A Nega Problem

Chapter 1 - Prologue To Mayhem

It was an average day for an average platypus.  The morning sun woke him bright and early, which he disliked to the greatest degree, wanting the moon instead to wake him, to help him get a jump start on his day.  It was your typical spring day; bird chirping, the smell of dew on the air, and everybody who also got an early start doing their cleaning.  Billy Plats, a light brown platypus who already was kind of a near-OCD neat-freak to begin with, had no cleaning to do, so he decided to enjoy the day instead.  He made a mental checklist of all the things he would like to get done, with swimming being a key part and number one on his list.  The platypus chuckled lightly to himself, knowing exactly what his friends would say if they saw his mental "to-do list".

"You're too obsessed with swimming," they'd say, Billy thought to himself.

With a look out the window to check the clouds to see if it would possibly rain, Billy darted out of his house to tackle his day.  Ready to check his number one activity off his list, the platypus started walking down the street, but in the opposite direction of the public pool.  Billy wasn't fond of public pools.  He was a superb swimmer, and if the pool wasn't crowded and slowing him down, he felt bad about swimming as fast as he could if he wanted.  He wasn't the type to show off, and hated making anybody else feel insignificant or not good enough.  One day, while walking through the woods, Billy found a stream that seemed to be hidden from the town, so he declared it his own private swimming spot.  However, on this day, he wouldn't make it to that spot.  As he walked down the street to his self-declared "secret spot", Billy noticed a sign on a few telephone poles.  Curiosity kicked in as the platypus walked up to one of the signs and read it mentally.

"Looking for extra cash?  We're looking for unique volunteers to test duplication.  Call the number or visit the address listed below if interested."  Hm... well, extra cash for little effort is always nice.  I think I'll give it a try.

Billy took the poster off the pole and began his stroll through town toward the address listed.  It was a part of the city he'd never been to before, with factories and scrap-yards.  Billy avoided these areas as he was sensitive to the smell of the smog and chemicals, but he made an exception today, willing to risk a headache or some nausea for extra spending money.  The platypus walked up to the front door of the address listed and pushed a doorbell to the side of the door.  After a few moments, nothing happened, and he pushed the button again.  A few more moments later, a slight buzz came from the door and a voice came over a hidden speaker that Billy couldn't see.

"Come in.  Do the paperwork and wait for your name."

Billy did as he told and pushed the metal door ajar, stepping through into a waiting room.  It looked like any typical waiting room, old magazines and a TV playing an educational station that nobody ever watched.  The walls were white and bland, and gave Billy an uneasy feeling, though he couldn't think of why the waiting room would make him nervous.  There was one window with a ledge that separated the room he was in from another.  The platypus walked up to the ledge, which simply had a clipboard attached to a string with legal papers and a pen clipped to it.  Billy tried looking into the window to see a receptionist to ask about the reason he was there, but he couldn't see a soul, almost like he and the mysterious voice were the only two in the building.  Every second he spent in the building made his skin crawl more and more, like he was doing something he shouldn't be or that he shouldn't be there, but he shrugged it off and filled out the paperwork.  Once every "T" was crossed and "I" was dotted, the platypus put the pen down on the clipboard, which was immediately yanked through the window by an unseen soul.  Billy tried to look through the window, but again he couldn't see anybody on the other side.

Ok, this is all starting to really creep me out, he thought to himself as he took a seat in the empty room.  He picked up a few magazines and flipped through them, watched the TV for a bit, and even rested his eyes briefly as the minutes crawled like hours, the platypus waiting about 20 minutes before somebody finally came through the door on the other side of the room, leading further into the building.  It was a female snow leopard in a casual sweater and slacks holding a clipboard.

"Mr. Plats?" she called to the nearly empty room.

Billy looked around and chuckled to himself, wondering if she was serious about calling out one name to a room that had only one fur in it or if she was just trying to mess with his head.

"Aye," the platypus said aloud after a moment, still trying to figure everything out.

"Follow me."

