Clone Girls

Rika left the laboratory, followed by the three little girls she had just found. That definitely was not what she expected to encounter when she entered this laboratory.

Really, did they experiment on the creation of new soldiers with those kids? Disgusting… She thought as she grimaced. It was  not the first time she met enemies who did human experiments, but everytime, she had the same reaction.

But there were some strange things about those girls she had just rescued though… First off, it seemed like one did not need to be rescued. In fact, she seemed to be the one responsible for the mess in the room where she met them, as proof from the blood on her. But then, where did those weapons come from?

They probably wanted to lead an experiment on her when we suddenly attacked, and they lost control of her. She concluded. Still, I can’t say it’s what happened. I’ll need to ask them about it.

“...General?” One of the soldiers she had positioned at the entrance of the laboratory called out as he saw her. Sending a curious glance over to the three girls behind her.

The three girls froze, and the one who seemed to be called Lidia began staring daggers at the soldier. Rika had freed the girl, but she had removed all weapons the girl had as precaution. Hence, Lidia did not do anything else but glare, knowing that she was powerless right now.

“Those girls are test subjects.” Rika said as she pointed at the girls. “I am personally going to take custody of them until the end of the operation.”

“Understood, general.” The men around nodded, not questioning their general further. Rika turned,and smiled at the girls.

“See girls? Nothing is gonna happen to you anymore.” She said, trying to reassure them, but did not receive any answer from them. Only the worried glance of the one who seemed the most scared, and the expressionless stare of Lidia.

One man approached Rika, and she knew why. She asked in a serious tone, looking at the soldier.

“Report, soldier.”

“Yes, we have overwhelmed the enemy base, and it will soon be fully under our control. Some enemies fled into the forest, should we follow after them?” The man asked, to which Rika replied.

“Leave them, we’ve done our job already. Now we just finish it up here and proceed to go back to base.”

“Yes.” The man saluted and then left.

The raid Rika and her team had made was more successful than predicted, but Rika did not want to occupy the base. She would leave that to the new troops the higher ups had sent.

“What are our casualties?” She asked another man, who seemed to have a high grade.

“With the success of the surprise attack, only 15 men died, and 30 were injured.” The man said with a serious expression, and Rika nodded.

“Provide support to the wounded in priority, then we’ll take care of the dead.”

“Yes, general.” The man left after a salute.

Now that I’ve dealt with this, I can try to get closer to those kids…Rika thought, as she turned to look at the kids she had just met. Looking at it in full daylight now, she could tell for sure that the girls were more than just sisters. They just looked so much the same when seen close to one another…

“...Are you girls… triplets?” She asked them.

“...No…” One of the girls said, it was the one who had a strand of hair standing up right on her head. “We’re-”

“10, don’t say it.” The one called Lidia interfered, making her sister silent. As for the timid one, she just looked away.

“I guess you don’t trust me yet. Well, it’s alright, we can learn to do that slowly.” Rika said. Speaking to people who had just suffered a traumatic event was not something she usually did, but this time, for some reason, she wanted to be the one to do it.

After all, they look very similar to her… Rika thought, trying to overlap the face of a certain subordinate of hers with the kids, and it was true that they looked very similar… Even their voices were similar. In fact, it’s this fact that made Rika think of a possibility that she denied immediately…

No way, that’s just absurd. I mean… She wasn’t pregnant or anything, and who would be the dad anyway? It’s just a coincidence, yes. They don’t even have the same hair color!

“General! Who are those kids!?” Just as she was thinking this, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Oh, Major Felgoron.” Rika said, that definitely was not a person she wanted to meet right now…  “Did you finish your task?”

“Yes, but more importantly, general, what are those kids doing here?” Felgoron asked, his eyes glued on the three girls. Immediately, the kids reacted badly. Two of them shook in fear under the gaze of the fat man, while the other, Lidia, took a defensive stance. Rika put herself in front of them, as if she was protecting them.

“These kids were test subjects. We just freed them.” Rika said, not adding more.

“Is that so? Then, should I lead them to our own scientist team?” Felgoron took a step forward, but Rika immediately stopped him.

“No, those girls will be under my personal care.”

“Wha-!?” Felgoron seemed extremely surprised. He protested Rika’s order. “But general!”

“What, Major Felgoron?”

“The higher ups said we should bring everything we find to the scientists did they not? Why are you keeping those girls with you, general?” He asked, and what he said was true. General fika did say that anything of value to their mission should be brought to him immediately. But Rika had a bad feeling about this. If she did as she was ordered, she felt like the kids she had just met would still receive the same treatment as just now, and that was something she would not allow.

