Like Twins

Of the two new redheads, one was dressed in jeans and a wifebeater, and the other was dressed in studded leather from head to toe. The latter seemed unable to take his eyes off the Jin-lookalike he arrived with, whereas the other trailed grudgingly behind, looking out of place.

“Three Kazamas? Now the world is just fucked.” Hwoarang grimaced. He didn't even bother taking into account that the little girl claimed to be a Kazama too. The thought of being alone with three of them was almost enough to make him glad that he had doubles too. He eyed the new Jin for a moment before looking at the unfamiliar businessman. “Are you the deadman that organised this?”

The older man didn't spare him as much as a glance. "Get off the table. Everyone sit down." He said, heading over towards the end of the room which was slightly elevated from the rest. The girl, the Kazama with a hoodie and the first of the Hwoarang lookalikes to arrive were quick to sit down. The one in the studded leather getup seemed to consider it, but since the guy he was looking at didn't, he stayed on his feet as well.

The one in the wife beater went to the other end of the room to lean against the wall where he could watch everyone, looking more than a little pissy about the whole situation. The real Hwoarang didn't blame him, and found himself considering getting back on the table out of spite. Instead, he simply moved away from the supposed real Jin – wasn't so sure who was real anymore – and went over to sit backwards on the chair nearest to the businessman. “So, deadman, whats going on? Has Hell frozen over?”

The only Jin sitting down shook his head, his eyes carefully scanning the others. “If this isn't important, I'd like to leave. Being in a place like this for your games,” he directed his words at the stranger, “is far too risky.”

Having largely ignored most of them, the businessman nevertheless seemed to give the sitting Jin his complete attention. "I understand your stand on this perfectly," he started in a soft voice, "but this is important. At least, saving the world should be important to each and every one of you." He shrugged, then glanced quickly over all of them. "Besides, I doubt either of you have ever been safer. What a group!" He said with a lazily faked enthusiasm.

The skinnier version of Hwoarang packed his mp3 player in his pocket and smiled kindly at the man. “Alright, well I trust you had a good reason for this, so what is it?”

“God!” What was wrong with these imposters? The real Hwoarang rolled his eyes and fixed the other with a disapproving glare. “What's wrong with you? I'm not that much of a wimp! Where the hell did you get these bad actors?”

The businessman looked at him with a gaze that carried a hint of amusement, or maybe pity, but soon was back in the unemotional state. "Pardon me, but I'll clear that up when we get to it. For now, let me simply point out that you are not the original." His gaze left Hwoarang to focus on a drawer, pulling out an envelope and switching on an overhead projector.

Hwoarang stood up from his backwards chair and slammed his fist against the table. "What is that supposed to mean? Do you think this is funny, you goddamn prick? If you're trying to make me doubt that I'm me, it's not going to work. It'll take more than a wimp, an emo bitch and a leather daddy's wet dream to do that!"

Having just picked up a laser pointing device, the businessman put the first sheet on the projector. Didn't seem to intend to react at all to his words. Calmly, the man started talking in a dry voice. "Technology has certainly evolved over the last decade, and through a very expensive method, we've managed to project copies onto biological substance."

The man drew a deep breath, then continued. "To give these copies life, however, we have developed a technique for channeling someone's perception of a person onto a copy of that person. Thus, most or all of you are how someone imagines either Hwoarang or Jin Kazama to be."

The guy in the wifebeater in the back snorted and snickered at that. After quickly recovering from his outburst, he grinned at the stranger. “You're telling us we're clones? Oh come on! Who're the real ones, then? Let me guess, that little girl is the real Jin?”

"There are no girls in this room." Shrugging lightly, the man added, "I did not say that the real Jin or the real Hwoarang are present in this room. Neither did I deny it." He turned to face the projection, then pointed at the first line. "The world is in danger." He read out loud, then waited a while, before moving down to the next line, which said "you have to save it." That was promptly read out as well.