The snow leopardess walked back through the door which she entered from, in which Billy also quickly entered through to follow the receptionist.  It was a short trip as there were only a few doors in the hallway past the waiting room, most of which were off limits to anybody who didn't work at this "company".  It was the second door on the left that the receptionist entered through and beckoned Billy to follow through as well.  The room looked like a standard doctor's examination room, with a few cupboards, a desk, a few chairs, and the padded examination table.  Billy began to wonder what a visit to the doctor would have to do with duplication or if he had fallen for a trap and he was in mortal danger.

"Have a seat," the snow leopard said to the platypus.  "The doctor will be with you shortly."

"Doctor?"

"Yes.  The doctor.  You're here to volunteer, right?"

"Aye... I think..." Billy said with cautious approach.

"Then you'll see the doctor.  Now sit."

Billy entered the room, scooting in past the snow leopard, and sat down on the examining table.  He looked around the room one time, and, while he was looking, the receptionist left without another word said.  The minutes slowed down again as Billy tried to keep himself entertained.  He toyed with the thought of rummaging through the cupboards to see if he could determine what he'd gotten himself into with this new endeavor, but didn't want to do anything to get on the bad side of this mysterious "company" and wind up hurt, or even dead.  The platypus decided, for safety's sake, just to sit there in silence and try his best to wait patiently for this mysterious doctor to come in.  It was another 10 minutes before a gorilla entered the room, dressed in a white lab coat and carrying a small metal case.  The ape ignored Billy's presence, walking to the desk and setting the case on the table and opening it.  Billy tried his best to peek into the case to see what he was getting into, but the ape's bulky size prevented all attempts to spy.  After a few moments of bumbling around in the small case, the gorilla turns to the platypus with a syringe in one hand and a small cup in the other.

"I want to thank you for volunteering, Mr. Plats."

"What exactly did I volunteer for?"

"We're doing experiments with cloning.  We're hoping that we can create a fur with a completely new personality by taking some DNA from test subjects, making clones from it, and then altering a few segments of DNA while the clones are incubating.  As you're probably well aware, cloning is frowned upon, hence why all the secretism."

"And who says I'm ok with it?" Billy asked, making sure to cover his bases with the lab worker.

"The paper work.  In the fine print it said that you are open-minded about cloning and are willing to proceed.  Did you not read it?  Are you not open-minded about it?"

"I didn't read the fine print.  Let's face it, nobody does.  But to answer your question, I do not have a problem with cloning.  I think it's actually a wonderful breakthrough that could help expand life expectancy."

"Very well.  We'll be paying you $300 for just a small sum of your DNA.  And we're quite friendly about how to get it.  We can draw a small amount of your blood, or, if you're queasy around needles, we can take some semen.  If you're uncomfortable with both of those, I do have a cotton swab in my case for a saliva sample, though one of the first two options would benefit us greater.  Saliva has very a very miniscule amount of genetic code, though it IS enough to work with."

"I have no problems with needles.  I'll give you some blood."

"Splendid.  If you could just roll up the sleeve on your shirt, we'll get started."

The platypus did as told and rolled up the right sleeve of the shirt he was wearing and waited for the gorilla to do his part.  The ape make sure to swab the fur and flesh near where he was going to inject the needle, and then stuck it in carefully.  Within a few seconds, the gorilla had drawn enough blood and pulled the needle out of the platypus' flesh.

"There.  Alright.  You're free to go.  Make sure you see the receptionist about your money."

"Um... I have a question.  Can I see the clones at all?"

"I'll let you see them once they're full grown in a few weeks.  Until then, just go about your life.  I'll give you a call."

"Alright.  Thank you, Doctor..." Billy trailed off, hoping the ape would finish his sentence for him.

"Silver.  Dr. Hector Silver."

"Thank you Dr. Silver."

