Chapter 43

             Clouds roll in as the tension mounts. Simon’s mind is racing. There’s no way someone else has his powers. There’s no way someone not of Earth has his powers, either. Zorb couldn’t have found some alien with powers like his, so where did he find this guy?

            Zoey wants to run out to whoever this is and ask them who they are. But she can’t do that as herself, and all of her Catgirl costume stuff is in her backpack. She’d have to run from here to the locker room, get dressed, then come back out.

            “Everyone, inside!” Coach Ashby shouts to the students. “Inside, now!”

            Students make their way back towards the gymnasium building, but many keep glancing back at Hardwire and the new Masquerader, who haven’t moved an inch since the other Masqueraders left.

            “C’mon,” Zoey says. “We should go, too.”

            Zoey starts walking back the way they came, but Cyndi and Simon linger.

            “Guys, c’mon,” Zoey says.

            “Right, sorry,” Cyndi says.

            Cyndi looks at Simon, but he’s still locked onto the Masquerader. She touches his shoulder and he snaps out of it.

            “Oh, right,” he says.

            He and Cyndi follow Zoey, but he keeps looking at the Masquerader as they go.

            “There’s no way you’re him,” Hardwire says to the Masquerader as he keeps walking forward. “That guy died. I may have these cybernetic wires in me, but there’s no way you’re him back from the dead. You’re probably just someone pretending to be him, with like, chameleon powers or something.”

 

            Siro changes to Red.

            “See? You don’t even change colors the same way, he’d have a flash of light, and you just scan like a Xerox machine or something. You’re just changing to red to make me think you’re all fast now, but you’re-”

            Siro’s knee thrusts into Hardwire’s face! Almost 40 yards in an instant!

            “You need to learn when to shut up, Craig,” he says.

            He moves forward as Hardwire staggers back. Hardwire stops himself to then go forward again. Hardwire throws punches but Siro bobs ‘n’ weaves as he dodges. Now he’s Yellow and he uses to momentum of Hardwire’s punches to throw him over his shoulder. Hardwire hits the concrete hard, but he rolls to his feet. Hardwire tackles Siro and carries him all the way to a basketball hoop. Siro bangs the back of his head on the steel pole, but he’s already Blue. He grabs Hardwire around the waist and gut wrenches him up onto his shoulder. He then flings Hardwire backwards and Hardwire smacks into the pole face first.

            Hardwire flops to the ground but sits up quickly. He gets out of the way of Siro’s punt kick. Hardwire chop blocks Siro’s leg, causing him to drop to his knees. Hardwire then rains down rights and lefts on Siro’s head. Hardwire dribbles Siro’s head off the concrete a couple times before standing up.

            “Y’know, I wasn’t going to bad mouth you because you were dead,” Hardwire says. “But now that you’re alive, I’m going to prove I’m better than you by kicking your ass.”

            Siro kicks Hardwire right in the balls! And then turns Black as he drags Hardwire down into a triangle hold!

            “Don’t you listen?!” he shouts at Hardwire. “Shut your scumbag mouth!”

            He pulls Hardwire in by his arm, legs wrapping around shoulder and neck to squeeze the air out of him. Hardwire scrambles with his legs while using his free hand to hit Siro in his hip. Hardwire gets his feet under him and deadlifts Siro! Hardwire runs at the gymnasium while carrying Siro on his shoulders! But the light ropes appear and Hardwire runs into them. Siro turns Red as he leans backs, and he brings Hardwire over the ropes to drive his head into the ground!

 

            “He has all the same powers,” Simon says, watching from the doorway. “He has all five colors and even the ropes.”

            “What’s a boy doing on this side of the gym?” Gina says.

            “You shut your stupid mouth, Gina!” Cyndi says.

            Siro turns Silver as he drags Hardwire by his legs, then throws him at the door!

            “Get back!” Simon shouts.

            He and Zoey get Cyndi back from the door before Hardwire hits it with a *WHAM*!

            “Everyone get out!” Simon shouts as he starts heading for the exit.

            “Why?” Gina’s friend asks.

            “Because they’re going to be barging in here, idiot!” Cyndi says.

            As she says it, Hardwire stands up and Siro tackles him into the door, taking it off the hinges! Cyndi and the other normal girls scream, but Zoey’s on guard. Simon manages to push through to the hall and to the gymnasium, where he goes to the far end to get back to the boys’ locker room.

            “Michaels!” Coach Ashby shouts when he sees Simon walk in. “Where the Hell were you?!”

