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Brotherhood

The troopers had gathered around the restrained Mark with rifles trained, while two blocked off the girls.

"What is your relationship with this...thing? We will be asking the questions here. The last time one of these look alikes showed up, a lot of people died. So tell me why your here and what is your relation?" One of the armored pair asked commandingly ignoring kasumi's questions. It was clear all the troopers were tense, as if they feared the man before them cuffed and pinned.

Mark sensed Chlorate's distress, ["I'm okay, don't get in their. I don't want them to hurt you honey. Whatever happens chlo, I love you."] He sent telepathically. "Hey! I said let them be. Whatever your arresting me for, they have no part of." Mark protested before receiving a buttstock to the face and a armored boot to the stomach causing him to grunt.

"Shut up!" The trooper that struck him barked.

A loud fusion motor could be heard approaching, and soon a helmeted rider pulled through the checkpoint and stopped next to the group.

"Did you run him?" The figure said.

"No, sir." The same trooper replied before using a hand scanner on the prone Mark, "checks out as the same. Still you commander."

Jack removed the helmet handing it off before crouching down before his prone double. Having taken the gun in hand he tilted Mark's face up to get a good look at him.

"What the hell??" They both said in unison.

"Get him on his feet....and uncuff him. Bring all of them to the facility." Jack said re-slinging the rifle.

"Sir, with all do respect, did your time in the ICU cause brain damage. The last double came here and caused major damage and casualties. What about what happened to your sister and so.." a female trooper stepped close to jack speaking quietly.

"Thank you for reminding me lieutenant Casdan, but this man is not him. Now if you would be so kind, return to base. Discipline the trooper who struck him, his conduct was inexcusable towards a prisoner." Jack stated aloud with an angered edge to his tone as he gave the woman a piercing stare after she spoke. Behind the visor, Casdan's expression was of disbelief, though concealed by the polarized visor and armor plates giving only a "Yes sir."

After the PA troopers left jack looked at the man before him, "You poor bastard, where have you been? We're going to my.....our office, and we are going to figure out what exactly happened to you to keep you thought dead for six months."
 
"Yeah! She said she was here to fill out some forums before we could go out to do something." She replied to Aster chirpily. "We're going to the movies to w-" "We were going to the movies." Abigail says, before being interjected by her foster mother. Aras is slowly panting, "But you said t-" "I don't care what I said!" Aras snaps at the interjection. "I decided that Before you forced me to chase you around an office building for half an hour." Abigail slowly faced Aras with acceptance. "Okay," She muttered. The two had been so consumed by their conversation, they had missed the exit of Jack.
 
"FATHER!" Chlorate screamed when the trooper struck him. She was about ready to get up and protect Mark even if it would be against her father and Kasumi's wills but fortunately was stopped when she saw Jack ride in. Chlorate squinted and took a long look at both of them before reporting "Father, there are two of you."
 
Kryss was lying on one of the couches within the S6 first floor rec room holding her PDA above her and reading though her strangely empty schedule for the day, she was supposed to meet the director later for a short informal meeting about the monthly update for both groups but that was really it. Letting her arm flop down beside her she closed her eyes and tried to catch up on some lost sleep from all the recent activity.

Sleep would not come as her mind continued to race and run through schedules for days in advance, she needed some downtime more than she liked to admit but Kryss knew without it she would quickly burn out and that couldn't be allowed to happen not if she was going to have a chance at staying where she was and moving up. Dressed in her casual outfit of cargo pants and a tank top with the short-cut jacket foled over the back of the couch she hoped no one would disturb her attempt at sleep.
 
Adilis and Adria were in the first floor rec room with Kryss. Adilis quietly stood at the opposite end of the room from her, watching her. Adria was looking at the vending machine. The short bug eyed something inside and hopped up to put money in, then had to hop a couple more times to type in the number. It started to dispense the item, but stopped before it could fall down. "DANGIT!" hollared Adria. Her tail thrashed around in anger as she kicked the vending machine, frustrated that it failed.
 
"This man is not the one you are looking for.", Kasumi answered calmly, in response to the question. "He is not a dangerous individual or a criminal, why is he being treated like one?"

Kasumi looked at the "other" Mark with confusion in her eyes when he took his helmet off. Although the other man had white hair, the two men seemed to look exactly alike, aside from the difference in hair color. Their facial features were identical in a manner that could only be achieved via cloning or soul transfer. She had anticipated the worst when he had arrived, but was pleasantly surprised to find that he treated Mark more softly, to the point of disciplining the soldier who had abused him before. The diminutive Neko lowered her hand away from Chlorate, while staring at the identical-looking men with an abstract expression on her face.