The platypus then climbed off the examining table and shook the paw of the much larger ape before walking out the door into the hallway.  The place didn't seem as bad as when he first entered since he knew the secrets contained within, and his trip to the waiting room didn't fill him with dread at all unlike before.  Even the waiting room didn't send any signals to Billy other than that it was an ordinary waiting room that shouldn't be feared.  The platypus walked up to the window, where the snow leopardess was waiting with cash in-paw to pay the volunteer.  She simply placed the paper currency on the ledge on the other side of her window, pulling up a book once her hands were free to read.  The platypus shrugged off the icy attitude and grabbed his easy money, and proceeded to enjoy the rest of his day filled with swimming, light workouts, and loads of reading.

Chapter 2 - Enter Chaos

A few weeks passed for the brown platypus known as Billy Plats, and they were rather routine at that.  He managed to keep himself busy with more swimming, reading, workouts, and some occasional cleaning while he tried to wait and see how his clones turned out.  The only difference is that he got less sleep the more days passed between him giving his blood until the phone call he was anxiously expecting.  One day, it finally came, but not how the platypus was expecting.  It was six in the morning, and Billy was in heavy slumber, just having gotten to sleep a few hours prior, when the phone in house started to ring.  It instantly woke the slumbering platypus, but he didn't bother, hoping they would leave a message on his machine or just call back later.  His hopes were dashed when the phone would hang up and start ringing a few moments later, and it lasted for roughly 15 minutes before he got out of bed to answer the phone.  He staggered through his room out the door, extremely exhausted from the lack of sleep, down the hall toward the only phone in the house, which was in the living room.  With a loud groan, the platypus picked the receiver up and put it up to his head.

"Nnngg.... hello...?" Billy answered, which differed from his usual greeting.

"Mr. Plats?"

"Yeah... who is this...?"

"It's Dr. Silver."

"Who?"

"Dr. Silver, from the Lifeform Enhancement Research facility."

"I don't want any enhancement... call somebody else..." Billy groggily replied, not paying attention to the conversation.

"I'm the guy who took your blood for cloning experiments."

"Huh?  Oh... you.  What're you calling at this hour for mate?"

"We've had a problem, one we think you can assist with."

"Did you blow up your lab?"

"No.  Your clones broke out.  They escaped."

"What?" the platypus asked eagerly, now awakened by the seriousness of the conversation.

"We had them in incubation tubes with a synthetic amniotic fluid to help them grow quickly.  Last night, we drained the fluid to get ready to awaken them today, when we found the glass broken."

"Them?  Ok... how many escaped?"

"We only made two, and both escaped."

"Ok... so what do you want me to do about it?"

"Well, they have your memories and some of your personality.  We're hoping you might be able to track them down quickly," the ape suggested over the phone.

"Shouldn't be too hard then."

"One other thing.  Like I told you a few weeks ago, we altered some fragments of their DNA, and there were some unusual side effects.  As far as personality changes go, we don't have any data to tell you how each clone changed, but we can describe the changes in appearance to you."

"Wait... they aren't horribly disfigured, are they?"

"No.  Nothing like that.  One clone's fur turned a light blue and his paws turned white, and his eyes turned black and blue instead of staying white and brown.  It's kinda unsettling."

"The other one turned red or something?" Billy asked, eager to move the conversation along.

"No.  He actually turned grey.  Grey fur, and his eye color went grey.  He looks normal, just drained of color."

"Perfect.  He'll be easy to spot in a city built on stone and concrete..." the platypus sarcastically replied, already dreading having to hunt down his colorless clone.

"You don't have to help if you don't want to.  If you don't, however, we will have to report them to the authorities, and they'll probably come looking for you anyway."

"Are you blackmailing me?"

"Not at all.  Just letting you know there is an easy way and a hard way to go about this.  I'd prefer to do the easy way.  But the choice is ultimately yours."

"Grr... I'll do it... but don't you dare bother me until I get it done."

The angered platypus then slammed the receiver down on the phone's base, hanging it up on the gorilla on the other side of the conversation.  After making a quick detour back to his bedroom to get dressed from his usual sleeping attire, which was usually just his fur, Billy dashed out his front door and immediately to his "secret spot".

Well... if they're anything like me, they'll probably be swimming.