“The higher ups said that for anything that wasn’t human. They never mentioned test subjects.” She defended.

“B-but-”

“Are you disobeying your superior’s orders, Major Felgoron?” Rika said, her tone getting grave. Felgoron gritted his teeth, clearly offended by all this. But Rika would not let him. As far as she knew, she was still the one in charge here.

“...No, ma’am…” Felgoron fell back, but it was then that a new soldier exited the laboratory and saluted Rika.

“General, we’re done securing the lab.”

“Good. Did you find anything?” She asked. Perhaps getting something else could divert Felgoron’s attention away…

“There was nothing much interesting, except for this.” The man said, giving a white object with green lines to Rika. The three girls seemed to recognise it immediately, as they panicked while looking at the object.

“This is… a helmet?” Rika mumbled as she examined the helmet. It was of a material she had never seen before, and it picked up her interest.

“Yes, but it seems specific, as it was exposed on a table in the middle of the scientific lab.” The man said. Whatever this helmet was, it seems like the Ionian Republic had decided it held value.

“This is good! That will surely please our superiors! General, we should send it to our own lab immediately!” Felgoron exclaimed from the side. He clearly was searching for merit from something he did not even participate in, and Rika hated that. Still, this helmet would be a good way to make him look away from the kids for a while, so she agreed it was for the best.

“I gue-hm?” But as she was about to announce it, she felt somebody was pulling her left sleeve. When she looked down, the timid girl who was the most scared of her, was the one doing it. Rika immediately crouched, and looked at the girl, trying to be warm. “What is it? Do you need something?”

The girl nodded strongly, but it did not look like she would talk. Rika could only guess what the girl wanted.

“Toilet perhaps?” She asked to which the girl shook her head strongly.

“N-no…” The girl finally managed to utter some words. She then pointed at the helmet in Rika’s hands. “Th-that…”

“That? You mean this helmet?” Rika said, looking between the helmet in her arms and the girl.

“M-mine…” The girl said after nodding, sending a pleading look at Rika.

“Yours? This helmet?” The girl nodded, but this put Rika in a dilemma. Either she kept the helmet, risking having Felgoron on her back, or she gave it to him, and he would not bother the girls for a while.

It was as she was considering those decisions that another girl came to her, and whispered in her ear.

“It’s mom’s first gift to her.”

“10!” Lidia exclaimed, immediately hitting the other on the head.

“Ouch!” The girl exclaimed, now rubbing her head where she just got hit.

But this exchange was enough for Rika to choose what she would do with this helmet.

“Alright, I’ll take custody of it for now.” She declared. Even though the simple idea of giving military gears to a kid as a present made her frown, the girl seemed very attached to it. If I ever meet those kids’ mother, I’ll have some words with her about what presents kids should have…

“Wha-!? But general!” Felgoron exclaimed, infuriated by his superior’s decision.

“Felgoron, this is my decision as your superior.” Rika affirmed in a serious tona as she got up and looked at the fat man.

“This is going against our orders, general!” Felgoron insisted, but it only made Rika angrier.

Since a while ago, Felgoron had become more and more daring and disobedient against her. And she felt that the reason was this secret backer of hers, who filled Felgoron with a sense of confidence over his actions.

She took out the pistol she had just confiscated from Lidia and pointed it at Felgoron’s head.

“Are you disobeying your superior’s order on the field, Major Felgoron?” She asked, ready to pull the trigger. Since Felgoron was using the military laws to judge her, she would do the same.

Truth to be told, it would not be the first time Rika shot an underling for disobeying or refusing to follow orders, albeit she usually abstained from such practice, as it had an impact on the other soldiers. However, never had she so much wanted to kill one of her underlings, and she only tolerated Felgoron’s presence after he was responsible for the loss of Ticia.

“N-no, please proceed as you wish, general.” Felgoron said as his face became white and his pants became wet. The man cared for his life more than any other things, but Rika wasn’t finished with him. she would make sure the fat excuse of a man would not bother the girls.

“I don’t like your attitude recently, Felgoron. I’ve been lenient on you enough.” She said as she put the pistol away. “Men! Take custody of Major Felgoron and isolate him for three days in his quarters!”

““Yes, general!”” Two soldiers came out and each grabbed one arm of Felgoron, who struggled against them.

