t suspect our most important information to be in the hands of a simple grunt.” Marie improvised.

“Hey that’s actually not a bad idea, it’s about time command finally said something sensible for once, okay here’s all the relevant disc and chips.” A technician responded handing Marie a small bag.

“Excellent thank you.” Marie said saluting them as she made her leave.

“Good luck out there Jessica and don’t get caught.” The same technician shouted.

“Oh don’t worry, I won’t.” Marie couldn’t help but smile under Jessica’s helmet.

Hurrying around the trenches and around the main portion of the beach she eventually discovered a ground of her sister’s poised in position and awaiting new orders.

“ELEVEN O’CLOCK!” One of the troopers shouted upon seeing Marie in Jessica’s uniform.

“Hold fire, friendly, friendly!” Marie said quickly removing the helmet.

“What the........CT-2224, you almost got your head blown off.” The sergeant of the squad shouted.

“Sorry, but look I have the Intel, it’s all here in this bag, we can end this siege!” Marie said with joy in her voice.

“Wait, you’re not an infiltrator CT-2224, so do you mind telling me what on Earth your doing wearing an enemies uniform?” The sergeant asked while checking the bag Marie just gave her.

“My squad was killed, I had to think I..........”

“THAT is not the point CT-2224, you deviated from your original role which was just to take the trenches and did tactics that are not authorized for a simple trooper such as yourself. Trooper’s place CT-2224 under arrest.” The sergeant said to the other troopers in her squad.

“WAIT.........WHY........I got you all the data, this isn’t fair!” Marie struggled as her sisters clamped her in handcuffs.

“CT-2224 I hereby place you under arrest for going against your programming and going off your assignment, usually this sort of thing is followed on by immediate execution, but because you have bought back the data needed to end this siege, you will brought back to our commander where you be returned back home and await execution.” The sergeant explained.

“PLEASE, COME ON, I won us the battle, we won, this is not right!” Marie shouted.

“Troopers, follow me, let’s get this one back to command.” With that the troopers dragged Marie back to their Clone Commander who was waiting back at the main assault ship.

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Tina, Elisha and Felicity had just finished their main courses and were now sitting back with after dinner chit chat.

“So Tina, I imagine someone in your line work doesn’t really get much time to date, so is there a second half to you?” Elisha said to probe Tina for information about herself.

“There used to be, I used to be a relationship with a man named Delsin but eerr.....” Tina paused for a second.

“What, didn’t work out?” Elisha followed up with.

“No, he erm, he was killed a few years ago so......Yeah.” Tina took a bit sip of wine.

“That’s a shame, but I’m sure a beautiful woman like you won’t find it too difficult to find anyone eh.” Elisha further proded.

“Well that’s just it, I swore my life to him and him alone, this means that I will NEVER fall for someone else ever again.” Tina said briefly looking out the window.

Felicity leant forward and placed her hand under chin. “Really?” She asked.

“Yeah...........I found my one true love and even thought I now find myself alone, I can never be disloyal to him, even though he’s gone, so even though I’ll spend the rest of my life on my own, I’ll never truly be alone because I know I’ve kept my word when I said to him, I’ll love until the day I die.” Tina explained.

Elisha and Felicity looked at each other then Elisha swallowed hard before grabbing the bottle of wine. “Eeerr, right sorry, I didn’t mean to get that personal eerr, here let me top you up.” Elisha said pouring a bit more of wine into Tina’s empty glass.

Elisha didn’t understand it, she always thought that infiltrators were dishonest, dishonorable, only cared about themselves and were incapable of such commitment, yet here not just any infiltrator but her own alpha prey was sitting explaining about her strong morals and faith towards her loved ones, it confused Elisha greatly.

“You know, you should be thanking Tina, because without her I never would have met you, for you see Tina saved my life, not once but twice you know.” Felicity said placing her hand upon Elisha’s.

“Wait.......Really?” Elisha said curiously.

“Yeah honest, she saved me once from some egotistical sniper then she saved me from some freak in a gasmask.” Felicity said referring to her previous encounters with Ricochet and Kuebiko.