Little did he know that he was wrong.  After only about 10 minutes of hurried walking, almost a slow jogging pace, Billy made it to his swimming spot, only to discover that it was empty, as usual.  This time, however, it being empty didn't make any sense to the platypus.  As he walked up to the water, he did notice there was something wrong with the spot.

The water's stopped flowing...

Frustrated at not only being unable to instantly find his clones but also that his swimming spot has been tampered with, Billy quickly disrobed and jumped in the water.  He was hoping to find the answers he wanted further down-stream, or even one of his clones.  The platypus raced like the wind through the water down the stopped current for a few hundred feet before he found the solution to his dilemma.

Somebody's dammed my river...

A haphazardly stack pile of logs and branches blocked the flow of water, almost like a beaver's dam.  Billy swam up to the wood to dislodge it and get the water flowing again when he noticed a small sign on the shore, not far from the dam.  He swam to the bank and climbed out of the water, walking up to the posted board to hopefully get a clue.  He read the words aloud to make sure he wasn't seeing things in his tired and angry state.

"The game has begun, Billy.  Catch us if you can."

Great... my clones are evil.  Or they just hate me.  Either way, this has been made personal.

Billy shook his head in frustration, now in need of a clue as to the whereabouts of his cloned selves, decided to head to town to see if anything was amiss, but he first took the time to tear down the dam that his clones had put up to get his river flowing again.  A half of an hour later and a swim back upstream, Billy came back to the point where he dove into the water in the first place, only to quickly discover another personal jab at him.  As he climbed onto the shore, he noticed his clothes were missing from where he laid them.

Oh that's it.  These clones are really starting to piss me off...

Unfortunately for the platypus, his house was a 10 minute walk away, with him hurrying, and half of it was down public streets with the sun shining.  He would have to endure the public population seeing him in the fur in order to get some new clothes, which really made things worse.  Billy wasn't a platypus to show off, especially any private parts of his body, and the clones have now forced him to take a naked stroll to his house.  The only other alternative would be to find the closest friend's house to borrow his clothes, but it was just as far to his nearest pal as it was to his own house.  Billy, in a fit of furious rage, dashed as fast as his webbed paws could take him through the woods and the streets of town toward his house.  He wasn't sure if anybody saw him or not, nor did he care if they did.  All he wanted to do was get dressed and then strangle his ne'er-do-well clones something fierce.  The platypus reached his front door in amazing time, almost crashing through it with the pace at which he set for himself.  He wrapped his webbed paw around the knob and quickly turned it, pushing the door in forcefully.  As Billy walked his house toward his bedroom, he let out a scream of rage.  His clones had been to his house while he was away as well, with most of his possessions tossed around, and some broken.

I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL THOSE ASSHOLES!

Chapter 3 - Meet Havoc

Once Billy was dressed, he left his mess of a house, ready to take down the clones that had made it a personal vendetta to make his day a living hell.  With enraged determination, Billy started power-walking down the street toward the heart of the city, hoping to find a clue that would get his paws on his clones.  It wasn't long until the clue walked up to him and slapped him in the face, literally.  A female cheetah, who was walking down the street in the opposite direction carrying a small purse, approached the platypus and put her paw across his bill hard.  The attack had stunned him, both physically and mentally, wondering what he could've possibly done to deserve such treatment.  Once he regained his composure, he began to question his assailant.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"You are."

"What did I do to you?" Billy yelled with anger heavy on his voice.

"What, you forgot already?  How about you insulted me and then ripped my favorite blouse with your claws.  And just how exactly did you change your fur color so fast?"

"Listen... I'm sorry.  I wasn't in my right mind when I did it.  How about I get your address and I'll come by in a while with money to repay you for the blouse.

"Well..." the cheetah hesitated, "Alright.  But don't think this means I forgive you for the insult.  You should get help you know."

Help would be great...  "Yeah... I'm sorry.  I've got some sort of bi-polar problem and I forgot to take my medicine for it today," Billy lied blankly, trying to cover the tracks of his clone.

