Milo-Two played the role of a wrongfully accused man who’d seen their friend killed perfectly. Outrage, sadness, looks of anger at the pair who’d captured him. The Milo and Owlsley who’d captured him weren’t acting any differently than they should be, both ready to strike the moment the mimic revealed its true nature. [Poise and Bearing], [Keen Investigative Awareness], and [Analyze] all eventually gave up.
[Recall] wasn’t any help either. Growing up with the rising actress had taught Harmony a lot about lying, performing, and showing who you were. This was a different level of complication than when they’d been in the wastes and the mimic had attacked; these ones seemed to honestly believe they were the real ones.
How did that work? The missing person back at camp revealed that it wasn’t all passive. If she got alone with a mimic, would it attack as the person or as one of those many toothed monsters?
Would a mimic form a partner bond, have a kid, and then reveal itself years later? Harmony shook off those weird thoughts, including an intrusive one that asked, What if you’re the imposter? It was easy to slip into thoughts when you moved slowly and let someone else take the lead.
Jessica scouted ahead as an intangible flaming projection of the woman, lighting the way and acting as a point of safety. No mimic could copy her without fully transforming into Tyler, and they were merged at such a high level that it was doubtful either could be confused by a mimic version like Pappi was with the two Milos.
Jessica flashed back to Tyler’s side, her face scrunged up with perplexion. “You won't believe this. Second chamber on the right.”
Kenny, Kenny, and Kenny stood in the chamber, each pointing fingers at the opposing two. “They're the mimics!” They yelled simultaneously. Each glowed faintly, a residual effect of the healing lunar body potion .
As ridiculous as this was getting, it wasn't funny. Hopefully, those watching the games were getting their entertainment out of this. They knew who the real one was, so they could get plenty of drama out of this situation.
”They”— “Attacked” — ”Broke” The Kennys all talked at once. None let another speak, each getting frustrated with an edge of desperation. Having the same voice made it hard to discern who was talking.
[Final Silence] reached out, muting two of them with its area sound-dampening effect. “Enough! You, talk.”
“I’m me. And I have proof. While the mimics are forming but not completed, they're extra susceptible to bad luck. Even my usually non-lethal attacks worked enough for me to defeat a pair.” Grabbing his bag, he pulled out two full-meal bars. “Sadly, I did lose my spider light on the descent. I got tangled up in the maze, and a few clearly completed copying me. Imagine my surprise when I stepped into this room and found two mimics fighting, only for them to point at me and accuse me of being one of them.”
“He's lying!” One of the side Kennys snapped as the field of silence ended.
Even knowing where this was going, Harmony signaled for him to take his turn to ease the kids' anxiety.
"The Fall knocked me out." He's turned to flash matted hair wet with blood on the back of his head. "I woke up to that mimic," he pointed to the final Kenny, "trying to remove my spider light, and breaking it in the process. We've been fighting at a standstill until that other one showed up. I thought I was a goner when it became two-on-one but we've been stuck here arguing. "
The final one groaned. "What's the point? With my luck, you'll kill me, and see the other two were copies." In the most fatalistic way, exactly how the young man would after reaching a point of exhaustion.
One fatalistic, self-deprecating Kenny was hard enough to deal with, let alone three now. No wonder Eric and his hunters had an easier time killing them. No easy way to do that, even if vivisectioning them might give a hint at which ones are impostors. This labyrinth wasn’t the place to do it in any way.
"Well, put your differences aside. We're heading back to camp and, once there, everyone will rotting figuring out which of you are mimics." Harmony ordered with authority, while watching to see if any of them reacted differently under the influence of that aristocratic benefit. Nothing.
Three more added to their growing group leveled up the anxiety in the tight dark tunnels. “Watch where you’re putting your elbow”, Milo-two snapped as a Kenny jostled into him. Not accidentally either. Other members were testing out ideas. As everyone was a suspect, it was a slow, cautious escort out, with everyone’s hands on their weapons.
Everyone flinched when the Ascendant Game notification appeared and froze. It was more shocking that no one got stabbed or let a skill they had primed to go activate.
— A threshold has been passed. With fewer competitors, the tribes will combine in seven days—
“At least the others are having a worse time than we are.” Jessica joked.
No one laughed.
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