“Y-you can’t do this to me! I’m your backer’s man! There will be dire consequences for that, Brigadier-general Doesson!” Felgoron said out loud as he was dragged away by the soldiers. Rika was not scared of his threat however. After all, whatever she was doing, she was fated to die anyway, so if she could at least save some kids…

“This brigade is still under my command. Not yours or your backer. So long as I am in command, we’ll do things our way.” She declared to nobody in particular, but the speech itself motivated her men, who all admired her. Those people only felt gratitude to her, as she had picked them up, and raised them to become lite soldiers. They felt pride in serving under her, and they would be loyal to her until their death.

“Here, your helmet. Keep it close to you for now.” Rika said as she gave the helmet to the timid girl.

“Th-thank you…” the girl uttered as she hugged the helmet tightly to her chest, which made Rika smile warmly.

“I don’t believe I told you my name. I’m Rika Doesson, and I’m the one giving orders over here. Can you… tell me your names?” She asked, feeling like she had just gained the trust of the girl.

“We’re not telling yo-.” Lidia immediately tried to stop it, but her sisters did not seem to have the same thought this time…

“M-Mia.”

“I’m Nia”

“H-hey!” Lidia said, protesting against her sister’s decision to announce their name.

“It’s fine, Lidia~. It’s just our names. Besides, she just helped Mia, so she can’t be that bad, right?” The one who had called herself Nia said this, seemingly laid back. This tone of voice reminded Rika of Ticia, when that one was feeling in a rather happy mood.

“Yes, I may look scary because of my scars, but you have nothing to worry about with me, ‘Lidia’. So listen to your sisters and be a good girl, alright?” Rika said, jumping on the occasion as she smiled at the girls.

“...” Lidia did not seem convinced however…

“Uhm, Miss Doesson…” One of the girls asked.

“Rika is fine, Mia.” Rika said, correcting the girl, but the girl only shook her head.

“No, I’m Nia.”

“Oh, sorry, you all just look too similar, and your names are so close to one another…” Rika said, laughing awkwardly as she scratched her cheek while cursing inside her mind to the mother of those kids for giving the kids similar names

“Don’t insult the names our mother gave us!” Lidia immediately jumped in aggressively.

“I didn’t, girl.” rika defended herself, she even put a hand on Lidia’s head and patted her as if by instinct. Lidia herself was surprised by the move, and calmed down a bit. “I think it suits you all. It’ll just take some time to register who is who.”

“But that’s easy to do though?” Nia tilted her head, not understanding Rika’s struggle. She pointed out all their particularities. “Mia is always timid, and she has multiple hair strands over her head. I only have one, and I tie my hair in a big braid. As for Lidia, she always ties her hair in a low ponytail with a red ribbon. Easy, right?”

“Not really. It helps a bit, but I’ll still need some time.” Rika said, not wanting to destroy the mood who was becoming brighter. The kids might not have noticed, but they were now speaking to her with ease, and did not seem as wary of her, which made her happy about this feat.

“Awww~, but mom knew instantly…” Nia said playfully.

“Isn’t it because she’s your mother? A mother always know everything about their kids.” Rika said as if it was a matter of fact, but Nia seemed surprised, in fact, Mia and Lidia too stopped whatever they were doing, and stared at Rika as if surprised.

W-what? Did I say something I shouldn’t have? Rika panicked, but then…

“... Hehe, you’re right, mom knows because she is our mom!” Nia giggled happily, and the other two nodded along seemingly as happy. Rika smiled in relief, she did not mess up.

“Now, let’s leave this place before something troublesome shows up.” she declared to the three girls, but as she began moving, she noticed one of the girl following her more slowly, looking left and right.

“Hm? What’s wrong, Lidia? Why are you looking around?” She asked, which startled the girl.

“...No, nothing…” The girls said after some time, and immediately caught up with Rika, standing beside her.

“...If you say so. Well then, let’s go to my quarters at the camp. Nobody will dare bother us over there.”

And with that, Lidia, Mia and Nia left the Ionian Republic’s camp with the help(?) of a friendly general.

 

***

 

“What have you done!?” Ria roared as she grabbed Nicia by the collar, with a clear intent to kill.

“Uhrg!”

“Ria! Stop it!” Seeing this, Willia held Ria back, separating her from Nicia thanks to her strength.

“Ugh! Let me go, Willia!” Ria said as she was dragged off by her sister, before staring daggers at Nicia who managed to slip away from her grasp. “You…do you realize the consequences of activating the emergency measures?!”

“...I know, sister, and I’m ready to bear the consequences of it.”

“Then why did you activate them!?” She asked Nicia, as all the sisters gathered around because of the reverberating sirens that were still going on in the background.