"And the fur color change?"

"Yeah... I dyed it to hope you wouldn't notice me..."

"Well, it didn't work.  Now, the blouse was $100 if you're truly intent on paying me back."

"I am.  Just give me your address and I'll be by in the next day or so."

The cheetah opened her purse and shoved her paw inside, digging around for a pen and something to write on.  Her search was quick and fruitful, as she quickly pulled out both a pen and a small piece of paper, which she used to write down her address and hand it to Billy.  He took the small piece of parchment and half-bowed to the lady.

"I'm sorry.  And thank you for not involving the police."

"If it happens again, I will.  Good day."

The cheetah then went back about her business, walking down the street in the opposite direction.  Billy watched her walk for a few yards before turning to face the other way, finally having some sort of general location of his clones.

These clones are making way too much trouble for me.  What the hell did I ever do to them?

As our protagonist walked the paved walks, he had lost all traces of his doubles.  The further he got away from the spot where the female cheetah had confronted him, the less troubled things looked.  Aside from some of Billy's favorite spots and that feline, nothing had been disturbed.

Meaning this IS personal.  This is a direct call out to me.

"You got that right," a familiar voice said aloud, almost as if hearing Billy's thoughts and responding to it.

Billy looked around to find the owner of the voice until his eyes stumbled upon an alley where a grey platypus was leaning against a building.

"It's you..." he growled to the grey double as his webbed paws balled into fists of rage, ready to strike but being held back by Billy's self-control.

"Yeah, it's me.  And I gotta say, it was fun dicking with you for a while, but you're too easy.  Maybe it's because I got all your thoughts and memories in my noggin, but I can predict every single move you make before you even make it," the clone confessed.

"You're lucky I don't thrash you right now."

"You and I both know you try your best to avoid confrontation whenever possible.  Which is why I'm the stronger, better Billy.  But I really don't like that name.  Sounds... wimpy."

"Oh?  And what would you like me to call you for the five minutes you have left to live?"

"I dunno.  I been trying to think it over.  Seeing as I'm a more aggressive, more cynical version of you that has no color, I was thinking of that comic you love reading.  That Scott Pilgrim stuff.  Like a Nega-Billy.  Except not as long or wimpy sounding.  Like Nega."

"Cynical?  That's what you call being evil?"

"Evil?  How exactly am I evil?" Nega questioned Billy, trying to get into his colored counterpart's mind.

"You dammed my river, you stole my clothes, you trashed my house, and you verbally and physically assaulted some random woman!"

"Not evil.  The river, your clothes, and your house were diversionary tactics to slow you down and get you off my trail.  The woman insulted me for having grey fur, so I merely defended myself.  I'm not gonna take any shit from anybody, and that includes you.  At the same time, I'm not gonna go out and make trouble for anybody who doesn't deserve it."

"Then you'll come peacefully back to the lab?" Billy asked, hoping that his double would willingly come.

"Did I say I was a retard?  I know if I go back to that lab, it's for keeps.  I'll either be locked up for life, or I'll be studied and then killed and disposed of."

"Ok, A) it's insensitive to use the 'R' word.  And B) What choice do you have?  They asked me to come find you, and if I fail, they'll go to the police."

"See, that's where I have a plan.  I've figured out a way while you were chasing me that I can live free of that lab and you'll have succeeded in your mission, but you have to help me track down Will first," Nega admitted, knowing Billy won't say no to the plan he had in his mind.

"Like I can trust you.  You pretty much called me out!  You're lucky I'm not beating your face in."

"Billy, you can't bullshit a bullshitter.  You and I both know that if you were going to attack, you would've by now.  You're pissed at me, but you don't like to fight.  You'd rather talk me into submission than have to actually have a brawl.  Lucky for you I was ready to submit anyway cause it was all part of my plan.  You wouldn't be able to beat me in a fight.  You and I may have the same fighting skill, but you lack the will to do anybody harm, no matter how much they deserve it.  I do not."

