***
Rifting is second nature to me now. I can feel the Contra pumping in my veins, making me lighter than air but also more solid than I could ever be in real life. Colors swirl, and as we approach the spot where Stein dies, I can feel the stream thinning. It’s like pressing against tissue paper. I push forward, and the stream shreds around me. I’m spit out onto the sandy ground.
We have come out just behind an outcropping of rocks. I peek over them as the others orient themselves. Ember and Ethan look a little pale, but otherwise fine. I see the blimp overhead, cut ropes flailing in the wind. To the right, I see two Gear Heads, the red liquid sloshing around in their domed-heads as they scramble up the loose rocks in our direction.
“We’ve got to move,” I order.
Everyone follows me as I manage my way down through the boulders where the blimp is still tied. Two Gear Heads have taken position. I see Stein trying to distract them. For a second, the urge to run to her is overwhelming. I am barely able to keep my feet planted.
Then I see myself.
Stein screams. The Gear Heads have pushed her over the edge of the cliff.
My alternate self runs to the cliff. Tripping on the tether, he falls, fighting off Gear Heads while grabbing for Stein. Another crazy little geared-ninja rolls agilely to the side and takes its position on my calf. I wave my hand, giving the others the signal to intervene.
Like a horde of barbarians, we rush the cliff. Ethan and Nobel busy themselves by smashing whatever Gear Heads they can get a hold of. There are more of them than I remember.
“Stein, look at me,” the other Lex orders. He screams, and I remember why. I can almost feel the muscles tearing under his skin. As if by reflex, I bring my hand to my own shoulder and squeeze to make sure it isn’t happening to me.
“Lex, please don’t let go,” Stein pleads.
Breaking into a sprint, I run as fast as my leg will allow, but neither has seen me, seen us. Ember and Nobel rush past me. Ember lunges for the cliff, grabbing Stein with two hands. Ethan is only half a second behind her, clutching Stein by the back of her shirt. Nobel attacks the Gear Head preoccupied with greedily cutting off my leg. He shoves a screwdriver into the base of its clear dome skull. Sparks fly, and it hisses like a ticked-off snake. Nobel pries the pincers from the other Lex’s calf muscle and throws it to the side. It lands, in a heap, against some rocks like a broken toy. Nobel is pulling the other Lex away from the cliff as he flails, confused by what is happening. I dive in beside him, grabbing the hand he only just let go of. Ember, Ethan, and I pull Stein up the rocky cliff face to safety. Stein lies there, breathing heavily, looking to me, then to the other me, and back again. Ember and Ethan stand up. Stepping back, she clutches herself to him. He wraps his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. Nobel makes a quick tourniquet for the other Lex’s leg. I lie by Stein, wishing I could hold her like Ethan is holding Ember. But I don’t reach out to her. She’s looking confused and a little scared, her attention rapt on where the other me is being patched up.
“Stein,” I say gently. “Look at me.”
Stein slowly turns her head in my direction. Our eyes connect, and she throws her arms around my neck. I breathe in the smell of her and close my eyes.
I take her hand, and we stand. Nobel crouches by the side of the other Lex, putting pressure on the leg wound while that Lex goes in and out of consciousness.
“What’s going on?” Stein finally asks. She can do the math. Two strangers, one Nobel, one Stein… and two Lexes.
“We came to save you, Stein,” I say, brushing her cheek with my fingertips. “I stole some tech from Tesla so I could come back for you.”
Stein looks down at my leg, then back up at me like I’m some kind of freak. She drops my hand and backs away, going to Nobel’s side. The shock is fast and hard. It feels like I’ve just been sucker punched, and it’s hard to breathe. I tense, squaring my shoulders and trying to keep my expression neutral.
She bends over the other Lex. “Nobel, would you be so kind as to fill in the blanks for me? I feel like I may have missed some minor details.”
“Lex and I came back to save you, just like he said.”
Stein frowns, pointing at me. “I’m gonna need more than that.”
I walk over to them. My leg hisses at Stein as if it doesn’t approve of her.
“You died. You fell off the cliff, and I got my leg sawed off by a Gear Head. But I didn’t want to lose you. I couldn’t lose you. So I—we—came back to save you.”
“Nobel, help me up,” the other Lex demands.
Nobel and Stein each hold out a hand and pull him to his feet.
He limps forward, looking me over.
“Oh yeah. This can’t be good,” he says with a laugh.
It’s strange. It’s like looking in a mirror, only… not. This can’t be good. “Yeah, well, you think that’s weird. I never thought I’d see myself with a leg again, albeit a mangled one.”
I also never would have thought in a million years that I’d have to compete with myself for my own girlfriend. I shake my head. “I have got to think these things through better.”
The alternate Lex turns around to look at the strangers in his periphery.
“Anya?” he asks, stumbling toward her.
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. So, our sister is alive, too,” I say with a shrug, still staring at my alternate self, half wondering if can just toss him off the cliff.
As if reading my mind, Stein looks at me and glares.
Ember steps between us, blocking me from view.
“But, how are you here? I thought you were dead.” The other Lex turns to me. “The tech you used to save Stein, did you use it to save our family as well?”
The hope in his eyes is like a knife in my chest. I shake my head.
Just as the hope dies, Ember reaches him and throws her arms around him, hugging him tightly. But behind his back, her eyes are locked on mine in a silent question.
What now?
“How did you escape the fire?” he asks Ember.
“I was with the Tesla Institute,” she tells him.
“Look, we should probably get out of here,” the other Lex says, looking at me. “I’m getting a little lightheaded from the blood loss.”
“That might be easier said than done,” Ember says, pointing beyond the cliff, where the sky is moving like ripples in a pond.
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