Clone Girls

“Is everything ready?” Licia asked as she entered the garage, she was met by two exhausted girls, her sister Nia and her friend Lotte.

“Everything’s working as intended, sister!” Nia said, smiling from ear to ear as she wiped some sweat on her forehead.

Meanwhile, Lotte was on the ground, she only managed to let out a few words while grunting.

“I’m tired…”

“Good. Then if all of you are ready, it’s time to move. We have to meet up with Lidia.” Licia said as she looked behind her. Her Nulls sisters as well as Evelyn. All of them wore easy to move gear for infiltration. As for their clothes, for some reason, a few of them wore matching outfits that made them look like members of the gang.

They wore fedoras, had sunglasses, and some even had black longcoats on them. But none of them thought of dyeing or hiding their hair.

Surprisingly enough, the person who suggested the outfit was Willia, saying it was the perfect outfit for this kind of stuff. 

Ria gave the new clothes to Nia and Lotte as they were wearing working clothes full of oil. Nia dragged her completely drained of energy friend to a nearby room where they took a quick shower and got changed.

They had prepared a few vehicles for this outing. The main one was a military truck. It had been modified to improve its speed to the maximum while having strong defenses. There were two laser gatlings mounted on each side at the rear of the truck in a bubble turret, on top of the truck was a 50mm railgun cannon in a turret and near the driver’s compartment, two laser machineguns arranged in a ringstand above the passenger’s seat. All this gear could be retracted inside the truck, making it appear as a normal one.

It could be called a small moving fortress. This could be called overkill, but Nia and Lotte had so much fun designing the truck they lost sight of the main goal. Even despite all this gear, there was enough space to fit two platoons of twelve soldiers at the back of the truck.

Aside from the truck, the two tech-crazed girls had also prepared a jeep loaded with a machinegun and four rocket launchers on a tripod, and four hoverer bikes had been prepared to act as an escort, including Rika’s beloved hoverer bike.

It was a real feat of engineering the two girls had realized in only one afternoon. With only a few spare parts in the academy’s storage and obsolete components normally used for class the two of them ‘borrowed’, they had managed to complete a very complete military vehicle.

The truck and the jeep were standard use vehicles they found in the nearby garage. As for the hover bikes, they were all part of Rika’s private collection.

“Won’t we get in trouble for taking Rika’s stuff?” A slightly worried Vinia asked.

“It’s fine. Have you ever seen Rika get seriously angry at us?” Licia replied confidently. Where this confidence came from, no one knew, but her sisters agreed Rika was not the type to get angry at them, unlike their mother.

“Besides, you can’t say you never wanted to take a ride on one of these, can’t you?”

“T-that is… true.” Vinia bashfully admitted. She had wanted to try out one of the hover bikes before. In fact, she was not the only one, but for some reason Rika was very protective of her bikes and never let them have a ride on them if she herself was not at the controls.

Just then, Nia and Lotte came back after a quick shower. Licia looked at everyone gathered. There were fourteen of them if you count Lidia, who was already on site. A small force, but enough for this mission, she thought. She nodded to all of them and they began to board the vehicles when-

“And just where exactly do you all think you’re going?”

““Geh…””

All the nulls let out weird noises and grimaced as two women blocked their way. It was their ‘nanny’ Riley and their ‘great aunt’ Chloe.

“What the hell are you girls doing at this hour? Planning a little tour? With whose permission?” Riley said, a sharp look on her face. The girls were under her supervision right now. As if she could allow them to do something reckless!

Other clones should have been in the area to help stop the Nulls, however, they were still suffering from the pressure of the Nulls’ aura and had a hard time talking back, so they were powerless against them. Even Chloe, despite her angry look, was trying her best to oppose the feeling of submitting to the Nulls. she could not do that, not when these girls were about to cause a mess for everyone.

As for the ECGs, they had already been neutralized. The nulls used their Null code privileges to get them to stand down. Although resisting a bit, the ECGs had yielded to their older sisters.

