Typically when I teleported, I moved entire objects from one place to another, whether it be myself or something else. So if I teleported, say, a bottle of juice, I would do so with its contents inside; if it were a pencil, the lead inside would go with it. What I was attempting to do now was markedly different, like trying to teleport a car without the paint job.
If I’d had my powers – particularly, the ability to “see” and control my physiological systems – it might have been easier. In that scenario, I would have just looked internally and wrapped the part of me that was “living,” so to speak, in my power and teleported it. (Even then, however, there would have been exceptions, such as hair, nails, and so on.) Without my full slate of powers, it was infinitely harder, but after a few moments, I felt I’d done my best. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes and teleported.
Chapter 92
My first thought was that it worked. I was no longer pinned under the solar panels. I was, instead, near the center of the roof, close to where I’d lost the syringe.
No – wait, I thought. It appeared that I was still pinned down. I was still lying on my back in the same position I was before. But at the same time, I wasn’t.
Something was very, very wrong. No, not wrong, I quickly decided. Just different. A moment later, I knew what it was: there were two of me!
One of me, as noted, was up and about (and dressed only in a pair of boxer briefs), while the other – wearing the rest of my clothes – was still under the collapsed solar panel equipment.
I had intended to teleport the “living” me under the stratum corneum to another part of the roof (along with my underwear so that I wouldn’t be naked). That should have left something like a husk of me under the solar panels. Still draped in my clothes (and bearing my scent), it should have been enough to fool Jack. Rather than that, however, some new power had manifested, and it appeared that I had truly replicated myself.
I spent a moment looking around, marveling at what it was like to take in the world from two different vantage points. It should have felt bizarre, but it didn’t. Instead, it felt…natural.
A metallic bang brought me – both iterations – back to myself. Wasting no more time, the second me (the one that was free) began looking for the syringe. Remembering the direction it had gone in, I headed there, scouring the area.
Meanwhile, the first me (the one pinned on the rooftop) looked in the direction of the banging sound and saw that Jack had reached the pool of electrified water. At this point, however, he halted and sniffed the air. Frowning, he squatted down on his haunches and sniffed again. He then reached out a hand in front of him, where it hovered teasingly just above the surface of the water.
Come on, I said to myself. Just another step…
Unfortunately, Jack wasn’t cooperating. Maybe there was the scent of ozone in the air, maybe he could detect an electric current in the water, or maybe some other ability was being employed. Regardless, he obviously could sense that something was wrong.
At that juncture, the Jim-2 version of me found the syringe lying near a vent and picked it up. It was visible now, and had probably been so since the brief moment when I’d gotten knocked out earlier. I then began hustling back towards the fallen solar panels.
As Jim-2, I apparently made some noise, because Jack suddenly jerked his head in my direction and stood up. As Jim-1, I saw his reaction, which prompted me to make a command decision.
“Hey, Jack,” I shouted as Jim-1, drawing his attention to me. “Why do you think your handlers were so focused on getting you to develop the same powers I had? It’s because a knockoff has to imitate the original if it’s going to fool anybody, if it’s ever going to be worth anything. But you know what? People in the know – people with refinement and discerning taste – will always be able to tell the difference. So if you take a designer bag and a knockoff, and then destroy the former, the bag you’re left with is still a knockoff. That’s you, Jack. A knockoff. And it’s all you’ll ever be.”
I had watched Jack’s face as I spoke, and it had gone from surprise at hearing my voice to anger to unmitigated rage. After I finished my little speech, I expected him to suddenly charge through the water (and hopefully get shocked), but again he worked overtime to spoil my plans. Instead of rushing towards me, he jumped, clearing the electrified pool in a single bound and coming down almost on my head, making me grunt in surprise. That sound was apparently all he needed to pinpoint my position, as he reached down and – getting a grip on my shirt – yanked me free, heedless of the damage it inflicted on me. (For the record, it felt like my back got scraped with sandpaper, and my hip and a knee got hyperextended, among other things.)
Jack then proceeded to shake me wildly for a second, like a pair of maracas making the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. He then flung me down with enough force that I cracked my head and saw stars. Lying on my back, I couldn’t immediately tell if anything was broken, but – with almost everything aching from my head to my toes – it wouldn’t have surprised me if something was.
“You
