Villainous

School Daze

[MACK]

Update: Monday mornings still suck.

With all the super craziness and clone conspiracies at least that's the one thing in my life that's remained constant.

I'm pretty much in zombie-mode as I go through my morning routine. Teeth are brushed, hair is curled, makeup is applied, yadda, yadda, yadda. The point is, even though the city is approaching dystopian levels of disfunction and I'm running on like four hours of sleep I still find time to make sure I look good.

"Morning Mack. About to head to school?" my father calls to me as I walk into the kitchen and pour myself an overly large cup of coffee. Black.

I'm glad my father and I are finally back on good terms. 

I think after the Genesis Labs betrayal I wanted so desperately for things to go back to normal. But for me, there is no normal. I'm a clone and my whole life was a lie. You can't exactly just ignore news like that and pretend everything is ok.

My father did some things that hurt me but he's also the only reason I've ever had any shred of normality in my life. If it wasn't for him I'd have been just another Genesis Lab clone who's whole life was pretty much a test tube. They'd probably have killed me already too once they got the Super formula perfected.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that I'm grateful and can overlook everything else that's happened.

"Unfortunately," I grumble. Part of the Vertigo's lockdown is mandatory school attendance. (which is strange considering the General pretty much let the rest of the city become a free for all) Any absences are punishable by immediate military action. A few kids have been removed from the city after skipping and not seen since. I can't afford to draw that kind of attention to myself so that means playing star student even when I'd like to devote all my time to saving Levi, "Got to keep the grades up so that if by some miracle I don't die in the next few weeks I can get into a good college."

My dad looks at me from over his newspaper, "You say that sarcastically but you make a good point. You have to be able to see the light at the end of all this mess."

"Wow, nice parental advice there. You'd almost think you're my real dad," I joke.

He frowns, "Mack..."

When we first talked about the whole Mack's a clone thing my dad gave me an out. He said he'd love to still be my dad but understood if I was too hurt to keep up the charade. I told him that he raised me and he is my dad no matter what... but I still like to make jokes.

"What, too soon? You know I'm kidding," I grin, "But you're right, I'll try to stay positive... Speaking of parents, there's something I need to ask. Were you and mom-er I mean Evelyn, my DNA donor, were you guys, uh, like a thing?"

It's a question I've been putting off for a while now because frankly I'm not sure if I want the answer. If my dad was married to someone with my same DNA that's just weird. But I guess morning-zombie-brain is too tired to care.

My father smiles, "No. Evelyn was a dear friend and a brilliant co-worker but we never saw each other in that way. We got on each other's nerves too much."

"Now who does that sound like?" I laugh.

"You too are more alike then you know," my father says with a twinge of sadness in his eyes, "Besides, Eve was married to a man named Joe Adams.They were high school sweethearts, absolutely in love. If there were ever two people meant for each other it was them."

It feels weird hearing all about Evelyn's life. Everything I knew about my "Mom" had been fabricated and now finally knowing the truth pushes my idea of my mom further and further away. But I want to know more. In a way, Eve was me. Or at least a copy of me. (Well technically I'm a copy of her but...) We're closer then any mother and daughter because I'm one hundred percent her. I need to know who she really was.