Ria felt betrayed. She trusted Nicia the most out of all her sisters, and the two of them spent a lot of time together, discussing both serious and silly things while drinking tea. To her, Nicia had become some sort of confident, somebody she could rely on other than her mother.

They had a disagreement just now, sure, but Nicia was reasonable. Ria thought Nicia would understand her, but never had she expected this sister of hers to do such a thing!

“Because it’s the only way to help mom!” Nicia defended herself. “If going alone ourselves is not going to help, then surely, having ‘fully matured’ clones go with us would be better!”

“That doesn’t mean you can force production willy-nilly, Nicia!” Ria replied. Production of clones wasn’t something clones were ever allowed to do, and the only reason Nicia had managed this feat was because of those emergency measures. More than that, Ria asked Nicia. “Don’t you believe in our mother?!”

“I do!”

“Then why did you do something unnecessary like this!” Ria asked back, not understanding why Nicia did such a thing.

“Because I’m realistic!” Nicia immediately replied. “Ria, you know better than me, it’s impossible for one person to carry out a rescue operation without support.”

“...” Ria could not refute that point. She had made simulations of the events in her head, and each led to a bad result. Either she would lose her sisters or her mom would die trying to rescue them.

“I believe in mom, but I also believe that there's a high chance of her getting injured, or worse, we might lose one of our sisters…”

I know that! you don’t need to tell me this, Nicia! Ria thought as she stayed silent. She wanted to help too. But Ria knew best that she and her sisters would only be a bother because they were still kids.

“...They should not have gone outside! It’s all their fault!” She ended up saying, lashing her frustration at her sisters that went outside, like a child.

“Stop!” One of the clone girls yelled, and to Ria’s surprise, it was actually Vinia. The youngest sister who always listened to her had just raised her voice at her!

“...Second sister, stop lying to yourself, you’re hurt inside…” Vinia said sadly. “You don’t have to force yourself to follow orders, ok?”

This startled Ria for a bit, how did Vinia know about her condition? Why was she saying she was hurt inside? Ria already knew the answers to those questions, and yet, she put one last defense.

“B-but, I’m the one responsible for all of you! We were born to serve our mother, what’s the point of it if we only cause more trouble for her!?” She said, looking at her sisters. She hoped all would nod in agreement. After all, that is what they were supposed to do as clones, but instead, all shook their heads.

“Sister, I think you’re forgetting something important. Mom never wanted us to be soldiers who serve her.” Nillia pointed out.

“That’s right, she wants us to be family!” Ticinia followed up, jumping in the conversation.

“H-however!”

“No rebuttal!” Nicia interrupted Ria. “We are a big family despite only being clones, that’s all.”

“Sister, I know you’re upset about us disobeying orders, but weren’t you the first one who did that?” Nillia said again, and Ria frowned.

“What? When did I not follow orders?” She asked Nillia, she did not remember breaking any order…

“After you stopped speaking to eldest sister, actually.”

“!?!” Ria froze on the spot after Nillia mentioned Licia.

W-what?! What does she have to do in all this!? She thought as her neurons worked on finding a memory from that time relating to her older sister, but nothing surged up.

“Did you think we wouldn’t notice? By isolating yourself from eldest sister, you broke mom’s orders. ‘To always support each other’.” Nillia pointed out, and Ria finally understood.

It was back then, when she first received her name, her mother had this to her:
‘Your name is Ria, please help your eldest sister take care of the others.’

Right… At that time, I thought this was an order, didn’t I? She reflected. After that incident, she felt so hurt that she never spoke to her eldest sister again. The guilt had builded within her, remembering what Licia said before, that she had stolen a lot of things from her… That was why she had reasoned at that time that, perhaps it was better to do as her eldest sister asked, to leave her alone. She took this as a new order, overruling her mother’s wish. In other words, she acted childishly and did not search for a solution.

“At that time, most of us followed you because we did not like how eldest sister acted.” Miria suddenly said.

“But reflecting on it…” Tiria continued the phrase, and both concluded at the same time.

““Most of us broke that order at that time…””

“...” Ria stared at her sisters as they nodded in agreement. Right, everything went wrong from that point on…

She was surprised Miria and Tiria had changed their mind this much, them, who seemed like they would never forgive their eldest sister… It would seem that the recent events had made them mature a bit…

“Sister, I don’t really know what happened between the two of you at that time, but I'm sure of one thing. Both you and eldest sister were deeply hurt after that.” Ticinia said as she closed in for a hug.