"You talk pretty tough, but I haven't seen any evidence to prove your point you know."

"Because getting into a fight with you right now would only allow Will more time to get caught or do something we'd all regret.  Now, if you're gonna help me, then come.  If not, we can brawl here and we lose the chance for everybody to live happily ever after.  Your choice, Billy," Nega ultimated, finally tired of the conversation and ready to put his plan into action.

"Fine.  Do you even know where to look first?"

"Well, after spending an hour or so with him, I'm pretty sure I know where he'll be.  Follow me."

The two platypi left the alley, with Nega in front, and began walking into the heart of town.  Meanwhile, all Billy could continue to think about was whether or not he could trust his "not evil" clone.

Chapter 4: Anarchy

The pair of platypi walked for a short while before Billy's impatience with his clone, self-named Nega, grew to it's breaking point.  With an exacerbated sigh, Billy rolled his head looked at the back of his grey double's head.  After another five minutes of walking without so much as a word of their destination or any kind of finish to their trip in sight, the brown platypus finally lost the last strand of his patience.

"Alright Nega.  We been walking for too long.  Either you tell me where we're going or I'm going to the police."

All Billy could see after the threat was the back of Nega's head shake.

"Fine.  We're going looking for where the gays in this town hang out."

"Wait... what?  Why?"

"Surely you can put two and two together to get four," Nega said in a stern voice.

"But... how is he...?  I'm not even..."

"Hey, genius, remember... those scientists altered us both.  That's what they were working on.  To prove that the 'soul' is nothing but genetics coded the way they were.  They were working on a hypothesis that if you changed the DNA of a being while they were forming, it could possibly change other things like their personality or their interests.  Naturally, the nurturing of said being while it's still developing through it's early years also plays an important factor, but they believed that genetics would have a bigger impact.  And they were right.  Fortunately for me.  I don't know if I could enjoy being you."

"Jeez... thanks..." Billy replied with a groan.  "So you were made more aggressive and more selfish.  And what... the other one was made gay?"

"Will, as he likes to call himself, has more libido than you, and is in fact gay.  I also noticed in the short time that I spent with him that he doesn't share the same discern for his looks that you do yours, and, like myself, he's much more confident than you."

"Right... well... I just hope we don't find him in the middle of something I don't really want to see."

"I honestly can't tell you that.  All I know is that we need to find him fast before my plan falls apart."

As the fates would have it, a blue platypus was running in their direction, being chased by a couple of men, one a burly rhino, and the other a lanky horse, both with angry looks worn on their faces and fists in the air as they chased Billy's second duplicate.  Will, as Nega called him, ran past Billy and the grey double and his pursuers stopped just in front of the two platypi.

"Get outta our way!  We gotta bash that fag!" the rhino barked.

"Listen... whatever he did..." Billy started to say, trying to defuse the situation.  Nega, however, wasted no time in throwing his webbed fist across the jaw of the rhino, planting him on his backside in one fell swoop.  Billy, stunned at the sight, looked at Nega like he'd gone insane.  "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!?"

"I'm taking out the trash.  Talk if you want, I'm fighting."

"Dammit..."

Billy took a defensive fighting stance and simply waited.  Unlike his grey counterpart, he wasn't much of a fighter, and when he did get into the rare scuffle, he relied on defending himself to get out of it instead of being the aggressor, which Nega seemed to enjoy doing.  As the grey platypus jumped on the downed rhino to continue pummeling him, Billy watched the horse's movements to see who he was going to go after.  Once Billy determined that the rhino's equestrian buddy was going to attack him, the brown platypus waited.  His patience won as the horse took a swing at his much smaller foe, who ducked and grabbed the flying arm, quickly dragging it over his shoulder and taking the rest of the body with the arm to the ground.  Before the horse could get back to his feet, Billy quickly knelt down on his throat and started removing his shoe, a trademark last defense he used for his fights.  He looked the horse in the eye and simply made one statement.