"Your father might be a clone of another man.", she stated softly. "Stay close."
 
Mark stared at the man before him in disbelief, "Woah, wait, who are you? I came here to remember, but I find some guy with my face running things! So mind explaining to the amnesiac what the hell is going on."

Jack rubbed his face for a moment before sighing, "Great, that would explain why you didn't return til now. Ok, so the USO has access to ST technology thanks to the Elysian's original attempt at colonizing this world. I am your backup, and was activated six months ago when you were listed KIA. You were on a mission aboard a Broadsword cruiser to survey a build site for the new Trinity station hollow world we're building with the I'ee and Union. You are, or were, Jack Pine. We are the founder and director of the government entity known as Section 6, and Commander of the SABER special operations unit which is one of S6's departments, which number seven in total. We deal in robotics/electronics, weapons, medical, engineering, fleet r&d, advanced r&d, and SABER. ......now this is going to be the hard part for you I know, but.....you were married, had six children. The oldest, Amit, was taken about a month ago by the very reason you were treated the way those troopers did. A man named Lazarus, a weapon created by a company named Psychopomp, and our clone took him and killed our sister Sarah. She was pregnant with twins at the time." Jack said with a pained expression, letting that information hang.

Mark all but crumpled, nearly failing to catch himself as he slid down leaning against the side of the U5. He was speechless, what could he say, and lost so much without even the knowledge he had. This had been his fear, and to have it validated like this tore at his heart.

Jack hoisted mark up back on his feet, and sat him down in one of the seats after easing him to the back of the vehicle, before climbing as well and motioning everyone in.

The vehicle passed through the checkpoint and travelled through the neighborhood, rolling grass and nice two story houses with a large black building fast approaching in the distance.

Mark was quiet and shaken for a few moments, "where does that even leave me then? You've taken my place and now I have no reason to remain here. What could possibly remain for this place to even qualify as home anymore?"

Jack wasn't much better, but was surprised by how much better than expected mark was taking this, "There is still a place here for you...brother. You may not be able to be the father, or husband like you might want to, but you can still help me protect our family. I've failed in that lately, and I need help. I haven't trusted anyone other than Isabelle enough to say aloud around, but if I can't trust myself then who can I. Together we build a better home for them, and together we can kick that bastard Lazarus's ass and get Amit back. I will not abandon you, I grew up an orphan, with finding out about Sarah being our sister after a month of being here. We need to stick together, Mark, you still have a family who wants you. At your time of disappearance, we only had Amit and the twins Isabelle carries. Now we have your niece and nephew, Adria and Adilis, and Neera.....well she got a new body."

Mark was silent again as he processed and thought, "Alright,....this is going to take some time to adjust to. But I'm willing to try."

The vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the Section 6 facility and it's riders disembarked. The group entered and were brought to the hall where Jack had left Uso and the rest in conversation.

Neera made her way past to Jack as he entered, "False alarm dad? Who are these people...." She stopped her gaze finding Mark.
 
“Multiple bodies is supposed to be my party trick,” Of course while Vier was conveying this information, her tone was entirely unhelpful for anyone trying to tell if she was joking.
 
Aster stared at the newcomers from her place beside Jay. She raised a curious eyebrow as she released Jay from her hug. "How many versions of you are there, Mr.Pine? But hello, other Jack and.. Oneesan." She took a few moments to contemplate how this sort of thing was odd from her Yamataian background. It was illegal to just make copies of people but even the illegal clones had full rights. Her attention drifted to the gun that the version of Jack she knew was carrying. "Oh! You guys are using the Maverick now?! How is it performing? I got the shipment from the VDTF for the SLAG in 12.7x50mm now too!"
 
Jack chuckled slightly, "Yeah well, you guys remember the mission I was revived after, the survey mission for Trinity station? Surprise, I didn't die. So yeah, I guess I have a... brother now? Though he didn't comeback because he is suffering from amnesia."

Mark stepped forward, "yeah, kinda awkward. And a lot of changes since my detour to get used to."

Neera looked perplexed and had her ears down, "Wait, so does that mean he's the original?" She asked pointing to mark.

"Yes" the mark and jack said at the same time before looking at each other and laughing awkwardly.
 
“Humans lack version control mechanisms, it would be a waste of our time to think of them as original or duplicate,” Vier offered. “They are both independent entities, that should receive both a new security screening and a basic hash function memory check to determine how close to the last clean backup each user is. As well as if either has had their memory tampered with... amnesia not withstanding.”
 