            Simon ignores Ashby and goes to his locker to dress then grab his stuff.

            “Now where’re you going?” Ashby says as he gets in Simon’s way.

            “Coach, please move,” he says.

            “No, no one’s going anywhere. We’re going to wait until Hardwire’s dealt with whoever this other Spektrum is.”

            “He’s not some other Spektrum!” Simon growls. “He’s not the Spektrum either. But he’s also not going to lose to Hardwire.”

            “How do you know that?” Chris asks as he and Robby walk up from behind.

            Simon glares at them over his shoulder, his eye flickering red.

            On the other side of the gym, the dozens of female students cower in fear, except for Zoey and Cyndi. Zoey shields Cyndi but they’re not even noticed by Siro as he yanks Hardwire up off the downed door.

            “Get out of my way!” he shouts at the girls.

            They’re all too scared to.

            “I said MOVE!”

            Now they’re too scared not to! They all run back into the locker room while Siro runs through the exit. He keeps running through this hallway, carrying Hardwire with one hand, and brings him to the vending machine!

            *WHAM* He slams Hardwire into side of the machine and it tips over!

            Hardwire drags himself off the machine while Siro skids to a stop.

            “Who’s kicking whose ass exactly, Craig?” he asks.

            Hardwire grits his teeth. He gets into his football three-point stance then takes off at full speed! Siro goes Blue and stops Hardwire with one leg! He’s holding Hardwire back with one foot against the chest!

Hardwire’s eyes are wide with surprise while Siro tilts his head, a big smile just visible through the mask. Then he shifts his weight to drive Hardwire down with a stomp! He changes back to Silver as he drags Hardwire back up and throws him into the gymnasium.

            The girls’ locker room is full of chatter as literally all of them are trying to figure out what’s going on.

            “What do you think will happen to him?!” Gina’s friend cries.

            “Oh stop it!” Cyndi says. “That guy’s not gonna kill Hardwire. He’ll beat the crap out of him like he should, but he won’t kill him.”

            Zoey ignores them and grabs her things. She hurries past them to the hall and the women’s restroom. She’ll change in here instead.

            “Get up,” Siro says to Hardwire.

            Hardwire staggers as he gets to his feet. Siro follows after as Hardwire heads for the stage. But as Siro approaches, Hardwire turns up the heat! It gets Siro to stop in his tracks, and Hardwire uses that to start throwing hands! He hits with a right hook, a left hook, then a right then a left! Hardwire grins as he hits Siro with another big right hand!

            Siro falls to a knee and Hardwire just keeps punching him towards the hardwood floor.

            “Am I kicking your ass now, Spektrum?!” Hardwire shouts before throwing another punch. “Huh?! Am I kicking your ass now!?”

            Hardwire stands him up just to push him back. Hardwire throws more hooks, and the big right fifth sends Siro staggering to the stage. Hardwire comes up behind and rams into Siro! His body check sends Siro into the stage with a *WHAM* and Siro crumples to the floor.

            “Ha!” Hardwire says as he stands over the masked man. “I knew all along you ain’t shit, Spektrum! You got these powers how? By luck! By random chance! You don’t deserve ‘em!”

            Hardwire then yanks Siro up and throws him across the court! Siro hits the floor hard and skids a little, but then Hardwire runs up and kicks him all the way to the door!

            Hardwire drags Siro up and carries him outside. He rams Siro into a pole so hard it bends! Then Hardwire punches him into the pole before shoving him to the ground. Siro crawls away but Hardwire follows.

            “Your powers were one of the inspirations behind these, you know that?” Hardwire says. “Mr. Darklite explained it to me after I survived the activation. Your powers give you quite possibly the highest levels of strength, of speed, of endurance, but you have to switch between them. I can be the strongest, fastest and toughest, all at the same time. It’s why I can do THIS!”

            He runs up and kicks Siro like a football, again! And he lands at the steps leading to the main building’s C Hall.

            “I am a superior version of you, Spektrum,” Hardwire gloats as he takes his time walking over. “I don’t need to change colors and outfits. No Code Silver this, no Code Red that. I am just me!”

            Hardwire looms over him, but Siro… starts laughing?

            “What… What the hell is so funny?” Hardwire asks.

            “A lot of things,” he says as he slowly sits himself on the stone steps. “But mostly that you think you’re superior. Because you’re not.”

            Siro turns back to Black as he stands up and grabs Hardwire by his jaw! Hardwire hammers Siro’s arm but he won’t let go. Siro then slaps, and slaps, and SLAPS Hardwire across the face! He then pulls Hardwire forward and wraps his other arm around Hardwire’s neck. He has a sleeper hold on Hardwire and squeezes tight!