"I don't want to have to do this, but if you try to attack me or my friends again, I'm gonna stick my barb in you.  Now, I don't know if you know anything about platypi, but I'm poisonous.  My barb will seriously hurt you, if not kill you.  I'm in no mood to be putting up with this.  Now, what choice do you make?"

"Fine... I'm done..."

Billy smiled confidently, having won the fight without much violence involved.  He then looked over his shoulder to the rhino and his duplicate, who were rolling around on the ground, exchanging blows and trading spots as to who was sitting on top of the other and wailing into the defendant.  Just when the rhino looked like he was about to win the fight, Nega quickly swung his leg up between the legs of his attacker, dropping the rhino quickly in severe pain.  The grey platypus then stood up, bruised and slightly bloodied, wiping his bill with his paw and chuckling to himself.  He then looked to the horse, who was still pinned down by Billy.

"Pick your friend up and leave.  Leave us alone and never bother us again.  If you do, I promise you won't get off so easy."

Billy stood up off the horse and backed toward Nega as their equestrian foe stood up.  He walked to his injured comrade and helped him to his feet before the two of them walked off, the rhino more limping than walking in obvious pain.  The blue platypus, having watched the fight from behind a tree, came out of hiding and approached his brown and grey counterparts with a smile.

"Thank you both so much.  I never expected help, especially outta you Nega," he shrieked with joy, which made Nega grimace slightly.

"Ugh... yeah.  Don't get used to it."

"I got a question.  What did you do that made those guys so upset anyway?" Billy asked his blue double.

"You really don't want to know.  Let's just say... construction workers don't like getting cat-called back."

"Yeah... I really didn't want to know..." Nega admitted with a groan.  "Anyway, glad to see your safe, and definitely not being followed by any REAL threats."

"Real threats?  Those guys WERE real threats!" Will protested.

"No, I mean police.  Or those lab monkeys."

"I thought the guy in charge was an ape?  A gorilla?" Billy questioned Nega, to which Nega just gave a glare with his answer.

"Don't correct me.  Anyway... we need a place to lay low for a bit until Billy can pull the next part off."

"What is the next part?"

"You're going to convince that ape we're dead.  By bringing him our ashes and fur," Nega answered with a grin as he looked back and forth between his brown and blue doubles.

Chapter 5: Epilogue to Discord

A couple hours later, as the day starts drawing to an end and the sun's setting allows for the moon's appearance on the horizon, Billy found himself in the industrial district of his town, carrying two plastic jugs.  Through the translucent walls of the container one can make out ashes with some furs sprinkled throughout; one jug containing grey fur and the other one holding blue.  The brown platypus walked up to a familiar building, the one he went to at the start of his adventure with clones, and pushed a button on the side of the locked door.  After a few brief moments of waiting, the door unlocked with a buzz, and Billy walked inside.  He once again found himself in the waiting room that had once creeped him out.  He sat down and waited for any sign of life so that he could turn in the remains of his clones.

I'm so ready for all of this to be behind me, the platypus thought to himself as he sat patiently.

It didn't take long for the door on the other side of the room to open, with an eager gorilla waiting on the other side.

"Well well well, Mr. Plats.  Thank you for showing up.  I trust you have my belongings?"

"You mean the clones you made of me?"

"Of course I mean those blasted clones!" Dr. Silver shouted, angry that the platypus was playing games with him.  "Just hand them to me so that I can get back to my research.  This has been quite an ordeal for me."

"An ordeal for you?  You woke me up early, I had my home trashed, I got assaulted, and I wound up in a fight for my life!  Yet YOU had the ordeal?" Billy snapped back at the gorilla.

"Yes yes.  And you shall be compensated.  Now the clones..."  The platypus rolled his eyes and tossed the jugs to the scientist, both landing at his feet.  The ape looked at the jugs a moment before putting his eyes back on Billy.  "What is this?"

"The clones."

"But... those are jugs of ash and fur!"

"You asked me to bring them in.  You didn't tell me I had to bring them in alive."

"YOU DESTROYED MY RESEARCH?!?!?" Dr. Silver snarled as he yelled at the platypus in an irate rage.