"Vier, he is Jack. He's the one who founded S6 and was the one actually born. I'm the ST copy, so yes he is the ORIGINAL. He even has the Geist prototype, and they only work with the person first implanted, clone, or not. He's more valid than I am, with some nice upgrades I might add. His bio scan feedback I'm getting from his implant has noted a couple of gene modifications. Most notably his appearance, a reflex enhancement, and a symbiote that filters poisons and toxins. All with clear signs of being iroma in origin." Jack said mentally unsure why he actually bothered to argue with Vier, but also surprised in a good way at the changes.

Mark rubbed the back of his neck as he was being talked about, "yeah, I visited a Iroma gene clinic on Kyope. I was until recently traveling with the crew of the YSS-Kaiyo II. The Android here is my daughter Chlorate, and this is Kasumi, a close friend of mine." He said patting Chlorate on the head softly before sweeping a hand in Kasumi's direction.

"Ok woah slow down, I'm losing track here. Mark is the Jack, and jack is new jack. Dad why can't you be normal, and how is mom gonna react to this?" Neera said raising her hands for the explanation to stop.

Both men looked at each other worried, "oh shit." They said in unison.
 
Beaumont lay back in his seat, mug of coffee in one hand and lit cigarette in the other, legs propped up on his deak by a keyboard in the low light provided by the ST chamber currently holding the steadily forming body of Sarah Pine. Since the incident back in the neighborhood, Beaumont had been up to his throat in business pertaining to injured members of S-6, reviving dead ones, and tending to the injured.

The procedures made things easy but the documentation and cost would be brutal. He had to use as many of his resources as he had on hand to be able to keep the casualty rate from skyrocketing, and with a minimal amount of people on hand who actually know their way around the scalpel and suture, he would take the full brunt of the workload on himself, and that meant playing favorites. Never fun when everyone is trying to force him to play eeny-meeny-miney-mo to pick whoever gets patched up first while they all bicker to convince him to operate on each other first.

As honorable as it may have come across to them, the cyborg would find it more stupid than anything.

All the while, he'd have to keep his eye on the tank containing an extra sleeve for Sarah in the event of another attack, just as he had done for every other member of the Pine family in the event of another attack. As of right now, the development had been going with minimal hiccups. Of course there was a scare and he had to run to the lab in the middle of the night when an assistant called him in fearing that her leg was developing improperly, though it all turned out fine when the muscles had reconnected properly by the next morning.

It had been a total of three days since Beaumont last slept. His head was throbbing from the caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco keeping him from passing out onto the floor in a pile of metal.

He raises a hand and taps the cigarette's ashes into a small dish on his desk, bringing the mug in the other hand to his lips. He knew that this was going to be a long week.
 
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Abigail looked at Aras with a face of mixed fear and shock, she had never seen her so mad before. "Just... Go wait in the rec room or something, I don't care. I've got to finish my work." Aras states, slowly shaking her hands at the child.

Abigail had clearly entered one of her more down moods. "Okay," She practically mumbled before turning and heading down the hall, her face almost glued to the floor.

Aras waits deliberately for the child to wind the corner before she continues. "What am I going to do with her." She muttered to herself, her face planted into the cup of her hands.

REC ROOM

Abigail slowly shambled into the rec room a few minutes later before sinking onto the floor in the corner of the room. She sits there silently, not crying, or even looking sad, just staring blankly.
 
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Clones.

Enri personally didn't like the idea of clones. Not that there was anything inherently wrong with clones, as mass producing soldiers during war time often made the concept seem viable, what Enri disliked was the specific idea of split-memory clones. The term was hardly accurate but it was the best she could come up with to describe the situation, though the specifics of it still eluded her as she was not there to witness the event of re-connection itself. Quite simply she found it cruel and unnecessarily stressful to produce a clone of someone, that holds the exact memories of its host up to the point of the act itself. After all, while someone may be mentally sound, the idea of their reality simply being a copy of someone else's could easily corrupt and deteriorate the mental stability of the clone.

Though she was informed that, fortunately, such an event did not happen. The main issue with clones carrying the same memory set is that identity crisis that sets in, the need and want to know who they are, as the name and history in their memories is not theirs. Horror stories of clones turning violent to replace their host while claiming to be the 'real' host were infrequent but still did occur. Perhaps the most delicate process in the entire situation is giving the clone an identity and life independent of the host, produce them with a meaning for their life that is beyond a replicant of genetic material and information.