            “You’re right that you don’t have to change,” he says. “You have strength, speed, and stamina all at once. But that doesn’t make your powers better than mine. That makes them worse.”

            Hardwire pushes off the steps but Siro returns to Yellow, and easily twists his body so that Hardwire hits the ground and not him.

            “I can be unpredictable,” he continues as he switches back to Black.

            He shifts his body and goes back-to-back with Hardwire while on the ground. He now has extra leverage on the sleeper hold as he pulls Hardwire backwards.

            “I can keep you off balance,” he says as he cranks back harder.

            Hardwire flails and claws with his arms. Hardwire manages to turn his lower half and his legs kick to get him turned around. They’re both on their backs and Hardwire starts throwing wild elbows and punches. But Siro changes to Red and quickly jabs Hardwire in the throat! Then he gets up fast and, as Black, puts Hardwire back in a sleeper hold.

            “See what I mean?”

            He drags Hardwire back towards C Hall even as Hardwire’s kicking and flailing.

            But as they get closer, and even as Hardwire starts slowing down, Hardwire heats up even more.

            “I do have to admit,” Siro says as he turns Blue. “That is proving to be a good ability. Which is annoying!”

            He shifts from sleeper hold to full nelson to throw Hardwire overhead and onto the steps! Hardwire hits with his head, neck and shoulders, then topples over.

 

            Zoey finishes changing into her Catgirl outfit by skipping the thigh highs. She slips the sequin mask on and zips up her cat-ear hoodie before heading out. She doesn’t find Hardwire or The Masquerader in the hall so she hurries outside, and sees the Masquerader dragging Hardwire inside the hall.

            “Spek…” she whispers as she hurries over.

            As she approaches, she spots Fast Pace and Mountain standing around the corner of the building. They signal to her and she stops where she is.

 

            “But back to what I was getting at,” Siro says as he drags Hardwire along. “You’re matching Pilak’s strength, Pula’s speed, and Asul’s stamina, and that’s all good. But there’s something you’re missing.”

            He emphasizes “missing” with a kick that sends Hardwire hard into lockers!

            “You have aggression in your fighting, but that’s a given,” he says over Hardwire’s coughing. “You can’t fight without aggression. But that’s where it stops for you.”

            “What?” Hardwire says before coughing more. “What’re you talking about?”

            “Your anger, Craig, is too shallow,” he says.

            He switches to Red and drives Hardwire into the lockers again with a low dropkick. Then he spins to his feet and changes to Black. He grabs Hardwire’s arm and yanks him right off the ground, to drive him back down with a “side suplex”! Hardwire is folded up again like he was on the steps!

            “Your anger is too shallow, Craig,” he reiterates, but sterner, as he slithers around to look Hardwire in the eyes. “You act like this big alpha male, you push others around and make jokes, but it’s all, too, shallow!”

 

            “When did you two get here?!” Catgirl asks Fast Pace and Mountain.

            “Just now,” Fast Pace says. “Is that The Spektrum beating the crap out of Hardwire?”

            “I don’t know,” she says. “But he’s so much like him, and yet, not at all alike.”

            “Will you be able to step in if Hardwire loses?” Fast Pace asks.

            Catgirl opens her mouth but realizes she has no answer.

 

            Siro changes to Silver again to yank Hardwire off the ground by his pants waist. He then brings Hardwire back down to drive his knee into Hardwire’s stomach for a gut buster! Hardwire coughs deep and hard as the air is driven out of him.

            “It’s why you’ll never beat me, Craig,” he says as he lifts him up again. “Because I have more than anger. I have hatred!”

            He holds onto Hardwire’s wrist as he pushes him back. He uses that wristlock to reel Hardwire in for a knee rammed right into the gut! Hardwire again coughs as all the air is driven out of him, but then he doubles over and vomit all over the floor.

            “Craig, that’s disgusting,” Siro sighs.

            He yanks Hardwire back up and grabs him around the waist, to “German Suplex” him overhead and head-first into the lockers! Hardwire is crumpled up against the wall while Siro stands up to loom over him now.

            “Craig…” he says. “Are you… crying?”

            Hardwire grits his teeth as the hot tears stream down his face, only to become steam from the temperature of his skin. The sight gets Siro to laugh again.