Elisha looked Felicity straight in the eyes, she knew she was telling the truth.

“Well, allow me to raise my glass to you then Tina as without you, I’d still be a lowly bachelor sitting around in coffee shops on Friday nights.” Elisha said raising her glass towards Tina.

“The pleasure was mine.” Tina smiling back and the two women clinked their glasses together.

A couple of hours later Tina was saying her goodbyes to Felicity and Elisha.

“Seriously thank you once again for a lovely evening.” Tina said hugging Felicity.

“No, no the pleasure was ours, it was great seeing you again after all this time.” Felicity replied.

“Elisha it was lovely to meet you.” Tina said turning her attention to Elisha.

“Hey, any friend of Felicity’s is certainly a friend of mine.” Elisha and Tina hugged but what Tina didn’t notice was that Elisha had a small tracker wedged in-between her fingers and she was hugging Tina she quickly stuck it underneath Tina’s hood so she wouldn’t notice it even if she walked past a mirror.

“Well, I should head off I hope we can do this again some time.” Tina said stepping outside the front door.

“Of course we can, what do you think hun?” Felicity asked Elisha.

“Oh yes, don’t worry Tina I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again real soon, I’m sure of it.” Elisha said with Tina unaware of what Elisha was referring too.

With that they waved goodbye and Tina made her way out of the building and made her way back home.

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Soph kicked a can down a street before she saw bar, across the road from her, she wanted to go in a sit down, maybe get a drink or two just to clear her head, but as she got closer she realized that is was a biker’s bar, Soph watch as various biker women and gangs all clad in various leather outfits came in and out of the bar, Soph knew she’d need a change of clothes.

Soph snuck around the side and peered in through one of the windows, she noticed a loan woman setting up a pool table, the woman was 31 years of age, had white skin and brunette hair tied back in a pony tail, she was wearing a pink vest, with a sleeveless leather jacket, she was wearing fingerless leather gloves, black leather trousers, with black boots. It wouldn’t matter to Soph but the woman’s name was Cassandra or Casey for short, Soph cracked open the window and hopped inside.

“So you like to play pool huh, you any good?” Soph said to the Casey.

“Hey, who let you in here little girl, this place for women only, so why do you beat it huh.” Casey replied to her.

“How about I beat you instead.” Soph angrily whispered.

“What did you just say?” Casey said after she somewhat heard what Soph said.

“I said I bet I can beat you at this game.” Soph said calming down.

“Oh you bet huh? Ha go on then little girl I’ll take your bet, but what’s the steaks?” Casey asked with a very confident stance.

“You win, I’ll tell you the pin number on my card and you can drinks on me all night long.” Soph lied.

“Oh yeah and what about if you win?” Casey wondered.

“It simple, I get your clothes.” Casey coughed a bit after hearing that.

“My clothes, you want the clothes I’m wearing right now?” She raised her eyebrows.

“Yes. You strip down to your bra and panties and give me your clothes, so I can wear them and enter the bar for a drink, pretending to be one of you.” Soph said honestly this time.

“Good god the tits on you girl, okay it’s a deal, if you win I’ll give you the clothes on my back.” Casey said picking up a pool cue.

Soph went first she leant over the pool table and broke, terribly. Casey looked at Soph’s terrible break and thought it was going to be an easy win for her but as she bent over the table and lined up her shot, Soph smashed her pool cue straight over the back on Casey’s head both knocking her out and snapping the cue in half in the process.

“Huh what that? You can’t compete and I win by forfeit you say? Well a deal’s and deal then, time to take those clothes of yours.” Soph said smugly to the very unconscious Casey. Soph locked the door to the pool room and lifted Casey’s unconscious body onto the pool table itself.

Soph removed Casey’s jacket and her top revealing Casey was wearing a jet black bra underneath, next she slipped off her boots and with some force as the leather was tight, pulled off Casey’s leather trousers, it’s also here we see Casey is wearing a dark purple set of panties, Soph then used the stocking she was originally wearing to tie up Casey’s ankles and wrists before used an old rag to quickly gag her.