"Hey, you know what, you should be glad I brought that!  My clones attacked me!  I had to defend myself.  They tried to catch me on fire!" Billy informed the ape in a blatant lie.  Fortunately for the platypus, both he and his grey counterpart named Nega were both very quick witted and able to make up a story in a flash, and Billy was quite silver-tongued himself, able to persuade most anybody of any story or talking them into doing any action he wished.

"You can forget your compensation then.  I will need another vial of blood though."

"Forget it!"

"No, you don't understand, Mr. Plats.  Do you realize how hard it is to retrieve DNA from ash?  Or from hair or fur without the flesh bulbs on the end?  When you incinerated your clones, you pretty much destroyed any chance of rebuilding them from the DNA they had."

"No.  I was your guinea pig once, and it gave me the worst day I ever had.  If you want to do your experiments, find another lab rat.  I'm done."

The ape glared angrily at the platypus before sighing in defeat.

"Very well.  Have a good day, sir.  Please show yourself out."

Billy stood up and presented his paw to the ape to shake in good will before his departure, but was greeted with a snort from the gorilla, who abruptly slammed the door shut on the platypus.  Billy shrugged and left the waiting room and the building, heading home and glad to have the whole day and any possible future events behind him.  Nega and Will were waiting anxiously in the living room of Mr. Plats, which they cleaned up for him after destroying it earlier in the day, when they noticed Billy walking up the path to his house a short while later.  Before Billy could turn the handle of the door to open it, it swung open from the other side with Nega and Will standing there waiting for the news, a few patches of flesh showing through missing fur.

"Well?" the grey platypus asked.

"He bought it.  You two are officially free."

Nega let out a sigh of joyous victory, glad to have a life of his own that he can live now that Dr. Silver will no longer be looking for him.

"Thank you Billy.  With this triumph, Will and I will be able to live our own lives."

"Just make sure you don't cause any trouble for me."

"I can't make any promises there," the grey double said with a grin and a chuckle.  "Anyway, I'm going to take my leave now.  Will and I have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks to get our lives settled and become members of society.  Again, thank you for giving us our freedom."

"Not a problem.  Just keep in touch, ok?"

"Again, no promises."

Will, Nega, and Billy all shook paws with one another before the blue and grey doubles took their leave of their brown counterpart's house, ready to get homes and lives of their own.

A few months pass before Billy hears from his duplicates again, and all three take the time away from one another to get their lives back in order.  For starters, Billy, Will, and Nega never heard from Dr. Silver again.  He was arrested and is spending time in a federal prison.  He started resorting to less than legal ways to get the blood he needed for his research, and an anonymous tip from one grey-furred platypus made sure he would never be able to hurt anybody again.

Nega landed himself a job at a local video game retail store that sells video games from every generation created.  With the money he makes every week, he went and rented himself the cheapest apartment he could find and has been saving every penny not spent on bills or food.  His hopes are to eventually go to business school and open up his own business, where he can be in charge and not have to answer to anybody but himself.  Through the ages, he and Billy became great friend, and he still maintains his "friendship" with fellow clone Will, though he often wonders why.

Will spent his first few months a little differently from Billy and Nega.  He went down to the local strip club and got himself a job as the bartender.  The paycheck is very good for the blue platypus, but he spent every day wishing it was a gay club instead.  Like Nega, Will found himself an apartment, but he spared no expense on it.  He bought the nicest apartment he could find and afford, and made sure to go all out decorating it with all sorts of cutting edge furniture.  Once his life was set up, he too started putting money aside for a future goal, but his goal would be to open his own club, one where he can enjoy the show.

Billy went back to his life as normal, as if the ordeal never happened.  He maintained his relationships with Will and Nega, and has them over to his house every now and then to continue their friendship.  The brown platypus learned his lesson from this ordeal and has never trusted anything he thought to be shady from the start or that made his skin crawl.  He, Nega, and Will will all lead very happy lives and continue to be friends through their golden years until death.