            “Wow,” he says, hands on his knees. “You’re not just shallow, you’re pathetic. What’s the matter? Is this the first time you’ve been on the losing end? Mr. Jock pushes everyone around because he’s such a big shot, winning the big games. Yeah, Craig, I remember you in those football games. The band was there, we watched from the bleachers. How far you’ve come, huh? Gagong tao…”

            He throws Hardwire into the lobby in front of the cafeteria, then uses speed and ropes to rebound and spear tackle Craig right off his feet!

            “You… You don’t know me…” Hardwire sputters. “You don’t know my life!”

            “I don’t want to know your life!” Siro shouts, turning Black again. “I already know your pathetic choices! You chose to mock a hero. You chose to make it personal! Why did you feel the need to expose The Spektrum, huh? Huh?!”

            He grabs Hardwire’s leg and pulls it up to ram it knee first into the floor! Hardwire shouts in pain as Siro pushes the knee down using the leg, and then shouts even louder as Siro twists the ankle and moves the leg side to side. He holds onto Hardwire’s leg as he stands up, just to drive it back down again!

            “Did you do it to make yourself feel better?!” he shouts at Hardwire. “Did you want to point and laugh at how the town hero was just some nerd who’d been pushed around?!”

            He changes to Silver again, and throws Hardwire into B Hall. Hardwire crawls past the faculty offices with one good leg, but Siro follows.

            “But you’re not the first, Craig, I know that,” he says. “You’re not the only one who has done the same thing to me and to countless others. You’re just the worst of them. Because with all you’ve said and all you’ve done, you have the arrogance to act like you can be a hero. You are so delusional to think none of that mattered.”

            Hardwire hobbles up to his feet and throws a huge haymaker in desperation! But Siro completely absorbs the punch with his jaw! Because he’s suddenly Blue!

            The two stand there, Hardwire’s hand pushing against Siro’s face and vice-versa for a complete stalemate. Siro then slaps Hardwire’s hand down and leans in, and their heads collide! Hardwire staggers back from the unorthodox headbutt, and Siro turns Silver again to thrust kick him right in the jaw! Hardwire staggers further back, and they enter the lobby in front of the library.

            “You’re no hero, Craig,” he says as he continues to follow behind Hardwire. “You’re a shallow fraud, jealous of those who are truly better than you, because you are incapable of being good on your own. But don’t worry, Craig, you won’t be much of anything after today.”

            Hardwire is on wobbly legs as Siro comes up behind. He lifts Hardwire onto his shoulders, a “fireman’s carry,” but with Hardwire face-up. He carries Hardwire to the door, the main entrance of the school. From this “torture rack” position, Siro tips to the side and again drives Hardwire’s head into the ground! Hardwire can barely do more than whimper in pain as he flops over onto his side. His limbs are numb from the impact, his neck feels like it’s burning while his head is throbbing with every beat of his heart. But even in his awful state, Hardwire sees Siro reach down for him.

            Siro sits Hardwire up against the doorpost.

            “You still awake in there, Craig?” he asks.

            Hardwire breathes heavily, sputtering for air, but his eyes do lock onto Siro

            “Good,” Siro says. “Because I want you to see this one coming.”

            He turns Red, and puts the ropes right up against Hardwire, pinning him to the doorpost. Then with Overdrive, he runs all the way from here, to the opposite end of B Hall, to the far end of the cafeteria lobby, no less than 250 feet away, all in just a few seconds. He makes ropes appear on this side of the building, which makes the other ropes disappear. But before Hardwire can even raise an arm, Siro rebounds off those ropes and makes them disappear, to again put ropes against Hardwire.

            Hardwire sees the red blur coming up fast. Pinned by the ropes, he can’t move, but he can speak. He chokes back the tears as he forces words to form.

            “I’m sor-”

            *WHAM* Siro’s knee collides with Hardwire’s head, which then sandwiches it with the doorpost.

            Siro backs up a step to watch Hardwire flop over. Hardwire’s eyes are glazed over, his mouth hangs open for drool to come out, and one of his legs twitches ever so slightly. Siro turns Yellow to scan Hardwire with Analysis.

            “Tch, still alive,” he mutters.

            He then turns around, and spots something up above. It’s a poster with The Spektrum’s name on it, but also a bunch of signatures all over it. The most obvious thing is “NEVER FORGET” written just below it. As he looks at it, something about how it’s written seems familiar.

            Then he looks down from the poster and spots Catgirl in the middle of B Hall.

            They lock eyes. Hers are filled with bittersweet tears while his are with a mix of yearning and deep guilt.