Soph pulled Casey off of the pool table and dragged her over to a broom closet to hide her in, but much to her surprise when she opened the door there was another woman in there too, she had black hair with blonde highlights, white skin, she was wearing a black bra with lacing and a pair of black panties with a little red ribbon knot in the middle, Soph naturally knew this women’s clothes had been stolen too but she didn’t let this phase her, instead she just chucked Casey’s body on top of this other woman’s body before closing the door and getting changed into Casey’s clothing.

Now that she was changed she walked into the bar and signaled the barkeep for a scotch on the rock. Soph sat back on her stool and drank half of her drink when she heard a noise behind her.

“There you are Casey, come on we’re bugging out.” Soph turned to see two biker women staring at her.

“Hey wait what the hell, you’re not Cassandra and what are you doing wearing her clothes!” One of them shouted.

Soph didn’t reply and took another swig of her drink.

“Hey, we’re talking to you, what.......are you doing..........wearing..........Casey’s clothes!” One of them shouted as they both now got face to face with Soph.

Soph finished her drink before shaking around the remaining ice cubes in her glass, before she quickly smashed the glass over of the women’s heads, she then grab the second woman by the arm and hip tossed her over her shoulder and smacked her back into the bar itself, she then grabbed the first woman and smacked her face into the bar knocking her out, she then spun around back heeled the second woman in the head knocking her out. Soph then turned and looked at the barman, she then reached into one of the knocked out women’s pocket and pulled out some cash before placing it on the table.

“That’ll cover the damage and some.” She said turning to take her leave when she heard an additional voice call out behind her.

“Not very subtle are you.”

Soph turned expecting another fight but instead she quickly froze in place, as she was staring face to face with a woman who looked exactly like her, just much older.

This woman who looked like Soph was in her early fifties and her hair was greying. She was wearing leather trousers, a black tank top and a black leather jacket with knee high boots.

“Before you say anything yeah I know you’re not the real Cassandra, I imagine she’s bound and gagged in her underwear in that broom closet in there isn’t she.” The female said.

“How........How did you know.” Soph said still shocked at seeing a woman who looked like her just much older.

“Well how do you think I got in here, because I’m certainly not a biker chick.” The woman said, Soph then remembered the other woman bound and gagged in her undies in the broom closet and quickly put two and two together.

Soph looked down and this woman’s stomach as she was wearing a tank top and she just couldn’t believe her eyes...........This woman had a belly button.

“Wait, you’ve got a...........No.........No, no, no it can’t be, it just can’t be.” Soph said as she really did and the same didn’t want to say what she was thinking.

The woman just rolled her eyes as she knew what Soph was trying to say.

“Come on, I know what you’re thinking and I know what you want to say.” She leaned into Soph’s ear. “Yes.......I’m the original.” With that she winked at Soph and sat down at an empty.

“Come sit down, have another drink then you and I can have a little chat can’t we.” The woman said as she signaled the barman for two for drinks.

Soph swallowed hard as she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, she contemplated rubbing her eyes in disbelief but that seemed too cartoonish so instead she just sad down opposite this woman and got ready to both ask and answer as many questions as she could.

END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

[Trackman281]

Disclaimer - this is just the Epilogue to this chapter, it doesn't contain any USB scenes as it's just the filler for me to progress the story forward, I had to initially cut it from the chapter above as it would have made the USB scenes too far and few in-between, so this part is for those who want to know where the story is going to go, for those who just want the USB scenes, please read above.

EPILOGUE FOR CHAPTER 18.

Tina made her way back home, she made her way via foot just so nobody would get suspicious. She made her way through the main gates and down through one of the main hangers, however unbeknownst to Tina was just outside the phantoms were just about to strike when suddenly there attack was called off.

Outside several phantoms including the prophet de-cloaked from a safe distance.

“Hhhmmm, this complicates things.” The prophet said examining the area.

“This doesn’t make any sense, there’s thousands of them.........They can’t all be infiltrators can they?” A phantom asks looking through the scope of her rifle.