“M-mom’s permission, of course.” Licia blurted out, but even herself sounded unconvinced by what she just said.

“Nice one little one, but jokes on you, your mom told me that that’s exactly what you would say.” Riley smiled, but it sent shivers down the girls’ spines.

Licia continued to come up with an excuse.

“R-Rika asked us to go where they are.”

“Funny that, Rika told me she had no plans of bringing you where she is right now.”

“What your mother is doing is of utmost importance, girls. Don’t fuck up her plans.” Chloe said bluntly.

“We don’t plan on doing that…”

“Then stay still until she comes back.”

““...”” The Nulls looked at each other, not admitting defeat. In the end, Ria sighed.

“Can’t be helped… Activate plan S!” She declared.

At her words, the twins spun into action. Their eyes shone as they moved towards their target with what looked like nets and ropes.

“Wha-!? Hey!”

Before Riley and Chloe could react, Vinia and Nillia had sneaked in on them and made them lose their balance.

Chloe tried to regain her balance, but she got  pinned down by Vinia right after and could not overpower her.

The twins used that moment of weakness to capture the two women and immobilize them. Their work was fast, but the position in which their targets ended up was rather inappropriate.

“!?! What the hell?! What are you girls doing!?” Chloe roared in anger as her face blushed.

“It worked!” Licia rejoiced.

“What’s with these postures? Who taught you how to tie people up?” Nicia sighed as she watched her twin sisters come back.

““Nillia.”” Both of them said. Everyone now looked toward the fourth Null, who was now blushing.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that!” She blurted out, blushing.

“Well, it doesn't matter. Let’s set out already!” Licia said, impatient.

“Why plan S though?” Vinia asked, tilting her head.

“Hehe… S for Sausage of course!” Nia said from the side, a knowing smile on her face. While Vinia seemed to naively accept this explanation, everyone else gave Nia a side eye. 

They shouldn’t have let her come up with a name…

They began embarking on the vehicles. 

“Riley, Chloe, please stay still for tonight.” Licia said as she mounted Rika’s favorite bike. The low hum resonated, but was not loud enough she needed to yell.

“You girls, do you want to be punished!? Stop now while it’s still not too late!” Chole yelled back, wriggling as she tried to undo the ropes.

“Sorry great aunt! We’ll be back before mom!”

“Hey! I told you to not call me that!”

“Let’s go! To the Malaise tower!”

““Roger!””

And with that, the group set out on their mission, not knowing what mess they would cause…

***

After a bit of traffic, the group arrived in the vicinity of the Malaise Tower. They did not try to get closer as that would be suspicious. They parked themselves in a plot of land they had marked beforehand. It was quiet and dark there, but they could hear the laughter and voices from the main avenue, lights flickering in the dark sky.

“Alright, we’ve arrived. Now we must get in touch with Lidia.” Licia said as they all gathered in front of the truck.

“How are we going to find her?” Evelyn asked.

“I set up a rendezvous point with her. She should be arriving just about now.” Ria answered, and just a second later, the seventh Null CG appeared in the distance.

“Sisters, reporting.” Lidia said as she saluted them. She was wearing tightfit dark clothes for this infiltration mission, but it also put in valor her silhouette. 

There was a bit of blood on her otherwise white cheek. It was obviously not hers. This told the others Lidia had already begun to clear a path for them.

“Good job Lidia. Did you find them?” Licia asked.

“I did. The ‘hostages’ are being held underground within the building. I’m sending you the information.” She said, typing on her watch. Licia and Ria then looked at their own watches, where the information was sent.

“How strong is their security?” Ria asked as she read the report.

“I’d say rather low.”

“That’s surprising. I thought there would be more guards?” Evelyn frowned.

“It appears their personnel are redirected elsewhere. Perhaps VIP protection for the guests of the auction.” Lidia precisely said.

“In that case, wouldn’t protecting the merchandise also be important?”

“It might just be leisure from their part.”

“Did they appear like that to you Lidia?” Licia asked her sister, a serious look on her face.