           

            Cyndi finishes changing and pushes past everyone else. She checks inside the gym to see no one. She hurries over to the far side where the boys are.

            “Simon!” she shouts through the door. “We gotta go, they’ve all moved on!”

            “See?” he says to everyone else. “It’s over now.”

            Simon pushes the door open and follows Cyndi.

            “Where’s Zoey?” he whispers.

            “I’m pretty sure she slipped out to be you-know-who.”

            Simon worries about what Zoey’s getting into as he follows Cyndi to the exit. But as soon as they open the door, he spots Fast-Pace.

            “Stop!” he says as he pulls Cyndi back inside.

            “What? Why?”

            “I can’t go out there,” he says. “That guy knows who I am. He knows I’m The Spektrum and that The Spektrum died.”

            “And you can’t go out there without a lot of confusion,” Cyndi says as she understands.

 

            “What are you doing here?” Siro asks Catgirl.

            “I should ask you the same thing,” she says, a tear rolling out from behind the mask. “That is, if you’re The Spektrum.”

            “I am,” he says, “yet I’m not.”

            “What?”

            “I remember meeting you for the first time at an airport and flying off to somewhere secret to meet everyone else,” he says. “I remember New York with Homeboy and your cousins. I remember Vegas, and that garbage, Tiger, trying to have his way with you. And I remember South America with Metal-Head and the drug cartel. But I’m not the one who went to those places with you.”

            Then he looks down at his chest.

            “I remember being shot dead, but I’m not the one that got shot.”

            “You aren’t making sense,” she says, her ears turning to the sides. “You’re him but not him? What does that mean?”

            “It means I’m his clone.”

            “What? A clone? That’s not possible.”

            “It is possible. It’s just not allowed on Earth. But Zorb isn’t of Earth, now is he?”

            Catgirl has a hard time accepting this answer. Even for a world of aliens and superpowers, it’s a huge leap into sci-fi to say he’s a clone. But at the same time, it’s the only thing that explains him being back.

            “My name is Siro,” he continues. “And since I’m not The Spektrum, don’t hold what I did to Craig against him.”

            Catgirl finally looks past “Siro” to see Hardwire down on the ground.

            “Craig’s alive, if you’re worried about him,” Siro says. “Not that you should be. He finally got what he deserved.”

            “You aren’t the one who decides that,” Catgirl says.

            “Aren’t I?! I’m what’s left of The Spektrum, the person whose life he tried to ruin! If anyone gets to ruin his life in return, it’s me!”

            “Chigau! That’s wrong! You’re wrong!”

            “Really? You’ve never wanted to truly hurt someone who hurt you?”

            Catgirl can’t help but think back to Rachel, and obviously Tiger.

            “Just because you want to hurt someone doesn’t mean you should,” she says.

            “Tell that to him,” Siro says as he nods back to Hardwire. “Whenever he wakes up.”

            “I get it, he’s a lost cause,” she says. “But if you’re really what’s left of The Spektrum, then you can’t really… You can’t really be like this.”

            “Poor Cat,” he sighs. “You never really knew me. Sorry, not me, him. And since you didn’t really know him, you wouldn’t understand.”

            “Understand? Understand what?”

            “Lahat ng bagay,” he says, going back to Black. “Everything! The loneliness, the longing. Just wanting someone who you can talk to, who you can hold and be held by. Falling for someone but finding you can’t have them. But you don’t know that feeling because you’ve had Shaun this whole time.”

            “Shiranyai,” she says, her own anger boiling up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

            “You’re right, I don’t,” he says, changing back to Red. “I apologize for upsetting you. I don’t want you to be my enemy. After all, who do you think I was talking about?”

            Catgirl’s ears perk up as she realizes what he means. But then they droop sadly.

            “That’s not going to change anything,” she says. “You need to explain yourself. And not just to me, but to everyone. Reciprocity, or, that’s what Anonymous Inc. is calling themselves now. They’re already here. We’re going to have to arrest you.”

            “Oh so it’s ‘we’? And they sent you in first? Tulad ng mga cowards…”

            “To try to talk to you first,” she says. “But if that’s not enough…”

            She takes a fighting stance, left foot forward with right foot ready to push off, and both hands up ready to claw and scratch. But Siro just laughs again.

            “I’m not going to fight you,” he says.

            He’s in front of Catgirl in an instant! It startles her, and she steps back, crouching slightly.

            “Because if we fought, we know who would win,” he adds.

            He then takes off at super speed, the main entrance door flying open.

            Catgirl slumps down to sit on the floor, another tear rolling down her cheek.