“Ticinia…” Ria noticed one thing as her eleventh sister hugged her. Ticinia had tears in her eyes, she was crying.

“I’m sorry, I tried to make things better by acting alone, but maybe speaking out about those problems would have been a better choice…” Ticinia said, burying her face in Ria’s shoulder. This was the tipping point for Ria.

“...No, Ticinia, don’t apologize, you did nothing wrong. I was the one who wronged Licia all along. It’s because of how I acted that she felt jealous.” she said as she patted Ticinia’s back, and sighed. “I guess I am responsible for this mess too…” She said, thinking back about the conversation her mother and Ticinia had not so long ago. She really felt like Ticinia was the more mature of them…

"Yes, and since you're already partly responsible, join us!" Nicia jumped in, seeing the change in Ria’s attitude. "Everybody has already agreed to help!"

"Do you all agree with this?”  Ria asked, looking around, and all her sisters nodded. “Even Willia?"

"Second sister, I've thought about it.” Willia said, and again, Ria felt like her depressed little sister had finally come up to a conclusion to her internal debate. She too appeared more mature to her. 

“I don't want to hurt others, but the thought of mom or our sisters getting injured terrifies me more… I stood aside because of my fear, but seeing everybody this motivated… I've decided I'll do the only thing I'm good at to help our family: Fight."

"Willia…"

“Second sister, I know you don’t agree with what I’ve just done, but please cooperate with us. We need your skills.” Nicia pleaded with her, and all the other clone girls began to look pleadingly at her.

"We all know the consequences and the risk of what we're about to do, but we will still do it. For our family." Nillia concluded, determined to act.

Ria did not act a lot like a kid her age even though she wanted to. Her mature mind always conflicted with her, saying that acting childish would not lead her anywhere. So she always acted maturely, making her sisters rely on her, and as a result, Ticia praised her a lot, and relied on her too. But, in the end, as the events happened, a question appeared in Ria’s mind. Was being mature a good thing? She struggled to find an answer, until seeing her sisters act like just now…

They’re all acting maturely,  and I’m not. She concluded. The reasons she put against her sisters were childish, and she acted just as childish to defend those ‘orders’. But on the other hand, Nicia acted maturely. Since she knew that going outside alone would not help, she searched for every other options available to help their mother. And Ticinia too, behind her cute and childish appearances, she might be the most mature out of all of them. Nillia… that sisters of hers was always so stoic, so Ria did not know if she had matured, but she could be relied upon. Miria and Tiria had reflected on themselves too, reminding themselves that they were all a big family. As for Vinia… The fact that she had the courage to go against her spoke a lot to how determined she became to help their family.

“...How ironic, instead of acting mature and trying to fix things, I only did childish things…” Ria sighed as she looked at the ceiling.

"Second sister?" Nicia asked, not sure about what this meant, but ria did not look at her, instead, she looked at the drone nearby and asked a question.

“...A-4, how many clones were put into production?”

“Answer: After proceeding with a thorough selection process of variants that could support such rate of accelerated growth and using up all ressources left, this unit was able to put into production a total of 100 ECGs. Estimated time until completion of the production: One day.

Warning: This process requires the overpowering of the clone production line. This will have dire consequences on the equipment.”

“We'll deal with this later. What about weapons?”

“Answer: Arms production is not a problem thanks to owner Ticia’s wishes of weapon surplus, but not enough durium is left in storage to produce armored skinsuits.
Notification: This unit has found an alternative material to replace durium in the production line. Estimations place this ‘aereum’ alloy to be as effective.”

“That’s a relief then.” Ria nodded, as if she had confirmed something important.

“Uhm, second sister? Why are you asking all this?” Nicia asked, representing all her sisters who were unsure about what was happening. There was a bit of hope in their eyes though.

“Isn’t it obvious already?” Ria said as she smiled wryly for a moment, before making a serious expression and saying loudly. “We’ll all receive our deserved punishment later on, but for now, we’re going to train until we’re all ready to go!”

“Th-then!”

“Sisters!” Ria said like an officer, standing straight. The other clone girls reflexively made a line in front of her and stood at attention like soldiers. They all knew what was coming next, and awaited the words with trepidation. Seeing this, Ria took a pose and declared loudly.

“Our first operation will be to support our mother in her rescue operation! We will be leaving once our little sisters are awakened, so until then, train hard! Begin preparations for Operation Family now!”

““Roger!”” All said at the same time, and hurriedly proceeded to run to the training ground.

Nothing would stop the clone girls from helping their mother now…