“Sister Elisha did say that apparently she had heard that this Tina woman’s life was difficult to explain but this is out of hand.” The prophet added.

Prophet picked up a set of binoculars and surveyed the area, she saw countless troopers, going in and out of the facility, she noticed various soldiers were dressed different and commanded respect from their peers, the commanders. She noticed two of them had distinct differences from their sisters, she didn’t realize this but she had spotted Big Bertha and Tinker.

“Hhhmm, need a better look. FALCON, deploy the drones!” She shouted.

Another phantom stepped out and while her armour was similar to the other phantoms, her armour appeared thinner, possibly for easy flexibility and her helmet while still full faced like the other, was more narrow and has a single one visor line, her helmet slightly resembled that of a falcon.

Falcon pressed a button on her forearm and behind her a machine opened up launching dozens of drones that have all been redesigned to look like falcons, they flew in several different directions and spread out far and wide.

“Got eyes on Alpha target, I can tell because of what she’s wearing. She seems to conversing with other’s that seem to have similar equipment like her own.” Falcon further studied her drone’s feeds.

“It seems like they’ve isolated themselves from the rest of.........Well who or whatever they all are, timer’s up I’ve got bring in the drones.” Falcon recalled her drones back into their launcher.

“Sssooo let’s recap..........Ignoring the fact that seems to be thousands of women that almost look identical to each other on this uncharted island, they seem to be organised in groups from your basic rank and file trooper all the way to commanders, with filthy infiltrators thrown in the middle.........Well this might go far beyond our understanding for now one thing is abundantly clear. They HAVE infiltrators, they HAVE our Alpha Prey, we don’t want to go into a full blown open war here, we just want their infiltrators. But how?” The prophet pondered for a moment before she came to a conclusion.

“I’ve got, we draw them out!” Most of the phantoms nodded in approval but the Mongolian phantom shrugged.

“But how do we do that, if they are a sisterhood like then they’ll be protecting their infiltrator won’t they?” The Mongolian phantom added.

“Well then, our path is clear isn’t it? We turn them against each other so they’ll deliver all their infiltrators right into our crosshairs.” With that the Prophet signalled all of her phantoms to fall back as they had some planning to do.

************************************************************************************************************************

We see Pearce sitting on a park bench, when a woman comes and sits next to him.

“Hi honey, I didn’t think you’d come.” Pearce says with a half smile.

The woman next to him pulls her hood down revealing herself to be none other than Blink.

“I wouldn’t miss a chance to see the two of you again.” Blink looked over Pearce’s shoulders and saw her daughter Shannon being looked after by social worker.

“She’s growing up so fast.......Time is just moving so fast at the moment.” Blink further said.

“Yeah she is, she asks about you a lot you know, but how do you explain that, there’s only so many times I can use the whole mum’s working excuse.........*breaths deeply*............She’s starting to see through the lie, this isn’t fair on her.” Pearce stares at the floor.

“I know, she’s a fast learner, Oh before I forget.” Blink puts her hand behind Pearce’s ear “Tah-dah.” She says revealing an envelope and a quick nod to her past life as a magician.

Pearce smiles as he secretly wishes she’s had just carried on being a magician, he knew that her pay sucked but he also rested easy at night knowing that his wife was safe. He opened the envelope and did a quick flip through the notes.

“This is WAY too much, I can’t accept all of this, you need to keep some for yourself.” But before he could remove some notes, Blink placed her hand on his stopping him.

“No I’ve already taken what I need before I put the rest in that envelope, honest I have.” Blink said and she was actually telling the truth.

Blink looks over at her daughter again.

“Don’t look........I know it hurts.......But don’t look as it will hurt more.” Pearce says after seeing a tear in Blink’s eye.

“She’s growing up without her Mother.” Blink says while slowly shaking her head.

“Then come home.” Pearce quickly responded.

“I can’t.........I just can’t, my life as an infiltrator puts you all at risk, that’s why I did that fake divorce with you and waved all custody rights to you. I love you both and if anything happened I’d.........Well you know.” Blink said turning away in embarrassment.

“Yeah I know.” Pearce pulls out a stick of gum and pops into his mouth.