 

            With Siro gone, Reciprocity Inc. moves in to help Hardwire. He’s not responsive so they rush him off for medical care.

            Things calm down at school again, but the anxiety is high. As the news spreads, people start coming up with theories. Some think that’s not The Spektrum, but a copycat of some kind. Others think The Spektrum didn’t die but was kidnapped while in the ambulance, and turned to Zorb’s side, causing theories on how Zorb could’ve turned The Spektrum to sprout up. Those are the only theories Zoey cares about. The Spektrum she knew wouldn’t be like this.

            Though, he isn’t really that Spektrum. And, did I ever really know him?

            Zoey is able to recover her things from the restroom at the gymnasium before continuing on to Mr. De’s Pre-Calc. And somehow, she’s able to focus on class.

            Simon sits next to her and is only just able to focus on class because he’s wondering if Catgirl was able to actually confront the masked copycat. And assuming she did, he wants to know what might have been said.

            They get through the test just fine. If anything, it pushes the thoughts of what happened today out of the way for a time. But then Simon can’t help but think about as he and Zoey meet back up with Cyndi.

            As the three of them walk home, Cyndi looks to Simon and nods to Zoey. He gives Cyndi a questioning look, which she responds to with a wide-eyed tilt of her head.

            “Okay, okay,” he mutters under his breath. “But you start.”

            Cyndi sighs then turns to Zoey.

            “Zoey,” she says. “There’s something we need to talk about.”

            “Okay,” Zoey says, already a little nervous. “What is it?”

            Cyndi takes a deep breath.

            “We know you’re Catgirl,” she says.

            Zoey stops walking, so Cyndi and Simon do, too.

            “Whaaat?” she asks, obviously playing dumb. “No I’m not… Why would you even think that?”

            “Well the most obvious is, you’re a bad liar,” Cyndi says. “You’ve almost given it away a handful of times. But even then, you’re the newest student, who transferred from Alameda, where Catgirl is from. You’re both from Alameda, and you’re both here.”

            “S-So…?” Zoey says, still horribly playing it off while starting to sweat.

            “Also,” Simon says. “There’s a way we knew it was you without these theories.”

            “And what’s that?” Zoey asks.

            “Hold on,” he says. “We should get off of Bancroft.”

            The three of them turn right on Sybil, and Simon leads them all the way down to Evergreen to follow it left onto Morgan Avenue, right up to his house.

            In a flash of light, Simon becomes Code Silver. And Zoey’s cat ears and tail pop out as she puts her hands on her mouth in shock.

            “Wow, we should’ve done that the moment you figured it out,” Cyndi says to Simon.

            “You’re alive?!” Zoey says. “This entire time you’ve been alive?!”

            Zoey starts smacking him in the arm.

            “Hey!” Cyndi says.

            “It’s fine, Cyndi,” he says. “Silver’s pretty tough, I can take a few smacks.”

            “So wait, you knew my secret identity this entire time?” Zoey asks.

            “Since New Year’s, actually,” he says. “So when you showed up at San Leandro High, we were trying to figure out how to bring it up, but just couldn’t.”

            “Is that why you offered me milk?” she asks Cyndi.

            “No…” Cyndi says in a way that’s obvious she’s the one lying now.

            “So I guess he really is your clone,” Zoey says to Simon.

            “Clone?” Cyndi says. “That would explain a lot, actually.”

            “Wait,” Zoey says, thinking.

            Zoey leans closer to him, and sniffs.

            “Oh, of course!” she says. “Why didn’t I notice it before?”

            “Did you just… sniff him?” Cyndi asks.

            “Don’t make it a thing,” Zoey says to her. “Smell is the sense with the strongest connection to memory, and I have a stronger sense of smell because I’m part cat. I’m just confirming things. Simon smells more like The Spektrum than his clone.”

            “He does?” Cyndi asks.

            “I do?” Simon asks.

            Cyndi starts to lean closer to Simon, but stops herself.

            “Why didn’t you confront him?” Zoey asks Simon. “Your clone, that is.”

            “Because I’m not at full strength,” he says. “I don’t have Red, Yellow or Blue, just Silver and Black.”

            He shows her by changing to Black and then back to Simon.

            “But Sea-Row has all of them,” Zoey says.

            “Sea Row?” Cyndi says.

            “Yeah, that’s what he called himself. It’s like, Zero, but not?”

            “Well it is,” Simon says. “But not English. It’s Tagalog.”

            “As in Filipino?” Cyndi asks.