“Yes, very much so.” The seventh Null CG said back, to which Licia nodded, satisfied.

“Good to know.”

“Although not in the building, I’ve noticed a lot of PMCs and Borkian Soldiers nearby.” Lidia added.

“Yeah, we’ve noticed too. They’re doing check ups on the roads, thank god Atrax-ia prepared us papers.” Licia said back.

“Anything else?” Ria asked as she finished reading the report.

“I’ve taken care of the security camera system. Fortunately they just changed shifts for the night, so we might gain some time. Also, I’ve prepared a remote bomb in order to shut down the electricity network.”

“I see. Thank you for your hard work.”

“So what’s the plan?” Lotte asked as she interjected into the conversation. Although she felt she had been dragged into this, now that she had no choice, she wanted this operation to succeed.

“We’ll infiltrate this tower and make our way towards our objective. Nia, Lotte, you both stay on guard duty.” Ria ordered.

“Roger!”

“Ugh, finally some rest…”

The two of them answered in their own ways. While Nia was serious and answered with a salute, Lotte released a sigh of relief. Truthfully, all that work in the afternoon had burned her out. She thought she needed to work on her endurance as she looked enviously at Nia.

Ria then looked at the seventh Null.

“Lidia, you’ll go back to the building’s security room. They might not check on the security room for now, but they probably banter on their talky walkies. I need you to cover for us as long as possible. Until then you’ll guide us.”

“Understood.”

“We’ll keep in contact all the way.” Ria pointed towards her watch, signaling for the sisters to send a message if something came up.

“Let’s move out, group!” Licia declared to the others, and they all moved. Lidia took the lead and they reached the Malaise tower pretty quickly.

“This is one of the depot hubs of the tower.” She said as she pointed towards the metallic door. 

It looked like a small dock for trucks, where they could be unloaded. The door was closed shut and there were two men in suits standing guard, probably armed.

“Alright, first check up. How do we deal with them?” Licia asked her sisters.

“We’ll neutralize them silently. No need to make a fuss.” Ria answered, to which Licia nodded.

“Lidia, Vinia, you’re up.”

““On it!”” Both answered before sneaking up on their targets.

The two men seemed unprepared for any incident, one of them even yawned. The two Nulls had no difficulty getting close.

“Ugh!?”

“Wha-gh-!?”

Both of them were taken out quickly. Lidia silently cut the throat of the first man with her combat knife. The second, noticing the disturbance, did not even have the time to finish his exclamation as Vinia blocked his mouth before also cutting his throat. Both Nulls held the men’s dying bodies as they slowly lowered them to the ground.

The others approached as Lidia and Vinia hid the still warm corpses.

“Well done, Vinia.” Lidia said to her little sister, though Vinia seemed a little dissatisfied with herself..

“Mmmh… I was still a bit clumsy…”

“You’ve got a compliment from seventh sister, that’s rare coming from her, so you should be proud of yourself, Vinia.” Nicia said, smiling as she headpatted her little sister. That seemed to be enough to raise Vinia’s mood, but it did lower Lidia’s mood as a result.

“Let’s move out already.” She said as she turned towards the entrance, Nicia could only roll her eyes at her sister’s behavior while the other Nulls smiled wryly.

“Mia, deactivate the alarm, Willia, can you force the entrance?” Ria gave her orders.

“Sure thing!” The third Null said as she approached the closed door while Mia nodded. 

Lidia had managed to sneak in when the door was open, which was not the case right now. Unfortunately, there were no keys or passes to unlock the door on the guards, so they had to force their way in.

Mia approached the door, fiddled on her watch for a bit, before she gave the ok sign with her hands to her sister Willia. Then, with sheer strength, the third Null CG broke the door.

It made some noise, but it was not as loud as Evelyn first expected. Willia had made sure to not be too loud.