Blink puts her hands in her pocket and pulls out a deck of cards before spreading them out in a row upside down.

“Pick a card.” She says with a smile.

“Haha, ah come on really.” Pearce says smiling back.

“Go on, any card.” Blink insists.

Pearce picks up one of the cards and looks at it before putting it back, he had the two of hearts. Blink smiles, gathers the cards up and shuffles them with her eyes closed before grabbing the card on the top of the deck, putting it behind her back for a second before revealing it again.

“Is this your card?” She says holding out the two of hearts card.

“Yes it is, well done.” Pearce replies taking the card from her.

“Flip it over.” Blink winks.

Pearce flips the car over a see a little USB stick stuck to the back of the card.

“What’s this?” He asks.

“Just a few pictures of me, you might want to look at them later on tonight when you’re on your own, I’ll think you’ll particularly like picture nine. If you know what I mean.” Blink replies with a smile and an additional wink.

Pearce removes the USB and pops it into his pocket before returning the card back to Blink.

“Thank you, though I’d prefer if you tucked up safely next to me and Shannon you know. I miss you too you know.” Pearce said rubbing his forehead.

“I know and naturally I miss you both too.” An alarm buzzes on her watch. “Well it seems like our time is up, I’ll speak to you again soon, I promise.” Blink said turning the alarm off.

“You better.” Pearce replied, Blink watched and waited until the social workers weren’t looking before giving Pearce a quick kiss on the cheek and blowing several kisses towards her daughter, before she got up, pulled her hood back over her head and left the park.

Pearce breathed heavily for a few seconds then checked the time on his phone before getting up and going over to the social workers.

END OF EPILOGUE FOR CHAPER EIGHTEEN

[esercito sconfitto]

Trackman, first of all, thanks; my huge and heartfelt thanks; it takes courage to find the inspiration to create stories in these weirdest moments

so many questions...but one straight to the point; why don't transform the clones into a zako army? of course I have been struck by the description of the battle...

fantastic scene with the goth/pirate / mugger girl ! nevertheless Soph should have shown more solidarity towards a fellow Uniform /clothes stealer!

last, the first thing...the revisionist history .. the phantom prophet...how many history books we have to rewrite...

[tirepanted3]

Great chapter! Nicely balanced between a variety of characters.

I like the backstory layered in about the infiltrators and phantoms. Much like the history in Rufusluciusivan's Utopia series, this is a good, clever way to show that uniform thievery existed long before the series began, and in fact played a key role in history. Really good stuff.

The scene with Marie and Jessica was particularly strong. A well-done army infiltration, with a great moment of Marie turning the tables during Jessica's inspection. Having soldiers wearing full-faced helmets is never a good idea - enemy combatants are practically begging for their clothes to be stolen.

Soph in the bar was also a lot of fun. Her brief game of pool was highly amusing, and a good display of her unapologetic attitude. Her meeting with the original woman she was cloned from - who, appropriately enough, is a clothing thief herself - is certainly intriguing, and leaves me eager to see where the story goes next.

[Trackman281]

First of all a massive thanks to you both and I'm very pleased you both enjoyed the chapter, I'll try and answer all your questions as best as I can.

Esercito - This will probably be one of the very rare occasions that we actually see the basic rank and file troopers in battle, Marie is technically just a basic ground trooper, despite her clearly showing signs she should of been an infiltrator, so because of this she can't always be seen hanging around the other infiltrators, her unit was going to get called into action at some point.

I think it was disbelief, the origin of the clones was always shrouded in mystery and there were many fairy tales about her existence, some clones thought she was spirit, others thought she was a legendary warrior, some even thought she was just a random person pulled off the street, so when Soph came face to face with the real deal naturally she was in shock because it turns out that the original woman of Soph and all her sisters, is still very much alive.

HAHA, well it would certainly make an interesting field of profession to study wouldn't it, imagine all those women graduating from university with a degree in "Infiltration and USB techniques", I think that'd be something we'd all like to see.