            “That’s right, you’re half-Filipino,” Zoey says. “Your mom’s side.”

            “Wait, really?” Cyndi says. “I thought… Actually I’m not sure what I thought you were.”

            “Siro is zero, obviously,” he says. “But, man, I hadn’t thought about my Tagalog lessons in a long time.”

            “That’s strange,” Zoey says. “Siro seemed so familiar with the language. He was kinda like me with my Japanese, sprinkling it in here and there.”

            “Like what?”

            “Um, let me see if I can remember,” she says, her ears turning sideways.

            “Do we have to do this outside?” Cyndi asks. “We might be seen or heard out here.”

            “Oh, right, sorry,” Simon says. “We could go in. This is my house, after all.”

            “Oh, it’s so cute,” Zoey says.

            “Um, thanks,” he says, unsure how else to take the compliment.

            “Are you sure there’s a place for me to sit down where your cat hasn’t sat?” Cyndi asks.

            “Oh, that’s right, your cat!” Zoey says. “I wanna meet her~.”

            “I think the couch should be fine,” Simon says to Cyndi. “We’re always there so she doesn’t usually use it.”

            Simon walks up to the door and unlocks it. He lets the girls in first, and looks for his cat.

            “Freckles,” he calls as he goes to his room.

            He looks in but she’s not on the bed.

            “She’s not out in the living room, is she?” he asks as he comes back.

            “Nope,” Zoey says. “No cats out here. Unless you count me.”

            Zoey and Cyndi then look to the other side, where the dining room is.

            “Oh is that her on the chair?” Cyndi says.

            Simon walks out to join them and looks under the glass table to see the spotted cat curled up in the chair at the head of the table. Of course, she’s looking at all of them, aware that two new people are here.

            “Well I guess I can clear the towel off my bed,” he says.

            He grabs the towel Freckles had been sleeping on and tosses that into the laundry room down the hall. Then he goes to the dining room, with Zoey anxiously following behind.

            “She seems oddly calmer than she usually is with strangers,” Simon says as he pets Freckles.

            Freckles’ eyes are locked on Zoey, but probably because of the cat ears she sees on Zoey’s head.

            “A calico, how cute,” Zoey says. “And such blue eyes, even for an adult cat.”

            “Right, don’t most cats change their eye colors to green or yellow?” he says.

            “Yes, but there are some breeds that keep it blue all the way through,” Zoey says as she pets Freckles.

            To Simon’s surprise, Freckles lets her. The cat then stands up and stretches before hopping up to the table. Zoey smiles as she stands upright to pet Freckles more.

            “Simon,” Zoey says as she looks at Freckles’ paws. “Does she not have front claws?”

            “She does not,” he says. “We got her declawed when she was young.”

            “What?!” Zoey blurts out, startling Freckles. “You got her declawed?”

            “Well, yeah, so she wouldn’t scratch up furniture,” he says, starting to feel nervous.

            “That’s awful! Don’t you know what they do when they declaw a cat? They cut off the tips of their fingers!”

            “Oh! Well, I didn’t know that. I was only a kid myself.”

            Zoey looks more upset than she was learning he was The Spektrum this whole time. But then she eases up on him, judging from the way her ears come back up.

            “I guess that’s a good point,” she says. “I didn’t know until I asked the veterinarian how it works. And then when she told me, I freaked out so bad, my parents had the vets stop and give my cat back.”

            “Oh wow,” he says with a bit of a chuckle.

            “Um…” Cyndi speaks up from the couch. “Shouldn’t we get back on track?”

            “Oh, right, duh,” Zoey says. “Um, what were we doing before all this?”

            “Talking about Siro, the clone of The Spektrum,” Cyndi says.

            “Right, right,” Zoey says.

            Zoey stops, because if Siro says he fell for her, that means so did Simon.

            But, Simon has Cyndi, doesn’t he? she thinks. So are his feelings still the same?

            “Y’know what,” Zoey says, changing the subject. “We should tell the others! They should know that you’re alive!”

            “Right, we should tell your cousins,” Simon says. “Oh, and, we should probably tell them about something else…”

            “What else is there to say?” Zoey asks.

 

            “The shooter wasn’t one of Zorb’s?!” Zoey blurts out.

            The three sit in the living room, Zoey on the love seat, her cat ears and tail gone. She has Freckles in her lap while Simon and Cyndi are on the couch. They just got down sharing their theory about the shooter with Zoey. She thinks it over, and sees they have a point about there not being more beams of light for teleportation.