“Stay on guard, some security have probably heard the noise and will come over. Eliminate them without making too much noise. I’ll stay behind to guard your evac point.” Ria said as she checked her weapon. A standard issue revolver for officers. The weapon was not a laser gun, but a silenced small caliber railgun. Ria had taken a liking to such weapons.

“You sure you’ll be alright alone?” Evelyn asked, worried. The second Null nodded.

“I’ll stay in contact with you all. Licia will take the lead from here on.” She said before looking at Licia. “Eldest sister, don’t mess up.”

“I know. I’ll make sure everyone comes back without a scratch.” Licia said back.

“Hey! Why is this door open!?”

They heard noise coming from inside. The group looked at each other before rushing in. They quickly reached the source of the voice, who was also rushing towards them. When he noticed them, he tried to reach for his talkie walkie with one hand and his gun with the other, but before he could do anything, a knife planted itself in his head.

“Nice throw Lidia!” Licia complimented as they passed the now falling guard. Her sister did not reply, she simply continued to run at the front of the group.

After a few intersections, she stopped. The others did too as she turned towards them.

“This is where we separate.” She said to the others.

“Got it. Take care Lidia.” Licia said to her. No sooner had she said that that Lidia disappeared, already on her way.

“From here on, we’re sneaking in.” Licia said to the rest of the group with authority. “I want no noises, and no reckless actions. Don’t interact with anyone unless you are about to be spotted, is that clear?”

Evelyn and the others nodded. For Evelyn, this was the first time she had seen Licia act as a leader, which was a very different side of the usually merry little girl she had grown to know.

She kind of found it… attractive.

“Mia, you’ll be our guide. Tell us which way we go.”

“Understood. For now go straight ahead, we’ll turn left at the next intersection and enter a storage room. After that we’ll take a path towards the staff staircase.” Mia said as she fiddled with her watch.

The group continued to move with Willia in the lead and Vinia at the rear. They reached the storage room as Mia said. There were a few staff members in it, which they avoided thanks to the maze of stockpile rows. They found a security door, leading to another hallway. Above it was written ‘Storage Area N°2’ and an arrow pointing downstairs. The door was left open, so the group went in. 

They reached the staff staircase. Right next to it were four lifts. The area was empty, but just as they passed by, the doors of one of the lifts opened up.

““Wha-?””

It was a group of workers it seemed. They had a few cardboxes in their hands, which meant they were in the process of moving some articles for the auction.

The Nulls reacted quickly. They either shot, knocked down or threw knives at the staffmen with the clear intention to kill. None of them missed and the staffmen fell to the ground of the lift with a thump.

“Now this is getting complicated…” Licia sighed, unphased by the blood on her face. She looked around and saw a small cabinet in which cleaning tools were stored.

“We don’t have the time to clear every trace, but stack them up inside and mop up the blood. Quick.”

““Understood.”” The Null CGs moved immediately.

“...Was there a need to kill them? Evelyn asked, not sure what to think of the ruthlessness of the clone girls. Sure, she got herself into this mess, but these people might have been innocent. They were just working and perhaps they knew nothing about the misgivings of their superiors…

“Evelyn.” 

“Y-yes?” Evelyn was startled as Licia looked at her straight in the eyes, a dead serious look on her face.

“This is a mission. We don’t know how much time we will take, and we can’t tie up all the people we meet and hide them. We also cannot risk them waking up while we’re still inside this building and warning others. Besides, considering their line of work they knew the risks and still took it. I’d rather ensure the safety of my sisters with the death of someone I don’t know than losing one of them. I’m not a saint Evelyn, I’m a clone, a killing machine.”

“...”

“I understand you’re different from us on this point Eve.” Licia smiled wryly, a bit of sadness in her voice. “We were made like that, so we don’t really feel anything killing people, but not you. I think that’s a good thing, but it’s a hindrance right now. Perhaps you should not consider them as humans, because you’ll have regrets and doubts, and I can’t have you have that during the mission. You’ll become a liability if you do so.”