Tirepanted - A lot of people genuinely thought that the phantoms were going to be ex-USB victims because of their hatred for infiltrators, now that would of worked all the same but for me that just felt too cliché and it felt underpowered, these phantoms are seasoned, well trained and extremely knowledgeable of infiltrator tactics, so the idea that they were just former USB victims seemed strange so I needed to think outside the box.

Plus the whole concept that all throughout time and history there's always been infiltrators and there's always been phantoms can offer some really neat concepts, the Viking invasions of England, the wild west, the Italian Renaissance, The clan wars of Shogun Japan, the golden age of Piracy, so many possibilities now.

This was bound to happen to Marie at some point, she now wants to be an infiltrator, she prefers the tactics, she's been enlightened that intel wins wars, not genocide but at the end of the day, she is a trooper, it's was she was raised to be and now she's just broke out of her programming, something that her company take great offence to and they encourage all their clones to watch for signs of their sisters trying to be individuals.

I won't keep you waiting, the next chapter will feature the original woman (name pending) explaining the reason why she was chose to be the genetic template and why she even said yes in the first place, also I know a couple of people are wondering what happened to Blink's sister. Well she'll be returning for the next chapter and we'll find out why she's been absent for so long.

[rufusluciusivan]

A solid build-up chapter. Don't have much more to add compared to what was already said. Ah, the downside of coming late to the party!

About the backstory of the Phantoms, I admit that I thought it would be a group of former victims. I think their true nature makes them more despicable and evil (in the sense that they use lethal means against people clearly shown in their history to not have used lethal means, and in present days their hatred seems to stem from fanatical intolerance - at least that's how I interpret their leader's discours and indoctrination to make her recruits see infiltrators as evil, as shown with Elisha's inner monologue). However, at the same time, it makes them look more threatening and dangerous. A bit like Tina's 'higher-ups' or Kuebiko, they're the kind of villains you just want to see toppled. With the reveal of PHANTOM learning about the clone facility, one can hope that the higher-ups of both groups will slaughter each other... Given how infulential the 'suits' ruling over the clones are, I don't think that PHANTOM stands a chance however. One can only hope that their leader will bite on more than she can chew... I don't really see her as able to turn the clones against each other. The suits won't let that happen, and the infiltrators bring them too much profits for them to accept letting fanatics ruin everything.

I agree with everyone about your good idea of giving historical origines to Uniform Stealings, and I agree with you that it opens up many juicy opportunities.

About Marie's infiltration scene itself, Tirepanted summed up my thoughts perfectly, so I'll use this opportunity to simply say: "Ditto."

Many things are being set into motion, what with Marie's arrest, Soph's meeting with the original woman, Elisha's realization about who Tina is, and the Phantom's discovery of the secret base... I guess the climax of the entire series is nearing.

On a side note, good work with the scene between Elisha, Felicity, and Tina. A good use of dramatic irony: we as readers are aware of the peril, but not the characters. I wonder how things will evolve: will Elisha remain loyal to the Phantom or will she continue questioning her leader's teachings? For now, there are evidences pointing to both sides.

Also... is it me or most of Soph's side-story is basically: 'Soph comes across rude people and teaches them a lesson USB-style'?

[Trackman281]

Rufusluciusivan - I won't go into spoiler territory otherwise it'll ruin the next chapter but I will say this, in the next chapter you will see.....

Marie's aftermath will be in full.
The phantoms will make their move.
The original woman (name still pending) will be explored in detail.
Soph's retribution will be near.
Blink will get back in touch with her sister
And finally............Stasis goes hungry (little side story)

I really won't keep you all waiting long as I want to start writing in on the Monday and upload it on the Tuesday.

[Trackman281]

UPDATE - LOL I've realized I'm not going to have the next chapter out this week, it's going to be a very long chapter but it's going to a "worth the wait" chapter as it will tie up a few lose ends and will shift Tina's world greatly, but this will all be for the better.

I won't be able to finish it before the end of this year, because you know, Christmas and New years holidays are here now.

So yeah You'll see Tina and Co back on January 2nd and as I say, this will be a long chapter, but it'll be worth the wait, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody.