Before Rift Apart (Complete)

My Own Worst Enemy

With Rivet celebrating with the Pirates for their stolen supplies of weapons and ammo among other things, Phantom was doing his best to pick up on alerts or signals from Nefarious' regime that would otherwise go un-noticed. He had been doing this for awhile and noticed a fairly strange rumor about Nefarious capturing, coercing or legitimately hiring genetists for a special project. Besides that, everything about said project was entirely unknown, including name, details, what it was about, nothing. Nefarious was always up to no good but this felt special. Personal even. When he wanted revenge, this is what he did. He would do things quietly. A secondary rumor that Phantom figured was impossible was that it had something to do with Rivet. To Phantom, this was unlikely since there was no way Nefarious knew about her. He himself had erased any evidence of her.

Rivet noticed Phantom working when they should -all- be celebrating and walked over with a bottle in her hand. "Stop working for five minutes. Come on." She smiled. Phantom took the bottle, noticing it was synthahol, and not actual alcohol. It was his turn to smile. He was always glad she had never taken up alcohol to drown her troubles. Phantom opened up the bottle and drank a little. "When do we find the others?" Rivet asked, taking a drink of her own. "That's coming up soon. But first, we may have a problem." Rivet stared a moment, wishing they could enjoy the moment of victory, but maybe a few minutes is all they can really afford. It was disheartening in a way. Constantly needing to move on, never enjoying the idea of gaining momentum, but only to keep the momentum going.

Rivet finally understood how her brother may have felt when he first tried to rise against the Emperor. "Well what's the problem?" She asked sternly. Phantom showed her the reports of scientists going missing, all were civillians it seemed. It reeked of a setup, Rivet's instincts were kicking in, but only for a moment. "I'm going to check it out. This feels like a solo mission to me." She had her mind made up, never any point in arguing with Rivet when. Phantom, against his better judgement, reluctantly agreed that her best chance of success was going in alone. With that in mind, the celebration, at least for Rivet was over now. She walked to her ship, got in and left.

Corson V, Nerfarious City, Verdagris Sector. Rivet's POV.

I landed at a secure landing pad just on the outskirts of Nerfarious City. "Hasn't been long enough since I last seen this place.." It was dreadful being back here. The place where I grew up was just this empty shell of it's former self. Nothing was as I remembered it at all, and the few places I did remember were mostly due to hiding for my life, and trauma. A short flash of taking my brother's scarf from his body made me wince, a small whine escaping me. I had to focus but it was hard to do, the bad memories flooding in were overwhelming to me. I took a moment to breathe in and out slowly, and went on my way. I imagined looking for a scientist wasn't too difficult, since they always wore their.. Sciency.. Stuff? I giggled to myself a little since I should know this stuff, but sometimes, being an engineer is a far cry from science.

With that in mind I looked around, even asked questions from trusted sources. Everything pointed to some secret project at Nefarious City's old Capital building. I remember going there often for their job programs, which landed me a job with Drek Industries. I let out a sigh, seems like another life-time ago now. A life-time where I was happy. I had everything someone like me could ever want. When Nefarious rose to power, he took not only my life, and my brother, he took everyone else's lives as well. Thinking this made me realize why I actually bother fighting. It's not for me anymore. It's for those who can't stand up for themselves. "I won't abandom you..." I said to myself. A self-made promise is usually self-defeating. No one else knows about it but you, but that's who it matters to most: you. You  can do alot in life, but the moment you have to lie to yourself, is when you've lost.

I shake my head. "That logic is waaay too wise for me.." I said to myself as I msde sure I had all my gear. I was going to sneak into the old capital building and see exactly what Nefarious was up to. I managed to climb the old fence and wandered in, and I had to use one of Phantom's night-vision things to know my way around. It was dark, like really dark. In some areas even night-vision wasn't helping. I kept going until I walked into a room, and knew right away it was a trap. I didn't even blink before the door slammed behind me and I seen Nefarious and his annoying assisstant. He smirked at me, and it felt like my grave was just walked over. I was sure that I was going to die now. Nefarious just laughed, knowing he had completely fooled me and there was nothing smart for me to say. I had no back-up, and no microphone. No one was coming for me.

I gulped as he grin was very appearent. "You must be wondering why you're not dead juuuust yet little Rivet. Two reasons. Reason one: I'm not the one who is going to kill you. Reason two: I want you to know who bested you finally. I hope your trip here was worth it for you. Because you won't leave this place alive. Or at least, you won't leave here free." He laughed again, which was scary. If he's like this, then he knows I'm beat. But I see no obvious ace up his sleeve. If he even has a sleeve... And so, he stepped aside, showing me his surprise. I was ready for it to some weapon, and inba way, it was. But I wasn't prepared for exactly what it would be.

My eyes widened, with my own eyes looking back at me. But it wasn't my reflection. It was much worse. It was possibly my own worst enemy at this point: me. The Emperor made a clone of me?! "I'm so hosed..." I look on, she looked on, and the Emperor made his dramatic exit. This, was not looking good for me... I'm about to fight myself, and everything about her was dark. Her outfit, her demeanor, her very looks screamed evil. Fighting myself was not going to be easy...