Evelyn swallowed. She understood what Licia meant. As inhuman as that sounded, Licia’s point was correct. If you wondered whether your actions were correct each time you had to take actions against humans, weighing the innocence of their soul, you would end up being eaten from the inside, making errors and risking the life of your companions. Even the most ‘human-friendly’ Null CGs, Willia, Ticinia and Vinia, understood this principle. Which is why they did not hesitate to kill these people. 

Still, something bothered her in the way Licia described herself and her sisters…

“But, you’re also humans, aren’t you?”

“Eh?” Licia froze for a moment, and so did her sisters, who all stopped what they were doing to look at Evelyn with wide eyes, blinking their eyes.

“I don’t really see any differences between you and me. You have feelings just like me. I don’t see you as a different being?”

“Oh…” Licia let out a simple letter, reflecting on what Evelyn just said.

That might be the first time they heard something like that outside of their family. Much like other clones, Ticia’s daughters have always considered themselves separate beings from normal humans, like a sort of ethnicity of their own.

Evelyn’s words reminded her that humans were not the only ones who sometimes put a barrier between them, they too unconsciously did it.

“Thanks. That means a lot to us.” Licia said, smiling. She felt a comfortable warmth coming from her heart. She wanted this feeling to last longer, but knew better this was not the time to be emotional.

“And just so you know, I still disagree with your method of killing everyone, but you’re risking your lives helping me solve my people’s problem. I won’t-, no, I can’t complain about your methods.” Evelyn made herself clear.

“That’s fine.” Licia smiled, and so did the other Nulls. They quickly finished the cleaning.

“Mh? What’s that?” Ticinia noticed one of the objects the staff member had been carrying. She took it in her hand and read the description attached to it, her eyes grew wide for a bit, before feeling excited. She put the gun sized object into one of her pockets.

“Sister, what was that?” Vinia asked, curious.

“Something that might help our logistics down the road.” Ticinia said, a huge smile on her face. Vinia tilted her head, but did not ask further. Now was not the time.

Taking the lift would be a fast way to arrive at their destination, but the group took the staircase instead.

The staircase was wide, allowing multiple people to go down on the same path. It was quiet, the staff used the lifts instead to move around, so this was perfect for Licia’s group.

As they began to descend, they received a call from Lidia.

“The enemies have noticed the anomalies in their security.”

“Understood. Stay on high alert. Bail out if they send out  more enemies.”

“Roger.”

“We’re almost there.” Licia said on the group call after Ria gave her instructions to Lidia. “Ria, Nia, what about your sides?”

“Still no movement here, though it won’t take long now.” Ria replied.

“No movements detected near our position!” Nia said right after.

“Understood, we’ll double the pace. Over.” Licia said.

“We’ve arrived! It’s here!” Mia said as she pointed towards the door they were approaching. Licia gave a look towards Willia, to which her sister nodded before knocking down the door with a kick.

The kick was so hard the door was sent flying to the other side of a wide hallway.

“This is it. The room where ‘exotic animals’ are stored before the auction.” Licia said as she took in the scene. It was a long hallway with what was akin to large prison cells on each side. The prison cells had wide glasses instead of bars, as if it was a display.

There were a few men inside the hallway. They all looked surprised at the entrance of the group. The Null CGs acted quickly and fired their weapons, getting rid of them rather quickly.

Licia marched forward, scanning the area with her eyes, hoping to find what she wanted. 

She felt tension rising as she advanced. Were they really here? Were they fine? So many worries filled her heart.

She could see a lot of stuff had been put into the cells. Some were simple crates for storage, filled with what looked like either rare fur or jewels. Some other cells had other kinds of animals in them, but Licia was not interested in them, not even in the cell filled with humans. 

She only cared about one thing right now.

“!!!”

There, near the end, she found them. Ball of furs and fluff, some small, some big, with two round yellow eyes staring straight back at her…

Those were Manuls.

They looked weak, but it did not matter to Licia right now. She let out a loud squeal of excitement that nearly made everyone else’s ears bleed.

“KITTIES!!!”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!