            “So if the shooter wasn’t doing it for Zorb, they did it just to shoot The Spektrum?” she reasons.

            “Yes, that’s our theory,” Simon says. “He might-”

            “Or she might,” Cyndi interjects.

            “-be targeting the other Power Surge members. So that’d be you, your cousins, maybe even Homeboy.”

            “And you didn’t think this was reason enough to reveal the truth to me?” Zoey says. “For weeks since you died, you were sitting in church not saying a thing.”

            “I know, and I’m sorry about that,” Simon says. “But we haven’t even seen another attempt on another Power Surge member since what was basically my assassination. So the fact they haven’t done anything more started making it seem like our theory was just a theory and not something to go on.”

            “So if it wasn’t for me moving here, and for your clone showing up, you would’ve kept me in the dark? Until something awful happened to someone else, that is.”

            Simon wants to counter but he feels too guilty, and knows she’s right.

            “So when are you telling your cousins?” Cyndi asks.

            “Well, it’ll have to be tomorrow,” Zoey says. “We can’t spring this on them at church on Sunday, because there’ll be people all over the place. But if we do it tomorrow, I think they can drive over and we can all talk.”

            “Okay then,” Simon says. “We’ll meet at your house then?”

            “Oh, uh, yeah,” Zoey says. “That makes sense, they know where it is.”

            “Well, I guess I’ll just have to be careful not to bring cat hair home,” Cyndi says. “Like today.”

            “Cyndi, I told you, you’re fine,” Simon says. “There wasn’t any fur on the couch.”

            Zoey writes her address on Maud for both of them.

            “So, tomorrow around 11 maybe?” Zoey asks.

            “Yeah, 11 is good,” Simon says.

            “See you tomorrow at 11,” Cyndi says.

            Simon walks to the door first while the girls pick up their things. Zoey pets Freckles one more time before leaving her on the coffee table. Simon opens the door and the girls walk home together.

            “Why were you so much friendlier with her than you are even with me?” he asks Freckles while she scratches behind her ear.

            She just stares at him with her back paw stuck up in the air.

            “So…” Cyndi says, feeling awkward tension. “See you tomorrow.”

            “Yeah, see you then,” Zoey says, not feeling the tension at all.

            Cyndi continues on to Dolores Avenue while Zoey turns left to go up Maud. Both girls pick up the pace towards their houses but for different reasons.

            Zoey walks up the stairs to the porch and then goes inside.

            “Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!” she says as she hurries to take her phone out.

            She quickly dials Karina while heading for the stairs back down.

            “Zoey, hey!” Karina says as she picks up. “I was just going to call you-”

            “He’s alive!” Zoey says quickly. “The Spektrum’s alive!”

            “Yeah, we saw him with a mask,” Karina says as she puts the call on speaker.

            “No, no, that’s not him! Well, technically it is, but it’s not really him.”

            “What…?” Chloe says. “Zoey, are you okay?”

            “The one in the mask… is a clone.”

            “Whaaat~?” all her friends say.

            “Yes, but, that’s not even the craziest thing!” Zoey says. “The actual Spektrum, the one I met months ago. He is actually alive!”

            “Seriously?” Karina says.

            “Yes! And it’s Simon!”

            “Really?” Chloe says. “‘Simon from church’ Simon?”

            “Tobey Maguire hair is The Spektrum?” Marina says. “Actually, something about that makes sense.”

            “Oh wait, but he has a girlfriend, huh?” Karina says.

            That takes a lot of air out of the conversation.

            “Well, pff, like it’s that serious of a relationship,” Karina continues. “How long have they been together?”

            “I dunno, I didn’t ask,” Zoey says. “But I’m not going to try to take him from Cyndi. I’m not gonna be that kind of girl.”

            “Okay, okay,” Karina says. “You are a better person than I am, Zoey Mizaki.”

            “Thank you,” Zoey says. “See you all on Sunday.”

            As for Cyndi, she grumbles and groans as she enters her house. She knew Zoey had feelings for The Spektrum, it was as obvious as the nose on her face. Or rather, the boobs in her shirt. And now that the secret’s out, Zoey will probably only get friendlier with him.

            Like Hell I’m letting that short stack take my man! Cyndi huffs and puffs while feeding her fish. I don’t care if she’s Catgirl, I’ll fight her if I have to. Well, maybe not, she’s pretty strong. But metaphorically! I will fight her on the battlefield of love!

            Then she realizes she’s over-feeding her fish and quickly stops.

            “Woops, sorry guys.”