The USO facility was like a second home, though she neglected to give much thought in what would be her first. Wires and computers stuffed into a small room, full of silken blankets and hefty pillows seemed a bit too sin-dripping slothlike to consider a proper home. Perhaps if she cleaned up, gave it more vibes beside 'I am comfortable here, so I shall nest here.' Regardless, she was sent to simply determine the differences, see what made the copy different from the original, and more importantly see how the clone responded to news of what they were made from. She had heard talk of a wife and children of the original, and she feared that would only complicate emotions.

As she slithered down the hall, the albino Separa'Shan carried only a small bag of her own personal tools. Her clothing was quite what one would expect of some form of doctor, though it seemed excessively conservative, leaving much to the imagination. Aside from her lengthy tail which seemed to huddle close to her at all times, her face and hands were covered with the white scales that seemed to spread from her tail, reaching every part of her body, save for patches of skin that held a burnt, scarred, darkened color. A good third of her face was tainted with the licked-by-flames scars, healed as much as her body would naturally do, but seemingly untouched by other medical effects that could easily dispel the unsightly scars.

Her eyes were a pale pink, cautious slits scanning the ground as a hat covered her short hair, which was tied back out of sight in a ponytail. Her arms folded delicately around her midsection. Slithering a bit more slow as she approached, she cleared a throat, and act which seemed to take a good bit of effort. "Excuse me? I assume this is the group with the...." She paused, eyes glancing cautiously once more about the group. "...Clone, as I've been told." The word clone didn't quite roll off her tongue, as if she was unsure of how receptive the group would be to it.

"My name is Enri and I'm a doctor here, I was hoping to ask a few questions among your group, to assure the well being of everyone involved. Just to make sure everyone is... Handling this alright." She spoke clearly, though she seemed far more concerned about how what she said would be taken than the standard individual.
 
Rec Room
Kryss opened one eye while laying on the couch at the angry sounds coming from the vending machine direction, she noticed Adria and looked around for the shy sibling spotting him in the corner.

“Next time, check the room before you go screaming like that k?” She said without standing up, she hadn’t had coffee yet this morning and was not in a good mood. Kryss knew she shouldn’t be snarky with others, it was her problem after all but she just couldn’t handle this without her caffeine.

Standing slowly and adjusting her hair she took her short cut jacket and wandered past the machine knocking it as she went. The snack fell into the collection bin at the bottem and she smirked, “see, no need for all the fuss, but ask nicely next time.”
 
Rec Room
"Huh... Wait what... How..." Adria said, looking at the vending machine. She reached in and grabbed the snack (which apparently was advertised as doubling as a good cat treat) then turned to look at Kryss. "Who are you?" she asked. Adilis nervously watched Kryss as she walked by the vending machine.

Hall
Chlorate beeped as she was patted on her white-haired head.
 
Rec Room
Kryss stopped and turned back to face Adria with the jacked slung over her shoulder, she yawned from her less than recommended sleeping habits and looked down at her, "hmm, guessing you're not with the S6 staff are you, otherwise I think you'd at least have heard about me." she stopped and looked at the vending machine with a very angry and also disappointed look, willing a cup of coffee or strong liquor to appear within it.

"I'm Kryss Black, the primary liaison officer for Galactic Horizon and daughter of its CEO, Riccard Black. Which happens to be the company which just partnered with S6 for mutual benefits." She looked over at Adilis and then back to his sister in front of her, "Why's he just sitting in the corner, I only bite when I've had no coffee and no sleep, which i guess is now actually.
 
Kasumi gave a demure wave as Mark introduced her to the group, many whom seemed to be wearing identical red and black Section 6 uniforms. Her eyes came upon a teenage girl, a tall anthro woman, and many more who seemed to be surprised by the novel presences in the room. The militarized Neko felt out of place in the room, with so many eccentric individuals. Yet, she could not help but to feel pride swell in her chest, as Mark was told of who he really was. He was the true, Jack Pine, director and founder of Section 6. She was unsure if he would resume his old position, but the implications of the revelation were mildly disquieting to Kasumi, foreseeing a future of conflict between Mark Oaklen and Jack Pine, both men seeking to lead Section 6 on their own. If it came to that, she would have to stay out of it, but the idea that she could be the indirect cause of something like that unsettled her.

Kasumi maintained an emotionless disposition, but her internal feelings on the matter were contradictory and disquieted. She would have to make a decision about her involvement with Mark in the coming days, if signs of a burgeoning rivalry between the two men presented themselves.
 
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