“You know what?” Hwoarang – he didn't care what that guy said, he was real – shook his head and started walking to the door. “This isn't funny anymore. If I'm not getting paid, I have no reason to put up with this messed up shit. It sounds like a huge waste of time when I could be out getting laid instead!”

"Suit yourself." The man put down the pointing device, then pushed the intercom button. "This is Dr. Jamison from the Save the World project," he said into the microphone. "I'm sorry to say I haven't had a chance to check each copy beforehand, and one isn't cooperating. Please terminate Hwoarang copy 417-B and bring a new one to the project's meeting room."

One thing was for sure, that guy was good at improvisation. Hwoarang didn't care if the stranger told everyone he had been eliminated or ran off to join the circus; whatever. So he opened the door, ready to walk out, only to freeze mid-step as he laid eyes on what awaited him. There were a few armed guards with weapons at the ready and a couple guys in lab coats with syringes. Behind them stood another Blood Talon lookalike.

He quickly closed the door and backed up. It didn't matter whether or not he believed any of that was for real, there was no way he was taking his chances out there with them. With a sigh, he turned around and walked over to stand beside the real Jin. Hopefully they'd think twice before attacking him with that guy nearby. “Okay, so let's just pretend we really are 'clones'. After we do what you say, won't you just eliminate us in the end anyway?”

With a slight lifting of an eyebrow, the businessman kept his dry, almost bored tone of voice. "That is not our plan, but there's nothing I could say to prove that. In fact, we have every right in the world to terminate each of you, except the originals, of course. If we harm the originals, we'd be in all sorts of trouble." He shrugged, then pushed the button again. "Please wait outside until further notice. No copy leaves the premises without explicit permission."

With a sigh, the seated Jin gave Hwoarang a warning glance and then turned his head toward the businessman. He spoke up, his voice laced with annoyance, “If you speak the truth, this is all incredibly unethical. You can't just create human beings like cattle and claim you have the right to murder them afterwards... It sounds like something my grandfather would do. If you don't mind, I'd like to hear the rest of your explanation.”

Again, the man turned to answer. "I realise you have a good point. However, we have every legal right to murder the copies; if we decide not to, it is for ethical reasons and for your sake. And as I said, we do not plan to terminate any of you if you save the world. Perhaps you've failed to consider that we're not allowed by the government to let copies roam free unless we have a success to point to, for example completing the task I was getting to elaborating about."

The real Jin - or at least, the one that arrived first - had sized up the other people in the room for a while, suddenly jerked at the last arrived copy of himself, tugging him with him towards the businessman. "You can call us copies, but I know what I can do. My friend next to me here seems to be the one most similar to me, probably also similarly capable if you speak the truth. You are in no position to push us around, and should there be as much as a half-hearted attempt at terminating me, your corporation is rubble. Are we clear?"

The seated Jin stood up with his arms crossed, giving the real Jin a displeased frown. “We all know what we are capable of. And surely he is aware of it too, so I doubt there's any need to resort to intimidation. My only concern is for those of us,” he clearly indicated the redheads, “who wouldn't be able to defend themselves against an entire organization. Can we just get the interruptions out of the way so he can continue?”

That indication was rather offensive, but it was a relief to hear one of the Jins wouldn't abandon him if something bad went down. Enough of a relief to stay silent... for now, anyway. The businessman took the cue, nodding as he stepped back and picked the pointing device up again. "I never meant for this to become an exchange of threats. In fact, it says explicitly in my orders that as long as you listen and accept the assignment, I'm not even allowed to tell you how to go about it. The organization had enough faith in your morals to assume that you wouldn't be passing up a chance to save the world." The man paused with a light sigh. "Shall we move on to the rest of the presentation?"

With a slow blink and a short nod, the real Jin seemed to give him approval for that. "Remember what I said." He said in a deep growl, then stepped over towards the table, taking a seat. The leather boy and the last of the Jin lookalikes sat down as well, gazing up at the projection.

~~~

This is a collab, written together with Chlover. You can find her author profile here:
http://games.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=26260